IFB Quickview

Friday, April 30, 2010

Budget Stew?

Do you like a good stew? We do! A good stew is well balanced with good ingredients, seasoned well, and cooked until it melts in your mouth. And after you finish eating it you feel satisfied.

The state budget is suppose to be like a good stew. All the appropriations are the ingredients, the revenues are the seasoning, and the open budget hearings are the "stewing" to blend it all and cook it perfectly. But based on the current situation, once again, the "budget stew" will not be very tasty nor satisfying.

Leaders continue to meet to craft a budget by their self imposed May 7th deadline. In the end we have a strong inclination that we will see a budget that follows the similar layout of last year that included lump sum appropriations by state agency or program. This would leave the specific line items and program dollar allocations made by the Governor's Office of Management and Budget (OMB). There is also talk about granting the Governor emergency budget powers to make cuts to line items and programs as he sees fit. This was done by the General Assembly in 1992 for then Governor Jim Edgar.

The Governor continues to state that he would like the General Assembly to stay until the end of May and consider his budget proposal with the included increase in the personal income tax rate of 1% for education. As we have stated in earlier issues of QuickView, the rank and file members and their caucus members continue to make it clear that they do not want to address a "budget fix" until after the November elections.

There is a lot to do in the next week if the General Assembly intends to meet its May 7th adjournment target. If they do pass a budget as outlined, the stew will definitely be under cooked and not satisfying.

Legislative Redistricting - Illinois Fair Map and SJRCA 121

Yesterday marked the end of two separate Constitutional Amendment proposals to change the way Illinois General Assembly districts are drawn. The first was the failure of SJRCA 121 (Sen. Raoul/Majority Leader Currie) on the House floor and the second was an announcement by the Illinois Fair Map Amendment coalition coordinating group, the League of Women Voters, that the campaign did not garner sufficient signatures to meet the required number.

SJRCA 121

SJRCA 121 would have established a process with four provisions for passing a redistricting plan. The process included the passage of a map by law, by resolution for a chamber by a 3/5 vote, redistricting commission, and a final option of a special master in that respective order. The proposal removed the requirement that the districts must be compact and equal in population and replaced it with detailed language on establishing districts guaranteeing minority representation and consideration of communities of influence. The proposal also removed the requirement that Senate and House districts be "nested" (i.e. two House districts in each Senate district). Full detail of SJRCA 121 was included in the April 12, 2010 issue of QuickView.

After lengthy debate on the House floor the measure received 69 yes and 47 no votes. To place SJRCA 121 on the ballot the House would have had to have 71 yes votes to meet the 3/5 vote requirement established by the Illinois Constitution.

Illinois Fair Map Amendment

Late yesterday afternoon, the League of Women Voters announced that the Illinois Fair Map Amendment coalition did not meet its goal of gathering the required 280,000 signatures of registered voters to submit the Illinois Fair Map proposal for the November 2, 2010 election. The total signatures collected were over 150,000.

We would first like to thank everyone for circulating and gaining signatures on the Illinois Fair Map Amendment. This was a very daunting and detailed task. The challenge was gaining the requisite number of signatures in only a few months. Illinois Farm Bureau members contributed over 10,000 signatures to the petition drive. Well done!

It is hard not to be discouraged, but placing a constitutional amendment on the ballot is not designed to be easy. Through the campaign, great strides were made in educating the voting populace to the challenges of redistricting. Most major media outlets also joined the call urging the redistricting process in Illinois to be changed. This is not the end for bringing reform to the legislative redistricting process in Illinois.

The IFB Legislative Redistricting Working Group (LRWG) and the State Legislative staff will continue to be engaged in the redistricting reform issue. We will work with the coalition partners to assess the strengths of the campaign and identify areas where the coalition can improve. We will also monitor the redistricting process next year to see that the views of the citizens of Illinois are included in the maps that are produced.

Again, thank you for all your hard work in this endeavor!

Farm ATV/UTV Use on Rural Roads - HB 6094 (Rep. McAsey/Sen. Wilhelmi)

Illinois Farm Bureau's state legislative priority to reinstate the ability for ATV/UTVs to be used on local roads for farm use continues to move forward as legislative session draws closer to the end. HB 6094 has become the viable vehicle for this issue. Currently the bill is on 3rd Reading in the Senate. Unfortunately, due to the late addition of an amendment unrelated to IFB's intent, the bill must go back to the House for concurrence upon passage in the Senate. The House and Senate leadership are wanting to combine several other items together to restore the laws dealing with ATV/UTV/neighborhood vehicles, and other non-highway vehicles. All the laws dealing with these types of vehicles were "messed" up last year, including the inadvertent removal of ATV/UTVs used for farm purposes on rural roadways. The Illinois Municipal League is the latest group to bring their wishes into HB 6094 dealing with neighborhood vehicles in municipalities.

To correct the inadvertent removal of the ATV/UTVs usage on rural roadways, IFB sought the introduction of HB 4904 and SB 2566 early in the this legislative session. After significant time and effort, it became apparent that the bills introduced were not necessarily going to be the versions used for final passage. HB 6094 has become the central point for the passage of all the different groups seeking changes to the law.

HB 6094 seems poised to pass the Senate next week and then be considered on the order of concurrence in the House later in the week. IFB will continue to work with the sponsors and interested parties in order to gain passage of the measure. Illinois Farm Bureau supports HB 6094 as amended.

E15 Tax Incentive- HB 4652 (Sen. Frerichs/Rep. Bradley)

Presently the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) is looking into increasing the amount of ethanol allowed to be blended in gasoline from the current 10% blend up to a 15% blend. HB 4652 provides a system to simplify the process for allowing a higher fuel blend rate to be implemented and qualify for the state sales tax incentive. Under the current state sales tax structure a 20% sales tax incentive is granted to fuel blenders who blend fuels at a 10% ethanol/90% gasoline blend. The sales tax incentive is based on the gallons of fuel sold, so increasing the blend rate between 10% and 15% ethanol will not change the fiscal impact to the state.

This bill changes the definition of 10% ethanol/90% gasoline fuel (gasohol) to encourage blenders to increase the amount of ethanol blended up to 15%. This will allow the higher blended fuels to continue to qualify for the sales tax incentive given to fuel blenders that can be used in non-flex fuel vehicles.

HB 4652 will only take effect in Illinois if and only if USEPA first rules that a fuel blend between 10% and 15% is approved and the Illinois State Fire Marshall, Illinois Director of Agriculture, and the Illinois Director of the Environmental Protection Agency have each separately certified to the Illinois Director of Revenue that motor fuels at the USEPA approved blend rate can be legally and safely produced and sold to consumers and that the fuel delivery infrastructure is safe as well HB 4652 has passed the House and is on 3^rd reading in the Senate. IFB supports HB 4652.

Encourage Congress and Corps of Engineers to fund Comprehensive Plan for Flood Control in the Upper Mississippi - SJR 87 (Sen. Sullivan/Rep. Myers)

This resolution encourages the U.S. Congress and the Army Corps of Engineers' to authorize and fund the Comprehensive Plan for Flood Control in the Upper Mississippi river valley. This Comprehensive Plan would provide the greatest level of protection to the greater number of residents in the Upper Mississippi River Valley by ensuring enhanced flood protection for currently protected urban and agricultural areas.

SJR 87 had previously passed out of the Senate and this week it passed out of the House as well. The General Assembly resolution adds to those already passed by Hancock, Henderson, Pike, and Scott county boards and commissioners. This Comprehensive Plan was developed in coordination with Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin, The Upper Mississippi River Basin Association, and other non-governmental organizations. SJR 87 has been adopted in both the House and the Senate. IFB supports SJR 87.

QuickLook

The following is a short description of bills with the current status and position on each bill.

Questions

If you have any questions on the items listed in this edition of QuickView or on other state legislative matters please contact us. The State Legislative Team can be reached at (309) 557-2308 or by e-mail at statelegislation@ilfb.org.