The 97th Illinois General Assembly’s spring/budget session ended late Tuesday night and Chicago’s new mayor, Rahm Emanuel, made a big statement. He helped push four bills to passage in the legislature, which is a notable accomplishment for being in office less than three weeks. What made it more impressive is that the magnitude of each bill was so great, Emanuel could have been lauded if he had helped pass only one of them.
Emanuel posted his initial state legislative victory before he was even sworn-in. While still Chicago Mayor-Elect, Emanuel pushed behind the scenes for passage of a historic education reform bill. The reform package, which among other things, extends the hours of instruction at Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and gives him leverage in negotiations with the CPS teacher’s union, should help him get off to a solid start on achieving his priority of education reform.
Later, Emanuel as mayor played a role in shifting some key Chicago legislator votes in the House to pass worker’s compensation reform, an issue that has been a bone of contention in Illinois for more than a decade. The legislation is projected to reduce many Illinois companies’ annual workers compensation payments 10 to 23 percent. This victory should be a significant tool in Emanuel’s efforts to attract and retain business in the city. The truly impressive aspect of this is that as early as Tuesday morning, the legislation was dead after falling five votes short of passage (55 to 39) the night before. A second vote led to its 62 to 43 passage.
Emanuel was also able to improve his standing with Chicago’s growing Hispanic voting bloc by helping secure the passage of the Illinois Dream Act. Emanuel was criticized by some Hispanics for allegedly placing a low priority on immigration reform as part of President Obama’s early administrative agenda, when Emanuel served as Obama’s chief-of staff. The Illinois Dream Act establishes a state program to assist as many as 95,000 children of undocumented immigrants in securing privately-funded college scholarships.
Emanuel’s fourth state legislative victory was one that former Mayor Richard M. Daley at times was ardent for and ambivalent to - a Chicago casino. A Chicago-based casino has been debated, promoted and dissed for two decades. Considering the financial plight the city is now in, the estimated $300 million in annual local tax revenue and share of $1.5 billion in upfront licensing fees would be a big assist in reducing the city’s estimated $655 million budget deficit. That does not even take into account the economic impact of the estimated 2,000 construction and permanent jobs the city-owned casino would create or the indirect jobs it would generate for the Chicago hospitality industry.
At the end of the session, it was clear that Emanuel is going to be a tremendous force in the Statehouse. Illinois pundits and pols will now try to predict, watch and react to Emanuel’s federal legislative and upcoming state veto and budget session agendas. At some point, someone in the Illinois Statehouse will challenge him. Depending on who it is, the fight will be very interesting. At least in Springfield, Emanuel’s win-rate can only go down. You can only bat 1.000 for so long.
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