State Senator Scott Bennett says Democrats in his chamber supported a rules change last week to impose term limits on Senate legislative leaders as a show of good faith.
The Champaign Democrat says they’re showing their commitment to imposing the ten-year term limits on leaders in both legislative chambers … as part of a state budget package. Bennett says that should appeal to Gov. Bruce Rauner, who has called for term limits for all state lawmakers.
“What the term limits really is about, at least what I hear from constituents is, we just want to see some change in leadership," Bennett said. "They don’t necessarily want to lose their own state representative or state senator, because that’s what every election, they get a chance to decide if they like that individual or not.”
The proposal in the Senate budget package would impose term limits by an amendment to the state constitution. That could be harder to change than the Senate rule passed last week. The limits would cover the House Speaker, Senate President and both chambers’ Minority Leaders. But they would NOT be retro-active, so current legislative leaders could still serve another ten years.
Senators took no action on their compromise budget bills last week, but Bennett says they could get a hearing when lawmakers return to Springfield next week.