proposed amendment to Illinois Constitution on racism

Below the fold is a proposed amendment to the Illinois Constitution to be a first step toward making Illinois a state committed to reducing racism over the long haul.

I believe it would make Illinois the first state to be anti-racism (as opposed to "race neutral" in the constitution). It also explicitly links racism to white supremacy.

The theory is that Illinois would obligate itself to quantify racism & work toward reducing racism over time.

amending Illinois Constitution to require it to pass budgets annually

The Illinois Constitution apparently requires the Governor to submit a budget to the Illinois General Assembly. The Illinois Constitution requires the budget to be balanced.

But there's ambiguity (according to some people) about whether the State of Illinois is required to have a budget. Therefore, I propose the following amendment to the Illinois Constitution.

amending Illinois Constitution so Governor actually submits a balanced budget

The deadline for Illinois General Assembly to pass the annual budget for State of Illinois by simple majority has passed. Legislation passed by May 31 on needs a majority. After this date, legislation requires 3/5 majority to pass.

Starting July 1, 2015, Illinois has been operating without an annual budget.

Democrats, like Rep. Rob Martwick, tell audiences that Gov. Bruce Rauner submitted budgets to the Illinois General Assembly that weren't balanced. Rauner calls the budgets proposed by the Democratic majorities in Illinois General Assembly "phony" because they aren't balanced.

State of Illinois can't pay for basic services and pensions without raising taxes. Democrats don't want to take the political heat/backlash for raising taxes without Republicans sharing the discomfort.

Rauner doesn't care about budgets. His agenda is to harm the interests of organized labor. So, he refuses to pass an annual budget unless he gets bills harming labor.

Why don't Democrats impeach Rauner? Democrats have 39 of 59 seats in the Illinois Senate. It will take 40 votes to remove the Governor.

Neither the Governor nor the Illinois General Assembly is fulfilling their duties under the Illinois Constitution.

I propose amending the Illinois Constitution to put more pressure on the parties to fulfill their duties.

Illinois Constitution should have soft term limits

Last night newly appointed Sen. Laura Murphy spoke to Northside DFA making the case for NDFA to endorse her and provide volunteers for her general election campaign in 2016.

Along the way Murphy spoke in favor of term limits for legislative leaders. If I'm not mistaken this idea came out of the Illinois Reform Commission 100-Day Report (April 28, 2009).

I don't understand how this approach can't be undermined by passing the title of legislative leader but the more powerful senator or representative remaining as the power behind the throne by controlling the key political committees.

But this blog entry isn't to discuss the shortcomings of that proposal, but to suggest something more promising, what I call "soft term limits".

In addition to standing for re-election against the candidates qualified for the general election ballot, a candidate would stand for election on whether this will be the elected official's last term. If over half the voters say make it her/his last term then s/he doesn't stand for re-election again.

Let's add the right to unionize to the Illinois Constitution

Proposed text:

Workers shall have the right to form effective labor unions.

The General Assembly shall define "effective" and put that definition to the voters in a referendum. This shall happen in every November election until a definition gets 50% of the vote.

If three versions of the General Assembly version of "effective" fail to achieve 50% of the vote or the General Assembly fails to pass a definition, the definition provided by the labor unions (one member, one vote) shall be put on the ballot.

If the voters reject ten versions of the definition of "effective", the courts shall interpret it.

The General Assembly shall be able to modify the definition of "effective" by putting new text on the ballot, if 50% of the voters prefer the new definition.

Worker rights are human rights.

Let's get the people involved in the debate of what rules should govern the right of workers to organize.

making elections fair and inclusive in Illinois (amending Illinois Constitution)

Below is a brainstorm amendment to the Illinois Constitution.

It is an attempt to make elections significantly more fair and inclusive.

Elections shall be fair to individuals as well as political, religious, ideological and ethnic minorities. 

All Illinois citizens shall have the right to vote except for individuals convicted of attempting to influence elections through fraud or other criminal acts. 

The State of Illinois shall make voting as accessible as possible through implementing best practices, including those used in other states, countries, jurisdictions or in the past.
How individual citizens vote shall be secret. 

Efforts to prevent election fraud shall be as effective as possible without reducing participation in elections. 

A citizen shall vote from his/her primary residence. 

The definition of "primary residence" shall be established in law by the General Assembly.
Any citizen who does not have a primary residence shall explain under oath why the address s/he is voting from is more appropriate than any other address. 

Illinois shall use voting and tabulation systems and technology secure from tampering, fraud and failure. 

Election results shall be audited for accuracy in accordance with best practices. 

All elections won by less than one quarter of one percent of the votes cast shall be recounted. All campaigns within one percent of victory shall be allowed to witness the count. The General Assembly shall pass law governing the rules for citizens and media to observe the count. 

The General Assembly shall determine when the right to vote is returned to those who have lost the right to vote through criminal acts. 

The citizenry shall have the power to compel the General Assembly to vote on best practices when 100,000 citizens petition the General Assembly to vote on a proposal. If the proposal fails to become law, the petitioners shall be able to challenge existing law in court. If the court determines the proposal is an improvement to existing law, the proposal shall become law.

amend Illinois Constitution to provide right to counsel for defendants in evictions & foreclosures

The following is a proposal to amend the Illinois Constitution to guarantee defendants in Illinois have a right to counsel in cases of eviction and foreclosure on their primary residences. This would be analogous in most ways to how criminal defendants have a right to a public defender if they lack the resources to hire an attorney.

Why is this necessary?

When people are defendants in evictions and foreclosures, they have few resources. Lenders and their law firms have engaged in fraud.

Losing a place to live is a big deal. It affects one's health and physical safety.

What does the Illinois Constitution already say?

Article 1, Section 2:

No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law nor be denied the equal protection of the laws.

Article 1, Section 6:

The people shall have the right to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and other possessions against unreasonable searches, seizures, invasions of privacy or interceptions of communications by eavesdropping devices or other means. 

 (I added the italics.)

How does one determine if a seizure is reasonable? One has courts oversee the process. OK, but...

Courts provide minimal protection to people who lack counsel. Rich people don't rely on the law and the probity of judges to protect their interests. Rich people have lawyers go to court.

It seems absolutely consistent with language that already exists in the Illinois Constitution to require the state (most likely counties) to provide defense attorneys in cases of eviction and foreclosure the way public defenders are provided to defendants in criminal trials now.

However, the Illinois judiciary has not yet decided to interpret the Illinois Constitution in this manner. So, I suggest adding an amendment that makes the right to counsel for defendants in evictions and foreclosures explicit.