Legislative Action
October agenda: criminal justice, Board of Elections and veto session

THE General Assembly will hold two special sessions and a veto session concurrently, beginning October 24. The main emphasis is to be on crime bills, with one special session devoted only to that. (For details see the lead article on page 4 on Class X and the rival Judiciary II Committee bill.) Also to be considered, in another special session, is the court-mandated realignment of the State Board of Elections (see August Legislative Action). No special session has been called for public employee unemployment compensation changes, which some say are needed to meet federal guidelines and prevent forfeiture of millions of dollars in federal payments.

In the veto override session little action is expected in the form of appropriation overrides. But it is possible that lawmakers will reject vetoes of some controversial bills, including perhaps the legalization of laetrile, which passed by wide margins in both houses last spring (see below for details on why the bill was vetoed).

Gov. James Thompson predicts little uproar for the special sessions. A compromise is expected on both the Class X proposal and on the Board of Elections. According to the governor's legal counsel the determinate sentencing provision of the committee bill is now acceptable to Gov. Thompson. And the governor himself has said he is willing to abandon the fight for a five-member board of elections — with the odd member chosen by the governor. He says he is now ready to accept an even-numbered, 6- to 10-member board, equally divided between Democrats and Republicans.

House Speaker William Redmond (D., Bensenville), who clashed with the governor in the spring over ClassX, says he too "would imagine there will be some legislation with respect to crime" this fall and sees "no reason why a new board [of elections] can't be worked out." ž

28 / October 1977 / Illinois Issues