95TH General Assembly

The new session seems to be off to a rather slow start. Over 1500 new bills have been filed and the deadline for new bills in the Senate is today, while the House deadline is near the end of the month. Maybe the building renovations and alternate meeting locations, as well as the pending Obama announcement are slowing things down. Both parties are proposing a variety of bills to deal with school funding, pensions and school construction. There is a revised version of HB 750 which would include funding for pensions. Details can be found at: http://www.ilga.gov/legiclation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=750&GAID=9&GADocTypeID=HB&LegID=28049&SessionID=51

Perhaps it is the anticipation of the governor’s budget speech set for March 7th that will start the ball rolling. It appears that Governor Blagojevich continues to move forward with his plan to sell or lease the Illinois State Lottery since bides are due on February 20th. It doesn’t look like there is much support for such a move from either side of the aisle with regard to the lottery. In the mean time, Representative Lou Lang has proposed to expand gambling as a way to solve the state’s financial crisis. I am unsure as to how much support such a plan would have.

Today’s Chicago Tribune supports the concepts espoused by former State Superintendent, Max McGee that would add a “general value added” tax on Illinois goods that would raise funds and provide a more equitable system for government funding. If you haven’t been following the Chicago Tribune series on school funding be sure to try and check it out at www.chicagotribune/edfund.com.