The Capitol Buzz.....

Despite rumors a one-year budget would be passed out of the Illinois Senate, it doesn’t appear there are sufficient votes for that plan. The budget would be balanced with gambling expansion and loophole closings, however, the internal politics that have permeated the Senate all session long may prevent this bill from passing.

 

The bill includes a $900 million increase for education and the education component is viewed by many of the members of the General Assembly as one of the key motives for the budget idea. In fact, several legislators have been holding back on supporting the health insurance plan until they see some progress on education funding. President Jones' "bottom line" on an education funding increase is said to be $900 million, with 20 percent of that going to the Chicago public school system.

 

Finally, next week there will be a Committee of Whole in the House to discuss, you guessed it, education!  Stay tuned.

 

On Thursday, the Senate Education passed Committee Amendment 3 to SB 1 out of committee by a vote of 7-2-1. This education budget implementation bill includes parts of the Burnham Plan accountability measure and would increase the foundational level from $5,334 to $5,888 and increase the special education personnel reimbursement level by $1,000 for 2007-2008 school year.

 

HB 824, Senate Amendment #2 (Schoenberg, D-Evanston) is an amendment dealing with ethics reform, specifically “pay-to-play” issues within state government. Amendment #2 is considered a work in progress and is being thoroughly discussed to ensure that the real-world application of this legislation is the true intention of the Legislature.

 

“How A Bill Becomes Law” is a publication from the Illinois General Assembly Legislative Research Unit that is a flowchart of the circuitous route a bill must take to become law. A Spanish version is also available.