 As legislators trickled out of the capital city following the end to
the spring session, Quinn all but said he would use his amendatory
veto powers on a bill allowing five more casinos in the state and
video gaming at horse-race tracks and the state fairgrounds in
Springfield, calling it "top-heavy.""I think that's way too
excessive, and I think most people in Illinois, average people, when
they take a look at the size of this, would say it's excessive, it's
top-heavy, it's too much," Quinn said Wednesday during a news
conference.
An amendatory veto allows the governor to change or remove part,
but not all, of a bill.
As it stands, the legislation puts new casinos in Chicago,
Danville, Park City, Rockford and a to-be-determined location in
Chicago's south suburbs. Quinn said he could support a casino in
Chicago if it was done properly. The governor did not say which
proposed casinos he may cut.
Illinois has nine riverboat casinos, which also would be allowed
to expand under the bill.
The gaming expansion passed both chambers, but not with the votes
needed to override a veto.
If Quinn does use his amendatory veto pen and the Legislature
doesn't take up the changes during the fall veto session, the entire
bill, not just the sections Quinn alters, would die.
Budget
Lawmakers sent Quinn a budget of $33.4 billion, about $2 billion
less than the governor asked for.
"It's incomplete. I don't think anybody who looks at it would say
they would be happy," Quinn said.
Quinn said he would examine it but would not say whether he would
sign it. However, his executive powers only allow for reducing
spending or crossing out certain budgetary line items. He cannot
increase spending.
Quinn's predecessor, former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, was known for
calling special sessions of the Legislature during the summer months
when state budgets he opposed landed in his office. Quinn said he
would not go that far, only that he would work with the Legislature
to get more spending in areas like education and human services.
Democratic budget architect state Rep. Frank Mautino, D-Spring
Valley, said lawmakers worked hard to agree to the budget, and they
are not in the mood to change it now.
"We've cut for the first time into education, one of the hardest
things to cut," Mautino said. "The people from downstate gave up
some (money) from the road fund and other state funds, which would
have been unthinkable" just a year ago.
There was a plan to tack on an additional $434 million in
spending, about half of which would have gone to the Illinois State
Board of Education for elementary and high schools. Quinn said he
favored that plan, but it stalled in the House.
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 Utility rate increase
Quinn was certain about his stance on the bill allowing the
state's two biggest utility companies -- Commonwealth Edison Co. and
Ameren Illinois -- to charge customers more to make infrastructure
upgrades.
"(When) Commonwealth Edison and Ameren show up and pass something
that is gouging consumers and harming businesses that employ people,
if the legislative members and the leaders let that go through, my
job is to say no. We're going to fight hard," Quinn said.
The rate hikes would amount to an extra $3.40 a month for the
next decade for Ameren customers and $3 a month for the next decade
for ComEd customers.
Like the casino legislation, this plan did not get enough
legislative votes to override a gubernatorial veto. But Smart Grid
sponsor state Rep. Kevin McCarthy, D-Orland Park, said there could
be support to override a veto from Quinn.
"If we need to do something in the future, I certainly have
people that I can go back to for their votes," said McCarthy.
Workers' compensation
Quinn praised a plan that passed in the 11th hour of the General
Assembly's spring session to make major changes to the workers'
compensation system in Illinois.
"The workers' compensation reform law, I think, will go down in
Illinois history as one the most important job-creating and
job-preserving statutes that we've ever enacted," Quinn said.
The plan reduces by 30 percent the amount doctors are paid to
handle workers' compensation cases and allows employers to create a
network of doctors from which injured employees would have to pick
for treatment.
Proponents of the measure said it could save businesses more than
$500 million. The hope is that with a less generous system, workers'
compensation insurance premiums for businesses would start to
decrease.
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By ANDREW THOMASON]
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