The End of Session is Near? Updated X1

Add comment May 27th, 2008

This is the last week of the formal spring session.

After May 31, it requires a three-fifths majority to approve any bill with an immediate effective date – i.e., the state budget. Therefore, lawmakers generally work to dispose of the budget and other legislative matters by May 31, then head home for the summer.

Among the local matters we’ll be watching closely this week are Morrissey’s red-light camera plan and his plan to combat truancy by gaining more information from the School District.

It’s not clear, however, whether lawmakers will in fact approve a budget by Saturday. The Senate and House have advanced competing budget plans, and the governor – while generally assumed to be in line with the Senate’s plans – has been MIA for most of the spring session. Actually, he’s been MIA for most of the last two years.

If they don’t agree on a budget by Saturday, lawmakers may be here much if not all of the summer, just like last year. Morrissey may have plenty of time to build support for his initiatives.

Meawhile, the Rezko jury continues its deliberations this week. A guilty verdict against Rezko could certainly make Gov. Blagojevich much more interested in a speedy end of session; he will not want to be hanging around Springfield, where the press, public and rank-and-file lawmakers may reach him. An acquittal, on the other hand, may only embolden him.

Then again, it’s never wise to bet on Blagojevich’s next move . The man is not rational.

UPDATE 1

House Speaker Mike Madigan said the governor may be “delusional.”