Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner won a legislative victory Wednesday evening when the Illinois House failed to override his veto of a bill aimed at limiting his ability to negotiate a new contract with a powerful state employee union.
House Speaker Michael Madigan’s efforts to marshal his 71 House Democrats into the exact 71-vote supermajority needed to override Rauner’s veto of Senate Bill 1229 fell three votes short. Local Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo, voted present, Rep. Scott Drury, D-Highwood, voted no, and Chicago Democrat Ken Dunkin was absent.
The bill would have allowed negotiations between Rauner and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees to be able to go to binding arbitration – both sides have been struggling to come to an agreement on a new contract to replace the one that expired June 30.
Drury and Franks have bucked Madigan before, most recently in robbing the powerful House speaker of the three-fifths majority he needed to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot to create a “millionaire tax,” an action clearly aimed at the wealthy freshman governor.
Franks said he voted present because he couldn’t agree with either side on the matter – he did not vote on the bill when it first came to the House, either. He said he worked “furiously” to convince Rauner and AFSCME to come to a compromise.
“I didn’t support the override, or either side. I wanted these guys to work it out,” Franks said after the vote.
Because the Senate approved a veto override last month with two votes to spare – including one downstate Republican who cited the large number of state workers in his district – a successful House vote Wednesday would have made the bill law.
Senate Bill 1229 would have allowed AFSCME and other unions negotiating with Rauner to go to binding arbitration, similar to the option available to police and fire unions that are not allowed to strike, in the event of a declared impasse. The final offers of both sides would then go to an appointed arbitration panel that would decide which side’s offers regarding salaries, benefits and other disputed issues are the most reasonable.
Rauner has sought a pay freeze and wants AFSCME workers to pay more of their health insurance costs, and AFSCME wants wages to be increased 11.5 percent over four years, plus increased benefits. The union represents about 38,000 state employees.
The governor has said the contract the union wants would cost the state about $2 billion, a figure AFSCME disputes.
The bill, had it passed, would only apply to Rauner – it was set to expire in 2019, or the final days of his current term in office. The governor’s belief that the demands of public-sector unions are a primary driver of the state’s deep fiscal woes was a core message of his successful campaign and his subsequent legislative priorities.
While Democratic and union supporters called the legislation necessary to prevent an anti-union governor from forcing a strike and locking out employees – Rauner had promised not to do so – Republican opponents called it a politically motivated charade aimed at eliminating the governor’s ability to get a grip on a cash-strapped state in deep financial trouble.
Rauner in a statement thanked House members who he said “stood with taxpayers,” and expressed hope that the end of the debate marks the start of serious work to come to an agreement on a state budget. Illinois is now in its third month without one.
“It is encouraging that many legislators recognized the dire financial impact this legislation would have had on our state,” Rauner said.
Franks echoed Rauner’s sentiment about the budget, and called the entire affair over the veto a sideshow that has distracted from the state’s serious fiscal issues.
Conversely, AFSCME and other public-sector union leaders blasted the vote.
“State employees don’t want to be forced out on strike, but we’re determined not to let Gov. Rauner undercut workers’ rights, jeopardize workplace safety or threaten the economic security of working families,” AFSCME Council 31 Executive Director Roberta Lynch said in a statement.
Dunkin’s absence was the most glaring oddity Wednesday, given Madigan’s significant efforts to ensure all 71 Democratic members were present. Dunkin told the Chicago Tribune via a text message that he would be out of town all week – a post on his Facebook page had him in New York City on Monday.
Madigan said in a news conference after the vote that he would have had the 71 unanimous Democratic votes had Dunkin attended. Dunkin said he had informed Madigan that he would not be in Springfield, but Madigan said Dunkin did not tell him anything.