THE ILLINOIZE: Thursday Free for All...The budget all nighter...CO2 storage regulations advance...Cannabis
May 30, 2024
Good morning, Illinois.
If you were like those of us in the political arena watching the House melt down at 4:30 a.m. yesterday morning, you weren’t alone. Governor JB Pritzker was watching, too.
“I watched it, I hate to say, like many of you at 4 in the morning,” he said a few hours later.
I wrote a bit of a tick tock (in traditional journalism lingo, not the weird app for people who dance) for subscribers yesterday if you want to relive the drama.
Paid subscribers got 12 exclusive newsletters as the final week of the legislative session ticked down. It’s invaluable information and now we’re going to cover campaigns better than anyone else. It’s time for you to join us.
The House and Senate are out until November, thank goodness. There’s nothing on Governor Pritzker’s public schedule today.
A note for subscribers, unless something big happens today, we’re probably not going to have a newsletter tomorrow.
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YOUR THURSDAY FREE FOR ALL
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Illinois House breaks at dawn after last-minute drama over $750M tax package (Chicago Tribune)
Democratic dominance in the Illinois legislature was put to the test this budget season as House lawmakers stumbled across the finish line at dawn Wednesday, needing three votes and a series of procedural maneuvers to pass a $750 million tax hike package necessary to balance their $53.1 billion spending plan.
The early morning chaos reflected the difficulty in trying to maintain unity within House and Senate Democratic supermajorities that encompass a broad range of ideological and geographic perspectives and priorities.
An election-year budget that included tax increases on sportsbooks, retailers and other businesses along with 5% pay raises for lawmakers and other state officials set up a series of tough votes, particularly for Democrats who are up for reelection this fall in more moderate to conservative suburban and downstate districts.
Last week, the legislature blew through its self-imposed Friday deadline to send a budget to Gov. J.B. Pritzker, and while lawmakers trimmed the nearly $900 million in tax increases their fellow Democrat laid out in his February budget blueprint, they also boosted spending by $400 million from what he proposed.
Pritzker, who was involved in negotiations, praised the final package and vowed to sign it when it officially reaches his desk. He sidestepped questions about Democratic defections and focused on defending the plan against Republican critics.
“It seems like every year there have been the usual naysayers with their false narratives about our budget,” Pritzker said Wednesday from his ceremonial office in the Illinois State Capitol. “Our record of fiscal responsibility and responsible investments is well established.”
Pritzker spoke just hours after the House approved the spending plan in a 65-45 vote taken at about 2 a.m. by members who returned to Springfield following a truncated Memorial Day weekend. The Democratic-controlled Senate gave its approval late Sunday on a 38-21 vote, largely along party lines.
Between the two chambers, nine suburban and downstate Democrats — seven in the House and two in the Senate — joined Republicans in opposing the main budget bill. While the opposing Democrats largely remained silent during debates, the GOP aimed its ire at expenditures including aid for migrants and legislative pay raises, which they will nonetheless receive.
Asked about GOP criticisms that the budget could be setting the state up for an uncertain financial future, Pritzker said: “Every year, particularly Republicans, say things like that. They say, ‘Oh, we’re careening toward a brick wall.’ It hasn’t happened. Six years in a row we have balanced this budget. And we have made sure that we’re thinking about and lowering costs for working families every time we put a budget together.”
Related: Illinois House ekes out $53.1 billion budget, hits state with more than $700 million in tax hikes (Chicago Sun-Times)
Illinois General Assembly OKs $53.1B state budget, but it takes all night (Associated Press)
Once again working through the night, lawmakers finalize $53.1 billion budget (Capitol News Illinois)
Inside the chaotic final hours before Illinois lawmakers passed a state budget (Bloomington Pantagraph)
Third time's the charm: Illinois House sends $53.1 billion budget to Pritzker (State Journal-Register)
Tucked in Illinois budget, a break for retailers that's infuriating airlines and credit card firms (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Opinion: Holiday weekend midnight budget sessions just how Democrats work here (Shaw Media)
Lawmakers move to pause – then further regulate – carbon dioxide pipeline development (Capitol News Illinois)
After state regulators rebuffed several proposed carbon transport projects over the past year, lawmakers have moved to formally ban new projects until the federal government sets forth new safety rules.
The technology is used to take carbon dioxide – a powerful greenhouse gas – and move it through pipelines before storing it deep underground. While its proponents say it is key to addressing climate change, it is often criticized for the risks it brings with it, as a pipeline can burst, resulting in a flood of carbon dioxide for miles that can poison those caught in it.
The measure, part of a package regulating the developing technology, was the fruit of extended negotiations between lawmakers, environmentalists, business groups and the governor’s office among others.
Senate Bill 1289 passed the House 78-29 and the Senate 43-12, with two senators voting present. Gov. JB Pritzker said in a statement Sunday evening he plans to sign the bill into law.
The moratorium would expire on July 1, 2026, if the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration doesn’t finalize safety rules by then.
In addition, the bill has what proponents call some of the strongest carbon dioxide-related safety protections in the nation.
The bill requires monitoring of injection wells for at least 30 years after they close, a process that must be approved by the state and federal government. It also grants the Illinois Commerce Commission expanded authority to impose fees and require certain safety models to be used during permitting for carbon sequestration and transportation projects.
The fees would go into a group of newly created state funds that will help train first responders and provide equipment to manage potential emergency situations associated with carbon capture technology.
“No other state has this strong of a protection, long-term protections,” Sen. Laura Fine, D-Glenview, said during Senate debate of the bill.
Related: Illinois carbon capture rules head to Pritzker (Bloomington Pantagraph)
Delta skate? Lawmakers leave Springfield without regulating delta-8, other hemp products (Chicago Sun-Times)
Sellers of delta-8 THC, CBD and other hemp-derived products breathed a sigh of relief Wednesday as state lawmakers left Springfield without passing legislation that would effectively have banned most of their sales.
But advocates on both sides of a contentious debate pitting Illinois’ multibillion-dollar cannabis industry against its growing hemp sector said they were disappointed to enter another summer without any regulations on intoxicating substances that remain easily accessible to young customers.
“We don’t want pop-up smoke shops opening on every corner,” said state Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago. “We need to make sure we have some licenses, and limit how many we have, so we don’t turn Chicago into ‘Delta and Marijuana City.’”
Ford was against the legislation that passed the Illinois Senate by a 54-1 vote over the weekend that would limit hemp-derived THC sales to state-licensed cannabis dispensaries, among other reforms.
Sales of pscychoactive products like delta-8 and delta-9 have boomed over the last few years at gas stations and convenience stores nationwide, thanks to a loophole in federal law that doesn’t restrict potlike substances that can be extracted from hemp. High school students have been sickened in Chicago by such products, which don’t face stringent testing and labeling requirements.
The bill sponsored by state Sen. Kimberly Lightford, D-Hillside, would’ve cut out delta-8 sellers who haven’t gone through Illinois’ rigorous — and expensive — cannabis dispensary licensing process, but House members didn’t take up the bill by the end of a marathon spring budget session.
“After months of negotiations, the Senate passed a bipartisan bill that all sides agreed upon, further ensuring our common goal to have a fair, just and safe industry,” Lightford said in a statement. “The bill we put forth showed the dire need to regulate the hemp industry before we lose yet another young life to these pervasive products. It’s unfortunate the House could not meet the urgency.”
Related: Illinois lawmakers fail again to pass hemp regulations and medical cannabis expansion (Chicago Tribune)
Cannabis legislation falls apart at the last minute in Springfield — again (Crain’s Chicago Business)
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Illinois lawmakers pass bill to expand reporting of sexual abuse in health care settings following Tribune investigation (Chicago Tribune)
Editorial: Putting a halt to state election law that blocked candidates is the right move (Chicago Sun-Times)
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Opinion: Pritzker’s Potential Path to the White House (Chicago Magazine)
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