Just in time for Memorial Day, and before the walleye go deep, the Illinois General Assembly has finished its business and gone home for the summer.
Say what you will about James “Pate” Philip’s presidency of the state Senate. Go ahead and complain that much of what the senator has achieved since taking over the gavel–the tort reforms, the draconian minimum sentences for convicted felons, the parental notifications prior to teenage abortions–has been struck down by the courts. Point out, if you must, that the DuPage Republican is gruff and, some say, insensitive to the plight of the urban poor.
Do not accuse him, however, of dillydallying. An avid north woods fisherman, one of the first things Philip did after the Republicans solidified their control of both chambers in 1995 was to move up the end of the spring session by more than a month. No more fuming and filibustering in Springfield’s summer heat, waiting for Michael Madigan, the Democrats’ Napoleon, to come to terms. Now the routine is to pass the state budget before the humidity hits and head north before the end of the spawn.
But don’t think for a minute that other kinds of fish aren’t still being fried in Springfield. That’s why the end of the shouting–whenever it comes–is always a good time to sort through the bills that passed, the bills that didn’t and the bills that, as a result, will soon be appearing in your mailbox.
On the overall, this was a quiet session, especially for an election year. The school-funding crisis was dealt with, albeit temporarily, last year. And no millionaire sportsmen came looking for a new football stadium or racetrack bailout. There was, however, enough money in the state treasury, what with the economic boom, to give something to just about everybody that wanted something . . . and to leave a $700 million surplus in the budget.
Of course, some somebodies did better than other somebodies. Here’s a very partial list of little winners, big winners and those who grabbed more than last week’s Powerball winners:
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Little winners: Include in this bracket are you, me and everybody else who pays personal income taxes in Illinois. Over the next three years we’ll see our personal exemption increased to $2,000 from the current $1,000. For a typical family of four, like mine, this will mean a $40 savings next year, growing to $120 by 2001. At first my wife and I couldn’t decide whether to spend it on a second car or a European vacation. Then we realized it might be just enough to cover this year’s increase in our municipal water bill.
Not-so-wealthy senior citizens were small-time winners, too, because the legislature raised to $16,000 (from $14,000) the annual income they can make and still qualify for Circuit Breaker property tax relief and a state subsidy for prescription medicines. The extra $70 might help offset shrinking Medicare benefits.
Big winners: List here those senior members of the Edgar administration whose nominations to various state boards and commissions were approved by the Senate. Apparently, these people had nothing going in the private sector so our lame-duck governor, who steps down Jan. 11, appointed a bunch of them to cushy pay-and-benefits positions beginning that same week. Edgar’s patronage director, who happens to be the sister of his principal fund-raiser, landed a $69,000-a-year seat on something called the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board. His top legal counsel is off to the Illinois Pollution Control Board at $83,514 a year. His personal assistant will start a new career on the Illinois State Labor Relations Board at $74,464 a year.
Dozens of these golden parachutes were issued, but my favorite went to Thomas Hardy, former Tribune political writer and Edgar’s press secretary. Tom gets a director’s seat on the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority. I’ve seen Tom drive. He’ll do just fine.
Powerball winners: While the hoi polloi got scraps and the faithful got sinecures, the Big Boys backed up the trucks and carried off millions. Philip held the flashlight while the state’s largest businesses won passage of an obscure but crucial change in the way the state computes what proportion of their income ought to be subject to Illinois’s 4.8 percent corporate income tax. The current formula blends three factors–plant, payroll and sales, with sales getting a double weighting. The new formula will be based solely on sales, meaning that multinational outfits like Amoco Corp., Abbott Laboratories, Caterpillar Inc. and Deere & Co. will be taxed only on income derived from sales here in Illinois. Depending on whose figures you trust, after a three-year phase-in, this piece of accounting magic will cost the state between $95 million and $150 million a year.
Never mind that plant and payroll are a better indicator of the amount of taxpayer-funded services that a company’s presence imposes on its home state. Think of this as a business incentive, the lobbyists say.
Last year the legislature passed this giveaway and Gov. Jim Edgar vetoed it. This year Edgar is said to be on the lookout for a corporate directorship or two–the better to supplement his income as, say, a university professor. Hmmmm.
But at least they’ve all gone home. Or to their fishing cabins. So the rest of us can begin our summers and brace for the fall political campaigns . . . when incumbents will remind us what winners we all were in Springfield.