* Dan Petrella and Jeremy Gorner at the Tribune have a very comprehensive and well-researched preview of the coming legislative session…

With elections looming and another coronavirus surge underway, Illinois lawmakers are due to return to Springfield Wednesday with the goal of crafting next year’s state budget and wrapping up much of their other work for the year by early April — nearly two months ahead of the usual schedule.

Whether the Democratic-controlled legislature will be able to meet that deadline remains to be seen, as the skyrocketing number of COVID-19 cases forced the General Assembly to cancel the other session days during the first week of the new year and likely the entire second week. But with primaries set for June 28 and all 177 seats in the Illinois House and Senate up for election in 2022, lawmakers will be eager to avoid controversial issues and get back home to campaign. […]

House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch of Hillside, who along with Senate President Don Harmon of Oak Park controls the legislative calendar, says the schedule for the upcoming spring session is not shortened but condensed. Lawmakers were originally slated to be at the Capitol for roughly the same number of days as in a typical year, but it’s unclear if that will happen with the big surge in COVID-19 cases. […]

Senate GOP leader Dan McConchie of Hawthorn Woods expressed similar frustrations with his caucus’s superminority role, noting that members introduced several anti-crime proposals in the fall that were ignored by Democrats.

“At the end of the day, the biggest question is whether we’re going to have robust debate in an election year on key issues that the public seems concerned about,” McConchie said.

There will likely be a very robust debate about that issue, but it’ll likely be confined to private Democratic caucus meetings.

Anyway, go read the rest. They clearly put a lot of work into it.

* From Politico, but with a big caveat that the petition filing deadline was already shortened to March 14 last May…

“We’ve proven an ability to use remote hearings in particular for committees, which much of the front end of the session will likely be,” Senate President Don Harmon told Playbook. “I’m confident we’ll be able to get our work done. But I would not be at all surprised if much of the committee work happens virtually.”

On Wednesday, lawmakers are expected to adjust language on legislation that would change the deadline for getting petitions signed for the state’s June primary. Democratic lawmakers who control both houses and the governor’s office want to allow for 60 days to acquire signatures instead of 90 days. The filing deadline would be March 14. […]

For Gov. JB Pritzker, the “No. 1 priority” of the session “is balancing our budget, making sure that we’re doing the right thing to put our state on firm fiscal footing, to continue to get credit upgrades as we have, and to make sure that we’re providing the services that people need,” he told reporters at last week.

House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch echoed that in an interview with Playbook, saying, “We want to build on last year’s success.” Lawmakers this year will also weigh how best to spend another portion of federal American Rescue Plan dollars “to help people deal with the everyday issues that they’re facing, like paying rent, paying mortgages and keeping a roof over their heads or saving their businesses,” he said.

The goal is to avoid creating new programs that will then be unfunded after the federal money runs out. Instead, Democrats want to see federal monies available over the next three years to be spent on “one-time expenditures that can help bend the curve on a complicated, difficult issue or bolster our economic fundamentals,” Harmon said.