Illinois lawmakers are uncertain if a Fall veto session will take place. 50th District State Senator Steve McClure says that committees have been meeting via teleconference for the last several months, but mostly for informational purposes.
He says his colleagues in the Senate have not alluded to a decision on whether the Illinois General Assembly will convene for the veto session after the General Election: “I’m hearing that we will have a veto session, but I’m also hearing rumors that we will not. Ultimately, it’s going to be up to the Senate President and the Speaker of the House. I think it’s fair to say that if there are some extremely controversial bills that [Democrats] wish to have presented and some of their members disagree about those bills, I think they probably won’t have a veto session. If there are some bipartisan bills that are popular among the Democratic caucus, I think that we will have veto session, so I guess we will see.”
The veto session is scheduled for November 17th through the 19th and December 1st through the 3rd. Committee hearings for the session are going on now and will conclude on October 24th. The only piece of legislation that has been hinted at possibly being brought up is police reform, as the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus called for reforms in the wake of the death of George Floyd. Other possibilities could include ethics reform in the shadow of the ComEd deferred prosecution agreement with the federal government for bribery and patronage hirings implicating House Speaker Michael Madigan. Other than those two issues, lawmakers have been quiet on any possible post-election legislative decisions.