Distributed via Email: December 19, 2007

THIS WEEK'S SESSION CANCELLED

As reported in the last Alliance Legislative Report (95-48), the Illinois House of Representatives was scheduled to reconvene this past Monday (Dec. 17). House Speaker Michael Madigan, however, cancelled the session and the chamber never convened. Neither the House nor the Senate is expected to meet again until Jan. 9, 2008.

The House was to have come to Springfield to consider a new bill that would have expanded gaming in the State with receipts to be used for a statewide capital infrastructure program and additional funding for elementary and secondary education. Several new "school accountability" measures were included in HB 4194, the 460-page legislative proposal.

From the beginning, the proposal had political problems. Speaker Madigan drafted the plan without input from Governor Rod Blagojevich or Senate President Emil Jones, Jr. both of whom had concerns with the gaming provisions of the bill. When the senate president sent a memo out to his members the middle of last week informing them that the Senate would not be meeting for session this week, the writing was on the wall: the proposal was not proceeding soon. The speaker issued his memo to cancel the session on Friday afternoon.

Though the governor had threatened to call legislators back to the Capitol this week for another special session, this never materialized. Given the strained relationships that have developed between the governor and legislators this year, calling them back to Springfield the week before Christmas (with no bill to vote on) would not have increased his popularity among lawmakers.

ISSUES NOT GOING AWAY

The pending legislative issues will be waiting for legislators when they return next year. Expansion of gaming, Chicago-area mass transit funding, and funding for roads, bridges, and schools must be dealt with. The rules change again upon lawmakers' return: only a simple majority vote will be needed to pass the bills. But even though the Democrat Party holds the advantage in both chambers and controls the office of the governor, this doesn't mean a quick end to the current stalemate. Most of the differences occur among the Democrat leaders who hold those positions.

"School accountability" will still be an issue that is a part of the legislative mix. The starting point, now, will likely be the proposal that is contained in HB 4194.

General Assembly Bill Text/Status

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