Week of May 24th., 2010
Session is now scheduled for Monday, May 24th starting at 4:00 PM. The memo from the Speaker’s office informed members of the House that we should be prepared to stay at least Tuesday and Wednesday in order to finish work on the budget for FY11. We could also act on dozens of amended bills sent over from the Senate that need to be approved by the House through action called a concurrence motion.
Of course, the main objective in the next week or so is to finish work on a budget for the next fiscal year. However, I have three important bills that were amended in the Senate and I hope to complete the concurrence process so these can be sent to the Governor for his approval.
One of the bills is HB4711. This measure would allow for school districts to locally waive any future mandate to the school code that is not fully funded. This has been a very controversial proposal throughout the spring in the General Assembly. However, it looks like the measure could pass this week. The theory is simple, if the General Assembly is going to pass a mandate effecting schools that is costly, the mandate should be paid for or the school should have the option of waiving the implementation of the unfunded mandate. Although it seems like a simple and responsible approach, it has been difficult for some in Springfield to grasp this type of responsible approach to public policy.
Another bill that I hope to get completed is HB80. This bill is a start on work that is long overdue. Back in the fall, I introduced a House Joint Resolution that instructed the State Board of Education to review existing school code mandates and make recommendations regarding which existing mandates could be revised or removed, allowing school districts some fiscal relief in a year that school funding appears to be bleak. The result of the legislation was a task force that met twice and HB80 contains just a couple of mandate relief measures that came from the task force. The relief will come for a special education classroom regulation, mandates related to driver’s education fees and a mandate related to bio-diesel.
I had hoped for even more mandate relief for schools. After all, any unfunded mandate from Springfield is nothing more than a de-facto property tax increase. However, in a short period of time, there was only agreement on a few statutes that relief could be granted from. A new task force will take up this important work in the future and hopefully we will identify even more relief from unfunded mandates for schools.
It would be nice if the theories promoted in HB4711 and HB80 catch on for counties and municipalities as well. I firmly believe that one of the problems we have in Illinois is the irresponsible way that the General Assembly passes laws that require local units of government to carry the cost. These unfunded mandates need to stop or there should be a local waiver option until the mandate is fully funded.
HB 5132 is also set for concurrence this week. This bill is the result of a suggestion made by the Director of the Southeastern Special Education Cooperative. Jill Weems contacted me a while back very upset about the fact that although special education students between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one with Individual Education Plans (IEP’s) are housed in our schools, if there was any sign of abuse toward these students, the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) abuse hotline was not able to take the abuse calls because DCFs can only deal with students until age eighteen. After further research, I found that individual in private placement for special needs also had no reporting of abuse process. So, we worked with DCFS, and the Department of Human Services (DHS) to establish a new reporting protocol. His legislation is a good example of grass roots legislation developing from a problem identified by a citizen and public policy being developed to solve a problem.
Just as a side note, every single one of the bills that I described in this column have a Democrat sponsor in the Senate. Sometimes, I am sure that it seems that there is very little done in Springfield in a bipartisan manner. The fact is that I think that it is vital to work with everyone in Springfield to solve the problems that we face.
With that in mind, I want constituents to know that when we return to Springfield this week, I will make every effort to work with everyone in both parties to find solutions to the fiscal issues that face us in Illinois. The problems we face are very serious and the one thing that should not happen is that politics, even in an election year, replace common sense and working together. I can tell you that from what I have seen, neither party alone has the answer to solving the problems we face.
Unless we cut spending and become more fiscally responsible, we should not increase taxes. There must be a hard cap set on spending and any increase in taxes should come with a built in sunset based upon economic growth. Reforms are necessary in Medicaid for sure and we must take a look a every line item and set priorities that reflect the role government should take in our State.
It is also true that we cannot simply cut our way out of this mess. Cutting as deep as necessary to meet existing revenue during a lingering recession would devastate necessary, even vital programs. Finally, at times, it makes sense to borrow in a strategic manner to assist with cash flow until the economy recovers. So, some borrowing might be a necessary part of a good solution to the fiscal problems we face. For example, if pension systems are forced to sell assets to make annuitant payments on assets that yield double digit returns, it might be a good idea to borrow some money to make pension payments if borrowing can be accomplished at around four percent. But cutting, revenue increases or borrowing as a single solution is not the answer.
The real key is making sure that we institute public policy in Illinois that will retain and create jobs. To do that, we must reform worker’s compensation, streamline permitting in Illinois and make changes to the unemployment system. Fraud, abuse and disincentives are major problems in worker’s comp and unemployment here in Illinois and until we act to reform these programs, employers could choose to take their jobs elsewhere. The fact is that Illinois has lost hundreds of thousands of jobs in the past seven years due to the anti-job climate that has prevailed in Illinois. That must change.
The good news is that there are folks on both sides of the political aisle that agree on these basic foundations. I will work with everyone in the next few days to see if we can’t solve some of these issue. I need to hear from you this week if you have an opinion on the budget or any other issue. 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.