Will County Gazette

Republican House Floor Leader Jim Durkin (R-Burre Ridge) is stressing the stakes couldn’t be higher in the ongoing fair maps debate.

“Let me just start by saying that this process is extremely important, probably the most important decision we make for many years to come,” Durkin told lawmakers during a recent House Redistricting Committee hearing. “If we do this process correctly, lay the foundation for congressional seats for the next decade, we all know how important that is on so many levels.”

With the fair maps debate raging as never before, Republicans have proposed Senate Bill 1325 as a simple solution. With Census Bureau data typically used to draw the maps not expected to be available before a June 30 deadline due to COVID-19, the measure would give the state Supreme Court the power to appoint 16 independent citizen commissioners to an independent redistricting commission with 30 days of passage. Typically the party in power gets to choose how the maps are drawn and Republican lawmakers are hoping to use this window to have more of a voice in the process. 

“We are at a very unique time in the nation and also in our state,” Durkin added. “If we've learned anything from the past, it is that the public, our public in Illinois, wants politics removed from redistricting plain and simple. In 2015, over a half a million Illinoisans signed a petition which stated that the legislature must be removed from this process and we should substitute an independent redistricting commission.