The Illinois General Assembly’s fall veto session began Tuesday with a game of one-upmanship.
In an attempt to prove that Gov. Pat Quinn’s preference for a scaled-back gambling expansion would not pass the legislature, Senate President John Cullerton said he would introduce a new bill Wednesday that mirrors the governor’s terms. Cullerton said he hopes the failure of that bill — which would include the five new casinos in the original gambling legislation but not the politically-important addition of slot machines at horse racing tracks — would compel the governor to return to the negotiating table.
But Quinn told reporters Tuesday during a hastily-called news conference he wouldn’t back down, telling lawmakers to “Bring it on.”
The standoff between the governor and Senate president didn’t slow a flurry of lobbying during the first day of the fall veto session. Swarms of consultants, former legislators and liaisons for the city of Chicago continued to press for passage of a casino bill before all momentum is lost.
Lawmakers approved a gambling expansion bill in May, but Quinn threatened to veto it, saying it was “excessive.”
Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who has worked to secure a city-owned casino, has been calling lawmakers directly who voted against the bill in May.
“He’s reached out to me,” said state Sen. Jeff Schoenberg, an Evanston Democrat, who knows the Emanuel family personally. “I told him candidly what my longstanding position has been. Not surprisingly, he was hoping to persuade me otherwise, but I told him I’m not going to support that. I have consistently opposed any expansion of casino gambling throughout my career.”
Also Tuesday, the Senate also took the first step toward overriding Quinn’s veto of a utility rate bill. The bill would allow the state’s two electricity giants, ComEd and Ameren, to raise consumer electric rates to pay for better infrastructure, promising fewer power outages.
Quinn has lambasted the bill as bad for consumers, but supporters are trying to collect enough votes to override his veto.
“I would tell you there’ s nothing in the trailer bill itself that is bad for consumers,” Senate sponsor Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) said before his bill passed with 37 supporters, one vote more than necessary for a full override.
A vote to formally override Quinn’s veto of the utility rate bill is expected sometime this week.
Kristen McQueary covers state government as part of a partnership between CNC and WBEZ