The House has unanimously adopted plans to explicitly bar sexual harassment in the state ethics code and require annual awareness training for all employees.
The legislation sponsored by Chicago Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan won approval 117-0 Tuesday.
The measure was in response to sexual harassment complaints against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and others and the revival of the #MeToo social media campaign among women who have been victims.
But it caused a week of emergency reaction by lawmakers who were criticized for a two-year vacancy in the office of the inspector general who would enforce the plan. And the vacancy meant that a legislative activist's allegation of harassment by a state senator had sat idle.
Madigan's legislation would require annual training for all state officers, lawmakers, employees and lobbyists. And the Illinois Department of Human Rights would create a hotline for reporting.
