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The election may be finished and the possibility of a conservative
Gov. Bill Brady defeated, but lawmakers and advocates pushing
so-called liberal issues such as civil unions, abolition of the
death penalty and medical marijuana are not veering from their
original goal of passage during the November veto session, set to
begin Tuesday. The Illinois House in the new General Assembly
slated for January will be more socially conservative than the group
of lawmakers gathered for the two-week veto session or the lame-duck
session set for the first week of January. The Republican "wave" may
have missed Illinois, but the GOP picked up several seats in the
House, making it easier for lawmakers to get a controversial vote
now rather than later, according to political science professor Kent
Redfield.
"They know what the environment is -- I mean, from a lobbying
standpoint," said Redfield, who teaches at the University of
Illinois Springfield. "Because you know the cast of characters, you
know where the votes are."
State Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, is still counting votes for
Senate Bill 1716, a measure granting civil unions to same-sex
couples. Gov. Pat Quinn has said he hopes the legislature passes the
measure before the end of the year.
Harris said this month's election gives credence to the bill's
chances, even among Republicans. He noted that Brady ran on a
socially conservative platform and lost, while U.S. Senate candidate
Mark Kirk campaigned on a socially moderate platform and won.
"I think that says the people of Illinois are looking for really
moderate centrist policies, and I think civil unions fill that
description," said Harris, who is one of two openly gay members of
the legislature.
Poll numbers also back up his assertion. A Chicago Tribune survey
in August showed 54 percent of Chicago-area voters favor civil
unions, while 40 percent support gay marriage. Further, an October
statewide poll conducted by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute
in Carbondale found two-thirds of voters support civil unions or
legal marriage -- 33.9 percent favor civil unions and 33.6 percent
favor same-sex marriage.
"Civil unions is something that is a moderate compromise," Harris
said. "It goes down the middle, it does not change the definition of
marriage, but it does give people basic relationship rights, like
hospital visitation and medical decision-making. And I think most
fair-minded people think that's a fairly good compromise."
Jeremy Schroeder is hoping for no compromise on the death
penalty. As executive director of the Illinois Coalition to Abolish
the Death Penalty, Schroeder on Tuesday will join state Rep. Karen
Yarbrough, D-Broadview, and state Sen. Pamela Althoff, R-Crystal
Lake, in unveiling new legislation calling for the abolition of the
death penalty.
In 2000, former Gov. George Ryan halted all executions, following
media investigations that uncovered wrongly sentenced death row
inmates, and he instituted a moratorium on the death penalty while
possible reforms were studied. Ryan then cleared out death row in
January 2003, commuting the sentences of all inmates. Former Gov.
Rod Blagojevich and Quinn have upheld the moratorium.
Schroeder said the timing of the bill coincides with the
decade-old moratorium that's shown voters multiple exonerations and
demonstrated the flaws of the death penalty system.
"It's not so much 'Why now?' as because public opinion has
changed," he said. "And that's what's really pushing us."
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An April survey conducted for his organization found that
slightly more than 60 percent of Illinois voters favor a life
sentence without parole over the death penalty. An October poll by
the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, however, offers a
contradictory view. The survey found that 56.4 percent of voters
want the moratorium lifted, while 36.3 percent want it to stay in
place.
But Schroeder said the state's struggle with a budget deficit
estimated to climb to $15 billion next year often prompts voters to
question the $20 million additional annual cost of a death-penalty
sentence over a life sentence without parole.
"If you know you have a broken system and we're putting money
into that, it's a pretty common-sense question to say, 'Why are we
spending money there when we're cutting things here?'" he said.
State Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, is hoping common sense prevails
regarding
Senate Bill 1381, which allows marijuana to be prescribed for
medical purposes. The measure passed the Senate in May 2009, but
Lang on Friday said he's three votes short of passage of what he
says would be the strictest medical marijuana bill among the 14
states that currently have such laws in place.
"If everyone would vote their conscience, I'd have 30 votes to
spare on this bill, but a lot of people are afraid, and they're
afraid for no reason at all," he said.
The bill allows patients diagnosed by a physician with a
debilitating condition such as cancer to register with the state
Department of Public Health to own no more than six cannabis plants
-- of which only three can be mature plants -- during a 60-day
period. The law also sunsets after three years.
The measure is a mixture of compassion and economics, according
to Lang.
"It seems to me that when people are suffering and in pain, and
we're worried about health care, this is health care we can provide
to people without a single penny of taxpayer expenditure, and we
ought to try it," he said.
Sponsors and advocates of these three social issues up in veto
session appear ready to gamble on their proposals -- to a point.
All three pieces of legislation have -- or will have before a
floor vote -- no immediate effective date, meaning they must gain
only a simple majority of votes to pass, instead of the usual
three-fifths majority required of all legislation voted on after May
31. If passed by both chambers and signed by the governor, the
proposals would take effect on July 1, 2011.
"We have a lot of support," Schroeder said. "We don't want to
risk it, though."
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By MARY MASSINGALE] |
