Each legislative session, Leaders in the House of Representatives introduce shell bills before the filing deadline. These bills make minor changes to state law, like adding or deleting a single word, and are intended to be amended at a later date with other substantive legislative language. The state budget and corresponding appropriation bills are examples of legislation that are typically amended onto shell bills. However, the budget is not the only use for these types of bills. This year more than 1,300 shell bills were filed and may be used for any number of reasons.
In an attempt to ensure compliance with the single-subject rule stipulated in the Illinois Constitution, a large number of shell bills are introduced each year on many different subjects, in hopes that they will accommodate any unforeseen legislative issues. Shell bills can be identified by the word “TECH” added to their description. For appropriation bills, you’ll also see the dollar ($) sign in the beginning of the description.
Once filed, the shell bills make their way through the legislative and committee process and are then parked on second reading on the House Floor until they are needed. After a floor amendment is adopted, the bill can be immediately moved to third reading to receive a vote in the House of Representatives.
The deadline for filing bills typically comes only weeks into the legislative session. If an issue requiring a legislative solution arises in the House after that date, a new bill could be created and assigned to a committee with approval by the Speaker of the House, but it would have to go through the entire new bill process – which can take up to a week if the rules are followed. To bypass that process, shell bills are often used because they have already been assigned to and passed out of a committee. A floor amendment can be filed to a shell bill that is awaiting action on the House Floor and that amendment would then either be referred to a committee, or it can be referred directly back to the House Floor. Once the amendment is adopted, the bill can be called for a vote on the floor.
Shell bills can, and have been used, to trick the public.
Amendments have less scrutiny than original legislation, requiring in some cases only a one-hour posting notice as opposed to six days for new bills – and as noted above, the amendments can be referred directly to the House Floor as opposed to a committee. This makes shell bills an enticing way to sneak through controversial legislation. Less transparency means a higher likelihood of passage and less chance of negative repercussions from constituents.
Just as appalling, shell bills are often used to receive language stripped from a bill that had received a large number of opposing witness slips filed in committee. Since witness slips stay connected to legislation by bill number, stealing the legislation over to a shell bill effectively silences the voices of everyone who filed a witness slip – unless those opponents are made aware of the change and have time to file witness slips in opposition. Yet another effective way to fool the public.
Since the budget and corresponding appropriations bills are not ready to be filed until well after the deadline, some argue it makes sense to have the shell bill option. House Republicans argue that shell bills amended to contain the budget or appropriation language should not be rammed through the General Assembly in the middle of the night, with only hours to review them, especially if there is something to hide, like a tax hike. These important bills should be fully vetted by the appropriation committees in the light of day and with ample time to review what’s contained in the bill before being voted on by the entire legislative body, also in the light of day.
There are legitimate uses for shell bills to address urgent issues that can arise after the bill introduction deadline. However, using a shell bill to pass 5,000+ pages of budget-related bills within a day’s (or even hours) time is not the type of transparency that Illinoisans’ or their elected officials deserve. Having tighter control over how shell bills are used to ensure options are available for emerging needs without allowing shell bills to be used to obfuscate or deceive, will go a long way in shoring up the public’s trust in the legislative process in Illinois.