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 Some state lawmakers have taken
disagreement on economic policies to a whole new level.
On Oct. 25, 70 House members voted to override Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of
Senate Bill 1905, a prohibition of local Right-to-Work ordinances. A successful
override would have required 71 votes, so the measure failed. But lawmakers are
said to be planning to take another crack at it the second week of veto session,
which starts Nov. 7.
In addition to prohibiting Illinois localities from enacting laws that allow
workers to choose whether to pay money to unions, SB 1905 has received much
criticism for the criminal penalty it contains. Under SB 1905, any local leaders
who disobey Springfield’s anti-Right-to-Work mandate could be thrown in jail –
for up to a year – and/or fined up to $2,500.
 The House sponsor of SB 1905, state Rep. Marty Moylan, D-Des Plaines, has tried
to fix this ominous provision by filing separate language – in a separate bill –
that would remove the criminal penalty if SB 1905 passes.
But there is no guarantee the second bill will pass. And in the meantime, if
lawmakers vote to override the governor’s veto, they will have approved language
that could result in jail time for local leaders simply for disagreeing on an
economic policy.
There’s no guarantee a “trailer bill” will pass
On Nov. 1, Moylan filed an amendment to Senate Bill 770, an entirely separate
bill from SB 1905. If enacted, the amendment would remove the language in SB
1905 holding local leaders criminally liable for enacting Right-to-Work
ordinances.
But there is no guarantee the second bill will pass. It has to go through the
entire legislative process, including committee and floor votes in both the
House and the Senate. And then it would have to be signed by Rauner.
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A lot could go wrong in that process. And if the amendment does not
pass and the override succeeds, the criminal penalty in SB 1905 will
remain.
SB 1905 is an attempt to criminalize policy disagreements
Regardless of whether the trailer bill passes or the override
succeeds, it is remarkable that 70 state representatives and 42
state senators have already voted to impose criminal penalties on
their local counterparts simply for disagreeing on an economic
policy.
That’s not how democracy is supposed to work.
What’s more, these lawmakers are ignoring the desires of
Illinoisans. According to a March 9, 2016, opinion poll by the Paul
Simon Public Policy Institute, 61 percent of Illinoisans would vote
for, or lean toward voting for, a Right-to-Work law. That included
56 percent of Democrats and 51 percent of union members surveyed.
Likewise, the majority of Americans support Right to Work and think
forced union fees are wrong. In a 2014 Gallup poll, 71 percent of
Americans polled stated they would vote for a Right-to-Work law. The
poll also found that 65 percent of Democrats and 74 percent of
Republicans would vote for a Right-to-Work law.
But that’s how entrenched some lawmakers are in their
anti-Right-to-Work stance. They would rather eschew American
democratic values – and ignore their constituents – than allow local
leaders to consider an economic policy with which they disagree.
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