Illinois House of Representatives
| Illinois House of Representatives | |
| Type | |
|---|---|
| Type | Bicameral |
| Leadership | |
| Speaker | Michael Madigan, (D) since 1997 |
| Minority Leader | Tom Cross, (R) since 2002 |
| Structure | |
| Members | 118 |
| Election | |
| Meeting place | |
| Illinois State Capitol | |
| Web site | |
| ilga.gov/house | |
The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The state House of Representatives is made of 118 representatives elected from individual legislative districts for a two-year term with no limits. In contrast, the Illinois Senate is made of 59 senators with staggered two- or four-year terms.
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The Illinois House of Representatives meets at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield. It is required to convene on the second Wednesday of January each year. Its primary duties are to make laws (including the state budget), act on federal constitutional amendments, and propose constitutional amendments for Illinois. The Illinois House of Representatives also holds the power to impeach executive and judicial officials.
The current Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives is Michael Madigan of Chicago, who represents the 22nd District. The Democratic Party of Illinois currently holds a majority in the House. Under the Illinois Constitution, the office of Minority Leader is recognized for the purpose of making certain appointments. Tom Cross of Plainfield, a Republican representing the 84th District, currently holds the post.
Before the Cutback Amendment to the state constitution in 1980, the state was divided into 59 "legislative districts", each of which elected three representatives, yielding a House of 177 members. This unusual system was even more distinctive in that the election was conducted by a modified form of cumulative voting: each individual voter was given three legislative votes to cast, and could cast either one vote each for three candidates, all three votes for one candidate (known as a "bullet vote"), or even 1 1/2 votes each for two candidates. After the passage of the Cutback Amendment, this system was abolished and representatives were elected from 118 single member constituencies.
| Affiliation | Members |
|
| Democratic Party | 67 | |
| Republican Party | 51 | |
| Total |
118 | |
| Majority |
16 | |
- Speaker of the House: Michael Madigan
- Majority Leader: Barbara Flynn Currie
- Deputy Majority Leader: Gary Hannig
- Majority Conference Chair: Joe Lyons
- Minority Leader: Tom Cross
- Minority Caucus Chair: Dan Brady
- Clerk of the House: Mark Mahoney
- Chief Doorkeeper: Lee A. Crawford
- Parliamentarian: Robert A. Uhe
- Illinois General Assembly - House official government site
- Illinois House Republicans official government site
- Illinois House Democrats official government site
- Project Vote Smart - Illinois State House of Representatives voter information
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