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Health & Fitness

Here's My Report on the End of Legislative Session

Legislative end of session report from Sen. Sandack

Below you will find my overview of the legislative session that just concluded at the end of May. Please continue to visit my web site for updates and, as always, feel free to contact me at any time with questions and concerns.

Budget

Although the state Democrat’s passed the largest tax increase in state history at the beginning of the year, selling the hike as necessary in order to pay down the backlog of past due bills, at the end of the legislative session the state still has a multi-billion deficit and an unbalanced budget that spends more than last year.   

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If there is any positive to take away from this legislative session, it was the prevention of massive new borrowing proposed by Governor Quinn, which he euphemistically referred to as “debt restructuring.”  Coupled with the tax increase, Gov. Quinn was prepared to burden taxpayers with almost $9 billion MORE in public debt to finance additional spending increases.  In order to approve another borrowing plan, Republican support was needed, but was nowhere to be found. 

Senate Democrats attempted to pass a smaller version of Gov. Quinn’s borrowing bill, but only managed to receive 19 votes, as some Democrats also voted against the measure. 

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The budget ultimately sent to the governor was less than what he proposed during his budget address in February, but not by much.  The measures pushed through by the legislators ensure that the 67 percent tax increase will remain in effect, and will likely force higher taxes in the future if no spending reductions are made. This is important to emphasize because in addition to selling the tax hike as necessary to address the back-log of state bills, Senate Democrats also promised that the tax increase was "temporary." But given the continued spending initiatives advanced, there is almost no chance that this tax increase is anything other than permanent.  

Underfunded Pensions

After many discussions about pension reform, Senate Bill 512 was not called for a vote during the spring session. 

Senate Bill 512, legislation that would advance major changes to the state and public pension systems, evoked different emotions for many throughout the state.  Some were emphatically against making any changes, while others fervently believed major reforms were needed in order to balance the state budget. 

After announcing that SB512 would not be called for a vote, House Speaker Michael Madigan and House Republican Leader Tom Cross jointly stated that they were committed to working throughout the summer in order to accomplish reasonable reform that is able to meet the needs of those who are in the pension systems and those who are responsible to pay for them. 

Underfunded pension obligations are the main fiscal challenge confronting our state.  The unfunded liabilities total approximately $84 billion, or roughly $42,000 per household.  Given the circumstances, it would be negligent to stand idle and do nothing to reform these systems.  Sen. Sandack hopes the talks do continue and stressed the importance that those discussions take place in an open and transparent way. 

Workers’ Compensation

During the Blagojevich years, the state developed an anti-business climate which hindered growth and development for the people of Illinois. Much of the same has been continued into Gov. Quinn's administration, most notably with the 46 percent increase in corporate income taxes back in early January. 

For years, the high cost of workers’ compensation has been one of the biggest obstacles to keeping businesses in Illinois and attracting new companies.  Without some sort of reform, Illinois will continue to face tough roadblocks in building a stronger economy that’s friendlier to small business and job creation.

In recent years, Illinois has fallen behind other states in aggressively moving to rein in workers’ compensation costs. Illinois has the second-highest workers’ compensation costs in the nation. Furthermore, surrounding states tout their reductions in workers’ compensation costs as an advantage and a main reason why Illinois businesses should move to their area.

The Senate Republicans recognized that in order to encourage job growth in the state, the workers’ compensation system needed major reform. In April, a bill that proposed strong reform, sponsored by Sen. Kyle McCarter (R-Lebanon), came to the floor of the Senate. The measure proved to go too far for the Senate Democrats. In an unprecedented move, nearly all of them voted “present” on the bill, allowing them to claim that they really supported reform, while effectively killing the bill. 

In the following weeks, all interested parties involved came back together for negotiations.  The large point of contention came down to the issue of “causation,” a requirement that in order to collect for a workplace injury, the injury should actually arise principally from the job.  In the end, Senate Republicans elected to accept the compromise package as a first step in reform that was crucial to employers and the welfare of business in the State. 

House Bill 1698 passed the Senate and then cleared the House on a second attempt, after initially falling five votes short. While the bill contains overall improvements to the current system, I would not call it reform. It is a step in the right direction, but further reforms are still needed to truly fix the broken system. 

The legislation includes adoption of AMA guidelines, intoxication standards if injury occurred while the employee was intoxicated, limited wage differentials, limited carpal tunnel recoveries, and utilization review and provider networks in order to help control costs for employers. The major component missing in this measure is causation, which would require that the workplace be the major contributing cause of the injury.

Redistricting

This session, legislators were tasked with the once-a-decade responsibility of redrawing congressional and district lines for Illinois. With Democrats controlling the Senate, House and Governor’s office, it was clear that the maps would be heavily gerrymandered, designed to protect Democrat incumbents and hand-pick constituencies. And the maps that were passed did not disappoint in that regard.

On May 27, Senate Bill 1177, the redistricting maps for Illinois, passed on a partisan vote without any Republican support. The map was a perfect example of gerrymandering and how poor the redistricting process is in Illinois. 

A map was proposed by Senate Democrats for the public to view, digest and give feedback the week before.  Yet 24 hours before the vote was taken Friday night, Democrats introduced an amendment to the bill with a new map, leaving very little time for the public to review it and make comments. What's more, Gov. Quinn quickly and unceremoniously signed the legislation promoting these new maps. 

Sponsored Legislation

Senate Bill 541
I introduced Senate Bill 1407, a measure that aimed to give county government more oversight in the operations of the boards and commissions they appoint. Shortly after introducing his bill, I signed on as chief co-sponsor of Sen. Susan Garrett’s Senate Bill 541, which essentially contained the same language. 

The legislation passed almost unanimously after amended by the House.  It will allow a county board to require by ordinance that units of local governments that have members appointed or approved by the county chairman or county board must provide financial and budget information, employment policies and personnel contracts information. 

House Bill 1716
I co-sponsored House Bill 1716 which amends the Freedom of Information Act in several positive ways.  The legislation authorizes public bodies to better use technology; extend the time in which to respond to "recurrent requestors," so non-recurrent requests can be better managed; give non-commercial constituent priority over commercial requests; and charge actual costs for requests for records stored off-site. 

House Bill 3500
I joined a growing number of Senate colleagues as a co-sponsor of Senate Bill 27, a measure aimed at safeguarding the privacy of Firearm Owner’s Identification (FOID) card holders. 

Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office announced that the State Police should release the list of Illinois firearm owners.  I was quick to express his concern over making this list public.

Attorney General Madigan was espousing bad policy.  In balancing the public’s interest with constitutional rights, the constitutional right outweighs the public’s right to know.  While I have been an advocate of transparency in government and providing information to the public, there is too much at risk by making the FOID card list public. 

In May, HB 3500, which I also co-sponsored, passed both the Senate and the House, which creates a FOIA exemption to prohibit state and local governments from publicly disclosing the names and information of applicants or holders of FOID cards.  It has now been sent to the governor for him to sign. 

Senate Bill 2270
I also sponsored and passed Senate Bill 2270, which was a measure that added new crimes to the definition of violent offenses against youth. Due to this legislation, aggravated battery with a firearm, aggravated battery with a machine gun and home invasion are now all included in the definition. It also exempts juvenile offenders from having to register for misdemeanor domestic battery. 

Survey Results

I made my spring 2011 survey available in mid-March hoping to receive valuable input from constituents.  The response was positive, and the tone of responders was that of disappointment in their state government. 

When asked what the state legislature’s top priorities should be, the majority of people responded with the budget, taxes, the state’s deficit and excessive spending. With the deficit anticipated to reach approximately $8 billion by the end of the fiscal year, and spending that’s unlikely to be reduced any time soon, it is easy to see why the people of Illinois want something done to rectify the state budget. 

In response to a question soliciting feedback on how to eliminate the deficit, almost half of responders said they would cut back programs across the board, including education and healthcare, and the majority agreed that borrowing was not the way to solve the problem. 

To read more on the survey results, please visit my Web site under the survey tab.   

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