SPRINGFIELD – Today, the lead House and Senate sponsors of the Fair Maps Amendment (HJRCA43/SJRCA26), Representative Ryan Spain (R-Peoria) and Senator Julie Morrison (D-Deerfield) have taken actions to force movement on the amendment.

Sen. Morrison has called on the Senate leadership and succeed in scheduling the Senate version of the Fair Maps Amendment, SJRCA26, a subject matter hearing with the Senate Executive Committee’s Election Law Subcommittee. The hearing has been scheduled for next Wednesday, April 18th at 3pm.

Meanwhile in the state house, Rep. Spain has filed a discharge petition to force HJRCA43 out of the House Rules Committee into the Election & Campaign Finance Committee.

“It is inspiring to see Rep. Spain and Sen. Morrison show such principled leadership and courage in the fight for fair maps,” stated Jeff Raines, Communications Director of CHANGE Illinois. “We hope every member of the Illinois General Assembly will join Sen. Morrison and Rep. Spain against gerrymandering by calling for a floor vote on the Fair Maps Amendment.”

Partner organizations from the Illinois Redistricting Collaborative have scheduled a lobby day for the same day as the Senate subject matter hearing, April 18th, and will be meeting with members of the House and Senate to add additional cosponsors to the Fair Maps Amendment.

The bipartisan Fair Maps Amendment currently has 16 cosponsors in the House and 9 in the Senate.