Session Day 1 roundup

By Jamey Dunn and Rachel Wells

Legislators returned today for the start of their spring session. They will remain in Springfield tomorrow to hear Gov. Pat Quinn’s budget address. Session is expected to adjourn sometime tomorrow, and lawmakers do not plan to return to Springfield until after the primary election on February 2. They took action on several bills today, while ignoring other measures on the political radar.

Cemetery oversight
After stalling both in spring session and veto session, a cemetery regulation bill passed in the Senate today.

The measure is a response to the Burr Oak tragedy. Media reports exposed last July that bodies were moved and dumped into a mass grave in an alleged scheme to resell gravesites. (see Illinois Issues, September 2009, page 13)

HB 1188 puts the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation in charge of overseeing Illinois cemeteries.

It would require cemetery owners to maintain maps of their plots and create a statewide database that would document every burial and grave location. It would create a system for cemetery owners, managers and customer service employees to register with the state. It also contains a consumer bill of rights and protection for whistle blowers that report violators.

Family plots, cemeteries that have not had a burial in the last 10 years and ones that are less then two acres would be exempt from the new regulations. Religious cemeteries and municipal cemeteries that have fewer than 25 burials over the course of two years would be partially exempt.

Rep. Ed Sullivan, a Mundelein Democrat, opposed the bill because he said that a partial exemption should be given to small private cemeteries as well. He said many of these operations do not have frequent burials, and they have no tax revenue to bolster their profits. Sullivan said he is concerned many small private cemeteries in his district could not afford to implement the new regulations.

Willie Carter, member of the governor’s cemetery task force and owner of Restvale Cemetery in Alsip, agreed that the new regulations could put an undue burden on operations such as his. “Small cemeteries like mine cannot afford some of the fees that are proposed in this bill,” he said.
Chicago Democratic Sen. Emil Jones III represents the district where Burr Oak is located. He said that some changes would be made later in a supplemental bill because it “addresses some concerns but not all of them.” Sullivan said he hopes to work with Jones and others to help protect small private cemeteries from facing bankruptcy.

Medicaid matching funds
The House passed a borrowing plan that is half of the plan Gov. Quinn proposed in December. Quinn needed Comptroller Dan Hynes and Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias to sign on to that proposal. Hynes, who is challenging Quinn in the Democratic primary for governor, was not on board.

SB 1425 would allow the state to take out a $250 million loan to capture matching federal Medicaid funds and start paying some of its overdue bills to medical providers. The state would be able to get back $150 million in matching funds and could then leverage that money for $80 million from the feds. The bill does not include any money for social services providers. Quinn’s original plan had $250 million for social services. Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia, an Aurora Democrat and sponsor of the bill, said that the move would free up general funds that Quinn could then use toward need-based MAP grants for college students if he so chooses.

Tax amnesty
A bill proposed as another possible funding source for MAP grants didn't make it to the floor for a vote on Tuesday. A legislative panel on Monday discussed a tax amnesty measure that would allow individuals and businesses to pay back taxes without penalties or interest.

HB 4622, proposed by Hinckley Republican Robert Pritchard, would be a way to immediately bring in an estimated $100 million. It was proposed to fund MAP grants, but representatives on both sides of the aisle suggested the funds should instead be used to help pay some of the state's health and human service providers.

Race to the Top
Two measures that would help the state’s bid for the competitive federal education grant program Race to the Top, passed through the House:

SB 616 Would broaden teaching certification requirements to include nonprofit programs such as Teach for America.

SB 315 Would base the way teachers are evaluated mainly on student performance. Both moves will help the state score higher on its application for the federal program. Rep. Chapin Rose, a Mahomet Republican opposed the change to teacher evaluations. He said he was concerned that downstate schools would invest more money in the changes than they would potentially get back from the federal grants.

"Meritorious Good Time” reforms
Legislation requiring inmates to serve at least 60 days in state prison before receiving time off of their sentences for good behavior passed in the House. Danville Republican Rep. Bill Black offered the only opposition. He said the minimum stay should exceed 60 days.

SB 1013 would also establish procedures for determining and recording reasons for giving good behavior time and provide notification to prosecutors at least 14 days in advance of a prisoners' early release. The measure is a reaction to December findings that the Illinois Department of Corrections was releasing freshly imprisoned offenders, some violent, after only a few weeks in prison under the secret "Meritorious Good Time Push" plan.

Budget address
Quinn may not get any extra time to craft his budget plan this year. Legislators took no action Tuesday on a bill that would move the budget address from the third Wednesday in February, as is currently required by law, to sometime in March. A similar measure proposed during the fall veto session was never called for a vote.

Veto session wrap-up and goodbye

By Bethany Jaeger
This will be my last post as Illinois Issues Statehouse bureau chief. I am moving on to the private sector to be a management consultant with a Springfield-based firm. Thank you for reading and and for sharing a string of unbelievable experiences with me during the past four years.

That said, the legislature completed its annual fall veto session and won't be back until January 12. After that week, it's not scheduled to be back until early February. Read a summary of substantive measures below.

Campaign finance
SB 1466 Individuals, businesses, unions, associations and political committees would be limited in the amount of money they could donate to candidates each election cycle, under a measure approved by both chambers along partisan lines. Legislative leaders and political parties, however, are only limited in the amount they can contribute to candidates in primary elections, not general elections. While reform advocates considered the limits on top political party officials as a compromise and a starting point, Republicans denounced the bill as “business as usual” by consolidating political power in the hands of the few.

In addition to contribution limits, which would be applied on a graduated scale depending on the entity donating and on the candidate’s race, the reform package also aims to improve transparency and enforcement. Candidates would have to report contributions and expenditures four times a year, as opposed to the current twice a year. Donations of $1,000 or more would have to be reported within two to five business days year round. The Illinois State Board of Elections would gain new ability to conduct random audits and investigate potential violations. A task force would study the effectiveness of the implementation of the new law, as well as the feasibility of public funding of political campaigns. Read more details in last night's post.

Recall amendment
HJRCA 31 As part of the fallout from the impeachment of then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, voters will be asked on the November ballot whether to change the state Constitution to give them the power to remove a sitting governor. Placing the referendum on the ballot required legislative approval, which was received in August. At least 60 percent of voters in the 2010 general election would have to vote “yes” to amend the Constitution. If approved, then individuals seeking to remove a governor in the future would have to gather a certain number of signatures (15 percent of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election) before voters could be asked whether to remove the sitting governor. Also, 20 House members and 10 Senate members from both political parties would have to sign off on a recall proposal from citizens.

MAP grant funding
SB 1180 Gov. Pat Quinn restored $205 million to Monetary Award Program, which offers financial aid to nearly 138,000 low-income college students. As part of more than $2 billion in budget cuts this fiscal year, Quinn initially did not fully fund the so-called MAP grants to cover an entire school year. The administration authorized spending for only one semester, creating panic among higher education students who relied on the grants. Quinn toured the state to pressure the legislature to approve restoring the funding, and the General Assembly complied in October. However, neither the governor nor the legislature approved a way to pay for the $205 million needed. Quinn said he would seek new revenue sources after January, when fewer votes would be necessary for approval. The move comes on the heels of an updated projection that the state will collect nearly $900 million less than anticipated.

Legislative pay raises
SB 2090 Legislators last spring approved a measure that would change the way legislators get pay raises and would require them to take four unpaid furlough days, as well as forfeit their annual cost-of-living raises this fiscal year. Quinn changed the measure to permanently end automatic cost-of-living raises. The Senate overrode the governor’s change. If the House does the same, the original changes would take effect. If the House does not agree to override the governor’s changes, the entire bill would die so that none of the changes would take effect.

Cemetery oversight
SB 1471 All cemetery owners, managers and employees, including those who are hired to trim trees or maintain cemetery grounds, would have to register with the state and carry identification cards to prove their clearance to work on site. Owners, managers and all employees who had direct contact with customers also would have to go a step further by becoming licensed by the state and subjecting themselves to criminal background checks. The bill is in response to regulatory gaps exposed during in the Burr Oak Cemetery scandal last summer (see Illinois Issues, September 2009, page 13). Bodies buried in the historic African-American cemetery in Alsip were moved and dumped into a mass grave in an alleged scheme to resell gravesites. The bill would consolidate all regulatory oversight to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation and require cemetery maps, plats and burial records to be maintained and publicly available. Family burial grounds, inactive cemeteries and cemeteries smaller than 2 acres would be exempt to the new rules.

Cook County governance
HB 4625 Cook County Board members would need fewer votes to override a board president’s veto. If signed into law by the governor, overriding the Cook County Board president would require a three-fifths majority rather than a four-fifths majority, or 11 out of 17 votes rather than 14 votes. It would be effective immediately, contrary to Cook County Board President Todd Stroger’s wishes that it would be effective after his current term ends in December 2010.

HB 4624 An effort to repeal Cook County’s penny-on-the-dollar sales tax increase failed during veto session. Board President Todd Stroger enacted the sales tax hike from 0.75 percent to 1.75 percent in February 2008. Estimated to generate about $400 million for county coffers, the tax has been criticized for making Chicago’s total sales tax rate one of the highest in the nation. County board members have repeatedly tried to repeal the tax increase over Stroger’s veto but have failed to meet the four-fifths majority required.

Free rides for seniors
SB 941 All senior citizens, regardless of income, will continue to receive free ridees on mass transit systems throughout the state. An attempt to roll back the program started by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, failed to advance in the Senate. The bill would have ended the free rides for seniors age 65 and older other than for those who are low-income and qualify for the state’s Circuit Breaker program, and it would have reportedly saved $37 million for cash-strapped transit agencies in the Chicago area.

Governor’s budget address
HB 1409 Legislators denied the governor from moving his annual budget address to March, which he requested to give more time for his new budget director, David Vaught, to assess the state’s fiscal status. The governor must propose a budget in February, unless the legislature changes the date.

GOP leadership
SB 600 The Illinois Republican Party will not have to change the way it elects its State Central Committee members, which are internally elected. A measure to change the system to allowing the public to elect committee members failed to gain the supermajority of votes needed in the House. Fewer votes would be needed if the issue came up again after this month.

Cemetery bill aims to end hodge-podge regulations

By Bethany Jaeger

All cemetery owners, managers and employees, including those hired to trim trees or maintain cemetery grounds, would have to register with the state and carry identification cards to prove their clearance to work on site, according to newly proposed legislation. In an attempt to clarify the hodge-podge regulation exposed in the Burr Oak cemetery scandal last summer, owners, managers and all employees who had direct contact with customers would have to go a step further by becoming licensed by the state and subjecting themselves to criminal background checks.

Senate Bill 1471, sponsored by House Speaker Michael Madigan, follows recommendations of the Cemetery Oversight Task Force commissioned by Gov. Pat Quinn after media reports exposed a scandal in the historic African-American cemetery in Alsip. Bodies were moved and dumped into a mass grave in an alleged scheme to resell gravesites (see Illinois Issues, September 2009, page 13).

While there’s widespread agreement that the state needs to respond to the Burr Oak tragedy with new regulations, some officials of nonprofit, religious, municipal and fraternal cemeteries argue that they should be exempt from the new licensing and registration rules. They currently are exempt.

Roman Szabelski, executive director of Catholic Cemeteries of the Archdiocese of Chicago, was appointed by the court to oversee Burr Oak Cemetery after the scandal broke. “I think this bill is overkill,” he said to an Illinois House Committee Wednesday morning. He added that the licensing and registration rules would pass costs on to consumers and would be cumbersome with inadequate time to comply. He added that a new cemetery database would risk the misuse of information about the deceased and their burial plots.

Szabelski and Robert Gilligan of the Catholic Conference of Illinois indicated they could sign on to regulatory reforms if nonprofit cemeteries were made “partially exempt,” meaning they would not have to become licensed by the state but would have to submit to investigations if someone filed a complaint against them.

Springfield Mayor Tim Davlin added after the committee hearing that the bill as written could limit municipalities in providing sewer services, community service workers and maintenance crews, which sometimes use inmates from the corrections department, given the added registration costs and background checks. He described the bill as “killing a gnat with a nuclear bomb.”

Madigan indicated during the committee hearing that he would be open to discussing concerns about whether certain cemeteries would be exempt from the new licensing and registration rules. The bill would exempt family burial grounds, inactive cemeteries and cemeteries smaller than 2 acres.

All regulatory oversight would be consolidated under the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. Some oversight, including over the pre-need funeral trust industry, now is under the state comptroller’s purview, but a discrepancy has arisen about whether that office has the regulatory teeth needed to address negligent cemetery owners and whether Comptroller Dan Hynes could have done anything to prevent the Burr Oak tragedy.

Here are some other highlights of the legislation:

• Owners would have to maintain cemetery maps and burial records, including information about the deceased and required parcel identification numbers, which would be open to public inspection.
• The Department of Financial and Professional Regulation would have to create a burial database; within 72 hours of a burial, a cemetery manager must send the burial record to the state database.
• The department would be able to investigate all cemetery-related activity, audit financial records and penalize noncompliance.
• Family burial grounds, inactive cemeteries that haven’t performed burials within the past decade and cemeteries smaller than 2 acres would be exempt from the new rules. Cemeteries that performed fewer than 25 burials in the past two years wouldn’t have to register, but they would have to submit to investigation if someone filed a complaint with the state.
• The Illinois Department of Natural Resources would be able to develop a program to clean up abandoned or neglected cemeteries.
• Relatives of the deceased whose bodies were dismembered or whose remains were desecrated would be compensated for reburial costs and “psychological care.”