Late Wednesday afternoon, HB 40 passed in the Illinois State Senate by a vote of 33-22. Thirty votes are needed for passage in the Illinois Senate. This bill was passed with a party-line vote by the Democratic majority without one Republican vote, and four Democrats not voting on this controversial proposal.

Click HERE to see how your state senator voted on this legislation, or look at the graphic below. (Look up your state elected officials HERE.)

Just a few weeks ago, on April 25th, it was passed by the Illinois House by a vote of 62-55.

Now that it has passed in both chambers, Governor Bruce Rauner will have 60 days to keep his pledge to veto it, once it reaches his desk. If he does nothing, it automatically becomes law.

**UPDATE:  A motion to reconsider has been made, which delays the process, however, we fully expect HB 40 being sent to the governor’s desk, despite political posturing and tactical schemes.

IFI’s concerns remain:

HB 40 forces taxpayers to pay for Medicaid abortions. In 1977, there were over 12,7000 taxpayer-funded Medicaid abortions. Based on the increased number of new Medicaid recipients in the last 5 years, Illinois taxpayers could be forced to pay for over 15,000 abortions per year.

HB 40 removes the policy statement in the Abortion Law of 1975, that an unborn child is a person.

HB 40 adds abortion coverage to state employees’ insurance plans which, as taxpayers, you also pay for.

HB 40 targets minorities. Blacks make up 30%, Latinos – 16% and Asians – 5% of the Medicaid recipients in Illinois. Combined, they are 51% of the Medicaid recipients.

HB 40 is a spending bill that expands entitlements. Illinois owes $10 billion in unpaid bills with tens of billions more in unfunded liabilities. Illinois has the lowest credit rating in the nation because we can’t pay our bills.

It’s outrageous that Illinois lawmakers would spend money we don’t have to kill unborn children!

Take ACTION: Click Here to email Governor Bruce Rauner. Urge him to keep his pledge to veto HB 40. Also, call the governor’s public comment lines: (217) 782-0244 and (312) 814-2121.

How Did They Vote?

Editor’s note: Since the op ed below was first drafted, the authors have introduced their proposal in a series of bills to be considered by the state senate.

By State Sens. Kyle McCarter (R-Lebanon) and Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods)

For two years, a political paralysis has had a grip on Illinois government. For two years, we have operated the state without a regular budget – the longest in American history. Unfortunately, even though we don’t have a budget, the spending spree continues unabated. With no controls, spending is out-of-control. The state is on pace to spend 38 billion in the current fiscal year when we expect to collect $32 billion in revenue.

The budget proposals offered over the last two years have either been wildly out of balance or raised taxes first while doing little to restrain the growth of government. Tax and spend solutions have never worked for the long-term fiscal health of our state, nor contributed to sustainable economic growth and job creation.

The “Taxpayer Bargain” budget plan we unveiled April 4 will end the failure of what passes as ‘business as usual’ in Springfield, because it will begin to put our fiscal house back in order. It took years of mismanagement to get into this crisis and it will take years to get out of it. We must begin now. We are approaching an insurmountable debt crisis, but there is hope if we act in a fiscally responsible manner from this point forward. Under the “Taxpayer Bargain” budget, for the first time in many years, Illinois will have a complete and constitutional budget, meaning spending is limited to the actual revenue collected. It requires reforms that make government more efficient and accountable, and creates guidelines to reduce the waste and abuse of taxpayer dollars. It does this with no tax increase and no new taxes.

The plan is very strong medicine for a very sick state. It forces the Legislature to make tough decisions between needs and wants. The “Taxpayer Bargain” requires lower spending, with 10% across-the-board cuts at state agencies and departments. It simply asks for a dime of savings for every dollar spent. Recognizing that there are priorities, primary and secondary education is protected, as is Medicaid for the most vulnerable, and pension payment obligations. The plan includes a hard, enforceable cap on spending. Part of the fiscal management under the “Taxpayer Bargain” includes borrowing $7 billion to begin to pay off old bills so we can eliminate $500 million in late payments and fees. Paying back the bonds (borrowed money) will be tied to the spending cap. If the Legislature ignores the cap and returns to their overspending abuses of the past, they lose their salary for that fiscal year. On the other hand, any revenue collected that comes in above the cap, will go directly to priorities: Education – 25%; Capital construction (roads and bridges) – 25%; Pension debt payments – 10% and Paying off old bills – 40%.

A lot of input from both Republican and Democrat legislators was included in the “Taxpayer Bargain.” It also includes pending legislation sponsored by members of both parties. It is a compromise between political differences, but does not compromise or sellout common sense principles that Illinois government must live within its means just like Illinois families and businesses. If Illinois families can’t afford to overspend year after year then state government can’t afford it either. We know that making these cuts will be difficult and painful, but in order to restore Illinois’ fiscal health for today and for future generations we must act. The “Taxpayer Bargain” is the only budget proposal without punishing tax increases.

We’ve been asked, “Why make this effort when your plan won’t have a chance of passing, especially in the House.” The answer is simple: We are obligated, as elected members of the General Assembly, to do what’s right, regardless of the political probabilities.

Remember the results the last time taxes were raised without reforms: People fled the state, prosperity and opportunity were diminished as jobs were lost and businesses closed or moved away. There is another way. Intrigued? We created a website www.taxpayerbargain.com where we are continually adding details of the “Taxpayer Bargain.” Our challenge is to save our state. The “Taxpayer Bargain” is how to do it without asking for one more dime from you.

TAKE ACTION

Click Here to contact your state senator and representative and ask them to support and co-sponsor the 15 bills that are needed to deliver a no-tax-increase-balanced-budget to the governor.

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A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to talk with former state Senator Steve Rauschenberger, an old friend and former boss. When I first met him during his first campaign back in 1992, the political operative I was with made a prediction to me after the meeting: Steve is not going to play along — he’s going to be a problem for the GOP establishment. And he was.

Along with four other senators elected the same year, Steve became part of what was called the “Fab Five”: Peter Fitzgerald, Chris Lauzen, Pat O’Malley, and Dave Syverson. Only Syverson remains in the Illinois Senate today. The group was outspoken and critical of both parties when it came to important policies.

Then Senate President James “Pate” Philip made Steve chairman of the senate’s Appropriation Committee, and Rauschenberger became a respected expert on the budget. In addition, Steve excelled in an understanding of electric deregulation, telecom legislation, and the state’s health care industry. You don’t get that deep into technical issues such as those without ability and commitment.

In the senate Rauschenberger was a critic of both Governors Jim Edgar and George Ryan, but once Rod Blagojevich took office, Edgar and Ryan looked a whole lot better by comparison. Under Blagojevich, Steve explained, any commitments to restraints were tossed out and mismanagement took hold and both spending and debt skyrocketed.

Curious to hear what Steve had to say about the state budget drama today, I called him. Sure enough, he summed up the state of the state nicely.

When it comes to spending money, he explained, the state is like a raging drug addict that is incapable of dealing with his addiction. Increasing the supply of drugs is as foolhardy as giving the state more money. That addict needs to be committed to a clinic where he can get treatment and break his addiction.

When it comes to state spending, there are three places you’re going to have to look: Medicaid, education, and pensions. On the phone, Steve said there were four areas — he divided up K-12 and higher ed.

When I told him I figured Medicaid was going to be tough to get money from as we transition out of Obamacare, he disagreed. Medicaid payments to hospitals are too high in Illinois, Steve explained, and then he confirmed another one of my recent comments to friends regarding hospital construction. The Rush-Copley near me recently put on a new lobby and facade. Not long ago I learned that some of the floors of a hospital in DuPage County were being laid with marble from Asia. I was correct that the hospital business was thriving, but wrong about Medicaid — it indeed can be cut according to Rauchenbeger.

Eventually the pensions are going to have to be cut off from the state budget, Steve said, as there is no legal requirement for taxpayers to keep funding the system. The proliferation of six-figure pensions for retired state employees is (and these are my words) legalized theft.

As for the K-12 and the state colleges and universities, there has been little discipline when it comes to spending for many decades. It’s for the kids, don’t you know, and uh, the young adults attending college.

On the topic of the budgetary standoff between Governor Bruce Rauner and House Speaker Mike Madigan, Steve then compared the state’s budget to a machine. Government programs operate like an engine, and when there is something wrong with the engine, just adding more fuel (through tax increases) solves nothing.

You have to fix the engine to balance the budget. In some policy areas the only adjustment needed will be the turning of a few dials. In other areas, a tune-up. Still others, a complete overall is absolutely required. Unfortunately, he said, right now there seems to be little interest in addressing the fundamentals.

When Illinois Senators Kyle McCarter (R-Vandalia) and Dan McConchie (R-Lake Zurich) introduced their “Taxpayer Bargain” budget proposal a few weeks ago they described it as strong medicine for a very sick state.

After talking with Steve Rauschenberger, it looks like major surgery will be required along with that strong medicine.

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Have you heard about the “Grand Bargain” that has been travelling the bumpy road of the legislative process in Springfield during this General Assembly session? Not surprisingly, it is neither a bargain nor grand for taxpayers.

Illinois Senate Minority leader Christine Radogno (R-Lemont) has been (or was?) working with Illinois Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) for a few months on trying to craft a budget that can pass.

There are conflicting reports about whether talks are still underway between the Radogno and Cullerton camps. There are not conflicting reports about the continuing Governor Bruce Rauner and Speaker Michael Madigan feud. Both sides are already blaming the other for the bargain’s failure.

Illinois has been without a budget for almost two years. What’s wrong with that? Many things, including what Illinois Senator Dan McConchie (R-Lake Zurich) has pointed out, “Every day we go without a balanced budget, the state debt rises by $11 million.”

That deserves a repeat: Illinois’ debt rises by $11 million every day we don’t have a balanced budget.

Another not-so-little problem are reports estimate that without action, the state could have as much as $15 billion in unpaid bills by July.

Doesn’t it make you proud to live in the Land of Lincoln? On that topic:

Illinois registered voters are divided over whether they’d like to leave the state or stay, according to the latest poll from the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Specifically, the poll found that 47 percent say they would like to move and 51 percent prefer to remain in the state. Just under 2 percent said they didn’t know.

It’s no surprise that taxes “are the single biggest reason” people want to leave.

The Illinois Policy Institute’s John Tillman recently noted that IPI “commissioned a poll that found that more than half of Illinois voters want lawmakers to balance the budget by only cutting state spending.”

With the help of our friends at the Illinois Policy Institute, let’s do a quick survey of some more of the unpleasant facts regarding Illinois’ fiscal state of the state.

Illinois Has Highest Overall Tax Burden in the Nation
A new report from WalletHub finds Illinois’ combined state and local tax burden is higher than that of every other state and the District of Columbia.

From the article:

Some state politicians want to make this tax burden even worse. The Illinois Senate is currently negotiating its so-called “grand bargain” budget deal, which includes billions of dollars in tax hikes for Illinoisans. Among the Senate’s ideas: a permanent 33 percent income tax hike, implementing a tax on sugary beverages, raising taxes on food and drugs, and expanding the sales tax to include previously exempt services.

The Truth About Your Property Tax Bill

From the article:

Illinoisans are struggling to pay the highest property taxes in the nation, and that’s largely due to unfair overspending in local governments.

How about those bloated and overly generous government employee pensions?

Interest on Illinois’ pension debt is $9.1B per year
A golden rule of finance is this: Debt that can’t be paid won’t be paid.

Just a few more:

Illinois Senate’s Spending “Cap” Doesn’t Protect Taxpayers, Core Services

From the article:

The Senate’s “grand bargain” contains a one-year spending “cap” that won’t improve fiscal responsibility. A real cap must come with structural spending reforms to return spending to a level that taxpayers can afford.

Lest you think it’s only income and property taxes being discussed:

Illinois Senator Pitches Expanding Sales Tax to Tattoos, Manicures and Pedicures, More

Illinois Pitches Sales Tax for Netflix, Spotify, Other Streaming Services

Ready for a silver lining (albeit a very thin silver lining)?

Six Illinois Republican state senators have pledged to not raise taxes:

Tim Bivins of Dixon
Kyle McCarter of Lebanon
Jim Oberweis of Sugar Grove
Dave Syverson of Rockford
Bill Brady of Bloomington
Sue Rezin of Morris

Take ACTION:  Please send a message to your state senator to urge him/her to reject any and all proposals to increase taxes in Illinois. Springfield lawmakers need to understand that state government has a serious spending problem, not a revenue problem. Moreover, they have proven to be utterly irresponsible with the billions of dollars in revenue they already receive; why should they be entrusted with even more?

Image credit: Illinois Policy Institute.

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How did they vote?

After passionate testimony from both sides, HB 40 passed by a vote of 62-55 yesterday afternoon. Sixty votes are needed for passage. This proposal for taxpayer funding of abortion will now proceed to the Illinois Senate where it is expected to pass.

Click HERE to see how your state representative voted on this legislation, or look at the graphic below. (Look up your state representative HERE.)

Passage of HB 40 would translate into tens of thousands of additional abortions in Illinois every year through Medicaid. As explained in an earlier article, this law would result in a disproportionate number of black and brown babies being killed.

HB 40 also allows the Deptartment of Health and Human Services to make grants to nonprofit agencies and organizations that use such grants to refer, counsel for, or perform abortions.

In addition, state employees would have abortion coverage added to their insurance plan under HB 40.

Proponents, for the most part, focused their testimony on a woman’s choice to have control over her own body and the “right” of poor women to have access to “health care” while opponents’ focus was on the fact that innocent pre-born human life would be killed with taxpayer resources.

It’s a tragic day in Illinois when the most helpless have no protection from the adult lawmakers who are already born.

Take ACTION:  Click HERE to send an email to your Illinois state senator and to Governor Bruce Rauner. Urge them to reject against HB 40.  (If you have already sent an email to your state representative, please now send an email to your state senator.)

If there were laws requiring truth in political advertising, today’s evasively-named “Illinois Women March on Springfield” would be called “Illinois Feminists’ Jackbooted March for Womb-Killing and Sexual Perversity.”

“Progressive” feminists will be stomping into Springfield later today lobbying lawmakers to, among other odious things, force taxpayers to fund abortion through Medicaid; eliminate in law any recognition of sex differences between men and women through support for the misnamed Equal Rights Amendment; make it easier for gender-dysphoric men and women to access fraudulent birth certificates; and through opposition to the Pupil Physical Privacy Act, force all Illinois public schools to allow co-ed restrooms and locker rooms.

“Progressives” appeal to compassion, equality, and justice to mask evil and injustice. They pervert concepts that appeal to Americans in order to advance policies, laws, and values that thwart human flourishing and the public good while advancing radical autonomy and selfishness. Don’t be deceived by feminist sophistry or cowed by their epithets.

Conservative women have far wiser words to offer on these issues:

“Is this a proper and moral solution to an unexpected pregnancy for poor women? Can’t Illinois find a way to raise the opportunities for its citizens so they can afford to house, feed and educate their children and welcome new life, rather than tell them: kill your children, we don’t want them.” ~Ann Scheidler– Vice President, Pro-Life Action League

“Imagine my surprise to find out that a Women’s March to Springfield is really a March to promote a pernicious agenda that will have far reaching and unintended effects; spiritual, physical and mental on women. The March’s agenda, being promoted, seems to center around a woman’s unfettered license to do whatever, whenever, she wants, regardless of any consequences or victims.” ~Bonnie Quirke– President, Lake County Right to Life

“The true strength of women is revealed in the uniqueness in her female gender. Only a woman can bring a life into the world. These women would be better served to recognize and celebrate their true beauty and dignity – their ability to procreate and the natural instincts women have to nurture children.” ~Dawn Fitzpatrick– President, Chicago March for Life

In 1979, to counteract the feminist NOW organization and The Equal Rights Amendment, Beverly LaHaye founded Concerned Women for America –America’s largest public policy women’s organization. Beverly LaHaye declared, “Feminists don’t speak for me!” and thirty-eight years later more than 500,000 active CWA members still agree. Feminists’ anti-God, anti-family ideology never has represented the beliefs of millions of America’s Christian women and never will. ~Deborah R. Leininger– Illinois State Director, Concerned Women for America

You too can make your voice heard. Take ACTION on these three items:

1.)  Click HERE to urge your state representative to OPPOSE taxpayer funding of abortion through HB 40.

2.)  Click HERE to urge your state representative to OPPOSE HB 1785 and uphold birth certificates as legal documents.  The state of Illinois has no duty or right to make it easier for men and women who wish they were the opposite sex to falsify their birth certificates.

3.)  Click HERE to urge your state senator and state representative to OPPOSE the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), SJRCA 4.

Please also make a couple of calls to reinforce your emails. The Capitol switchboard number is (217) 782-2000.

IFI Forums on Climate Change & the Christian

Join us at one of our four stops as we have Dr. Calvin Beisner, the founder & national spokesman for The Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation lead a discussion about the Christian responsibility to the environment and learn how to discern truth and myth in the climate change controversy.

April 25th in Rockford
April 26th in Arlington Heights
April 27th in Orland Park
April 28th in Peoria

Click HERE to learn more!

Lawmakers and faith leaders are touting the power of prayer in keeping Illinois safe from a legislative agenda that could be a major roadblock to the state’s turnaround.

There is little doubt that many Illinois citizens tune out their state’s political and governmental news because like any soap opera, the characters may change, but the basic drama remains the same. The plot hasn’t advanced much since Governor Bruce Rauner took office, so it’s easy to doze off when the news reports come on the radio.

The main soap opera in Illinois during the past few years has revolved around our lack of a state budget. Things were bad even with a budget, now without one they’re getting worse.

The Illinois governor is charged with a big task. The state’s constitution says that he “shall prepare and submit to the General Assembly … a State budget for the ensuing fiscal year” where the “[p]roposed expenditures shall not exceed funds estimated to be available for the fiscal year as shown in the budget.” In other words, a balanced budget. Rauner claims he has introduced a balanced budget, but experts readily admit the math proves him wrong.

Rauner isn’t the first guy to fail in this duty. We haven’t seen an Illinois governor introduce a balanced budget for a very long time — but at least they proposed a budget. That said, none of the previous governors ran on a platform of getting serious about cleaning up Illinois’ financial mess. Rauner did. We continue to hear about the “turn around agenda,” but evidently that turn around doesn’t begin with a balanced budget proposal.

There actually is good news out there among all the bad. Really, there is. Two no-tax-increase budgets have been introduced during this General Assembly session. The first was produced by the Illinois Policy Institute and announced in February. The details of it — and there are many — can be found by visiting their website.

The other no-tax-increase budget was recently introduced by state Senators Kyle McCarter (R-Vandalia) and Dan McConchie (R-Lake Zurich). So even though our Republican governor didn’t offer a balanced budget, at least two other elected Republicans have.

Senators McCarter and McConchie are calling their proposal a “Taxpayer Bargain.” No doubt the name is in answer to what has been called the “grand bargain” that has made headlines for months. Grand indeed, except for taxpayers, since tax increases are included.

Instead of a tax increase, the Taxpayer Bargain proposal calls for cuts in the state budget. Cuts are the key. As simple as that is, and as basic it is to any business or household, expenditures cannot exceed revenues for long. So regardless of all the cries from tax dollar eating bureaucracies, interest groups, and their allies in the media and the Democratic Party, cuts are not an option.

In fact, with the over-spending that has been going on at the state level for decades, to get to a genuinely balanced budget is not an easy task. It is going to take courage — and as important — a plan to market the proposal across the state.

State Senators Kyle McCarter and Dan McConchie’s are showing courage — and as result, a sign of life in the GOP senate caucus. Their budget, McCarter says, is “strong medicine for a very sick state.”

Listening to a politician talk is typically something people seek to avoid — but I would encourage readers to watch all or at least parts of the series of Facebook videos produced by Sen. McCarter. One by one he is goes through all the sections of the Taxpayer Bargain. And while he discusses some details that are deep in the weeds, over-all it is a good over-view for budget laymen to be introduced to the topic.

In those videos, Sen. McCarter is having a conversation with Illinois taxpayers — one that Rauner and the rest of the Republicans in the General Assembly should’ve started a very long time ago.

So why doesn’t Rauner just adopt the McCarter/McConchie or the IPI budget? Your guess is as good as mine. With a Democrat controlled legislature it probably is a good idea to start negotiations with what is close to an ideal budget. With the mess that this state is in, close to ideal means no tax increases. High taxes have been driving out businesses and taxpayers — and one of the more depressing news items of late is that Illinois tax revenues are actually down so far this year. So if things aren’t bad enough…it’s past time for this soap opera to be cancelled.

Here is the title and headings (as bullet points) provided in a press release announcing the budget plan — note the unique concept of “Taxpayer respect”:

“TAXPAYER BARGAIN” UNIQUE STATE BUDGET PLAN
Balanced, Spending restraint, Taxpayer respect

• Balanced Budget
• Cuts
• Requires Fiscal Responsibility
• Modernizes Illinois’ Public Pension Systems
• Medicaid Reforms
• Reforming How Illinois Does Business
• Creating a Stable, Predictable Environment to Attract Job Creators to Illinois

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The 100^th General Assembly is well underway in Springfield. Our state lawmakers have introduced more than 6,000 bills since January 11th when they were sworn in, and they still have two and a half months to go before they adjourn for the summer. Many of these proposals are working their way through the legislative process. Over the next few weeks, bills will be scheduled for committee hearings and then possibly called for a vote in their chamber of origin before they are heard and debated in the other chamber.

There are a number of bills on our radar screen this session. Click HERE to download and print a PDF list of the major bills that IFI is working on during this part of the legislative session. We have included a brief synopsis to alert you about the status of these bills and the action you can take to support or oppose them.  We will send out alerts with more details at the appropriate time during this process. The legislative process is very fluid, bills often times stall or are amended in ways that change our concerns or support. We do not want to exasperate our subscribers with unnecessary calls to action.

Our highest priority is to stop taxpayer-funding for abortion from getting passed in the Illinois House. This atrocious proposal, HB 40, has twenty-five co-sponsors and is on third reading, which means it could be called at any time.

[T]he unborn child is a human being from the time of conception and is, therefore, a legal person for the purposes of the unborn child’s right to life and is entitled to the right to life from conception under the laws and Constitution of this State. Further, the General Assembly finds and declares that longstanding policy of this State to protect the right to life of the unborn child from conception by prohibiting abortion unless necessary to preserve the life of the mother is impermissible only because of the decisions of the United States Supreme Court and that, therefore, if those decisions of the United States Supreme Court are ever reversed of modified or the United States Constitution is amended to allow protection of the unborn then the former policy of this State to prohibit abortions unless necessary for the preservation of the mother’s life shall be reinstated.

We want to encourage calls as well. The Springfield Capitol switchboard number is (217) 782-2000.

Please also continue to pray for God’s leading and direction for our political leaders and lawmakers. Pray that God moves the hearts of our elected officials!

Thank you for your interest in our state government and
for caring enough about the families in Illinois to speak out.

IFI depends on the support of readers like you. Donate now.

-and, please-

One of the Illinois General Assembly’s top budget minds is offering some common sense ideas on how the state can return to fiscal sanity and once again become a go-to state for business.

IFI is partnering with pro-life advocates to put up pro-life billboards throughout the Chicago metro area with the simple and bold statement “Abortion Takes Human Life,“ but we need your financial partnership to make this a success.  Can you help with a tax-deductible donation to this campaign?