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[March 07, 2023]  By Greg Bishop | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly return this week and with deadlines to move bills out of committee, legislation is expected to abound.

In the House and Senate, there are 6,545 bills filed for consideration. Many of those are what is referred to as a “shell bill.” State Sen. Steve McClure, R-Springfield, gave his take on shell bills.

“Shell bills can be used after deadlines have passed to get sometimes important bills passed but more often than not they're used to ram a piece of legislation at the very last moment where you can change the bill number by attaching an amendment to a brand new shell bill,” McClure told The Center Square.

State Rep. Maurice West, D-Rockford, said shell bills can help with last-minute fixes that are needed to state law.

“As we know, a lot of people don’t want to know how the sausage is made, but this is part of the process of getting things to the finish line,” West told The Center Square.

Many of the dozens of shell bills range from various topics and can be as simple as legislation that crosses out the word “the” in a statute to replace it with the word “the.” The deadline to pass House bills, including such measures with single word changes, out of House committees and Senate bills out of Senate committees is Friday.

The Illinois State Capitol in Springfield.
Greg Bishop / The Center Square

“Put your mind at ease in terms of this trying to be the run around over you,” West said. “It’s just part of the process in how we get things done and at the end of the day let us see what the results are with these shell bills and that should give you pause or give you comfort on the process.”

McClure said while some legislation may require such maneuvers, he’s seen it happen for controversial issues like the recent gun ban, or the SAFE-T Act.

“It’s a way for them to hide all the witness slips that are opposed to bills. It's a way for them to be less transparent and try to sneak things through and I think the people of this state deserve better than that,” McClure said.

The legislature is scheduled to be in spring session through mid-may. They have a May 31 deadline to pass bills, including the budget, with simple majorities.

Greg Bishop reports on Illinois government and other issues for The Center Square. Bishop has years of award-winning broadcast experience and hosts the WMAY Morning Newsfeed out of Springfield.