republic-os/legislation/us/states/il/101st/sb-72.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "COOK COUNTY BOARD PRES-VACANCY"
description: "Amends the Election Code. Provides that, if a vacancy in the office of President of the Cook County Board occurs on or after the first day for the filing of nomination papers, then nominations for the office of President of the Cook County Board are to be made by the county central committee of each established political party. Amends the Counties Code. Provides that, in the event of a vacancy in the office of president of the county board of commissioners, the members of the county board of commissioners shall elect one of their number to serve as president of the county board of commissioners until the next special or regular election for the office of president of the county board of commissioners. Provides that, if more than 28 months remain in the unexpired term, then a special election shall be held. Provides that, if 28 months or less remain in the unexpired term, the appointed president of the county board of commissioners shall serve until the next regular election. Effective immediately."
jurisdiction: "us/states/il"
legislature: "Illinois General Assembly"
session: "101st"
identifier: "SB 72"
citation: "Illinois SB 72 (101st)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: []
version_count: 3
action_count: 24
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2019-01-23"
last_action: "2019-08-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0412f5f3-669c-4638-9bff-7f6a26074be5"
source_url: "http://ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=72&GAID=15&DocTypeID=SB&LegId=115036&SessionID=108&GA=101"
source_hash: "b1296b7feebf60d1d54a38fc6eabd1979584d4d403d0f59450b1349cc9ab5dfb"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-il"]
---

# Illinois SB 72 (101st) — COOK COUNTY BOARD PRES-VACANCY

Amends the Election Code. Provides that, if a vacancy in the office of President of the Cook County Board occurs on or after the first day for the filing of nomination papers, then nominations for the office of President of the Cook County Board are to be made by the county central committee of each established political party. Amends the Counties Code. Provides that, in the event of a vacancy in the office of president of the county board of commissioners, the members of the county board of commissioners shall elect one of their number to serve as president of the county board of commissioners until the next special or regular election for the office of president of the county board of commissioners. Provides that, if more than 28 months remain in the unexpired term, then a special election shall be held. Provides that, if 28 months or less remain in the unexpired term, the appointed president of the county board of commissioners shall serve until the next regular election. Effective immediately.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](http://ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=10100SB0072&GA=101&SessionId=108&DocTypeId=SB&LegID=115036&DocNum=72&GAID=15&SpecSess=&Session=&print=true)
2. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=10100SB0072eng&GA=101&SessionId=108&DocTypeId=SB&LegID=115036&DocNum=72&GAID=15&SpecSess=&Session=&print=true)
3. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](http://ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=10100SB0072enr&GA=101&SessionId=108&DocTypeId=SB&LegID=115036&DocNum=72&GAID=15&SpecSess=&Session=&print=true)

## Votes

- Third Reading — **50–0** (pass) · upper
- Third Reading — **113–3** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Gregory Harris — primary (person)
- John J. Cullerton — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2019-01-23** Filed with Secretary by Sen. John J. Cullerton `filing`
- **2019-01-23** First Reading `reading-1`
- **2019-01-23** Referred to Assignments `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-23** Assigned to Executive `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-31** Do Pass Executive; 016-000-000 `committee-passage`
- **2019-01-31** Placed on Calendar Order of 2nd Reading February 5, 2019
- **2019-02-19** Second Reading `reading-2`
- **2019-02-19** Placed on Calendar Order of 3rd Reading February 20, 2019
- **2019-03-28** Third Reading - Passed; 050-000-000 `reading-3, passage`
- **2019-03-28** Arrived in House `introduction`
- **2019-03-28** Chief House Sponsor Rep. Gregory Harris
- **2019-03-28** First Reading `reading-1`
- **2019-03-28** Referred to Rules Committee `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-09** Assigned to Executive Committee `referral-committee`
- **2019-05-01** Do Pass / Short Debate Executive Committee; 008-000-000 `committee-passage`
- **2019-05-02** Placed on Calendar 2nd Reading - Short Debate
- **2019-05-14** Second Reading - Short Debate `reading-2`
- **2019-05-14** Placed on Calendar Order of 3rd Reading - Short Debate
- **2019-05-21** Third Reading - Short Debate - Passed 113-003-000 `reading-3, passage`
- **2019-05-21** Passed Both Houses
- **2019-06-19** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2019-08-02** Governor Approved `executive-signature`
- **2019-08-02** Effective Date August 2, 2019
- **2019-08-02** Public Act . . . . . . . . . 101-0188 `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/0412f5f3-669c-4638-9bff-7f6a26074be5`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Illinois legislature records).