Springtime in the Springpatch

State lawmakers had a busy week at the end of March before taking a couple weeks off for their spring break. As usual when they're in session, they spent the last week before break passing hundreds of bills out of the House and Senate. On top of that, federal prosecutors added to the craziness in Springfield by announcing an indictment of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and five co-defendants, including his brother Robert. The allegations themselves weren't all that new for anyone who's been following the investigation into Blagojevich's administration, so I won't go into the details. Suffice it to say the big news out of the indictment was that Blagojevich and his pals were apparently scheming to use the governor's office to line their own pockets before the guy even took office. Take a look at the feds' press release here. Or read the full indictment here. As I said, the allegations themselves were no big surprise, certainly not to the lawmakers who kicked him out of office in February. Although, many people expected the former governor's wife would be indicted as well, considering there was plenty of evidence in the indictment that kickbacks for shady deals were funneled to her. Though it sounds like maybe it was a strategic decision by prosecutors to avoid over-reaching.

Somewhat lost in the noise on the day Blagojevich was indicted was the fact lawmakers agreed on something they couldn't agree on the entire six-plus years Blagojevich was in office: a statewide construction program. Granted, it was a pretty small one considering the state's needs -- only about $3 billion -- but lawmakers are still working on a bigger infrastructure plan that they hope to finish up this spring. The problem is, Democrats and Republicans are pretty far apart as far as how to pay for it and this is one area where Democrats can't run the show entirely on their own. The mini capital plan will make plenty of people happy though, starting with motorists. The program includes $150 million for pothole repairs. That won't be nearly enough to fix all the potholes in the state. It probably wouldn't even be enough for Chicago. But it's a good start and there's bound to be more when they come up with the big capital plan. There's also money in there for shuttered historic sites. Unfortunately, it's not enough for all of them, so for now officials will focus on the most popular sites, like the Dana Thomas House in Springfield and the Lincoln Log Cabin near Charleston.

If Gov. Pat Quinn has his way, one of the ways lawmakers will get money for a bigger capital plan will be by hiking fees for driver's licenses and license plates. The state turned to motorists 10 years ago for the last construction program -- Gov. George Ryan's "Illinois First" program. Secretary of State Jesse White got so many complaints about the hike in fees for license plates back then, he started posting signs at motor vehicle facilities letting customers know it wasn't his idea. Well, he's still got those signs and he's ready to use them if lawmakers and the governor hike those fees again.

Speaking of motorists, the Department of Transportation handed out awards to several Illinois high school students for safe driving programs they designed for their schools. It's been just over a year now since the state passed tougher rules for teens to get their driver's licenses and officials say they've seen a huge drop in teen driving deaths -- 40 percent from 2007 to 2008. They say that's partly because teens have been taking an active role in promoting safe driving. Winning students got $2500 college scholarships -- the top winner got $3500. Not bad for an extracurricular activity.

As I said at the start of this post, lawmakers were busy passing plenty of bills before they went home for Easter. Although, considering how much time they spent talking about cleaning up state government after they kicked Blagojevich out of office, they haven't done a lot in terms of reform. Granted, sweeping reforms aren't something you rush into, but I expected a little more by now. The pension reform they pushed through before their break seems like a good start though, especially since the Teachers Retirement System was one of the places where Blagojevich and his pals were so busy grabbing for every dollar they could get their hands on. Getting rid of all of the Blagojevich appointees on every state pension board is exactly the kind of "fumigating" Governor Quinn has been promising since day one, although we haven't seen much of it up until now. And even then, I never thought I'd see them go so far as to get rid of one specific Blagojevich appointee by name: Jon Bauman. Say what you want about the job the guy did running TRS while Blagojevich was running his schemes, firing a guy BY LAW seems a bit extreme considering the guy hasn't been charged with a crime. Of course, Bauman didn't wait to get fired in July as the pension reform law would have done. He resigned last week.

Speaking of reforms, the Illinois Reform Commission -- which Quinn formed while he was still lieutenant governor -- announced its first set of recommendations at the end of March. The highlights? They want campaign contribution caps similar to those in federal elections. They also want to totally overhaul the way state contracts are awarded so that procurement officers are shielded from politics (in other words, so they award contracts to the companies with the lowest bids, not to those who do the best job of greasing the palms in Springfield). I don't see them getting their first wish. Lawmakers might have to do something to limit campaign contributions in Illinois with an election coming up next year, but I doubt they'll agree to cap contributions at $2,400 per person. The contracting reform, though, might have a chance. Of course, the commission has to get someone to sponsor that idea first, since there aren't any lawmakers on the governor's commission. The commission isn't the only one pressing for contracting reforms, though. Auditor General William Holland has a few suggestions for overhauling the procurement process too.

The General Assembly's Joint Committee on Government Reform, on the other hand, hasn't offered up much in the way of actual reform yet. They've heard plenty of testimony, that's for sure. Seven public hearings since February -- most, if not all of them several hours long. But the pension reform that Quinn signed a couple weeks ago is the only bill the committee has offered up so far. As far as the areas of campaign finance reform, state contracting, government transparency or ethics laws? So far, House Speaker Mike Madigan's office will only say legislative staffers are working on proposals. That should make for a really busy April and May if they're serious about working on those issues while they're also going to be dealing with a $12 billion deficit and a $25 billion capital plan.

It's got to make you wonder, though. With Governor Quinn's panel making their first priority campaign contribution limits -- something lawmakers have never been keen on in Springfield -- will the two different reform panels actually get anything done? It sure sounds like they've got different priorities right now, especially since Quinn wants floor votes on every single one of the Illinois Reform Commission's proposals.

Lawmakers did a big favor to Illinois residents who don't have health insurance though. Until now, many hospitals charged uninsured patients a lot more money than patients with either private health coverage, Medicaid or Medicare. A new law this month is aimed at putting an end to that. It seems pretty harsh for hospitals to hit uninsured patients with huge bills they'd never be able to pay, just because they don't have the leverage to negotiate a better price. This law won't change the fact those people can't afford their hospital bill, but at least since they'll owe a lot less now, they should be able to work out some sort of payment plan.

Since he took office, President Barack Obama has been saying he wants to launch a "new era" of science education in the U.S. and bring more specially trained math and science teachers into the classrooms. Sectors such as green technology, health care and engineering are in need of more well-trained workers if the U.S. is going to keep up with China, India and other countries. To help Illinois accomplish that goal, lawmakers are considering a measure that would help recruit new teachers with expertise in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.