Page 24 - June 2017 Newsletter

Unfinished business keeps legislature in continuous session
The Illinois State Legislature completed its spring session at midnight on May 31. It comes as no surprise, however, that they
did not complete their work. Now, the House and the Senate will be in con- tinuous session.
Does that mean they will be in Springfield every week? No. Both chambers will be available “to the call
of the Chair.” The House is holding budget hearings to publicly discuss the issues, while many private conver- sations continue. It now takes a supermajority in both chambers to pass any legislation with an immediate effective date.
The end of the state’s fiscal year is June 30, so that date is viewed as another possible pressure point for
a solution. Many pressure points have come and gone before, however, so do not expect a solution by then.
If state employees continue to be paid, road proj- ects continue even at their current slow pace and schools open in the fall, it is difficult to see what
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that reaches a real solution.
Police issues continue to be a hot topic in
Springfield. While we tracked dozens of bills during the session, most did not pass. That is very good news,
as many were not ones that we could support.
Our efforts continue to work well in Springfield. New President Kevin Graham’s recent visit to Spring- field was well received and helpful in keeping the communication open between Chicago Police and leg-
islators. d
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24 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ JUNE 2017