Thursday, October 10, 2013

Shrinking the Illinois Senate

Our state senator
Illinois SealBy Brian Costin -
With 42,336 elected officials as of 1992, Illinois has nearly 12,000 more state and local elected politicians than any other state.
Amazingly, with this unprecedented wealth of legislators Illinois hasn’t been able to adequately address some of its most dire problems. Illinois still ranks near the bottom of the nation in numerous key economic indicators, includingunemployment ratebusiness climateout migration and credit ratings.
The trend of lots of legislators starts from the top. With 59 members, Illinois has the third-largest state Senate body in the country. Only Minnesota, with 67 senators, and New York, with 62 senators, have more.
With this large workforce of politicians comes increased costs for state and local taxpayers in Illinois. In fact, Illinois legislators are among the highest paid in the country.
However, a constitutional amendment proposal for the November 2014 election looks to reduce the size of the Illinois Senate and bring it closer in line with the national average of 39.

This is part of the same proposal to enact eight-year term limits on members of the Illinois General Assembly.
The proposed structural changes to the General Assembly would reduce the number of state senators to 41 from 59 members, and increase the number of state representatives to 123 from 118 members. The net reduction in state legislators would be 13.
Even with the proposed reduction to 41 members, 33 states would still have smaller legislatures than Illinois. This includes California, Florida and Texas, three of the largest states in the nation.
While opponents are chastising the plan to reduce the number of state senators, the reduction will actually bring Illinois closer in line with the rest of the country. Also, it may kick start efforts to reduce the number of elected officials locally.
Here’s a look at how the Illinois Senate compares to other states.
State            Senate size    
1. Alaska20
2. Nevada21
3. Delaware21
4. New Hampshire24
5. Hawaii25
6. Utah29
7. Arizona30
8. Oregon30
9. Vermont30
10. Wyoming30
11. Texas31
12. Ohio33
13. Tennessee33
14. Wisconsin33
15. Missouri34
16. West Virginia34
17. Colorado35
18. Alabama35
19. Arkansas35
20. Idaho35
21. Maine35
22. South Dakota35
23. Connecticut36
24. Michigan38
25. Kentucky38
26. Rhode Island38
27. Louisiana39
28. California40
29. Florida40
30. New Jersey40
31. Virginia40
32. Massachusetts40
33. Kansas40
34. Illinois (proposed)          41
34. New Mexico42
35. South Carolina46
36. Maryland47
37. North Dakota47
38. Oklahoma48
39. Washington49
40. Pennsylvania50
41. North Carolina50
42. Indiana50
43. Iowa50
44. Montana50
45. Mississippi52
46. Georgia56
47. Illinois (current)59
48. New York62
49. Minnesota67
Average senate size39.2

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