BRIEFLY

Legislative Checklist

Lots of work for lawmakers

State representatives set a record this spring by introducing 2,862 hi/is -many of them put on the agenda by freshmen who want to prove to constituents they're hard at work. House Speaker Michael Madigan responded by making everyone work late and threatening to keep legislators in Springfield on weekends. Many reps seemed a bit overwhelmed, what with al/the rushing between overlapping committee meetings and countless gab sessions with lobbyists Still when freshmen rose to introduce their first bills, some veterans took the time to ask a dozen or so questions designed to fluster the newcomers.

On the more composed side of the Capitol rotunda, Senate President James "Pate" Philip left the schedule open so the members of his smaller body could continue to introduce new bills later in the session.

Even at that, the Senate - and, yes, the House - can be expected to finish the people's business by the end of May. Here are a few of the issues they've been debating:

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

Illinois put another man to death as proposals to establish a moratorium on executions stalled in the General Assembly Andrew Kokoraleis was put to death March 17 for the murder of Lorraine Borowski.

It was the 12th execution under the state's 1977 capital punishment law (see also pages 4 and 21). Crediting the help of Attorney General Jim Ryan, Gov. George Ryan reviewed the case and declined to intervene. Though the governor noted the "strain on our system has resulted in well-documented injustices," he called the move for a moratorium a "side strategy in the debate over the death penalty." The U.S. Supreme Court chose not to consider an appeal.

In the last hours before the execution, state Supreme Court Justice Moses Harrison II issued a stay on his own, an unusual move that was overturned by his colleagues. He also filed a dissent in the court's decision to dismiss an appeal, his second dissent in a capital case (see Illinois Issues, December 1998, page 38).

"Experience has shown that the present mechanism for handling capital offenses simply does not work in a just and reliable way," Harrison wrote, citing the case of Anthony Porter, who was freed from Death Row and exonerated.

"Significantly those developments had nothing whatever to do with the efficacy of the courts."

Early in the legislative session, death penalty reformers appeared to have political momentum. Even capital punishment proponents have been stunned by the stream of defendants freed from Death Row. Yet when moratorium proposals hit legislative committees, the reform drive stalled. Chicago Democratic Rep. Coy Pugh agreed to end his push for a one-year moratorium. Instead, he settled for joining Republican Rep. Thomas Johnson of West Chicago in calling for a panel to review capital cases. Meanwhile, a proposal to videotape confessions of accused murderers got some backing, though opponents argued it ignores the realities of police procedures. Sponsored by Democratic Rep. Monique Davis of Chicago, the measure would require police to videotape confessions in capital cases. Johnson also signed on to that idea.

Davis cites the high-profile case in her city last summer when two young boys were accused of murdering a 12-year-old girl. After claiming the boys confessed, police later admitted the two were innocent. "We should be incensed," she says. "This is happening in Illinois, not Alabama or Mississippi."

Opponents say a confession can occur on the streets or in a squad car. Once the accused is sitting in front of a camera, that confession can be recanted and lost to the prosecution.

Opponents also raise concerns about the costs of the equipment for small, rural police departments.

ENVIRONMENT
Two downstate representatives want to remove three creatures from the state's endangered species list. Kurt Granberg, a Carlyle Democrat, wants to "delist" the massasauga rattlesnake so Sportsman's Park President Charles Bidwell can proceed with plans to put a $7.8 million resort on Carlyle Lake in southern Illinois. Meanwhile, another southern Illinoisan, Carterville Democrat Larry Woolard, targeted the Indiana crayfish and the least brook lamprey so that the city of Marion can build a water-supply reservoir.

Environmentalists are fighting back, arguing lawmakers shouldn't decide which species deserve protection. Currently, those decisions are made by scientists. Species are reviewed every five years, and a review was conducted last year.