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No immediate plans to convene legislators

By Kurt Erickson
kurt.erickson@lee.net

SPRINGFIELD — State lawmakers still have unfinished business waiting on their desks in the Capitol, but it appears they won’t be returning to Springfield for at least another week.

Aides to Senate President Emil Jones and House Speaker Michael Madigan said Friday that they’ve heard of no immediate plans to reconvene what has become a record-setting overtime session.

“I think it’s too early to say anything. I haven’t heard anything. I haven’t heard there’s been any discussion about it,” said Jones spokeswoman Cindy Davidsmeyer.

Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said members of the House will be given seven days’ notice if any action is scheduled. He said it would be unfair not to give lawmakers some advance warning in a year that has seen them in and out of session since missing their original May 31 adjournment deadline.

“People have lives to live. This whole five or six months we’ve spent with people being yanked around like yo-yos is kind of ignorant and disrespectful, so we’ll try to avoid that going forward,” Brown said.

With budget issues still unresolved and Chicago-area transit systems insisting they need a state bailout by Nov. 4, it is expected the General Assembly will be back sometime before the end of the year.

But there still must be some behind-the-scenes negotiating in order to move forward. Brown said it makes no sense for the House to return until an agreement is reached on a mass transit bailout.

“I don’t think there is a reason to come back before then,” Brown said.

Madigan believes it is up to House Minority Leader Tom Cross of Oswego to negotiate a deal with Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Some Republican votes are needed for the bailout because the measure needs a supermajority of votes to take immediate effect.

But Republicans say the bailout and a proposed statewide construction plan must be tied together.

Compounding the problem is that the mass transit bailout plan being considered in the House contains a sales tax increase. Lawmakers may be reluctant to support it now because Chicago and Cook County officials also want to raise taxes.

The statewide construction plan, meanwhile, remains in limbo because of a lack of a funding stream. The Senate has approved a massive expansion of gambling but it has not moved forward in the House because of concerns about the size of the expansion.

Cross spokesman David Dring said the minority leader will be talking with the governor and legislative leaders over the course of the next week.

“We are actively pursuing a solution to mass transit and a statewide construction bill,” Dring said Friday.

State Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington, said the lack of a schedule is frustrating.

“It’s a day-by-day situation while the state is being held hostage,” Brady said.

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Reader comments on this story - 4 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

Wrong headline wrote on Oct 20, 2007 7:10 PM:

" It's too bad the headline doesn't read "No Immediate Plans to Pay Legislators." "

Poor Guy wrote on Oct 20, 2007 8:31 AM:

" People have lives to live.. being yanked around for 5-6 months on their job. Most of us get our jobs done in less time than that. No sympathy from me. "

Leland Lesher wrote on Oct 20, 2007 8:06 AM:

" The residents of the State are indeed being held hostage by Chicago Democrats and Chicago Republicans. If Chicago Transit Authority needs money, they better cut services or raise prices or both. It is not up to the rest of IL to support their mismanagement and corruption. Now they are going to blackmail downstate with no repairs outside of Chicago if downstate legislators do not allow CTA to be bailed out with non-Chicago area money. Dan Brady, I say NO, absolutely not. If you IL Legislators do absolutely nothing for the rest of the year, you have already been paid, stay home until you all can do the State's business before Chicago's business. "

so wrote on Oct 20, 2007 4:58 AM:

" Good. They haven't done squat anyway "

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