The state of the State Too many bills? After these lengthy preliminaries the
legislators turned furiously to their
work, introducing 4,600 bills—an
average of 20 per member—before the
session was over. Legislative leaders expressed concern over this situation after
the Assembly adjourned. Kenneth Watson of the Springfield State Journal-
Register interviewed legislative leaders
(House Speaker Wlliam A. Redmond,
Senate President Cecil A. Partee,
House Minority Leader James R.
Washburn, and Senate Minority Leader
William C. Harris) and discovered sentiment in favor of limiting bill introductions to so many per member. But such
a move would require the support of the
rank and file, whose usual method of
gaining individual publicity is by introducing a bill. The alternative is a
committee system which would limit
the number of bills sent to the floor. But
Illinois committees usually are operated
so democratically that the members
vote out each other's bills. This could be
overcome by vesting more power in
committee chairmen and basing chairmanships largely on seniority (as
Congress does), but the legislators may
feel this is too great a price to pay. After
all, legislatures and legislators are finally judged by the bills they pass and the
bills they kill. If they want to overload
themselves with many more bills than they can vote on, that is their decision. Budget outcome While the governor's accelerated
building program did not pass as a
package, important elements of it won
legislative approval: bond funds for
antipollution facilities through the Environmental Protection Agency, for industrial control facilities through the
Industrial Pollution Control Financing
Authority, and for institutional building for the departments of corrections,
mental health, and family services
through the Capital Development
Board. These probably would have been
passed in any event; but the expedited
aspect of the governor's proposal, intended to create employment, was defeated. No new taxes State Comptroller George W.
Lindberg also issued a statement as the
fiscal year ended June 30. He said the
state government spent $138 million
more than it took in for its day-to-day
operations in the fiscal year. "We are
about to exhaust the fiscal bonus
created by passage of the income tax,"
he said. He blamed "deficit spending"
rather than the recession for this. He
said the state's income rose 10.8 per
cent and spending increased 13.8 per
cent. But at least one prominent figure in
the state—an educator, not a
politician—mentioned the possibility of
a tax increase. At a June 18 meeting of
the university's board of trustees, President John W. Corbally of the University of Illinois said that a tax increase of
$28.00 a person would yield an amount
equal to what the governor said should
be cut from general fund appropriations. "No one seems to be willing to
speak out in behalf of the small amount
of new per capita support necessary to
maintain the position of Illinois as an
enlightened state providing high-quality
services to a high-quality citizenry," he
said. Unemployment rate rises 278 / Illinois Issues / September 1975
WHAT A LEGISLATURE does is
usually more significant than how
quickly it does it, but not always. The
79th General Assembly's spring session
drew more commendation for almost
finishing on time than for any of the
laws it passed. Commentators seemed
particularly pleased that the legislators
managed to adjourn by July 2, only two
days after the traditional June 30 target
date. Part of the reason for the general
praise of the Assembly's timely conclusion was the sluggish opening of the session. It required 93 ballots and almost
two weeks for the House to elect a
speaker.
While lawmaking is the most obvious
activity of the legislature, the budgeting responsibility which the legislature
shares with the governor is the most important to the greatest number of people. This year the governor submitted a
budget on March 5 calling for appropriations totaling $10.75 billion; appropriations passed by the legislature at
the end of the spring session totaled
about $10.5 billion. About half of this
represented appropriations to be paid
with general revenue funds. On June 11
the governor called for across-the-board, six per cent cuts in these funds by
the legislature. Instead of cutting, the
legislature gave the governor authority
to impound up to eight per cent of these
appropriations. But as the new fiscal
year began, the governor gave every indication of preparing to use his reduction veto power to make six per cent
cuts in general fund appropriations.
(The October Illinois Issues will have
further detail on appropriations.)
Gov. Dan Walker, in a statement
issued on July 1, stressed the fact that
there had been no new taxes or tax increases: "To those experts who predicted three years ago that we could not
get along without a tax increase, the
record is there: three years of no tax increases, three years of living within our
means. We must do the same next
year."
The Illinois unemployment rate for June
rose to 8.5 per cent, seasonally adjusted, according to Christopher W. Nugent, Illinois
employment security administrator. He said
this represented 437,000 Jobless (43,000
more than in May). The upswing, he said,
was affected by unexpected delays in the recall of experienced workers and by students
seeking jobs. Unemployment rates were
highest in the following standard metropolitan statistical areas: Rockford, 11.0 per
cent; Decatur, 10.6; Illinois section of St.
Louis area, 10.4; and Chicago, 8.7. ž