THE ILLINOIZE: Marathon day, night, and early morning in Springfield...HARMON BLOCKING BUDGET...ethics, elections all pass...FOID, energy, Chicago school board stuck as lawmakers depart Springfield
June 1, 2021
Good morning.
The House adjourned around 2:30 this morning, the Senate was in past 3. It went from May 31st to what some here in Springfield were calling May 32nd.
A ton of ground got covered, some things were alive, dead, reached a deal, then fell apart all at or after midnight.
Just another wild end-of-session in Springfield. The House is out until who knows when. The Senate is back at 11am today. Yep. It’s not over.
Also, I have to head over to Champaign this morning for some other things, so I’ll be in studio with my guy Brian Barnhart on WDWS-AM around 9:10am talking about the madness. Listen online here.
I’m going to go through things in detail later today (if not, definitely tomorrow) for paid subscribers, so I invite you to join us as a paid subscriber. It’s just $7.99 per month or $75 per year. Please subscribe now by clicking the little button below.
Let’s get to it.
BUDGET PASSES, HARMON PUTS A “BRICK” ON IT
Shortly after House Democrats held a celebratory news conference in the basement Blueroom of the Statehouse, Senate President Don Harmon put a damper on Democrats’ glee over a new state budget.
Harmon placed a parliamentary hold on the budget bill in the early hours of Tuesday morning, a ‘brick’ in Springfield parlance, that doesn’t allow the bill to move to the Governor’s desk.
It’s not clear why Harmon placed the hold on the budget, and his spokesman, shockingly, wasn’t returning my message at 5:00 A.M. It’s safe to say the speculation will quickly turn to the hotly-debated energy bill that had reached a deal at one point yesterday, then fell apart before it could ever come to a vote. I’m told Harmon is on opposite sides of Governor JB Pritzker and House Speaker Chris Welch on the energy bill (more on that later.)
The budget takes in $42.3 billion and spends $42.2 billion, but includes over $600 million in revenue from what Republicans call “tax increases” and Democrats call “closing tax loopholes.”
Republicans also criticized what they called $1 billion in “pork barrel” spending by Democrats, but did not provide a list of projects they objected to.
If you’re wondering, Senate Democrats have three of their more vulnerable members vote no on the budget, Sen. Suzy Glowiak Hilton (D-Western Springs), Sen. Doris Turner (D-Springfield), and Sen. Rachelle Crowe (D-Alton).
REPUBLICANS GRUMBLE, BUT ETHICS BILL SAILS
You may recognize former State Representative Luis Arroyo above. You may not. But, he’s one of the contributing factors for a major ethics bill passed yesterday—even though Republicans say the bill doesn’t fix the problem Arroyo presented (minus the whole bribery thing.)
Both the House and Senate passed an ethics reform bill that, let’s face it, makes some improvements, but not nearly enough.
The new cooling off provision is six months, or the end of a term. So, for instance, a member could lose their race in November, resign the day before the end of the lame duck session in January, and register as a lobbyist the next day. Seriously.
It also allows members to continue to lobby the City of Chicago. Which is part of the mess around Arroyo.
It does strengthen the economic interest disclosure forms that have to be filed, which I’ve told you for a while now are worthless.
Most Republicans grumbled that the bill didn’t go far enough.
“I’m really disappointed with this legislation,” said Rep. Avery Bourne (R-Morrisonville). “We have seen time after time after time members of this body, elected officials in Illinois, who have gone against the public’s trust. If we are going to show the public that they can have a renewed sense of trust in state government, we’ve gotta do something a whole heck of a lot better than this watered down, diluted, and, I think, in some instances, deceptive ethics reform.”
Both Sen. Ann Gillespie (D-Arlington Heights) and Rep. Kelly Burke (D-Evergreen Park), who sponsored the bill, said they’d be revisiting the legislation.
We’ll see if they hold to their comments.
2022 PRIMARY MOVES TO JUNE 28
Part of an election omnibus bill passed yesterday moves the 2022 primary to June 28. That causes problems for cash-strapped GOP candidates for Governor, who will now have to raise enough money to stay in the race for an extra 3+ months, but will also be a potential headache for incumbent legislators.
Typically, incumbents benefit, because while they’re in Springfield in January and February, it’s too darn cold and snowy for their primary opponents to be knocking on doors and owning the ground while they’re off voting. While this gives primary challengers all spring to knock on doors, it also makes any controversial votes fair game in the final month of the primary.
There are some other voting issues I’ll be looking at with subscribers later in the week.
WHAT’S LEFT?
Energy- I got a text at 8:01 P.M. last night that a deal had been struck on an energy bill. I had also heard it was potentially being brought to the floor for action before 9:00 P.M. Then it just…died. There’s a ton of internal politics between the Governor’s office, Speaker, Senate President, coal, and green energy groups here, including the Governor’s office apparently trying to throw some (figurative) chunks of coal at the Senate President’s Chief of Staff last night. For the record, all of my dealings with Jake Butcher have always been 100% above board, even though we worked on different sides. I don’t know if Harmon’s brick on the budget is related to it or not, but it shows there’s some tension among Democrats.
FOID- The House passed a bill Sunday requiring fingerprints for FOID card holders in the state (which, of course, made Republicans go crazy), and only passed with exactly 60 votes. The Senate passed a new version of the bill yesterday with optional fingerprinting, and the House couldn’t find the votes to pass the bill last night. It would need 71 now, and that’s going to be a haul for any downstate Democrat to vote for.
Elected Chicago School Board- The roles have reversed on this one. Republicans always screamed for an elected school board and Democrats never wanted to move the power away from the Daleys. Now, Democrats want to give the power to CTU, which will obviously put a ton of money and support into pro-union candidates. It may get a vote in the Senate today.
WHAT’S NEXT?
They aren’t going to be home until veto session. We’ll see how the energy bill discussions shake out, if there’s a FOID bill, and whatever else may pop up in the next few weeks.
Oh yeah, they still have to draw congressional maps.
We’ll see you back in Springfield soon.
Like I said, more information for subscribers later today or tomorrow morning, depending on if I can get any sleep at all (which isn’t likely since it’s already past 6 when I’m finishing this).
Send me any questions or comments you have about what happened this weekend. I’d love to put together a video Q&A in the next few days. (I won’t out anybody’s name or job titles, don’t worry.) Just drop me a note at patrick@theillinoize.com.
That’s it. That’s all I’ve got. I’m getting too old for all-nighters.
Have a great day.