Q: What is the fall veto session all about?
A: Traditionally, the fall veto session gives lawmakers a chance to catch up on work that’s been building up since their spring legislative session ended in May. They usually deal with dozens of bills the governor has partially or fully vetoed during the summer, and they sometimes deal with measures that are considered too controversial to take up during election season.
This year is different. Lawmakers were in town several times since May to deal with the state budget mess and other issues, and they took care of all but a couple of governor vetoes. That means these next two weeks won’t be much of a true “veto” session.
Q: So if there aren’t many vetoes, what do lawmakers have to do?
A: Not a lot of nuts-and-bolts legislating.
“We dealt with a lot of bills already,” said Sen. Dave Koehler, D-Peoria. “I don’t know how much we’re actually going to have before us.”
The House decided to cancel its first week of work, arguing it had already accomplished what would normally be done the first week of veto session. So House members won’t be in town until next week.
The Senate expects to be preoccupied for much of the two weeks with picking new leadership.
Both Democratic Senate President Emil Jones and Republican Leader Frank Watson are stepping down in January, creating an extremely rare changeover of leadership for both parties. Senators will be meeting in closed-door party caucuses to go over the pros and cons of several candidates. They’ll aim to decide fairly quickly who will lead them heading into next spring.
Q: Is there really nothing for lawmakers to do now?
A: Traditionally, the fall veto session gives lawmakers a chance to catch up on work that’s been building up since their spring legislative session ended in May. They usually deal with dozens of bills the governor has partially or fully vetoed during the summer, and they sometimes deal with measures that are considered too controversial to take up during election season.
This year is different. Lawmakers were in town several times since May to deal with the state budget mess and other issues, and they took care of all but a couple of governor vetoes. That means these next two weeks won’t be much of a true “veto” session.
Q: So if there aren’t many vetoes, what do lawmakers have to do?
A: Not a lot of nuts-and-bolts legislating.
“We dealt with a lot of bills already,” said Sen. Dave Koehler, D-Peoria. “I don’t know how much we’re actually going to have before us.”
The House decided to cancel its first week of work, arguing it had already accomplished what would normally be done the first week of veto session. So House members won’t be in town until next week.
The Senate expects to be preoccupied for much of the two weeks with picking new leadership.
Both Democratic Senate President Emil Jones and Republican Leader Frank Watson are stepping down in January, creating an extremely rare changeover of leadership for both parties. Senators will be meeting in closed-door party caucuses to go over the pros and cons of several candidates. They’ll aim to decide fairly quickly who will lead them heading into next spring.
Q: Is there really nothing for lawmakers to do now?
