Eye On Illinois: Lawmakers may need extra session days this year, and that’s OK

Fifty-five.

That’s the number of days the House was scheduled to be in session from Jan. 8 to Saturday’s planned adjournment, a span of 144 days. The Senate was booked for parts of 58.

Other work is done during the time, with an abundance of committee meetings in Springfield, Chicago and elsewhere, plus in-district events, legislators welcoming constituents to the Statehouse and working communications channels.

Still, the context is useful in framing reaction to two quotes from a minority member. I used one in Tuesday’s column:

“The Legislature has a great track record of using this time, squandering time for many months, and using the waning hours of the legislative session to enact gigantic changes that have real world consequences for taxpayers,” said state Rep. Ryan Spain, R-Peoria, per Capitol News Illinois.

Later in that same piece, CNI examined how Congressional action might impact the state budget and how the General Assembly could deal with those implications, including possibly heading back to Springfield sometime before the fall veto session to tweak the fiscal 2026 budget.

Spain, again: “I think that’s pretty silly, considering nothing will be effective immediately. We’ll have a lot of time to adjust.”

I didn’t conduct that interview, and I’m not accusing Spain of hypocrisy. Quite the opposite, as both statements can be completely true: state lawmakers might have plenty of time to adjust to federal changes and they might well squander the opportunity and then force through the last best plan at the deadline.

The larger point of putting all those thoughts on the table is to argue that bringing lawmakers back to Springfield at what might otherwise be a dormant stretch isn’t – or at least shouldn’t be – much cause for concern.

Many lawmakers work plenty hard on their official duties even when not gaveled in for session. They know the obligations when they run for office and would return to Springfield if needed. Further, sustained reliance on federal funding sources to stabilize the state budget demands an ability to be flexible should those conditions change for any reason.

To Spain’s point, state lawmakers should be so lucky as to have months or years of advance notice before a federal change affects Springfield line items. Every current elected official has enough memory to understand that forces beyond Washington’s control can institute essential change with little to no lead time whatsoever.

Government isn’t known for being limber and flexible, and while technology has afforded some improvements, it’s reasonable to hope for further advancements in being adaptable and moving the entire operation into a more modern mindset.

But more than that, it would be nice to someday feel like none of the time on the public clock is wasted.

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Local News Network. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.