Eye On Illinois: Embrace new session as opportunity to become informed, involved

Today marks the beginning of the 104th Illinois General Assembly.

There are 78 House Democrats and 40 House Republicans. In the Senate there are 40 Democrats and 19 Republicans.

Each lawmaker earns an annual base salary of $93,712. They can be reimbursed for travel and collect per diem payouts when in session. There are five-figure stipends for chamber leadership posts as well as chairing a legislative committee. Lawmakers can enroll in state health insurance and pension plans. To learn how much a lawmaker grosses – or any state employee – visit illinoiscomptroller.gov, then click on “financial reports & data” then “data sets & portals” and finally “salary database.”

In 2024 the top earning legislators were the party leaders in both chambers, who each grossed $123,300. In the House, 78 members earned at least $103,400. In the Senate, 45 members reached that level.

The General Assembly is scheduled to be be in regular session until May 31, though there are more days off than on: the Senate calendar has five session dates this month, nine in February, seven in March, nine in April and then 18 in May, including the evening of Memorial Day. That’s 48 in total (the House has 51), although if 2020 taught us anything it’s to heed the “subject to change” clause.

The quickest way to get familiar with each delegate is a visit to ilga.gov/house and ilga.gov/senate. Pages for each member offer party affiliation, mailing addresses and phone numbers for Springfield and district offices, email addresses when available, committee assignments and information on all bills for which the member is a sponsor.

The Legislature’s website also has links to live video and audio feeds of full session meetings, transcripts of past meetings and other interesting tidbits, like House job postings, Freedom of Information Act guides, legislative ethics training documents and more.

This isn’t the first time I’ve made this call and it won’t be the last, but I encourage readers to take two steps this year (if you haven’t already): Follow bills on ilga.gov, and – at least once before Memorial Day – reach out to elected officials, be it email, phone call or response on social media.

I can’t promise it will change anyone’s vote or mind or that any lawmakers will respond (although I am interested in helping constituents who can’t get basic answers to direct questions), but I do feel strongly about the importance of the average voter taking an active role in our representative government.

Even writing four days a week isn’t enough to go full depth on important issues facing Illinois, and even a complete legislative session won’t adequately address everything. But there are problems to solve and arguments to win.

Let’s get to work.

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Local News Network. Follow him on X @sth749. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.