The Illinois General Assembly convenes next week with historic numbers of Democrats running the show and plenty of pent-up demand for action. Democratic Gov.-elect J.B. Pritzker takes over from one-term Republican incumbent Bruce Rauner after four years of ideological stalemate that prevented a state spending plan for two straight years. He has plenty of backup. Democrats control the House 74-44. In the past 140 years, only one House session saw a larger percentage of majority control. The Democrats’ majority in the Senate is the highest since the height of the Great Depression. Pritzker has promised a capital construction plan to bolster roads and bridges, to legalize marijuana to boost state revenue, and an increased minimum wage.
