Below is the government affairs update from Roberta Parks, President of the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce, dated 5/31/12.

Madigan Drops Cost Shift; Cross Picks Up Sponsorship

As the House of Representatives was about to adjourn last night, House Speaker Michael Madigan made a rather surprising announcement. "I had an interesting meeting this morning with Governor Quinn," said Madigan. "I was surprised that the governor disagreed with me on the issue. He agrees with you. He agrees with the Republicans. He thinks that we ought to remove the issue of the shift of normal cost out of the bill." Noting that he disagreed with the Governor and was simply following his request, Madigan turned sponsorship of the bill over to Minority Leader Cross. Leader Cross now has the task of getting the bill, without the cost shift, to pass through the House and for it to be adopted and passed in the Senate all by the session deadline… which happens to be today.

That would be no small feat in normal conditions, but consider the change in the base of support with the sponsorship and cost shift change. Will Madigan vote for the bill without the shift? Will downstate Democrats jump off now that Madigan has? Will Mayor Emanuel pull the Chicago Democrats off the bill because the cost shift is gone? And then what happens in the Senate? The only thing that is certain is that the Republicans can’t pass this bill by themselves. The only political tool that the Republicans have which might nudge Democrats to vote for it would be the impending possibility of an overtime session in which, because of the 3/5 super-majority needed to pass anything, the Republicans become even more powerful.
The bill was set to start in committee at 9 am this morning. It will certainly be a busy day in Springfield. We will keep you posted as usual.

Source: Capitol Fax 5/31/12, NBC Chicago News

If you would like to receive these updates by email, please email Roberta at rparks@chamber.h-p.org and tell her that you would like to be placed on the government affairs email list. For past government affairs updates, click here.