Big issues undecided as end of Ill. session nears
Associated Press | Posted: Monday, November 7, 2011 1:44 pm
With three days left in the fall legislative session, Illinois leaders are still trying to figure out what to do, if anything, on cutting government pensions costs, expanding gambling, placating companies that are threatening to leave the state and more.
Lawmakers are due at the Illinois Capitol on Tuesday to try to resolve a number of the issues.
Chief among them is a broad jobs package that legislative leaders and Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn have been talking about. It started after legislation to help the major financial exchanges in Chicago didn't go anywhere. The exchanges have threatened to leave the state over taxes.
The main proponent of gambling expansion in the Illinois Senate also expects a vote on a bill to add more casinos in Illinois, including one in Chicago.
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By DEANNA BELLANDI and CHRISTOPHER WILLS
Associated Press
SRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- With three days left in the fall legislative session, Illinois leaders are still trying to figure out what to do, if anything, on cutting government pension costs, expanding gambling, placating companies that are threatening to leave the state and much, much more.
Lawmakers are due back at the state Capitol on Tuesday to try to resolve at least some of those issues, after not getting much done in late October.
Senate President John Cullerton's spokeswoman, Rikeesha Phelon, said every major issue was still up in the air as officials negotiate, count votes and study the details.
"All of them still need work," she said.
Gov. Pat Quinn and top lawmakers were scheduled to meet Tuesday and that could bring some direction to the final days of the session.
One high-profile item on the agenda is a broad jobs package that legislative leaders and Quinn have been discussing. The matter came to the forefront after legislation to help Chicago's major financial exchanges didn't go anywhere when they threatened to leave the state over taxes.
While the effort to provide relief to the exchanges and for another major company, Sears Holding Corp., has been expanded to include tax help for other businesses and the working poor, Phelon said Republicans, who wanted tax breaks for business, have yet to commit votes to passing the package.
Senate Republican leader Christine Radogno's spokeswoman, Patty Schuh, said GOP members were looking at what has been suggested to make sure there weren't "unintended consequences" that could cost the state more jobs.
At an event Monday in Chicago, Quinn said it was urgent that any package to benefit large companies also help Illinois workers. He wants to expand the earned income tax credit, which helps the working poor.
"We're not just going to do just one part of the equation. We're not just going to help corporations and forget about everyday people who work for those corporations who are the ones who are really the people who make the corporations go. The workers have to get some tax relief here," he said.
Another issue set to reappear is the fight over expanding gambling in Illinois. It's the latest push by lawmakers to revive an expansion effort that would add five new casinos in Illinois, including the first casino in Chicago. Lawmakers passed a bill to do that in May but Quinn has threatened to veto it because it includes allowing slots at race tracks. Quinn is onboard with adding the new casinos but opposes slot at tracks because he contends they would cannibalize new casinos. The horse racing industry maintains it needs slots at tracks if it's going to survive in Illinois and compete with other states.
Sen. Terry Link, a Democrat from Waukegan, said he planned to introduce a different version of the original gambling expansion bill that would preserve adding slots at tracks. Link is looking for a veto-proof majority - that's 36 votes in the Illinois Senate and 71 in the House - so they can overcome Quinn's objections.
Quinn again warned lawmakers he has limits when it comes to gambling and won't support "things that are bad for Illinois." He proposed a framework whereby lawmakers would tighten up gambling regulations in their original bill and forgo slots at tracks but maintain the addition of five new casinos.
Illinois leaders also are groping for some way to cut government pension costs, but they're hampered by language in the Illinois Constitution that bars reducing retirement benefits for current employees.
To get around that, House Minority Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego, has come up with legislation to create three different "tiers" of pension benefits and costs. It would let state employees keep their current level of benefits but would require them to contribute far more money to the retirement system. In other words, it wouldn't technically reduce their benefits but it would give them a strong incentive to switch to one of the new tiers with fewer benefits.
One of the other tiers is a scaled-down version of the current pension system. It will cost the employee less money but offer smaller payments after retirement. The other tier is a 401k-style "defined contribution" plan, where the state and the employee both contribute money that is invested until the worker retires.
Cross formally introduced his legislation Monday and plans to call it for a vote in committee on Tuesday. Unions are fighting the idea.
House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, has shown an interest in this kind of plan and is even, technically, a co-sponsor of Cross's bill. But he has been coy about whether he will call it for a vote on the House floor and how much support he might provide.
He wouldn't spell out his position Monday on the pension issue or a number of unresolved budget issues.
Advocates for the mentally ill are pushing lawmakers to restore $30 million that they say was mistakenly cut from their funds. They also want to block Quinn's plan to close three state mental centers, arguing that the governor doesn't have a clear plan for treating the people now living in those centers.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness says Illinois has cut mental health funds by $187 million since 2009, or nearly 32 percent. Only three other states have cut a bigger share.
At the same time, the state's regional education superintendents hope lawmakers will override Quinn's veto of the money for their salaries. The veto means they haven't been paid since July. The superintendents are responsible for everything from inspecting school buildings to certifying teachers and running GED programs.
Madigan filed paperwork Monday to override the budget vetoes but would not say whether he intends to take the next step and call a vote.
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Bellandi reported from Chicago.
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