Every year when the Legislature arrives at mid-May, it’s always tempting to look around, see the absence of real bicameral movement on legislation and conclude that nothing’s gonna happen in time for the scheduled May 31 adjournment.
Succumbing to that temptation this year may not be a bad bet, but things can change. Right now, though, evidence of major movement is super-slim.
The artificial intelligence packages in both chambers seem designed only to pass one chamber, and with every day that goes by, there’s less time to work out differences. Not coincidentally, lobbyists for the massive AI companies prefer it that way.
An accusation was made last week by a House Democrat that the Senate hadn’t kept the House informed about its AI plans, which was seen as more evidence of this year’s stark split between the two chambers. But some Senate Dems later told me they did reach out to people within House leadership.
Could something still happen? I never rule anything out.
But communication may be difficult in the wake of a House Democratic ally and lobbyist posting a leaked internal email from top Senate staff last week on Facebook. Very high-level folks in the Senate and the governor’s office were furious about the leak, which was designed to “prove” that the House was acting in concert with the Senate and the governor’s office on the megaprojects bill, which includes language for a new Bears sports complex in Arlington Heights. The email did no such thing, however, which further exacerbated the situation.
The proliferation of electricity-sucking data centers is a super-hot issue all over the country right now.
In Illinois, Gov. JB Pritzker used his State of the State Address in February to call for a two-year moratorium on state tax breaks for data centers. But that prompted trade unions to criticize the governor’s idea because it could lead to non-union data center construction jobs in Illinois, and more likely, in other states that have robust tax incentives and no labor protections.
As a poll I shared with you earlier this year showed, opposition to data centers is probably the one thing that unites almost all Illinoisans (and Americans) these days.
But data center regulatory efforts have stalled in the face of opposition, including from local government leaders, who want those abundant new property taxes without having to expand schools or other local services because completed centers have so few on-site employees.
A narrow bill may emerge dealing with transparency issues and maybe some other items. But it’s not lost on some that Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis just signed a significant data center regulation bill into law.
One Illinois lobbyist complained last week that the governor’s “lack of engagement” was hindering progress on passing a bill here, according to Capitol News Illinois.
And then there’s the governor’s housing proposal, which has been met with fierce opposition by local mayors who oppose constraints on their zoning powers.
A lot more appears stalled right now, including an energy bill and a gaming bill, but you get the idea. Sometimes a spark occurs, and stuff starts moving again. Sometimes, stuff is set aside until more talks can be held over the summer. Sometimes, stuff just dies.
And unless progressives are successful at taxing wealthy individuals and giant corporations this year, the new state budget looks like it’ll basically be what’s known as a “maintenance” spending plan.
The Governor’s Office of Management and Budget and the Legislature’s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability both released revised revenue projections last week. The Governor’s Office of Management and Budget also released a spending report for this fiscal year, which is up a little more than initially budgeted.
For the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1, the office predicts the state will bring in $55.883 billion, which is $173 million below its last projection in February and just $210 million above its revised projected growth for the current fiscal year.
The fiscal year 27 forecast by the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability has the state bringing in $55.335 billion, which is $190 million below its own March forecast and a significant $573 million below its projected revenue for the current fiscal year.
Meeting somewhere in the middle, you’re looking at basically a no-growth year next year.
The governor’s budget office also released an update on state spending during this fiscal year. Outlays are over budget by $261 million, which would be covered by the revenue increases projected by both agencies for the current year.
- Let there be Sunshine - Monday, May 18, 26 @ 9:03 am:
But that prompted trade unions to criticize the governor’s idea because it could lead to non-union data center construction jobs in Illinois, and more likely, in other states that have robust tax incentives and no labor protections.
Union workforce is 13% of Illinois workforce, 6% of total population and controls 95% of any meaningful legislation and spending coming out of or not coming out of the Illinois Legislature.
- I-55 Fanatic - Monday, May 18, 26 @ 9:09 am:
That video from the Arizona commencement reminds me of when I was at a Cubs game a few weeks ago and they did a scoreboard thing in between innings that used generative AI, and the entire stadium booed it. It was pretty striking. Somebody needs to talk to somebody and get *something* to regulate AI or data passed and signed by this summer to get those press releases out the door.
- BE - Monday, May 18, 26 @ 9:25 am:
Wow, that video.
He seems quite annoyed that they booed him.
“If you don’t care about science, that’s okay” - what a jerk.
“When someone offers you a seat on a rocket ship, you don’t ask which seat, you just get on.” - uh, no. I would want to know where I am going, thank you.
His speech feels like an ad/commercial for the thing that makes him money.
- OBKid - Monday, May 18, 26 @ 9:37 am:
It’s amusing to watch the luddites actively resist technology transformation.
Good luck maintaining a WC job in the next 10 years.
- Think Again - Monday, May 18, 26 @ 10:11 am:
= governor’s housing proposal, which has been met with fierce opposition by local mayors who oppose constraints on their zoning powers=
The BUILD initiative which would have been a gold star as part of a progressive national affordability platform - has instead become a rotten egg - the almost universal opposition by municipalities is JB’s signal to back off this
- sulla - Monday, May 18, 26 @ 10:25 am:
“It’s amusing to watch the luddites actively resist technology transformation. Good luck maintaining a WC job in the next 10 years.”
Good luck subordinating actual human skill development to a machine that you neither own nor have any control over.
Good luck with risking our shared conception of reality and gambling with the very light of human consciousness by enabling men like Sam Altman, Elon Musk and Peter Thiel to run amok.
Good luck converting what is left of our fragile planet’s collapsing biome into energy to power your dystopia.
- Demoralized - Monday, May 18, 26 @ 10:25 am:
==the almost universal opposition by municipalities is JB’s signal to back off this==
Why would municipality opposition mean he should back off? The state ticks off municipalities all the time. Their beef is that they don’t want anyone playing in their sandboxes and infringing on a powerful political tool they have in terms of zoning. I wouldn’t back off at all.
- JS Mill - Monday, May 18, 26 @ 10:46 am:
=to watch the luddites=
Lol. Let me know how it goes when the AI doctor determines it is better to euthanize you than treat your exotic illness.
- Jocko - Monday, May 18, 26 @ 10:54 am:
==It’s amusing to watch the luddites actively resist technology transformation.==
For every article touting AI’s cancer detection, I read ten about AI making up legal/scientific data, slop showing DJT as a superhero, or creating nudes using real people.
- TBone - Monday, May 18, 26 @ 11:17 am:
I appreciate the booing. There’s lots of valid reasons to be skeptical of AI and dismayed by its potential negative impacts on the environment and employment prospects. But I wonder how many of the those booing students used generative AI on class assignments during their time at UofA….
- Flyin' Elvis'-Utah Chapter - Monday, May 18, 26 @ 12:17 pm:
“It’s amusing to watch the luddites actively resist technology transformation”
Being wary of something that even the “experts” say they have no idea where it’s headed doesn’t make one a luddite. It simply makes one wary.
There’s a reason there is an adaptation of Frankenstein every few years.
- Johnny B - Monday, May 18, 26 @ 12:19 pm:
The best representative government is the one closest to the people, by officials who actually live in the community.
Taking accountability about zoning away from local leaders because someone who doesn’t live in the community thinks they know best is a disaster waiting to happen.
- Demoralized - Monday, May 18, 26 @ 12:34 pm:
==how many of the those booing students used generative AI==
My kid had to write a paper in her English class this year. The teacher forbid students from working on it outside of class for this very reason.
- Grandson of Man - Monday, May 18, 26 @ 1:08 pm:
“I read ten about AI making up legal/scientific data”
AI is frequently wrong. Sometimes it insists on false information. Other times it provides nonexistent quotes from scientific studies. Enthusiasts of various subjects will know stuff AI won’t, like very important research data from publicly available study supplemental material.
- Candy Dogood - Monday, May 18, 26 @ 2:22 pm:
I’ve never been responsible for selecting a commencement speaker, but I’m not sure inviting someone whose net worth is tens of billions of dollars is the best way to get a speaker that is going to offer anything of value to the graduates.
Life advice, career advice, or advice on the future coming from a person who holds unimaginable wealth who is dating a woman 40+ years younger than him in his open marriage? Hope folks kept an eye on Eric, he was probably there hoping to expand his dating pool of women in their early 20s.
This guy worth tens of billions of dollars is also spending money to try to convince voters to keep his taxes lower.
I understand that it might seem like a good “get” to get a former CEO of one of the biggest and most valuable companies on the planet/in the history of humanity to come and speak to your graduating students, but this all seems like a terrible choice.
- Iron Duke - Monday, May 18, 26 @ 4:08 pm:
No way these kids can take away any practical advice from the son of a college professor, who worked his way to the very top of American business and revolutionized the technology sector for the world.
This internet thing is just a passing fad.
- Huh? - Monday, May 18, 26 @ 4:40 pm:
“… watch the luddites actively resist technology transformation …”
Um. Yeah. No. ai is comparatively an infant. Society is being asked to hand over decision making to a black box. We casually do so without thought of the consequences. We dismiss the adverse impacts of those consequences by blaming the computer.
Case in point, waymo recently recalled over 3,700 of its vehicles because one of them drove into a flooded road and was swept away. What the episode has demonstrated is that ai is no more intelligent than a human bent on doing stupid things. Unfortunately, there isn’t a Darwin award for ai.
- Odysseus - Monday, May 18, 26 @ 11:14 pm:
It is quite impressive that Schmidt lists off a number of real problems that he is actively exacerbating.