Week of 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.
The week of April 21 st is a week scheduled for legislators to be back home in their legislative districts to hear from constituents before going back to Springfield to vote on legislation that has successfully passed either the Senate or House. During the month of May, the General Assembly will vote on legislation in the “second chamber” which will likely send dozens of bills to the Governor for consideration. May is also the month that the General Assembly attempts to finalize a new budget for the next fiscal year. The “scheduled” adjournment date for the Spring session is May 29 th.
Some of the pending legislation would limit Second Amendment Rights, change various transportation laws, effect local school funding and governance, require premise animal identification, and hundreds of other topics. It is critically important that those interested in specific legislation pay close attention during the next few weeks and months. Remember, you can track legislation at www.ilga.gov
As you can imagine, with hundreds of bills to consider, the pace will be fast and furious. This is also the most important time for me to hear from you regarding issues that are important to you. Please contact me either by e-mail, phone or mail. I can read your e-mails on the House floor as we debate legislation. Phone calls are relayed to me and mail is also effective. Do not hesitate to contact me either, I really do appreciate your input and respect your thoughts. After all, I am in Springfield to represent you! My e-mail address is reddyunit1@aol.com and phone numbers to call are 217-558-1040 or 618-563-4128. Letter can be sent to Box 125, Hutsonville, IL 62433, or 222-N Stratton Office Building, Springfield, IL 62706. We also try to pass along important information on my website at www.peopleforeddy.com
One of the most important responsibilities of the General Assembly is to pass a budget. As mentioned earlier, an FY09 budget is supposed to be completed by the end of May. Many people are skeptical about that deadline being met. With the deep divide within the leadership of the Democratic Party, and especially the feud between Speaker of the House Michael Madigan and Governor Blagojevich, it appears as if we could be in for another “overtime” session.
The State of Illinois faces some very difficult financial problems caused by years of unbridled spending. Democrats in Springfield have expanded health care and other programs through increasing spending by nearly $8 billion during the time they have been “in charge”. To pay for these programs and expansions, they have borrowed, raided hundreds of dedicated funds, raided road and pension funds, sold State assets and passed a pension bonding scheme that included skipping a pension payment. The only real revenue enhancement plans offered included the Gross Receipts Tax (GRT) and the sale or lease of the State Lottery. Both of these ideas were soundly rejected.
This year, once again, spending will increase by well over one billion dollars and the Governor has offered some of the same proposals for revenue. To his credit, he has not tried to float GRT again. His previous attempt to pass a Gross Receipts Tax floundered following a resolution vote by a 107-0 margin. I guess even he could figure that one out.
It really does no good to simply point out the failure of those in charge. I think that is very evident to most people. The real challenge of leadership is to help find solutions. We need to work together on this problem. The fact that nursing homes are closing due to non-payment by the State, Soil and Water Conservation Districts are also contemplating closure, our schools will likely not get all scheduled state funding promised this year, and we have not had a Capital Infrastructure program in over seven years in Illinois should serve as a wake up call. Have you seen the road conditions due to the raid on road funds!
The bottom line is that we have failed leadership in Illinois, and without some changes, how can we expect things to change? We are facing the Spring Session budget cycle with the same leaders, many of the same proposals for revenue and the same childish feuds between people who are supposed to be leaders.
We need reliable, sustainable revenue sources to be considered by the General Assembly. I am willing to do that. However, before we can start to get out of this hole, we need to stop digging.