* Madigan has always been against this idea, going back to the Constitutional Convention, so this is no big shock…

A constitutional amendment to merge the offices of the state treasurer and comptroller is stalled in the Illinois House because of opposition by House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago.

The amendment unanimously passed the Illinois Senate, but is stuck in the House Rules Committee, which is tightly controlled by the speaker.

Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said merger proponents, including the two current officeholders, have never sufficiently countered the reasons two offices were created at the 1970 constitutional convention.

“They’re radically different offices, as anybody who’s spent any time around them knows. They’re not similar in any way,” Brown said. “While the offices both deal with finance, in reality, they have hugely different activities. You can’t just say, well because they’re both about finance you can consolidate them and that makes sense.”

* Meanwhile, oops…

The state’s Bright Start College Savings Program has come under fire again after a promotion promising a $250 match for contributions made this month quickly ran through its budget, leaving families feeling they were duped into adding money to their accounts.

The Illinois treasurer’s office said Wednesday that it is investigating why a website touting the promotion was not updated for nearly 24 hours after it had paid its limit of 2,500 bonuses. Participants complain that they continued to put money into their Bright Start funds expecting the match even though the program was finished by 3 p.m. Friday. […]

Some said they didn’t even get notice of the promotion until Saturday — a day after the matching funds were gone. […]

“It’s sort of a crass move to dole out these funds as a publicity stunt, but what you’ve done is worse by inducing people to invest in exchange for a promise you knew (at least by Friday afternoon) you couldn’t keep,” he said in an email to Bright Start and copied to the Tribune.

*** UPDATE *** I forgot to add this story, since it’s semi-related…

The chief investment officer of the College Illinois prepaid tuition program has left that post for a newly created position within the Illinois Student Assistance Commission.

Frank Bello, a former deputy treasurer for the city of Chicago who joined the Illinois Student Assistance Commission as chief investment officer three years ago, was named director and chief credit officer for the Illinois Designated Account Purchase Program last month without an announcement, an ISAC spokesman confirmed Wednesday. That program, administered by ISAC, services a $1.1-billion portfolio of student loans and counsels student loan recipients in danger of defaulting. It’s the primary source of revenue to fund ISAC’s operations.

Mr. Bello was ISAC Executive Director Andrew Davis’ key lieutenant in dramatically overhauling the $1.2-billion investment fund for the prepaid tuition program, which allows parents to purchase contracts at a fixed price for future tuition at state universities and colleges and acts as a potential hedge against tuition inflation.

In a bid to close a 31% gap between assets and future liabilities in College Illinois, Messrs. Davis and Bello moved to shift nearly half the fund’s assets from stocks and bonds to “alternative” assets like hedge funds and private equity—a level of exposure to exotic asset classes well above those of other state prepaid tuition plans or pension funds its size.

* Related…

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office has launched an investigation of the agency running the College Illinois prepaid tuition program, which has suffered steep losses.

“We’re looking into it,” said Natalie Bauer, a spokeswoman for the AG’s office.

The investigation of the Illinois Student Assistance Commission began early this spring, she said, declining to provide further details.

* And then there’s this…

Over the last two years, the state of Illinois in order to pay its basic bills has seized more than $1.6 million from at least 15 different “charity” funds, to which Illinoisans voluntarily donate for causes like feeding the hungry and helping the homeless.

Each year, the Illinois Department of Revenue invites taxpayers to donate their tax refunds or other money to a handful of funds described as “charities” and avenues to “make a difference” and “make giving easy.” The “voluntary charitable donation funds,” of which there have been more than 50 different varieties over the years, are commonly called “check-off” funds and range in purpose from preserving wildlife and researching diseases to supporting military families and promoting healthy smiles.

For the 2008 tax year, Illinois workers donated a total of $1.4 million to 10 different funds. But, with the approval of the General Assembly, Gov. Pat Quinn authorized $434,300 in sweeps from seven of the funds in Fiscal Year 2010, when the 2008 tax year donations were first available for spending. Sweeps are transfers from special funds with specific purposes to the general revenue fund, the state’s largest pool of money, which pays for basic government operations.

For the 2009 tax year, Illinois taxpayers donated $1.37 million to 10 different funds, but during the current fiscal year, FY2011, Quinn has borrowed $1,176,100 from seven of those funds as well as five other check-off funds that are no longer listed on tax forms but were holding donated money from previous years.

While the state is required by law to repay the borrowed sums within 18 months, the state will not return any swept funds.

* As long as we’re updating, let’s do a quick roundup…

* Report: Gambling revenue continues decline

* Ill. Supreme Court hopes to modernize procedures

* Press release: State Cemetery Board Urges Passage of Legislation to Address Implementation of Cemetery Oversight Act