State Budget Reshuffled

The legislature reallocated money in the budget this week to utilize the Governor's vetoed expenditures and keep several important programs operating. These expenditures will not increase overall state spending from the level approved in May.

With the passage of SB2412, seven state institutions will remain open at least through next June, $30 million will be restored for community-based mental health centers, and $28 million was added for substance abuse programs and $8 million for indigent burials. Homeless shelters that were cut 52 percent previously will receive nearly the same funding as last year. This appropriation for operations was critical for Hope Haven in DeKalb that had recently opened a new addition to meet the emergency housing needs of the community.

For education, the bill means $33.5 million more for Monetary Award Program (MAP) grants for low income students to attend college. While no funding was added for K-12 school transportation, there was $120.3 million added for early learning, implementing the new teacher and principal evaluation program, new report cards, mentoring, and exchanges for science-technology-English-math students.

The agreement comes just days before some 1,900 workers at several state facilities, including mental health centers and prisons, were scheduled to be laid off and patients at developmental and mental health facilities would have been forced out to often less desirable situations.

While the budget reallocation agreement runs through the end of our current fiscal year, it does not mean the end to discussions on closing some state institutions. As I have commented before, there are great benefits to looking at how our developmental centers and psychiatric hospitals are structured. Through careful planning and consideration, our state could not only save dollars, but more importantly, improve quality of life by transitioning some residents to community-based settings. Now that the Governor-created crisis has been temporarily averted, we must begin laying out a long-term solution to this issue.

Some Pension Fraud and Abuse Loopholes Closed

This week the General Assembly passed HB3813 that will close four types of fraud and abuse to public pensions that were revealed by media investigations. Most importantly it avoids paying millions of dollars in unearned pension payments that can now be paid to state employees who have honestly earned them.

The first loophole involves counting the pay of union officials on leave from public jobs toward a public pension. The change only prevents new people from such action and excludes fire and police employees who remain on sworn status and are subject to professional standards.

A second provision bans double-dipping by current and future union leaders who leave their public jobs for full-time work with their unions and then take pensions from both based on the same work. Another provision requires pension fund board members to report any suspected fraud to the State's Attorney of the county where the fraud was committed. If the board member fails to report suspected fraud he or she can be held liable for repaying any losses and removed from office.

Finally, the reforms retroactively eliminate the window for becoming eligible for a Teacher Retirement System (TRS) pension on grounds that it is unconstitutional to use public funds for non-public purposes. Two union officials took advantage of legislation in 2007 to become eligible for TRS pensions after only teaching for one day.

Modification to Cemetery Oversight Act Passes

After more than a year of work, small and rural cemeteries were successful in passing SB 1830 in the House that relieves them from most of the requirements of the 2010 Cemetery Oversight Act. The original act was passed after the Burr Oak Cemetery scandal and included fees and reporting that small and volunteer cemetery boards were unable or unwilling to meet.

Rather than have these volunteers resign and the state have to take over management of the cemeteries, the Department of Financial and Professional Regulations agreed to more reasonable regulations.

There will still be a $2 charge for copies of death certificates to pay for the department's cemetery oversight and a cemetery registration fee every four years. Cemeteries still must report burials on a state run database and provide information to the family of the deceased explaining charges and burial details.

The new law exempts cemeteries that are family owned, less than three acres in size or haven't had a burial or entombment in 10 years. There are also exemptions for public and religious cemeteries that have had 25 or fewer burials for each of the preceding two years. The bill now awaits concurrence in the Senate.

Tax Package Still Needs Work

The latest legislation to keep some of our state's high-profile businesses from leaving Illinois was roundly rejected this past week in the Illinois House as bad precedent, too expensive and not focused on creating jobs. Previous attempts at such legislation failed in early November.

The latest tax incentive package included about $85 million in tax relief for financial companies CME Group Inc. and CBOE Holding Corp., and a $15 million tax break each year for the next decade for Sears Holdings Corp. All of these companies threatened to leave Illinois if they didn't get tax incentives to offset the recent income tax increase or a continuance of tax incentives already in place.

Some elements of the Republican Job Creation Package were included in SB397 along with the Governor's demand to increase the Earned Income Tax Credit and Income Tax Standard Deduction for individuals.

Make no mistake; we cannot afford to lose any more jobs in Illinois in this fragile economy. However, our state is broke and we must tread very carefully in increasing spending and setting precedence for offering tax reduction packages to certain large employers when they threaten to leave the state. If we go down this path, we can only expect business after business to come to the legislature looking for its own individual relief and tax breaks in the future.

To tackle this issue correctly, we need to look at a comprehensive overhaul of our tax and regulation system for business to make Illinois more-friendly to all employers, not just a select few. We must also recognize that we are in this position because of policies that have created an unfriendly climate for businesses to operate and increased their cost of doing business.

There is no doubt that CME and Sears are important assets to our state. They represent thousands of jobs that we want and need to retain. However, we must, at the same time, take a broad-based approach to help small and medium-sized businesses succeed as well.

We must also reject any appearance of “pay to play” politics that reward large political contributions to certain elected officials in return for special tax breaks. This is the only fair and equitable way to proceed.

I will be traveling around the district in the next few weeks so call if you want me to stop by for a chat. Remember that you are invited to attend the special recognition for Shabbona Lake State Park at the Indian Creek High School in Shabbona on December 12 at 10:50 a.m.

Bob