This morning I am headed down to Springfield for another one day session. This time, we’re scheduled to address an amendatory veto the Governor issued to correct a drafting error in the ethics bill we passed last spring. We may also take a final vote on an energy bill that has been the subject of fierce debate and intense negotiations over the last year or more.
First, the easy part. The ethics bill we passed this spring represented the work resulting from multiple working groups and committee hearings that considered all proposals introduced by House members this year. Not everything that was proposed made it into the bill as is usually the case with omnibus bills, but it moved the needle in several important ways including closing the revolving door allowing legislators to move easily from office to lobbying, prohibits legislators from working as lobbyists at other levels of government, and prohibits Springfield based fundraisers during weeks the legislature is in session, among other changes. The Governor’s veto message describing the technical change he’s making is here. While the bill passed nearly unanimously in the spring, it is expected that the Republicans will be voting against the motion to accept the Governor’s changes in protest that the bill doesn’t do enough, in particular with regard to the powers of the Legislative Inspector General (LIG). Earlier this year, the current Legislative Inspector General, Carol Pope, submitted a scathing letter of resignation, calling the role of LIG “a paper tiger.” I have long advocated for giving the LIG greater power and will continue to do so, but I also believe that these changes are important and needed.
Now, for the energy bill. The process of working on this energy package differed from previous years in one very significant way: ComEd and Exelon were excluded from negotiations very early in the process in light of their role in the corruption and bribery scandal that took down Speaker Madigan and continues to cast a shadow over our work. Unfortunately, this bill still includes significant money for the utility even if it is far less than they originally demanded and that remains a concern for me. In 2016 after voting against the last energy bill we passed which was known as the Future Energy Jobs Act, I shared that the bill was so complex that it wasn’t unusual to receive messages of support and opposition from the same person because there was a lot to both love and hate in such a package. Folks who were supportive of the renewable energy provisions might also oppose the impact on rate payers or the lack of oversight on ComEd/Exelon. The same can be said of this package and as I load up my car to head down and take this vote, I can honestly say I’m still weighing all the components. I have never been a fan of providing subsidies to profitable corporations and this remains a key component of this bill, even as it provides a clear pathway to reducing carbon emissions, transitions Illinois to clean power on a defined timeline, makes significant investments in renewable energy development, and provides pathways for equity in the energy sector.
The final language of the bill still hasn’t been released as of 8am, so I can’t share a link here but will do so on social media as soon as it’s available. We were provided a rather lengthy summary of the bill’s components yesterday which I have linked for download here. We are expected to complete our work today, in part because the utilities have made clear that in the absence of a new law addressing their needs, they will shut down two of the state’s nuclear power plants starting Monday.
