Eye On Illinois: Top court again urged to revisit enrolled bill doctrine precedent

While rank-and-file lawmakers wait for the governor and legislative leaders to negotiate a budget bill, it’s shaping up to be a “play the hits” week here at Eye On Illinois.

After the recent reconsideration of charging parking fees for state parks, today’s trip down memory lane is another chance to excoriate both the General Assembly and Illinois Supreme Court for committing and tolerating repeated abuses of the enrolled bill doctrine.

The news peg is a May 2 Fifth District Appellate Court affirmation that Effingham County Circuit Court Judge Douglas Jarman properly dismissed a complaint challenging the Protect Illinois Communities Act (tinyurl.com/FifthAppellate). Aside from the substantive matter of the law’s constitutionality is a special concurrence from Justice Mark Boie castigating dubious procedural measures.

Article IV, Section 8, of the Illinois Constitution stipulates: “A bill shall be read by title on three different days in each house. A bill and each amendment thereto shall be reproduced and placed on the desk of each member before final passage.”

Section 8 also holds that “The Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate shall sign each bill that passes both houses to certify that the procedural requirements for passage have been met.”

Illinois Supreme Court precedent took that clause to establish the “enrolled bill doctrine,” forcing courts to defer to the leaders’ attestation instead of actually reviewing whether the General Assembly followed the rules. In practice, that means two high-ranking officials, typically from the same party, can sign off on just about anything.

The underlying legislation is House Bill 5471 from the 102nd General Assembly. State Rep. Dagmara Avelar, D-Bolingbrook, introduced the bill Jan. 28, 2002, as an amendment to the Illinois Insurance Code. The House passed its third reading on a consent calendar that March. The Senate had a first reading three days later and a second reading Nov. 30.

Nothing significant happened until the January 2023 lame duck session. On Jan. 9, Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, filed the amendment that turned an insurance bill into gun control legislation. By the end of Jan. 10, the bill was a law, complete with the governor’s signature.

I could take the rest of the week quoting Boie or the other appellate and even Supreme Court justices who have eloquently written about the Democratic majority’s persistent refusal to follow the three readings rule as well as the top court’s hands-off stance that allows two signatures to functionally erase all the other intentionally recorded evidence showing those promises to be empty.

It’s long past time for the Supreme Court to undo that precedent and begin directly considering whether lawmakers followed the constitution in enacting legislation, even ff that means neutralizing otherwise valid bills.

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Local News Network. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.