Illinois Legislators will be returning to Springfield for session for the first time since May on January 8th. House Republicans have been asking to return for a while and have gotten their wish as lawmakers will return to Springfield for 5 days of lame-duck sessions before the 102nd General Assembly is sworn in. 

House Speaker Michael Madigan’s Chief of Staff emailed legislators on December 30th that the session would run from January 8th through January 12th and will take place at the Bank of Springfield Center. It is still unclear what the agenda will be from Speaker Madigan but one concern from House Republican Representative Tom Demmer is raising taxes as the democratic majority released over 100 bills to be amended.

House GOP Leader Jim Durkin says that democrats may turn to taxpayers to fix a budget deficit caused by the pandemic, no federal bailout, and the failure of the graduated income tax.

There is some proposed legislation that would let the General Assembly meet remotely in cases of emergency. Supporters of the bill say that the pandemic has highlighted the need for the possibility for remote sessions and Leader Durkin agrees. 

Session days last year were extremely limited the last session due to the virus to the point that even the Fall Veto session was canceled. Representative Dan Brady says that we should have an open mind to this.

Other topics expected to be brought up include proposals on police reform and COVID relief.