Eye On Illinois: Consequential predawn votes are business as usual

You can be mad, but you can’t act surprised.

Aside from the substance of the budget and related bills the General Assembly adopted Saturday, the timetable under which everything happened is undeniably aggravating.

Though Gov. JB Pritzker and Democratic legislative leaders announced details of the spending deal they reached Thursday afternoon, the actual bill language – all 4,700 pages – surfaced near 9 p.m. Friday and the final votes happened at 5:30 a.m. Saturday in the House.

Most observers remember the year-plus Illinois didn’t even have an operating budget. The actual constitutional deadline is May 31, which lawmakers missed by a few hours in 2021. So getting things done several weeks early, albeit after the self-imposed April 8 deadline, is in some corners sold as a sign of progress.

In reality, this compressed schedule and wee-hours voting schedule is but another reminder – seemingly an annual occurrence – that legislators exempted themselves from one of the state’s most powerful laws.

The Open Meetings Act applies to all public bodies, a list that includes “all legislative, executive, administrative or advisory bodies of the state, counties, townships, cities, villages, incorporated towns, school districts and all other municipal corporations, boards, bureaus, committees or commissions of this state, and any subsidiary bodies of any of the foregoing including but not limited to committees and subcommittees which are supported in whole or in part by tax revenue or which expend tax revenue.”

Sounds great, right? Read on …

“Except the General Assembly and committees or commissions thereof.”

These predawn sessions aren’t new in 2022 or unique to Illinois. There are ages of established precedent on Capitol Hill. Show me a Statehouse reporter and I’ll show you someone who’s tried to work coherently on sleep patterns that would shame your average college sophomore.

So no one can act surprised. But neither can we waste much energy complaining about the when, as the what, how and who are more significant. While it’s hard to imagine any collection of state lawmakers voting to subject themselves to their own Open Meetings Act, it’s downright laughable to think being forced to take these votes under different circumstances would change the power dynamics.

Democrats agreed on policy, were unified in passing some without Republican support and advanced others that drew rhetorical opposition while ultimately winning GOP votes. On politics alone, it was a solid effort.

There will be plenty of time for analyzing impact. One immediately important issue for Democrats is addressing the remaining $1.8 billion gap in the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund. In addition to being a sound fiscal decision, doing so would help head off election year attacks from Republicans on cuts to benefits and increased taxes on businesses.

If only watchdogging wasn’t a 24/7 commitment.

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Media. Follow him on Twitter @sth749. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.