44th District weekly update

From Sen. Bill Brady

[May 20, 2008] 

Premise ID program should be voluntary

A federal program that hopes to better track animal-related illness has generated some controversy in Illinois.

The premise ID is a federal program in which landowners are encouraged to participate; however, the Illinois Department of Agriculture has tried to mandate the otherwise voluntary program.

The problem is that many of the young people who show animals at county and state fairs often board their animals on someone else's farm. The attempt to mandate premise ID registration to show and exhibit in Illinois would have disallowed the participation of these youth if the landowners chose not to register under the premise ID program.

I have signed on as a sponsor of legislation -- House Bill 5776 -- that prohibits the Department of Agriculture from mandating participation in the premise ID program. The concept behind the program is good, but participation should be voluntary as originally intended.

Jacksonville chamber members visit capital city

Many thanks to the members of the Jacksonville Area Chamber of Commerce who came to Springfield on Thursday to talk with me about business issues and what we need to do to improve the economic development climate in Illinois.

I think we all agree that a strong dose of fiscal responsibility is needed to restore order to our state's finances. Citizens deserve a responsible state budget that lives within our means and does not increase the tax burden on businesses and families.

Such visits by local organizations and citizens are important and help me better represent the concerns of central Illinois residents in the Capital City.

Check out my legislative site on the Web

I am reminding 44th District residents to check out an online legislative site they can use to learn more about legislation I am sponsoring and other issues pending in the General Assembly that affect them.

My site at http://www.brady.senategop.org/ features information about recent legislative activity, photos of students and other groups who visit the state Capitol, and information about unclaimed property held by the Illinois state treasurer's office.

My e-mail address is [e-mail].

My legislative office addresses are:

• 2203 Eastland Dr., Suite 3, Bloomington, IL 61074; phone [phone]

• 332 W. Marion Ave., Suite N-1, Forsyth, IL 62535; phone [phone]

• 105D State House, Springfield, IL 62706; phone [phone]

Kudos

Kudos to all of the University of Illinois Extension offices and individuals across the state who expressed their concern and frustration with the administration failing to release crucial state funds for Extension offices and programs. That strong grass-roots effort is the main reason the long-overdue checks to the Extension offices were finally put into the mail May 9.

We are glad the money has been released, but it is unfortunate that it did not happen until the 11th month of the fiscal year. It should not take this kind of political pressure simply to provide the Extension offices and programs with the money they were promised and deserve.

I appreciate all of the phone calls and letters sent to my office. This issue has been at the forefront of my agenda, and I am pleased the correct action has finally been taken. This is yet another example of the way that agriculture programs and other downstate priorities have consistently been shuffled aside by the Blagojevich administration.

The soil and water conservation districts have not yet received funding from the state's current budget, but the process is under way for that money to be released.

Citizens reminded of upcoming switch to digital TV

The Federal Communications Commission has asked me to remind central Illinois citizens that the deadline is approaching for switching free over-the-air television broadcasting from an analog format to an all-digital format.

By law, Feb. 17, 2009, is the last day for full-power television stations to broadcast in analog. They will broadcast only in digital after that date, and viewers will be able to receive and view over-the-air digital programming with an analog TV only by purchasing a digital-to-analog set-top converter box.

Between Jan. 1, 2008, and March 31, 2009, all U.S. households will be able to request up to two coupons, worth $40 each, to be used toward the future purchase of eligible digital-to-analog converter boxes. Eligible converter boxes are for the conversion of over-the-air digital television signals and therefore are not intended for analog TVs connected to a paid provider such as cable or satellite TV service.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration is administering the coupon program. For more information, visit www.dtv2009.gov.

For more information about the upcoming switch, check the FCC's postings at www.dtv.gov.

[Text from file received from Sen. Bill Brady]