Students

It’s only a couple more weeks until everyone hops on their respective buses to travel to Springfield – are you ready?

Bill Book

You can now download an electronic copy of the 2018 Bill Book.
You will receive a bound copy when you arrive in Springfield.  The page is password protected – please ask your advisor for the password if you have not already received it.

This year, we will begin a 2-year transition process to begin electing 4 major offices to serve for the full year before the assembly – not just the 3 days of the current year’s assembly weekend.

In the first year of the transition, we will elect all major offices for 2017, plus, in a separate election, the 4 transitioning offices for the 2018 Assembly.

On Friday we will elect the following Major Officers to serve for the 2017 Assembly:

• Governor
• Chief Justice
• Lt. Governor
• Secretary of State
• President of the Senate
• Speaker of the House
• Executive Director of Lobbyists

On Sunday we will elect the following officers to serve the entire year and through the 2018 Assembly:

• Governor
• Chief Justice
• Lt. Governor
• Secretary of State

More details, including how to run for the offices for the 2018 Assembly, will be given to each delegation and will be available in the Advisor Manual. If you have any questions, please contact the Youth and Government Office.

This year, we’re slightly changing how legislative committees function at Pre-Leg 1 with the goal of providing better feedback to bill groups.

Instead of a typical committee session with general debate on a bill, the committee will hold an organized discussion on each bill with committee members offering suggestions on how to make each bill better.

How roles will change this year:

• Bill Groups – Groups should prepare to give a 4-6 minute presentation to introduce their Bill to the other committee members. There will be no questions allowed during the presentation. Bill groups may use handouts or visual aids to assist them in their presentation (no projectors will be available). The presentation should be in depth enough so that other committee members are informed enough to be able to give quality feedback at its conclusion.
• Legislators – Committee members will be able to ask questions and give suggestions to each bill group on how to improve that group’s bill.
• Committee Chairs – Chairs will be in charge of leading the discussion. Use of parliamentary procedure is not required as long as the discussion is kept orderly and the goal of providing the bill group with constructive feedback on their bill is accomplished.

Adult committee advisors should be prepared to explain the changes at the beginning of the committee session and help steer discussion if it begins sounding like debate.

With the beginning of a new school year, we also begin a new year for Illinois YMCA Youth & Government. Please follow us on Twitter (or like us on Facebook if that’s your thing) and check back here  for the latest updates for you throughout the year.

Alright, let’s go…

Here are some ways that you can hit the ground running once you know which role you will fill for this year.

Legislators

1. Need a idea for a bill or help to get started writing? Start with our bill writing guide.
2. After you have a topic, here are some helpful links to use when doing research.
3. When you are ready to start writing, use our templates for your bill and bill brief.

Judicial

All judicial case materials including the trial and appeal handbooks, facts and case law as well as bench memo best practices can be found at the Tutorials & Guides page.