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Senate Republican lawmakers
contributed to the comprehensive ethics reform package approved with
bipartisan support this week. The package is a combination of the
reform plan passed by lawmakers last spring (House Bill 3412) and a
culmination of plans developed by the four legislative leaders
(Senate Bill 702).
Among the tenets of the bill
suggested by Senate Republicans are time sheet requirements for all
state employees, financial disclosure of unpaid advisers who act as
"shadow government" and a ban on government-paid promotional pieces
(such as bumper stickers, posters, billboards, lapel pins, stickers
or magnets) that include an elected official's name or photo.
Only 14 hours later, Senate
Democrats asked for loopholes in Illinois election laws that could
lead to voter fraud and could dismiss all violations and fines
currently before the State Board of Elections. Senate Republican
lawmakers voted against the proposal -- even though it contained the
language that would place President George W. Bush on the Illinois
ballot -- preferring to maintain the integrity of Illinois'
elections laws rather than bow to Democrat pressure. The measure
failed 23-27-0. Republican lawmakers will reintroduce the
legislation in the spring to ensure George W. Bush appears on the
Illinois ballot following the Republican National Convention.
Senate Republicans also worked
to begin eliminating the excessive tax and fee hikes imposed on
truckers this year, a move that will save as many as 10,000 trucking
industry jobs. House Bill 852 gained approval in the Senate only
after Minority Leader Frank Watson and Senate Republican lawmakers
won a commitment that the fees will be rolled back over the next two
years, instead of the three-year rollback suggested by Democrat
lawmakers. The Republican plan, which will be amended onto House
Bill 852 in the House, has the support of the trucking industry.
In other action, lawmakers
voted for crucial death penalty reforms, culminated after four years
of bipartisan effort. Senate Republican lawmakers played a strong
role in the task force that drafted the reforms contained in Senate
Bill 472. The law allows for continued review and reforms through
the Capital Punishment Reform Study Committee, allows judges to rule
out the death penalty in cases that rely on a single eyewitness or
police informant, allows the Illinois Supreme Court to overturn a
death sentence, prohibits execution of mentally disabled
individuals, and allows condemned inmates to more easily clear their
names with newly discovered evidence and to see state's evidence
that favors them -- including some previously off-limits documents.
House Bill 576, a follow-up
bill, also gained approval this week. That legislation deals with
the governor's concerns about removing police officers who commit
perjury on the witness stand.
Private and parochial schools
that would have otherwise lost their state accreditation status will
again be recognized under legislation approved by the Illinois
Senate. Senate Bill 1014 requires the Illinois State Board of
Education to register nonpublic elementary and secondary schools.
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Both houses voted to override
the governor's vetoes of the following measures. The measures are
now law, as follows:
Human Services 211 (HB 429) --
Establishes 211 as a non-emergency telephone hot line for
information about governmental and nonprofit services and referrals
to human services agencies.
Sex offenders (HB 3556) --
Requires some sex offenders to receive treatment upon release.
Requires all sex offender treatment to comply with standards set by
the Sex Offender Management Board and prohibits the Illinois
Department of Corrections from hiring sex offender evaluators for
treatment services without board approval.
Prison commissaries (SB 629) --
Increases the
commissary profits 25 percent on non-tobacco items and 35 percent on
tobacco items.
TANF diversity (SB 1364) --
Requires the Department of Human Services to report on the TANF
program's impact on people of different racial or ethnic
backgrounds.
Park districts (SB 83) --
Creates two exceptions to the tax cap law in order to provide
funding for park districts and forest preserves. (SB 1881) --
Creates a tax cap exemption for joint park district recreation
programs that provide recreation and transportation for disabled
individuals.
Cook County schools (SB 606) --
Makes sure new industrial developments in Cook County are taxed
fairly and recaptures money Cook County schools and libraries and
other taxing districts should already collect.
Brush pickup (SB 1353) --
Allows townships, with voter approval, to use permanent road funds,
general road and bridge funds, or township funds for disposal of
brush and leaves and for disaster relief services.
The General Assembly voted to
accept the governor's amendatory changes to the following measures,
which will become law as amended:
Redeploy Illinois (HB 2545) --
Creates the Redeploy Illinois pilot program to reduce the number of
juveniles in adult prisons and use the savings to develop local
programming for youth offenders.
Deaf assistance (SB 1523) --
Expands the duties of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Commission.
The Senate also approved the
following measures, which now await consideration by the governor:
Budget (SB 867) --
Creates the Budget
Stabilization Act.
Welfare (SB 1935) --
Restores the Temporary
Assistance to Needy Families block grants.
Dangerous schools (SB 1957) --
Requires the Illinois State Board of Education to have a policy for
moving students from a persistently dangerous school to another
public school that is in the same district and is not dangerous.
[News release provided by
Sen. Larry Bomke] |
