What started out as a slow state-legislative veto session suddenly accelerated last Thursday.
Senate President John Cullerton formed two new bipartisan committees and charged them with reforming workers compensation and Medicaid. The catch is that the committees must finish their work by Monday, January 3.
That means votes could be taken on workers-comp and Medicaid reform before the new General Assembly is sworn in about a week later. The Republicans have been clamoring for those very reforms for years. So that means, if all goes well, the Republicans will have two fewer excuses to refuse to put votes on the big bills the Democrats really want, like borrowing to make the state's pension payment, gaming expansion, and even a tax hike.