The Illinois nondiscrimination bill (SB101) did not come up for a vote before the end of the Spring legislative session last Saturday night. With the state budget overwhelming most other items, the Democrats could not muster up enough votes to secure the 30 needed for passage.
Because the vote was delayed, efforts will now be focused on trying to get a vote during the Fall Veto Session.
State Sen. Carol Ronen said they believed they had 27 votes, with no Republicans. She said the effort was to make this a bipartisan issue, but now that the Republicans appear united against the bill, Ronen said that strategy may shift focus to just on the Dems. There was intense pressure this session for the Democrats to produce on this bill after the party took control of the Senate.
But Ronen said because the bill has not been worked in the Senate, the lobbying efforts have basically started from scratch.