Legislative Action

THE ANNUAL rush is on to complete the legislative session. Facing the June 30 deadline for passage of bills without the need for an extraordinary majority of 60 per cent, legislators have been going through the usual long days with floor sessions running well into the night.

Legislative leadership has been relatively successful in limiting the current session to budgetary matters. While a number of substantive bills have been voted on, the number has been quite small. The decision to limit this session to budget bills appears to have been necessary since the legislature put off full activity until after the March primary and after the Easter holiday, which fell at the end of April this year. The result is an even later start than is usual for the General Assembly's session in an even-numbered year.

One of the highlights of the early period of the session is the consideration of legislation providing for paying legislators by the month instead of payment in advance on an annual or biennial basis. Legislators have been criticized for several years for allowing this prepayment practice to continue. At least 15 bills providing for monthly payments have been introduced since the opening of the 79th General Assembly in 1975. Yet these bills were languishing unnoticed in committee until the "political honesty initiative" backers were successful in gathering enough signatures to place the question of monthly pay for lawmakers on the November ballot along with two other constitutional amendment proposals. When over 600,000 signatures were gathered in support of monthly pay- checks for legislators, and the petitions were filed in April, the General Assembly acted quickly to respond to the issue.

One bill, S.B. 31, originally introduced by Sen. Harber Hall (R., Bloomington) on January 8, 1975, was sent to the Senate Executive Committee where it was tabled, 13-5, on March 19 of last year.

On March 3 of this year, the bill was taken from the table and on April 5 it was moved to second reading stage on the Senate floor. It passed the Senate on April 12 by a vote of 45-0. The bill was then introduced in the House on April 13 and moved through final passage with a vote of 140-12 on May 11. However, the members of the House amended the legislation to provide semimonthly payments rather than monthly, and the bill was returned to the Senate for its concurrence.

A different pay bill, H.B. 3484, was the one that passed both chambers. Introduced by the House Executive Committee on April 5, it passed the House April 26 by a 163-3 vote and the Senate passed it June 2 on a 49-1 vote. Assuming the governor will sign this bill, the era of payment in advance for Illinois lawmakers will end at the beginning of 1977.

The point in outlining the history of this legislation in such detail is that the General Assembly is capable of acting quickly when it chooses. The bills concerning the schedule of pay checks to legislators were destined to be forgotten in committees until the advocates of "political honesty" announced they had collected over600,000 signatures on their petitions. Few had expected that the effort would even gather the required 375,000 signatures by the May deadline. That number became significant for proposed constitutional amendments to go on the November ballot for voter ratification. Apparently, there was sufficient public opinion for legislators to feel that it was wise now to vote for legislation which a year ago they barely considered. The difference this spring was that large numbers of constituents were aware of the issue and concerned about it.

In other early legislative action, there is an example of a bill which moved rather slowly through the process. S.B 193, sponsored by Sen. Roger Samna (R., Morton), was first introduced at the end of February 1975. Designed to exempt sporting events from the noise regulations of the Pollution Control Board, the bill was a particular concern of auto racing enthusiasts who saw a real threat to their interests and recreation because the noise levels at race tracks tend to be rather high. The Senate passed S.B. 193 without opposition in May of 1975 after it was amended to also exclude grain elevators in communities under 2,500 population from the board's regulations and authority.

When the Senate-approved bill reached the House, it became buried in the Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Committee. A motion was filed in June 1975 to discharge the committee from consideration of the bill, and eventually it was scheduled on the 1975 fall calendar. Another motion to discharge the bill was filed during the fall session, but was stricken because the bill had not been considered by the committee within 45 days as required by House rules (Rule 24. D) and it was ruled tabled. On April 27 of this year the bill was "taken from the table" on a vote of 117-21 and moved directly to second reading, bypassing the committee. It received final approval on May 13 by a vote of 129-23,

Attempting to correct technical flaws in the legislation passed by the 78th General Assembly, Sen. Sam Vadalabene(D., Ed Wardsville) introduced S.B. 1590 and S.B. 1591 to lend state support to the financing of construction of civic auditoriums around the state. The Illinois Supreme Court struckdown P.A. 78-1289 passed by the 78th General Assembly and signed by the governor on January 20, 1975. Besides correcting the technical problems in the old legislation for projects in Aurora, Madison-St. Clair Counties, Peoria, Rockford and Springfield, Vadalabene's bills add authorizations for aid to two more projects, one in Decatur and the other in Danville. The bills limit the total amount of outstanding bonds for all projects to $75 million. They cleared the Senate on a 50-2 vote on May 13 and were awaiting action in the House. IL.S.C.ž

26/July 1976/ Illinois Issues