 Lawmakers were overwhelmingly disappointed by Gov. Pat Quinn's State
of the State message, which primarily focused on a laundry list of
first-year accomplishments. Bomke said it's not surprising the
governor chose to draw attention to achievements, considering that
over the last seven years Illinois Democrats have dug Illinois into
a serious fiscal hole -- and Quinn's administration has only
exacerbated the problem.
While Quinn did outline intentions to create jobs and rebuild
Illinois' economy, he provided few specifics on how he plans to
accomplish that goal, aside from once again plugging a tax increase.
Bomke said that Illinois' problems are too severe to be fixed by
a stopgap tax increase, noting that before state leaders start
asking taxpayers for more money, fundamental changes need to be made
in state government. For years, structural changes like pension and
Medicaid reforms have been advanced as viable ways to cut costs and
reduce state overhead. However, the state's Democratic majority has
largely rejected these cost-saving options.
Additionally, despite Quinn's support of a major bipartisan
infrastructure improvement program that was designed to create jobs,
his administration has been slow to implement the program. Bomke
said the state needs to move ahead with the capital construction
program in order to create jobs and put people to work.
The governor also addressed ethics reform, advocating for an
ethics referendum that would allow the people of Illinois to
participate in advancing ethical rules and regulations for their
state and local elected officials.
Although the Senate Republican Caucus has long been an advocate
for campaign finance and ethics reform, Bomke said that Quinn's
ethics track record is seriously flawed. Last year, Quinn abandoned
the recommendations of his own ethics commission and bowed to
pressure from his fellow Democrats, who consequently watered down
recall and campaign finance reform measures.
Also this week, the General Assembly approved legislation that
will dismantle the way cemeteries are regulated in Illinois.
House Bill 1188 was introduced in response to the scandal at
Burr Oak Cemetery. Cemetery workers allegedly dug up bodies and then
resold burial plots. Those charged are awaiting trial on felony
counts.
If House Bill 1188 is signed into law, cemetery owners, managers
and customer service employees at private cemeteries will have to be
licensed through the state. The legislation also permits audits on
cemeteries and imposes new requirements that extend from meeting
certain grounds maintenance standards to controlling traffic outside
the cemetery during funeral processions. Failure to comply with
these new requirements could result in a fine, criminal penalties
and revocation of licensure.
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Though religious and government cemeteries have been partially
exempted from the legislation, an approximate 12 percent of the
Illinois cemetery industry would be fully regulated under the new
law. Opponents of the legislation say that while they understand the
urgency to ensure Illinois' cemeteries are operating appropriately,
the legislation was rushed -- lacking specific information on what
the new fees and licensure and education requirements will be, or
how much they will cost.
As a result, it's likely that private cemeteries will be
subjected to millions of dollars in new fees and onerous regulations
that could do irreparable damage to the state's private cemetery
industry.
Two other pieces of legislation were approved by lawmakers and
were intended to lend strength to Illinois' bid to receive grant
money from the federal
Race to
the Top program.
Senate Bill 315 intends to tie teacher and administrator
evaluations to student performance as a way to increase student
success, and
Senate Bill 616 increases the number of individuals covered by
an alternative teacher certification program.
Hundreds of Illinois schools have signed on to compete for the
Race to the Top grants in hopes of receiving grant funding. While
the legislation does not necessarily guarantee Illinois will receive
money from the project, the measures are supposed to increase
Illinois' chances. Illinois could see more than $500 million in
stimulus dollars.
Additional measures approved by the General Assembly this week:
Early release program (SB 1013): Requires that inmates serve at
least 60 days on their sentence before being given meritorious
credit that allows an early release from prison.
Landfill (HB 2688): Excludes the portion of a site or facility
used to perform limited testing of gasification conversion
technology from regulation as a pollution control facility.
McPier Board (SB 1868): Replaces the current 13-member board of
the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority with a new
seven-member interim board.
Utility tax exemption (SB 328): Changes the job retention
thresholds for the utility tax exemption, but only for manufacturing
businesses that produce steel items.
[Text from file sent on behalf of
Sen.
Larry Bomke by Illinois
Senate Republican staff]
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