With the 2008 election now behind us, the Illinois House of Representatives will convene November 19ththrough the 21st in what is commonly referred to as the “Fall Veto Session”. Normally, this session covers two weeks and lasts for around 6 days. This year, that two week planned schedule has been whittled to one week. The reason for the reduction is that the Illinois House has met several times in special session to consider budget veto issues since our original adjournment date in the late spring. During those dates, the Speaker decided that it was prudent for the House to use the time we were called to Springfield to address other vetoes issued by the Governor. That action by the Speaker resulted in the need for less days in the Fall Veto Session. More>>
September 24, 2008 Ever since the blue mailer
was sent out regarding the election
question as to whether or not Illinois
should call for a Constitutional Convention
(Con-Con), I have had dozens of people
stop me and ask questions about the pamphlet. That
particular flyer was an attempt to inform
people regarding arguments for and against
the Con-Con. More>>
June 2 , 2008
The actual budget comes in the form of about five bills: SB1115, SB1129, SB1102, SB773 and HB5701. The truth is that the FY09 Illinois Budget actually reads more like a fairy tale than legislation designed to be a spending plan. More>>
May 26, 2008
Last week, the Democratic majority, along partisan lines, passed a series of departmental appropriation budgets that could leave the state with well over a $3 billion deficit in fiscal year 2009. More>>
May 19, 2008
Among the issues that we will be watching closely are some gun restriction bills that are still alive, legislation requiring a photo identification when voting, a measure that would eliminate all legislative member initiatives from the current budget in order to pay down current Medicaid debt, the FY09 budget, plus dozens of other bills that are currently on third reading. There are dozens of Senate Bills that successfully passed the Senate awaiting final action by the House prior to being sent to the Governor or simply failing during the current session. More>>
May 12, 2008
I am afraid the words of Lincoln are an appropriate warning to the Governor and the Democratic Leadership who are in charge in Illinois: “If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. More>>
May 5, 2008
I have mentioned the issue of recall several times in my previous articles this spring. Contrary to the scare tactics used by opponents of the idea, I believe that the option of recall is good for the people of Illinois. I believe in citizen government and in the idea that elected officials should always be held accountable for their performance. After all, we are elected by the people and entrusted with the important job of conducting business on their behalf in a manner that honors the office to which we are elected. More>>
April 28, 2008
I have heard from hundreds of 4-H supporters fearful that the governor’s decision to hold University of Illinois extension funding could result in the complete shutdown of one of the state’s most successful programs. Soil and Water Conservation Districts continue to await funding that was promised More>>
April 21, 2008
Last week, action in Springfield was intense with lines being drawn in the sand on several issues by the Governor and legislative leaders in the Democrat party. More>>
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.More>>
April 7, 2008
As the General Assembly resumed activity last week there were several new pieces of legislation brought forth for consideration. Perhaps the most controversial of these was a proposed Constitutional Amendment introduced by Democrat State Rep. Jack Franks of Woodstock. HJRCA 28 is widely known in Statehouse circles as the recall amendment. More>>
March 31, 2008
The Illinois House and Senate are scheduled to reconvene Tuesday, April 1 st. In the next several weeks, hundreds of House Bills that passed through the committee process during the first couple of months of the 2008 Spring session will be debated and voted on by the full House. The deadline for House Bills to pass over to the Senate for consideration is April 18 th. Similarly, the Senate will now consider legislation which has survived with favorable committee votes and is now on the Senate floor. The Senate has an April 17 th deadline to pass legislation which originated in the Senate over to the House for consideration. More>>
March 17, 2008
Last week, legislation that would ban aluminum baseball bats at the Little League level was defeated in committee. The legislation, offered by Representative Robert Molaro of Chicago would have banned the use of aluminum bats for those 13 years of age or under. More>>
March 10, 2008
I want to start by thanking those of you that contacted me with feedback on the issues I presented in last week’s article. The overwhelming majority of the correspondence I received showed opposition to the idea of the demolition of Cole Hall, the site of the shooting that took place on the campus of Northern Illinois University on Valentine’s Day. Public opposition to this plan is not exclusive More>>
March 3, 2008 Last week was once again dominated by committee meetings as Representatives scramble to meet the deadline of passing House Bills out of committees by March 14th. However, there are a couple of pieces of legislation that are on third reading in the House having successfully passed through the committee process and could come up for a vote in the House very soon. More>>
February 25, 2008 Last week, the governor presented his FY09 budget proposal to a joint session of the Illinois General Assembly. By this time, you have likely read some stories about the proposal. Many of the initial accounts related to the governor’s budget mentioned that his budget address was short on some of the facts. More>>
February 19, 2008
The Governor is scheduled to give his Budget Address on Wednesday, February 20th at noon. This is actually the first step in the budget process. Last year that process which started in February of 2007, did not end officially until January of 2008. A budget was not passed until August 10th and the final action on implementation came after the New Year.
There is a lot of speculation surrounding the Governor’s Budget proposal for FY09. By all accounts, Illinois is facing a very large deficit at the end of FY08. Many experts say the deficit will be well over $2 billion More>>
January 14, 2008
The two days that we spent in
Springfield on January 9th and 10th were
not fruitless. At
long last, the budget implementation legislation
that is necessary to enact increases in education
funding in Illinois cleared the final hurdle. Both
the Senate and House agreed unanimously with
the Governor’s
minor amendatory veto of the bill. That means that
schools will begin to see increases in state
aid payments later this month. More >>
January
7, 2008
The latest non-productive special session
was held January 2nd. Although
the Governor called us into special session to address legislation regarding
the mass transit “crisis” facing Chicago, he did not offer any legislation
to be considered.
On a positive note, the Governor did act on the implementation bill that was
needed in order for our school districts to finally start receiving the additional
funding approved in November by the House and Senate. More>>
2008
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