BRIEFLY

Legislative checklist

hitting the home stretch

It's so far, so good for Gov. George Ryan in this spring session of the Illinois General Assembly, his first as chief executive. Most notably, his proposal to levy tougher penalties on those who use guns while committing felonies made it out of the Senate. And the governor managed to nail down a compromise on tighter mega-hog farm regulations.

Though Ryan lost a bid to extend civil rights to gays, the effort earned more support than in past years after he and the five other constitutional officers sent a letter to the legislature calling for support.

The heavy legislative lifting begins this month when lawmakers turn their attention to the governor's budget for the fiscal year that begins in July.

Meanwhile, here are some of the other issues lawmakers are addressing in the final weeks of the session.

15-20-LIFE

The governor's favorite get-tough-on-guns proposal passed unanimously in the Senate and received a hearing in the House before legislators took their spring recess. The so-called 15-20-life measure would hang more years on the sentences of those convicted of using guns when committing felonies. If someone is wounded or killed, the felon could get life.

HOGS

The state will retain control over siting of large-scale livestock operations under a compromise reached on revisions of the rules governing the facilities. Nevertheless, some activists vowed to continue fighting for more local control.

Along with staff from the governor's office, sit-down-and-talk sessions included representatives of the Illinois beef and pork producer associations, the Illinois Farm Bureau, legislators from the Peoria area who have been active on the issue, the Illinois Environmental Council and the Illinois Stewardship Alliance, an organization representing farmers and rural residents.

Republican Sen. John Maitland of Bloomington moderated the talks.

Under the agreement, the state agriculture department will make the final call on approving a proposed hog operation after it meets eight siting requirements. Such operations must prove they won't harm the environment, will minimize spills and run-off, will have an odor-control plan and will be consistent with local growth, tourism and environmental plans. Though a proposed operation would have to present its plan at a community meeting, a county board could only recommend whether or not an operation should go forward.

The state's Pollution Control Board would be responsible for overseeing construction of waste lagoons.

The Stewardship Alliance refused to sign off on the agreement because it supports binding local approval. "Putting the ag department in charge of approving these operations is like putting the fox in charge of the hen house," says Pam Hansen, who represents the group. "The department is there to promote agriculture and now they will be regulating it. There's a conflict there."

Further, Hansen believes, operations could still be built on unstable land, meaning farm waste could enter the local water supply. But Lynne Padovan of the Environmental Council counters that construction standards for large-scale operations have been toughened considerably.

In Illinois, the giant operations generally process hogs, though there are also large-scale cattle and poultry farms in the United States. (See Illinois Issues, April 1996, page 16.) During his campaign, Gov. Ryan called for more stringent standards for the large operations, but said he believes the state should retain final say on siting and construction.

The Senate approved the agreement unanimously. At presstime, it was under consideration in the House.

CROSSINGS

The two legislative chambers took opposite — and uncharacteristic — approaches to solving the problem of dangerous railroad crossings. Surprisingly, the more populist House went after careless motorists, while the more conservative Senate took on negligent railroad companies.

A March train crash in rural Bourbonnais that killed 11 people generated legislative plans to improve crossing safety. Suburban and downstate House Republicans proposed a task force including representatives from the legislature, the governor, the secretary of state's office and the railroad and trucking industries. The panel could consider imposing stiffer penalties for motorists who cause accidents and recommend more secure crossing guards such as those currently being tested in the state (see Illinois Issues, March, page 16).

The accident in Bourbonnais, one of the worst in state history, occurred when a truck was hit by an Amtrak train at an intersection. An investigation continued at presstime.

The House GOP coalition, led by William A. O'Connor of Riverside, also moved a measure through that chamber to increase jail time for motorists who cause a death when their cars collide with a train. O'Connor says the measure is designed to deter drivers from thinking about going through a closed crossing gate. Increasing the jail time from two-to-five years to three-to-seven years would give prosecutors greater flexibility in such cases, he says. The measure must be considered by the Senate.

Meanwhile in the Senate, one measure could impose up to six-month jail terms for railroad company executives if their trains cause continued tie-ups at crossings. That proposal, sponsored by Republican Patrick O'Malley of Palos Park, would make the charge a misdemeanor. O'Malley argues trains in Blue Island are blocking intersections for hours at a time. He says that encourages children to crawl between and under the trains. Under the proposal, the Illinois Commerce Commission

10 / May 1999 Illinois Issues

would have to find that a railroad company has demonstrated a pattern of blocking an intersection.

Chicago Democrat Robert Molaro moved another measure through the Senate to prohibit trains in his city from blocking an intersection for more than 10 minutes during the morning and evening rush hours. Both of those measures were sent to the House.

SPECIAL ED FUNDING

The funding formulas for children in special education classes would be streamlined and school districts could receive greater reimbursement for these programs under a bill supported by the State Board of Education.

Local school districts have had to pick up a greater portion of costs associated with special ed programs since the mid-1970s. In 1997, the passage of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act opened the door for more children, including those with learning and speech disabilities, to be designated as having special needs.

A bill sponsored by Carterville Democrat Larry Woolard would increase the level at which the state reimburses local school districts from $4,325 per student to a maximum level of $5,838 for special ed students. The appropriation would be based on the number of students in federally mandated programs two years prior to the funding. The state had about 273,000 children in special education programs in 1997. The bill calls for spending $61 million in the next fiscal year and a total of $246 million over a four-year phase-in period. School districts would not receive less money than they did under previous formulas.

The House passed the measure unanimously. It now moves to the Senate.

HIGHER ED FUNDING

Ryan suffered a partial defeat, at least temporarily, when the Senate Appropriations Committee trimmed the State Board of Higher Education's proposed budget. And this was after Ryan had cut the board's request for new funds from $167 million to $137 million. (That would still be a nice 6.2 percent higher ed budget increase.) This is uncharted waters for the board, which has had its requests for new funding approved five years running under former Gov. Jim Edgar.

The Senate committee rearranged some of the board's spending priorities as well, shifting about $19 million to infrastructure repair and renovation of existing buildings.

The higher ed budget has been approved by the Senate with the cuts. It now goes to the House. Board staff say they will push to restore the cuts in that chamber.

PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY

First Lady Lura Lynn Ryan made some news, too, when she traveled to Washington, D.C, to ask the Illinois congressional delegation to push funding for the proposed Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield.

Subsequently, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Springfield, long a proponent of a Lincoln library, called for $6.5 million for the project in his appropriations request for the next federal fiscal year beginning October 1. In the U.S. House, Republican Rep. Ray LaHood of Peoria also is pushing for funding and U.S. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of Yorkville has signaled his approval of the concept.

The city of Springfield has pledged $10 million in tax increment financing district money. And Gov. Ryan could ask for additional state dollars this spring for the state budget that begins July 1. Last year, former Gov. Jim Edgar and lawmakers agreed to set aside $10 million in state appropriations for the project.

The library is still in the planning stages, with architects and designers considering a half dozen possible sites. Current plans call for the library to become the new home of the Illinois State Historic Library, which is now housed in cramped underground quarters in the capital city. The new library also would contain a museum on Lincoln's life, and a collection for research by serious scholars. (See Illinois Issues, February, page 26.)

Estimated costs fall between $60 million and $148 million, depending on final decisions concerning the scale and the scope of the library. As it compares the sites, a committee will determine the size of the facility, its parking needs and how it should fit into the surrounding neighborhood. That should be done sometime this summer, says David Blanchette, spokesman for the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. After those decisions are made, the architect, Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum Inc. of St. Louis, can start preliminary drawings and supporters can go to the public for donations.

"It's hard to raise money when you don't know how big the library will be or what it will cost," Blanchette says. "People want to see what they're paying for."

ENDANGERED SPECIES

A controversial measure that would have moved three animals off the state's endangered species list was amended and passed by the House.

Democrats Kurt Granberg of Carlyle and Larry Woolard of Carterville had proposed that the least brook lamprey, the eastern massasauga rattlesnake and the Indiana crayfish be removed from the list. The Illinois Environmental Council and scientists who make the endangered classification objected, and the downstate legislators went back to the drawing board.

The latest plan gives the Department of Natural Resources authority to determine whether a proposed development that encroaches on an endangered species could still move forward. The listing of the massasauga has hamstrung Granberg's efforts to help developer Charles Bidwill III build the Carlyle Lodge.

"We wanted to get the attention of the department and the Endangered Species Board to let people have a voice in the process. They've never been to Carlyle. Half the site is a parking lot," Granberg says.

The Environmental Council's Lynne Padovan says that group will work to modify the measure. The question now goes to the Senate.

Burney Simpson

Illinois Issues May 1999 / 11

BRIEFLY

CHECKING ON THE NEIGHBORS

Flush Midwestern states consider tax breaks

A theme running through most of the state legislatures in the country this spring is how to spend all the money piling up in their treasuries.

According to the National Association of State Budget Officers, at the end of fiscal year 1998 the states' aggregate budget surplus was $28.6 billion. (Illinois' surplus is $356 million, the highest in state history. The governor's projection for the 1999 fiscal year is even higher, at $390 million.)

And no wonder. According to the Center for the Study of the States, a New York think tank, total state tax revenues across the country rose 6.9 percent during fiscal year 1998, spurred by an 11.2 percent increase in income tax collections nationwide. Revenue collections from income, sales and corporate taxes exceeded original budget estimates by $11 billion and were higher than expected. in 45 states, marking the fourth year in a row that states collected more tax money than originally budgeted.

It's not surprising, then, that many of our neighbors are talking about giving some back to taxpayers.

Indiana debates business breaks vs. property tax relief

In Indiana, with a projected $2.7 billion budget surplus, competing tax-break measures were set to go down to the wire. At press time, Senate Republican and House Democratic bills pre- scribing how the money should be spent were working toward an April 29 end-of-session deadline. The Senate wanted to phase out the business inventory tax, saving businesses about $129 million, and the House wanted to shift most local welfare expenses from property taxpayers to the state government, saving residential and business property owners an estimated $333 million over the two-year budget. And legislators were quietly talking about a pay raise for all 150 legislators.

Kentucky continues a tax cut trend

Kentucky is in the second year of a biennial budget. But legislators are already gearing up to deliver more tax cuts next year. They're especially keen on a proposal to reduce or eliminate the property tax on cars. During the past three years, seven taxes have been cut or eliminated, including a levy on prescription drugs and rates for inheritance taxes. Farmers are pushing for half of Kentucky's $5.5 billion share of the tobacco settlement and state employees want to be able to unionize and bargain collectively. And, like Indiana, Kentucky legislators want a pay raise.

Missouri is looking to increase personal exemption

In the Missouri legislature, the debate is on how to cut income taxes. House Speaker Steve Gaw is supporting a bill to increase the personal exemption from $1,200 to $2,100. The House has passed a tax credit for pharmaceutical drugs for the elderly and disabled. And, like most states, Missouri is proposing ways to spend its share of the tobacco settlement.

Iowa is cutting taxes but spending on schools

With about $900 million in surplus funds, Iowa, too, is debating tax relief. Bills for both property tax and income tax breaks are working their way through the legislature. Lawmakers also passed two education bills. One allows 4 percent funding growth for all school districts. The other promises $150 million to buy new technology and help offset costs associated with reducing class sizes in kindergarten through third grade.

Wisconsin may overhaul income tax brackets

Still in the early months of its two-year budget, the Wisconsin legislature is working through Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson's budget proposals. The $41 billion, 1999-2000 budget would cut income taxes by $300 million, create a $515 million public land program, put inmates to work in new prison "work houses" and overhaul the state's income tax brackets. However, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala has criticized the income tax plan, saying the biggest break would go to the wealthy He says "the rate cut for the rich is dead on arrival in the Senate." A constitutional amendment passed by the legislature earlier in the year and approved by voters on April 6 may affect some Illinoisans. Nonresident property owners will no longer enjoy a lottery tax credit.

For more information, you can visit the states' official Web sites at
www.state.in.us/
www.state.ky.us/
www.state.mo.us/
www.state.ia.us/
www.state.wi.us/

Beverley Scobell

Show Me Slate says no to concealed weapons The hottest issue in Missouri was decided outside the legislature. In a statewide referendum last month voters upheld a concealed weapons ban that dates back to the Jesse James era. Nearly every one of Missouri's rural counties supported lifting the ban, while urban precincts voted against the proposal. Perhaps a record for a Missouri April election, more than 1 million voters went to the polls, resulting in a 52 percent to 48 percent vote to continue the ban on carrying concealed weapons. In the first referendum test of the issue anywhere in the country, the proponents of concealed weapons were funded almost entirely by the National Rifle Association, which tunneled nearly $4 million into the campaign, outspending opponents by a 5-to-l margin. In a 1997 survey for the Illinois State Police, a majority of Illinoisans opposed any law ¦ allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons. Beverley Scobell

12 / May 1999 Illinois Issues

Ladd commission recommends a way to end redistricting by lottery

Gov. George Ryan sees potential in a commission's recommendation that state senators and representatives redraw their own redistricting maps without regard to the other chamber's plan.

"That might be the way to go — or at least it's one way to look at solving the problem," says Ryan spokesman Dave Urbanek. "It's a difficult problem, how you remove politics from something that is inherently political."

It has been difficult in recent years to get agreement on the shape of state legislative districts and proponents of the change argue the difficulty would be lessened if Senate and House districts were not contingent upon one another. By default, the legislative map has been left to the luck of the draw.

Back in 1992, Ryan, then secretary of state, created a 29-member commission, headed by Jeffrey Ladd, to deal with remap trouble that occurs when lawmakers can't agree.

The 1970 state Constitution calls for House and Senate districts to be redrawn every 10 years and requires that two House districts be nested within each Senate district. The Constitution, anticipating partisan squabbling, also details a redistricting approval process that can — and has — essentially come down to a lottery-style tiebreaker. When Gov. James R. Thompson vetoed a 1991 remap that had been shaped by the Democratically controlled legislature, a final decision was left up to a Legislative Redistricting Commission whose partisan composition was determined by pulling a tiebreaker's name from a bowl. In 1981, the name came out of a stovepipe hat.

But there will be no more pulling names if the recommendations outlined by the Ladd commission are adopted. Under the proposal, the maps drawn by each chamber would have to be approved by a three-fifths vote. The call for an extraordinary majority creates a situation that forces a bipartisan solution because different parties control each chamber by only a slight majority. The Ladd commission proposal removes the governor from the process, which takes away another opportunity for partisan decision-making. The commission also recommends that the House add a 119th member, to avoid an even split in voting.

The State Board of Elections would be called in to select a computer program for redistricting if either chamber failed to come up with a new map.

Having separate House and Senate redistricting plans means representative districts would not necessarily fall neatly within senatorial boundaries as they do now. That aspect of the commission's proposal would be among those requiring a change in the Constitution.

"It's an intriguing idea," Urbanek says. "It's something [Ryan] would like to see the General Assembly review and take up."

Changes in the Constitution would require approval by the legislature and the electorate, but even if such action did not occur until next year, the suggestions in the report could be put into effect in time for the 2001 remap, Ladd notes.

Maureen Foertsch McKinney