Comptroller Dan Hynes today congratulated the Legislature for approving landmark ethics legislation that curbs pay-to-play politics in Illinois, over objections from the Governor, saying the taxpayers of Illinois are the winners.

"Today, the people have won," Hynes said. "Ending pay-to-play politics in Illinois is the right thing to do and it is LONG overdue. I applaud lawmakers for helping to return Illinois government to the people, where it belongs."

Hynes, the original architect of the legislation in 2005, thanked members of the Senate and the House who overwhelmingly approved the legislation, particularly its main sponsors, Rep. John Fritchey and Senators Don Harmon and Debbie Halvorson. He also thanked the many reform groups who fought for the proposal, including the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform and the Better Government Association.

"This issue was not about personalities, political advantage or partisanship -- an overwhelming bipartisan coalition supporting the legislation demonstrated that," Hynes said. "This issue was about the people's right to have an honest government – a government that works in their best interests and one that gets the best investment in programs and services for their tax dollars."

The Senate approved HB824 on Monday, while the House approved it earlier this month. By taking its action, the Legislature rejected changes to the measure made by the Governor which were intended to kill the proposal.

HB824 strengthens the state's ethics laws by prohibiting businesses with contracts totaling more than $50,000 from making political donations to constitutional officers who award the contracts and declared candidates for those offices. The ban also applies to a company's owners, top officials and close family members. The new law takes take effect Jan. 1.

"By enacting these reforms, the General Assembly has made it much more difficult for pay-to-play to flourish," said Cynthia Canary, Director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. "Unethical officeholders and contractors still will look for ways to game the system, but better rules will be in place to police contracting and to make it more difficult for favors to be awarded in exchange for campaign funds."

Hynes instituted a more restrictive version of the ban in the Comptroller's Office more than three years ago as he introduced the original legislation. And, at his urging, all of the other constitutional officers, except for the Governor, instituted the ban as well.