Bomke: Ethics reforms, state parks, historic sites jeopardized by Senate Leader Jones

Jones refuses to reconvene Senate for vote to override governor

[September 15, 2008]  SPRINGFIELD -- House lawmakers may have voted to reverse Gov. Rod Blagojevich's effort to kill ethic reforms and also voted to restore $221 million needed to prevent the closure of state parks and historic sites, but state Sen. Larry Bomke, R-Springfield, said that because Senate President Emil Jones refuses to reconvene the Senate to consider the measures, the ethics reforms are jeopardized and it is unlikely that the agencies will receive the funding in time to prevent the closures.

By using special state bank accounts, the Illinois House was able to restore the $221 million in funding cuts necessary to prevent 11 historic sites from closing on Oct. 1 and 13 state parks from being shut down on Nov. 1. Unfortunately, the General Assembly is not expected to reconvene for its fall veto session until Nov. 12 -- 11 days after state agencies will be forced to shut down the parks and historic sites.

Jones' action by inaction could also kill the long-awaited ethics reform measure. House Bill 824 was negotiated and approved by lawmakers in the spring but, using his amendatory veto power, in late August the governor made substantial changes that most observers said were designed to kill the bill.

House lawmakers voted on Sept. 10 to override the changes, and it is commonly accepted that, according to the Illinois Constitution, the Senate has 15 days to act on the override.  However, Jones claims the deadline does not apply until after the bill is officially read into the Senate record, and he has no plans to call the Senate back to consider the measure.

Bomke said that the state constitution clearly delineates a 15-day deadline, and because the Senate has no plans to reconvene and concur with the House's override, it is likely that House Bill 824 will "die" and fail to become law in any form.

Many lawmakers say that at the very least Jones is jeopardizing the measure by raising a potentially litigious constitutional issue. Some have also suggested that this is a transparent attempt to push off consideration of the legislation until after the Nov. 4 election, after which time they speculate Jones will actively work to ensure the measure is not signed into law.

On Wednesday, the Illinois House also voted 75-38 in favor of Senate Bill 2595, a controversial plan that would allow Illinois to lease the state lottery to a private vendor.

The revenue from the sale would go to pay for a much-needed $25 billion capital construction plan to finance road and bridge updates and school construction initiatives. Though many lawmakers have been skeptical of the proposal in the past, the most recent bill includes protections that would ensure that schools would continue to receive the $600 million annually that they rely on.

Bomke said that, like the ethics legislation and the park and historical sites funding, it is unlikely that the Senate will be able to consider the legislation until the fall veto session.

[Text from file sent on behalf of Sen. Larry Bomke by Illinois Senate Republican staff]