Eye On Illinois: GOP fights Dems’ jurisdictional bill on policy and procedural grounds

Government. Politics. Policy. Procedure.

Analyzing the Statehouse requires wading in those and other overlapping pools. Consider Senate Bill 328, a potential scrutiny subject in any or all of those categories.

As Capitol News Illinois detailed last week, the proposal allows people injured or sickened through exposure to toxic substances to sue businesses in state court under the Uniform Hazardous Substances Act without meeting the same jurisdictional requirements of most other litigation.

That’s the basic “how the government functions” story. Here’s a political talking point:

“This is legalized litigation tourism,” said state Sen. Jason Plummer, R-Edwardsville. “And it further damages Illinois’ reputation as a state that’s hostile to businesses and job creators.”

And a counterpoint, which also touches on policy: “The point of this legislation is to hold accountable corporations whose toxic chemicals and materials cause injury and damage to Illinois residents,” said John Patterson, a spokesman for Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park. “I’m not sure why the Republicans would want to give these corporations a pass. The law would only apply to co-defendants when another defendant is already subject to Illinois law under current venue laws.”

But this also is a story about procedure, because SB 328 is a textbook example for understanding the concepts of “shell bill,” “gut and replace” and the “enrolled bill doctrine.”

When Harmon introduced the bill Jan. 24, it was meaningless, literally striking the word “and” in one sentence of the civil procedure code … only to be replaced with the word “and.” Lawmakers eventually added clauses for technical changes to how court clerks process documents filed electronically. The Senate passed those changes unanimously April 10.

The House moved it along procedurally, having a first reading April 11 and a second May 13. However, on May 30, the penultimate day of the spring session, state Rep. Jay Hoffman, D-Swansea, filed a floor amendment removing everything that had already advanced with the text regarding toxic exposure lawsuits. With only floor debates, the House passed the new language 77-40 and the Senate concurred 37-19. Gov. JB Pritzker is likely to sign it into law.

Now, 47 Republican lawmakers are suing to kill the bill, alleging Democrats abused the constitutional process requiring a bill to be read three times, on three different days, before passage. That’s obviously what happened, but two realities predominate:

One, amendments aren’t subject to the three readings rule, even “amendments” that completely change the language that’s already passed; and two, the Illinois Supreme Court has firmly established the “enrolled bill doctrine,” a hands-off stance that so long as the House Speaker and Senate President certify procedural requirements, justices won’t further interrogate the facts.

Democrats could’ve passed SB 328 without shell games. But politically … why bother?

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Local News Network. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.