Legislative Action
THE NEW Republican governor got along remarkably well with the Democrat controlled legislature, especially the Chicago branch, duri ng the session which ended July 2. State spending was uncannily close to what Gov. James Thompson had recommended. Education the most likely area for a big funding boost received only an incremental one. Appropriations totaled only $2.5 million above the governor's request, a small amount in a $10 billion "austerity" budget. Although Thompson's criminal justice reforms failed, little animosity arose out of the struggle, with the single exception of House Speaker William Redmond, who was blamed by the governor for the final defeat of Class X. "In an unprecedented parliamentary ruling. Speaker Redmond deprived members of the opportunity to vote on Class X," Thompson said.
Worked out by Thompson and Bilandic in May, the deal will free over $1 billion in federal highway funds for the Crosstown. Opponents said the agreement would take federal money from downstate road projects for years to come. Backers, pointing to the $50 million earmarked for downstate construction, said it would benefit the whole state.
At the same time, there were widespread reports that what the governor got in exchange for the Crosstown was a pledge by Chicago Democrats to hold the line on spending, thereby allowing Thompson to look good by balancing the budget as he promised in his campaign. There was also enough money granted to keep construction going on downstate roads for the remainder of Thompson's two-year term. Rep. Douglas Kane (D., Springfield) said, "This is a program to get past the election without a gas tax increase and bail out the road program."
There was additional speculation that the governor agreed to give Chicago Democrats part of the excess money in a special fund originally designed to pay for Chicago's McCormick Place. The building has long since been paid for, but cigarette sales tax dollars have continued to accumulate in the fund, money which needed to be reappropriated. The governor reportedly wanted part of that money for his state budget; Chicago Democrats wanted part of it to improve McCormick Place.
Negotiations between Deputy Gov. James Fletcher and House Majority Leader Michael Madigan (D., Chicago) and Senate President Thomas Hynes (D., Chicago) resulted in a compromise to split the money. The agreement calls for $2.5 million to go to McCormick Place in fiscal 1978, and $4.8 million in each year after that the rest to go into the state General Revenue Fund. Although the bill itself doesn't specify a cutoff time. Democrats apparently agreed to a five-year, $24 million ceiling on Chicago tunneling of cigarette tax money. The McCormick Place compromise bill, H.B. 1833, by Madigan, passed the House 95-59, and got through the Senate 39-15.
The more controversial Crosstown bill, H.B. 2414, by House Minority Leader George Ryan (R., Kankakee), drew clear battle lines in the legislature. An unusual combination of Chicago Democrats and Republicans lined up to pass it, with downstate and independent Chicago Democrats opposing it.
In a raging, six-hour June 30 House debate, Thompson was openly accused of backroom dealing, while regular Democrats were charged with "steamroller tactics" in pushing through the bill. Opponents said a number of technical rulings from the podium were erroneous and might lead to courts overturning the vote, Rep. John Dunn (D., Decatur) called it "the most disgraceful evening I've ever spent in the state legislature." An unsuccessful filibuster saw some 60 amendments filed for consideration that night. Among them was one calling for a statue of Gov. Thompson and Mayor Bilandic shaking handsto be made of ice and erected on the first 90-degree day at the intersection of 1-55 and the Crosstown.
In the Senate debate. Sen. Don Woolen (D., Rock Island), said the Crosstown passage meant downstate would "be paying for an arrangement, a rather sleazy arrangement." Backers of the bill argued that by allowing federal funds to be used in Chicago, state road monies would be freed downstate.
H.B. 2414 passed the House 110-49, and barely got through the Senate 36-14. Observers were already calling it the cornerstone in the political deal of the decade.
In signing the bill H.B. 10, sponsored by Rep. Roman Kosinski (D., Chicago) Thompson called it "clearly the will of Illinois citizens." Modeled on legislation upheld last year by the U.S. Supreme Court, the law (P.A. 80-26) gives "guided discretion" powers to courts in deciding when the penalty may be imposed. The bill passed the House 119-41, and was approved in the Senate 43-13.
A legislative program introduced by Gov. Thompson to "get tough on crime" by speeding up the trial process and keeping dangerous criminals in prison longer, failed to win approval in any form. Originally introduced as a package of bills, the proposals would have called for a minimum six-year prison term without parole or probation for a new "X" class of felonies to include rape, armed robbery and arson. Murder sentences would also have been determinate, with a minimum sentence of at least 20 years if the death penalty were waived.
S.B. 165 by Sen. George Sangmeister (D,, Joliet) was amended to encompass Thompson's proposals, and passed the Senate 33-10. However, it was squelched in the House Judiciary II Committee, which favored its own proposal, H.B. 1500. This bill the product of two years of bipartisan study passed in the House 153-6; Thompson's ideas were grafted onto it in Senate committee
26 / August 1977 / Illinois Issues
but were stripped off the bill on the floor. The bill then went to a committee boneyard.
Class X became a three-time loser when House Speaker William Redmond (D., Bensenville) ruled it irrelevant to H.B. 1, sponsored by Rep. Roman Kosinski (D., Chicago), which called for mandatory life sentences for a third conviction on some felonies. Redmond, angered at Thompson's unwillingness to accept the committee bill in lieu of Class X, ruled that the Senate had been wrong in amending it to the House bill. His parliamentary ruling, was upheld 85-81, as Republicans couldn't muster the votes to overturn it.
Thompson was angry then and said he would call a special session in October to deal with criminal justice matters. Terming Redmond's ruling a "trick," the governor said the people, not himself, were the big losers in the defeat of Class X.
H.B. 17, by Rep. Richard F. Kelly (D., Hazel Crest), redefines obscenity as something an average person, applying contemporary community standards, finds violent or prurient, or something which offensively represents sex acts, or lacks serious artistic, literary, political or scientific value. Passed the House 126-28, and the Senate 53-1.
H.B. 286, by Rep. Ronald Stearney (R., Chicago), makes it a felony to film a child engaged in a sexual act or solicit a child under the age of 16. Violators of the child pornography law would be subject to at least four years in prison and a $10,000 fine. It passed the House 152-4, and the Senate 55-0.
H.B. 1547, by Rep. Woods Bowman (D., Chicago), to restrict police spying on politicians and civic groups, died. The bill passed the House 98-45, but received an unfavorable committee recommendation in the Senate. Opposition to the legislation was led by Chicago Democrats, embarrassed by reports of spying on legislators by undercover Chicago police.
Collective bargaining bills for public employees were stymied again in the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee after House passage. H.B. 2 by Rep. Thomas Hanahan (D., McHenry) would have included most public employees, creating a state labor relations board to settle disputes. H.B. 19 by Reps. Kelly, Hanahan and Joe Lucco (D., Edwardsville) would have provided collective bargaining for teachers and other educational employees. House sponsors attempted to pressure their party leaders in the Senate to move the bills out, but Chicago Democrats buried the measures, which Sen. Richard Daley (D., Chicago) described as "mandating collective bargaining upon all forms of government."
S.B. 493 by Sen. Jerome Joyce (D., Kankakee) passed in the House 102-55 after passing in the Senate 43-1 late in April. It would give tax relief to farmers by providing an additional alternative assessment procedure applicable to farms based on a formula derived from farm production and average sale price of farmland.
H.B. 582 by Rep. Ronald Griesheimer (R., Waukegan) failed in the Senate 29-15, after passing the House 105-48. It would have increased the state resident license fees for sport fishing and spearing devices.
H.B. 1812, sponsored by Rep. Robert Terzich (D., Chicago) and Sen. Leroy Lemke (D., Chicago), would have amended the retailers' occupation tax act, but was defeated in the Senate. It would have excluded from tax tangible personal property transferred for use in manufacturing, processing, assembling and refining. It would also have excluded agricultural products. The bill was sharply criticized by leaders on both sides of the legislature for its high cost, variously estimated from $30 to $200 million. Gov. Thompson said in late May that he would veto the bill if it reached his desk. It passed the House 104-40, but the Senate vote killed it 28-24.
H.B. 881 by Rep. Donald Totten (R., Schaumburg) failed to get out of the Senate Revenue Committee after passing in the House, 102-45. The bill would have provided for automatic annual increases in the $ 1,000 per person standard state income tax deduction, based on the cost of living index. This was another tax relief proposal Thompson had warned he'd veto, saying "the state simply can't afford it in fiscal '78."
Consequently the Illinois Supreme Court granted an indefinite extension July 1 to its order calling for creation of a new panel-selection method by June 30. The court's action was the third time an extension had been granted to its ruling declaring the present four-member board selection process a violation of the separation of powers concept, and therefore unconstitutional.
The legislature could not agree upon the number of members the panel should have or how to choose them. Regular Democrats wanted a four-member board, with two chosen by the governor and two by the highest elected state official of the other party. Republicans and independent Democrats preferred adding a fifth board member, an independent.
A bill requiring that polls in Illinois stay open until 7 p.m. on election day passed the Senate by a bare majority 30-22, after passing the House unanimously. The close vote in the Senate was due to amendments to make the bill applicable only to Chicago and not the suburbs. It passed despite heavy opposition from Chicago Democrats, then went back to the House for concurrence, where it passed 94-63. Backers there said they hoped Gov. Thompson would use his amendatory veto power to clean up the bill. Senate sponsor Mark Rhoads (R., Western Springs) noted that 23 states have longer polling hours than Illinois.
More to come
Bills, laws and vetoes
The early roundup on the spring session
will continue next month in a review of what
did and didn't happen on many issues, and
what bills Gov. Thompson signs and vetoes.
Budget analysis
August 1977 / Illinois Issues / 27
In October comes an analysis of Thompson's budget in its final form after legislative
and veto action on the appropriation bills. So far Thompson appears to have emerged a
winner with his budget remaining almost intact.