The House and Senate returned to Springfield this week. May is the last month of Session scheduled for this Spring. The legislature is attempting to tackle as many of the remaining issues as possible, but a budget resolution remains elusive.
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The Senate has developed a formula for temporary budget relief. The Democrats and Republicans have now agreed upon three different stopgap budget bills to help fund higher education and social services. The Senate model postpones any agreement on structural reforms and simply appropriates money that has flowed in from existing revenue streams. Unfortunately, this model has inherent limitations because of the multibillion dollar deficit that the State is carrying.
The House has passed only one stopgap budget bill. SB 2059 (President John Cullerton, D-Chicago) was approved by the House in late April and appropriated enough money for the Universities to be funded for four months. So far, the House has refused to support the other stopgap budget bills that the Senate has approved.
Exelon and ComEd introduced “The Next Generation Energy Plan” this week as amendment #2 to SB 1585 (Sen. Donne Trotter, D-Chicago). The amendment is a reflection of negotiations that have been proceeding for several months between the companies and stakeholders in the environmental community. The initiative makes significant changes to energy policy with regards to energy efficiency, low income customer assistance, solar energy, smart grid technology and support for zero emissions power plants. SB 1585 is on third reading in the Senate with a deadline of May 31st. Amendment two is in the Committee on Assignments.
The Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee is scheduled to meet next Thursday at 10:00 am. The Committee will consider SR 1719 (Sen. Melinda Bush, D-Grayslake) which urges Congress to pass funding to help communities dealing with the interim storage of spent nuclear fuel.
Next week, the House and Senate are scheduled to be in Session Tuesday through Friday. Friday is scheduled as the second and last committee deadline for the Spring Session.
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