August 20, 2010

This week, legislation intended to generate much-needed revenue was signed into law, which Sen. Dillard said will provide a five-week amnesty period for tax delinquents.

Senate Bill 377 (PA 96-1435) allows individuals who have accumulated back taxes between June 30, 2002, and July 1, 2009, to pay those taxes penalty-free from Oct. 1 to Nov. 8 without being fined. Tax delinquents who don’t pay during the amnesty period will see all interest and penalties double.

Officials hope that by providing incentive for tax delinquents to cough up their overdue obligations the program will bring in tardy tax dollars, as opposed to spending state time and energy pursuing the tax delinquents.

The tax amnesty program was initially projected to return about $350 million, a prediction based on projections from the state’s 2003 tax amnesty program. However, recent data from the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability and the Department of Revenue indicate the program is more likely to return about $170 million.

Also this week, two bills were signed into law to encourage solar energy use.

House Bill 6202 (PA 96-1437) changes the date that Commonwealth Edison and Ameren are required to begin ramping up their renewable solar requirement. Previously, the electric suppliers had a 2015 deadline, but will now be required to show that 0.5 percent of the power is purchased from solar sources by 2012. The requirement will then incrementally increase over time and by 2015, six percent of power must be purchased from solar sources.

House Bill 5429 (PA 96-1436) creates a Homeowners’ Solar Energy Act that will protect homeowners’ rights to develop, install and use solar energy in their homes as long as they follow certain guidelines. The law specifically prohibits homeowners associations and condominium associations from prohibiting the installation of solar panels, but does not apply to buildings that are greater than 30 feet in height.

On Aug. 4, weeks after Quinn announced plans to cut Illinois’ budget by $1.4 billion, he released the remainder of his proposed cuts. The announcement, however, was short on detail which made it impossible to determine the true impact of the reductions, or even if they represented genuine cuts in spending.

On July 1, the Governor used his veto power on House Bill 859 to reduce Fiscal Year 2011 state appropriations by $155 million. On August 4, Quinn provided a rack-up of his $1.4 billion in vetoes and reserves by agency. Though there were very few specific details included on what he intends to cut, the cuts were outlined at www.budget.illinois.gov.

While Senate Republicans are supportive of the Governor’s plan to scale back state expenditures in the face of a $13 billion budget deficit, they noted that without additional detail, the Governor’s claims regarding what he will cut cannot be verified. Lacking this detail, it’s impossible to determine whether Quinn’s planned budget reductions will trim down state spending, or if these cuts will be made in other areas—such as Medicaid or group insurance—and simply push costs off into future fiscal years.

Senate Republicans question whether Quinn has the resolve to follow through with his promises to cut the budget. Since taking office, the Governor’s actions have demonstrated that he has not been willing to reduce spending in any meaningful way.

GOP senators point to a similar scenario that took place last year, wherein the Governor promised to cut $1 billion from state spending, even providing a list of cuts that were to be made. However, the vast majority of those budget reductions never happened. In fact, Quinn ended up overspending by $2 billion and increased Illinois’ backlog of bills from $4 billion to $6 billion.

August 6, 2010

Springfield, IL….The formation of the Illinois Joint Investigatory Panel on Early Release was announced on Aug. 5, with State Sen. Kirk Dillard (R-Hinsdale) named Co-Chair. Dillard said the mission is to determine the whereabouts of early release inmates, and to resolve unanswered questions about the details and community impact of Governor Quinn’s “MGT Push” prisoner early release program.   

“In January, I formally requested that the Senate and the House convene a Committee of the Whole to investigate the program, but my request continues to be ignored,” Dillard said. “The Department of Corrections and the Quinn administration refuse to answer even basic questions about the MGT Push program. We don’t know how they selected the inmates for release. We don’t know what crimes they had committed. We don’t even know where some of them are right now.

“The hearings will provide a forum for the administration to explain how they have addressed the problems surrounding the MGT Push program, and where Illinois goes from here with regard to its prisoner early release programs.”

Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno (R-Lemont) selected Dillard because of his years of legal experience and familiarity with the state’s Criminal Code. Dillard is currently the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee and a member of the Senate Criminal Law Committee. He also serves on the CLEAR (Criminal Law Edit, Alignment and Reform) Commission, a blue-ribbon panel that since 2005 has been working on a comprehensive rewrite of the state's Criminal Code.

Governor Pat Quinn’s Chief of Staff Jerome Stermer and the Illinois Department of Corrections Director Michael Randle are among those who have been invited to testify at the hearings.

The first hearing will be held on August 11th from 6 to 8 p.m. on the Illinois Central College North campus at 5407 N. University in Peoria.  It will be held in the Arbor Hall 2nd Floor Auditorium.  

The second hearing will be held on August 25th at the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago from Noon to 2 p.m.

State Representative Dennis Reboletti (R-Elmhurst) will also serve as joint Co-chair. Reboletti is a former prosecutor and has sponsored legislation to prevent implementation of early release programs in the future and has previously called for a legislative investigation into Quinn’s early release programs.

Other legislators who will be participating include:  State Representative Bill Mitchell (R-Forsyth), State Representative David Leitch (R-Peoria), State Representative Jim Durkin (R-Countryside), State Representative Jil Tracy (R-Quincy), State Representative Jim Sacia (R-Pecatonica), Senator Dale Risinger (R-Peoria) and Senator Tim Bivins (R-Dixon).

August 5, 2010

Illinois’ “Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday” will begin Friday, August 6 and extend through Sunday, August 15.

During this time, shoppers won’t be charged the state’s 5 percent sales tax on certain school supplies, clothes and shoes, though local sales taxes will still apply.

Qualifying items include clothing and shoes that cost less than $100 per item, as well as basic school supplies, like book bags, notebooks, lunch boxes, etc. 

Notable non-qualifying items include clothing costing more than $100, certain sports equipment and recreational footwear, computers and computer supplies, certain specialized art supplies, and electronics, such as cameras, video cameras, and cell phones.