Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Wednesday, May 26, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* For starters, here are the bill numbers from yesterday’s hottest legislation…

The budget is House Bill 859. The plan that gives Quinn more budget powers is Senate Bill 3660. The [pension] borrowing plan is Senate Bill 3514.

* The SJ-R has an excellent roundup…

The [tax] amnesty program is expected to generate about $250 million. From Oct. 1 to Nov. 8, people can make good on taxes owed that were accumulated between June 30, 2002, and July 1, 2009. The bill also allows the state to sell debt to private collection agencies. […]

The wide-ranging [Emergency Budget Act] bill also calls for the state to take out a loan against money it would receive in future years from the national tobacco settlement, a deal worth about $1.2 billion in upfront money. Republicans warned the move is shortsighted because the state uses annual money from the tobacco settlement to fund a variety of programs, including $580 million in prescription drug assistance.

The bill further authorizes Quinn to borrow money from restricted state funds, which previously were “swept” of money to divert to other state expenses and not repaid. This bill requires the money to be repaid with interest, although skeptical lawmakers doubt that will happen. Currie said the administration expects to borrow about $1 billion from the funds. The bill also requires lawmakers, statewide officials and top agency employees to take 12 furlough days in the next budget year. […]

Currie said the [state budget] bill calls for $26.2 billion in general fund spending, the part of the budget over which the state has the most control. She said that is about $400 million less than the current budget, reflecting a 5 percent across-the-board cut in spending for operations.

Go read the whole thing.

* The future, provided by the Senate Dems…

The budget bill is HB 859 which the Senate passed on May 7th, the House concurred to our budget last night. The budget has passed both Houses.

The Senate returns today at 4 o’clock. The House has been in session since 10 this morning.

* Related…

* House approves state budget

* Illinois House votes to leave decision on budget woes to governor

* House passes borrowing plan to fund pensions

* House OKs borrowing to cover state pensions

* Illinois House Votes To Borrow Billions

* Borrowing has huge role in proposed spending plan

* House finds one vote needed to pass key part of state budget

* Lawmakers advance budget proposals

* Plan to borrow $4 billion for pensions barely clears House; GOP leader ‘disappointed’ in Black

* Suburban Dems budget plans receive mixed results

* Illinois House slashes $200 million in Medicaid, rejects other cuts

* SJ-R: Spare state retirees dose of ‘tough love’

* Pantagraph: A few reasons why public sees need for cuts

* And in case you missed any of them yesterday, here are Tuesday’s videos…

* Quinn glares at House GOP Leader Tom Cross during speech on Pension Borrowing bill

* Rep. Miller explains why he changed his vote on pension bond bill

* Rep. Miller speaks enthusiastically about importance of pension borrowing

* Pritchard to vote present until leaders meet

* Pritchard explains change of vote on Pension Bond bill

* Rep. Coulson explains her ‘present’ vote on Pension Borrowing Bill

* Cross discusses Rep. Biggins’ vote for the pension bond bill and why Rep. Pritchard flipped to “No”

* Rep. Bob Biggins explains his vote change on Pension Bond bill

* Raw video: Tom Cross media availability after passage of Pension Bond bill (Part 1)

* Raw video: Tom Cross media availability after passage of Pension Bond bill (Part 2)

* Nekritz on $100M cut fail, other amendments

* Nekritz on cuts that made it to the budget

* “Good talks,” but Madigan stays quiet on details

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Question of the day

Wednesday, May 26, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The setup is about Rep. Bob Biggins’ vote-switch on the pension borrowing plan. As you’ll no doubt recall, Biggins voted “No” the first time the bill was called, then voted “Yes” the second time. From the Sun-Times…

Cross condemned Biggins for skipping a House GOP caucus on the borrowing plan and opting instead to meet with Quinn’s chief of staff, Jerry Stermer. Cross said he’d “heard some scuttlebutt” about a possible deal Biggins cut with Quinn in exchange for his vote.

Biggins denied discussing with Stermer a possible job in the Quinn administration, which could significantly increase the nine-term lawmaker’s pension.

“I asked for nothing,” Biggins said in a hallway behind the House as one of his GOP colleagues passed by and could be heard muttering “two-faced son of a b—-.”

Some on Cross’ leadership team said there likely will be discussions about expelling Biggins from the House Republican caucus.

* Rep. Biggins’ explanation…

* Leader Cross talks about Biggins’ vote…

* The Question: Should Tom Cross and the House Republicans expel Rep. Biggins from the House GOP caucus? Explain.

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Not a great batting average for Dem budget reformers

Wednesday, May 26, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* So, how did the group of ten House Democrats who pushed for extensive budget cuts do yesterday? It was, at best, a mixed bag.

The House did pass a $200 million Medicaid cut pushed by the group, which House Majority Leader Barb Currie referred to as “the only real savings” the House approved yesterday.

But a proposal to make state retirees pay health insurance premiums failed. A measure to cut the budgets of constitutional officers fell short. The $400 million in education cuts (K-12 and higher ed) were overwhelmingly rejected in committee. Reducing state mileage reimbursements to 39 cents per mile from 50 cents failed. Eliminating state paid stipends for some local elected officials died.

There were a few other successes…

A proposal, however, by Elgin state Rep. Keith Farnham advanced to the full House that would limit the travel allowance for lawmakers to 39 cents for the next year. It also would reduce lawmakers’ travel allowance for housing and meals - currently $139 a day - to $111. […]

Meanwhile, a proposal that could potentially save $300 million by canceling and rebidding state contracts for a total of more than $1.2 billion also cleared the committee.

“There’s a pattern of renewing contracts just year after year,” Jakobsson said. “We just renew them and don’t ask questions.”

Rep. Elaine Nekritz was one of the chief motivators behind the move to cut the budget. She tried to put the best face on the defeats to my intern Barton Lorimor. Have a look…

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