Budget clean up could be on docket for returning lawmakers
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[June 10, 2021]
By Greg Bishop
(The Center Square) – When lawmakers return
next week, they could vote on a measure to clean up the budget they
passed last week.
Lawmakers left the capital city last week after the Senate went into
overtime. The Senate was called back for session starting Tuesday. The
House will be in on Wednesday.
State Sen. Steve McClure, R-Springfield, expects an energy deal to be
taken up that could subsidize nuclear power while ordering coal-fired
plants closed by 2035. He also said lawmakers may have to address some
of the language in the approved budget bill.
“It looks like there’s gonna have to be at least one correction for what
they filed,” McClure told WMAY. “But that’s what happens when you do
things at the last minute when you don’t have to.”
Errors are likely when the budget process is behind closed doors with
one party looking it over, he said.
“When you don’t have the give and take, and when you don’t have both
[party’s] staffs analyzing things, mistakes happen,” McClure said.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2021/Jun/10/images/ads/current/charrons_bch041713.png)
Minority Republicans were critical of majority Democrats for crafting
the budget behind closed doors and revealing details only hours before
passage.
State Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago, agreed that lawmakers need to
collaborate better.
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“We have to make sure that we have a process where we don’t have a
budget that is filed last-minute where we’re spending billions of
dollars with very little time for members to review,” Ford said.
Ford advocates for a full week of review to allow for amendments before
final passage.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2021/Jun/10/images/ads/current/humanesociety_sda022411.png)
“I think that it’s important that we as legislators step up and we talk
to the Speaker [of the House] and the [Senate] President and say ‘look,
we want to make sure that rank-and-file members, people that are not on
the budget team, really get an opportunity to review these budgets
before they are voted on.”
The budget passed along party lines and spends $42 billion dollars. It
has yet to be sent to the governor. Any possible clean-up language must
be approved with a three-fifths majority in each chamber since it’s
after the May 31 deadline for simple majorities.
While the Senate has approved members to cast remote votes for bills on
final passage, the House must vote on bills on final passage in-person,
meaning nearly every House Democrat would have to be in attendance if
all Republicans vote no.
The next fiscal year begins July 1. |