Your Illinois State Government

Founded August 26th, 1818

Brief History of Illinois

• Carved out of the Northwest Territory.

Brief History of Illinois

• Northwest Ordinance excluded slavery and required 60,000 inhabitants to declare Statehood.

• August, 1818 – Statehood established, and Kaskaskia becomes first state capitol.

State Capitols

• 1818-1820 – Kaskaskia

• 1820-1839 – Vandalia

• 1839-Today – Springfield

Executive Branch

6 Officers Holding 4 year terms

• Governor -- Pat Quinn

• Lieutenant Governor – Sheila Simon

• Secretary of State – Jesse White

• Attorney General – Lisa Madigan

• Comptroller – Judy Baar Topinka

• Treasurer – Dan Rutheford

Legislative Branch (General Assembly)

118 Representatives and 59 Senators• There are 2 Representatives to each Senator.

Each Representative represents a representative district and each Senator represents a legislative district.

• Representatives hold a 2 year term• Senators hold either a 4 year term or a 2 year

term depending on their rotation in the election cycle (4-4-2, 4-2-4, 2-4-4). This is done to make the state senate a contiguous body.

Where you live

You are in the 31st Legislative District

Your Representative is Sandy Cole (62nd district)

Your Senator is Suzi Schmidt (31st)

Judiciary Branch

• There are 5 judicial districts. 1 for Cook County, and the other 4 distributed across the state.

• Each Supreme Court Justice

is elected to a 10 year term. • The Supreme Court has 7

sitting justices. 3 from the

District (Cook Cty.) and 1

from the remaining districts.

Illinois Bill of Rights

The Bill of Rights for Illinois is listed 1st in the state Constitution.

The Bill of Rights includes a Crime Victims Bill of Rights which is unique to Illinois.

In the Illinois Constitution but not the Federal Constitution

Articles 7-13 contain many specific responsibilities for the state.

These include local government, education, state militia and the environment.

These responsibilities must be laid out because the Federal Constitution requires the states to handle them. (Federalism)

The Illinois Constitution of 1970

Illinois has had 3 Constitutions, the latest to be written in the fall of 1970.

The Constitution must continuously be updated because of its specificity and the changing needs of the citizens of Illinois.

In order to change the Constitution, a Constitutional Convention must be voted on by the citizens of Illinois.

In 2008 a Constitutional Convention was proposed but was defeated by the citizens of Illinois.