Week of April 12th., 2010
The Spring Session of the Illinois General Assembly resumes on April 13th. Once we return, there are only four weeks left until the scheduled adjournment date of May 7th. Committees in both the House and Senate will convene to consider legislation that passed in the original Chamber prior to the deadlines for bills to pass from either the House or Senate to the second Chamber. Of the thousands of bills introduced, only a few hundred remain alive at this point.
Also, while these proposals are being considered, work will begin in earnest on crafting an FY2011 budget. The task of completing a budget this year will be very difficult. At this point, the State owes vendors and providers billions of dollars and revenue receipts are lower than anticipated. Last week, a company that supplies ammunition to the state for use in the Department of Corrections declined to send any more shipments until they receive payments due to them. Schools, Community Colleges and Universities are owed hundreds of millions of dollars with many questioning whether or not they will be able to make payroll by the end of June. The state is so far behind in paying bills that telephone service in many State offices have been turned off due to lack of payment. In fact, last week, my office in Casey had the phone service turned off due to no payment from the State.
It is against this backdrop that a budget must be crafted. What will happen? Well, it appears that leaders in the majority party will possibly pass what is being referred to as a ‘six month’ budget. What that simply means is that they will pass a budget that is intended to get the State through the next six months, until after the fall election and see who wins the Governor’s race. If Pat Quinn wins, it is likely that there will be a rather significant tax increase. That solution is what Governor Quinn has proposed. He has supported two versions of an income tax increase. One version is a two percent increase (HB174) and the most recent proposal is a one percent ‘for education’ increase that he unveiled in his Budget Address this spring.
If Bill Brady prevails and becomes Governor, then the onus will be upon his administration to clean up the mess caused by eight years of total and complete irresponsible budgeting practice. Recent polls show Brady with a double digit lead in the race for Governor. At this point, there are no easy solutions to the fiscal problems that we face. But it does appear as if the majority party is prepared to punt this spring and kick the can a little further down the road. In the meantime, there will be huge cuts to state programs and schools will receive much less money in FY11.
We can and should do better. During the spring, I have sponsored or co-sponsored several measures designed to control spending, end unfunded mandates, create and save jobs and reform Medicaid spending. Attempts to have those proposals heard and voted on have been squashed by the Speaker. During the next four weeks, I will continue to attempt to work toward solutions to our budget problems.
However, if we are going to solve these problems, we must take a new approach. First and foremost, before we start to fill the budget hole, we must stop digging! Secondly, we cannot continue to burden local schools and governments with unfunded mandates. There is waste in state government that must be eliminated before we ask citizens to pay more of their hard earned money to the State. By the way, in the midst of this ‘fiscal crisis’, in the past few weeks the State hired someone to be in charge of Kayaking at the Department of Natural Resources for a salary of over one hundred thousand dollars. Plus, dozens of other high paying election year jobs are being filled throughout state government.
I have been getting a lot of correspondence recently about SB1381. This legislation seeks to legalize marijuana use for medical purposes. There are many people who suffer from a variety of afflictions who would benefit from the drug found in marijuana. The current version of the legislation allows for individuals to grow their own supply of marijuana. In addition, the process by which an individual would be authorized to grow their own marijuana is loosely worded. I would like to have more input from voters on this issue. If there were a way to allow people to grow their own supply of marijuana for strictly medical use, would you be in favor of allowing this? Or, do you think that if a person is to receive medical marijuana it should be distributed through a strict prescription process. The American Medical Society and Law Enforcement Officials are adamant in their opposition to this proposal. Your opinion on this issue would be helpful as I determine what would constitute good public policy.
I do appreciate all of the e-mails, letters and phone calls regarding the many issues that you are concerned about. I can guarantee you that your input does make a difference. Many times, I have used your comments and concerns when presenting a bill or debating public policy. Sometimes that common sense, practical concern that someone has provided can be the difference. We are a government of the people and we need to listen to you now more than ever and I intend to do just that as this Session comes to a close. 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.