Kendall County Times

Veteran state Rep. Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield) believes he speaks for the masses in standing against any amendments being made to the Health Care Right of Conscience Act.

“Yesterday evening, I spoke on an amendment to the Health Care Right of Conscience Act,” Batinick recently posted on Facebook. “There were 50,000 witness slips filed because we haven't been debating these nuances in the legislature.

"The legislation has long been aimed at protecting doctors from being forced into performing medical procedures that they stand morally opposed to, namely abortions. The current law states that “it is the public policy of the State of Illinois to respect and protect the right of conscience of all persons who refuse to obtain, receive or accept … health care services and medical care … and to prohibit all forms of discrimination, disqualification, coercion, disability or imposition of liability upon such persons or entities by reason of their refusing to act contrary to their conscience or conscientious convictions in providing, paying for, or refusing to obtain, receive, accept… health care services and medical care.”

Batinick notes this marks the first time lawmakers in Springfield have taken a stance on the governor’s executive powers.

“We should not have taken this last hope from our constituents,” he added.

Over the summer, Batinick made it a point of pushing for the major reforms he argues Springfield is now in need of.   

“I don’t know what it is going to take for the General Assembly to take this seriously,” he said in a post to Facebook. “I’ve filed several bills that the majority party never lets move. It is seriously frustrating.”

Not many GOP lawmakers seem surprised by Legislative Inspector General (LIG) Carol Pope's recent decision to step down from her post. In tendering her resignation, Pope cited a lack of commitment to the level of change she insists is clearly needed to bring about the level of ethical reform now needed.

With her resignation set to become official on Dec. 15, Pope added she is no fan of Senate Bill 539, which seeks to prohibit the LIG from launching an investigation based solely on public allegations raised in the news media.

Meanwhile, Batinick points to a recent University of Illinois at Chicago report that finds the state now ranks as the third-most corrupt in the country.

"There's an overarching yet constantly ignored need for change and reform in Illinois,” he said during a recent news conference. “We saw in November when voters overwhelmingly said, 'Stop trying to raise taxes to fix the problems the general assembly created.' We see it every day when our friends, family, neighbors continue to leave Illinois for states with more opportunity and an honest government.”

More recently, Batinick has thrown his support behind a bill that would allow for the recall of state leaders. HJRCA 4 would provide for the recall of all state executive branch officers, legislative leaders, the Auditor General, members of the General Assembly and local government officials.

"This isn’t about one office or one person; it’s about a culture of corruption that's been throughout the state and local government in Illinois. We have a 60% threshold in this legislation in the house that is HJRCA 4," Batinick said during a news conference. "This shouldn’t be a situation where you see the president's popularity go above and below 50% all the time. There has to be a supermajority of people that say that person needs to be removed from office."