By Dave Dahl
SPRINGFIELD – For the first time in almost eight months, that old gang is coming back to Springfield. After a four-day session in May, the Illinois House has scheduled lame-duck session days for at least Friday and Saturday.
“We are going to be focusing on the four pillars of the Black Caucus agenda,” said House Majority Leader Greg Harris (D-Chicago), referring to justice and police; education and workforce; economic equality; and healthcare and human services. He said representatives would also tackle “some COVID-related items regarding healthcare and other items necessary for the pandemic.”
Saturday’s agenda includes a hearing on the state veterans’ home in La Salle, where more than thirty residents have died, reportedly from coronavirus.
Wednesday, Jan. 13, is the inauguration of the new General Assembly, and there will likely be a new speaker, given that at least nineteen Democrats in the 73-member caucus have declared their defection from longtime Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago). It takes sixty votes to win the election for speaker.
Harris, noting no business in the 102nd General Assembly can be conducted unless a speaker and minority leader are elected, said he believes the matter will be settled in a House Democratic caucus — that is, in private, as opposed to a floor fight.
Madigan, speaker for all but two years since 1983, has seen his support erode since news came out of his implication in a bribery scheme in which Commonwealth Edison admitted attempts to bribe him. A “deferred prosecution agreement” includes a $200 million payment by ComEd, though Madigan remains unindicted.
As was the case in May, House members will meet at the Bank of Springfield Center, a convention center about seven blocks from the Capitol. The Senate has not formally scheduled a lame-duck session, but its members have been told to be available.
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