Lawmakers Call on Jones to Consider Ethics Bill

By Kevin Robinson in News on Sep 16, 2008 7:40PM

Although he's already announced that he won't be calling the State Senate back into session until after the November elections, Senate President Emil Jones is under pressure from lawmakers to call a vote on the state ethics bill. The House overrode Governor Blagojevich's amendatory veto of the bill last week, leaving the Senate just 15 days to take action or the bill dies.

Not taking action in the Senate until November also leaves Illinois vulnerable to budget cuts for public infrastructure, social services and public works.

At a press conference yesterday in Chicago, a group of Illinois lawmakers and state officeholders called on Jones to reconvene the Senate to take action. Attorney General Lisa Madigan warned that "there is a risk" that courts could invalidate any action the Senate takes on the bill in November. Jones contends that the Senate has 15 days from when they reconvene, not 15 days from the House's action on the veto. Republican State Senator Kirk Dillard suggested that Barack Obama should call Jones and pressure him to act. The Obama campaign had no comment.