Page 26 - May 2017 Newsletter

Will they go into overtime?
The Illinois State Legislature is scheduled to adjourn on May 31. If it goes into an over- time session, then a supermajority vote is required to pass any bill with an imme-
diate effective date. While the state has
not had a budget for nearly two years,
there is already talk about going into R overtime session.
lent meeting with Senate President John Cullerton, in which we discussed many issues facing the state as well as issues of importance to law enforcement. President Cullerton has been a key ally for the police, as have Speaker Madigan and House Republican Leader
Jim Durkin.
After our meeting with President Cullerton, we
met with 22 other senators to introduce President Graham to them and to build on key relationships. The message of working with the police on public pol- icy issues was well received by the senators. While it was a whirlwind day of meetings, I think it was a productive step in keeping conversations with legislators open and
continuing.
There continue to be many ideas presented in the Leg-
islature to address policing issues. Many of them are not good ideas. We rely on our key allies in the House and Senate to help us work through these issues in the Gen- eral Assembly. We have had great success over the past few years, and we will continue to work together with the Illinois FOP to address these important issues. d
DAVE
DAVE
SULLIVAN
SULLIVAN
It is frustrating to watch this over-
all lack of progress. The good news is that Governor Rauner recently met separately with House Speaker Mi- chael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton. While there is no solution to the massive budget problem, at least the Democratic leaders of the legislature and the Republican governor are communicating. Hope springs eternal.
On May 4, newly elected Chicago FOP President Kev- in Graham traveled to Springfield for the Police Memo- rial. After attending that solemn ceremony, Kevin and I went over to the Capitol to meet with senators. The House was not in session that week. Kevin and I had an excel-
L
R
E
E
e
e
c
c
G

RE
R
R
T
IS
d
d
E
O
i
in
n
L
g
g
S
e
A
O
S
p
T
e
ec
R
R
t
cr
IV
r
T
e
e
t
t
a
a
r
r
P
y
P
y
26 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ MAY 2017