SPRINGFIELD — “It’s not over until it’s over” is probably an apt adage for the end of a legislative session at the Capitol.
Although a budget agreement this year could again be elusive, the General Assembly is picking up the pace on other topics as the clock continues to wind down to a May 31 adjournment date.
Just this week, legislators have voted on bills to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, automatically register voters and legalize daily fantasy sports betting. Here is the latest on where some of the measures stand.
Automatic voter registration
A measure to streamline the voter registration process was approved by the Senate this week, despite criticism it would be easier for non-citizens to slip through the cracks and cast votes.
Senate Bill 250, sponsored by Sen. Andy Manar, a Bunker Hill Democrat, requires certain state agencies to send identity, address and citizenship info to the state’s election board after they interact with members of the public.
For instance, when someone gets a driver’s license or updates their old one with the secretary of state, the bill would require the agency to inform the person of voter qualifications and give them a chance to verify that they meet them.
That personal info is sent regardless of whether a person attests they meet the standards. It goes to the elections board and local election authorities, and if they determine the qualifications are met, the person is registered.
In essence, it turns the voter registration system into one where voters have to opt out of registration rather than opt in, Manar said.
But Sen. Kyle McCarter, a Lebanon Republican, said it would be easier for non-citizens to become registered.
“This situation, in my opinion, sets people up for breaking the law. And I don’t think anybody wants that,” McCarter said on the Senate floor on Thursday.
But Manar said that was a misinterpretation of the bill. There would still be checks by election authorities, he said, but they would just be getting the information automatically rather than waiting for people to come directly to them.
“Getting a driver’s license issued has more stringent requirements than a voter registration piece of paper,” Manar told colleagues. “So if it’s duplicative, let’s use it to our advantage to make it more efficient and save money.”
The measure needs House approval and the signature of GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner to become law.
Marijuana
After Rauner killed a previous cannabis bill with a veto last year, a new measure to make possession of small amounts of cannabis a civil rather than criminal violation passed the House this week.
It was approved by the Senate in April and is now headed to Rauner’s desk. The sponsor of the measure said this week that Rauner’s wishes are “completely encapsulated’ in the new bill.
Senate Bill 2228, sponsored in the House by Rep. Kelly Cassidy, a Chicago Democrat, would make possession of up to 10 grams of marijuana a civil law violation punishable by fines between $100 and $200. It would also set the legal limit for driving under the influence of cannabis at 5 nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood.
Current law says that possession of any amount of marijuana up to 10 grams is a misdemeanor and between 10 and 30 grams could be a Class 4 felony, depending on an individual’s criminal record.
Cassidy’s previous version of the bill called for the cutoff between criminal and non-criminal marijuana possession to be 15 grams instead of 10 with a higher tolerance for driving under the influence, at 15 nanograms of THC.
She said on the House floor this week that the bill represents a shift from a “patchwork” of local ordinances that deal with the issue differently to a unified response to low-level marijuana possession.
“What this will do is create a threshold under which arrest is not an option,” Cassidy told colleagues. “Tickets are the way to go with very, very low-level possession.”
Daily fantasy sports
A bill to regulate daily fantasy sports contests was also approved by the Senate on Thursday.
House Bill 3655 aims to prevent kids and young adults under age 21 from wagering on daily fantasy games like the ones crafted by websites FanDuel and DraftKings.
It also says professional athletes themselves are not allowed to play.
The measure, sponsored by Sen. Kwame Y. Raoul, a Chicago Democrat, is a response to an attorney general opinion last year that said daily contests that allow players to draft lineups of real athletes each day and win money based on their performances is illegal gambling.
“What we’re doing here with this bill is making sure that we’re responsive to the thousands of citizens who play these fantasy sports and making sure that we don’t criminalize those citizens who exist in each and every one of our districts,” Raoul said on the Senate floor on Thursday.
The bill was approved with votes to spare, but its arrival in the House — where a similar measure had trouble earlier this year — has been delayed by a parliamentary tactic.
Though lawmakers can continue working past the adjournment date, they traditionally aim to finish their work before then because the threshold to pass legislation increases from a simple majority to a three-fifths majority in each chamber.
Smoking
Illinois could follow the city of Chicago and states such as California, Hawaii and Massachusetts in raising the legal smoking age from 18 to 21 if Senate Bill 3011 is approved by the House and signed by the governor.
Sponsored by Sen. John G. Mulroe, a Chicago Democrat, the measure would raise the legal purchasing age for all tobacco products as well as e-cigarettes in Illinois. The bill would make it a Class B misdemeanor for individuals under 21 to try to get tobacco by using a fake or altered identification card.
Mulroe said in a release Thursday that the measure would improve health outcomes and help the state realize savings through decreased Medicaid costs.
“The cigarette packs clearly state the health risks. If someone doesn’t start smoking by the age of 21, their risk of starting is dramatically decreased,” he said.