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Before adjourning on Friday, the Senate passed two pieces of
controversial legislation, one regarding stem cell research and the
other dealing with property taxes. The first bill,
Senate Bill 4, permits embryonic stem cell research and allows
for public funds to be used to fund the research.
Specifically, the legislation requires the Illinois Department of
Public Health to develop the Illinois Regenerative Medicine
Institute program to award grants to Illinois' medical research
institutions. Institutions receiving the grants are prohibited from
cloning human embryos and from selling or purchasing embryos for
research purposes.
Additionally, the Senate considered a bill aimed at extending
property tax relief for homeowners in Cook County.
The measure,
Senate Bill 13, known as "The 7% Solution," caps the annual
property assessment increase at 7 percent for another three years.
Currently, the cap only affects Cook County, but other counties have
the option to adopt the "solution" as well. The bill also contains
provisions for homestead-related relief for returning veterans.
Both bills are now sent to the House of Representatives for
further consideration.
At a Capitol press conference on Wednesday, a group of lawmakers
urged Gov. Blagojevich to request a special legislative summit in
order to address the recent Illinois electric rate increases. (See
related article.)
Reports of some residents facing rate increases of more than 100
percent prompted the group of lawmakers, consisting of Republican
members from the Senate and House of Representatives, to formally
request Blagojevich to call on the legislative leaders and the
Illinois Commerce Commission to convene and develop a solution to
the electric rate increase immediately.
Bomke explained that on Jan. 1, a 10-year freeze on electric
rates was lifted by the ICC, prompting rates for Ameren and ComEd
customers to dramatically increase. Although the issue was discussed
at length during the fall veto session in November, an agreement
between the House and Senate could not be reached.
In other news, the results of a study on the effectiveness of a
state board that oversees the construction and expansion of
hospitals and other health care facilities was released at a hearing
in Springfield on Thursday.
In November, lawmakers approved a resolution asking the
Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability to study the
effectiveness of the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board and
the Certificate of Need process in containing health care costs and
protecting health care access.
The study, which was conducted by the Lewin Group, stated that
there is no evidence that the CON process actually reduces costs or
improves the quality of care.
However, the study did note that the CON process may provide
protection to hospitals with a large percentage of Medicaid patients
and recommended an extension of the CON process for a three-year
period in order for the state to conduct a comprehensive study on
the impact on those hospitals. (See
related article.)
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 The following bills passed through the Senate and head to the
House of Representatives for further consideration:
Sex offenders (SB 14) -- Requires sex offenders, when
registering, to include all e-mail addresses, instant messaging
identities, chat room identities and other Internet communications
identities that the offender uses or plans to use. This information
will be public information.
Victims' compensation (SB 31) -- Provides that a person is
entitled to file a claim for compensation under the Crime Victims
Compensation Act within one year after a criminal indictment for the
offense upon which the claim is based.
Green governments (SB 46) -- Creates the Green Governments
Coordinating Council, strengthens the Illinois Green Government
program and helps state agencies find new and better ways to make
their facilities environmentally friendly by reducing solid waste,
conserving water, saving energy and purchasing alternative fuels.
Agribusiness (SB 57) -- Expands the term "energy-related
agribusiness," with regard to loans, to include fuel processing and
development facilities using agricultural commodities, vegetable
oils, animal fats or biomass feedstock.
Tires (SB 154) -- Extends the 50-cent new or used tire fee
collected from retail customers that was set to expire on Jan. 1,
2008.
The following bills passed through committee and head to the
Senate floor for further debate:
Methamphetamine (SB 55) -- States that a person who
knowingly uses a fictitious driver's license or government-issued
identification, or those of another person, or otherwise provides
false information to obtain a targeted methamphetamine precursor is
guilty of a Class 4 felony for a first offense, a Class 3 felony for
a second offense and a Class 2 felony for a third or subsequent
offense.
Prostitution (SB 75) -- Provides that when any person who
has not previously been convicted of or placed on probation for
felony prostitution is found guilty of felony prostitution, the
court may sentence that person to probation without entering a
judgment with their consent.
Classroom credit (SB 138) -- Allows all elementary and
secondary school teachers, as well as home-school educators in
Illinois, to receive a credit equal to 50 percent of total
non-reimbursed classroom expenses in excess of $250. The maximum
credit a teacher could receive is $500.
Septic tanks (SB 184) -- Makes it clear that rural
homeowners will not have to follow the proposed Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency state septic tank regulations if
their tanks empty onto their property only.
Libraries (SB 186) -- Public library districts may invest
temporarily idle money from the working cash fund. The interest
earned on the investments may be transferred permanently to the
general fund or remain in the working cash fund.
[Text from news release sent on behalf of
Sen. Larry Bomke
and received
from Illinois
Senate Republican staff] |
