Springfield Update

I apologize that is has been a few days since my last post. I was at a charity golf outing yesterday for RANWC's Helping Our Heroes. The event was well attended. Congrats too all of the RANWC members and staff that worked to make the event a success.

Please find below the latest updates from the IAR Government Affairs team on the issues in Springfield.

Both tempers and temperatures continue to heat up in the Capital city. While summer has begun the SPRING session of the Illinois General Assembly continues with no end in sight. This week there was some movement on the State budget as the Governor and legislative leaders agreed to craft a one-month budget this weekend to avoid a shutdown of State operations. This decision was reached in a meeting held after the Senate and House members had adjourned for the week. This action is necessary to be acted upon next week since the new fiscal year for the State begins July 1st. While the avoidance of a State shutdown is obviously important this action may just ensure that the legislature will meet throughout the month of July.

- The Senate did take action on a non-binding resolution on Wednesday afternoon this week (SR 258) voting 33-19-2 to reject the version of the new State budget earlier approved by the House of Representatives. While the House had approved their version of the State budget (contained in Senate Bill 1132) on May 30th a parliamentary procedure has stalled the bill and prevented the Senate from acting on it. Due to concern about electric rates and the failure of any legislative resolution to that issue, a motion was filed to reconsider the vote by which the budget bill was approved by the House. This motion put the budget bill in limbo- while approved by the House it cannot be acted upon until officially reported to the Senate which cannot happen until the sponsor’s motion is voted upon or withdrawn. SR 258, sponsored by Appropriations Chairman Senator Donne Trotter, cites specific “shortfalls” of the House budget bill. The vote in favor signals rejection of Senate Bill 1132. This is the second time this session that a non-binding resolution has been used in lieu of a vote on substantive legislation. You will recall that the House used this maneuver to reject the Governor’s proposed Gross Receipts Tax (GRT). Shortly after the heated debate and vote on the Senate Resolution, the Senate abruptly adjourned until next week.

- The House convened on Wednesday AFTER the Senate had voted on SR 258 and adjourned for the week. The Senate debate on the non-binding resolution was heard by many of the House members and, needless to say, was not well received. Many members of the House stood on the House floor both Wednesday and Thursday to denounce the Senate action and to point to specific comments made by Senators in their debate on the non-binding resolution.

- No action occurred this week on either of the bills of concern from our recent Calls to Action- Senate Bill 1674 (the predatory lending/4050 bill) or Senate Bill 572 (RTA real estate transfer tax). You can get information on these bills by clicking on the direct link to the Action Center which has both issues posted: http://www.votervoice.net/Core.aspx?AID=251&

- On Wednesday the House adopted another amendment to Senate Bill 17, the legislation to address the assessment of wooded acreage. House Amendment #2 redrafts the assessment provisions by creating additional definitions to clarify what would qualify as wooded acreage, creating a transition assessment and stipulating that after October 1, 2007 if the ownership interests or beneficial interests change by more than 50% from those interests as they existed on October 1, 2007 then the property would not longer qualify to receive the preferential assessment treatment of the wooded acreage. The bill is pending final action in the House. The Senate would also have to act to concur with the House amendment to this legislation prior to it being sent to the Governor for his consideration.

- On Wednesday the Governor signed into law House Bill 426, the legislation that will move the primary date in Illinois from the third Tuesday of March to the first Tuesday in February. Public Act 95-0006 will add Illinois to the list of states that are moving primary dates. At least 22 states have scheduled or are considering scheduling their primary on February 5 in 2008 leading to the primary date to be called “Super Duper Tuesday”. This legislation, pushed by the Democratic party to help Senator Barack Obama’s presidential bid, received overwhelming support in the House and Senate this spring.

- The IAR Action Center also has a tracking of many key issues that have been considered this year. Click on the link listed as “Hot State Issues- Status Report”.

The House and the Senate will reconvene Tuesday, June 26, 2007.


For more information, contact Greg St. Aubin, Director of IAR Governmental Affairs, gstaubin@iar.org, or Julie Sullivan, Assistant Director, Legislative and Political Affairs, jsullivan@iar.org.

Contact information for members of the House and Senate, notice of committee hearings, text of legislation and roll call votes are all available on the Illinois General Assembly’s Web site, www.ilga.gov.