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Springfield Update
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Dear Neighbor,
The news from Springfield
this week is generally positive. As discussed below, the Senate
took action on 3 significant items: pay-to-play ethics bill, additional ethics
reforms proposed by the Governor, and restoration of many budget cuts.
Pay-to-Play Ethics
Bill (HB824)
First, we overrode the Governor's Amendatory Vetoes
(AVs) on the pay-to-play ethics legislation. The House overrode the AVs
last week, so the ethics bill, effective January 1, 2009, becomes law.
Businesses who have contracts valued at $50,000 or more can not contribute to
the constitutional officers (or candidates for the office) who oversee their
contracts. This bill took 3 years to negotiate and get passed, and is an
important step and a true victory. That said, I believe there is much
more work to do to reform the culture of corruption in Springfield.
Further Ethics
Reforms (SB780)
The AVs the Governor added to the above pay-to-play ethics
bill were also submitted as a separate piece of legislation, SB780. The
major components of this ethics bill are:
1. Expanding the contributions ban. The ban
implemented in the above bill (HB824) that applies to constitutional officers
is expanded to include members of the General Assembly, candidates for office,
and state political parities.
2. Requiring legislators to vote to accept pay
raises. Currently raises go into affect unless both chambers of the
General Assembly vote to block the raises. This change would instead
require an affirmative yes vote to accept the pay raises.
3. Preventing double-dipping by legislators.
Outside employment by legislators with any unit of state, county or municipal
government would be prohibited (except teachers, school counselors, university
instructors, police officers, firefighters and elected officials).
4. Requiring lobbying disclosure. Lawmakers and
their spouses would have to disclose lobbying activity before boards,
commissions, and units of local government. Legislators would be required
to disclose their client, who they lobbied, and their fees.
This bill passed the Senate 50-1, with 5 senators voting
present. The bill clearly needs work, and some good government groups,
such as the Illinois Campaign for Finance Reform, filed against the bill.
I voted for the bill, however, because I agree with the goals of these
provisions. For example, as it
stands even with the new pay-to-play ban we just passed, a state contractor can
still contribute to the state political party where funds can then be
transferred to the constitutional officer who oversees the contract - a very
clear loophole. The expansion of the contributions ban proposed by the
Governor would close this loophole. While people may not trust the
Governor's motivation in proposing this legislation, I believe we should
build on whatever momentum we can to push through further ethics reform.
The State badly needs it.
Restoration of Budget Cuts
The Senate passed two bills to restore
some of the Governor's budget cuts that the House of Representatives had
passed last week. The first bill (SB790) provides about $220 million in
revenue for the Budget Relief Fund. The revenue comes from transfers of
available dollars in dedicated funds to this new fund. The second bill
(SB1103) is a supplemental appropriations bill that allocates spending of these
revenues to restore many of the Governor's earlier budget cuts. Funding
was restored to constitutional officer budgets, the Division of Alcohol and Substance
Abuse, the Department of Children and Family Services, mental health programs, programs
to support developmentally disabled, the Department of Natural Resources to
keep open state parks, Historic Preservation Agency, and RTA/CTA grant for fare
reduction program, to name just a few. For a complete list, click here. to read SB1103.
It is not yet clear if the Governor will
sign the bill. I urge those of you with an interest in seeing these
budget cuts restored to reach out to the Governor's Office to express
your concerns.
It is very evident that the State will
continue to experience severe budget problems. We have a structural
budget deficit, and are not addressing the underlying causes. Revenue estimates
for the current fiscal year continue to drop, also indicating that we may be in
for further budgetary challenges.
At this point we are not scheduled to
return to Springfield
until the November veto session. The major order of business for the
Senate Democratic Caucus in November will be reaching a consensus on who we
will elect as our next Senate President. There are still many
candidates in the race.
As always, please call or email me with
any questions or observations. I very much appreciate hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Heather A. Steans
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7th District Community Calendar
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7th District Community Calendar
As part of my updated website, I have added a google calendar with community events. Please visit the calendar here.
If your block club, organization, or business has an upcoming event, please e-mail it to jen@heathersteans.com and we will add it to our new community calendar! Also, be sure to check this community calendar to learn about things that you can do in the 7th state senate district.
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Office contact information
State Senator Heather Steans
5533 N. Broadway, Chicago, IL 60640
E-mail - info@heathersteans.com
Phone - 773-769-1717
Fax - 773-769-6901
Website - www.heathersteans.com
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