Will Raymond Poe Give Jack Franks a Way to Show He Isn’t a Complete Madigan Minion?

Below is the House roll call on Senate Bill 1229, the legislation that will pretty much cut Governor Bruce Rauner out of the employee contract negotiation business during his first term in office.

The original vote on the AFSCME bill to limit Governor Bruce Rauner's contract negotiating power.

The original vote on the AFSCME bill to limit Governor Bruce Rauner’s contract negotiating power.

Franks did not vote the first time around.

Reminds a bit of how State Senator Barack Obama ducked votes so many times.

The question I pose today is

“Will some Republican State Representative cave to AFSCME union pressure and vote to override Governor Rauner’s veto on Senate bill 1229?”

It could be any nervous Republican in a district with a lot of state employees, but, because State Rep. Raymond Poe, who lives just north of Springfield, wanted to be the House Republican Leader and at one point was aiming for statewide office, I’ve used his name in this story’s headline.


Comments

Will Raymond Poe Give Jack Franks a Way to Show He Isn’t a Complete Madigan Minion? — 3 Comments

  1. Raymond Poe is a State Representative in the 99th District.
    http://www.ilga.gov/house/Rep.asp?GA=99&MemberID=2093

    Here is map of the 99th Representative District, which is entirely within Sangamon County.
    http://www.elections.il.gov/Downloads/VotingInformation/PDF/2011Districts/2011RepDist99.pdf
    http://www.elections.il.gov/votinginformation/2011representativedistricts.aspx

    Representative Poe was included in an August 18, 2015 State Journal Register article on SB 1229.

    Gov. Rauner asks lawmakers to sustain his veto of union arbitration bill
    by Doug Finke, State Capitol Bureau
    http://www.sj-r.com/article/20150818/NEWS/150819525/?Start=1

    The SJ-R is based in Springfield which is located in Sangamon County.

    ++++++

    As a review, Senate Bill 1229 in the 99th General Assembly impacts the way State public sector union contracts are negotiated.

    State government has collective bargaining agreements with about 20 public sector unions.

    All of them expired this year.

    Negotiations are complete with one of those unions, the Teamsters.

    The rest are yet to be resolved.

    SB 1229 would add a permissible new step to state government collective bargaining negotiations, that being binding interest arbitration.

    In this case, binding interest arbitration would allow either party in the negotiations to declare an impasse, at which time both parties would submit a final offer to a panel of un-elected arbitrators, who would make the final decision.

    AFSCME, other public sector unions, and the Democrats, obviously believe that would be to their advantage, and Governor Rauner obviously believes that would be to his disadvantage.

    These negotiations are very important as a very large percentage of the approximately $33 Billion state budget goes to salary and current benefits, which are part of collective bargaining negotiations.

    Starting in 1984 public sector unions have been able to extract many very generous collective bargaining agreements at all levels of state and local government, from Republican and Democrat Governors and Boards, after the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act (IPLRA) was signed by Governor Jim Thompson on December 27, 1983, and subsequently amended over time by the General Assembly and Governors.

    IPLRA was Public Act 83-1012 (PA 83-1012), which was Senate Bill 0536 (SB 0536).

    IPLRA collective bargaining rules vary depending on the employee group.

    In general, public safety workers, such as police and fire, are not allowed to strike, but are allowed binding interest arbitration.

    Other workers are allowed to strike, but not allowed binding interest arbitration.

    SB 1229 would allow the public sector unions which have a collective bargaining agreement with the state to both strike and request binding interest arbitration, but only for a 4 year time period (the Governor not coincidentally serves a 4 year term), at which point SB 1229 would sunset unless renewed.

    There are all sorts of rules with all sorts of exceptions, and public education has a separate set of labor laws, the Illinois Educational Labor Review Act (IELRA).

    The bottom line.

    SB 1229 is a big deal if state government is to be reformed.

    Currently the operation of state government is too frequently slanted to the advantage of organized labor at the expense of taxpayers.

    The majority of voters did not elect Republican Rauner with the expectation that State Representatives and State Senators would diminish the Governors negotiating power with unions.

    SB 1229 is a preemptive attempt to diminish the Governors ability to negotiate with the unions.

  2. Well the House of Representatives is scheduled to meet today (the 78th Legislative Day) starting at 12PM, according to the House Calendar.

    http://www.ilga.gov/house/schedules/Calendars/calendarproof_H099000078.pdf

    The House Calendar index does refer to SB 1229.

    The House Calendar sponsor index for 1229 lists Mike Smiddy, a Democrat in the 71st district whose district office is in Port Byron (Rock Island County) and was first elected in 2012.

    http://www.ilga.gov/house/Rep.asp?GA=99&MemberID=2236

    (The Chief Sponsor of SB 1229 is Senator Dan Harmon, a Democrat whose District Office is in Oak Park).

    Here is what the House Calendar states about SB 1229:

    S.B. 1229 — (Smiddy – Kifowit – Jones – Hoffman – Scherer) Harmon – Kotowski – Koehler – Collins – Martinez
    AN ACT concerning State government

    That would be:

    State Rep or Senator – Party – District Office
    Representative Mike Smiddy, D, Port Byron
    Representative Stephanie Kifowit, D, Aurora
    Representative Thaddeus Jones, D, Calumet City
    Representative Jay Hoffman, D, Belleville
    Representative Sue Scherer, D, Decatur
    Senator Dan Harmon, D, Oak Park (President Pro Tempore)
    Senator Dan Kotowski, D, Park Ridge
    Senator David Koehler, D, Peoria
    Senator Jacqueline Collins, D, Chicago
    Senator Iris Martinez, D, Chicago (Majority Caucus Whip)

    There are additional sponsors listed in the Bill Status which are not listed in the House Calendar.

    http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=1229&GAID=13&DocTypeID=SB&LegId=87589&SessionID=88&GA=99

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