Illinois lawmakers will return to Springfield next week for their annual fall session with an agenda that, though still being worked out behind the scenes, likely will be lighter than previous years.

The session, held across two different weeks in October and November every fall, allows for the General Assembly to reconsider bills that were vetoed or revised by the governor and, at times, to take up topics that could not be resolved during the regular session that ends in May.

In 2021, for example, lawmakers used the veto session to repeal a state law requiring that doctors notify the parents of a minor seeking an abortion as well as to pass new congressional district maps. And last year, changes were made to the SAFE-T Act ahead of Illinois’ first-in-the-nation abolition of cash bail.

This year is shaping up to be less active. Legislative leaders have already ruled out new legislation that would have provided additional state funds to Chicago to deal with the influx of asylum-seeking migrants from Venezuela. And the leaders of the Chicago Bears, who have been seeking state help with their expected stadium project in Arlington Heights, have said they will not be pursuing legislation this fall.

Everything else is a bit uncertain as backers of vetoed bills — including one that would lift the moratorium on the construction of new nuclear power plants and another that would grant downstate utilities Ameren and MidAmerican the right of first refusal to build new electrical transmission lines in their service areas — continue working behind the scenes to drum up support to override the governor’s veto. Doing so would require three-fifths support in each chamber.

Similarly, advocates for Invest in Kids, an income tax credit program that provides scholarships to low-income students attending private schools, are seeking the program’s renewal ahead of its Jan. 1 sunset date.

There is also a push from gun safety advocates for legislation that would require law enforcement to immediately take away guns from people who are subject to an emergency order of protection.

Whether none, some or all these measures get considered remains an open question just days before lawmakers return to the Capitol.

“For whatever reason, it seems like it’s a little bit too early to figure out what exactly we’re going to be doing because there’s a lot of things on the table that I think it just depends if we have numbers,” said state Rep. Barbara Hernandez, D-Aurora.

Or, even more succinctly, Illinois Environental Council executive director said there’s “lots of mystery about next week right now.”

Here’s a look at some of the issues that could be considered by state lawmakers in the weeks ahead:

At the 11th hour of the spring session, an amendment was filed to a larger energy bill that would give Ameren and MidAmerican Energy first dibs on building new transmission lines, thus allowing them to forgo competitive bidding. The provision would sunset at the end of 2024.

The measure is a major initiative of labor unions, most notably the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, along with the utilities. Proponents say the measure is needed to expedite the buildout of new transmission lines and will allow the work to be done by union workers familiar with the grid.

But it was met with significant opposition from consumer advocates and environmental groups. They charge that the measure essentially gives utility companies, namely Ameren, a monopoly that will drive up construction costs and, ultimately, rates for consumers.

Some have suggested that the boxing out of competition is intentional as some companies interested in the work, specifically in the clean energy space, may be better suited to build out transmission lines that will largely be charged with connecting more renewable sources to the grid.

“We support proposals that would require labor standards and prevailing wages and all of those sorts of things that protect workers and support our labor unions,” Walling said. “But we don’t support Ameren having a monopoly over these projects.”

Walling’s group and other opponents were backed up by Pritzker, who vetoed the measure in August.

It passed 41-9 in the Senate, but only 63-32 in the House, which is less than the 71 votes needed to override a veto in that chamber.

However, organized labor is making a hard push for an override. It is still a heavy lift, but labor is one of the most powerful collective forces in the Capitol. If the unions want something, they often get it.

In an interview with Lee Enterprises, officials with Ameren and IBEW said the rush to pass the legislation this spring was due to an upcoming tranche of transmission projects to be bid out by the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), the regional transmission organization for the 14 states in the Midwest and South.

Eight states in MISO have right-of-first-refusal laws on the books. Many of these were enacted after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 2011 eliminated the federal right-of-first refusal for regionally-planned transmission lines in hopes of spurring more competition and lower costs.

“We’re seeing some projects coming through from MISO that represent hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity for our area,” said Matt Tomc, vice president of regulatory policy for Ameren Illinois. “And what we’re looking at is a federal process that may have been well intended, but just because you call something competitive doesn’t make it so.”

State Sen. Sue Rezin, R-Morris, said that Senate Bill 76, which would lift the state’s nuclear moratorium, was “a perfect example of how democracy should work in Springfield.”

The bill was introduced in January, amended a few times with stakeholder input and eventually passed the legislature with significant bipartisan majorities.

But it was still vetoed by Pritzker, who said it did not provide enough regulatory protections and that amended language permitting any “advanced nuclear reactor,” could open the door to larger-scale developments.

The goal here is to support the construction of small modular reactors, which are viewed as potentially game-changing, could provide cheap, safe carbon-neutral energy on a small scale. There is no intention to build new large-scale nuclear plants such as those in Braidwood or Clinton. 

Rezin said her focus now is securing an override of the governor’s veto. Though confident she can get it called in the Senate, there’s a question of whether it will be called in the House, where Democratic leadership is seeking a supermajority of Democrats pledging to support it before doing so.

She is confident that an override would be successful if it came for a vote. 

But she has filed another bill with the original language that makes clear that the moratorium would only be lifted for small modular reactors. And though nuclear plants are heavily regulated at the federal level, it would add an extra layer by requiring certification from the Illinois Commerce Commission.

“We have my original bill that’s teed up and ready to go that we feel addresses the governor’s concerns in his veto,” Rezin said. “So there’s a pathway … if he doesn’t like the Senate Bill 76 with the amendment. We’re happy to just see if we can get common ground on the original bill.”

However, it is uncertain if compromise will be reached during veto session. If not, this issue will be back in the spring. 

After falling short during the spring session, there will be another push to renew the Invest in Kids tax credit, which has provided private school scholarships to more than 41,000 students since it was passed in 2017. 

Advocates warn that 9,500 students could lose their scholarships if the General Assembly fails to renew the program, which sunsets Jan. 1.

But an extension of the program has been adamantly opposed by teacher’s unions and progressives, who argue that it siphons money away from public schools. 

Most do not expect legislation to move during veto session, with some suggesting that action could be taken when lawmakers return for their regular session in January.

But, new bill language has emerged that reduces the annual amount of credits from $75 million to $50 million, lowers the cap on individual taxpayer’s income tax credit and creates more opportunities for students of color to participate. 

“We believe these new ideas contain great potential to improve the program and encourage its extension for another five years,” said Anthony Holter, president of nonprofit Empower Illinois, one of the organizations overseeing the tax credit program. 

As with the nuclear moratorium bill, whether the program gets extended could come down to the level of support within the supermajority Democratic caucuses in the House and Senate. 

The Bears aren’t winning on the field and, at least right now, they are not winning in Springfield. 

The team, in a statement released last month, said they will not at this time pursue legislation that would freeze property tax assessments at the proposed stadium site for up to 40 years. 

There was not enough support this spring and, clearly, that is still the case this fall. Perhaps next year. 

Thus far, the state of Illinois has contributed more than $328 million to communities across the state to support migrants who have been bussed here from Texas and other states. 

Despite overtures from the city of Chicago, which has received the vast majority of the busses of asylum seekers, the state will not be approving additional funds during the veto session. 

“I think I made it clear that we were not expecting to do a supplemental budget in the veto session,” House Speaker Chris Welch told reporters in Chicago last week.

Welch filed legislation last month that would allow his staff to unionize. 

The bill would authorize the Illinois Labor Relations Board to oversee an election on the formation of a collective bargaining unit within the legislative branch and create a legislative agency to represent the interests of the General Assembly in the collective bargaining process.

It comes less than a year after staffers in his office made clear their intention to unionize. But the path forward was unclear as current law exempts legislative employees from the framework that would allow them to organize.

Welch told Lee Enterprises last month that he intends to call his bill during veto session. It will likely pass the House.

But its fate in the the Senate is far less certain. Though led by Democrats who fashion themselves allies of organized labor, there has not been a widespread push among staff in the upper chamber to organize.