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Illinois: Dems will not hold up budget over electric rate

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By Mike Riopell | Tuesday, August 7, 2007 11:51 PM CDT | () comments

SPRINGFIELD — A key group of lawmakers that in May tried to hold up a state budget unless Illinoisans got relief from higher power bills aren’t planning an encore, their leader said Tuesday.

Last month, lawmakers approved a plan to get Ameren and ComEd customers rebates for their high power bills this year.

Blagojevich has held onto the plan without approving it, much to the dismay of the agreement’s negotiators. He has to sign off before customers get their checks and bill credits in the mail.

State Rep. Tom Holbrook, a Belleville Democrat, said that because lawmakers already approved the relief plan, they likely won’t hold up the state budget.

The House approved a spending plan in May. At that time, Holbrook used a legislative maneuver to stymie its progress, even though it may not have gone much further anyway.

“We’ve done everything we feel we can,” Holbrook said.

“I don’t think we can have disabled veterans and schoolchildren not knowing what they’re going to be receiving,” he said.

The rate deal took lawmakers and the state attorney general’s office months to negotiate, and Blagojevich has said needs time to review it. The governor has faced criticism that the delay could mean customers pay higher rates in the next five years.

If lawmakers soon approve a budget and end their annual session, they could be in a tough spot if Blagojevich vetoes or changes the rate relief plan while they’re gone.

But state Rep. Bob Flider, D-Mount Zion, said that denying customers their rebates might not reflect well on Blagojevich, either.

“It puts him in a tough position, too,” Flider said.

State Sen. Gary Forby, D-Benton, echoed other lawmakers in saying Blagojevich could have avoided his need to review the rate deal if he had helped negotiate it to begin with.

“I think this is the worst thing he’s ever done,” Forby said.

Mike Riopell can be reached at mike.riopell@lee.net or (217) 789-0865. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.