* From an email to House Democrats…

Good morning, members –

Please be advised that the session days scheduled for next week will be cancelled. Regarding the committee deadline for House bills, which was previously extended to April 3, that deadline will be extended to April 24. The 3rd reading deadline for House bills will be extended to May 8, which will now be a scheduled session day. Note that these and other deadlines will be reviewed and extended as needed moving forward.

As I indicated in previous communications, the session schedule is “in flux,” and members should be prepared to return to Springfield to address urgent matters, including during the weeks of April 5 and April 12 (the legislative spring break).

Furthermore, we are planning to have another conference call for House Democratic caucus members on Monday, March 30 at 9:30 a.m. Discussions on budget-making and the hospital assessment program are ongoing this week – members should anticipate receiving a status update on these matters during the Monday call.

Finally, the Office has been working on a Google Drive folder that contains all the various pieces of information that’s been shared by the Governor’s Office and others. The intent is to make it easier for you to navigate all the quickly changing information on various topics. We will continue to update that folder with new information on a daily basis – you will find that each file is dated, so you can quickly see how recent the information is. You can view that folder and its contents through this link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/16CgavsCW6YqWLMB2G_-RXOm0GCrgXSmQ?usp=sharing

I would encourage you to share this link with your district office staff.

Take care and be well,

Jessica

Jessica Basham, Chief of Staff

Office of the Speaker

Illinois House of Representatives

*** UPDATE *** Press release…

Illinois Senate President Don Harmon has canceled the Illinois Senate’s scheduled session days for next week. The 59-member Senate was scheduled to be at the Capitol on March 31 and April 1 and 2.

Harmon informed Senate Democrats on a caucus conference call Wednesday, part of an ongoing effort to keep members and staff informed during the COVID-19 public health emergency. He said senators and staff continue to examine legislative and procedural priorities so that when the legislative session resumes, the Senate is prepared to act efficiently and effectively.

“We are going to have to figure out what is critical and what is time-sensitive,” Harmon said.

After next week, the Senate was not scheduled to be back at the Capitol until April 21. The Senate President asked members to keep their calendars clear for possible return dates.

Faced with a growing pandemic, Senate President Harmon first called off session days earlier this month to comply with public health recommendations to protect senators, staff and the general public that comes to the Capitol.

“For now, we are taking it day by day and urging everyone heed the advice of health care professionals by practicing social distancing, regularly washing hands and avoiding all unneeded travel,” Harmon said.