© 2024 WNIJ and WNIU
Northern Public Radio
801 N 1st St.
DeKalb, IL 60115
815-753-9000
Northern Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Why does seemingly popular legislation die at the Illinois capitol?

There was a big lobbying campaign to save Illinois’ Invest in Kids private school scholarship program, including at this rally at St. Sabina Academy in Chicago’s Auburn Gresham neighborhood on Sept. 13, 2023.
Anthony Vazquez
/
Chicago Sun-Times
There was a big lobbying campaign to save Illinois’ Invest in Kids private school scholarship program, including at this rally at St. Sabina Academy in Chicago’s Auburn Gresham neighborhood on Sept. 13, 2023.

Thousands of bills are introduced in Springfield every year. Most of them don’t go anywhere, including ones that seem popular.

Thousands of bills are introduced at the Illinois capitol every year.

Most of them don’t go anywhere.

But sometimes there’s an initiative that seems really popular — at least on the surface. Busloads of people show up in Springfield to carry signs, chant and hold rallies as they try pressuring state lawmakers into action. They’re followed by TV cameras and social media campaigns.

Then legislative deadlines come and go, and the seemingly popular idea dies.

There are a few reasons bills die on the vine, but one culprit is lobbying.

The effort to save Invest in Kids

In 2023, hundreds of people came to the state capitol supporting Invest in Kids.

Started under Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner in 2017, the program allowed Illinois taxpayers to donate to a scholarship-granting organization of their choice, like Empower Illinois and the Big Shoulders Fund. Those organizations used the money to award scholarships to low-income students across the state.

In return, the state offered donors a state income tax credit worth 75 percent of their total donation, with a maximum credit of $7,500. The state budgeted $75 million for those credits every year.

It was always designed to sunset, or expire, after five years. Yet as that deadline crept closer, Republicans talked about an extension.

State Rep. Blaine Wilhour (R-Beecher City) calls himself an “education choice guy.”

As the minority spokesperson for a House education committee, Wilhour said the state is continually investing more in public schools, and the results aren’t there.

“We need to stop focusing so much on how much money [to put into public schools] and what the outcome[s] of these students are,” Wilhour told WBEZ. “The outcome is abysmal, so that’s why they need more opportunity.”

Wilhour was one of dozens of Republicans who took time on the House floor throughout 2023 to implore their fellow lawmakers to pass an Invest in Kids extension. Almost daily, a member of the GOP took personal time during floor debate to extoll the program’s virtues.

Some Democrats also wanted the program to continue, albeit only for another five years and with a smaller tax credit, lowering the amount to 50 percent of the donation. Republicans wanted a permanent extension, with the credit left as is.

But despite the bipartisan support and loud capitol demonstrations, last year’s fall veto session ended and no action was taken.

A handmade sign reading “Save My Scholarship” ends up in the trash after a day of rallying November 9, 2023 at the Illinois state capitol. It was the last day of the 2023 fall veto session and the Invest in Kids program was not extended.
Alex Degman
/
WBEZ
A handmade sign reading “Save My Scholarship” ends up in the trash after a day of rallying November 9, 2023 at the Illinois state capitol. It was the last day of the 2023 fall veto session and the Invest in Kids program was not extended.

What held lawmakers back?

This time, it was lobbying.

“The only reason this doesn’t get done is because there are very, very powerful special interests groups that don’t want it to happen,” said Wilhour. “You know, the Chicago Teachers Union, the Illinois Education Association.”

While that may seem incendiary, in this case, it’s true.

Dan Montgomery, president and chief operating officer of the Illinois Federation of Teachers, said teachers unions oppose programs like Invest in Kids because they think the annual $75 million should have been used for public education, instead of vouchers to remove kids from public school.

“Public dollars for the education of all our students should not go to private interests,” said Montgomery.

Montgomery scoffed at the rallies, accusing conservative think tanks of bankrolling them in an “astroturf operation.” That’s where something seems like a grassroots effort, but really, it’s being funded by special interests.

“I thought it was despicable,” Montgomery said. “They took Black and brown kids out of school down to Springfield, you know, and you could see sort of the white purveyors of this scheme, holding them up as props.”

The IFT had a different approach to Invest in Kids. While those in support tried to sway the public with loud protests and compelling interviews with students and their parents, those against it worked quietly to make sure lawmakers got information they needed.

How often does lobbying affect whether a bill moves or dies?

Chris Mooney is a retired political science professor from the University of Illinois system. He said lawmakers listen to lobbyists — a lot.

“For the vast majority of legislation, they’re just there to hear what the lobbyists have to say,” Mooney explained. “They’re not nefarious, they’re not. They’re part of the process, they’re part of the information process.”

And there are plenty of opportunities for lawmakers to talk to lobbyists.

The spring session runs from January through May. That’s plenty of time for a bill to get held up at one of several choke points, like the House Rules or the Senate Assignments committees.

“There’s a million ways to kill a bill, and only one very careful way — you gotta walk through this process step by step, minefields — to pass it,” Mooney said.

In the end, a bill to extend Invest in Kids needed 71 “yes” votes, because legislation considered after May 31 needs a supermajority to pass if it’s going to take effect before June 1 the following year.

Even with all 40 House Republicans ready to vote yes and a few Democrats supposedly on board, House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch said he didn’t think that was enough to get the supermajority needed.

So, he didn’t call a vote.

Alex Degman is a Statehouse reporter with WBEZ.