Week of March 29th., 2010
The General Assembly has adjourned until after spring break. Once we return to Springfield on April 12th, we will have four weeks until the scheduled adjournment date to enact a new state budget for FY11. We are facing a budget deficit estimated to be $13 billion and Illinois will have unpaid bills of over $6 billion by the end of the current fiscal year June 30th. Plus, we still don’t know how much the recently passed federal health care plan will cost the State.
Many people have asked me about the possible effect of the new federal healthcare mandate on Illinois. The federal healthcare reforms expand the Medicaid program and make numerous other reforms that may impact the state budget. The Governor has publicly stated that the fiscal impact of these reforms is not yet known and the state has not determined a cost estimate. We have made a request of the state’s fiscal accounting division to conduct an examination of the fiscal impact of these reforms and report the possible impact to all members of the general Assembly by July 1, 2010.
In addition, the federal law includes a mandate for individuals to purchase insurance if they are not covered by health insurance. Some people are questioning whether such a mandate is Constitutional. Specifically, the requirement that all citizens and legal residents of the United States must have qualifying healthcare coverage or be subjected to financial penalty, according to many, violates Sections two and nine of Article I of the U.S. Constitution by imposing an unlawful direct tax on citizens and residents.
If you will remember from those History classes, one of the main reasons that the founders of our Nation fought for independence was the system of taxation that was being imposed upon them by the royal government. Many States have already filed suit in U.S. District Court alleging that the new healthcare act is not Constitutional. The Attorney Generals from over a dozen States filed suit immediately. The complaint alleges that the new healthcare reform Act represents an unprecedented encroachment on the sovereignty of the States in protecting the freedom, public health and welfare of their citizens by mandating (1) massive increases in State Medicaid enrollments and by (2) impacting individual citizen’s rights to make healthcare decisions, including the right or decision not to participate in any healthcare insurance program or scheme.
Don’t expect Illinois to join the lawsuit anytime soon. First of all, Illinois has expanded Medicaid already beyond the capability to pay for the benefits and the Democratic majority that controls state government would like to see even more expansion. Never mind the fact that we cannot afford the expansion that has already been made or the fact that the expansion has helped to create the fiscal disaster that we face. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is not going to join the lawsuit against former Illinois Senator and now President Obama. I have literally heard from hundreds of constituents who want Illinois to join the lawsuit. I agree with you, we should challenge the Constitutionality of this new federal law. However, I just do not see that happening while we have complete one party rule here in Illinois.
There were no huge surprises out of Springfield last week. We did pass a Bill that was intended to be pension reform. The measure did include several important modernizations of the State’s five pension systems. A cap was implemented for anyone collecting a public pension at the same cap as Social Security. The Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) calculations were capped in a reasonable manner and the legislation effects all new hires. However, the legislation included provisions that are completely unworkable in an attempt to claim savings that will never occur. The requirement that teachers will remain in the classroom until age 67 is particularly unworkable and will likely be changed. In addition, there is no specific data that details the actuarial calculations used to come up with the savings that are claimed.
The biggest problem with the pension legislation was the fact that at the last minute, Speaker Madigan included a provision which allowed the Chicago Teacher’s Pension systems payments to be shorted by $1.3 billion over the next three years. This pension raid was to allow for the city of Chicago to have $400 million plus per year for the next three years in order to fund the Chicago Public Schools. I did not vote for the pension reform legislation because you simply cannot claim to reform pension systems when you are not making the required payments. The unfunded liability that our systems have now come from the fact that payments have been skipped or not fully made over decades. To claim to have reformed pension systems at the same time you raid payments is the height of hypocrisy.
There was good news in the fact that we were able to hold off any new gun bills that infringe upon law-abiding citizens rights related to the Second Amendment. Plus, several attempts to weaken laws that are designed to protect the unborn were stalled as well. An effort to pass a medical marijuana measure and all efforts to allow for Civil Unions and gay marriage were also stopped. Seems like sometimes the best news is the fact that some things were stopped!
Please take a few minutes to make sure that you fill out your U.S. Census forms. It is critically important for many reasons that you are counted. The count is used to distribute program support to our region and it will be used when new maps are drawn to determine legislative districts. It is very important. Please make sure you are counted.
We do not return to Springfield for a couple of weeks. I will resume this column when we return. Once we return, the budget will become the main issue. As you know, the Governor is still pushing for a record tax increase. I continue to need input from all of you regarding the budget. I appreciate the fact that many have called, written or e-mailed. So far, the consistent message is that you want reforms and spending cuts before any revenue increases are considered. If the pension reform Bill that passed last week was any indication of the sincerity of reform, then they have a long way to go.
Please keep the correspondence coming, you can reach me at: P.O. Box 125, Hutsonville, IL 62433, call me at 618-563-4128 or 217-558-1040 or e-mail me at reddyunit1@aol.com. You can also read more on my web site: www.peopleforeddy.com or and follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RepEddy and www.tweetillinois.org.