Quinn supports amendment to letvoters enact ethics laws by referendum

Gov. Pat Quinn announced Sunday a proposed amendment that would allow Illinois voters to enact ethics laws through ballot referendums.

The proposed amendment, sponsored by Sen. Annazette Collins (D-Chicago), would allow voters to propose ethics reforms for all state-held offices in the three branches, as well as in local governments and school districts.

To put a proposed amendment on the ballot would require signatures equal to 8 percent of the number of ballots cast in the most recent gubernatorial election.

Three-fifths of voters would then have to approve the amendment in a general election.

The new powers would be limited to ethics reforms but would go beyond what voters can currently propose though the initiative and referendum process.

Currently, the state constitution allows voters to propose only amendments dealing with “structural and procedural” functions of the General Assembly.