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WNIJ's summary of news items around our state.

Four Months Later, 'Turnaround Agenda' Faces Uphill Battle With Term Limits

senatorbarickman.com / Peoria Public Radio

Governor Rauner spent most of the past four months traveling around Illinois, touting his so-called "Turnaround Agenda."

Some of his requests, like allowing localities to create right-to-work zones, faced an uphill battle from the beginning. But other items, like term limits, have been popular with voters since the governor ran on them last year.

Now Democrats, who control the legislature, refuse to bring a term limit proposal to a vote. They say it's a distraction from passing a state budget before the weekend's deadline.

Senator Jason Barickman, a Republican from Bloomington, disagrees.

"What does term limits have to do with the budget?” Barickman said. “The fact that we're in this problem because of the decisions made by the career politicians here and next door...adopting term limits gets rid of the people like Speaker Madigan, who quite frankly has been in office – “

Speaker Mike Madigan interrupted Barickman, saying he has “given a lot of leeway today to the budget."

Democrats, like Speaker Mike Madigan, point out there’s plenty of time, but instituting term limits would require asking voters if they want to change the constitution. The next opportunity to put that question on the ballot is more than a year away. 

Meisel works for Capitol News Illinois.