By Greg Bishop/Illinois Radio Network
SPRINGFIELD – Expect more veto override action in the Senate than the House with lawmakers back in Springfield this week.
The sponsor of a bill to criminalize local government officials voting to create right-to-work zones says he’ll push for another override attempt in the House.
Critics said the criminal penalties for local officials in Senate Bill 1905 are unwarranted. The first override attempt last month failed by one vote.
House sponsor state Rep. Marty Moylan, D-Des Plaines, filed House Floor Amendment 2 to Senate Bill 770 to remove the criminal penalties. He said even without the penalties, the bill will still have teeth.
“Just knowing the fact that you’re violating the law should be enough for a lot of these elected officials because it could be used against them in the future,” Moylan said.
Moylan plans to run the trailer bill dropping the criminal charges, if it gets out of the House Labor and Commerce Committee Tuesday morning, before running the override attempt.
State Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield, said Moylan’s original bill should stand on its merits, and he doesn’t have much faith in trailer bills.
“We’ve seen many times since I’ve been in in my two-and-a-half years, talk of a trailer bill never comes about,” Butler said. “A lot of people say, ‘We’re going to correct a bill, we’ll pass a trailer bill,’ and then nothing happens with it. So I don’t put a lot of stock in trailer bills.”
If the trailer bill removing the criminal penalties does get out of the House committee and passes the full House with a supermajority, it would still have make it through the Senate process, something that’s not guaranteed.
As for other veto override attempts, Butler said most of that action will be in the Senate.
The Senate is expected to take up a slew of overrides the House sent over last month, including the Debt Transparency Act, House Bill 3649. That would require executive agencies to notify the comptroller of bills monthly, instead of annually.
Democratic state Sen. Andy Manar called it common sense legislation.
“I think it was silly for the governor to veto that bill,” Manar said. “That’s a positive step toward greater transparency in state government. I think we’re going to be joined with many Republicans to override the governor’s veto.”
Republicans did join Democrats in the House approving an override unanimously last month. The measure could come up for an override in the Senate today. If overridden, it would then become law.
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s office said the measure would be too burdensome given the state’s outdated technology. It urged Comptroller Susana Mendoza to release funds for technology upgrades.
The Debt Transparency Act could also have a trailer bill sometime. Government finance watchdog Truth In Accounting applauded the effort but said it could go further to require the comptroller report to the public the same information the governor would be required to report to the comptroller. Mendoza’s office agreed the bill could go further and said followup legislation should come together.
Both the House and Senate are also expected to deal with the mounting ethics crisis with various tweaks to how ethics violations, including allegations of sexual harassment by legislators or their staff, should be handled.
After this week, lawmakers aren’t expected back in Springfield until January.
