NO ONE in the General Assembly seemed pleased when Gov. Dan Walker called the members into special session on September 8 to deal with a "crisis" in funding for primary and secondary education. The governor earlier had exercised his reduction veto powers to cut appropriation bills that had been passed during the regular legislative session on the grounds that revenues were insufficient to cover all that had been appropriated.
The heart of the issue was the refusal of the General Assembly last spring to approve Walker's "tax speedup plan" which would have accelerated the collection of $95 million in sales and payroll withholding taxes that would otherwise be due in fiscal 1978. When this 6th Special Session of the 79th General Assembly finally adjourned on September 24, a compromise had been reached for additional funding as well as part of the "speedup."
Modified tax speedup plan
Another provision included in the
package was a "relief clause that would
lessen the immediate impact of penalties
against the Chicago School Board that
were to be levied because the city
schools closed early last spring. The proceedings during September
were confusing as well as chaotic. The
difficulty in hammering out an agreement was compounded by a number of
factors: 1) the session took place during
an election campaign; 2) the governor
and none of the major legislative party
leaders, except the speaker of the
House, were running for reelection, but
the two top Senate leaders were candidates for state executive offices; 3)
legislators were looking to the gubernatorial candidates for cues as to how to
vote; 4) numerous school districts were
suffering from acute financial problems
and several were involved with teacher
strikes related in part to questions of
money; and 5) the state Constitution
required 60 per cent majorities in order
for legislation to take effect before July
1, 1977. Consider the following: By calling for
the special session in September with an
effective date for the tax speedup bills of
November 1, Gov. Walker insured that
some of the funds would arrive in the
state treasury prior to his leaving office
in January. This is likely to increase the
state's cash balance at the end of this
calendar year and could have political
importance if he decides to run for
governor again in 1978. Similarly, in a
session held before the general election,
it was expected that legislators running
for reelection would be reluctant to vote
against the bills for fear of being labeled
as "anti-school children." With both Senate President Cecil
Partee and Senate Minority Leader
William Harris seeking statewide office
this year, neither could afford to appear
as being "anti-education." Neither could
Democrat Michael Howlett nor Republican James Thompson, the gubernatorial candidates. Thus, the deliberations and meetings that included the governor and both the major candidates
for his office took on an air of high political intrigue. Walker appeared to
succeed in placing everyone else on the
spot, eventually drawing support from
both potential successors. At last, the important compromise
was reached. There was agreement to
delay part of the "speedup" until July 1
of next year. This was necessary to get
enough Republican votes to pass the
plan. It was an important "carrot"
because the polls showed Thompson
well ahead of Hewlett, and the GOP
members could then reserve some of the
earlier arriving revenues for "their"
administration which they assumed
would be taking office in January. Most of the bargaining leading to the
compromise was necessary because the
1970 Constitution requires 60 per cent
majority votes for legislation passed
after June 30 of one calendar year to
become effective prior to July 1 of the
following year. Even though the Democrats have substantial majorities in the
membership of both houses they would
have been (assuming perfect attendance
and total party unity) six votes short in
the House and two shy of the required
60 per cent in the Senate. Compromise
was a necessity and it came hard.
Fifty million dollars was added back
into the education budget along with
alterations in the school aid formula to
insure that no school district received
fewer dollars than last year. To cover the
restored appropriations, the legislature
passed a package that would begin
weekly, instead of monthly, payment to
the state of sales and withholding taxes
from several classes of employers and
vendors, effective November 1. But in
order to receive the necessary votes to
enact the plan, part of the proposed
speedup was delayed until July 1, 1977,
to benefit the next governor during his
first year in office.
A peaceful veto session?
The 79th General Assembly has now
completed all but one final task. The
members return to Springfield November 17 for the annual veto session. They
will have an opportunity to overturn
any of the vetoes issued by Gov. Walker
since the close of the regular session in
July. The general expectation is that it
will be a quiet session; it is not likely that
the legislature will make any serious
attempts at restoring appropriations
reductions. / L. S. C.
26 / November 1976 / Illinois Issues
It is difficult to assess who was the
winner in the special session other than
to point to the additional $50 million
appropriated back to the education
budget. Gov. Walker appears to have
gotten much of what he wanted. The
Republican minority was able to extract
a desirable compromise that will benefit
them if their candidate should win the
gubernatorial race. And the political
infighting was one of the first signs of
reunification in the Democratic party as
it found Gov. Walker and Sec. of State
Hewlett on the same side of the fence
with the former making his strongest
positive statements in support of the
man who defeated him in the bitter
primary last March.