Page 21 - 3Q 2017 Reporter

No Ordinary Veto Session middle of the year, this year there is. An unprecedented
The Illinois General Assembly is continuing their
summer break, which ends October 24, 2017. The
Veto session was historically a two-week time of
session to give the General Assembly an opportunity
to override any of the Governor’s veto’s that happened
over the summer. It also acts as a convenient time
to deal with any remaining issues that may need
resolution prior to the end of the year. This year,
veto session does not fall at the end of the two-year
General Assembly cycle, so normally it would be
reasonably uneventful; however, this is no ordinary
year. There are at least 3 major issues making this
veto session unique.
The first major difference, the end of session did
not happen in May this year. The real end of session
was in July, and the General Assembly had already
acted on the most significant veto of the year by the
first week of that month. The Democrats pushed
forth a budget that, other than a few nominal items,
had none of the Republican agenda items included.
This budget passed both chambers of the General
Assembly with 15 Republicans supporting the bills.
The Governor, expectedly, vetoed the bills. The
legislation went back to the General Assembly, where
10 Republicans voted to override the Governor’s
veto, along with the Democratic members. After 736
days without, this meant that the State of Illinois was
operating with a budget.
The three bills that made up the budget,
represented much more than a simple spending
plan. The legislation was based on a cornerstone tax
increase, pension funding holidays, and hundreds
of pages of cash grabs and ducking debts. Included
in these bills, specifically in Senate Bill 9, was a $60
million cash grab from deposit accounts held by
financial institutions. The language forced financial
institutions to turn over more than $60 million of
customer’s money to the state as unclaimed property
by decreasing the time deposit accounts can be
inactive from 5 years to 3 years, before being turned
over to the state. The legislation also brought in third
party investigators who are paid on contingencies from
fees to investigate banks. The League is currently
active in trying to undo the negative aspects of this
legislation but those efforts are hurt by the fact that the
State has already spent the $60 million.
The Second difference is that, even though there
would not typically be any lame duck legislators in the
18
Third QuarTer 2017
15% of the Illinois House of Representatives and Illinois
Senate have either resigned or indicated that they are
not running again. There are currently 26 members who
have given this indication, but there will undoubtedly be
more. Some of this is driven by the fact that only two of
the ten republicans that voted to override the Governor
on the budget package who did not retire are facing
primaries. The deadline to file primaries is not until
December, so there is still time for the remaining two.
Other legislators are leaving because of their overall
frustration with a process that has clearly broken down
and what will surely be a long time of patching the state
back together, once the healing is even allowed to start.
The third major difference is that the Republican
party is struggling to keep together. The Governor has
been the undisputed leader of the Illinois Republican
party. The first major source of weakness in the
Governor’s control was during the veto override. This
issue was less about people breaking away from the
Governor’s leadership and more an act of frustration with
736 days without a budget, but it was without a doubt a
blow to the Governor’s image.
The Governor’s image has not got any better since
early July. Senate Bill 40 was a well publicized item of
legislation that allowed state money to be used to pay
for abortions. The Governor signed the bill, in large part
because he felt he had to in order to win the General
Election. The problem with the signing of this legislation
is that he enraged a significant part of his base. This has
led to several legislators who have been supportive of
him publicly breaking away. One former legislative ally is
even openly discussing running against him in a primary
election for Governor.
It is too early to know what all of these
unique circumstances will cause. More than likely
the unprecedented early start to the campaign season
caused by millions of extra dollars in campaign spending
will drown out any productive activity from the General
Assembly. The democrats may push to take advantage
of any apparent weakness in the Republican party and
the willingness of primaried and exiting republicans to
vote against the republican party line.
The third difference is that the Governor has been
the undisputed leader of the Republican party, which
is not particularly unusual. Not only is he the most
prominent Republican in Illinois, he is also the wealthiest.
The problem that the Governor is currently facing.
IllInoIs RepoRteR