Week of July 13th, 2009

The General Assembly returns to Springfield this week in special session, and I am optimistic that we will have a budget solution within the next few days. I believe Governor Quinn will ask us to pass a temporary budget that will fund the state through the fall. While this is not the ideal solution, it does give our Medicaid and pension task forces more time to enact real reforms that will provide for a more stable fiscal future for Illinois. We should do whatever we can to avoid any type of “doomsday” or “tough choices” budget that the Governor has proposed recently that will harm our human service agencies. My intention is to support a budget that will restore as much as possible to human services and education programs as possible through any means that makes sense.

In yet another turnaround, Gov. Quinn has decided this week to shelve his income tax increase proposal until at least November in an attempt to end the budget stalemate and give him more time to build support. Many see this move as a way to postpone a tough vote to a time that is more politically expedient for lawmakers. I am not sure the Governor will have the votes for a tax increase in the fall either, and I believe it is dangerous for any of us to assume that there will be a certain stream of revenue in the future that we can factor into our budget now. If the General Assembly does not consider another tax increase bill until the fall and it does not pass, we will be looking at another round of major spending cuts. However, I am hopeful that this concession by Gov. Quinn will fast track budget negotiations among our legislative leaders.

This week, we will concentrate on passing a temporary budget with significant spending cuts. When we come back in the fall for veto session, we will likely need to choose to either raise taxes or make even more cuts in order to balance the budget. If this is in fact what happens, I hope we will use the next few months to take a long look at pension and Medicaid reform and make more exact calculations as to what revenue we will need in the future to lessen the burden on state agencies and on taxpayers. Unfortunately, a temporary budget does not answer a lot of the questions that state and local agencies, social services and schools need to prepare their FY 2010 budget. The most recent budget developments reinforce the fact that there are no good solutions at this point. Gov. Quinn still believes that an income tax increase is ultimately the best solution to our budget woes. I still believe that we can and should do better. Taxpayers have made it clear that they want to see reforms on both the fiscal and ethical side first, and neither has happened up to this point.

I do believe that it is our responsibility to work together in the General Assembly to provide the State of Illinois an operating budget that takes care of our most vulnerable citizens, makes public safety a priority and funds education adequately. It could take a very creative revenue strategy over the next several years in order to fund programs until the economy turns around and we experience some job growth in Illinois. The key to me is to not harm people.

On a positive note, Gov. Quinn finally signed the much-needed capital bill on Monday. The $31 billion plan is the first statewide capital construction bill to be signed into law in over ten years. This legislation includes plans for improvements to roads, bridges, schools and railways that will help repair our state’s deteriorating infrastructure and create and retain over 400,000 jobs over the next six years. The General Assembly needs to take more initiative on job creation by supporting legislation that will assist in the development of revenue-generating projects and promote Illinois as job-friendly, especially at this tough economic time. If our state is to move forward, we must provide both the public and private sector with incentives to invest in capital projects and create new job opportunities.

This session, House Republicans introduced workforce-related legislation that would reinstate and expand the training expense income tax credit, provide an income tax credit for manufacturing expenditures related to job creation, expand the number and classes of enterprise zones and provide incentives for business development in depressed areas. However, none of these bills made it out of the Rules Committee for a debate or vote on the floor.

We have also launched a new website, www.reinventillinois.org to elicit suggestions on ways to make state government more efficient or cost effective. The website seeks the ideas of “Illinois’ greatest natural resource”—its citizens—to develop innovative new approaches to solve our state’s budget problems. I encourage you to visit this website to leave your own thoughts, read the suggestions of others, and view helpful links to state budget reports and the latest in Illinois financial news.

I will be updating everyone live from our special session this week, along with other legislators, on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RepEddy and www.tweetillinois.org. If you have thoughts you would like to share, you can email me at reddyunit1@aol.com or call either of my offices at (217) 558-1040 or (618) 563-4128. You can also send letters to P.O. Box 125, Hutsonville, IL 62433. To track legislation or to listen or watch live session, visit www.ilga.gov or my website, www.peopleforeddy.com.