Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » Taking a quick look at some bills that didn’t receive much publicity
SUBSCRIBE to Capitol Fax      Advertise Here      About     Exclusive Subscriber Content     Updated Posts    Contact Rich Miller
CapitolFax.com
To subscribe to Capitol Fax, click here.
Taking a quick look at some bills that didn’t receive much publicity

Tuesday, Jan 17, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* My weekly syndicated newspaper column

When the Democrats get their act together during a legislative lame duck session, they can really pass a lot of stuff in short order.

We’ve seen it before. Two years ago, the Democrats passed a huge amount of important legislation, including the SAFE-T Act, in just a few days.

Except maybe for the assault weapons ban, which is proving unpopular with county sheriffs who believe they have the right to personally interpret the Constitution, nothing quite that intensely controversial passed during this year’s lame duck session.

Both chambers also passed a bill to protect out-of-state abortion providers who travel to Illinois, which has since been signed into law. The bill also protects non-Illinois physicians and parents of children who travel here for gender-affirming care.

And both chambers gave Gov. J.B. Pritzker a big win with the passage of his $500 million Large Business Attraction Fund. There are hopes that the governor can use at least some of that money to persuade Stellantis to transform its about-to-be-closed Belvidere plant to one that makes electric vehicles.

The coverage of those three bills will likely overshadow some other bills of note:

• SB208: I think this bill could have more impact on the day-to-day lives of struggling working people than maybe anything else I’ve ever seen passed in Illinois. All workers at private companies will now qualify for five paid leave days per year, no questions asked.

Just try missing a couple of days’ pay on a budget with absolutely no wiggle room. It can be a disaster. And now, some, or even much of that pain will be avoided.

The state’s top business groups, led by the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, have been negotiating this bill for years, mainly in an attempt to preempt Chicago from passing a more generous plan. But the final bill allows the city and other home rule units to pass more expansive benefit laws, and the groups were neutral.

All props to sponsors Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth and Sen. Kimberly Lightford for getting this thing across the finish line with the help of the two Democratic legislative leaders, the governor and organized labor. Some Republicans even voted for it in the House. I really can’t believe this all came together.

• HB1563: The legislature approved a bill a few years ago which required all state jobs with no specific location requirements to be relocated to Sangamon County. Newly created jobs had to be located in the state capital’s county as well. But both lame duck chambers significantly loosened those requirements.

• HB969: The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability revised this fiscal year’s revenue outlook upward by a whopping $4.9 billion last November. The belief is that this money is one-time only, so the governor and the Democratic legislative leaders have proposed using most of that cash to pay down bills, build up the Rainy Day Fund, create a business attraction fund, etc.

But legislators are spending creatures and they all have priorities, so the pressure to add big-time dollars into the state’s base spending is undoubtedly intense, which could cause a fiscal disaster if/and/or when revenues fall.

One solution is to divert some of that extra cash into one-time spending for members, including capital projects. The idea would be to placate legislators without putting future pressure on the state budget.

So, the new supplemental appropriations bill has a ton of one-time local and Democratic priority spending, like $5 million to the Hate Crimes and Bias Incident and Response Fund; $162 million for “costs associated with care and services provided to asylum seekers” that the city has sought; $1 million to the Chicago Recovering Communities Coalition for the South Side Heroin/Opioid Task Force; $10 million to the Office of the State Appellate Defender for “all costs associated with pretrial release”; $500K to the Peoria Civic Center for “audience building seed”; $75 million for housing programs; $4 million for East St. Louis home renovation grants; $11 million for construction of an East St. Louis trauma recovery center; $9 million to community colleges and universities to administer the Mental Health Early Action on Campus Act; etc., etc., etc. Several churches will receive state funds as well.

Not everyone was happy. Just $12.5 million was appropriated to community-based services for persons with developmental disabilities, when advocates wanted at least $30 million.

And there’s a danger that a few of these one-time grants could create future spending pressure. Casa Central, a Latino social service agency, is getting $500,000 for ongoing operating expenses as is the Peoria Riverfront Museum and others. But it’s not really a huge amount.

       

12 Comments
  1. - Stormsw7706 - Tuesday, Jan 17, 23 @ 9:10 am:

    I’m a Dem and I gotta say please stop. Spend the money prudently by paying down debt. It’s like trying to run a race carrying a 20 pound weight. Get this debt off our backs with any new one time money. Just stop.


  2. - Homebody - Tuesday, Jan 17, 23 @ 9:30 am:

    I must be incompetent, I can’t seem to find the lame duck bills on the ilga.gov site. Can anyone point me in the right direction?


  3. - Bruce( no not him) - Tuesday, Jan 17, 23 @ 9:31 am:

    ===five paid leave days per year, no questions asked.===
    I’m all for this, but the “no questions asked” will be too much for some business peoples.


  4. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Jan 17, 23 @ 9:34 am:

    ===can’t seem to find the lame duck bills===

    https://ilga.gov/PreviousGA.asp


  5. - Torco Sign - Tuesday, Jan 17, 23 @ 9:47 am:

    Maybe I’m the only but I sure see a lot of fellow Democrats post memes about separation of church and state. This one is hard to square: “Several churches will receive state funds as well.”


  6. - Back to the Future - Tuesday, Jan 17, 23 @ 10:33 am:

    Good job by the Times in keeping readers well informed on what is happening in Springfield.


  7. - Amalia - Tuesday, Jan 17, 23 @ 10:46 am:

    Good column from Rich, so informative that I kept the paper aside to read again. Yep paper subscriber. Support good journalism.


  8. - Back to the Future - Tuesday, Jan 17, 23 @ 11:01 am:

    Like Amalia’s comment.
    Also a subscriber and also do feel we should support good journalism.
    Have to admit I often read these columns a second time too.


  9. - JoeMaddon - Tuesday, Jan 17, 23 @ 11:20 am:

    **I’m all for this, but the “no questions asked” will be too much for some business peoples.**

    It is literally what the business groups asked for.


  10. - Excitable Boy - Tuesday, Jan 17, 23 @ 12:34 pm:

    - “no questions asked” will be too much for some business peoples. -

    Why? Their employees get 5 days, plan for it. What business of theirs is it how those days are used?


  11. - lowdrag - Tuesday, Jan 17, 23 @ 4:14 pm:

    I can hear some employers saying this; Can’t afford to give you a pay raise because I had to give 5 days of paid leave.


  12. - Excitable Boy - Tuesday, Jan 17, 23 @ 11:57 pm:

    - Can’t afford to give you a pay raise because I had to give 5 days of paid leave. -

    Going from zero to five days paid leave is a raise.

    Also, there’s a bit of a worker shortage right now, not a job shortage, so I guess those employers can take their chances.


Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.


* Reader comments closed for the holidays
* And the winners are…
* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Update to previous editions
* Isabel’s afternoon roundup
* Report: Far-right Illinois billionaires may have skirted immigration rules
* Question of the day: Golden Horseshoe Awards (Updated)
* Energy Storage Brings Cheaper Electricity, Greater Reliability
* Open thread
* Isabel’s morning briefing
* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today's edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)
* Live coverage
* Selected press releases (Live updates)
* Yesterday's stories

Support CapitolFax.com
Visit our advertisers...

...............

...............

...............

...............

...............

...............

...............


Loading


Main Menu
Home
Illinois
YouTube
Pundit rankings
Obama
Subscriber Content
Durbin
Burris
Blagojevich Trial
Advertising
Updated Posts
Polls

Archives
December 2024
November 2024
October 2024
September 2024
August 2024
July 2024
June 2024
May 2024
April 2024
March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004

Blog*Spot Archives
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005

Syndication

RSS Feed 2.0
Comments RSS 2.0




Hosted by MCS SUBSCRIBE to Capitol Fax Advertise Here Mobile Version Contact Rich Miller