Illinois Abolish Lieutenant Governor Amendment (2010)
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| This measure was not put on an election ballot |
Illinois Abolish Lieutenant Governor Amendment did not appear on the November 2, 2010 ballot in Illinois as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment. The measure proposed abolishing the lieutenant governor's office. If approved by voters, the office would have been eliminated in 2015, following the next lieutenant governor's term. The proposal, also known as HJR 50, was sponsored by House Speaker Michael Madigan.[1][2]
Background
Traditionally the lieutenant governor becomes governor in Illinois if the current governor leaves or is removed from office. According to the filed proposal, the attorney general would have become the successor of the governor's office. The changes, if they had been approved by voters, would have taken effect in 2015.[3]
Prior to the adoption of the 1970 Illinois Constitution, the lieutenant governor also served as the presiding officer of the Illinois State Senate.
Support
The State Journal-Register supported placing the proposed amendment on the statewide ballot, but did not endorsed the amendment itself. In a March 2010 editorial, the board said,"Voters deserve to know that the person who would assume the governorship is compatible with the person they elected to the state’s highest office. Yet we also are sympathetic with those who believe the lieutenant governor’s office, as currently defined, is a do-nothing position that should be eliminated to save money. We think Illinoisans who believe this should be allowed to say so at the polls in November...The General Assembly should approve both, sending the constitutional amendment to the voters in November and the Raoul bill to Gov. Pat Quinn for his signature."[4]
Path to the ballot
- See also: How to amend the Illinois Constitution
If both the House and the Senate approved the proposed amendment the measure would have appeared on the November 2010 statewide ballot. On February 24, 2010 a House Committee approved the proposed measure with a vote of 8-0. The measure remained pending in the House.[5] The legislative session ended May 12 without referring the measure to the ballot.
See also
External links
Additional reading
- The Daily Herald, "Madigan plan to abolish lieutenant governor office advances," February 24, 2010
- Journal-Courier, "Does Illinois need a lieutenant governor?" February 15, 2010
Footnotes
- ↑ Southtown Star, "Mike Madigan: Abolish lt. gov. post," February 11, 2010
- ↑ St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "Ill. House committee moves to eliminate troubled ‘lite gov’ office," February 24, 2010
- ↑ St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "Michael Madigan proposes doing away with Illinois lieutenant governor's job," February 11, 2010
- ↑ The Statehouse Journal-Register, "Our Opinion: Let voters decide lt. governor issue," March 4, 2010
- ↑ Pantagraph, "Proposal to abolish lieutenant governor passes early test," February 24, 2010
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