Charlie Wheeler, professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Springfield who has covered the Illinois General Assembly for the Chicago Sun-Times for more than two decades, said he was struck by the “progressive nature” of bills passed by the General Assembly this year. .

“Election legislation, for example, you look at what other states are doing, then you look at what we have done, that was kind of an example” of the strongly Democratic legislation that was passed this year, Wheeler said. .

This electoral law, which entered into force upon signature by the governor, requires electoral authorities to create a permanent postal voting list to which voters can choose to register. It also makes polling day 2022 a public holiday and requires election authorities to create a central voting site where all residents under the authority’s jurisdiction can vote on polling day 2022.

It also allows political candidates to use campaign funds for child care and the care of other dependents, and requires that any vacant General Assembly vacancies be filled in an open meeting, rather only behind closed doors. It also strengthens cybersecurity requirements.

It allows – but does not require – county jails to establish polling stations to allow voting for inmates who reside in the county and have not been convicted of the offense for which they are in custody. It also creates provisions for marginal voting during early voting and on polling day.

Like next year’s budget, the Elections Bill was passed with the support of only majority Democrats – a theme common to some of the more controversial laws that were passed during Pritzker’s tenure. Partisan bills included a 2019 minimum wage hike, the imposition of an unfortunate progressive income tax on the 2020 poll, criminal justice reforms passed in January, and new legislative maps that will likely help them. Democrats to maintain these qualified majorities.

While there were also bipartisan victories, such as the budget and infrastructure plans passed in Pritzker’s first year in office, the legalization of adult-use marijuana, and the expansion of gambling, the Partisan composition of the General Assembly allowed the governor to use his veto sparingly.

A qualified majority is achieved when a party has at least 71 votes in the House or 36 in the Senate, giving it the ability to override a governor’s veto. Democrats exceeded these numbers for the duration of Pritzker’s tenure.

Wheeler said it was common to see less veto in such a situation. But he also noted that Pritzker had worked well with Democrats in the General Assembly, despite some reported clashes, especially over the negotiations behind an energy bill that has been repeatedly stalled in the run-up to the vote this year.

“They’re pretty much on the same page,” Wheeler said, noting that any disagreement is “nothing compared to some of the past animosity, for example, with Madigan and (the former Democratic governor Rod) Blagojevich who somehow hated each other. Other. ”

Pritzker only used the veto 11 times as governor.

In his first year, Pritzker vetoed just eight of the 599 bills passed in the regular session and one of 38 bills passed in the veto session. The majority of these vetoes were procedural due to similar language adopted in other bills during the same General Assembly.

In early 2020, it was almost unanimously overturned on a veto of a bill creating tax breaks for aircraft parts. But another waiver vote called by the Republican sponsor of a bill affecting the state’s ability to seek state employee insurance waivers failed in 2019.

Pritzker’s second year has been slower, with just 22 bills passed by both houses in the regular session which was stalled by the COVID-19 pandemic. Lawmakers then returned for a “lame duck” session in January 2021, passing 23 bills, including several measures supported by the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, before the 101st General Assembly adjourned.

Pritzker vetoed one of these bills, a measure establishing pre-trial interest on civil monetary awards, as lawmakers negotiated a different pre-trial interest measure he signed earlier this year.

In contrast, according to a Capitol News Illinois analysis of data from the Illinois General Assembly website, former Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich vetoed 133 in the 95th General Assembly in 2007 and 2008, the last before his impeachment in 2009. During this two-year session, 87 of these vetoes became laws either with the changes suggested by Blagojevich, or by legislative derogations.

Things turned out better for Blagojevich’s successor Pat Quinn in his first full term. Quinn, a Democrat whose Democrats control the General Assembly, vetoed 41 bills at the 97th General Assembly, 17 of which were passed by the legislature. At the 98th General Assembly, he vetoed 25 bills, 10 of which became law.

Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, meanwhile, issued 111 vetoes at the 99th General Assembly in 2015 and 2016, only four of which were overturned because Democrats were just below the qualified majority threshold in the House.

Rauner saw more Republican retreat at the 100th General Assembly in 2017 and 2018, including when it came to passing the state’s first operating budget in more than two years by overturning his veto. It issued 142 veto at the 100th General Assembly, 51 of which became law through the action of the legislator.

Last week, Pritzker issued his first veto at the current General Assembly, a technical solution to drafting errors in the state budget. Lawmakers inadvertently omitted effective dates in parts of the bill and accepted Pritzker’s changes on partisan lines. He signed the bill on Thursday with the changes.