SZALINSKI’S SUMMARY: House Speaker Emanuel “Chis” Welch, D-Hillside, uses an unofficial rule in his caucus that requires 60 Democrats to commit to supporting a bill before it is called for a vote on the floor. Welch told Capitol News Illinois Tuesday the rule fosters trust between members and makes legislation more effective.
WHY IT MATTERS: A bill typically needs 60 votes to pass the 118-member House. By requiring 60 Democrats to support a bill before it moves forward, Welch can guarantee a bill will pass when it comes to floor. The rule sometimes angers Republicans, who believe there are bills that can pass the House with 40 Republican votes and a minority of at least 20 Democratic supporters.
“They’re very much a part of the processes too,” Welch said of Republicans. “But the 60 Democrat rule is a process that’s used really to help me manage a very different and very diverse Democratic caucus.”
Welch said Democrats have changed a lot politically over the last decade and there’s a more diverse set of opinions in his caucus, from differences between moderates and progressives to different ethnic groups.
HOW IT’S DONE: Individual members are free to gather their own roll calls. But Welch said his staff also keeps track, and the information they collect is what decides if the bill gets called for a vote. He said that helps foster trust between himself and lawmakers.
“My staff will do a roll call – that is the roll call that we go by. We call that a verification of what we’ve been given by a particular member,” Welch said. “Once a roll call is verified by my staff, it goes on the board. And my staff does a very good job of doing the roll calls. The members trust us, and so not only are they telling us ‘yes,’ ‘no,’ or leaning a certain way, they actually give us information that is provided to me.”
PUBLIC ATTENTION: Welch’s rule has been in place for years but got a lot of attention this spring as the public followed every detail of the megaprojects bill designed to help the Chicago Bears stay in Illinois.
Welch said the rule is about getting bills done “right” rather than “fast.” And that was a hallmark of the legislative process behind the megaprojects bill on the House side. An early version of that bill was just over 30 pages long but didn’t have enough support to pass on the floor and stalled for several weeks.
It was then amended with more than 350 pages of new content, such as specific economic development tools for Chicago and Springfield, as well as property tax relief measures. That helped bring Chicago Democrats and others on board to get the bill to 60 Democratic votes.
PRITZKER’S AGENDA: Some of the most watched bills each spring are the ones Gov. JB Pritzker proposes. But his legislative agenda has had mixed success and Welch said Pritzker’s bills don’t get special treatment.
“The governor’s proposals typically are filed by a particular member, and so they don’t really stand out more than anything else because it’s a governor’s initiative,” Welch said. “Members file bills by the filing deadline at the beginning of the year, and those bills work through the process just like all other bills.”
He pointed to bans on cell phones in classrooms, junk fees and hemp regulation as examples of bills Pritzker has pushed for that passed the General Assembly this spring after years of negotiations.
In the meantime, you can sign up for our twice-weekly Capitol News Insider newsletter. You won’t be charged, but will have the option to become a paying subscriber to retain access to coverage like this once we fully launch Capitol News Insider.
