Lawmakers Get Back To Work

The General Assembly is back in session this week after their two-week spring break. They're mostly doing committee work, so not a lot of floor action and -- so far -- not much debate on any major bills. It seems like they'll be taking their standard approach and doing all the heavy lifting on this year's big issues close to the end of sesson. Right now, most of the work the budget, the capital plan and ethics reform is going on behind the scenes.

The Illinois Reform Commission -- a panel formed by Gov. Pat Quinn to suggest government reforms -- will issue its final report next week. They've already offered their ideas on two big topics: campaign finance and state contracting. Neither of those ideas has gotten a very warm reception from the people in charge in Springfield. As I've mentioned before, lawmakers aren't too keen on adopting the same campaign finance limits used on the federal level. If they do approve some form of contribution limits, the caps will probably be higher than $2,400 a person.
As far as overhauling the state's contracting rules, the Reform Commission is pitching a plan to create a new Procurement Department that would be shielded from political influence. The head of the department would be appointed in much the same way the state's Auditor General is appointed. The governor would nominate the Executive Procurement Officer and a supermajority of both the House and Senate would have to approve -- meaning the EPO would need bipartisan support. Once appointed, the EPO would serve a five-year term and could only be removed for cause through an impeachment process. The Reform Commission also wants to create an independent contracting monitor to review the procurement process in real-time.


While it's not clear yet what lawmakers think of the proposed changes to the contracting rules, there's definitely resistance from the administration. Current procurement officers say they all have different procedures and priorities in awarding contracts, so merging their offices wouldn't be practical and could delay the process. They also say having an independent contract monitor could delay the process further if the monitor requests changes in the way bidding is handled. But the reform commission insists the monitor wouldn't have the power to block or halt any bids or contracts. The monitor would be tasked with basically being a watchdog -- looking for flaws in the process and pointing them out to those in charge.

Meantime, there was a bit of déjà vu on Wednesday when hundreds of people gathered outside the capitol to protest the governor's budget plan. Only this week's protest was pretty much the exact opposite of last week. While the Republican-led rally last week called on lawmakers to cut taxes and reduce government spending, this week, labor unions and community groups (mostly Democratic-types) said the governor's budget plan cuts too much money for social service programs, puts too much of a burden on state workers, and should have more new money for government programs.

Speaking of the burden that Quinn's budget would put on state workers, we finally got some details this week on exactly what kinds of health care concessions Quinn wants from state employees and retired workers. The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability says the governor's plan would mean significant increases in health care premiums for workers who choose the state's preferred provider plan, or PPO, over the HMO plan. Retired workers who haven't reached the age of 65 and therefore don't qualify for Medicare, would get hurt even more. The average retiree without Medicare now pays about $13 a month for health care premiums. That would go up to about $430 a month for retirees on an HMO and about $580 a month for retirees on a PPO. Needless to say, the unions are not happy about this.

A few days before this week's budget protest, advocates for substance abuse treatment programs proposed raising the state's alcohol tax. They say the governor's budget would cut about $13 million from substance abuse programs. Their proposal would add an extra nickel-per-drink in alcohol taxes, which they claim would raise $250 million a year. Lawmakers are already considering a cigarette tax hike to help balance the budget and don't sound too keen on the governor's proposed income tax hike, so don't be surprised if this gets passed so the General Assembly can reduce the income tax hike.