New Illinois House Speaker Emanuel ‘Chris’ Welch signals pandemic housing, ethics, restorative justice are among legislative priorities
Newly inaugurated Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch has signaled some of his legislative priorities with the creation of special committees on ethics and elections, restorative justice, and housing and immigration.
“We want to continue to be the voice of the most vulnerable,” he said. “But I also think one of the things that we need to focus on is rebuilding trust in the legislature and the legislative process.”
Welch also canceled most scheduled House session days in February but did set one for Feb. 10, when representatives will vote on whether to allow them to work remotely.
Welch, of west suburban Hillside, made history earlier this month when he became the first Black Illinois House speaker and the first legislator other than Michael Madigan to lead the chamber in decades.
Madigan was ousted after being implicated in a federal bribery investigation into Commonwealth Edison. He has not been charged, and he has denied wrongdoing and knowledge of the scheme. That came after a number of state and local politicians were charged or tied to a federal corruption probe, which triggered a legislative push on ethics.
Welch said one of his goals is to pass an ethics reform package before the General Assembly adjourns in May. The General Assembly in late 2019 created a 16-member commission to recommend changes to state ethics laws, and ethics were seen as a top legislative priority leading into the 2020 spring session.
But the session was cut drastically short by the coronavirus pandemic, and after a series of hearings, the commission’s work was also truncated and a final slate of recommendations was never made public.
The package legislators will consider this spring “will probably include several components” from the joint commission’s work, Welch said. He named Rep. Kelly Burke, a Democrat from Evergreen Park, as chair of the new ethics and elections committee.
Welch last year chaired a special investigating committee convened to look into Madigan’s conduct in connection with Commonwealth Edison, which agreed to pay a $200 million fine after admitting to participating in a “yearslong bribery scheme” to reward the longtime speaker’s allies in an effort to win his favor.
Welch blocked Republican efforts to subpoena witnesses, including Madigan, and after scant testimony a vote to charge Madigan with conduct unbecoming a legislator failed along party lines, effectively ending the panel’s work.
The special housing committee Welch created for the spring session will take up issues related to the pandemic.
“People are struggling during the pandemic; rental assistance is desperately needed. Mortgage assistance is desperately needed,” Welch said. “People are struggling and we’re going to find ways to help them.”
Welch has indicated he intends to be a more collaborative leader after Madigan’s decadeslong steely grip on the House. He has named chairs to the regular slate of House committees, and members will be able to say what committees they want to be assigned to.
The House will return to the Capitol next month for one day with a plan to adopt rules authorizing for remote legislative work. Welch canceled all the other scheduled February session days, and anticipates that committees will largely meet remotely during February and March.
“I anticipate that we will actually be able to increase our work performance significantly even though we’re working remotely,” he said.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday said after the legislature’s fall session was canceled and the “very short” lame-duck session earlier this month, “it’s time to get back to work” for the legislature.
“The sooner the legislature gets to work, the better, whether it’s remotely or in Springfield, but we need legislation to keep moving,” Pritzker said at an unrelated news conference.
When the House meets on Feb. 10, it will be in the chamber at the Capitol, for the first time since early 2020. In order to provide more space, the House met in May and earlier this month at the Bank of Springfield Center, with individual desks spread across the arena floor.
The plan is to operate similarly to how the state Senate has held session during the pandemic, allowing a certain number of members at a time in the chamber and rotating through to allow for physical distancing.
Renting the convention center for session was “extremely expensive,” Welch said.
“Even after using the big, expensive BOS Center, we had positive tests. That didn’t work so let’s try something different,” Welch said.
