End-of-Session Legislative Report – Week of January 12

The House and Senate brought the 96^th General Assembly to an end very early Wednesday moing and began the 97^th General Assembly just a few hours later that same day.  Retuing to Springfield after the holiday break brought a full agenda and significant expectations.  While an agreement had been announced by the Goveor and Senate President early last week, in the end the House and Senate were able to pass only a portion of the plan at a lower level than originally suggestion.  Both chambers did end up passing an income tax increase to help address the State’s fiscal crisis but, failed to include all of the components that were originally sought as a part of the “fix”, including a suggested $1 increase in the cigarette tax.  What passed both chambers was a temporary income tax increase that will jack up the personal income tax rate from 3 to 5% and the corporate income tax rate from 4.8 to 9.0%.  The increase will expire in 2015 and is contingent upon a spending increase cap for state funds at 1% increase per year.  What was left out of the equation to address a backlog of bills and continued demands on scare dollars was approval for an $8.7 billion dollar borrowing plan and the imposition of a new $1.00 increase in the cigarette tax.  A proposal for a property tax rebate plan was also scrapped in the final days and hours of the session. 

As midday Wednesday arrived, the new General Assembly was swo in to begin what should be another interesting year.  While discussed during the last session, no legislative changes were made to the Worker’s Compensation program in Illinois, nor to the educational system.  Both the House Speaker and Senate President pledged to continue to seek change in both these areas during the coming year along with other controversial issues affecting state govement.  Both chambers have started to introduce bills for consideration and will continue to do so until the introduction deadlines for the chambers in February.  

The following is a listing of bills that were considered during the final days of the 96^th General Assembly.   As the session sine die, the final action listed on these bills indicates the end action for the proposal.  Bills that did not move on to the Goveor are dead.   A subsequent report with bills filed for the new session will be coming out to you at the beginning of the week.

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