House to Return to Springfield January 8
Embattled House Speaker Michael Madigan stands on a makeshift House floor during session in late May at the Bank of Springfield Center. The House will return to Springfield for the first time since the spring on January 8.
House Speaker Michael Madigan’s Chief of Staff has informed members they will be returning to Springfield for a lame duck session January 8th.
In a memo, confirmed by multiple House Democrats, Chief of Staff Jessica Basham writes members are expected to stay in Springfield “through at least January 13, and potentially longer.”
Basham confirmed the House will meet at the Bank of Springfield Center, formerly known as the Prairie Capital Convention Center. She writes the House will operate “under substantially the same protocols as were followed in May 2020.”
The agenda isn’t clear for the final five days before the current General Assembly ends and a new one is sworn in. Many observers expect police reform legislation to move, along with an elections bill to impact things like drop boxes for the upcoming spring election. Madigan has also told members he would pass a tax increase at the request of Governor JB Pritzker, who has said he does not believe that should be done yet. It would be more likely for lawmakers to close tax “loopholes” before a full corporate and individual tax rate increase, according to some Democrat lawmakers.
Basham’s language telling members to be in Springfield through at least the 13th, “and potentially longer,” indicates Madigan may still be short of the necessary votes he needs to remain Speaker.
The new House gets sworn in January 13th, and the first order of business in the new General Assembly is to elect a Speaker. No other business can move forward until a Speaker is elected. In 1975, it took the House 93 ballots to elect a Speaker, Bill Redmond of Bensenville. Two years later, it took the Senate 186 ballots over six weeks to elect a Senate President.
19 Democrats have so far said they will oppose Madigan for another term as Speaker, leaving him short of the 60-vote threshold he needs to win another term.
The Senate has not officially been called back yet, though many Republican and Democrat lawmakers tell us they expect to go back to Springfield on or around the same time as the House.