By Rich Miller

The Illinois Senate’s COVID-19 mitigation protocols (testing, masks and limited remote voting) didn’t anticipate a partisan attempt to use a record-breaking virus surge to shut the chamber down, but that’s what almost happened last week.

Senate Republicans were rightfully outraged that the Democratic super-majority geared up to jam through a redistricting bill of several judicial circuits without so much as a proper hearing. So, they counted heads and determined that they just might be able to force an adjournment without action if they stayed off the floor, thereby denying the Democrats a quorum. Since the Democrats weren’t planning to come back to town before petition circulation started, any delay could mean the end of the attempted court gerrymandering.

Two Senate Democrats had reportedly tested positive for the novel coronavirus after taking the mandated SHIELD test the evening before. Another Democrat had already announced he’d tested positive for the virus and was experiencing mild symptoms. Yet another was running late and couldn’t be there for the scheduled 11 o’clock start time.

Rich Miller

A slew of others had various excuses for not being in Springfield, including one whose staff had tested positive and was quarantining to be on the safe side.

The Senate’s pandemic-era remote voting rule still requires a quorum to be physically present at the Capitol. The Democrats needed 29 members at the Statehouse to ensure there was an official quorum of 30. They didn’t need all 30 because a Republican would have to be on the floor to question the existence of a quorum. The Democrats have 41 members, but they couldn’t produce 29 bodies. Rank and file Democrats fumed at the bungling of the headcount and the Republican games.

So, top Democrats came up with a plan. The member who was running late was told to hurry up. Two members who tested positive were asked to sit in their cars in their Statehouse parking spots and participate from there. Another participated from her Statehouse office. Those three were deemed “Present” even though they weren’t on the floor.

Voting while on the Capitol grounds but not in the chamber does have precedent. Former Sen. Bill Haine was very ill and couldn’t risk infection when the chamber overrode Bruce Rauner’s veto of the income tax hike in 2017. Haine voted from his Statehouse office and the override motion prevailed with the bare minimum of 36.

But it turns out there was no rush to get people to town because a group of House Democratic lawmakers from Lake County banded together to stop the judicial remap bill until they got what they wanted. Some accommodations were eventually made, but it took a good long while.

House Republicans later tried their own quorum stunt to block the remap bill; but the Democrats had 62 members on hand (three more than required) and the plot fizzled.

During debate on the House’s rules change to again allow remote voting earlier in the day, Rep. Tim Butler (R-Springfield) asked that the chamber consider imposing some conditions on remote participation, since some members appeared to be abusing the rule (leaving session early and voting while driving home, for instance). Butler represents the Capital City, so he has an interest in protecting the livelihoods of the town’s businesses. The session injects a large amount of money into Springfield every year.

Rep. Butler is right. Some of these excuses are just ridiculous. Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) infamously voted remotely last year from a helicopter during a gubernatorial campaign tour. Some basic rules really ought to be put in place. Ditching session for campaigns should be at the top of the list (Sen. Bailey could be seen last week voting remotely while apparently driving his car).

But what Rep. Butler and others may not appreciate is that Democrats were furious at the parliamentary gamesmanship. There’s currently no desire to hurry back to town for floor action if they’re just going to sit around in potentially COVID-infested spaces for hours on end while one chamber or the other attempts to secure a quorum because of a lack of Republican cooperation.

This was an unusual case. I get it. The judicial subcircuit remap bill shouldn’t have been blatantly shoved through like that. It was an abuse of authority to rush through a bill to put more Democrats on local courts, and Republicans were right to protest.

But I also don’t blame Democrats for wanting to just stay in remote committee mode and not return to Springfield during the coming weeks while this surge blows over, if this gamesmanship is going to be a habit.

Rich Miller also publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and CapitolFax.com.