State Rep. Scott Drury Announces Government Reform Proposals

State Rep. Scott Drury, D-Highwood, has announced what he calls a comprehensive legislative platform consisting of nearly two-dozen proposals designed to implement economic, ethical and civil rights/criminal justice reforms.

Editor's Note: Drury's "REBOOT," which stands for Reform through Ethics and Better Operating, Open and Transparent Government, is not be confused with the nonpartisan political watchdog website called Reboot Illinois.

To Drury, "Illinois is like a computer that has crashed and needs to be rebooted. This legislation is the equivalent of a reboot."

Drury, a former federal prosecutor, has been an outspoken advocate for restoring the public’s trust in Illinois government. REBOOT Illinois is designed to show the public that their government is working for them.

The legislative proposals in REBOOT Illinois, if passed, will grow Illinois’ economy and create jobs by bringing certainty to Illinois’ economic policy and eliminating budgeting gimmicks that keep Illinois in perpetual debt, according to Drury.

"The lack of certainty in Illinois' economic decision-making has discouraged business investment in Illinois," said Drury. "REBOOT Illinois calls for comprehensive economic development and capital improvement plans that will provide the needed certainty."

REBOOT Illinois also calls for more open, transparent and accountable government. The proposals in REBOOT Illinois place tighter restrictions on lobbying, tackle public corruption in a meaningful way, impose term limits and employment restrictions on legislative leaders and improve the electoral process.

In describing the proposals, Drury emphasized that the reforms are not aimed at legislators. "The proposed reforms are aimed at restoring the public’s trust in government. When people begin to see legislators putting the public’s interests before their own, they will begin to believe that government is on their side."

REBOOT Illinois also contains proposals designed to prevent wrongful convictions on the front-end, while implementing procedures that allow for the correction of wrongful convictions on the back-end.

Drury is serving his first-term as state representative. Drury represents Illinois’ 58th District which includes all or portions of Bannockburn, Deerfield, Glencoe, Highland Park, Highwood, Knollwood, Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Lincolnshire, Northbrook, North Chicago and Riverwoods.

Economic reforms:

• Creation of comprehensive economic development and capital improvement plans.
• Bans on fund sweeps and other budgeting shell games.
• Lapse period to pay previous fiscal year’s bills limited to 2 months.
• Annual budget analysis showing Illinois' performance when budgeting gimmicks are removed.

Ethics, transparency and accountability reforms:

• Ban on legislators lobbying while in office / 2-year waiting period before retired legislators can lobby.
• Stronger lobbyist reporting requirements.
• Stronger gift ban and better disclosures
• 10-year term limit for legislative leaders / no outside employment for legislative leaders.
• Elimination of legislative pensions.
• Open primaries and shorter election cycle.
• Mandatory minimum sentences and disgorgement of state salary for public corruption.
• Statewide grand jury and new criminal statutes to address public corruption.

Civil rights and criminal justice reforms:

• New suspect identification procedures to prevent false identifications.
• Video-recorded interrogations of suspects in custody.
• Post-conviction rehearings where evidence of actual innocence exists.

Information submitted by the Office of State Rep. Scott Drury.