By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – A final proposed budget for the twelve months beginning July First should burst onto the scene at the Capitol Monday, but negotiations on energy legislation have flickered out.

“At the end of the day the governor is not going to, in his words, give the nuclear plants any more than five dollars a megawatt to keep the nuclear power plants online,” said State Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris). “But yet he is okay with giving his friends who invest in wind and solar $85 a megawatt.”

Many in the general public have soured on bills in which Big Energy always seems to be the winner, says State Rep. Ann Williams (D-Chicago). The process, she says, “has always been utility-driven, but we are committed to a different process this year — very legislative-driven, not in the back rooms, dictated by the utility as it has in the past.”

Anything lawmakers cannot get done Monday will have to wait until the fall veto session or Spring 2022, unless leaders want the lawmakers to return sooner.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]