Will County Gazette

With Illinois earning the distinction of being the second most corrupt state in America — costing taxpayers more than $550 million each year—state Rep. Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield) urges the need for substantial reforms from the legislature.

He called for the introduction of bills that would bring real change to the state. 

"There's an overarching yet constantly ignored need for change and reform in Illinois,” Batinick said during a news conference. “We saw in November when voters overwhelmingly said stop trying to raise taxes to fix the problems the general assembly created. We see it every day when our friends, family, neighbors continue to leave Illinois for states with more opportunity and an honest government."

Despite a number of bills that have been approved out of committee and sent to the House floor for debate, he hit the lack of bills that would tackle the more pressing problems facing Illinois residents.

"Nothing contains the substantive reforms that we need to take and move the state forward,” Batinick stated. “Issues like pension and property tax reform which affect our constituents on a day-to-day basis. We need to take legislation addressing these issues up on the House floor to solve our state's largest problems."

The representative from Plainfield also underscored the importance of Republicans and Democrats working together to achieve change in Illinois.

“I spoke about how I look forward to continuing to find bipartisan substantive solution to ensure the prosperous future for Illinoisans in regard to our pension systems. We need to work together to find the solutions, not just for a pension crisis but for all the major issues that affect Illinois including ethics reforms and property taxes."

A growing number of Republican lawmakers have expressed frustration over the state legislature's progress on financial and ethics reforms.

According to the Department of Political Science of the University of Illinois at Chicago, the most substantial political corruption in the history of Chicago and Illinois was exposed in 2019

Chicago was also seen as having the most corrupt federal judicial district in the country.