Springfield Update

Illinois Association of REALTORS
Quorum Call Week in Review
Thursday, July 10, 2008
“Our political institutions work remarkably well. They are designed to clang against each other. The noise is democracy at work.”
~Michael Novak
- The General Assembly was called back into session this week by the Governor “to fix the shortfall in the Fiscal Year 2009 budget passed by the General Assembly in May” with the hope that the House would enact revenue enhancements previously approved by the Senate in May. On Wednesday, the Governor ratcheted up pressure on the House by issuing reduction and item vetoes in the budget totaling $1.4 billion.

- The House had a lengthy “Committee of the Whole” hearing on Wednesday afternoon on the capital bill, the gaming expansion bill, the sweeps authorization bill, the lottery lease bill and bonding bills. On Thursday, the House had an extensive debate on the gaming expansion bill – HB 2651 – which was the funding source for the $34 billion capital projects proposal. HB 2651 was voted down on a roll call vote of 47-55-3. However, the House of Representatives did approve amendments to SB 1130 to authorize work to be restarted on construction projects throughout the State that had been halted by the Capital Development Board (CDB). The Senate concurred with this action later in the day on a roll call vote of 42-0-0.

- On Wednesday evening the House Executive Committee amended the fund sweeps authorization legislation (SB 790) to remove all substantive provisions. The bill was sent to the full House where it was held with further action likely next week.
- This week the Senate took action on other measures besides budget bills including final legislative action on Senate Bill 2287. On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary–Criminal Law Committee unanimously concurred with the House Amendment added to Senate Bill 2287. The full Senate approved the concurrence motion on a roll call vote of 41-0-0. As you recall, this legislation sponsored by Senator Kwame Raoul and Representative Pat Lindner, seeks to expand the Safe Homes Act to allow tenants to recover a minimum of $2,000 plus attorney’s fees from a landlord if the landlord shares “any information provided by the tenant” in exercising his/her rights under the Act to a prospective landlord. The IAR had pointed to a number of concerns with the original legislation including the fact that a tenant would not have to actually incur any damages in order to recover the $2,000. Representative Pat Lindner, amended the bill to hold the landlord liable for actual damages up to $2,000 resulting from the disclosure- instead of liable for any damages resulting from the disclosure or $2,000, whichever is greater.

- The Illinois House of Representatives will return to Springfield next week for three days to consider the item and reduction vetoes issued by the Governor. The Senate President indicated that it was not his intention to call the Senate into session.




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.