Progress Illinois

The state legislature is under the gun to vote on a constitutional amendment allowing voters to recall public officials. The Senate needs to pass the bill by tomorrow -- then the House must do so by May 4 -- if Illinois voters are to decide on it in November. In light of that deadline, House Speaker Michael Madigan announced today that he will be keeping all State Representatives in session beyond the scheduled adjournment of the House so that they can approve the Senate version of the recall bill. According to Rich Miller at Capitol Fax neither Madigan, nor the sponsor of the House Recall bill, Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock), has any plans to amend the Senate bill. (For more on the recall issue, check out Josh's thoughts here and here.)

But that's not all that's happening in the capitol today ...

Lawmakers from the House and Senate say they've reached a compromise on new ethics legislation that would ban contractors who receive a certain amount of state business from contributing to state officials' political campaigns. Here's some background from the State Journal-Register:

The House passed an ethics bill last year, but it never came up for a vote in the Senate. Two weeks ago, Senate Democrats offered their own version that banned contributions from contractors, but set a higher limit for when the prohibition would take effect.

An announcement on that compromise is expected in Springfield within the hour.

Finally, the Senate has unanimously approved a bill that increases the amount Illinois borrowers can receive in federally subsidized student loans. If signed into law, the measure could offer some relief to students having trouble finding privately financed loans amid the national economic slump. A similar bill has already been approved by the House.