Chambana Sun

The Illinois General Assembly has made progress toward fighting government corruption with the passage of an ethics package, but state Rep. Mike Marron (R-Fithian) said more needs to be done.

Marron was joined by state Reps. Avery Bourne (R-Morrisonville) and Patrick Windhorst (R-Metropolis) to speak out about Senate Bill 539 at a recent news conference where he called corruption "one of the biggest issues facing our state."

"It is time that we finally hit the reset button on this draconian system that has lead to scandal after scandal during my short tenure in Springfield," Marron said at the news conference. "All I've seen is a majority party taking it as a go-it-alone approach cleaning up this mess, ignoring real reforms and instead passing meaningless reforms that don't get to the root of the problem."

SB 539 prohibits lawmakers and other elected officials from working as lobbyists while in office under specified circumstances and established a six-month waiting period until they could be employed as a lobbyist should they leave their elected position in the middle of a term, according to The Illinois Policy Institute. The ethics reform package also allows the legislative inspector general to look into complaints without the investigation being approved by members of the ethics commission. The legislation also requires lawmakers to provide more financial disclosure documents. Although these changes appear to be a step in the right direction, advocacy groups say it should be just a start.

"Government reform groups in Illinois have spoken out about the current bill, agreeing that it does not go far enough and doesn't even scratch the surface on meaningful ethics reforms that our state drastically needs," Marron said. "We need to bring integrity back to our government and continue to prove that we are listening to people and that we take their concerns seriously and we need to do this because we need to bring faith and trust back in state government."

Marron asked his Democratic colleagues to get back to the negotiating table so that they can make even more progress.

"It's time for my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to join me and our Republican members in standing up for hardworking Illinoisans and say enough is enough," Marron said during the news conference. 

The Illinois Senate unanimously agreed with changes made to the bill back in June, according to The Illinois Policy Institute.

The same article noted that the state House of Representatives approved the bill with a 113-5 vote back in May.

The Illinois Policy Institute also reported the law would still allow for lawmakers to work as lobbyists immediately after their terms expire when a new General Assembly begins.