Article Week of May 7, 2007
This week, House Committees will begin to consider hundreds of Senate Bills
that passed out of the Senate prior to the third reading deadline. If these
measures are successful in the House, they will be sent to the Governor for
his consideration. Likewise, the Senate has begun deliberations on House Bills.
In the background of this activity, the looming budget battle awaits. The deadline
to pass a budget without a super-majority vote is May 31st. That means we have
about three weeks left to deal with all of the remaining bills passed between
the two Houses and finalize a budget. In addition, the General Assembly has
let another week go by without a compromise on the electric rate issue. In the
five years that I have been a member of the House, I have not seen such a brewing
storm. I will do my best to keep you informed!
One of the bills which passed successfully in the Senate was SB184. This bill was sponsored by Senator Dale Righter and was a measure similar to HB613 which I sponsored. Both measures attempt to deal with the heavy handed manner in which the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) is dealing with rural septic systems. As many of you know, the IEPA proposed onerous new rules and regulations on these systems including a new APDES Permit, many new maintenance requirements and inspections. The estimated cost of these new impositions is over $500 per year. In their new rules, the IEPA tries to make the case that the discharge from a septic system which trickles onto a low lying area in a person’s yard can be considered a “tributary to waters of the United States” and therefore must apply for a permit and undergo NEW inspection fee and maintenance fees. Never mind that the State of Illinois through the State Health Department approved the installation of hundreds of thousands of these systems statewide without permits, maintenance requirements and inspection fees ever being mentioned.
Both HB613 and SB184 attempt to bring some reasonableness and sanity to the new IEPA rules. Both measures essentially state that unless your system discharges directly into a “navigable waterway, water of commerce or a tributary to a navigable waterway, a homeowner does not have to go through the permitting process nor be subject to the new inspection and maintenance fees. Both bills passed their respective Houses and now have been taken over by Democrat sponsors who intend to kill the bills. Since the Democrats are the majority party, these individuals opposed to the bills feel that they have the right now to hijack these bills which are important to rural Illinois and attempt to hold the measures and simply not allow the bills to be heard in the other chamber. The sad thing is that they might be able to get away with it simply because they are in the majority.
I spoke with Representative Karen May and requested that she sign the bill over to me. Senator Righter intended for me to be the House sponsor. Senator Righter has contacted Representative May as well and asked that she turn the bill over to me. So far, she has refused to do so. I have asked her to allow the Democratic process to work and even invited her to attempt to amend the measure in committee or debate against it on the House floor. She insists on holding a bill that was not intended for her simply so she can allow the IEPA to impose these new onerous rules on homeowners in rural Illinois. At this point, unless Representative May hears from constituents in rural areas as to how important this bill is, I fear she may kill the bill.
Last week was an important week for those who support the statewide smoking ban. The measure (SB500) passed in the House by a fairly comfortable 73-42 margin. The Governor has publicly stated that he intends to sign the bill into law. I voted against the measure and feel that local control on this issue is a better option. There could be some exceptions that locally elected officials might want to allow. Now they do not have that option. I have heard from private business owners who are very concerned about how this one size fits all approach will work, especially in Illinois border counties. I have heard from hundreds of people that are wondering just when the State is going to be satisfied as far as invasions on personally owned property. To be fair though, I have heard from many others who support the ban and they have good arguments related to workplace health and many have suffered from the effects that smoking has had on loved ones. I truly hope this new law does not have the predicted negative effects on some businesses in those Illinois border counties. By the way, here is an interesting fact about the total General Assembly vote on this issue: Senators and Reps of areas above Interstate 80 voted for the ban by a 99-23 margin and those below I-80 voted against the bill by a 42-8 margin.
HB1727 also passed last week by a slim 63-51 margin. I voted NO. This is an unfunded mandate which requires public libraries to install Internet filtering software. While these filters work okay, there is nothing that works like supervision and just about anyone can get past these filters. In addition, I simply cannot vote for a bill that requires a costly new mandate without any funding. Local libraries have a difficult time as it is financially and do not need additional unfunded mandates of questionable value.
HB1294 was an attempt to provide certain felons a “certificate of good conduct” which would enable them to work in some jobs that they are currently ineligible for due to the fact that they are felons. The sponsor may have good intentions with this. The point was that at some point, depending on the type of felony, society needs to recognize that the person’s debt has been paid. There is some justification to this. However, this particular bill encompassed too many felonies. In fact, under the current version of the bill, a person convicted of a felony involving drug trafficking could be eligible to work at a school! I voted NO. The bill needs a lot more work.
Finally, the Speaker of the House has called a special “Committee of the Whole” meeting of the house for Wednesday, May 9th, starting at 9:00 AM to hear testimony regarding the Governor’s proposed Gross Receipts Tax. I have written many times about this record tax proposal. There is very little support for this idea. By the end of the day Wednesday, the GRT could very well be dead. If that is the case, watch for other revenue proposals including a proposed income tax increase and/or a major expansion of gaming to be proposed.
You can listen to the GRT hearing live at www.ilga.gov. Let me know what you are thinking.
E-mail me at (reddyunit1@aol.com); write
to me at Box 125, Hutsonville, IL 62433 or call us at 618-563-4128. You
can also keep up with important issues at my web site (now with audio clips)
- www.peopleforeddy.com