Illinois news in brief for Wednesday, June 2, 2021
Lawmakers pass 650 bills on to governor
During their spring session, Illinois legislators passed more than 650 bills out of both chambers.
If there’s not a procedural hold placed on the bill, which is rare, they have 30 days to send them to the governor’s desk.
The governor then, per the constitution, has 60 calendar days to review the measures and either sign or veto them.
If he does nothing within that time, the measure becomes law.
Unfinished energy bill could bring lawmakers back to Springfield
Illinois state lawmakers aren’t done yet.
They could come back soon to deal with a possible energy bill that will impact major elements of the state’s energy grid.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said a proposal is now in the hands of lawmakers. Senate President Don Harmon said he’s ready to call them back when the deal is done.
Still unknown is how the measure will impact coal-fired power plans or how much taxpayers will subsidize nuclear power.
Pritzker plans stops in Peoria, Rockford
Gov. J.B. Pritzker is out in Peoria this morning and Rockford this afternoon to highlight his priorities in the state’s recently approved budget.
The budget spends $42 billion dollars. The governor says it is fiscally responsible for paying down debt and investing in the economy.
The governor is also touting closing tax incentive programs business groups say means tax increase on job creators.
Pritzker says Illinois on track for full re-opening
Gov. J.B. Pritzker says the state is on the path for full relaxation of his COVID-19 restrictions on June 11.
The state’s COVID-19 positive rate is 1.9 percent with just 401 new confirmed cases reported by state public health officials Tuesday.
As for vaccination rates, the Illinois Department of Public Health says more than 67 percent of the adult population has received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and nearly 51 percent of Illinois adults are fully vaccinated.
Governor says he’s reviewing legislative maps
The governor says he’s still reviewing the legislative maps that majority Democrats passed last week, but said there could be changes once full Census data is released.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Tuesday in Springfield “there will be Census data that comes out and there may need to be some adjustments that get made as a result of that Census data.”
Scholarship program tax credit spared
The operators of the Invest In Kids school scholarship program say they are grateful the incentive was not reduced in the budget that was approved this week.
A statement from Empower Illinois said there was bipartisan agreement to extend by one year the program’s sunset and preserve the 75 percent state tax credit.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker had proposed reducing that to 40 percent.
This article was originally posted on Illinois news in brief for Wednesday, June 2, 2021
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