* All emphasis added. From a Rauner campaign press release…

The Recent History of Term Limit Bills Dying in the House

Monday, May 7th is the deadline to add a referendum to the ballot this November that would give Illinoisans a vote on term limits. It’s an issue that has the support of 80% of voters according to a poll from the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute.

Unfortunately, those voices have been ignored in the Illinois House of Representatives. Check out all the times in recent history that term limit bills have been effectively killed in the House so that those in charge can maintain their grip on power:

* HJRCA 0031 in the 97th General Assembly: imposed term limits on Representatives and Senators in the General Assembly. Referred to Rules Committee 1/18/12. Tabled 5/5/12
* HB 6281 in the 98th General Assembly: established term limits on leadership positions in the General Assembly. Referred to Rules Committee 11/6/2014. No further action.
* HB4386 in the 99th General Assembly: established term limits on leadership positions in the General Assembly. Referred to Rules Committee 1/14/2016. No further action.
* HJRCA 0041 in the 99th General Assembly: imposed term limits on Representatives and Senators in the General Assembly as well as Executive Branch offices. Referred to Rules Committee 5/6/2016. No further action.
* HB0428 in the 100th General Assembly: established term limits on leadership positions in the General Assembly. Referred to Rules Committee 1/17/2017. No further action.
* HB0491 in the 100th General Assembly: established term limits on leadership positions in the General Assembly. Referred to Rules Committee 1/20/2017. No further action.

* Rauner campaign e-mail entitled “Enough is enough!”…

Rich,

We need term limits in Illinois to keep elected officials accountable to the people. Public service should be a calling, not a means for politicians to line their own pockets.

There’s one week left until the May 7th deadline to put a referendum on the ballot and enact term limits in Illinois. Let’s make it happen.

Add your name to the petition to support my plan to put term limits on the ballot!

Forward this email to your family and friends to spread the message. Enough is enough! Illinois needs real reform and that starts with term limits.

I appreciate your support.

* From the GA’s website…

Since the Senate has not advanced a proposal (which takes three days) and the House has nothing teed up and ready to go (which takes another three days) and the House isn’t even returning to town until the day after the May 7th deadline, the governor’s only recourse would be to call a special session right this very minute.

*** UPDATE 1 *** Speaker Madigan’s spokesman told me the governor did not ask the four legislative leaders at their last meeting to advance the proposal. The question was prompted by a commenter…

Am I to believe Governor Rauner told all four legislative leaders at that meeting that a vote on term limits was his “must-have” for the session, and then they ignored him?

I’ve asked the other leader spokespersons for comment as well.

*** UPDATE 2 *** Leader Durkin’s spokesperson says she doesn’t believe the topic was brought up at the leaders meeting, but added the governor and Durkin talk about it a lot and noted that Durkin is sponsoring a term limits proposal.

*** UPDATE 3 *** From the governor’s office…

He asks for term limits every day

*** UPDATE 4 *** Leader Brady’s office…

Not to my knowledge. The Governor has stated publicly his support for term limits. Senate Republicans have also introduced legislation on this issue. SJRCA 20 and SJRCA 2 (which is on third reading)

Ah, so there is a CA ready to roll in the Senate. He’d still need a special session to get it done, though.