ISAWWA - Legislative Update

“Who Dat?”

The New Orleans Saints Super Bowl win was a triumph of the underdog over the heavily favored. Little did we know that the Illinois primary election just a few days earlier was a harbinger. Thrills, chills, and, in some cases, disbelief were evident in both “spectacles”.

In the Republican primary election all eyes were on the pre-election poll frontrunners (Ryan, McKenna and Dillard) with the others mentioned only as an afterthought. When the smoke cleared on election night State Sens. Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) and Kirk Dillard (R-Westmont) were only a few hundred votes apart in a race still to be decided. How was Brady able pull off a real stunner? First, he was the only Republican candidate from downstate. Second, since coming in third in the 2006 gubernatorial primary election he never stopped campaigning and was able to put together a fairly formidable ground operation, something the others did not and could not do given the small amount of time from announcement in the summer and fall to the February primary election. With election results only a few days away from being certified there is still a chance that Dillard, albeit slim, will come out on top. Dillard has indicated he won’t seek a recount unless the final vote tally is within 100 votes. An important question here is whether or not a protracted recount battle will create disharmony among the GOP faithful and stop their nominee from executing his game plan.

In the Democratic primary election it was a case of “Who Dat?” in spades. As everyone was watching gubernatorial candidates Pat Quinn and Dan Hynes slug it out unknown Scott Lee Cohen spent two million of his own dollars and captured the Lt. Governor nomination. Of course, we all know now that Cohen now the former nominee, as media accounts of his personal life forced him to leave the ticket. The Democratic State Central Committee has the responsibility of selecting the replacement and will do so in the next week or so. Oddly enough, there was also an upset in the GOP Lt. Governor primary election. Twenty-seven year old Edwardsville resident Jason Plummer came out of nowhere to capture the nomination, defeating favorite State. Sen. Matt Murphy (R-Palatine), spending over a million dollars in personal funds in the process.

So, now the battle for the hearts, minds and votes of Illinoisans is almost set to begin … the only remaining ingredients are a certified Republican nominee for Governor and a Democratic nominee for the second spot.

With Quinn in the Governor’s chair, expect him to do whatever he can to overcome the criticisms that were leveled at him over the past few months and to try to put the heat on Brady (or Dillard) who are both in the Senate and who will have to make day-to-day legislative decisions that may help or hurt. Brady (or Dillard), no doubt, will use his Senate position to try to assuage Quinn and the Democratic majority as often as possible. Brady has already begun to define his candidacy by introducing constitutional amendments that seek to impose legislative term limits, to require an extraordinary number of votes to approve tax increases, and to ban gay marriage.

The November election “dance card” is almost full. It will be interesting to see which tune voters will prefer to dance to in nine months.

Legislative Session Breezing Along – Storm Clouds Approaching in March

Following a legislative session sometimes resembles watching a new driver … lots of starts and stops before finally reaching a destination. In order to try to complete its business in an orderly fashion the legislature imposes deadlines during the course of its process resulting in frenzy as those deadlines approach with short periods of calm after they pass.

The upcoming few weeks will mark one of those periods of frenzy as committee deadline weeks approach. Because bills not receiving a favorable committee hearing will die, and because sponsors generally wait until the last minute to have their bills heard, the days approaching committee deadlines can be tumultuous.

In the Senate the committee hearing deadline is this coming Friday, March 5. To make matters just a bit more maniacal the Senate Committee on Assignments, the panel that determines if legislation should be heard and, if so, where it will receive a hearing, released 500 bills this past week. Senate committees will be in rare form struggling to hear them all before next Friday.

The House committee deadline is Friday, March 11, giving lobbyists who must sometimes be a seven places at once to cover pertinent committee hearings, two straight weeks of flurry before more frenzy develops after the Governor’s March 10 budget message. With a projected $12 billion budget deficit, the news that is expected to be delivered in the Governor’s address will be about as welcome as a heat wave at the Winter Olympics.

Governor’s Budget Website Unveiled – “See me ,feel me, touch me, heal me”?

In recent years February has been the month that the Governor releases his budget to the public and the General Assembly. In order to allow Gov. Quinn additional time the legislature this week approved a bill that allows the Governor until March 10 to release his budget. However, there’s a populist, and possibly political, twist to this action, in a manner of speaking.

The new legislation requires that the Governor file a report with both the House and Senate by February 24 that provides revenue and expenditure information for both the current and upcoming fiscal years.

For the current fiscal year the report must include a statement of revenues and expenditures for all budgeted funds, both actual to date and estimated for the remainder of the fiscal year.

For FY 2011 that begins on July 1, the report must provide the estimated revenues for all budgeted funds including the affordable General Revenue Funds appropriations for the full fiscal year. It also must provide an estimate of anticipated liabilities for all budgeted funds, including affordable General Revenue Fund appropriations, debt service on bonds, and the amount of the anticipated state contribution to the pension systems.

These reports will be made available to the public and from February 24 and March 10. Members of the legislature, as well as the public, will be able to submit written budget recommendations to the Governor via the internet. Any recommendations will promptly be made available to the public on the Governor’s website. The website, now operational, also provides copies of studies and reports that have been initiated by outside groups such as the Civic Federation and the Illinois Policy Institute.

The Civic Federation this past week issued a report cites the need for “rehabilitating” state finances through a combination of reforms of expenditures and revenues. The report by the Illinois Policy Institute, issued in July, 2009 points the way to the end of the fiscal problems without raising new revenues. Depending on one’s philosophy there is plenty to love and hate about each of the reports. The Illinois Policy Institute report relies on some recommendations that may be controversial but possible over the long term such as Medicaid delivery reform or the implementation of a dual pension system that would provide lower benefits to new state hires. Other recommendations such as reducing payments to localities by abolishing the Local Government Distributive Fund, by freezing education categorical grants, or by forced consolidation of school districts could be considered “nuclear options” that would face a very difficult path toward approval.

Expect that the anticipated revenue and expenditure reports will not look pretty … with an anticipated $12 billion hole taking into account this fiscal year’s deficit along with what is expected in FY 2011. The availability of these reports could allow the public to see and judge the sad state of fiscal affairs for themselves and could allow the Governor to make his case for more revenue.

But, there may also be another side to the story. Could there also be an underlying motive? Not only will this new found method of allowing public participation in the budget process provide transparency and input, but it may also force or goad Republicans to put their ideas for cutting the budget in writing and on the table. Most GOP gubernatorial candidates in the primary election, including Sen. Brady, advocated cutting with no revenue increases. The process of opening up the budget recommendation process could force him to show how he would do it … if he can do it … and who would bear the brunt if he does do it.

Also, judging from his post-primary statements, the Governor’s new-revenue vigor seems to have diminished. We’ll know for sure on March 10 as he starts the search for a responsible budget in motion.

The budget website is: budget.illinois.gov

Lame Ducks in Season

As the new legislative session begins thirteen House members and one Senator will be classified as lame ducks, having chosen to retire or run, successfully or unsuccessfully, for other offices.

House: Republicans (5): Susan Bassi, Robert Biggins, William Black, Beth Coulson, Ronald Wait; Democrats (8): Michael Boland, James Brosnahan, John Fritchey, Paul Froehlich, Julie Hamos, Betsy Hannig, David Miller and Arthur Turner.

Senate: Democrats (1): James DeLeo

Senators Brady, Cronin, Dillard, Hultgren, Murphy, Pankau and Rutherford who ran for statewide, congressional or local offices were in the middle of their terms so they will be able to continue serving. In addition to either Brady or Dillard being the GOP gubernatorial nominee, Sen. Dan Rutherford will be the Republican nominee for State Treasurer and Sen. Randy Hultgren will be the GOP candidate for Congress in the western Chicago suburbs. Sen. Cronin is the Republican nominee for DuPage County Board Chairman.

Legislation of Interest

The following is a sampling of bills that have been introduced this legislative session and that are being monitored. Bills that show in the House Rules Committee must be released and posted to a regular committee no later than Friday, March 4 or they will no longer be able to be considered.

HB 5115 - Creates the Prescription Drug Repository Program Act. Requires the Department of Public Health to establish a prescription drug repository program, under which a healthcare facility may donate a prescription drug or supplies needed to administer a prescription drug for use by an individual who meets eligibility criteria specified by the Department. Provides for civil and criminal immunity for drug and supply manufacturers and pharmacists in relation to the donation, acceptance, or dispensing of prescription drugs or supplies under the prescription drug repository program. (Current Status – House Judiciary I – Civil Law Committee)

HB 5347 - Provides that a utility that is regulated by the Illinois Commerce Commission that owns power stations or substations located within 200 feet of a lake, river, or stream in the State must file a report with the Commission by June 30, 2011 reporting any possible contamination resulting from the substation in nearby soil and water. Provides that if the utility has already completed a full environmental report on that property within the last 5 years, then that private report must be made available for public viewing by July 28, 2011. Provides that if no environmental report has been completed, then the utility has until August 30, 2011 to conduct and complete a full environmental survey of the property. Provides that the environmental study shall be filed with the Commission and shall include all data from the soil and water samples performed by the utility. Provides that the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency must review all surveys by November 30, 2010. (Current Status – House Rules Committee)

HB 5482 - Provides that a water utility official or his or her designee must notify (i) the local fire officials of any hydrant that it finds necessary to take out of service for water main-related work due to emergency repairs or scheduled maintenance, whenever such maintenance work and hydrant out of service condition is expected to last more than 8 hours or if the main will be unattended at any time during the outage and (ii) the dispatcher or designated fire official of any hydrant reported to be inoperable or expected to operate with a rate of water flow less than a normal rate expected for the hydrant as soon as practical, but in no event more than 2 hours, after receiving the notice from an employee, contractor, police department, or other government official, and, under normal conditions, must have the hydrant restored to service within 48 hours. Provides a fine of $100 per day for failure to make the notification or repairs, which shall be paid to the fire department or fire protection district. (Current Status – House Rules Committee)

HB 5485 - Provides that in certain eminent domain proceedings the fair cash market value of waterworks and sewerage system facilities is the depreciated value of the land and easements upon which the facilities are situated and all facilities and fixtures constructed or installed by the utility company (rather than the net earnings attributable to those facilities). Requires the acquiring municipality to reimburse the utility company for payments made by the utility in connection with the dedication or donation of any waterworks or sewerage system to the utility company. . (Current Status – House Judiciary I – Civil Law Committee)

HB 5491 - Provides that any residential property owner who willfully fails to comply with any provision of the Act while engaging in excavation or demolition on such residential property shall not be subject to a penalty under the Act for a first-time offense of the Act, but shall be subject to a penalty of up to $500 for each separate offense for any subsequent willful failures to comply with the Act. Provides that any residential property owner who fails to comply with any provision of the Act while engaging in excavation or demolition on a residential property shall be liable for the damage caused to the owner or operator of the damaged underground utility facilities or CATS facilities unless the damages resulted from the failure of owners or operators of underground facilities to comply with the provisions of the Act. (Current Status – House Public Utilities Committee)

HB 5837 - Provides that no public utility shall impose a sprinkler standby charge on the owners of structures that contain automatic fire protection systems. Provides that "sprinkler standby charge" means additional charges imposed by a public utility on owners of structures because the structures are equipped with automatic fire protection sprinkler systems. (Current Status – House Public Utilities Committee)

SB 2549 - Provides that "plumbing" includes rainwater harvesting distribution systems, but does not include any rainwater harvesting distribution system or rainwater harvesting collection system unless otherwise required by the Illinois Plumbing Code. Requires the Illinois Department of Public Health to adopt and publish a minimum code of standards for rainwater harvesting collection systems and rainwater harvesting distribution systems by January 1, 2011. Requires rainwater harvesting collection systems and rainwater harvesting distribution systems to be (A) used only for non-potable uses and (B) constructed in accordance with the Illinois Plumbing Code. (Current Status – Senate - 3rd Reading)

SB 3070 - Provides that if a carcinogenic volatile organic compound is detected in the finished water of a community water system at a certain level, then the owner or operator of that system must submit a response plan that meets certain requirements to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. Requires the Agency to approve, and the owner or operator to implement, the plan. Upon completion of the plan, requires the owner or operator to submit a response completion report to the Agency. Provides that any action taken by the Agency to disapprove or modify a plan or report may be appealed to the Illinois Pollution Control Board. (Current Status – Senate – 2nd Reading)