Legislation Overlooked During Budget Fallout

When the legislature adjourned early on May 7^th there was so much attention on the budget debacle that not a lot of time was dedicated to other proposals which were debated during that week.  Being the last week of session on the official calendar, there were a number of important initiatives discussed on the House floor.  Most of these bills passed the House and were sent on to the Governor, and some remain to be debated this week.  Governor Quinn has already vetoed one piece of legislation which made changes to policy surrounding the awarding of General Assembly scholarships, and some other very prominent bills have come under scrutiny recently.  Because this week’s session will be focused on the budget I figured we could take a look back at some of the measures that were acted on earlier this month.

Senate Bill 365, vetoed by the Governor, made a number of changes regarding the awarding of tuition waivers from members of the General Assembly.  Reforms such as banning individuals or a parent who has made a contribution to the legislator from receiving a scholarship, requiring admission to a state university before a tuition waiver can be awarded, and terminating a scholarship after the school year if the student relocates outside a legislators district. Continue reading »

Time’s a Wastin’

Illinois legislators abruptly left Springfield without accomplishing the most important task for the upcoming fiscal year; passing a budget.  I don’t think this came as a total surprise to anyone, as it has been pretty clear all year long that the Governor and Democrat leaders in both chambers favor putting off the tough decisions.  However, on May 7^th General Assembly members were sent home at the behest of the Speaker and not told when session would reconvene.  We don’t have a budget agreement, but isn’t that all the more reason to stay in Springfield and work together to hash out some sort of responsible spending plan for the coming fiscal year which begins in July?  Normally session isn’t adjourned until May 31 (after which time a supermajority vote is need to pass legislation), but leaving town three weeks early says a lot about why our states’ fiscal condition continues to deteriorate.

These last couple of weeks could have been used to hold discussions on ideas to alleviate at least some of the concerns regarding our budget mess.  We could have met in appropriations committees and broken down areas where tax dollars could be saved.  Representative Black has been calling all year for a “Committee of the Whole” type hearing for an hour or so everyday where the entire chamber can discuss budget ideas in a bipartisan manner.  This two week break would have been the perfect opportunity for that.  Instead, the same failed strategy of the past years has been employed, where the Governor is privately meeting with specific legislators trying to secure their votes for a budget full of false promises.  This time should not be committed to backdoor budget meetings, it should be committed to open discussions on how and where we can reduce state spending and reform the practices that created this mess. Continue reading »

Budget Process Falls Apart

The Illinois House Democrats and the Illinois Senate Democrats prepared what they referred to as a budget last week.  However, not many others saw it that way as the spending documents failed to pay for next years required pension payment totaling $3.7 billion, leave $6 billion in unpaid bills unresolved, does nothing to reduce the multi-billion dollar deficit, and relies on a number of one time gimmicks and tricks to get past the November election.

The only spending plan to pass either chamber was House Bill 859 which made its way through the Senate with only democrat votes. The measure would grant the governor extraordinary powers to manage a 26.1 billion operating budget.  The spending agenda and the Emergency Budget Act would allow the governor additional responsibility to sweep special state funds of around $1 billion, borrow $1.75 billion of tobacco settlement proceeds, and ignore making the states pension payment.  The failure to pay pension obligations this year will result in the loss of $36 billion over the next 35 years in pension investments, and increase the budget deficit by around $4 billion.  Emergency procedures granted to the Governor would also allow the state to continue delaying payments for an additional four months by extending lapse period spending through December 31, 2010. Continue reading »

Let the Sunshine In

A measure unanimously approved by the House earlier this year and recently approved by the Senate would create the Illinois Sunshine Commission if it receives the signature of Governor Quinn.

House Bill 4836 establishes guidelines for the Illinois Sunshine Commission with the goal of conducting a thorough review of the relevance, efficiency and effectiveness of state government programs.  The newly installed commission would consist of four legislators and four members of the public to make formal recommendations to the General Assembly.  Legislators would then be required to approve or reject the commission’s recommendations within sixty session days.

The Sunshine Commission would have three options when evaluating specific programs, including: the elimination of obsolete or ineffective programs; consolidation of duplicative programs; and suggestions to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of a program.  Suggestions from private sector business experts combined with legislative know-how should result in a number of worthwhile ideas to rid unnecessary, out-dated and costly state programs. Continue reading »

Senate Bills Moving through the House

Last week we began to see bills already approved by the Senate come up for consideration in the House.  The same was true of previously approved House bills moving there way through the Senate.  If legislation receives approval from both chambers of the General Assembly, without being changed, it then heads to the Governor for his final decision.

A couple interesting pieces of legislation were considered last week, with some being sent on to the Governor, while others couldn’t garner enough support for final approval.  One bill I have recently discussed here would have allowed local school boards the option to create a 4-day school week, so long as students were not shortchanged in their guaranteed classroom time.  Senator Frerichs took up sponsorship of the measure in the Senate and worked hard to come to a compromise which would allow a form of this legislation to move forward.  However, a Senate committee dominated by Chicago interests, had no intention of allowing the full chamber to debate the proposal and killed the bill.  Instead of looking at the fact that this does not require any schools to move to a modified school week, the Chicago politicians again voted in favor of  “one-size-fits all government.”  Local control was pushed aside for larger government at the behest of the biggest city in the state. Continue reading »