First Test for Speaker Welch Includes Speaker Term Limits, Virtual Committees, GOP Complaints
House Speaker Chris Welch gavels in House session Wednesday at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield. It was the first time the House has met in the chamber for nearly a year. The one day session included votes on the new House rules. (Pool Photo/Justin Fowler)
Democrats are calling it “a new day.” Republicans are calling it “more of the same.”
Post-Madigan Springfield may not have changed that much after all.
In his first major move since taking over the chamber last month, House Speaker Chris Welch introduced new House Rules for the upcoming session. Democrats praised the process, Republicans complained they were being left out.
Welch introduced a 10-year term limit on a House Speaker and a Minority Leader as well as introducing virtual committee and voting rules, which the legislature failed to adopt last spring amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Welch says the rules are what he calls “an important first step” in improving state government.
“I took the oath as Speaker very seriously. I took that oath with the goal of reforming the ways of the past and injecting more transparency and accountability while ensuring our chamber operates effectively and fairly,” Welch said. “These rules here today are a historic first step in that process. Change does not happen overnight. It’s a process.”
Republicans complained there was no way to force a vote on their legislation and the speaker continued to hold too much power, a common refrain during the era of former House Speaker Michael Madigan, who was Speaker for 36 of the past 38 years before being deposed by his caucus last month.
House Republican Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) said the Democrat majority needs to work with Republicans to fix challenges facing the state. .
“We are clearly at a decisive time in our state, more so now than we have been in the past. Together with what’s going on not only our state, the nation, but in the world. It’s going to require both sides of the aisle to improve where we currently are at,” Durkin said. “That means respect for the minority party and the millions of Illinoisans that we represent. We can do better.”
The rules were approved by a nearly party line vote, 70-44.
It is expected the House will begin holding committee hearings online immediately, and the chamber won’t return to the Capitol until at least next month.