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End of veto session news coverage roundup (Updated)
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* Transit is a done deal…
* Click here for some background. This was final passage…
* Press release…
House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch released the following statement Friday upon the conclusion of the fall legislative session:
“House Democrats came into this session guided by a refrain we’ve heard in our communities and throughout our state: Every day shouldn’t feel this hard. Opening a utility bill shouldn’t be so scary. You shouldn’t have to worry about being late for work because a bus didn’t show up or your route got eliminated. We shouldn’t live in fear because of masked troopers marching our streets.
“Our work over these weeks made these voices heard and delivered major wins and continued our work to build the communities we can afford, the communities where we feel safe, and the communities we deserve.
“This work saved, funded, and strengthened public transit—without new taxes on food delivery, without new taxes on streaming services, and without new taxes on home sales. This work cut the cost of home energy and protected seniors struggling with inflation from rising property taxes. This work pushed back on the violence and chaos Donald Trump is perpetrating.
“But our work is not done. We know Washington wants everything to be a crisis, so they can use emergency powers to do things they know voters and the constitution will never permit. But we know that Illinois will never settle for that increasingly fevered vision where everything gets more expensive and every day is a struggle. We’ll keep taking charge of the things we can control, and we’ll keep working to build a brighter future for Illinois.”
* Transit…
* Crain’s | Illinois lawmakers bring forth latest plan to overhaul Chicago-area public transit as deadline looms: Legislators are considering a last-minute $1.5 billion transit-rescue package that will rely mainly on transportation-related revenue sources. The potential deal, which also includes a steep increase in highway tolls, was hammered out during late-night negotiations that carried into today on the final day of the fall veto session, but still faces the hurdle of being approved by both the House and Senate. The deal would authorize over $860 million from a motor fuel sales tax. Theannual interest that is generated from the state’s road fund would also flow towards mass transit. The revenue split from the motor fuel sales tax would be 85% to the Chicago region and 15% to downstate transit. The road fund interest would be a 90% to 10% split.
* Tribune | Illinois lawmakers bring forth latest plan to overhaul Chicago-area public transit as deadline looms: During the hearing Thursday evening, the proposed measure faced pushback from lawmakers who suggested the bill would fund Chicago-area transit at the expense of downstate infrastructure. Opponents also expressed frustration that they were asked to debate the proposal without a version of the bill ready to read. … The bill introduced Thursday would hike tolls collected by the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority for commercial and passenger vehicles. It would increase the tolls for commercial vehicles by 30% and raise the toll for passenger cars by about 45 cents per toll. The revenue from the toll hike would generate between $750 million and $1 billion annually and be put back into the tollway and not be used directly for mass transit. But the move was intended to offset the money being diverted from highway projects and appeared to have won the blessing of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, which opposed a springtime effort to use a toll hike to fund transit.
* Sun-Times | Illinois Democrats wrangle over ways to pay for $1.5B legislative package to buoy mass transit: But some downstate representatives said the amended bill took them by surprise, that it doesn’t allocate enough money outside of the Chicago area, and that the bill should be held for another day.
* CNI | Latest Chicago transit funding plan appears to avoid statewide tax increases: Downstate lawmakers in both parties worried they drew the short straw in the bill, however, as only $129 million would go toward operational expenses at downstate public transit agencies. The agencies and advocates hoped to receive $200 million. “This is a devastating and extensive change for the district I represent,” Rep. Ryan Spain, R-Peoria, said. The downstate lawmakers also worried the bill tapping into Road Fund money removed a critical funding source for road construction projects. Illinois AFL-CIO President Tim Drea, who led a coalition of labor unions in negotiations over the bill, spoke in support of the proposal on Thursday. Unions have typically fiercely opposed any measure that diverts from the Road Fund but support this measure because of its importance to union employees at transit agencies.
* Homeowners’ insurance reform passed the Senate and then unexpectedly failed in the House, even after an internal roll call was taken…
Concurrence is a renewable motion, so she can call it again. We’ll see.
* Immigration…
* Tribune | Illinois lawmakers push to tackle constitutional violations in immigration raids, ban courthouse arrests: Amid increased public calls for Illinois elected officials to more strongly push back against the Trump administration’s sometimes-violent crackdown on immigrants in the Chicago region, state lawmakers on Thursday proposed trying to formally ban federal agents from arresting people near courthouses and allowing lawsuits if individuals’ rights have been violated in civil immigration arrests. Even the measure’s key sponsor, Senate President Don Harmon, called the bill “imperfect,” but he said Democratic lawmakers in Springfield felt the need to act, as state and local officials have often felt hamstrung in countering the federal government’s often-aggressive tactics. “I’m prepared for this law to be challenged, but I think we still have an obligation to try to do something,” Harmon, of Oak Park, told a committee hearing in Springfield Thursday. “There is no need for the same people who are charged with protecting our constitutional rights to violate our constitutional rights in the process.” Under the bill discussed in committee, individuals could sue officers for knowingly violating the state or U.S. Constitution during civil immigration enforcement. The bill would also codify a 1,000-foot “safe zone” around courthouses, free from civil arrests, in an attempt to limit potential disruptions to court activities.
* Bears…
Sun-Times | Bears’ $25M offer to help Chicago doesn’t move ball forward in Springfield for new stadium: Representatives for the Chicago Bears were poised to leave Springfield Thursday yet again without any help from state lawmakers in their drive for a new stadium in Arlington Heights. Not even a proposed $25 million payment from the team to benefit the city of Chicago was enough to get them past midfield as the clock wound down on the Illinois General Assembly’s fall veto session. The Bears floated the $25 million payment in a letter circulating among Chicago Democrats who are widely opposed to throwing any blocks to clear the team’s path out of Soldier Field and into a new dome at the site of the old Arlington International Racecourse.
This post will be updated.
…Adding… Energy…
* Sun-Times | State lawmakers pass an energy bill. Is it a fix for skyrocketing electric bills?: The measure is aimed at creating more power in Illinois as the state and the country face a rising demand for electricity from big data centers. A major piece of the plan is the funding of giant battery storage, which aims to capture power during points of low demand, store it and release it when there is high demand. Electric customers will foot the cost with future charges on their monthly utility bills. The giant batteries are especially key to capturing renewable wind and solar power that does not produce electricity around the clock. As coal plants, once the dominant source of electricity, retire they need to be replaced with new types of power, including renewables. The output of the stored power from batteries can be significant, rivaling the energy produced by nuclear plants, according to proponents.
* CSI | Lawmakers OK sweeping energy reform package that governor pledges to sign: Battery storage. The core of the bill is a new incentive structure for energy storage projects. The incentives are broadly similar to how the state funds renewable developments like wind and solar power. They will result in new charges to ratepayers, although proponents say that savings from more storage on the grid will offset costs. Energy efficiency. The bill adds new requirements for energy efficiency programs at natural gas and electric utilities. These are aimed at reducing energy demand and proponents of the measure say they will lower prices for consumers. Nuclear power. The bill lifts a longstanding moratorium on large-scale nuclear power plants, but it also hikes fees for nuclear plant operators. New authority for regulators. The Illinois Commerce Commission, the state’s utility regulator, would gain new authority for “integrated resource planning,” a way of setting long-term plans to control both supply-side issues, like plans for electric generation, as well as managing demand. Labor protections. New requirements for community solar projects would close a loophole that some developers were using to avoid hiring union labor. This was a major priority for organized labor groups during negotiations. Data centers air regulations. The bill places new requirements on the backup generators used by data centers, which require always-on power to operate. Virtual power plants and time-of-use. The bill requires large utilities to create “virtual power plant” programs and time-of-use rate plans. This allows utilities to use small-scale residential solar and battery projects to deliver energy throughout the day. Geothermal energy. The bill outlines a program to fund geothermal heating, a technology which uses naturally occurring heat from underground to offset the need for electric or fossil fuel-based heating. Thermal energy networks. A new state-backed loan program would fund thermal energy network projects. These use water-filled pipes to transfer heat between energy-intensive buildings, wastewater systems and bodies of water. They can also use geothermal energy to manage heat.
* Center Square | Energy bill opponents say increases IL electric bills by $8 billion passes: Republicans protested that SB 25 did not include price caps to protect consumers. “Katy bar the door! You took the caps off!” State Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, shouted. State Sen. Sue Rezin, R-Morris, questioned why battery storage developer BlackRock could not finance the project with low-interest loans as it did in other states, instead of adding another line item to Illinois ratepayers’ bills.
* WAND | IL Senate Democrats pass Clean & Reliable Grid Affordability Act, send bill to Pritzker: “We’ll incentivize an estimated 1.8 gigawatts for virtual powerplants, which is energy storage, demand response and other technology at homes and businesses,” Rep. Jay Hoffman (D-Swansea) said. “This will be about 5% of our peak load.” The Illinois Manufacturers’ Association stressed their members need reliable and affordable energy to produce goods consumers rely on, including food, pharmaceuticals, machinery and household products. IMA President and CEO Mark Denzler said this proposal repeats mistakes of the past by raising costs on manufacturers and working families without addressing underlying capacity and supply issues that are projected to lead to energy shortfalls. “While there are some provisions of the legislation we support, including lifting the moratorium on nuclear facilities, more work needs to be done to strengthen our state’s energy marketplace, protect consumers and encourage long-term economic investment,” Denzler said.
posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Oct 30, 25 @ 9:54 pm
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At this point, they might as well just etch “See you in court” on Harmon’s tombstone.
Sheesh.
Hope Kwame enjoys the smackdown
Comment by JB13 Thursday, Oct 30, 25 @ 10:33 pm
==== Concurrence is a renewable motion, so she can call it again. We’ll see.===
I’ve been coming down here a long time. But somehow never knew this.
Comment by Been There Thursday, Oct 30, 25 @ 11:54 pm