Groups seek more open government
Show Us Amendment would require public posting of bills prior to passage
The Leagues of Women Voters of Collinsville and Edwardsville are holding a public forum on the Show Us Amendment on Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. in the Collinsville City Hall, 125 South Center St.
Jim Broadway, chairman of the Illinois Democracy Project and the driving force behind putting the Show Us Amendment on the November 2008 ballot, will speak at the forum along with Cristina Cray, director of legislation for the Illinois State Board of Elections."The need is for the citizens of Illinois to have an opportunity to engage with legislators on issues that are important to them," Broadway said. "That opportunity has been eroded over the last 20 years. On high impact bills, like the state budget, there is no input at all; it's generally created on the day it passes."
Broadway said state legislators allow themselves less public scrutiny than local governing bodies like school districts, which have to post their budgets 30 days before it's passed.
He said the state has only one reason to behave in such a manner.
"The only reason for that is to conceal the details of those bills from the public until those bills are passed into law and there's nothing anyone can do," he said. "If you remove from legislators the opportunity for them to pass bills that wouldn't be approved by general public, then they will be more likely to pass legislation that the public would find more palatable."
The Show Us Amendment would require that all non-emergency bills be presented in their final form 21 days before a vote, requiring the General Assembly to plan accordingly and manage its time.
Bills must be agreed upon by both houses of congress to be deemed as "emergency bills" and would include circumstances like disaster relief.
Elaine Ramsay, the Collinsville LWV chair for the event, said the amendment would improve transparency in the state.
"It would require legislators to communicate with and educate their constituents about the need for any particular bill," she said. "But most importantly, it would allow citizens to participate more fully in the democratic process and require legislators to be more responsive to the voters."
Ramsay said that knowing the public will be able to see what each bill includes might even curtail some questionable bills from the start.
Broadway said that the response he's received regarding the amendment has been mainly positive, and that he has the support of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, the League of Women Voters and the 150,000-member Illinois Parent Teachers Association, but state officials have been less willing to show support.
"The legislators have not been able to bring themselves to say they're opposed to it, they generally say they approve of the concept but that 21 days is too long," he said.
The forum on Nov. 15 will include a skit illustrating the need for the amendment performed by members of the League of Women Voters of the Palos/Orland area, a question-and-answer session, and an opportunity for the audience to speak directly with the presenters.
Petitions for the Show Us Amendment will also be available. It will take more than 350,000 signatures from registered voters for the amendment to appear on the November 2008 ballot.
For more information about the Show Us Amendment, visit www.showus.org, www.illinoispta.org or www.collinsvillevotes.net.
