April 07, 2008
THE NEVERENDING STORY YEAR 2
2007 set the record for the most session days in Illinois General Assembly history. If last week in Springfield was any indicator, 2008 may be a contender for a future record.
On Thursday the Senate passed a trifecta of bills that were labeled “delusional” by Speaker Madigan’s office. All three bills are tied to one another, so either all three pass and become law or none are enacted.
The first bill, HB 473, would allow the Governor to order the “sweep” of special funds into the General Revenue Fund. In the past, this has been a way for the Governor to “find” money to fill revenue shortfalls. It is estimated that this would free up $530 million for the Governor. The budget for 2008 specifically precluded the Governor from sweeping the funds. Previous year fund sweeps are under litigation by the entities that originally pay into the funds.
The second bill, HB 315, contains the family care expansion and women’s breast and cervical cancer screening that have made headlines over the past few months because the Department of Health and Family Services has been enrolling people in the programs without legislative or rulemaking authority. These programs are currently the topic of a lawsuit.
The final bill, HB 3860, is a supplemental appropriation bill that creates a capital spending plan (estimated to cost almost $500 million) and reinstates the House Democrats member projects (popularly known as pork) that were vetoed out of the 2008 budget by the Governor.
In summary, it appears that when over $500 million of new spending, several lawsuits, legislative leaders and a Governor with rocky relationships, and a proposed Medicaid expansion when current obligations are not being met in a timely manner are thrown together in the Capitol, the best-case prognosis is a very, very long summer.
Posted @ 9:00 AM
by ISMS State Legislative Affairs staff |
