Veto session at a glance

Today marks the first day of the Illinois General Assembly’s two week veto session. Veto session is held for six days every fall to allow the General Assembly to take action on bills that the governor has vetoed. Since the spring legislative session, the governor has vetoed 10 bills – only three of those bills...

Today marks the first day of the Illinois General Assembly’s two week veto session. Veto session is held for six days every fall to allow the General Assembly to take action on bills that the governor has vetoed. Since the spring legislative session, the governor has vetoed 10 bills – only three of those bills are on the calendar for possible action this week.

However, veto session is not limited to bills that have been vetoed—meaning almost anything could be called over the upcoming weeks.

Here is a quick preview at other issues that could be brought up this veto session:

Pensions

Last June, the governor called a special session to have all members travel to Springfield to pass a pension solution. However, instead of a solution, both chambers passed a measure that would create a conference committee to study the Illinois pension problem and introduce legislation to solve the pension problem.

That was four months ago. In those four months, the only thing that has been produced are pieces of the committee’s plan (that not all members of the committee agree on), which were leaked to the media. As of today, we have seen no bill and minimal discussion regarding a pension solution during veto session. It seems unlikely that pension reform will get brought up during this session, as Senate President John Cullerton recently stated that he does not believe that the $100 billion unfunded pension liability is a “crisis.”

Tax credits

Illinois-based company Archer Daniels Midland, or ADM, recently announced that it will be moving its headquarters (and 100 jobs) out of Decatur, Ill. ADM has expressed interest in moving to Chicago (as well as St. Louis, Atlanta and Minneapolis) and has requested state support, in the form tax credits, to remain in Illinois. The General Assembly is likely to take action on ADM’s request of $24 million.

This is not the first time the General Assembly would have complied to similar threats: Illinois has passed legislation to give similar tax credits to CME, Sears, Navistar, Motorola Mobility, NALCO and Groupon to stay in Illinois.

Supplemental appropriations

The General Assembly may consider additional appropriations over the course of the next few weeks as all five House appropriations committees will be holding spending hearings this week.

Potpourri

The General Assembly may consider a variety of other issues, including same-sex marriage, minimum sentencing on guns and free days at museums.