 Brady's Senate Bill 2231 requires any public officer or public
employee to report the suspected official misconduct of a state
employee or a member of a board or commission to the appropriate
state's attorney or to the Illinois State Police. The penalty for
failure to report is a Class A misdemeanor, which is the same
penalty as failure to report a bribe."State employees are our
front-line defense in the fight to restore integrity to state
government in Illinois," Brady said. "We are asking them to contact
the appropriate authorities when they see illegal activity. And I
want to make this clear -- just reporting the violation to an ethics
officer is not enough. It needs to be reported to the state's
attorney or to the state police."
The 44th District senator says official misconduct, under current
law, is defined as the following acts:
-
Intentionally or
recklessly fails to perform any mandatory duty as required by
law.
-
Knowingly performs
an act which he/she knows he/she is forbidden by law to perform.
-
With intent to
obtain a personal advantage for himself/herself or another,
he/she performs an act in excess of his/her lawful authority.
-
Solicits or knowingly accepts for the
performance of any act a fee or reward which he/she knows is not
authorized by law.
Current law provides that a violation of the Official Misconduct
Act is a Class 3 felony and the person forfeits their office,
position or employment.
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Brady says such legislation might have helped address situations
like the scandal surrounding the Illinois Health Facilities Planning
Board. He testified Tuesday at the Joint Committee on Ethics
meeting, which centered on the IHFPB, and is sponsoring legislation
that would terminate IHFPB officials and board members.
While neither the officials nor the current board members have
been accused of wrongdoing, Brady says they are associated with the
scandals connected to ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
"In the months since Rod Blagojevich has been impeached and
removed from office, state leaders have thrown open the doors and
windows and are taking a hard look at the way government works. A
lot of housecleaning has been done already and more is needed,"
Brady said. "For that reason -- and for the same reason that the
executive director resigned from the Teachers Retirement System last
month -- we think it is necessary to remove the leaders and the
members of the Health Facilities Planning Board. We need to distance
ourselves from that era of corruption and controversy."
[Text from file sent on behalf
of
Sen.
Bill Brady by
Illinois Senate Republican staff]
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