An Evanston group in favor of term limits for Illinois lawmakers announced Thursday it has gathered more than half the signatures it needs to put the issue on the ballot next year.

Headed by Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner, the Committee for Legislative Reform and Term Limits said it has recruited more than 150,000 supporters of a state constitutional amendment that would cap Illinois legislators’ tenures at eight years. The committee has until May 5 to submit 300,000 signatures, guaranteeing a ballot question six months later.

“Illinoisans are hungry for term limits, and our effort is gaining serious momentum,” Rauner said in a news release. “This amendment will help put the people back in charge of state government, and folks are enthusiastically signing on.”

The political action committee has also proposed increasing the number of state House members from 118 to 123, reducing the number of state senators from 59 to 41 and making it more difficult for the General Assembly to override a gubernatorial veto.

Voters generally favor term limits. In January, a Gallup poll found 75 percent approval for them in Congress. Seventy-six percent of Illinois voters supported term limits for state lawmakers and other elected officials in a 2009 poll by the Chicago Tribune and WGN.

Rauner, a wealthy businessman, has made legislative reform a centerpiece of his campaign, touting it in TV ads and forming the PAC, which could boost his coffers as he runs for governor. Evanston resident Harlan Teller, a longtime public relations expert, serves as the committee’s treasurer, according to Illinois State Board of Elections records.

— Patrick Svitek