Week of April 14, 2008
Last week was certainly a busy week in the Illinois House. The House took up issues like the Recall Amendment, several gun bills, and a proposed Constitutional Amendment designed to double the income tax for those making over $250,000 per year. This week, I will cover some of the votes from last week and try to update you regarding legislation that we will face in the future.
HB731 fell just a few votes short of passage by the House. This bill provided that it would be unlawful for any person to store or leave, within a premise under their control, a firearm if the person knows that anyone under the age of 18 could gain access to that firearm. The legislation changes the age in current law from 14 to 18 and eliminates the provision that the firearm may be placed in some location that a reasonable person would believe would be secure from a minor. In addition, the legislation would have added legal penalties to the law-abiding gun owner if the weapon they owned was used illegally. I voted No on this legislation for many reasons. I think we should be more concerned about the crime committed and punishing those who commit crimes with guns than passing laws that target law-abiding gun owners. Hopefully, we will continue to have enough opposition to stop this bill if the sponsor calls it for another vote.
HB4393 was another gun bill that failed to pass, although it also fell just a few votes short of passage. This legislation would limit purchases of guns to one per month. It basically prohibits multiple sales of handguns to any individual within a 30 day period. The sponsor of the legislation actually lives in an area that prohibits the ownership of hand guns. I find it interesting, I guess, that he is attempting to limit the purchase of something that is already illegal in his region. So, in Chicago, I guess if his legislation is ever successful, they would be limited to purchasing one illegally purchased hand gun in a 30 day period…….brilliant! Once again, law-abiding gun owners would likely be the only ones affected. Does anyone else think that we have more important things to do with our time?
It would be great if the Democrats leading the House and Senate would allow us to debate and at least vote on a few gun bills that make some sense. For example, HB1304, (which is sponsored by a member of the majority party) would allow for conceal and carry in Illinois. In states where conceal and carry laws exist, there are less violent crimes. I think that we should at least be allowed to debate and be able to vote on that legislation rather than continually work to defeat bills that are aimed at restricting the rights of law-abiding citizens.
There were two proposed Constitutional Amendments voted on last week in the House. HJRCA 42 was an effort to create a two-tiered income tax system in Illinois. Since the Illinois Constitution provides for a uniform flat tax (which is set by mandate now at 3%), an Amendment to the Illinois Constitution would be required to allow for any other rate(s). This particular proposal would create two rates. One rate is the existing 3% rate for those earning under $250,000. For those earning over $250,000, the rate would double to 6%. The idea drew a lot of attention, but in the end, it received only 52 yes votes. A proposed Constitutional Amendment must have a super-majority to pass. So, this fell 19 votes short of passage.
I voted No on HJRCA 42. The proposal was flawed in several ways. It would have increased taxes by about $3.8 billion. There were funds created that would have provided $1 billion for education funding, $1 billion for capital projects and around $850 million for “tax relief” to those making under $250,000 by increasing the personal exemption from $2,000 to $4,500. The funds were not protected or dedicated which means that we could have had another lottery type shell game played with education money. In addition, for those who might be interested in a graduated tax for Illinois, this is not a true graduated tax system since it has only two tiers. The proposal was flawed and there was no attempt on the part of the sponsor to amend the measure to address numerous concerns that people expressed. My feeling is that the amendment was designed to fail so that a roll call vote could be taken in order to claim that individuals either voted against tax relief or for a tax increase because either claim could be made and used in the next campaign season. Speaker Madigan did not work the amendment, plus he is way too smart to allow such a flawed piece of legislation to actually become public policy. This was a hoax. However, we might see a real attempt to establish a true graduated income tax system for Illinois. I am interested in hearing if there is support for that if we have the opportunity to vote on a real, well thought out proposal like that.
The other Constitutional Amendment was the well publicized “Recall Amendment”. This would allow for the citizens of Illinois to recall the Governor, as well as other executive branch officers and members of the General Assembly. The current dysfunctional leadership in Springfield has brought about this movement. I voted in favor of this proposal because I think that people should have the right to recall public officials who have become so arrogant that they do not serve the people that elected them. We have a governor who thinks that he is above the law and the legislative process. Four years is too long to have to wait to rid ourselves of that type of arrogance and incompetence. The current governor has single handedly proven that this is a good idea.
The chances of the Amendment being passed are slim. The Governor has a close friend in Senate President Jones and he is likely to protect Blagojevich by not allowing a Senate vote on the matter. That is another example of a flawed system as well. One person should not be able to control whether or not elected officials from all over the state are allowed to vote on a particular proposal.
Many of you have heard about the Governor’s latest attempt to secure funds for health care expansion that have been rejected by the General Assembly. He has proposed (along with the Senate President’s support) once again raiding hundreds of dedicated funds. HB473 passed the Democrat controlled Senate on a partisan vote and allows for around $500 million to be raided from funds like the Retired Teacher’s Health Insurance Fund. I will work hard to stop these raids from gaining approval in the House. This must end!
Don’t forget to keep up with legislation at www.ilga.gov and let me know what you think by contacting me at reddyunit1@aol.com or phone my offices at 217-558-1040 or 618-563-4128. I will also have updates on my website, www.peopleforeddy.com