Senate week in review

Feb. 14-18          Send a link to a friend

[FEB. 19, 2005]  SPRINGFIELD -- Gov. Rod Blagojevich outlined his $53 billion budget proposal for fiscal 2006 to a joint session of the General Assembly on Feb. 16, and Senate committees began this week to consider some of the hundreds of bills that have already been introduced.

State Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, says Blagojevich's spending blueprint is "just more of the same" -- increasing taxes, spending now and paying later, and expanding social programs the state can't even afford now. Fiscal 2006 runs from July 1, 2005, through June 30, 2006.

The governor's plan includes a 75-cent cigarette tax increase, a tax on computer software, a tax on landfill-generated electricity, more raids on dedicated state funds and the continued expansion of social service programs.

The governor is also proposing the creation of a two-tier state employee pension system to cut future costs -- but spend the money now. Brady says it's a good idea to examine the need for pensions reforms but warns that Blagojevich wants to underfund the constitutionally guaranteed system by $800 million now and is relying on a hoped-for estimate of future cost savings as the basis of his latest quick fix for the state's finances.

Brady also expressed disappointment with the governor's third expansion of the FamilyCare Program, which offers free, taxpayer-paid health care coverage to parents living with their children 18 years old or younger and to relatives who are caring for children in place of their parents. Blagojevich has expanded the FamilyCare program twice already, and his proposal to expand the program again would mean that a family of four could have a household income of $38,500 and qualify for FamilyCare, whether their employer offers health insurance or not. Brady says FamilyCare is an important program for people who need it, but it is hard to justify continued expansion when the state cannot pay its bills on time right now.

The governor's budget address is only the first step in the long and complex budget negotiation process, and in the coming months, lawmakers will be making changes that reflect the priorities of Illinois citizens.

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The following bills were approved by Senate committees during the week of Feb. 14-18 and now head to the full Senate for consideration:

Steroids (SB 64) -- Requires school districts to teach junior high and high school students participating in athletic programs about the dangers of using anabolic steroids.

Sex offenders (SB 100) -- Prohibits a child sex offender from knowingly being present on school property or a school vehicle when people younger than 18 are present. Also eliminates an exception for an offender who is the parent or guardian of a student enrolled in the school and requires the offender to notify the principal before gaining accessing to school property.

"Right to Know" (SB 241) -- Requires state government to notify the public about releases of all environmental contaminants

Ammunition (SB 53) -- Allows Illinois citizens to purchase ammunition from an out-of- state seller by providing a copy of their FOID card and a copy of their driver's license or state ID card. Provides that ammunition may be shipped only to an address on one of those two.

Hunting licenses (SB 123) -- Removes the Social Security number from the face of the hunting and fishing license documents and requires the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to create a customer identification number to keep track of people who annually get these licenses.

[Illinois Senate Republican Caucus news release]

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