There has been an agreement from both sides that benefits both sides that will be introduced in the spring.
OK. Here's what HAS to be going on with this.
The grabbers figured out that they cannot **** off gun owners (and RKBA-friendly IL legislators) right now. That's because of the upcoming CCW bill.
For those not keeping score: the 7th Circuit has killed all IL carry laws banning open and concealed carry, effective July of 2013. They gave a six month delay so that IL could pass new carry legislation, either shall-issue or otherwise.
If no carry legislation passes by then, the grabbers face a "carry apocalypse" in which IL "goes Vermont" - no permit needed to carry open OR concealed because there would be no law banning it.
Better yet: passing some kind of carry law will require the cooperation of pro-RKBA legislators.
That puts the pro-RKBA side firmly in the driver's seat. They get to say "please us - dance little piggies!" The grabbers are going to want severe restrictions but they are not going to get any such thing. The gunnies don't have to bite - at all. Because if they do nothing at all, they win huge.
So in exchange for any sort of background check and training system, the gunnie legislators are going to get all sorts of goodies, if a deal happens at all.
If I were advising the gunnie legislators, I would say go ahead and create a good shall-issue system with eight hours training, background check, etc. IN EXCHANGE, you want several things: no possible override by Chicago on any gun rules ever ("strict preemption"), no possible new gun control bills for at least five years(!), FOID is dead, gun-free-zones are metal detectors, armed guards on-site and lockboxes for people's boomthings, probably more.
Otherwise, if they let the clock run out and it goes constitutional carry, that still leaves too many possibilities for gun free zones, and it leaves the grabbers still able to do more gun control later.
They know that some kind of massive horse-trade on gun issues is coming - hence the language about "agreement from both sides that benefits both sides". The hardcore grabber legislators who introduced this recently dead "ban ALL the things!" bill has been told to sit down and shut up and because of the need for a deal on carry. If this thing had gone any further, the gunnie legislators would have rightfully refused any discussions on a carry bill leading to unlimited carry come July.