CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The stage is being set to prevent someone from holding the kind of power in Springfield that former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan enjoyed for more than 35 years.
State Representative Emanuel “Chris” Welch promised before he was elected Illinois House Speaker he would push for a change in rules to limit how long someone could serve as Speaker.
According to the Sun-Times, Welch has done that. On Monday, Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch proposed rules for his chamber that would impose term limits on himself or anyone elected to the speaker’s post in the future.
Welch proposed that a speaker not be able to stay in that powerful position more than five legislative terms - or 10 years.
Former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan held that powerful position for 36 out of the past 38 years.
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The same 10-year term limit would also apply to the position of House minority leader, currently held by Republican Jim Durkin, although it would not be applied retroactively, the Sun-Times reported.
Lawmakers are scheduled to vote on the proposal Wednesday.
The proposed House rules also would enable the chamber to hold committee and task force meetings remotely “in the case of pestilence or public danger”— an allowance for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Republican House members are said to be unhappy there are no other reforms to the rules to provide more transparency.