Distributed via Email: September 12, 2008

The Illinois House of Representatives this week approved a bill to lease the Illinois Lottery to provide a revenue stream for a new capital projects program. SB 2595 (Trotter, D-Chicago) is estimated to bring in at least $10 billion to the state to build roads, bridges, and schools. The bill passed on a vote of 75-38. The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration, though the Senate is not scheduled to return to Springfield for session until November.

There are no provisions in the bill regarding how the capital money will be spent. It is unclear at this time how much of the funding will be made available for school construction and how such projects would be selected for funding. The Alliance strongly supports the continued use of the structure and procedures contained in the current School Construction Grant Law when allocating any new school construction funding.

SB 2595 does attempt to protect the current revenue flow that public schools receive from the Lottery. A provision in the bill creates the "Illinois Education Trust Fund" to guarantee that $600 million of lottery proceeds will be earmarked each year for public education operations.

The House of Representatives also approved legislation to "sweep" monies from restricted state funds and put them into the General Revenue Fund in an effort to restore funding to the Fiscal Year 2009 budget that was cut by Governor Rod Blagojevich. SB 790 (Schoenburg, D-Evanston) was approved on a vote of 97-16. That bill, too, must be sent to the Senate for consideration.

The fund sweeps would provide about $221 million more for the legislature to use to shore up the budget cuts. The bulk of those funds would be put into the budget to reverse the budget cuts in the Departments of Natural Resources, Historic Preservation, Human Services, Aging, and DCFS. Recent announcements of closings of some state parks and historic sites created pressure on lawmakers to address the budget again.

The House approved the spending of about $218 million in a supplemental appropriations bill, SB 1103 (Trotter, D-Chicago). This spending is basically covered by the fund sweeps revenue. However, another appropriations bill, HB 6350 (Madigan, D-Chicago), was also approved by the House with no funding source specifically attributed to it. HB 6350 authorizes the spending of an additional $665 million. The bulk of this spending would be earmarked for Medicaid payments and the Department of Human Services.

Members of the House voted to override over a dozen bills that the governor changed via his amendatory veto powers. Top on the list was the "ethics reform" bill, HB 824 (Fritchey, D-Chicago). The governor added several new provisions of the bill which puts the bill in jeopardy – the original bill was approved by both chambers unanimously. The bill is intended to clamp down on political contributions the politicians receive from entities seeking business contracts from the state.

The House also overrode the governor's vetoes on the following bills:

HB 953 (Lang, D-Skokie) was a bill that mandated that health insurance policies cover visits to marriage therapists. The governor included in the bill required insurance coverage for autism spectrum disorders.

HB 1432 (Crespo, D-Hoffman Estates) was a bill that mandated that health insurance policies cover mental disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. The governor included in the bill required insurance coverage for treatment of victims of sexual assault.

HB 4527 (Lang) provides increased grant amounts to public libraries and school libraries. The governor changed the bill so that only libraries that stay open until 9 p.m. are eligible for the grants.

HB 4602 (Beiser, D-Alton) was a bill that mandated that health insurance policies cover the shingles vaccine. The governor included in the bill a provision to allow retired firemen to stay on their municipal insurance coverage for a longer period.

All of these bills will be sent to the Senate for consideration.

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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