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A 'typical' day in the Illinois Senate

Posted April 06, 2008 11:00 pm

Doug Finke

Talk about "a typical day" at the Capitol when the Illinois General Assembly is in session, and lawmakers, lobbyists and hangers-on will scoff. No such thing, they'll say.

Yet, they will also acknowledge that some things never change around the Statehouse. The hurry-up-and-wait. The seemingly endless list of people wanting to talk about something or other. Hours spent in meetings, either on the House or Senate floor or in committees. It's all part of how the Illinois legislature works.

After spending most of their time in February and March in committee hearings, the House and Senate are shifting their focus to voting on those bills in their chambers. Here's how one morning played out in the Illinois Senate last week.

10:20 a.m. - Out of 59 state senators, about a half-dozen are on the Senate floor, even though the official Senate calendar said Wednesday's session would start at 10 a.m. This is not unusual. Starting times for the Senate and its committees should be followed by "ish," with the emphasis on "ish."

"When (former Republican senator) Pate Philip was Senate president, 10 o'clock meant 10 o'clock," said Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-East Moline, usually one of the first senators to arrive each day. "I just believe in being prompt."

This isn't a good place for that. Sometimes morning committees run long. Other times, like today, the Democratic leadership meeting is running long.

Each day, Senate President Emil Jones, D-Chicago, meets with 10 other senators, allies who make up his leadership team. They go over the game plan for the day - political strategy, bills expected to come up for votes on the floor or in committee. Republicans do the same thing.

"We talk about the controversial ones so we can let (rank-and-file) members know what those bills are," said Sen. John Sullivan, D-Rushville, a member of the leadership team.

10:25 a.m. - Jones shows up on the floor, a sign things will finally get going. In fact, Jones goes to the dais, meaning he's going to preside over today's session.

Although he's the top official in the chamber, Jones doesn't often run the sessions himself. That's left to other members of the leadership team.

Also on the dais is the Rev. Barry West of Holy City Baptist Church in Springfield.

Each day starts with a prayer, usually given by a member of the clergy. West will be paid $30 for his work. If he lived outside of Sangamon County, he'd get the princely sum of $50. West prays that lawmakers be given the wisdom to do their jobs. He is praying in a mostly empty chamber.

10:33 a.m. - Jones uses the loudspeaker system to ask all senators to report to the floor. Capitol offices are wired to get audio from the Senate and House. You can even hear it in the Capitol cafeteria.

There are still plenty of empty seats. In the meantime, the chamber is taking care of business that doesn't require all the senators to be present.

10:35 a.m. - Sen. Susan Garrett, D-Lake Forest, introduces guests from her district who are in the visitors' gallery. The guests are asked to stand while senators applaud them. This happens a lot in the Senate, even on the busiest days.

It's a treat for the visitors and scores points for the senator with constituents.

10:37 a.m. - Jones again asks all senators to come to the floor. At least when they arrive today, senators won't have to squeeze their way into the chamber.

Often, the hallways that run along the outside of the Senate chamber are packed with lobbyists and constituents wanting to speak with senators. Even when they are on the floor, senators are frequently asked to go outside to talk with people.

Lobbyists have it down to an art form. They scrawl a senator's name on the back of a business card and hand it to a doorman who delivers it to a senator.

"I've waited anywhere from 15 minutes to two hours," said longtime Springfield lobbyist Randall Witter. "If they don't come out after awhile, you go up in the gallery and look down to see if they are there."

For the lobbyists, hanging around outside the Senate chamber when the Senate is in session is a matter of practicality.

"It's a wonderful opportunity (to connect) because you know they should be there and most likely will be there and you can get them," Witter said.

10:40 a.m. - Jones sounds a bell that announces the Senate is finally ready to start voting on bills. First up is a bill sponsored by Sen. Mattie Hunter, D-Chicago.

It renames the "Ticket for the Cure Fund" as the "Carolyn Adams Ticket for the Cure Fund." The Ticket for the Cure is a lottery game whose proceeds go to breast cancer research and treatment. Adams was head of the Illinois Lottery when she died of breast cancer in 2007. The bill passes 51-0.

Before the session ends, senators will vote on some high-profile, controversial bills for which debates will go on for an hour or more. But for every one of those, there are dozens of others that pass with little debate and little opposition. Some deal with an issue peculiar to one senator's district. Some deal with highly technical issues related to a profession. Some, like Hunter's, are feel-good measures. They all get a vote.

10:44 a.m. - Unlike the House, the Senate takes up bills in numerical order.

Senators sponsoring the next two bills opt not to call them for a vote. Next up is Sen. Gary Forby, D-Benton, who wants a vote on his bill. A couple of dozen people from his district are in the gallery just for this issue.

The bill allows fire departments to close roads for safety reasons instead of waiting for a law enforcement officer to arrive. He introduced it in response to the death of a firefighter in his district.

As Forby explains the bill, a staffer stands ready to help him answer questions posed by other senators. Each party employs about two-dozen people each whose job is to digest the legalese of proposed new laws into a quickly digestible format for legislators.

"We can't be experts on everything. We have to depend on staff to break things down for us," said Sen. Dale Risinger, R-Peoria.

"It would maybe not be impossible, but it would certainly be very arduous to try to read 300 pages of every bill that's presented to us," said Sen. Larry Bomke, R-Springfield.

Since January 2007, 3,028 bills have been introduced in the Senate.

10:58 a.m. - After voting on four more bills, the Senate grinds to a halt while the Rules Committee, the Senate's most powerful committee, meets. Bills, amendments to bills, you name it, have to go through the Rules Committee before they can get any farther in the process.

Like death and taxes, the outcome of a Rules Committee meeting is certain. What the Democrats want to have happen, happens. Republicans routinely complain that the Rules Committee bottles up their bills. Democrats used to make the same complaint when Republicans were in charge.

11:10 a.m. - The Rules Committee is done. It has approved bills and amendments to bills that will be dealt with in Senate committees later today.

Some are relatively innocuous. Others, like expanding health-care programs, adding pork back to the budget and letting Gov. Rod Blagojevich dip into restricted state funds to balance the budget, are controversial.

11:22 a.m. - Chairmen of 17 committees announce their meeting schedules for the afternoon, and Jones adjourns the Senate for the day. Senators have cast votes on six bills. There are 222 bills on the calendar waiting for final votes, and more will come.

In a sense, lawmakers are lucky. They've got an hour to grab lunch before the hearings start. There are many days during a legislative session when the Senate will start in the morning and work hours without a break.

"I try to eat a Snickers candy bar here because my wife won't let me do that at home," Risinger said. "I'll have a page get a sandwich or salad out of the cafeteria."

Sullivan fends for himself, making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches out of a stash he keeps in an office refrigerator.

"That's pretty much what I survive on," he said.

Doug Finke can be reached at (217) 788-1527.

The Illinois House and Senate are scheduled to be in session through the end of May. After May 31, bills that take effect immediately - notably a new state budget - require three-fifths votes in both chambers to pass.

House calendar: April 8-11, 14-18, 29-30. May 1, 6-9, 13-16, 19-23, 27-29.

Senate calendar: April 8-11, 15-17, 29-30. May 1, 6-8, 13-15, 19-23, 27-29.

Since Jan. 1, more than 1,150 bills have been introduced in the Senate and another 2,100 in the House. However, the Illinois General Assembly works on a two-year cycle, beginning in odd-numbered years. A bill filed in 2007 can still be considered this year.

Not every bill even gets a committee hearing, let alone a vote in either the House or Senate. Fewer still pass both chambers and are signed into law by the governor.

Here's how the numbers stacked up in recent years.

YEARS HOUSE BILLS SENATE BILLS BILLS THAT BECAME LAW

2007-08* 6,329 3,028 711

2005-06 5,869 3,204 1,113

2003-04 7,359 3,395 1,102

2001-02 6,320 2,436 836

1999-2000 4,769 1,979 954

1997-98 3,911 1,952 819

*Through Monday.

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