The House and Senate were in Session Tuesday through Friday of this week. Both Chambers are scheduled to return to Springfield next Monday and stay in Session until Spring Session adjourns on May 31st.
Friday was the deadline to move Senate Bills out of Committee in the House. Few Senate Bills that were of concern to the Energy Industry moved in the House this week.
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The bill most opposed by business and industry was scheduled to be heard in the House Environment Committee on Tuesday but did not get called. SB 2213 (Sen. Daniel Biss, D-Skokie) would dramatically restrict the State from loosening environmental and job safety standards while Governor Rauner is in office. It would also jeopardize all EPA permits that have been issued under the Rauner administration. SB 2213 has been opposed by the business community and the Energy Association. It is not currently posted for Committee next week, but there are still opportunities for the bill to move if House Leadership decides to do so.
The Energy Association has taken a position opposed to the Attorney General’s initiatives in HB 5626 (Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago). The Attorney General’s amendment to HB 5626 would fundamentally change credit and collection standards for all electric and gas utilities. The proposal would cost over $25 million to implement and increase annual costs for rate payers by hundreds of millions of dollars.
The concerns HB 5626 attempts to address are currently being handled by ICC rules, and low-income programs that each of the utilities operate. HB 5626 faces numerous procedural challenges, but the amendment could be redrafted and adopted onto any regulatory bill currently moving in the General Assembly. The Energy Association will continue to work to ensure the Legislature is aware of the burden HB 5626 would put on utilities and ratepayers.
The Senate Labor Committee is scheduled to hear HB 4324 (Rep. Chris Welch, D-Westchester) next Wednesday. The energy industry has expressed some concerns about HB 4324, which makes numerous changes to how wage disputes would be handled by the State. Many companies believe that the bill sets an unrealistic timeline to adjudicate wage disputes.
The issue that will likely dominate the remainder of Session will be the budget for 2019. There is no clear sign that a bipartisan budget agreement can be forged by the end of May. If no agreement is reached the Legislature may need to schedule Session days this Summer.
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