Democracy Stalled by General Assembly

Last week four separate bills were rejected that would have given citizen the ability to have direct input on two key issues facing the State of Illinois: the fiscal crisis and the ability to recall elected officials for non-performance. Two versions of bill designed to allow voters to decide on the issue of a graduated income tax were killed after a great deal of partisan rhetoric. Obviously the general public is not capable of making such a decision on their own! The other legislation would have granted us the right to recall elected officials and to no one's surprise, our legislators decided not to take a chance that citizens could remove them from office for failing to complete their computational duties. These actions will further muddle the process of solving the staggering fiscal crisis that surrounds us.

As the General Assembly attempts to meet its adjournment schedule of May 29th, several important deadlines are coming up soon.

May 9th Senate bills out of House Committees
May 15th House bills out of Senate Committees
May 23rd House 3rd Reading of Senate bills
Senate 3rd Reading of House bills
May 29th Adjournment

In the meanwhile, as the flurry of bills works through the system a budget will need to be crafted and that will be the PROBLEM!