Senate week in review         

Feb. 21-25

[FEB. 26, 2005]  SPRINGFIELD -- Local primary elections cut short the legislative session by a day, but Feb. 21-25 was a long week for the governor, who saw his fiscal 2006 budget blow apart when a bipartisan legislative commission issued a report disputing the estimated savings of reforming the state's pension system, according to state Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich outlined his budget plan Feb. 16 and based much of his revenue projections on more than $800 million in estimated savings that would occur if the General Assembly enacted certain pension reforms. Senate Republicans have questioned the governor's savings projections, suspecting that the savings may not be as much as the governor is predicting. Those suspicions were confirmed this week when the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability issued a report indicating that of the proposed $819.4 million in savings, only $80.9 million can be attributed to the governor's proposed benefit changes.

Essentially, if all the changes pass through the General Assembly and are upheld in court, the 2006 budget's required contributions would be reduced by $80.9 million. Under the current pension funding plan, the state would have to pay $2.6 billion into the pension systems. The governor wants to reduce that payment by more than $800 million and pay only $1.8 billion into the system. If his reforms are not passed or if they fail to deliver the projected savings, the state's pension system would be dramatically underfunded and it would be up to future generations to make up the difference.

Senate Republicans are willing to explore pension reform options, but they believe it is unwise to spend the projected savings today, especially since the savings may not actually materialize and may not be as substantial as the governor claims.

In other business, Senate Republicans successfully fought legislation that would have raised the standards for taxpayers when they make an appeal to the Property Tax Appeal Board. Senate Bill 356 would have put into law a presumption that the tax assessor is correct in the tax assessment, making the burden of proof a much higher standard for taxpayers. The Senate Revenue Committee voted down the measure Feb. 24.

Also during the week of Feb. 21-25, the Senate Environment and Energy Committee heard testimony on the telecommunications rewrite law. The reforms enacted in 2001 are set to expire this year and the General Assembly must again rewrite telecommunications regulations in Illinois.

The testimony this week focused on land line service. Representatives of SBC, Verizon, the Illinois Commerce Commission and various consumer advocacy groups all testified at the hearing. The general consensus at the hearing was that the service quality standards enacted in 2001 are working and that those standards should remain in place.

Senate Republicans also joined their colleagues on the other side of the aisle in mourning the death of state Sen. George Shadid's youngest son, George Shadid Jr. The Peoria senator's son had brain cancer and died Feb. 21 at age 46.

[Illinois Senate Republican Caucus news release]