June 2009

Civil Unions On Hold Medical Marijuana No Income Tax Hike Yet Working to Protect Churches and Families Bits and Pieces

 Civil Unions On Hold

In spite of predictions from Rick Garcia, director of Equality Illinois, that the Civil Unions legislation would pass in the Illinois General Assembly, the legislature adjourned early in the morning on Monday, June 1, without the civil unions legislation passing.

We thank God, above all, for giving us this victory. We would also like to thank all of you who called your state legislators, asking them to vote NO on HB 2234, the original Civil Unions bill, and SB 1716, the recently amended Civil Unions bill.

On May 26, SB 1716, which was a shell bill (a bill with no real substance) was amended in the House Youth and Families Committee, to become the Civil Unions legislation. This was done because there was not time to pass HB 2234 into law before the end of the session. By amending SB 1716, the House would only have to pass the bill, and it could be sent to the Senate, where the Senate could vote almost immediately to concur with the House Amendment.

Equality Illinois hired on a number of lobbyists, had legislators calling from all across the nation, asking Illinois legislators to support civil unions, and had lobbyists for the ACLU and the labor unions lobbying the bill.

God is on the throne, and He can still turn the hearts of legislators whithersoever He wills. We worked key legislators, followed up on others, prepared for floor debate, contacted Christian radio stations across the state, sent our emails along with 15,000 from Illinois Family Institute, and over 70,000 emails from American Family Association.

Sandy Rios, director of Culture Campaign interviewed Rev. Vanden Bosch on WYLL two days in succession, and referred people to the Culture Campaign website. Culture Campaign also sent out emails to their email list.

When Ralph Rivera and Rev. Vanden Bosch talked to legislative assistants, asking them what the telephone calls were coming in about, they said, “Taxes and Civil Unions.”

In the end, SB 1716 was not called for a vote due to a lack of votes. It is now on the floor of the House held on third reading with the deadline extended to November 30, 2009. The battle continues. If you have not done so, please contact your legislators.

“Medical” Marijuana

On Wednesday, May 27, 2009, the Illinois Senate passed the so-called “medical” marijuana bill with the required minimum of 30 votes. The bill was moved to the House, where it was passed out of the House Human Services Committee by a 4-3 vote on May 28. On May 29, SB 1381 was moved to third reading in the House, preparing it for a final vote in the House.
Although rumors abounded that the bill was going to pass through the House of Representatives before May 31, it was not brought up for a vote because it did not have sufficient votes for passage. We began working this legislation in the House, and have seen some good signs in our roll call, but do not have a complete roll call yet.
In states that legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes, statistics indicate that the use of marijuana by teenagers has increased. The law is a teacher. We are sending our teens a message when laws are passed that allow people to smoke marijuana on the street while law enforcement stands by without being able to do anything about it.
The mechanics of the bill are as follows:
· Patients are given a “registry identification card based upon a letter from their doctor.
· A “qualifying patient” or a primary caregiver is allowed to grow 6 marijuana plants at a time in an “enclosed, locked facility.
· Medical marijuana cards from other states are recognized—including those from California, which has a medical marijuana program that has over $1 billion in sales each year.
· It is impossible for law enforcement to control what is happening with so-called “medical” marijuana. In California, the dispensaries have been involved in all sorts of criminal activity.
· State police are concerned that the drug cartels will become involved in the “medical” marijuana program. There are incredible problems in California with all sorts of illegal activities.
For these reasons—and many others, we are asking legislators in Illinois to vote NO on SB 1381. While much has been done to tighten up the bill, there is no way to make a bad bill into a good bill when the problems are as extensive as those in this legislation.
We are asking that you contact your state representative, and ask him or her to vote NO on SB 1381.

No Income Tax Hike—Yet

The legislature came to a close on May 31, 2009, without a tax hike. Although the Senate passed a tax hike that would have raised personal income tax from 3% to 5%, it failed to pass in the House of Representatives. Even if the tax increase would have passed, the legislature would have still needed to cut the budget by $3 billion, because a huge portion of the tax increase was increased funding for education. Instead, the legislature passed a bare bones budget.
The state budget accesses all the federal dollars it can by putting the money where there are federal matching dollars. With the remainder of the funds available, the General Assembly passed a budget that only covers about 50% of what the Governor requested in his proposed budget. The Governor began the week be meeting with the legislative leaders at 10 AM on Monday, June 1, with the prospects of working with them to come up with a budget that will provide more funding for state services (translation—tax increase).
After the governor threatened to veto the state budget, the Senate President, John Cullerton (D), did a parliamentary maneuver to hold the budget in the Senate instead of sending it to the governor. Even so, the governor has instructed the state agencies to plan to make do with the budget which was passed, meaning there will be huge cuts in state services.
During the last six years of Democratic control of both the House and the Senate, as well as a Democratic governor, state budgets have consistently been bloated with unnecessary spending, much of it in projects or special programs that are pet projects of legislators. According to one fiscally conservative legislator, two thirds of the budget could just be cut out if you were not concerned about stepping on someone’s political toes.
Health care for low income people consumes almost one quarter of the state budget, yet the legislature does not look at managed care as a way to save costs. The state must decide to fund no new programs, and to hold the line on expanding state services. The state pension system must be reformed so new hires will cost the state less. Surplus land, excess state vehicles, and state property that is not necessary should be sold. Institutions that are underutilized should be closed or consolidated. Illinois should also merge the more than 7,000 units of government, to become more efficient in providing services.

Schedule for 2009

One of our ministries is to educate the Christian Community. You can do so by scheduling Rev. Vanden Bosch to speak for your church or special event.
The following are confirmed events where Rev. Vanden Bosch is scheduled to speak:
June 14 AM & PM Prairie Baptist Church, Gibson City, IL.

One of our ministries is to educate the Christian Community. You can do so by scheduling Rev. Vanden Bosch to speak for your church or special event.

The following are confirmed events where Rev. Vanden Bosch is scheduled to speak:

June 21 AM Northland Bible Baptist Church, St. Cloud, MN.

June 28 AM Bemidji Baptist Church, Bemidji, MN.

July 5 AM & PM Faith Baptist Church, Pekin, IL.

July 12 AM & PM Sutter Salem Bible Church, Warsaw, IL

July 19 AM Gages Lake Bible Church, Gages Lake, IL.

July 26 AM Salem Baptist Church, Decatur, IL

July 26 PM Bloomington Baptist Church, Bloomington, IL

July 30-31 Grace Conference, Quentin Road Bible Baptist Church, Lake Zurich, IL

August 2 AM Bethel Evangelical Congregational Church, Dixon, IL

August 9 AM and PM Bemidji Baptist Church, Bemidji, MN.

August 16 AM First Christian Reformed Church, Rock Valley, IA

August 23 AM Westchester Bible Church, IL

August 30 AM State Road Baptist Church, Burbank, IL

September 6 AM Faith Baptist Church, Toulon, IL

September 6 PM Bethany Baptist Church, Altona, IL

September 20 AM Shannon Baptist Church, Shannon, IL

September 27 AM Grace Bible Church, Berwyn, IL

As you can see, there are some openings left in our schedule. Rev. Vanden Bosch would love to speak at your church or your special event. There are still openings on some Sundays in July, August, September, October, November, and December.
When you schedule an event with us, it helps people to understand the spiritual battle going on for the hearts and minds of Americans.

Working to Protect Churches and Families

It has been an extremely busy legislative session, with the usual traveling expenses. During the month of May, Rev. Vanden Bosch was home for 4 days. This is the heaviest time of the year as far as our expenses go.

Because our ministry is to the Body of Christ, we depend on God’s leading, His Holy Spirit working in the hearts and minds of believers to burden them to help meet the needs of our ministry. Because God’s plan for reaching the world is through the local church, we believe it is important to give to your local church before you give to our ministry.

Your tithe should go to your local church. If you have other funds that you are planning to give, we would appreciate your consideration of our ministries for your gift. Thank you!

With your financial help, we can faithfully continue our ministry in Illinois.

CONCERNED CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES
Ministering to the Christian community, we have received our 501 (c)(3) status from the IRS.
We do not charge an annual fee for our newsletter, but request that you make a donation to help cover the costs of publishing, printing, and mailing our newsletters. Thank you for your consideration.

If you have stocks or securities you would like to donate to Concerned Christian Ministries, please feel free to contact us, or contact our broker, Stan Welch, at A.G.Edwards & Sons, in Springfield, IL. His telephone number there is (800) 999-6895, or you can email him at Stanley.Welch@agedwards.com

Bits and Pieces

There was a somberness about the General Assembly at the close early in the morning on Monday, June 1. I am certain that many legislators returned to their districts feeling like they failed the people of Illinois.

Even with a majority of members in the House (70 Democrats, 48 Republicans) and in the Senate (37 Democrats, 22 Republicans), and a Democratic Governor, there was no agreement on how to meet the needs of the state.
The good news is this, the state did pass new legislation regarding the Freedom of Information from state agencies, broadening the opportunity for Illinois citizens to access information from governmental agencies in Illinois.

On the down side, Illinois passed a 972 page bill with $3.1 billion in pork projects requested by legislators. To fund those pork projects and other construction projects, the state raised other taxes and fees to the tune of $1 billion per year. One of the sources of revenue for the construction capital program is the authorization of video poker in Illinois. Video poker is known as the crack cocaine of gambling.
This legislation authorizes the placement of up to 5 video poker machines in every location that has a liquor license in Illinois. That means we could have over 100,000 new gaming spots in Illinois. There is great concern, since the mob has indicated that video poker would be a great thing for them. (I’m sure it will be.)

This will set up more families to lose their money in bars, restaurants, and truck stops in Illinois, making gambling even easier to do than it now is. Right now, electronic gambling in the casinos account for 87% of the revenue at the Illinois casinos. Every community can now have its own mini-casinos.

The legislature also passed HB 1595, allowing off-track betting parlors to be located near day care centers and colleges. SB 1298, which legalizes internet betting on the horses, also passed the legislature and has gone to the governor.

On Saturday, May 30, the Senate passed SB 744, to authorize four land based casinos in Chicago, Danville, Park City, and Rockford, as well as slot machines at the racetracks and an expansion of the current positions at the existing casinos.