Senate Week in Review; Republicans Unveil Proposed Budget Cuts

Illinois Senate Republicans last week unveiled a series of spending and revenue adjustments that State Sen. Ron Sandack (R-21st) said would put Illinois on firm financial footing and allow for the roll back of the 67 percent income tax increase enacted during the lame-duck legislative session in January.

On March 17, Senate GOP lawmakers unveiled $6.7 billion in spending reductions. The proposed cuts come on the heels of a report released by the caucus last week, which showed that without significant changes, Illinois is on target to accumulate a $22 billion deficit in five years.

Republicans said it was significant that no one has disputed the budget and fiscal projections. The GOP caucus determined that $5 billion in spending and revenue changes would allow the state to roll back the full income tax increase and eliminate the job-killing business tax hikes that were also enacted in January.

Though the senators emphasized cutting services to many worthy programs is difficult, the imminent $22 billion deficit is not a viable alternative. Lawmakers say the cuts are responsible and reasonable, and that they made a strong effort to preserve funding for core responsibilities of state government.

The menu of items released on Thursday would total about $6.7 billion in reductions and financial improvements. At least $4 billion would be needed to bring the budget into line by the time the temporary tax hike is set to expire and $5 billion would be needed to allow an earlier stepped reduction in the tax increases.

Senate GOP legislators have issued an invitation to both Gov. Pat Quinn and members of the state’s legislative Democrat majority to come together at the budget table to review other ideas for cutting spending.

In committee action, the Senate Executive Committee advanced legislation along party lines that would increase Illinois’ cigarette tax by $1 per pack. The proceeds of Senate Bill 21 have been estimated at $300 million, and would go to finance the state’s capital construction program, the funding sources of which were ruled unconstitutional in late January by an Illinois Appellate Court. The infrastructure projects have continued while the Illinois Supreme Court considers the lower court’s ruling.

Republicans voted against the cigarette tax proposal, noting that capital projects are proceeding, making it premature to pursue additional channels of funding. Cigarette tax proponents were encouraged to shelve the idea until the state’s high court rules on the capital construction case, at which time if necessary lawmakers could consider the legislation.

Opponents to Senate Bill 21 said that pursing the cigarette tax as a way to replace video gaming would undermine the original capital proposal. It would also do a disservice to the business owners and other interested parties who invested money in video poker on the legislature’s representation that video gaming would exist in Illinois. Additionally, they noted that when taking into account the state’s budget deficit, the state might be better served to direct cigarette tax revenues into the General Revenue Fund as a way to address some of the state’s fiscal problems.

In other action, on March 14 Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno (R-41st, Lemont) and Senate President John Cullerton (D-6th, Chicago) urged Quinn to act on legislation they say will create much-needed transparency and public accountability within the executive appointment process.

Senate Bill 1 removes all expired gubernatorial appointees who collect a salary, and further clarifies the state’s executive appointment process to ensure Senate lawmakers fulfill their constitutional obligation to review and confirm gubernatorial appointees. The legislation was filed in response to reports that both the Blagojevich and Quinn administrations have allowed gubernatorial appointments to expire, and have not taken steps to replace or re-appoint the positions. Currently, Illinois is spending more than $5 million annually on these expired salaried positions.

In a letter sent to the governor on March 14, Senators Radogno and Cullerton said his approval of Senate Bill 1 “will fulfill the promise you made to Illinois citizens to ‘fumigate state government’ and the pledge to work with lawmakers to restore trust in our state offices and officials.”

The Senate leaders noted that Sunshine Week provides a great opportunity for Quinn to sign the legislation, which they believe is “the next step in this journey to restore public trust.”

Additional legislation advanced by Senate committees this week includes:

Accountability Portal (SB 1992): Provides that the Illinois Transparency and Accountability Portal must provide direct access to a database of current General Assembly members and state employees of the executive, legislative and judicial branches; the database must be sorted by Rutan status, status relating to collective bargaining, and per diem and mileage paid to General Assembly members.

Assistance Co-Pay Scale (SB 1236): Requires the Department of Human Services to establish a co-payment scale that provides for cost sharing by families that receive child care services, including parents whose only income is from public assistance; eliminates a provision that bases co-pays on the number of children receiving care; and allows the Department of Human Services to waive co-pays for families at or below the federal poverty level.

Capital Revenues (SB 1323): Re-enacts portions of the capital construction revenues bill including creating a Capital Projects Fund for capital projects and the payment of debt service on capital project bonds, ending road fund diversions, enacting changes to the vehicle code, allowing for a number of grant programs, and requiring quarterly reports on capital construction-related spending.

Capital Revenues Lottery (SB 1322): Recreates the Department of the Lottery, including mandating reporting requirements from the Department of Lottery to the Chief Procurement Officer and continuing the appropriation for payment of prizes to winning lottery players. Also re-enacts provisions from the previous capital bills, including the privatization of lottery management, the license plate and driver’s license fee increases, and tax increases on coffee and tea drinks, candy and medicated grooming and hygiene products.

Charter School Commission (SB 79): Creates a State Charter School Commission to act as an independent state agency with statewide chartering jurisdiction and authority, with a particular focus on schools designed for at-risk students.

Commercial Driving Schools (SB 2135): Requires all commercial driving school instructors to teach these three classes to students younger than 18: driver task analysis, classroom knowledge, and vehicle operational and instructional skills.

Community College (SB 59): Allows a community college student to be eligible for transfer into a baccalaureate program of an Illinois public university if the student has completed 60 semester units eligible for transfer to a state university, including both general education core curriculum and a minimum of 18 semester units in a major area, and has obtained a 2.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale.

Corporate Sponsored License Plates (SB 1360): Creates revenue by allowing discounts to car owners who have corporate-sponsored license plates with the corporations paying for the discount and paying an additional fee to the state.

Developmental Disabilities (SB 1622): Directs the Department of Human Services to perform a geographic analysis of existing services and supports for persons with developmental disabilities and mental illness, as well as identify existing gaps in those services and supports, throughout Illinois. The Department of Human Services will present a final report on the analysis to the governor and the General Assembly by Jan. 1, 2013.

Employment Discrimination (SB 68): Provides full-time "domestic workers" with protection from employment discrimination, including requiring that domestic workers receive overtime compensation in the seven-day calendar week and be allowed one day of rest. Also allows the domestic worker to voluntarily agree not to take one day of rest in the calendar week, provided that the worker is paid at the overtime rate, and stipulates that after the domestic worker has worked for the same employer for one year that the domestic worker is entitled to at least three days of paid vacation time.

Fiscal Transparency (SB 31): Requires the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability to prepare all fiscal notes, and be in charge of the preparation, compliance and accessibility issues relating to fiscal notes.

Granny Tax (SB 769): Halts implementation of the “Granny Tax,” a nursing home tax based on the number of residents pending federal approval of the plan, which is designed to increase federal matching funds for care facilities. Delaying the implementation will prevent the unintended use of state tax dollars to finance the facilities.

Health Facilities Permits (SB 40): Requires permit holders who intend to construct, modify or establish a health care facility, to submit the final completion and cost report for the project within 90 days after the completion date or extension date, and submit annual progress reports no earlier than 30 days before and no later than 30 days after the anniversary date of the Health Facilities and Services Review Board's permit approval until the project is complete.

Higher Ed Funding (SB 1773): Directs the Board of Higher Education to form a group to devise a system of performance-based higher education funding that reflects success in achieving state higher education goals, such as student academic success and certificate and degree completion.  

Higher Ed Programs (SB 1798): Requires each state university to annually report to the Board of Higher Education on programs of instruction, research, or public service that have been terminated, dissolved, reduced or consolidated by the university; and all aforementioned programs that exhibit a trend of low performance in enrollments, degree completions and high expense per degree.

Higher Ed Tracking (SB 122): Requires all public institutions of higher education to track the status of students who are the first in their family to attend an institution of higher education.

Homestead Exemption (SB 109): Pro-rates the general homestead, returning veterans homestead, disabled veterans and disabled veterans standard homestead so that a recipient moving into a home mid-year does not have to wait until the following assessment year to get the benefit of the assessment reduction.

Hydraulic Fracturing (SB 664): Directs the Department of Natural Resources to adopt new regulations about the use of hydraulic fracturing, a method of extracting natural gas that involves blasting underground rock with a cocktail of water, sand and chemicals.

Insurance (SB 71): Stipulates that group health policies providing coverage for hospital or medical treatment issues must offer, for an additional premium, optional coverage for audiological services and hearing aids.

Medicaid Dentists (SB 1948): Requires the Department of Healthcare and Family Services to work and develop the concept of a dental home for Medicaid children, including an effort to ensure an ongoing patient/dentist relationship coupled with an effort to provide comprehensive, coordinated oral health care so the children have access to preventative and restorative oral health care.  

Mental Health Records (SB 1234): Authorizes the disclosure of mental health pharmaceutical records to medical practitioners/primary care physicians. 

MDRO (SB 1805): Requires the Department of Public Health to publish a yearly report regarding certain Multidrug Resistant Organisms infections based on the CDC's National Healthcare Safety Network surveillance system, instead of the Hospital Discharge Dataset.

Personal Needs Allowance (SB 1993): Increases the monthly personal needs allowance for institutionalized persons who are eligible for Medicaid to $50 per month, from $30 per month.

Pet Identification (SB 1637): Sets “best practices” standards for animal control facilities when cats or dogs are brought in; asks that facilities do all they can to ID an animal, such as scan for a microchip, or physically examine the animal for other forms of ID, including tags, tattoos and rabies licenses.

Prescription Drug Cost (SB 2046): Authorizes the Department of Healthcare and Family Services to reimburse the dispensing of a 90-day supply of a brand name drug when it is cost effective and a non-narcotic maintenance medication.

PSA Prohibition (SB 1344): Prohibits a public service announcement on behalf of a state-administered program that contains the proper name, image or voice of a state executive branch constitutional officer or legislator from being displayed on a billboard or electronic message board.

Psychiatric Discharge (SB 839): Clarifies language to ensure that individuals are physically allowed to leave a mental health facility immediately upon their discharge.

Railroad Crossing Closings (SB 1803): Requires that fire chiefs be notified seven days before a railroad crossing is closed for construction so that they may avoid unnecessary delay when responding to an emergency.

Regional Superintendents (SB 2134): Establishes that regional superintendents will no longer be elected, but instead be appointed by the State Board of Education. Also for any schools found to be fiscally inefficient, the regional superintendent and the school district must approve a plan that considers, among other things, consolidation or reorganization.

Rental Companies (SB 54): Makes more stringent requirements for rental companies and sets a standard matrix that outlines the maximum amount an item can be marked up when renting to consumers.

Respectful Language (SB 1833): Eliminates the term "mentally retarded" and “crippled,” to be replaced with “intellectually disabled” and “physically disabled.”

Retired Teachers (SB 2279): Renews the 120-day return to work sunset for retired teachers under the Teachers Retirement System to continue to allow retired teachers to return to work each year for no more then 120 paid days (or 600 paid hours) during the school year without suspending their pension.

Sex Education (SB 1619): Makes changes to the sex education curriculum in public schools, including removing provisions requiring courses to emphasize abstinence as the norm, as well as provisions that emphasize abstinence until marriage.

Speeding Cameras (SB 2103): Allows speed cameras to be used in areas determined by the Department of Transportation to be “high fatality zones.”

Sustainable Agriculture (SB 1280): Allows the Department of Natural Resources, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Agriculture to use funds to foster sustainable agriculture practices and control soil erosion, and to partner with conservation land trusts to integrate state and federal programs with Illinois’ natural resource protection and restoration efforts.

Tax Credit (SB 2168): Creates a Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit for people and businesses for the costs and expenses of rehabbing and renovating eligible properties.

Tax Sales Videotaping (SB 1710): Requires that all tax sales be videotaped with audio and allows the treasurer to declare the taxes forfeited if multiple simultaneous bids of the same percentage are made and lower bids are not made. If there are multiple bids for 0 percent the Treasurer must select the winner at random.

Ticket For the Cure (SB 1279): Extend the "Ticket For The Cure" scratch-off Lottery game by five years to Dec. 31, 2016.

Tax Increment Financing (SB 540): Requires the Comptroller to establish a tax increment financing (TIF) administrator training program, post municipal audit reports that are received on his or her Web site and requires TIF reports be filed with the Comptroller within 190 days after the close of the municipal fiscal year or as soon there after the audit becomes available.

Vehicle Impound (SB 2064): Suspends or revokes a vehicle’s registration if it can be determined that the vehicle was used during the commission of a felony in which a firearm was used.    

Veteran Voters (SB 98): Extends “incapacitated voter” provisions to residents of state-operated and federally operated veterans’ homes, hospitals and facilities located in Illinois so they qualify for absentee ballots in multiple elections and. Also requires that absentee voting be conducted at the homes, hospitals and facilities.