March 5, 2010

Legislative committees met continuously during the week as Senate lawmakers attempted to move all Senate bills out of committee by the scheduled March 5 deadline.

The Senate Executive Committee considered legislation that would require a photo of any prisoner who received early release to be posted online, while additional measures would increase the speed limit for cars and trucks to 70 mph on rural interstates and allow $300 million in short-term borrowing for health care providers.

Following reported problems and abuses related to Gov. Pat Quinn’s “MGT Push” inmate early release program, Senate Bill 3411 was introduced to make public identifying information and a photograph of any inmate who is released earlier than was delineated in their initial sentence. The information would not only include the inmate’s name and age, but also his or her physical attributes, address, the offense that was committed and the county where the conviction took place.

Only months after a 2009 law went into effect allowing big trucks to travel 65 miles per hour on certain Illinois interstates, a measure has been introduced to increase the state speed limit to 70 mph for both cars and big rigs on interstates outside of heavily populated areas, like Chicago or collar counties and other urban areas.

The Executive Committee also approved legislation, despite Senate Republican protests, that would authorize the state to commit to $300 million in short-term borrowing for health care and human service providers.

Senate Bill 3383 would allow the Illinois Finance Authority to sell $300 million in bonds to provide short-term, zero-interest loans to “financially distressed” providers. Those are providers who get at least 40 percent of their revenues from the state. The state would repay the bonds by diverting revenues from cigarette taxes that are currently going to finance state payments to nursing homes.

Though proponents say Illinois’ delayed payments to the state’s health care providers have created serious fiscal issues for the providers, opponents strongly object to any additional state borrowing and question why revenues that are currently going to nursing homes should be tapped for this initiative. Republican committee members voted against the proposal, urging their Democrat counterparts to restructure, cut and manage the state budget to eliminate the perceived need to short-term borrow.

The entire Senate considered two additional borrowing measures earlier in the week. Senate Bill 1425 allows the Governor to short-term borrow $250 million for Medicaid without Comptroller or Treasurer approval. The plan was ultimately approved by both the Senate and the House, though Republican lawmakers strongly opposed the measure, pointing to the $11 billion that the state has borrowed since 2003—with interest costs topping $100 million.

Additionally, legislation that would allow public universities, including the University of Illinois and Northeastern Illinois University, to short-term borrow up to 75 percent of the money owed to them by the state (Senate Bill 642) was reluctantly approved by a majority of lawmakers. While lawmakers expressed concerns about another borrowing measure, supporters pointed out that the schools are already owed the money and the bill gives universities needed flexibility to cope with the state’s inability to pay colleges in a timely manner.