Legislative Action

The winners and losers in the early action on bills

THE EARLY slow pace of legislative activity at the start of the session continued into April until approaching deadlines for hearing bills in committee prodded members of both houses into getting at least a portion of the huge workload out of the way. So far, little has happened this session after the long Senate leadership fight except for a flood of bills into the hopper. And other than the proposed lifeline bill on utility rates, there has been little serious debate of the thousands of measures now before the legislature.

By mid-April some appropriations bills had begun their movement into the legislative process, but few had had even a committee hearing until late in the month. Among those bills which have received action so far, some winners and losers in the General Assembly action emerged.

Secretary of State Alan Dixon has been successful in ironing out an agreement in advance with Gov. James Thompson so that a bill setting up a civil service merit system for Dixon's employees was receiving no opposition in its way through the legislature. Dixon was also successful in moving along his multi-year license plate measure, which was one of his campaign promises.

Home electric users were winners in the approval of a lifeline measure, H.B. 83 by Rep. William Marovitz (D., Chicago) which would reduce electric rates for residential users 11 per cent. Consumers may also be winners in Atty. Gen. William Scott's package of auto repair bills which require registration and bonding of auto repair shops, under the administration of the consumer fraud division of the Attorney General's Office.

Farmers came out ahead in the Senate passage of S.B. 493 by Sen. Jerome Joyce (D., Kankakee) which provides an alternative assessment procedure for farms based on farm production and the average sale price of farmland.

Legislators themselves won in passing H.B. 255 hiking their travel allowances from 15 cents to 20 cents a mile. Sponsored by Rep. Roman J. Kosinski (D., Chicago) the bill passed the House 97 to 48. The House also passed and sent to the Senate two bills increasing legislators' allowances for daily expenses from $36 to $44 and for district offices from $12,000 a year to $17,000.

Litterbugs lost and conservationists won in the approval by the House Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Committee of a bottle bill measure. H.B. 730 by Rep. Daniel Pierce (D., Highland Park) would require a five-cent deposit on every beer and softdrink can and bottle sold in the state. Detachable pull-tabs would be banned.

Supporters of the legalization of the drug laetrile scored a decisive victory in the House Human Resources Committee with the passage of H.B. 1200 by Rep. Donald Totten (R., Schaumburg). The measure would legalize the use of the drug in the treatment of cancer patients.

The handicapped would be benefited by legislation approved by the same House committee. Sponsored by Rep. Peter Peters (R., Chicago), H.B. 1815 would insure the application of building standards for a wider range of handicaps so it would include all individuals with physical, mental and communicative disabilities.

Public employees may gain a collective bargaining bill in light of the House Labor and Commerce Committee recommending passage of all public employee collective bargaining bills before it. Eight bills, two general and the others limited to either teachers or policemen, passed out of the committee for action by the full House.

State agencies and boards could lose their existence as the legislature approved several sunset bills. Along with those sponsored by Rep. Harold Katz (D., Glencoe) and Rep. Richard Luft (D., Pekin) which have already passed the full House and are now in the Senate, two additional sunset bills were approved in the House Executive Committee. The measures, H.B. 1787 and H.B. 2231, are sponsored by Reps. Michael Brady (D., Chicago) and A. C. Bartulis (R., Benld), respectively. A package of bills sponsored by Rep. Thaddeus Lechowicz (D., Chicago) may also have far-reaching effects on state agencies. Supported by the Legislative Economic and Fiscal Commission, the bills would prohibit agencies from spending any money, including federal funds, unless appropriated by the General Assembly.

Gov. James Thompson may have found himself the biggest loser in the surprising and overwhelming defeat of his ethics bills in the Senate Executive Committee. The measures, S.B. 864, 865 and 866, which would have required political candidates to disclose the sources of all campaign contributions and would have created a new seven-member state Board of Ethics, were shot down in the committee in the crunch of hearings at the end of April. The defeat caught Thompson by surprise after initial victories of his legislation concerning limited licensed doctors in the state's mental health hospitals and easy confirmation in the Senate of his cabinet choices. Criticized by both Democrats and Republicans in the committee for lack of preparation and political motivation, the Thompson package went down on a party line vote. "The total lack of preparation is disgraceful," Sen. Thomas Hynes (D., Chicago) said. "This is nothing more than trying to get a roll call on a package of bills labeled ethics, which is synonymous with motherhood and apple pie." If the defeat is seen as an indicator of the legislature's unwillingness to grant everything the administration asks for this session, Thompson's legislative staffers may use the defeat to regroup for more serious encounters ahead. Part of the problem lies in the heavy demand for consideration and reaction from Thompson's legislative staff on an unwieldy number of bills and in Thompson's hesitation to take firm stands on many issues so far./ Mary C. Galligan 

26 / June 1977 / Illinois Issues