By Dave Dahl/Illinois Radio Network
SPRINGFIELD – In what could be a get-your-popcorn moment of the 2015 legislative session, the Illinois House is expected to debate Wednesday whether to override Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of a bill that would send public-sector labor impasses to binding arbitration.
Rauner has called this the “worst bill in Illinois history.” He has condemned senators who voted to override, and he is now urging House members to uphold his veto.
Advocates of each position are bringing out the spin.
“The (arbitration) process itself,” said Keith Turney of the Fraternal Order of Police, “many times gets the parties to act in a more reasonable nature and prevent them from even going to arbitration.”
Speaking on behalf of the “economic liberty and public policy” Illinois Opportunity Project, Republican commentator Dan Proft said, “The governor is the duly elected representative of the people, and the governor should be the one who is negotiating contracts with public-sector unions.”
The Senate voted earlier this month to override the veto, with all Democrats in attendance plus one Republican making it happen. The override needs 71 votes in the House, and that happens to be the exact number of Democrats in that chamber.
This isn’t necessarily a party-line issue everywhere, though. State Sen. Sam McCann (R-Carlinville) voted with Democrats because, he said, his constituents — of whom a large percentage are state workers — wanted him to. Several Republican representatives, including Raymond Poe (R-Springfield), Avery Bourne (R-Pawnee) and C.D. Davidsmeyer (R-Jacksonville), also represent large constituencies of state workers.
