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Senate Week in Review: July 26-30, 2010 |
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 Illinois Democrats plan to raise the state income tax by 66 percent in January according to Senator Dale Risinger, who explained that Governor Pat Quinn’s budget director made the announcement during a recent interview with Bloomberg Businessweek.
“We’re going to pass a tax increase in January. We expect it is going to be substantial,” Quinn’s budget director David Vaught is quoted as telling the national business publication. Vaught said an increase from the current 3 percent to 5 percent is likely. It would cost taxpayers $6 billion and would be the largest tax hike in Illinois’ history.
In 2009, Democrats in the Illinois Senate approved a similarly-sized tax increase, but the House of Representatives has not acted on that increase. It’s unclear from Vaught’s remarks if he was referring to that increase – which could yet be passed by the House – or if he was referring to a new proposal. |
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Senate Week in Review: July 19-23, 2010 |
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 Illinois taxpayers got an $8 million taste during the week of just how expensive poor fiscal management can be.
Senator Dale Risinger explained that the Quinn Administration took out a short-term loan in mid-July and – even though federal treasury rates have been cut nearly in half – the state will end up paying about $8 million more in interest when compared to a similar loan taken out last year.
The key difference is that Illinois has seen its credit rating plummet. One major credit rating agency ranks Illinois as tied for worst in the nation with California, while two other agencies have Illinois just one notch above California. The state has had eight credit downgrades since Governor Pat Quinn replaced impeached-Governor Rod Blagojevich in January 2009.
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Senate Week in Review: July 12-16, 2010 |
 Legislation that would impact how primary elections are conducted in Illinois was acted on this week, as well as measures Senator Dale Risinger says target home repair fraud and corruption.
On July 13, Governor Pat Quinn amendatorily vetoed House Bill 4842, altering the legislation to create an open primary system in Illinois. In its original format the legislation required the State Board of Elections to publish an electronic voter’s guide that would be posted online prior to the state’s general primary election. While the Governor’s changes retain the original language, it also eliminates the state’s current requirement mandating voters publicly declare their party affiliation when voting in the primary election.
Even lawmakers who support an open primary system were critical of the Governor’s use of his executive authority to alter a fairly innocuous bill to advance more controversial legislation. They noted that although Republican senators filed virtually identical legislation just days after Governor Quinn became Governor in 2009, he made no effort to win Democrat support for the measure in the past year and a half. Because Governor Quinn’s amendatory veto likely exceeds his constitutional authority, his action was viewed more as a publicity stunt rather than a serious attempt to pass legislation. |
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Senate Week in Review: July 5-9, 2010 |
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 On the heels of Governor Pat Quinn’s budget outline for Fiscal Year 2011, Senator Dale Risinger says that Comptroller Dan Hynes released a final Fiscal Year 2010 report that verified “Illinois ended the year in the worst fiscal position in its history.”
At the end of the fiscal year, which concluded June 30, the state’s General Revenue Fund (GRF) balance was negative $4.692 billion—the lowest budgetary balance in Illinois history.
The backlog of Illinois’ unpaid bills was a historically high $4.712 billion. Last year, the backlog was $2.785 billion.
Lacking revenue to pay the state’s bills, in June it took a record 153 working days for the comptroller’s office to reimburse vouchers. At the same time in 2009, the delay was 99 days.
Unfortunately, the report doesn’t predict any relief on the horizon. In fact, Comptroller Hynes anticipates that even with an economic boost or with additional revenue that may come from budget cuts, borrowing measures, or tax increases advanced by Governor Quinn, “the state will likely end fiscal year 2011 with a GRF bill backlog significantly higher than that at the end of fiscal year 2010.”
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