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Sen. Bomke's Week in Review
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[November 17, 2007]
SPRINGFIELD -- Although there was no
formal Senate action during the week, Senate leaders met with their
counterparts from the House and with the governor and mayor of
Chicago to discuss a long-awaited state construction program,
funding for public transportation and a proposal for a major
expansion in legalized gaming, according to state Sen. Larry Bomke,
R-Springfield.
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 The talks in Chicago on Wednesday were supposed to resume the next
day, but the Thursday meeting was later canceled. Media reports
indicated that the presence of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley
apparently did little to reduce the tensions between the governor,
House speaker and Senate president that have characterized this
year's legislative session.
The city of Chicago wants a taxpayer bailout for its mass transit
agency, the Chicago Transit Authority. However, many lawmakers have
been critical of the way the financially troubled CTA has been run
and are trying to ensure that any transportation funding also
includes money for downstate roads and bridges. The gambling
component is the apparent funding mechanism of choice, although
there is disagreement on the idea.
In other news this week, a legislative oversight committee made
up of senators and representatives overwhelmingly rejected the
governor's efforts to circumvent the legislative process when he
sought to immediately expand income limits for taxpayer-subsidized
health insurance. The new limits would allow people earning 400
percent of the federal poverty guidelines, or more than $80,000 a
year, to qualify for the subsidized insurance.
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 The Joint Committee on Administrative Rules met Nov. 13 and voted
9-2 against the governor's issuance of an emergency order expanding
publicly funded health care coverage. J-CAR, a bipartisan panel of
the General Assembly, is able to review and set aside emergency
rules the members believe skirt the statutory authority granted to
state agencies, boards and commissions. For most of the panel's
members, the emergency rule was simply an attempt to circumvent the
legislative process after the governor's health plan failed to pass
earlier this year.
Where is the promised education funding?
School superintendents and school board members across the state
might be asking themselves that question. Earlier this month, the
Senate, along with the House, approved the legislative language
needed to authorize a $400 increase in the promised increase in
per-pupil spending. Despite the emergency nature of the measure, it
has languished unsigned on the governor's desk since Nov. 5.
[Text from news release sent on
behalf of
Sen.
Larry Bomke by Illinois
Senate Republican staff] |
