Budget and Chicago airport, casino gambling left behind;

environmental policy,
unemployment insurance
agreement approved

There was little joy this spring in the Capitol in Springpatch, but there were other issues besides the budget. Some failed to gain approval and will return again, to be considered during the fall session or next year by a newly elected General Assembly.

New third Chicago airport at Lake Calumet dies in Senate

After the budget, the proposal to build a third Chicago airport was the spring session's hottest topic. Non-Chicago lawmakers shunned the prospect of explaining while campaigning why they had cut millions from human services, inflicting pain upon their constituents, while approving a $10.7 billion public works project for Chicago. They don't have to explain because overwhelming opposition from Senate Minority Leader James "Pate" Philip (R-23, Wood Dale) doomed the airport's approval.

The third airport was pushed as an economic development opportunity. It was to create 40,000 jobs and generate $15.6 billion in economic activity while boosting state and city tax revenues by more than $200 million per year. It was also sold as a way to clean up an environmentally damaged area at its 8,200-acre site at Lake Calumet on Indiana's northwestern border. The site contains 13 hazardous waste sites, 15 landfills, 27 dumps and 158 underground storage sites.

Opponents seized on the effect on the neighborhoods and environment. The airport would displace 40,000 residents and 137 businesses, affecting as many as 14,000 workers. It would affect 393 acres of wetlands within the site, along with a number of species of protected plants and animals.

The June 17 memorandum of understanding by Gov. Jim Edgar, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and Indiana Gov. Evan Bayh spelled out what was needed from lawmakers: the creation of the Metropolitan Airport Authority. The authority would run O'Hare and Midway airports and would plan, build and operate the new one on the Lake Calumet site. Edgar would name the authority's chairman, Bayh its vice chairman and Daley the executive director.

Initially, the nine-member board would consist of five Daley appointees and two each by Bayh and Edgar. After the approvals were secured, each official would name three members. Suburban input would come through Edgar's appointees.

The memorandum identified a need for a third airport, a need it said could not be met by highways and high-speed railways. The memorandum accepted the Bi-State Policy Committee's recommendation that the airport be built at Lake Calumet. And the memorandum said the three parties would proceed as quickly as possible to construct the airport.

Edgar urged support for the project, saying that it would give suburbanites some control over operations at O'Hare and Midway while using city funds to build the new airport. Noise at O'Hare, a city-owned and operated facility in the middle of the suburbs, has long been a point of contention between Chicago and the suburbs. Daley pushed for passage, seeking to prevent the airport from becoming entangled politically with the income tax surcharge for local government, which will come up for reconsideration in 1993, and casino gambling in Chicago, which requires legalization by state law.

House Speaker Michael J. Madigan (D-30, Chicago) sponsored the airport measure in the House but warned that it would take Republican votes to win approval. The measure went down to defeat on June 9, 19 and 25, before winning House approval on June 26 with 61 votes, one more than needed; 37 Democrats and 24 Republicans voted "yes."

Heavier opposition came in the Senate, where Minority Leader Philip had come out strongly against the site. Philip argued that it would be cheaper to build an airport at a rural site and that environmental problems at Lake Calumet would eventually preclude constructing the airport. He suggested that there was a $2 billion budget gap that would have to be closed by state funds.

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® 1992 The State Journal-Register, Springfield Reprinted with permission.

The sole Senate airport vote was a procedural one when President Rock moved to waive committee action and to bring the measure up for an immediate vote. He got 25 votes, all Democrats. There were "no" votes from 26 Republicans and two Democrats.

Airport proponents made no further frontal assaults on Philip's opposition. In the session's closing days attention focused on approving a budget and putting in place a tax on hospitals and nursing homes to support the Medicaid program (see "Financing Medicaid by new tax on health facilities," pages 18-20 and 23).
Daley declared the airport plan dead on July 1, but few believed him.

No casino gambling in Chicago without state legalization

The other major "economic development" project, needing state lawmaker approval but not involving state funds, was so costly politically for lawmakers that no vote was ever taken. In March Mayor Daley unveiled and backed a proposal by private investors to build a $2 billion casino and entertainment complex in downtown Chicago.

The project offered jobs, new taxes and economic development. The investors — Caesar's World, Circus Circus Enterprises and Hilton Hotels — claim the facility would draw 10.2 million new tourists and 26.2 million visitors annually. Construction jobs would total 37,500. Permanent jobs at the casino would be 18,000 while those off-site would total 48,000. The facility would generate $625 million annually in state and local taxes. But the project could not proceed unless casino gambling was made legal by lawmakers in Springfield.

The arguments against the casino were moral, fiscal and parochial. United Methodist Church leaders launched an effort to persuade lawmakers to kill the project, claiming it would create more social and financial problems than it would solve. Some opponents feared organized crime involvement. Others warned that state and local tax revenues from gambling were apt to be erratic and undependable. The most convincing arguments, though, came from horse racing and riverboat gambling interests, who said that the casino could make their enterprises unprofitable.

© 1992 The State Journal-Register, Springfield. Reprinted with permission.

Downstate and suburban lawmakers, with legalized riverboat gambling or horse racing interests in their districts, faced the prospect of voting for a casino in Chicago that could only hurt them. And with no state money available to conjure some downstate "trade" for legalizing Chicago's casino gambling, lawmakers adjourned without acting on the issue. Given Daley's support and the possibility of jobs and new taxes, casino gambling for Chicago will assuredly be revisited.

Veto Session perfunctory session: November 5 first week: November 17-19 second week: December 1-3

New environmental policy, but no fee increases for waste disposal

In keeping with their reluctance to increase state taxes and fees, lawmakers passed a watered-down version of Gov. Edgar's environmental initiative. Lawmakers gave their approval only to measures to comply with the federal Clean Air Act, while striking proposals to increase the tipping fee for disposing of solid waste and the fees for disposing of hazardous waste.

Edgar had proposed his package on Earth Day, then worked to negotiate with business and environmental groups to get their agreement before bringing it to lawmakers. The bill emerged on June 28, to some complaints from lawmakers about the lateness of the hour. The measure was approved by the Senate and shipped to the House, where Democrats balked at the fee increases and stripped them before approving the legislation.

What Edgar got in SB 1295 was a three-point program with the first two required to avoid federal sanctions: (1) new permit requirements for air polluters; (2) a quicker rulemaking process for implementing federal regulations; and (3) a new state pollution-prevention initiative.

The Clean Air Act Permit Program will require 2,600 major stationary sources of air pollution to get five-year permits. Fees would be $100 per year for firms that emit less than 25 tons of emissions per year, $ 1,000 per year for firms that emit between 25 and 100 tons per year and $13.50 per ton per year for firms that emit more than 100 tons per year. There is a cap of $100,000 for any one source. When fully implemented, the fees will generate $17.8 million per year.

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The expedited rulemaking process will require the Pollution Control Board to act within 150 days of initiation of new or revised rules. The quicker action will eliminate delays that could prompt federal penalties for noncompliance.

The law creates the 13-member Pollution Prevention Advisory Council to make recommendations to the governor and lawmakers on prevention efforts. To prevent pollution the law bans the disposal of used oil in landfills after July 1,1996.

Unemployment insurance: 1987 agreement extended

One issue that lawmakers were able to resolve was unemployment insurance. Benefits to workers were scheduled to decrease, and taxes paid by employees were slated to increase under terms of a 1987 agreement that was established to guarantee solvency of the system. Without action this spring, benefits were to decrease and taxes to rise. The final agreement, uncontroversial after business and labor agreed to it, extended the 1987 agreement. Business put the savings at $215 million over the next four years; labor said benefits will increase an average of $11 per week, instead of dropping $61 per week.

Property tax relief for Cook County via change in homestead exemption

Cook County property taxpayers got some property tax relief, but not the limits on property tax growth that lawmakers imposed last year in the five suburban counties surrounding Cook. Suburban Republicans had pledged to push for the caps in the Cook County suburbs. "We have an opportunity to pass legislation that will help offset the high tax burdens on property owners in Cook County, allowing them the same relief the collar counties got last year," Rep. Manny Hoffman (R-37, Homewood) pledged with a week left in the session. The Republican effort failed.

However, a Democratic initiative will give all Cook County homeowners, both Chicago and suburban, a break. Lawmakers approved a HB 3456 (PA 87-894) which increased the general homestead exemption from $3,500 to $4,000 and the senior citizens' homestead exemption from $2,000 to $2,500. Both are effective in Cook County only. The measure will save the average homeowner about $100 per year.

Holland appointed new auditor general amid partisan posturing

Lawmakers also named a new auditor general, although they did not accomplish the appointment without controversy and political posturing. In maintaining a tradition of taking care of former staffers, lawmakers tapped William G. Holland, chief of staff to Senate President Rock for the last 10 years. Holland's appointment was for a 10-year term, succeeding Robert G. Cronson, who took early retirement in December. The office of auditor general was created by the Constitution and is filled by the General Assembly.

Holland was one of seven candidates whose names were forwarded to the General Assembly by the Legislative Audit Commission. Others included: William T. Jacklin, DuPage County auditor; Rep. James F. Keane (D-28, Chicago), a long-time member of the audit commission; Donald W. Templeman, the deputy auditor general; LeGrand L. Malany, a businessman, lawyer and former assistant auditor general; John J. Lanigan, a former state senator and the chief executive officer and board chairman at Olympic Federal Savings in Berwyn; and Linda Blessing, a former deputy auditor general in Arizona.

Senate President Rock introduced a resolution naming Holland to the post on July 1. Most Republicans did not vote, and the Holland nomination fell two votes short of the 36 needed for appointment. The next day Holland got 56 Senate votes and then 107 votes in the House to win the appointment.

Holland's problems were political. As Rock's chief of staff, Holland was a partisan, and some of the campaigns he had helped run against Republicans had been bitter. Moreover, he was not an auditor or accountant by professional training. Rock argued that for Holland the appointment was a nonpartisan professional opportunity: "I can tell you he shares our love and respect for this institution and this process."

Others argued that there was precedent for overlooking the partisan activities of chiefs of staff, hearkening back to the confirmation fight over Roger Sweet, who was Senate Minority Leader Philip's chief of staff when he was nominated in 1987 to become director of the Department of Revenue by Gov. James R. Thompson. The accusations against Senate confirmation of Sweet were identical. "Phil [Senate President Rock] saw to it that Roger Sweet was appointed," Sen. Arthur L. Berman (D-2, Chicago) recalled. "I suggest to my friends on the other side of the aisle, it would be a fine time to reciprocate."

Omnibus bill or minefield? Purchasing act changed; home detention for felons

As carefully as lawmakers tried to step all spring, there were embarrassments. Many of their problems surfaced in SB 1783 (PA 87-0860), the omnibus bill that made the substantive changes coordinated to the budget agreement. Voting on the measure late on June 30, lawmakers soon found themselves backtracking.

They had approved a provision allowing inmates convicted of Class X felonies to serve the last 90 days of their sentence in an electronic home detention program; lawmakers reversed their approval before adjourning on July 2.

Not caught until after adjournment was a provision that, in the name of increased efficiency, gutted the state purchasing act. Limits above which both commodities and services must be bid were raised from $5,000 to $25,000; notification requirements were eased when bidding procedures are waived because of emergencies. On July 20 Gov. Edgar restored, by executive order, the emergency purchase affidavit requirement. At the same time lawmakers began holding public hearings on the ramifications of the changes they had approved in the purchasing act.

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