TGIF, Illinois. We’ll be pausing this weekend to remember the 3,000 of us who perished 20 years ago in the terrorist attacks of 9/11. May their memories be eternal.
They did it. House lawmakers passed sweeping legislation to eliminate Illinois carbon emissions by 2050, with a compromise allowing two coal-fired plants to stay open until 2045 with the caveat that they cut emissions by nearly half by 2035.
The legislation, three years in the works, passed 83 to 33, easily surpassing the 71 votes it needed to get over the finish line. Even some Republicans supported the measure. It now heads to the Senate, which is expected to vote on it Monday when the chamber convenes in Springfield (it’s a version of the Senate bill, tweaked, that was passed by the House last night).
Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker has already vowed to sign the “historic” bill “as soon as possible, because our planet and the people of Illinois ought not wait any longer.”
Presuming the legislation reaches Pritzker’s desk as anticipated, “it arguably would represent the single biggest legislative accomplishment for the first-term governor who in 2018 campaigned on a green-energy platform and is ramping up his 2022 re-election bid,” report WBEZ’s Dave McKinney and Tony Arnold.
House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch called the legislation “monumental and life-changing for the future generations of Illinois.” He had charged Reps. Marcus Evans, Robyn Gabel, and Jay Hoffman with getting the measure over the finish line, but the victory was as much the new speaker’s given how long the clean-energy bill has eluded the chamber.
Evans, a Chicago Democrat and member…