Rauner narrowly avoids losing battle over union issue, for now
The override effort fell one vote short of the 71 needed after heavy lobbying from the governor. He was looking to keep
"The people of
"Instead, courageous House lawmakers stood together to dump the old playbook and move forward to make
Sponsoring state Rep.
Moylan noted that one Democratic lawmaker was absent, and he said he planned to offer a second bill that would remove criminal penalties for officials who violate the right-to-work ban.
Under the legislation, local towns and villages would be barred from enacting right-to-work measures, which prevent employers and unions from entering into agreements that require workers to either join a union or pay related fees. Rauner has long pushed for local communities to enact right-to-work laws as he's been stymied from putting in place statewide restrictions on collective bargaining.
Rauner has said he hopes the case can reach the
"We have to do everything we can to preserve the middle class," Moylan said.
The override effort's 70 votes was four more than when the legislation first passed the House in June. Four
That wasn't the case on a separate bill aimed at bringing more transparency to the state's finances, with
Backed by Democratic Comptroller
Rauner said the legislation was an attempt by Mendoza to "micromanage" state agencies. Lawmakers, though, countered it was common sense accounting that would help officials gain a better understanding of
"Today is a great day for transparency in the state of
Earlier Wednesday, the Rauner administration went back to the bond market to sell another
The general obligation bonds sold Wednesday locked in the 3.5 percent interest rate that the state received in the earlier bond sale, the administration said. That's a considerably lower borrowing cost than the 9 to 12 percent interest rate that accrues on old bills at the comptroller's office. And it's an improvement over the interest rate of just under 4.25 percent that the state got when it sold bonds in
But with the state's bill backlog standing at roughly
The Rauner administration said the state also plans to return to the bond market later this year to sell
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