Will County Gazette

The following actions were taken on April 12 in the House on House bill HB905 ("anti-harassment task force"): "House Floor Amendment No. 2 Rule 19(c) / Re-referred to Rules Committee" and "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 House by Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz (D-17) on Jan. 25, "creates the Private Sector Workplace Anti-Harassment Task Force Act" and "creates the Private Sector Workplace Anti-Harassment Task Force," according to the General Assembly website.

The following house representatives also co-sponsored the bill: Jaime M. Andrade, Jr. (D-40), Monica Bristow (D-111), Kelly M. Burke (D-36), Jonathan Carroll (D-57), John Connor (D-85), Terra Costa Howard (D-48), Fred Crespo (D-44), Daniel Didech (D-59), Mary Edly-Allen (D-51), Sonya M. Harper (D-6), Thaddeus Jones (D-29), Joyce Mason (D-61), Martin J. Moylan (D-55), Diane Pappas (D-45), Lamont J. Robinson, Jr. (D-5), Justin Slaughter (D-27), Mark L. Walker (D-53) and Linda Chapa LaVia (D-83).

The table below shows a history of actions for this bill through April 12.