Distributed via Email: August 18, 2008

SENATE TO TAKE UP VETOED BILLS TUESDAY

The Illinois Senate is scheduled to take action tomorrow (Tuesday, August 19) on bills that were changed dramatically by Governor Rod Blagojevich via amendatory veto. Earlier this month, the Governor announced his "Rewrite to Do Right" campaign in which he would use his amendatory veto powers to revise legislation and "make it better." Dozens of bills could be affected by this procedure.

The Illinois Constitution grants the Governor the authority to use an amendatory veto to make changes to legislation which has been sent to him by the legislature. Though the language in the Constitution is somewhat vague, since 1970 most political and scholarly observers have narrowly interpreted the provision as allowing a Governor to make minor clarifications or technical changes to legislation. Governor Blagojevich's changes, making wholesale changes to legislation by introducing new provisions which were not a part of the underlying bill as passed by the General Assembly, may be inviting a constitutional legal challenge.

In one case, the Governor took a bill to extend the life of a Tax Increment Financing District in a downstate town and created a brand new property tax homestead exemption for disabled veterans (see below).

The House of Representatives approved the Governors changes to these bills last week. The Senate is coming in on Tuesday to consider the legislation. If the Senate also accepts the Governors vetoes, the bills will become law with the Governor's changes.

Action is necessary on the following bills which will have a direct impact on local school districts.

The Illinois Senate is due to take up the Gubernatorial Amendatory Veto of House Bill 4201 (Sommer, R-Morton). The legislation as sent to the Governor extended to 35 years the Tax Increment Financing District for Downs, Illinois. The Governor's Amendatory Veto adds a property tax exemption for Disabled Veterans. The bill now contains the following provision:

Beginning in taxable year 2008, disabled veterans with at least a 50% service-connected disability will be eligible for a standard veterans' property tax homestead exemption of up to $1,000,000 ($3,000,000 in fair market value of the property). If the disabled veteran is granted the homestead exemption and becomes a resident of a nursing home, the exemption continues so long as the veteran's spouse occupies the home or until the veteran or veteran's spouse is not the owner of record.

The Alliance opposes this measure and asks that you contact your Senator to voice your opposition.

The provision could have a dramatic affect on local taxing district property taxes. If implemented, the program would either reduce the amount of the property tax receipts to the taxing body (if the body reduced its extension and levy to reflect this tax abatement); or would shift the property tax burden to all other property tax payers in the district. There could also be an impact on the school State aid funding formula with such a change in property tax valuations.

The Illinois Senate is also due to take up the Gubernatorial Amendatory Veto of House Bill 5285 (Jefferson, D-Rockford) tomorrow. The legislation as sent to the Governor extended dependent health coverage to full-time students that, due to illness or injury, cannot continue their full-time student status and would lose their healthcare coverage.

The Governor's Amendatory Veto expands the scope of the bill to require employer health insurance plans to continue coverage – at the option of the employee – to unmarried, young adults up to the age of 26, and to unmarried veterans up to the age of 30.

Included in the Amendatory Veto is language that would eliminate creditable coverage, which means pre-existing conditions would not be allowable. The result would be to allow for the employee to place an adult dependent on the employer's health insurance plan after the individual was diagnosed with a health condition. The affect would be like a homeowner waiting until the house catches on fire before buying homeowners insurance.

Such a health insurance mandate upon insurers would certainly add to the cost of providing health insurance for all employers, including school districts.

OTHER ACTION BY THE GOVERNOR

The Governor signed into law the following bill:

SB 2042 (Bond, D-Grayslake) makes changes relating to the residency of students in residential facilities and the payment of educational costs in provisions concerning tuition for non-resident pupils, determining the resident district with respect to children with disabilities, and special education classes for children from orphanages, foster family homes, children's homes, or in-state housing units. It provides that for any student with a disability in a residential facility placement made or paid for by an Illinois public state agency or made by any court in this state, the school district of residence is responsible for the costs of educating the child. The district shall be reimbursed for those costs in accordance with the School Code, with payments made by the resident district to the entity providing the educational services, whether the entity is the residential facility or the school district wherein the facility is located, no less than once per quarter unless otherwise agreed to in writing by the parties.

*The legislative report is written and edited by the lobbyists of the Illinois Association of School Boards to provide information to the members of the organizations that comprise the Statewide School Management Alliance.

General Assembly Bill Text/Status

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