Quick hit: Illinois news in brief for Wednesday, June 16, 2021

Pritzker signs bill into law making Juneteenth a state holiday

Juneteenth, a celebration of the end of slavery in the United States, is now a state holiday.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed House Bill 3922 at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum Wednesday.

Beginning next year, June 19, or the following Monday if it falls on a weekend, will be a state holiday. The city of Springfield approved a city-level ordinance Tuesday.

The U.S. House is expected to follow the U.S. Senate’s lead in making the day a federal holiday.

Energy legislation stalls

The energy deal lawmakers were called back to address this week has stalled.

Democratic leaders in the Senate said one of the two sticking points was when to require coal-fired power plants to close.

The governor wanted that to be 2035. Labor groups wanted that to be 2045.

Another point that wasn’t resolved dealt with the prevailing wage for green-energy jobs.

Welch changes House rules ahead of budget re-vote

Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch has changed the House rules to allow members to vote remotely.

A spokesperson for the Speaker said the option is not ideal but was necessary as some members couldn’t physically be in Springfield Wednesday for various reasons.

For any legislation to pass this late in the year, including approving the governor’s amendatory veto of the budget, three-fifths of the members must vote in the affirmative.

Pritzker uses amendatory veto on budget bill over missing effective date

Gov. J.B. Pritzker sent back the budget lawmakers passed just over two weeks ago.

The governor issued an amendatory veto of Senate Bill 2800 saying errors and omissions in the effective date provision of the measure were inadvertent.

Without a cleanup, Pritzker said many of the spending provisions wouldn’t take effect until June 1, 2022. The next fiscal year is supposed to start on July 1.

Illinois House returns to Springfield

The Illinois House returns today and one issue that could come up is whether the Chicago Public Schools should have an elected school board.

Supporters say that’s the only public school district in the state that does not have an elected board. House Bill 2908 has been placed on the House concurrence calendar.

Any legislation with an immediate effective date requires a three-fifths majority for passage.

Miller sponsors measure to ditch Fauci

Illinois Republican U.S. Rep. Mary Miller is joining with others in Congress in sponsoring a measure urging Dr. Anthony Fauci to be fired from his role directing the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

The group said recently released emails to and from Fauci suggest he wasn’t honest about masks and if it was possible COVID-19 leaked from a lab in China.

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