Rockford Sun

The following action was taken on May 10 in the House on Senate bill SB1485 ("racial discrimination"): "Rule 19(a) / Re-referred to Rules Committee."

The Rules Committees is a powerful standing committee in the House controlled by the majority. All legislation is assigned to the Rules Committee as a kind of legislative filter that sorts the more-than-6,000 bills introduced each year. The committee considers the legislation and often assigns it to other committees in order to be heard by other lawmakers. Sometimes, legislation dies in the Rules Committee if the committee decides it does not merit further consideration.

In the event that a committee fails to report to the House on a bill by applicable deadlines, it is automatically re-referred to the Rules Committee according to House rule 19(a). This is what happened with this bill.

The bill, as it was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Kimberly A. Lightford (D-4) on Feb. 13, "creates the Racial Impact Note Act," according to the General Assembly website.

The following senators also co-sponsored the bill: Christopher Belt (D-57), Scott M. Bennett (D-52), Cristina Castro (D-22), Jacqueline Y. Collins (D-16), Thomas Cullerton (D-23), Bill Cunningham (D-18), Napoleon Harris, III (D-15), Emil Jones, III (D-14), Steven M. Landek (D-12), Iris Y. Martinez (D-20), Antonio Muñoz (D-1), Elgie R. Sims, Jr. (D-17), Patricia Van Pelt (D-5) and Ram Villivalam (D-8).

The following house representatives co-sponsored the bill: Carol Ammons (D-103), Kambium Buckner (D-26), Kelly M. Cassidy (D-14), William Davis (D-30), Marcus C. Evans, Jr. (D-33), Mary E. Flowers (D-31), La Shawn K. Ford (D-8), Jehan Gordon-Booth (D-92), LaToya Greenwood (D-114), Sonya M. Harper (D-6), Elizabeth Hernandez (D-24), Thaddeus Jones (D-29), Camille Y. Lilly (D-78), Theresa Mah (D-2), Rita Mayfield (D-60), Debbie Meyers-Martin (D-38), Delia C. Ramirez (D-4), Lamont J. Robinson, Jr. (D-5), Justin Slaughter (D-27), Nicholas K. Smith (D-34), Curtis J. Tarver, II (D-25), André Thapedi (D-32), Arthur Turner (D-9), Celina Villanueva (D-21), Emanuel Chris Welch (D-7), Maurice A. West, II (D-67) and Jawaharial Williams (D-10).

The table below shows a history of actions for this bill through May 10.