Health nut

The governor unveiled the first of five health care initiatives that are replacing his gigantic proposal to extend state-sponsored health care to all uninsured adults in the state, which failed to win any legislative support. The newer scaled-back version doesn’t have legislative approval, either, but the governor’s assuming some parts of the new plan won’t even need approval from the rulemaking body, the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules. Still, the five different initiatives will need a funding source some day.

The first portion, announced Thursday, expands the governor’s first-term claim to fame, All Kids, to young adults age 19 to 21. The state won’t insure them directly. It’s actually a program offered through Blue Cross and Blue Shield Illinois that covers those young adults who have “pre-existing” major illnesses, which would make them unlikely to get other private insurance plans otherwise. The administration estimates it would help about 7,000 people at a cost of $15 million to the state. This part does not need approval from the legislative Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, according to the administration.

Neither will the state rebate program for families who have private health insurance but who have a hard time paying the monthly premiums. These families make up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level, or $61,950 for a family of four. The rebate would amount to 20 percent of their premium costs, maxing out at $1,000 a year.

Another portion would provide breast and cervical cancer screenings and treatment to all uninsured women, potentially up to 261,000 people at a cost of $50 million to the state.

Two portions that could need JCAR approval are the expansion of the state-run program FamilyCare, which the governor wants to apply to families up to 400 percent of the poverty level. That’s up from the current 150 percent threshold and would include a family of four making $82,600 a year. The last part aims to help very low-income adults who don’t qualify for Medicaid because they don’t have any dependants in the household. The single adults would get help with primary care, medications and hospital visits.

Krista Donahue, chief of policy at the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, calmed one fear that the governor would ram this through JCAR to enact the plans a.s.a.p. She said the governor will not file emergency rules, which means the portions requiring JCAR approval will have 45 days for public review. She also said there has been no decision to guarantee the state would reimburse participating doctors in a certain amount of time. “The rumor out there that we are going to pay providers who participate in these programs faster is just false,” she said.

The governor sues the speaker

The already strained relationship between Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his fellow Democrat House Speaker Michael Madigan took another hit Monday. The governor officially filed a lawsuit against the speaker alleging Madigan “blatantly disregarded constitutional proclamations issued by the governor.”

The governor’s complaint, filed in Sangamon County Court August 24, says Madigan devised a “scheme” that constituted “unauthorized and escalating acts aimed at eradicating the governor’s constitutional and statutory powers.” In one instance, Madigan called a special session earlier than the governor proclaimed so representatives could go home that Saturday and come back Sunday night. The compliant also says he didn’t require his members to attend another special session, failing to convene a quorum and preventing the chamber from conducting business as the record overtime session continued.

“These unlawful acts by Madigan were all taken while the state of Illinois was facing the very real prospect of a government shutdown caused by the lack of a budget,” the complaint says.

Steve Brown, Madigan’s spokesman, said the speaker’s office will file a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in the next couple of weeks. “[The governor] made a farce of the special session process, and this is just a continuation of that,” he said, adding the speaker recognizes the governor’s power to proclaim special sessions and complies each time.

We’ll see whether anything changes if and when the governor calls another special session, as indicated by the complaint: “The governor intends to call additional special sessions in the near future to address significant issues facing the state, including issues pertaining to the Illinois transportation systems which impact more than 2 million commuters per day.”

You scratch my back ...

“You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” might not work in Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s budget game. If his budget vetoes announced Thursday are a political ploy to try to buy support from friends and to punish enemies, then he might lose in the long run.

“He seems to operate on the kind of strategy that it’s all about bringing pressure on the legislature from the outside,” said Kent Redfield, a political science professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield. And by the next election cycle, he said the governor’s key Democratic base, especially the African American population around the Chicago area, might grow wary if projects in their neighborhoods don’t get funded as promised. “I think that over time, he’s wearing out his act. I think that with people reacting to individual projects and the questions being raised about whether he’s actually producing in terms of health care, over time that really hurts his popular support.”

Blagojevich is determined to get his health care plan, which his office says would open the doors for all uninsured women to receive breast and cervical cancer screenings and expand other state-sponsored health insurance to low- and middle-income adults. As noted in Thursday’s press release, the governor’s plan has to go in front of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules to change state regulations so he can implement and expand the programs even after the legislature denied him his original health plan. It still has a long way to go.

Another question being raised by state government insiders is why he cut a little more than $4 million in total from the budget of Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office. An AG spokeswoman, Cara Smith, said some of the cuts are significant. Most disappointing to the office is the reduction in money for her inspector general, who is an independent lawyer responsible for investigating complaints of ethical violations. Each constitutional officer has one. Lisa Madigan’s was docked $50,000. But Smith said Lisa Madigan doesn’t have anything to do with her inspector general’s budget. “That budget is [not] controlled by the attorney general. It’s completely controlled by the inspector general. And it’s very disappointing that it would be touched at all. That work is the furthest thing from ‘pork.’”

Spokesman Justin DeJong of the governor’s budget office said all constitutional offices were funded at last year’s levels, but he has to get back to me about the inspector general line item in the attorney general's office.

I'm back in time for budget cuts

I'm nice and refreshed from our honeymoon in Germany and expect to blog as regularly as possible again. Thanks for understanding while I took a break from state budget reporting. Now, back to work.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Thursday signed a state budget, allowing $340 million in school aid payments to immediately be issued. At the same time, the governor cut $463 million out of the state budget that was approved by both chambers earlier this month. The amount wasn’t surprising — he chopped about 1.7 percent of the $59 billion plan sent to him — but some of the cuts seem to contradict the governor’s numerous press releases about his priorities: health care and services for low- and middle-income families. For instance, he eliminated or reduced some cost-of-living raises for social service providers, cut money for community-based mental health services and decreased the amount allotted to expand broadband Internet services to rural areas. All cuts will become law if Senate President Emil Jones Jr., who’s been a Blagojevich ally most of the session, follows through on his promise not to let his chamber override the governor’s vetoes.

Along with the cuts is the governor’s never-ending push for health care. “While I’m pleased that we’re making a record investment in education, families across the state are still being priced out of health coverage and don’t have a way to see a doctor when they need to,” he wrote in a press release. “That’s why I’m removing almost $500 million in special pet projects and other spending that we simply can’t afford. And at the same time, we’re preparing new rules and administrative changes that will give half-a-million Illinoisans access to health care.” The details are still unknown, but his plan so far is designed to expand eligibility of existing state-sponsored health programs such as All Kids and Family Care.

The first-year cost of the health initiative is the exact amount Blagojevich cut from the budget: $463 million. That gives the impression he’s not spending money that he doesn’t have authority to spend, but it’s not that easy. The money doesn’t simply transfer from the line item cuts to his expanded health care programs. More on that another day.

As for the budget cuts, many are for state agency payroll and contracting services. “These are places where we thought we could achieve efficiencies while not impacting services,” wrote Justin DeJong, spokesman for the governor’s budget office, in an e-mail. Another common reduction in agency budgets was the state contributions to the employees’ retirement systems.

While he cut $75,000 here, $100,000 there, he made a lot of other reductions or total vetoes that might make some waves:
• Chunks of $3 million, $5 million or $7 million at a time for such education-related programs as reimbursements for transportation services, school safety block grants and supplemental payments to fast-growing school districts
• $6.62 million eliminated for cost-of-living adjustments for community-based substance abuse providers; and a $10 million reduction (from $29.3 million to $18.3 million) in cost-of-living adjustments for developmentally disabled providers that the governor’s office says was over-estimated in last year’s budget
• $6.25 million eliminated for a satellite campus of Lincoln’s Challenge, a military academy focusing on early intervention of high-school dropouts
• A $2.5 million reduction (from $3 million to $500,000) for the Illinois Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, which will join other states in planning a celebration of Lincoln’s 200th birthday in 2009
• About $26 million reduced from the Department of Human Services’ programs for home health care, autism diagnosis and other mental health services
• Nearly $5 million cut from the Illinois Arts Council, chaired by House Speaker Michael Madigan’s wife, Shirley Madigan
• $6.25 million eliminated for the statewide program Operation CeaseFire, a violence prevention program in 15 communities around Chicago, Rockford, Decatur and St. Louis.

Rep. Bob Flider, a Mount Zion Democrat, said he was particularly disappointed in the Operation CeaseFire cut because he says it sends a message to the former prison inmates who are now helping others get jobs that their mission isn’t important. Last year, the governor announced $3.9 million for the project. You can read more about it in our upcoming September issue.

DeJong had this to say: "While CeaseFire and other initiatives may serve a purpose for a particular community or organization, we can't afford to spend taxpayer dollars on them right now. With the changes the governor made, the budget better reflects the needs of the state."

Flider also said projects in his district, including money for a food pantry and a homeless shelter, are among the $141 million cut of so-called pork projects, or legislative initiatives slipped into the budget so members can “bring home the bacon” to their constituents. Most of the pork projects cut by Blagojevich are in Democratic districts. Flider said those services are hit in political crossfire. “The governor has declared war on House Democrats, but it’s the people in my district who suffer,” he said. Why would the governor target projects in his district? Flider said that's because he's responding to what the majority of his constituents want: a priority of making timely payments to current Medicaid providers before expanding or creating new health care programs. “The governor wants his health care plan, and he’ll do anything to get it,” Flider said.

Less than nine days left?

State Comptroller Daniel Hynes says he only feels comfortable keeping his office in operation until August 8 if the state legislators and the governor can’t agree on a state budget by then. He said in a Statehouse news conference Monday that August 8 is the first day his office needs to cut the checks in order for 4,900 employees to get paid on time and for public schools to get $170 million’s worth of state aid on time to start the school year.

“It’s frustrating. It’s perplexing. It’s embarrassing, and it’s inexplicable,” he said. “I mean, I go home and I don’t really have an explanation for people. But my primary focus right now is to get people to feel comfortable about the fact that government will operate. There’s no reason to have this atmosphere of fear and anxiety out there, state employees not knowing whether to come to work, whether they’ll be paid for their work, people who do business with the state.”

His message was similar to what he said in June before the legislative leaders and the governor agreed to a one-month, stopgap budget that got us through July.

This time, however, the legislative leaders aren’t interested in another one-month budget when this one expires July 31. Then again, the leaders also aren’t quite ready to move pieces of a full-year budget by the time the temporary budget expires tomorrow.

But they do have eight full days before Hynes’ warning applies. A full-year budget in the first week of August is possible. As celebrated as that would be, I’d have to miss it. I’m taking the next couple of weeks off to get married and to take our honeymoon in Germany. Let’s cross our fingers that a state budget will be in effect by the end of August.

Will this be worth it?

Gov. Rod Blagojevich called a special session for Saturday morning to discuss another one-month budget, which would prevent the state from shutting down in the politically important month of August. But Senate President Emil Jones Jr. told reporters he’s not interested in a one-month. House Speaker Michael Madigan said the same Thursday. If any action happened this weekend, it most likely would be behind closed doors.

It’s ideal if leaders focus on drafting a state budget that would get us through the entire fiscal year, but a cloud still hangs over the Statehouse budget negotiations. Individual budget items are moving; yet, core disagreements continue. The amount of new money, the method of raising that money and the beneficiaries of that money isn’t worked out yet. Can they hash it out before the existing temporary budget expires July 31?

If not, bad things would start to happen. And it would be worse than if the state had shut down in July, says Kent Redfield, political studies professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield. “If we’d have shut down in July, people wouldn’t have been able to get into state parks and stuff. But an August shutdown is much, much more serious because of school formulas, the starting of universities and the state fair.”

Public schools expect their first state aid payments in the first half of August, and the Illinois State Fair kicks off August 10. Without state aid payments, schools would be in a bind. And the nine-day State Fair kicks off campaign season for the next elections. The shutdown of public schools and the absence of a state fair would be noticed by the general public, a politically and economically damaging scenario.

But let’s stick with Redfield’s ray of sunshine in another analysis: As frustrating as this session has been since January, it could be a strategy to tame the expectations now rather than let them build each of the governor’s next three years. We can only hope.

Note: Our Public Affairs Reporting intern, Deanese Williams-Harris, finished her internship this week. We wish her the best of luck and thank her for her hard work and dedication.

On another note, I’m taking the weekend off but will be ready for action Monday.

12-month budget buzz

BY DEANESE WILLIAMS-HARRIS
The Senate moved a 12-month budget out of committee by an 8 to 4 vote along party lines. The budget proposes a 9 percent increase from fiscal year 2007 and relies on the creation of four additional riverboats, the closure of some corporate tax breaks, the sweep of left over money in dedicated funds and the natural revenue growth.

Some of the spending highlights include dropping $600 million into the state’s pension fund, spending $2.3 billion on school and road construction and placing $900 million in a special fund for education. The minimum amount of state aid spent per child would increase by $554, and the budget would authorize the second year of a “hospital assessment program” that would distribute federal dollars to hospitals that care for Medicaid patients.

What the budget doesn’t include is property-tax relief, funding for transit, funding for the governor’s health care initiative, stem cell research or any mechanisms to address the Medicaid spending cycle. The measure’s sponsor, Sen. Donne Trotter, said those are “stand-alone issues” that will be taken up later in separate legislation.

Senate Republicans oppose the budget because it doesn’t say how any of the money for school and road construction would be spent, leaving little assurance that any money would reach their districts. The AFSCME Council 31 union opposes the budget because it doesn’t include money to address what it calls staffing shortages in state prisons and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

The Senate did not call the bill for a vote on the floor Thursday night. They’re back in session Friday, as is the House. It’s still unknown whether they’ll be working over the weekend.

The House and the Senate approved the $1 billion electricity rate relief package. It also creates a new, independent state agency to procure power on behalf of the utilities, dismisses lawsuits brought against the utilities and power generators, requires the state to implement more energy efficiency programs and requires the state to use more renewable energy sources.
Bethany Carson contributed to this report.

Revenue, health care and electricity rates

The House and Senate advanced different pieces of legislation — a cigarette tax and a health care plan in the Senate and an electricity rate relief plan in the House — but there’s no clear indication that these individual pieces could actually converge into the much-delayed state budget. House Democrats spent about three hours in what felt like an end-of-session gathering behind closed doors Wednesday afternoon. And each of the pieces is expected to be heard on the floor in their respective chambers Thursday, but their futures in the opposite chambers are murky. The same goes for their future in Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s office. As House Speaker Michael Madigan said of the cigarette tax advance in the Senate, “We’ll see.” Here’s a recap of the different measures:

Cigarette tax
BY DEANESE WILLIAMS-HARRIS
Seven days before a possible government shutdown, lawmakers moved a bill out of committee that would generate additional revenue for the state by taxing smokers.

The measure would increase the tax on cigarettes by 75 cents a pack. If approved by both chambers and signed by the governor, the proposed tax on cigarettes would generate about $328 million a year.

It’s unclear how the money would actually be spent, but its sponsor, Chicago Democratic Sen. John Cullerton, said that so far, the money would go into the state’s general revenue fund and be intended to fund a road and school construction plan. Cullerton also said legislators have their own wish lists for the money, such as education funding, capital and health care. However, he assured the final decision would be made collectively by the General Assembly.

Sen. Chris Lauzen, an Aurora Republican, wasn’t so quick to jump on the cigarette tax band wagon. He said Democrats would control where the money goes. “What’s happened to the rest of us who serve a quarter of a million people back home is truly disgraceful,” he said, mentioning unfunded projects for school and road construction in Republican districts.

“Somebody’s [going to] have to take a chance,” Cullerton said. “I know one thing. We can’t fund it at all if there’s no new revenue. This is new revenue, and it’s the easiest way I can think of to get support of three-fifths.”

Opponents voiced concern about small businesses losing revenue from people crossing the borders to buy cigarettes. Coincidentally, Indiana increased its cigarette tax by $1.01. In Washington, the U.S. Senate also approved a $1 tax on cigarettes.

The Illinois Department of Revenue said it supports the proposed cigarette tax, straying away from the governor’s campaign pledge not to sign any legislation that would increase sales tax. “This is different than the sales tax,” said Larry Doll, spokesman for the department. “It’s an excise item. It’s different than a general sales tax. A sales tax is applied to all items including necessities. People need food, clothing, what have you, whereas I don’t think you can make the same argument for cigarettes.” Doll also said it’s his understanding that the governor would sign the legislation if it wins approval.

The governor’s office hasn’t confirmed that yet. If approved, the legislation would immediately go into effect.

Revamped health care proposal
BY DEANESE WILLIAMS-HARRIS
Despite a weird afternoon of goofs and misunderstandings, the governor’s scaled-back Illinois Covered health care proposal moved out of a Senate committee with a 7-4 vote along party lines.

The governor wants to pay for the $1.2 billion initiative with a 3 percent payroll tax on businesses that employ at least 10 but that don’t provide comprehensive health benefits to them. The biggest question of the day was how many businesses would actually be subject to the tax. The committee will have to wait for that answer because no one had those numbers on hand.

The $1.2 billion would go into a trust fund, and the General Assembly would be limited to spending 90 percent of the cash per year to curtail overspending.

Some Senators voiced concern that almost 500,000 of the 1.4 million uninsured and underinsured Illinoisans wouldn’t qualify for either of the two health care packages the governor proposed. Eligibility would be modified as the program moves forward, depending on the revenue generated. Sen. Carol Ronen, the measure's sponsor and Blagojevich ally, estimates that 300,000 people will qualify for one of the programs, and 600,000 would qualify for a second option.

Todd Maisch of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce said the payroll assessment tax would “target the most vulnerable employers.” He also called the tax erroneous and excessive. “The major change is funding,” he said. “This is not a scaled back proposal.”

The proposal will most likely be called for a vote in the Senate this week.

Electricity rate relief
BY BETHANY CARSON
The $1 billion in electricity rate relief for Ameren Illinois and Commonwealth Edison customers is one step closer to becoming law. It’s not without controversy, however, as House Republicans aren’t happy that they weren’t part of closed-door negotiations for most of the past month. If Wednesday night’s House committee hearing was any indication, House Republicans could protest by voting “no” or “present” when the legislation reaches the House floor. But it would still have enough votes among Democrats to return to the Senate.

House Speaker Michael Madigan seemed to smile as he welcomed the chance of Republican rejection. “If there’s some member of the legislature who wishes to vote ‘no’ against $1 billion of rate relief, be my guest.” In other words, a Republican “no” vote for rate relief would make prime campaign literature for the Democrats during election season — it’s the equivalent of saying their opponent voted against health care for children or meals for the elderly.

One controversial portion of the deal that’s unsettling to some is that the state would dismiss six lawsuits brought against the utilities and power companies as a result of the September power auction. That includes the case filed by Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office that alleged the power companies colluded to set electricity prices that robbed customers of an extra $4.3 million.

Rep. Jim Durkin, a Western Springs Republican, was one of the skeptics. “How’s the public protected by not following through and getting to the bottom of each one of these lawsuits instead of just dismissing them with the signing of this letter of understanding and the passage of this legislation? How in good faith can the state of Illinois settle those two cases when you have made serious allegations of manipulation and fraud upon the public?” He was the lone Republican to vote “present” in committee because he said he supported offering rate relief but didn’t like the process of coming to this deal.

Susan Hedman, senior assistant attorney general, justified the dismissal of the lawsuits by saying her office believed rate relief was needed now and that the procurement of power needed to be reformed for the future. “There’s a tradeoff between getting relief up front and waiting. If we do not get reforms in the procurement process now, it would mean that every year that we’re litigating that case, there could be another reverse auction with the danger of the same problems that we observed last time.” She later cut someone off and said, rather bluntly, that without dismissal of the lawsuits, “the deal falls apart.”

How do you spell relief?

A long awaited plan for electricity rate relief was announced Tuesday by Illinois’ two major utilities. It’s expected to be discussed and possibly voted on in the House Wednesday. The package is the result of months of public hearings and closed-door meetings, but it may not meet some expectations.

Customers around the state could get a lump sum credit in their September bills ranging from about $50 to about $80, which would cover some of their increased costs for the first half of the year. Starting in October, they would get monthly credits that would eventually decrease until they phased out in 2009.

Officials from the utilities — Commonwealth Edison that serves northern Illinois and Ameren Illinois that serves south of I-80 — held separate press conferences in Springfield to say they supported the compromise proposal.

“It is a very expensive deal for, I think, our industry and for the generators in this state, but I think it does strike all of the right balances,” said Frank Clark, ComEd chairman and chief executive officer.

It’s expensive for power generators because they’re footing most of the $1 billion package, which prevents Clark and Scott Cisel, Ameren Illinois president and chief executive officer, from projecting financial bankruptcy like they did for months as the General Assembly threatened to refreeze electricity rates to give customers a break. But in exchange for the power generators paying for the credits, state lawmakers agreed not to reinstate a freeze or levy a tax on power generators, Clark said.

There’s also something for everyone. House Speaker Michael Madigan and Attorney General Lisa Madigan would get their Illinois Power Authority, a new public power agency that would buy power on behalf of the utilities and potentially generate its own power. Gov. Rod Blagojevich also would get some of his environmental policy proposals for energy efficiency and renewable resources. And Senate President Emil Jones Jr. doesn’t have to vote on a rate freeze.

But it’s not a completely rosy picture. There are lots of questions about the pending legislation. State Rep. Bill Black, a Danville Republican, pointed out on the House floor Tuesday that the monthly credits won’t live up to the hype. “You may see a 70 percent reduction in the increase, but you’re not going to get a 70 percent reduction of your bill,” he yelled. He’s right.

Here’s a chart with examples of Ameren Illinois bills before and after the relief. Regional info can be found here. ComEd customers in October and beyond would get an average monthly credit of about $7 — that’s half of the $14 average increase they were paying over their 2006 monthly bills. “When you hear us talk about $7 a month, I know that’s not overly exciting,” Clark said, “but it’s approximately half of the increase.”

From the industry’s point of view, here’s a few ongoing questions:
- A newly created Illinois Power Authority would buy power on behalf of the Illinois utilities, but it’s unknown how successful the state would be in buying power at a cheaper rate than the utilities.
- It’s also unknown how the state would succeed in building power plants and essentially competing with existing power suppliers.
- It’s also unclear how the proposal would be flexible in allowing utilities and their parent companies to restructure. Further, what are the implications of any restructuring?

One of those weeks

Monday’s events could set the tone for an action-packed but odd week at the Capitol. Strange bedfellows flew around the state to announce an electricity rate relief package that took months to unfold, and the governor spent the day in Chicago while busloads of Chicago ministers drove down to Springfield to rally and pray outside of his Statehouse office, as well as the House and the Senate.

First, the strange bedfellows of Senate President Emil Jones Jr., House Speaker Michael Madigan and state Attorney General Lisa Madigan flew around the state Monday announcing a long-awaited deal to relieve electricity rates for Ameren Illinois and Commonwealth Edison customers. Details of the agreement are provided from the House Democrats’ Web site in this press release and this fact sheet. Highlights: In addition to one-time credits, customers’ bills would reflect between 40 percent and 70 percent off of the 2007 rates. The rates going forward would be set by the new Illinois Power Authority, which would scrap the type of auction that set this year’s rates and that was supposed to transition Illinois into a deregulated system. Legislation is expected to move soon.

Second, four busloads of ministers and education advocates tried to storm the Capitol to urge state lawmakers and the governor to increase education funding. When guards calmly told them they couldn’t get onto the floor of each chamber, the group knelt in prayer and then sang spiritual hymns as they walked to the next door. When they approached the governor’s office, they were again greeted by guards and then by the governor’s chief of staff, John Harris. Their momentum deflated when Harris told them the governor wasn’t even in the Capitol, that he was in Chicago signing the statewide smoking ban. The ministers were invited to a meeting with all legislative leaders and the governor in the Capitol Tuesday, but most of them returned to their busses.

Earlier, the ministers held a Statehouse press conference and said lawmakers have a “moral obligation” to increase education funding. They stressed they weren’t in town for anyone’s agenda other than the children’s and that they were in Springfield to urge the governor to stand by his promise to put more money into education. (Blagojevich and Jones proposed $1.5 billion for education.)

“We’ve had the governor to our churches on several occasions, singing, what’s his favorite song, ‘Precious Lord, take my hand,’” Rev. Roosevelt Watkins of Bethlehem Star Church in Chicago said. “I think that if there’s no budget, absolutely, he’ll get a different reception. Not only him, but we’ll have Emil Jones, who we have a lot of lines with. All of them, they all will get a different reception.”

But Rep. Arthur Turner, a Chicago Democrat, said the group is the first of many to stressing the need for more education funding, but they’re just starting to realize the complexity of weighing all the budgetary needs. “If you’ve got funding in the schools and the CTA busses aren’t running on a school day, you’re still no better off than you were before,” he said after speaking with the ministers.

Third, AFSCME Council 31, which represents about 40,000 state employees, sent a letter Friday urging the leaders and the governor to avoid a government shutdown, preferably with a 12-month budget or at least with another one-month budget.

Fourth, the governor signed the statewide smoking ban in Chicago Monday. It bans smoking in restaurants, bars, bowling alleys, hospitals, nursing homes, sports arenas, casinos and other places January 1, 2008.

More action gets under way Tuesday.
Deanese Williams-Harris contributed to this report.

Former corrections chief and contractors indicted

BY BETHANY CARSON

Donald Snyder Jr., former director of the Illinois Department of Corrections, was indicted on federal charges of receiving about $50,000 in illegal kickbacks from two lobbyists who represented health-care companies holding large contracts with the state. The indictments stem from a federal investigation, “Operation Safe Road,” that led to the corruption conviction of former Gov. George Ryan. The former governor appointed Snyder, of Pittsfield, to his post that ran from 1999 to 2003.

“As a top state official, Mr. Snyder was bound by various rules governing his acceptance of gifts or favors of any kind,” said U.S. attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in a press release. “He was forbidden from receiving cash kickbacks from anyone, much less from lobbyists representing companies doing millions of dollars in business with IDOC.”

Lobbyist John Robinson of Barrington Hills in northern Illinois represented an Illinois-based company that held a multi-million dollar contract with the state to provide health-care services for Illinois inmates. He also is the former Cook County undersheriff. Between 1996 and 2003, he allegedly arranged a contract with the health-care company to receive $2,500 a month in addition to 5 percent of the company’s income from contracts with the Department of Corrections. The indictment says Robinson expected to get an increased payment of $4,500 a month as soon as the health-care company’s state contract exceeded $4 million.

Larry Sims of Pleasant Plains in central Illinois, represented a Pennsylvania health-care company that also held multi-million dollar contracts with the corrections department. He allegedly co-schemed with Snyder and Robinson to file false statements with the state to hide the illegal payments to Snyder.

Snyder and Robinson were each charged with five counts of mail fraud, one carrying a maximum sentence of one year in prison and four others carrying up to 20 years in prison. Sims was charged with one count of perjury for allegedly lying to a grand jury during the investigation, an offense carrying a maximum punishment of five years in prison. The indictment also seeks $50,000 from Snyder. If convicted, all three also could have to pay a $250,000 fine on each count.

Budget negotiation update

BY DEANESE WILLIAMS-HARRIS

Today’s leaders’ meeting focused on spending instead of ways to generate new revenue. There also was talk that electric rate relief may be around the corner.

As far as the budget, there seems to be no visible movement. “Reports that there’s a deal and so forth, that’s erroneous,” Senate President Emil Jones Jr. said.

However, Deputy Governor Shelia Nix said progress has been made, and that next week should be a key week in getting the budget wrapped up by the end of the month.

Sen. Jones said, “The governor had his revenue proposal to drive the budget, and that’s been rejected by the House. We the Senate Democrats put forth our revenue proposal to fund education, to take care of the capital needs of state of Illinois, the House rejected that,”

He also said, “Now perhaps the House will come forth with its revenue measure and maybe the speaker will go ahead and push the income tax.”

In other news, electric rate relief proposal may be in the final stages of completion.

Jones, along with House Speaker Michael Madigan and Attorney General Lisa Madigan has scheduled a fly-around trip to discuss details of a statewide electric rate relief package. “It’s being put together,” Jones said. “It’s not complete as of yet.” However, he did say “the deal is pretty, pretty close.”

The group intends to release the details on Monday said Jones. The trip will begin in Peoria, then to Decatur, Cahokia and end in Marion.

Both chambers will be out for the weekend, the first time since the special sessions began. They’re scheduled to get back to work Monday afternoon.

Transit woes

BY DEANESE WILLIAMS-HARRIS

As the clock ticks toward a possible government shutdown, Sen. Martin Sandoval said Thursday he wouldn’t support a state budget that lacks funding for education and transportation.

“Once again, there needs to be a recognition there is a crisis in Illinois and that service cuts will happen 60 days from today as a result of our inability to fund this priority,” he said during a Statehouse press conference Thursday morning. “I, from my own perspective, will not vote, and cannot, in right conscience, vote on any budget compromise that does not include money for the RTA, CTA, PACE and Metra.”

He joined legislators from both chambers to talk about ways to avoid service reductions in transportation services scheduled to take place in northeastern Illinois as early as September 17.

The CTA plans to eliminate 63 bus routes and two rail lines. Fares also would rise from $2 to $4.25 during rush hour, and workers would be laid off. PACE plans to cut all weekend bus services, all Metra station routes and 23 regional routes for the entire suburban Chicago area. It also would raise fares by 33 percent and reduce transportation for the disabled to the federally-mandated standards.

Rep. Julie Hamos, an Evanston Democrat, said legislators are in the final stages of drafting legislation that would generate additional funding for transit. “The transit system has not been fully supported by the state budget in 24 years,” she said. “This is no time now to take on the responsibility for transit as part of our state budget. What the system does not need is a one-year bailout that would put us back in not only the same place next year, but in an even worse condition.”

Lawmakers propose a regional tax increase and a full range of reforms that would address transit spending and pension system accountability.

So far, legislators have two funding components on the table that include a one-quarter percent sales tax increase for the six counties in northeastern Illinois and a real estate transfer tax in Chicago. Gov. Rod Blagojevich has repeated his campaign promise that he wouldn’t approve any legislation to raise state income or sales taxes. Therefore, if the measure wins the approval of both chambers, lawmakers could override his veto.

Tax talk

It’s almost like we’ve come full circle. The spring session started with momentum behind talk of state tax increases to address funding for education, public employee pensions and health care. But the Statehouse chatter fizzled by the time the General Assembly missed its May 31 deadline to approve a state budget. Now, 48 days later, a couple tax ideas have popped back into summer budget negotiations.

It’s like déjà vu. House Speaker Michael Madigan announced on Chicago talk radio and to the Statehouse press Wednesday that the best way for Gov. Rod Blagojevich to get new revenue is to consider that the majority of House Democrats support some kind of an income tax increase. But Blagojevich has repeatedly and passionately promised to reject an increase in the state income or sales tax. The only possible change is by Senate President Emil Jones Jr., who has sided with the governor since he first proposed the now defunct gross receipts tax on businesses to fund health care. Jones said Wednesday, however, he would consider an income tax increase.

“[HB] 750 had the regressive sales tax, which I strongly oppose,” Jones said after a budget meeting in the governor’s Statehouse office. “But I’m open to the income tax, as well.” (The 750 legislation has long called for an increase in income and sales taxes to reduce property taxes and reform the way the state funds education.) When asked whether he could change the governor’s mind on an income tax increase, Jones said, “The governor was opposed to gaming, and I persuaded him to back off his opposition to gaming. And so if the House passes the income tax as the speaker indicated on WVON, he should go ahead and pass the legislation, and we would give it a strong consideration in the Senate.”

Madigan even made a point to tell the press that he had dinner with Jones Tuesday night in Springfield. “The most significant thing for me coming out of the meeting was that Sen. Jones strongly indicated that he was willing to work with me to finalize the budget for the next fiscal year,” Madigan said. He also said gaming was not in the budget that he was preparing.

But Jones said he wouldn’t accept a budget without gaming expansion unless Madigan came up with an alternative revenue source to fund Jones’ desired $1.5 billion increase in education funding. Jones said other revenue ideas still on the table include the closure of some corporate tax breaks and an alternative minimum tax, which would apply to businesses that make a lot of money but that don’t pay a lot of state taxes. The way to come up with a compromise on alternative revenue ideas, Jones said, was up to the speaker. “Now it’s up to [Madigan] to provide the quality leadership to get additional dollars we need for education — quality leadership.”

Senate Republicans oppose the idea of an income tax increase, according to Sen. Minority Leader Frank Watson. But his caucus’ votes wouldn’t be needed if the Senate Democrats utilized their veto-proof majority of 37 to 22. Over in the House, Republicans would be needed to override to a governor’s veto on an income tax increase.

House Minority Leader Tom Cross wasn’t feeling today’s leaders' meeting as he made an early exit. “We’re having the same discussion that we had in January, February, March, April, May, June, and now July,” he said, raising his voice a little more than normal and seeming more perturbed. “We’ve had a budget process, we’ve had a committee process, we have caucuses, and we hear political rhetoric and political speeches everyday, and it doesn’t bring us any closer to conclusion.”

Poll results favor Illinois Covered
BY DEANESE WILLIAMS-HARRIS
Will the results of a poll released today by Lake Research Partners make some lawmakers change their tune about the governor’s Illinois Covered proposal? One survey question in particular foreshadows campaign season. When asked whether they would be more likely to re-elect their legislator if he or she supported the governor's health insurance plan, out of the 600 likely Illinois voters surveyed, 55 percent said they would. That number breaks down to 67 percent Democrats, 40 percent Republicans and 52 percent Independents.

Participants also were asked whether they would support a plan if it were paid for by an increase in gaming taxes, a tax on employers who don’t offer comprehensive health insurance and an insurance premium based on the ability to pay. Seventy-eight percent were in favor of those three funding sources; 15 percent opposed and 8 percent were undecided.

People also identified that they thought the focus for this summer's special sessions should be health care costs and health care reform (88 percent), education investments and reform (80 percent), improving roads and transportation (65 percent), as well as unfunded state pensions (53 percent).

“The people of Illinois are telling us that health care is their top priority and we cannot let them down,” said Gov. Rod Blagojevich in a press release today. “This year in Illinois, we have a unique opportunity to pass the most comprehensive health care plan in the country that would give every family and small business in our state access to affordable health coverage.”

The poll was sponsored by America’s Agenda Health Care Education Fund, the AARP, the AFL-CIO and the Campaign for Better Health Care. All of those organizations supported Blagojevich’s Illinois Covered plan from the beginning.

Electricity deal could come soon

The Capitol is buzzing about a potential deal on electricity rate relief for Ameren Illinois and Commonwealth Edison customers, who have been paying between an average of 25 percent to 55 percent higher electricity rates since a state law expired January 2.

The general framework of the relief package footed by the power utilities and potentially their parent companies is expected to total about $1 billion — doubling the former proposal — and offer relief for customers over three years, according to Sen. James Clayborne, a Belleville Democrat who’s been following the negotiations. Customers could receive checks for credits as early as two weeks after the agreement were approved by the state legislature and processed through the Illinois Commerce Commission. Another major change could be the creation of an Illinois Power Authority, which I wrote about in our June issue and could procure and generate power for Illinoisans.

We’ve been following the electricity rate debate and private negotiations for months, but Clayborne says, “We’re very, very close,” and, “I think we pretty much have an agreement. Logistically, we have to work out some issues.”

Rep. John Bradley, a Marion Democrat also close to the negotiations, said those details that still have to be ironed out are enough to stop him from screaming from the rooftops that a deal is coming. “The deal isn’t completely done. It’s being finalized. It’s in the final stages, but it’s not completely done.” But he did say he didn’t deny anything Clayborne said or deny that the deal is very close to being turned into legislation for the General Assembly to consider.

Ameren Illinois spokesman Leigh Morris had this to say: “I’m very optimistic that we are going to see a positive resolution to all of this in the very near future.” He added, “We certainly will be making the appropriate announcements to the news media. I think you will hear the thunder of feet running to the Blue Room.” (The Blue Room is in the Statehouse Press Room where people hold press conferences in front of a blue curtain.)

Gov. Rod Blagojevich is expected to approve an electricity rate relief package that comes his way. “For several months, the governor has urged the legislature to pass a bill that provides consumers significant relief from skyrocketing electric rates,” wrote Blagojevich spokeswoman, Rebecca Rausch, in an e-mail. “We understand negotiators are close to an agreement, and we look forward to reviewing the final product.”

Small group meetings or small progress?
The governor has been in town since Monday, but no official leaders’ meetings have convened. The legislature has broken up into small group meetings so far to discuss gaming, a capital plan, education, revenue, agency spending and the Illinois Department of Corrections. They’re closed to the public.

The governor also sent a letter to House Speaker Michael Madigan, House Minority Leader Tom Cross and Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson criticizing them for halting progress on a proposal to expand gaming, which would pay for the debt service on a capital plan and for education. “Negotiations broke down over your refusal to dedicate some portion of new gaming revenue to education,” the governor wrote. He also said, “A budget that invests in infrastructure without providing resources for education and health care is not an option. We must find a way to meet all of our obligations.”

A leaders’ meeting will convene in the governor’s Capitol office Wednesday afternoon. The Senate Education Committee also is holding multiple-hour hearings every day this week, and many witnesses testify about the impact of the state budget problems on education and its relationship to student achievement. The hearings are a well-organized love fest between educators and some of the lawmakers and won’t result in a vote on legislation.

Other legislative movement
Illinois is on an even playing field with Texas in the final stages of competition for a $1 billion coal gasification plant, which would bring national and international attention to the state, according to sponsors of legislation designed to attract the FutureGen project to Tuscola or Mattoon in central Illinois. The Illinois House approved the incentive package 99 to 0 with one voting present this afternoon. If Illinois were chosen by an international alliance, this state would house the world’s first zero-emissions coal-fired power plant that’s touted to be a cleaner source of energy. It also would be a groundbreaking public-private partnership between local, state, national and international entities, with the added perk of creating a lot of new jobs wherever it lands. The bill has to go back to the Senate for final approval.

The House also “approved” a resolution stating the current governor should stay in Springfield during overtime session. It’s written to identify and pressure Gov. Rod Blagojevich, not future governors. Despite loud “boos” primarily from Democrats, who said the resolution was unfair and presented only for political gain, the resolution was considered approved by a “voice vote.” The measure is nonbinding.

Gov: No gaming without health care

On Tuesday we learned that Gov. Rod Blagojevich was willing to delay his plan to provide health insurance for adults. That would help lawmakers break the deadlock and approve a state budget, he said. On Thursday we learned state lawmakers were considering an expansion of gaming to pay for improvement of roads, bridges and schools. Friday’s developments taught us that the governor won’t sign an expansion of gaming without first having a health care bill approved.

Blagojevich’s point person in the House, Democratic Rep. Jay Hoffman of Chicago, spoke for him after a leaders’ meeting in the governor’s Statehouse office. Hoffman said the governor was willing to scale back his health care plan, but “scale back” doesn’t mean reducing the price. “We’re not talking about scaling back the goals,” Hoffman said. “We’re not talking about scaling back any of the means of providing affordable access to health care for everyone. We would look at taking the employer assessment as well as potentially some other revenue and implementing the health care plan beginning June 1, 2008, and over a four-year period.”

The “employer assessment” is a 3 percent tax on businesses that employ more than 10 people but that don’t offer health insurance for them. That’s still expected to generate about $1 billion, which Hoffman said would be available to help kick start the adult insurance plan in 2008, easing the burden on this year’s state budget. A pilot project isn’t an option, he said. Hoffman mentioned such other revenue sources as consolidating state funds and ending more corporate tax breaks.

But still, as the legislative leaders of both political parties look to fund construction projects through a gaming expansion — however they define expansion — they would have to swallow a health care plan in order to get the governor’s signature. “We would work on the health care piece, which is a prerequisite of signing any gaming bill, from other sources of revenue in the state of Illinois,” Hoffman said.

We also learned Friday that state legislators will have the day off Sunday, July 15, the first day since the governor has ordered them to be in Springfield every day since July 5 to negotiate an already delayed budget. But when lawmakers come back Monday, they’ll have 16 days before the current, one-month budget expires and threatens a state shutdown without another budget in place.

The threat of a state shutdown could be a good thing because it could force a compromise, according to Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson. “There’s just constantly more and more people saying, ‘Why should we vote for another one-month budget?’” he said after the budget meeting. “I’m not for shutting the state government down, but to bring some sort of conclusion to this, some people think that may be the only solution.”

House Speaker Michael Madigan agreed all caucuses want to avoid more 30-day budgets. “Those people probably have not contemplated what they would do if they were a leader and it’s the fifth day of August and paychecks aren’t going out,” he said. “I would hope that the end of the spending authority at the end of the month would move people toward a resolution.”

But he had this damper for people hoping to get that gaming bill: “It’s a very wide-ranging discussion. I wouldn’t put a lot of hope on it.”

Gaming discussed without the governor

The Senate is expected to recast its gaming bill that it originally approved May 31, the last day of the regular session. Now both Democrats and Republicans in that chamber are willing to expand gaming with one new riverboat in Chicago and up to three others anywhere else in the state. Senate President Emil Jones Jr. previously wanted to limit the new boats within certain distances from state borders. Now Rockford, Danville and other areas around Illinois would be able to bid on one of the new gaming licenses.

But there’s a lot of negotiating to be done before lawmakers decide where the boats would go and what the revenue would go toward. Education and major capital projects were the two priorities discussed in a closed-door meeting in the governor’s Statehouse office Thursday, but Gov. Rod Blagojevich wasn’t there. And his beloved health care idea wasn’t talked about.

The governor was in Chicago announcing a new executive order to prohibit insurance companies from basing premium increases on a client’s health status. Blagojevich’s absence changed the tone of the meeting in his office, the lawmakers said. “In fact, I think the governor would be a distraction today based on the feeling about him in this building,” said Rep. Lou Lang, a Skokie Democrat who recently released his frustrations on the House floor about the governor’s leadership. Thursday’s meeting was more “business-like,” according to Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson.

But the gaming meeting didn’t advance any new legislation, and there's a long way to go. For years, a slew of hang-ups have stymied efforts to expand gaming for state revenue. The horseracing industry wants subsidies from the state so it can compete with expansion of other gaming. But there’s debate about the subsidy level and the mechanism — slots at racetracks or an “impact fee” charged on casinos. And there's a trust issue about whether the state will simply change the law after the first wave of cash flows in, said Rep. Bob Molaro, a Chicago Democrat in the meeting. Other sticking points include the number of new boats and their locations. Lang said in early June that his version of gaming legislation spelled out nine Chicago-area communities in need of economic development that would qualify for one of the new gaming licenses.

Two other complications were raised after the meeting. One was by House Minority Leader Tom Cross of Oswego: “I think for everyone, one of the central questions here is, when would this money become available, assuming you bought into any of these concepts? We’re into July, and to get any of these things up and running, if you bought into that, you’d have to be pretty aggressive [for it] to be in the ’08 fiscal year.”

The other was mentioned by Sen. James DeLeo, another Chicago Democrat in the meeting. The priority of using gaming revenue for road and school construction projects might be more complicated. “We were warned by the budget director that casino revenues, gaming revenues are very hard to sell bonds on,” DeLeo said. “There’s a lot of if, if, ifs in gaming.”

So one of the lingering “ifs” is whether gaming will even appear in the final budget. If you need a refresher, here's where the key players stand on the gaming issue:
- The governor and Jones have said they support four new casinos in the Chicago area, and Jones has said he wants the money to go to education.
- Cross and House Speaker Michael Madigan said their caucuses still support expansion of gaming only at existing casinos, with the money going toward road and school construction projects.
- And Watson said Thursday the Senate GOP Caucus is open and flexible but would prefer the revenue fund a capital program.

Legislators: It's time to 'rock the system'

BY DEANESE WILLIAMS-HARRIS
Bethany Carson contributed to this report
Several legislators are asking Gov. Rod Blagojevich to convene a special session specifically for ethics reform. Today, Sen. Christine Radogno, a Lemont Republican, led the group in an attempt to persuade the governor to add ethics and campaign finance reform to the list of topics to be addressed during this summer’s ongoing special sessions.

Until Wednesday, the special sessions called by the governor have focused on the much-delayed state budget. But Blagojevich Tuesday proclaimed today’s special session to focus on gun control, leading Radogno and Chicago Democratic Rep. John Fritchey to urge the governor to take the same steps to end pay-to-play politics.

"It may not be time to take up contentious legislation, but I'll tell you what, Governor, if you're serious about taking care of unfinished business, I've got a suggestion for you," Fritchey said Tuesday on the House floor. "There's a piece of legislation that's not contentious. There's a piece of legislation that was supported by every member of this chamber, the 117 of us that were there. That was House Bill 1, the bill that will end pay to play."

House Bill 1 is just one of three ethics reform measures stuck in the Senate. It would set a $25,000 limit on how much contractors could give to state officials who received state contracts.

In yesterday's budget talks at the governor’s mansion, Radogno said lawmakers confronted Blagojevich about why the legislature hasn't acted on ethics legislation in any of the special sessions. According to Radogno, the governor said they were going to get to it, that nothing comprehensive was out there and that he called HB 1 "inadequate." Radogno said, "This, mind you, from the same man that told us two years ago that he was going to ‘rock the system,’ He has done absolutely, positively nothing with regards to ethics reform in this state."

Blagojevich did enact an ethics package during his first term that requires all state employees to take an annual ethics exam and that created ethics inspectors general for each executive office.

Radogno went on to say that there are two other measures being held in the Senate rules committee that are comprehensive ethics reform bills. The House also has approved both HB 3 and SB 1305, which have yet to be called for action on the Senate floor.

"We can stay in session for more than 10 minutes to work on this very important topic, and we need to do that," Radogno said.

During the special sessions, the governor has continued to advocate for his proposals to increase education funding and to provide health care for the estimated 1.4 million uninsured Illinoisans. He also wants gun control legislation. However, Fritchey says the most dominant issues in our state and in the headlines hasn't been education funding or gun legislation. "Its scandals and allegations and indictments," he said Tuesday on the floor. "Tell people that when you said you wanted to rock the system, you meant it."

The governor continues to keep his lips sealed about the subpoenas received by his office from federal investigators. As of this posting, the governor's office hasn't responded to our question whether he plans to call a special session for ethics reform.

UPDATE
The governor's call to spend an entire special session on gun control (the eighth special session) backfired Wednesday. One sponsor of the gun control legislation, Chicago Democratic Rep. Harry Osterman, repeated what he's been saying for the past few days: He will not call the legislation for a vote until it has enough votes for approval. That will take 71, to which Osterman said, "This bill will not get 71 votes ... It would be irresponsible of me the sponsor of this legislation to call this bill for a vote, knowing that it's going to fail."

In fact, if the bill is amended to need only 60 votes, as Osterman intends to do, the effective date will be June of 2008. "June of 2008," he repeated on the House floor. "So if passed with 60 votes, it won't take effect until June. So there is no need to rush a vote today or tomorrow."

Osterman will have to work to gain the votes on the controversial measure, but, he said, "Today is not that day. We need to be focused on the budget of our state. That is our collective priority."

House members clapped as he closed his comments.

The governor responded with a letter to House Speaker Michael Madigan that said, "I urge you to convene a Committee of the Whole to limit access to deadly large capacity ammunition clips. Giving the full House an opportunity to hear from law enforcement officials, anti-gun violence advocates and victims’ families will help us move closer to consensus on this important issue." He said he looked forward to working with the sponsor and the speaker's office to get the bill approved.

There was no leaders' meeting today.

No need for Republicans, but what about Democrats?

Despite more lawmakers’ comments that budget talks aren’t getting anywhere, Gov. Rod Blagojevich announced an idea Tuesday night that he thinks could potentially break the nagging budget impasse. But his ideas still require major revenue enhancements, which continue to lack consensus among Democrats, let alone both parties.

Blagojevich isn’t giving up on his beloved universal health care idea or his desired education funding increase — two of many items that have contributed to the gap between his proposed budget and the much smaller version preferred by three of the four legislative leaders. At his Springfield mansion Tuesday night, Blagojevich simply suggested that the education and health care portions of his spending plan be separated from the fiscal year 2008 budget. They would then be packaged with a revenue plan, yet to be determined or agreed upon, and voted on so that the programs would become effective after June 1, 2008. That date is key because it means the legislation creating the programs would only need a simple majority, not the three-fifths majority that currently requires some Republican votes in the House.

Sen. Carol Ronen, a Chicago Democrat and Blagojevich point person in her chamber, stood with the governor after the meeting and said Republicans wouldn’t be needed because a simple majority of Democrats could enact new revenue ideas that would make money available just in time for the programs to start in 2008. But that assumes at least 30 Democrats in the Senate and 60 Democrats in the House would support anywhere from $1 billion to $3 billion in new revenue. That’s not guaranteed. What makes this more questionable is that neither Republicans nor Democrats who support a smaller budget have any incentive to vote for education and health care plans they previously rejected just because the effective date changed.

The only other new information came with the idea that the lawmakers would break away from the rather large budget gatherings in the ballroom of the governor’s mansion and convene in smaller groups, which some GOP members suggested Monday.

Other than that, members said the meeting lacked progress but was full of drama, including the ongoing disagreements about new casinos and horse track subsidies and whether the state should invest in roads and schools before expanding health care and education. And, once again, the governor bashed House Speaker Michael Madigan by saying he hides behind his conservative Republican allies and needs to start acting like a Democrat. Of course, Madigan repeated his criticism of the governor’s “lack of understanding of the severity of the problem, the severity of the gap in understanding between the participants.” He added, “The governor came very close to losing his temper, but I tried to act like a father again. And he made a real nice recovery.”

UPDATE
The House members were told this afternoon that the remainder of July weekend sessions would convene at 9 a.m. Saturdays and 5 p.m. Sundays.

Session on guns called

Gov. Rod Blagojevich ignored the concerns of some lawmakers and legislative leaders by calling a special session Wednesday that will focus on gun control.

Rep. Lou Lang of Skokie and Rep. John Bradley of Marion, both Democrats on opposite sides of the issue, said Monday that the governor’s special session on gun control was meant to further divide lawmakers. They, along with House Speaker Michael Madigan and House Minority Leader Tom Cross, agreed that any special sessions should focus on finalizing a state budget, which has been deadlocked since regular session ended May 31.

The governor’s proclamation made an attempt to tie gun control to the budget by saying the session would “consider and discuss Senate Bill 1007 as well as the impact of assault weapon violence on the state’s health care expenditures and general fiscal health.”

Here’s what we wrote about the legislation May 28:
Ban on some ammunition clips

A proposed ban on ammunition clips that shoot off more than 10 rounds won approval by a House committee. Supporters say the ban would ease the emotional and social costs of losing innocent victims of gun violence, while opponents say it would worsen economic loses when gun manufacturers move to other states. The emotional issue has continued to come up in Illinois since a 1994 federal ban on assault weapons and the high-capacity magazine clips expired. Such opponents as the National Rifle Association and downstate lawmakers trying to protect sport say the legislation is too broad and would ban some firearms without stopping plotted crimes like those at Virginia Tech this spring.