SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WMBD) — Illinois House Republicans on Tuesday said their legislative priorities are not being heard on the floor.
During the presser, the legislators called for pension and ethics reforms. They declared significant budgetary problems, including unemployment insurance, worker’s compensation and liability insurance, were causing businesses to leave the state.
State Rep. Dan Caulkins (R-Decatur) said pension reforms are needed to keep businesses from leaving.
“All we continue to do is pile up debt. We get farther and farther behind in our pension plan, and it’s some time and it could be within the next 10 to 12 years, things are going to be very bad for our pensioners. We’ve got to address pension reform in this budget and we’re not hearing a word about it,” he said.
Caulkins also called for ethics reforms to close the “lobbyist revolving door.” and strengthen inspector generals.
“It is a systemic problem in Illinois. We need to address ethics reform, the people of Illinois are have lost confidence in their elected leaders… All the bills are out here, we’ve filed legislation, we filed bills on ethics reform and they never get a hearing,” he said.
WMBD reached out to State Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth (D-Peoria), who also serves as lead budget negotiator, but did not hear back.
