Senate Week In Review:

A view from the Illinois Senate Republican Press Office

May 26-30 2008

SPRINGFIELD ­ Increasing penalties for criminals who disarm police officers and protecting victims with disabilities during court proceedings were among dozens of bills approved by the Senate during the week of May 26-30, according to State Sen. Tim Bivins (R-Dixon).

Hoping to meet a scheduled May 31 adjournment deadline, negotiations continued during the week on a state budget and capital improvement plan for Fiscal Year 2009, which starts July 1. On May 29, the Senate's Democrat leadership forced through a bill that authorizes a $16 billion pension borrowing scheme that pushes the bulk of the debt off on taxpayers 30 years down the road. Approved by a strictly partisan vote of 37-21, Senate Bill 788 also changes the pension funding formula to allow the Governor to skip a $500 million pension payment in Fiscal Year 2009 and use the diverted pension payment for other programs.

Three years ago, Democrats in the Legislature approved a similar pension raid with pledges that they were "fixing" the pension funding system. As with the 2005 pension raid, no Republican senators voted for the bonding scheme this year. Senate Bill 788 faces an uncertain future in the House.

Also on a partisan vote May 29, Senate Democrats for the second time this year voted to raid more than $500 million from funds dedicated for specific purposes and use them to pay the state's day-to-day bills. Senate Bill 790 gives the Governor broad authority to transfer up to $530 million from dedicated funds to the General Revenue Fund.

In the meantime, legislators from both parties called on Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago) to allow a vote on a resolution needed to block an automatic pay raise for elected officials. The resolution was adopted May 7 by the House of Representatives and must also be adopted by the Senate or the pay raises will automatically take effect. Jones has told reporters he wants the pay raise and has blocked a vote on the resolution rejecting the pay hikes.

Criminals convicted of disarming a peace officer during a struggle will face tougher penalties, under legislation sponsored by Sen. Bivins and passed May 27 by a unanimous vote of the Senate. House Bill 5653 increases the penalty for disarming a peace officer or correctional employee from a Class 2 felony to a Class 1 felony, punishable by 4-15 years in prison. Approved by the House April 9, House Bill 5653 now returns to the House for concurrence with changes made in the Senate.

The Senate also passed legislation to better protect crime victims with developmental disabilities who are testifying in court. The victim would be allowed to testify via closed-circuit television if the court determines that making the victim testify in person would cause serious emotional distress that could interfere with their ability to communicate, or would cause severe adverse effects. House Bill 5603 would allow the defense counsel to cross examine the victim but the defendant would not be allowed in the room where the victim is testifying. The defendant would be allowed to communicate with their counsel.

Passed by the House April 15, House Bill 5603 now moves to the Governor's office for further consideration.

Legislation approved by the Senate during the week of May 26-30 includes:

Insurance coverage (HB 4602) ­ Requires insurance companies to pay for a vaccine for shingles for patients 60 and older. (HB 5595) ­ Requires insurance coverage for "habilitative services" ­ occupational, physical, speech therapy, and services prescribed by the treating physician ­ as part of a treatment plan for children younger than 19 with a congenital, genetic, or early acquired disorder. (HB 4255) ­ Requires coverage for medically-necessary preventive physical therapy for insureds diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

Fire protection districts (HB 4675) ­ Increases the fees that fire protection districts may charge to persons, businesses, and other entities that are not residents of the district.

Fake safety devices (HB 4683) ­ Prohibits the manufacture, installation, or sale of fake life safety or fire protection devices that actually house covert video cameras. Exempt are law enforcement officers using such devices in a criminal investigation.

Grandparent caregivers (HB 4212) ­ Requires the Illinois Department of Children and Family Service to develop a program of information and services for caregivers, particularly older caregivers, of children previously in DCFS.

Legislation approved by both chambers of the General Assembly and now headed to the Governor's desk for further consideration includes:

Medical services (HB 4869) ­ Provides immunity from civil liability for physicians who provide free medical services through a free medical clinic, if the patient is notified in writing about the civil liability exemption.

Unlawful sale of firearms (HB 4628) ­ Requires that a person 18 or older convicted of the unlawful sale or transfer of a firearm to a minor is sentenced differently if the firearm was used in the commission or attempted commission of a forcible felony.

Military tuition (HB 5905) ­ Allows public universities (beginning with the 2009-2010 school year) to allow in-state tuition rates for a person on active military duty (or his/her dependents), who is stationed out of state but was a resident of Illinois for at least three years prior.

Election ballots (SB 439) ­ Allows municipalities to prepare a special ballot for military members and civilians who will be out of the country for both the consolidated election primary and general elections.

Veterans insurance (SB 782) ­ Reinstates the Veterans' Health Insurance Program, which expired Jan. 1, 2008, by creating the Veterans' Health Insurance Program Act of 2008, with a sunset date of Jan. 1, 2012.

Prior evidence (SB 2509) ­ Allows prior commission of child pornography or murder to come into evidence when the person is being tried or retried on certain sexually-related offenses.

Job skills study (SB 2632) ­ Requires DCEO to conduct a study to identify and address current and projected shortages in critical occupations and specific skill sets within Illinois businesses and industries.

Death penalty reform (SB 2657) ­ Extends the final report date for the Capital Punishment Reform Study Committee from Nov. 19, 2008, to Dec. 31, 2009. The Committee was created five years ago to look at the impact of legislative reforms on death penalty cases.

ID database (SB 993) ­ Requires the Secretary of State to establish a database of the emergency contacts of persons who hold identification cards or driver's licenses.

Bail conditions (SB 1881) ­ Allows a court to deny bail on the offense of making a terrorist threat or an attempt to make a terrorist threat.

Sex offenses (SB 1887) ­ Allows prosecution of a sex offense to be commenced at any time, if the defendant's DNA profile was obtained and entered into a DNA database within 10 years after commission of the crime.

Insurance coverage (HB 953) ­ Requires insurance coverage of treatment for mental, emotional, or nervous disorders or conditions by a licensed marriage and family therapist when the insurance covers mental, emotional, or nervous disorders or conditions.

Capitol Fax

Rich Miller's commentary on State Government

The state legislative pay raise issue was a big reason why the Illinois Senate Democrats wanted to avoid another prolonged, bitter overtime session like last year and wrap things up by the May 31st deadline.

Yes, there was no stomach for another war like the all-out brawl of 2007, which pitted Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan against his fellow Democrats Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Senate President Emil Jones. Rank and file legislators desperately wanted to avoid being trapped in Springfield, and they made that crystal clear to their leaders. But that pay raise was still a huge factor.

The Illinois Compensation Review Board submitted its pay increase recommendations on April 30th. Under state law both chambers had to vote to reject the proposal within 30 session days or the raises automatically took effect. The House voted to reject the board's recommendation almost immediately.

As in the past, the Senate Democrats decided that the House was a collection of wimps. They wanted their pay raise and Senate President Jones refused numerous entreaties to bring the proposal up for a floor vote. Jones also quickly canceled some session days in May.

Jones was, in reality, "banking" session days.

The last time the Compensation Review Board recommended pay hikes was 2006. The General Assembly adjourned in May that year and didn't return until November, so the Senate was able to postpone action on the report until after the November elections - because the "clock" on their 30 session days deadline didn't expire until then. The Senate never voted to reject the raises, so they automatically kicked in. The plan worked to perfection. It was almost completely politically painless.

However, a long, drawn-out overtime session this summer would have run out that 30-day clock pretty fast, so the hugely unpopular (with voters) pay raises would almost undoubtedly take effect before this November's election.

The Senate could have just voted to reject the raises during a summer overtime session, but the chamber's top Democratic leaders had obviously made the pay hikes a top priority. They went out of their way to publicly skewer dissident rank and file members like Sen. Susan Garrett who have demanded that they forgo the pay bump. The attacks made it crystal clear that the pay raise is one of, if not the most important issue to the leadership.

The Senate Democrats are convinced that the second national Republican meltdown in two years combined with a Barack Obama presidential candidacy will insulate their members from voter retaliation, even though voters are beyond angry. An "Ask Illinois" poll taken last month showed that more voters believe George Ryan would do a better job running the state than Rod Blagojevich. 52 percent picked the imprisoned former governor, while 48 percent chose Blagojevich. The mind boggles.

You might think that the antics of the Senate Democratic leadership during the failure of the recall issue, piled on top of the pay raise debacle, added to their staunch support of a governor who is currently losing a public opinion battle to a federal prisoner would give them pause. But the leadership showed no fear, at least not in public.

If that pay raise clock had started clicking loudly during yet another spectacularly disastrous summer overtime session, rank and file Senate Democrats would have freaked out in a very big way. Barack Obama or no Barack Obama, they'd have been absolutely pummeled by their constituents and the press. The pay raise would probably have to be rejected under that scenario, which wouldn't make the Senate's leaders happy at all.

So, the best way for the Senate Democrats to make sure they got their pay raises was to forge a quick budget resolution with the House, which would allow them to get out of town.

If Gov. Blagojevich decides the budget is no good, and/or wants the General Assembly to return to town to deal with the capital construction plan this summer, Senate President Jones will have to demand that the governor not call them into repeated special sessions and instead allow the legislative leaders to get together to hash things out amongst themselves without chewing up precious session days. The governor should be expected to go along with Senate President Jones, his only remaining ally, but this is Rod "erratic" Blagojevich we're talking about.

Rich Miller also publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and thecapitolfaxblog.com.

Capitol Report

By Jim Sacia, State Representative, 89th District

Strategy: the last four days of the regular spring session of the General Assembly.

Last Thursday, May 22nd, the Governor met with me and 23 other members of the House Republican Caucus along with Southern Illinois University President Glenn Poshard. We met for two and a half hours discussing a proposed capital infrastructure bill, or, as I prefer to call it, a "jobs for Illinois" bill. The plan discussed would create or retain 700,000 jobs and pump $31 billion into our economy. The last capital bill the General Assembly passed was nine years ago under then-Governor George Ryan. "Illinois First", as it was called, pumped billions of dollars into our economy. It was funded by vehicle license plate and other fee increases (remember when your annual renewal fee for your license plate jumped from $48 to $78?).

Even though we are discussing capital on the same week we are trying pass a state operating budget, they are two totally separate entities. The $59 billion budget is our annual operating budget to fund state agencies, programs and services. Capital provides funding to fix our crumbling infrastructure including roads and bridges, and assists local communities with school construction and needed repairs.

Last week's meeting between the Governor and House Republican members was the first in my six year tenure in the House. I kept wondering why we hadn't held these kinds of meetings every year, but let's move forward. Thank you, Governor, for the invitation.

As you may have heard, the Governor has enlisted former Speaker of the U. S. House, Dennis Hastert, and Mr. Poshard to help craft a capital plan ­ a bipartisan effort to come up with a plan that both parties and the Governor could agree upon. I know you have heard about the conflict between the Governor and Speaker Madigan, and it's that conflict that is now holding up a capital plan. As one of my Democrat colleagues in the House explained it to me "Jim, envision the capital plan as a bus with four flat tires. The Governor blows up one of the tires, Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago) blows one up, Senate Republican Leader Frank Watson (R-Greenville) blows up another one and House Republican Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego) blows up the fourth." I said "Ok, so what's the problem?" he responded "Madigan has the keys to the bus." Boy that says it all.

Unquestionably, the capital plan would pass in the Senate, and, if the Speaker would allow it to be called in the House, it would pass in our chamber too, and the Governor would sign it into law. Then, we would have a jobs bill in place that would put 700,000 people to work. If the Speaker doesn't call the bill, we're back to the status quo. It's up to you, the citizens, to put the pressure on the Speaker. I assure you, legislators on both sides of the aisle in the House, are doing all we can.

I know some people may not like the funding source for the proposed capital plan. It's a complex plan, and there isn't room in this column to print complete details. In a nutshell, it calls for increased gaming and leasing part of the state lottery. It's important for you to know that the plan protects the education funding that comes from lottery proceeds.

Some of you will tell me that it's wrong to expand gaming. I believe it's morally wrong to continue to allow our roads, bridges and schools to crumble. No one has the stomach for increased taxes. This plan will put hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans back to work. It's far from perfect, but it's one on which we can come together.

To help keep your kindergartner through sixth graders reading over the summer, I am again sponsoring a Summer Reading Program which challenges each student to read eight books of their choosing by August 1st. For more information please check with your local library or call my office.

We have relocated our office in Freeport to 50 West Douglas Street, Stewart Centre Suite 1001. We look forward to seeing you.

As always, you can reach me, Sally or Barb at 815/232-0774 or e-mail us at jimsacia@aeroinc.net. You can also visit my website at www.jimsacia.com. It's always a pleasure to hear from you.

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