Downstate utility, electrical workers union put effort to control transmission line construction on hold
Measures tied to organized labor were the focus at the Illinois Capitol Wednesday as the state House voted to allow legislative staffers to organize while a politically powerful union and a downstate energy company announced a temporary hold on efforts to pass a measure allowing the utility to build transmission lines without going through a competitive bidding process.
Supporters of legislation to give Ameren Illinois the right of first refusal to build transmission lines in its territory acknowledged Wednesday that they don’t have enough support in the Democratic-controlled General Assembly to override Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s veto of that portion of energy legislation approved in the spring.
Pritzker’s veto was cheered by consumer advocates and environmentalists, but it angered some of the governor’s organized labor allies. The governor argued that allowing Ameren to build the lines without taking part in competitive bidding would ultimately raise rates for the utility’s customers.
At a statehouse news conference, representatives of the Springfield-based International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 51 argued that the proposal is necessary to make sure infrastructure needed to support a transition to renewable energy is built with in-state union labor.
Ameren Illinois Chairman and President Leonard Singh on Tuesday wrote in a letter to lawmakers that the company’s reputation had been “subjected to well-funded misinformation campaigns by out-of-state developers and special interests” who opposed the proposal.
Singh said the right of first refusal “is the best option to prevent unnecessary delays in construction and hundreds of millions of dollars in potential cost overruns” and that it would keep projects within the purview of state, rather than federal, regulators.
The original measure was approved by a veto-proof majority in the Senate, but not in the House, making a veto override all but impossible.
State Rep. Larry Walsh, the Elwood Democrat who sponsored the original measure, vowed to return in the spring with an even broader proposal to give utilities statewide the permanent right of first refusal on transmission projects. That would include scandal-plagued Commonwealth Edison.
“We’re looking at doing a full education swing in the spring,” Walsh said. “We want to educate the public, the members of the legislature, ratepayers, etc. — the media — that this is the right policy. And hopefully when we get done doing this education, bringing the facts out, people are going to understand that this is the best option for them.”
It’s unclear whether such a campaign would prove convincing to Pritzker, who could once again wield his veto pen to stop it from becoming law.
Last month, Pritzker spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh tied the governor’s veto of the previous proposal to the ongoing federal corruption probe that saw ComEd admitting it attempted to bribe former House Speaker Michael Madigan to advance the utility’s agenda in Springfield.
The measure was approved this spring not long after four former ComEd executives and lobbyists were convicted of participating in a scheme to bribe Madigan. That suggested some lawmakers had “learned absolutely nothing from the trials that were taking place as they passed it,” Abudayyeh told Politico.
“When the governor said the days of backroom deals for utility companies are over, he meant it,” she said.
In response to Walsh’s comments Wednesday, Pritzker spokesman Alex Gough said, “We’ll review that proposal if it makes its way through the General Assembly, but the governor’s concerns on the issue have not changed.”
Also Wednesday, the Democratic-controlled House advanced a measure in a 74-35 vote that would allow legislative staffers from both parties within the General Assembly to become part of a union. The legislation will now move to the Senate, also led by Democrats.
“We have almost 200 hardworking employees that work behind the scenes that make this place go,” House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, a Democrat from Hillside, said on the House floor, referring to staffers in his office. “There’s a whole lot of people here that deserve equal opportunity to join a union.”
Welch’s employees, whose roles include research and legislative functions, publicly announced the formation of the Illinois Legislative Staff Association earlier this year and for months afterward said the speaker refused to discuss the matter with them. The speaker’s office, however, has said Welch’s top officials communicated with the staffers earlier this year and explained how the law didn’t allow them to be voluntarily recognized as a union.
On Wednesday, Welch praised his employees for bringing the issue forward.
“It’s OK to think again. When we pause and think again we can learn new ways of doing things. We can get fresh perspectives on how those things can be done,” Welch said.
The proposal’s definition of “legislative employee” does not include upper-echelon staffers such as the chief of staff, deputy chief of staff, legal counsel or other staffers who work in high-profile supervisory roles.
Deputy Republican Leader Ryan Spain, who voted against the bill, said he doesn’t know what the bill will do to improve conditions for staffers.
“I’m one who believes in, could point to many examples of all-nighters here in this chamber or at the Bank of Springfield Center that, in my opinion, have not resulted in very good outcomes at a policy level and they certainly weren’t (a) very good environment for our staff to work,” said Spain, of Peoria. “I don’t know what this bill will do to change those realities for our staff or for the decisions we make in this chamber.”
Separately, the Senate approved a measure Wednesday that aims to address problems Pritzker identified in legislation he vetoed that would have required schools and state institutions to offer kosher and halal meals.
Pritzker wrote in his veto message that while he supported efforts to provide “students with culturally appropriate meals at school,” the legislation as drafted would have required the Illinois State Board of Education to enter into a contract it could not execute.
The compromise version, sponsored by Democratic state Sen. Ram Villivalam of Chicago, would instead require the state board to find vendors statewide from which local school districts could order prepackaged halal or kosher meals.
The measure was approved on a 43-15 vote and now heads to the House.
Petrella reported from Chicago.
