* Senate President John Cullerton talked to reporters after a meeting today between himself, Gov. Pat Quinn and House Speaker Michael Madigan. He didn’t say much, but did say they’re looking at various versions of an income tax hike…
Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, emerged from the meeting with Quinn and House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, and said discussions are centering on a variation of a tax hike bill previously approved by the Senate, but stalled in the House. That bill raised the income tax by 66 percent.
“They are talking about trying to get the votes to pass an income tax, a variation of that out of the House,” Cullerton said. “Whatever it takes to pass an income tax (increase) is what they are talking about now.” […]
“It would be helpful to get some support from the other party,” Cullerton said. “We have a huge deficit we are trying to overcome. We are going to try to work on this today. If we have to come back and meet later, we will have to do that as well.” […]
Cullerton said he thinks the public understands the need for a tax hike.
“We have to pay our bills. We have to make sure out bond rating is improved and people see that going forward we can pay our bills,” Cullerton said. “If people look at it from that perspective, I think it is something they would accept.”
Cullerton said the governor has been meeting with Republicans about the tax hike ideas. He also said that the Senate would address school reform sometime in the new spring session if it can’t be done this week.
* Cullerton also confirmed a report in this morning’s Capitol Fax that he believes he now has enough votes to pass the $3.7 billion pension bond plan. The Senate fell one vote short during the spring session after the bill passed the House, and Cullerton said he has lined up enough Republican support to approve the legislation. The state doesn’t have the cash to make the pension payments, so the pension funds have been paying benefits out of assets for months.
* Meanwhile, House Speaker Madigan talked to reporters today after he testified in favor of yet another constitutional amendment which would require a three-fifths vote to increase state and local pension benefits. Check back in a few for video of that discussion.
…Adding… From an AARP press release urging rejection of Madigan’s TABOR legislation…
As a matter of policy, AARP opposes fixed, arbitrary, rigid caps on revenues and spending. Such constraints lead to vital services being shut down or severely diminished, and prevent states from responding to changing economic conditions – from recession and plant closings, to emergencies in public health, natural disasters, or terrorism.
HJRCA61 would impose such rigid and arbitrary caps on spending, making it impossible to meet new social and economic goals mandated by the courts or the federal government; it would tie the hands of elected officials – who have been chosen to make decisions about taxes and spending; and it would cut out citizens from fiscal policymaking – putting vital matters on auto pilot.
AARP has strongly and successfully opposed similar measures in states across the nation, from Oregon, to Maine, Washington, and most recently Florida where our members were instrumental in defeating a constitutional amendment. Even after a measure similar to HJRCA61 was passed in Colorado, the citizens of that state repealed it once they saw the devastating effect it had on the critical services they rely on, and on their very own livelihoods.
Recent studies have shown that HJRCA61 would lock Illinois’ current human services underfunding into the constitution, worsening an already critical situation for thousands of providers and millions of Illinoisans who need those services.
* Related…
* Rep. Hays enjoying brief stint in Black’s old office
