It’s that time of year again, the dog days after the 4th of July when half the state goes on vacation and the other half stays behind to figure out what the Illinois General Assembly really did last week.
Sure, we all saw the headlines about the controversial pieces of legislation that did, and didn’t, pass in the frenzy of wheeling and dealing at session’s end.
We read how Gov. Jim Edgar’s emergency heart surgery quieted the political name-calling between Republicans and Democrats long enough for both sides to wink at a new state budget that looks to be $2 billion out of balance, or maybe more, if you don’t buy its rosy projections of growth in revenues and decline in the needs of the poor.
There were stories about the passage of Medicaid reform and the non-passage of purchasing reform. And the failure to approve riverboat gambling for Chicago.
But that’s just the big stuff . . . the legislation whose progress the press and public have followed for months.
There is also the little stuff . . . the no-name bills that pass in the final hours without fanfare or debate, usually as obscure amendments to larger, harmless-sounding “vehicle” bills.
Years of Springfield-watching have taught me to worry about the little stuff. You should, too. These are the bills that give meaning to the adage: “No man’s life, liberty or property are safe while the legislature is in session.”
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This year the McCarron family will be affected for better and worse by at least two end-of-session sleepers.
The good news is a bill that, if signed by the governor, would create a state authority to issue construction bonds on behalf of university research parks.
Why do I care?
Because I live in Evanston, home of one of Illinois’ three official university research parks, and because the build-out of our park has been stalled for lack of financing. With a huge surplus of office space still on the market, banks and insurance companies aren’t lending “on speculation” to developers who hope to lease to small, high-tech entrepreneurs.
So, after jumping off to a fast start, developing and filling 300,000 square feet of space with 60 startup companies and 600 jobs, the Northwestern University-Evanston Research Park has found itself dead in the water, having condemned and cleared several more blocks of prime downtown real estate but lacking the wherewithal to keep building as planned.
So promising young companies such as Illinois Super Conductor Corp.,having outgrown their offices at the park, are making plans to leave town for larger quarters.
Not to worry.
While we were following the Edgar surgery/budget compromise drama, my state representative, Jeffrey Schoenberg (D-Wilmette), quietly was lining up bipartisan support for a new Illinois Research Park Authority capable of issuing $150 million in state-backed bonds.
Personally I think this is a good idea, and not just because my property taxes might stabilize if Evanston can shore up its industrial tax base. The state won’t be out-of-pocket if the new buildings lease up as planned. And public-private ventures, especially those that join our state’s universities and high-tech industries, will pay dividends throughout Illinois in the form of new jobs and tax revenues.
But alas, no sooner did I learn of Rep. Schoenberg’s quiet coup than word arrived from Springfield of another last-minute bill that, if signed into law, will undo any effort to build up my suburb’s tax base.
Looking to play Santa Claus during their coming re-election campaigns, lawmakers passed a bill to cap the property-tax assessments of every homeowner in the state older than 65 and with an annual income of less than $35,000.
No doubt my retired, homeowning parents out in Lombard will score this one in the “good news” column. But for working homeowners in suburbs with a lot of seniors-like the McCarrons of Evanston-this one is hard to take. Over time the senior assessment freeze will cause a substantial shift in the local tax burden to other sectors of the tax base, such as my house and the aforementioned Evanston-Northwestern research park, where high property taxes already are a major hindrance to the recruiting of tenants.
My state representative, the nimble Mr. Schoenberg, also voted for the senior assessment freeze. It was a tough one to vote against and will be a tougher one for candidate Edgar to veto.
But hey, what the legislature giveth, the legislature can take away.
I just wish we had more warning about the end-of-session stuff.
Some of it, after all, isn’t so little.