Politics & Government

Oak Park Senator A Key Figure in "ComEd Bill"

State Sen. Don Harmon will help craft bill to garner support for an override of Gov. Quinn's veto.

Oak Park state Sen. Don Harmon is gearing up to play a key role in Springfield as some state lawmakers attempt to override a veto by Gov. Pat Quinn of controversial utility proposal.

ComEd officials have said SB1652, which passed the General Assembly in May, would help pay for improvements to its power grid and implement its smart grid, a package of programs aimed at improving reliability for power customers. A legislative voting record on SB1652 accompanies this story as PDF documents.

But critics of the bill, including some of the state's top elected officials and consumer watchdog groups, say it would essentially guarantee automatic customer rate hikes by stripping away certain oversight duties from the Illinois Commerce Commission, the regulatory agency traditionally charged with approving utility rate hikes.

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Quinn vetoed the legislation Monday, calling “a dream come true for ComEd but a nightmare for consumers in Illinois.”

Now, the state's top lawmakers are asking state Harmon to craft a "trailer bill," a piece of legislation designed to make the proposed law more palatable to its opposition in the Legislature. On the Illinois Senate Democrat website, Harmon writes of the need for "common sense" legislation:

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To be effective, any legislation to modernize the electric grid should contain lower profit margins for utility companies, key protections for those who can least afford rate increases, dedicated revenues for storm response measures, environmental safeguards, and clear evidence that ratepayers will realize future savings from smart meters.

According to the Sun-Times, the concessions in the trailer bill could have the utility setting up a $50 million fund to help elderly and poor consumers pay their electricity bills, devoting $150 million to beef up reliability during heavy storms and capping its profits to less than 10 percent during the next three years.

Quinn on Monday called the measure a "bad bill" for consumers. Other opponents who've spoken out against the bill, including Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, ICC Chairman Doug Scott representatives from the Citizens Utility Board and the state's AARP, flanked Quinn during Monday's press conference.

Harmon, who opposed the original measure in May, did not return a call seeking comment for this story.

To obtain the override of the veto, "a three-fifths, supermajority vote of 71 votes in the House and 36 in the Senate" is needed, according to the Chicago Tribune. When the bill passed the state legislature, the Tribune reports it was five votes short of that threshold in the Senate and four short in the House.

In a statement issued after Quinn's veto, ComEd vowed to "work to show how this legislation provides a diverse array of important benefits to Illinois," and promised a panacea to some of the state's economic woes.

"It is a jobs bill, an economic development bill, an environmental bill, a consumer benefits bill, a regulatory reform bill, and an infrastructure bill," the statement said. "It is supported by an extraordinary cross-section of business groups, labor unions, environmental organizations, high-tech advocates and green tech entrepreneurs."


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