Legislative Update

Special Session July 9

The Governor has called a special session for Wednesday, July 9, asking that the House of Representatives to pass the Funds Sweeps Bill, allowing the governor to sweep money from line items in the budget to use where he deems necessary. Indications are that the governor will call another special session for Thursday, July 10, if the House does not go along with his recommendations.

Indications are that the governor will put pressure on the legislature to pass the Capital Plan, or the "jobs bill", whatever catchy name you want to call it. Specifically, the House will be pressured to pass legislation the Senate has already passed, such as HB 1496, to Lease the Lottery, and HB 2651, which will include a massive gambling expansion. The gambling expansion will include:

Two land-based casinos with over 4,000 gambling positions each, and an additional riverboat casino in a economically depressed area. One land-based casino is to be owned by the City of Chicago, the other by the State of Illinois.
There will be slots added at the race tracks along with betting on horses at county fairs.
Advanced Deposit Wagering will authorize internet gambling on horse racing.
3,600 more gambling positions will be added to the current casinos.

Call your state representative at 217-782-2000 and ask him/her to vote "NO" on HB 1496 and HB 2651.

Legislative Update

We have finally passed the June 30 mark, and are now in 2009 Fiscal Year in Illinois. Although the legislature has passed a budget, there are dissenting opinions on the budget defficit, that vary from $1.5 billion to $2-5 billion. Either way, something will have to be done soon, since the next state paycheck is due by July 15, 2009. There is money left over from the '08 budget that is still in the pipeline, that can also be used to pay bills during this time. There are still many projects that have been promised money that have seen none.

There is no inidication that the governor will call for a special session at this time. No one really knows yet what will happen, since Senate President Jones, the governor's ally over the years, does not want a special session to take place. The payraise commission has recommended a double digit increase in pay for the legislature unless both Houses pass a resolution rejecting it. The House has already passed the resolution, but the Senate has done nothing. The legislature must vote to reject the payraise within 30 session day. For the Senate, the clock is at 26 days,with four days left to vote. If a special session is called, within four days, the Senate must vote to reject the payraise, or it will take effect. If the Senate does not come back until the veto session, the 30 session days will expire at that time. That means the legislature can receive a payraise after the voting takes place for the general election in November, and we, the people, will have two years to forget that the Senate President did not allow a vote.

May 28 Update

The deadlines for passing legislation have been extended to May 31, 2008, which means the legislature intends to be in session until at least Saturday. Rumors abound about whether there will be an agreement on the budget or not. Generally speaking, there is a strong desire on the part of the legislators to not repeat last year, when they were in session the entire summer.

We are doing well. We have offered an amendment on HB 4623 (see previous updates), the adoption bill, which will make it so a confidential intermediary would have to contact the adoptive mother and give her 2 weeks to sign up for the DO NO CONTACT list. This would guarantee confidentiality to those who wish to maintain it.

The sponsor of the Civil Unions Bill (HB 1826) is still working the floor to get the votes to pass his legislation. The California Court ruling has not helped his cause at all, although he continues to tell the press he has nearly 60 votes. If you recall, the Domestic Partners Bill only received 43 votes in the house. If you have not contacted your legislators, please call your state representative and ask how they intend to vote on this important bill. Please notify me by email at revbobvb@sbcglobal.net if you receive an answer, so we know which legislators we need to continue to work with.

Concerns About Adoption Law

The General Assembly returns tomorrow, Tuesday, April 29, after taking last week off.

HB 4623, which has been amended to the Adoption Act will change privacy rules for birth parents, requiring that the original birth certificate be available to adult adoptees. A number of the folks who work with crisis pregnancy centers have expressed concern. Girls who are not planning to keep their babies are already on the fragile edge, trying to decide whether to give the baby up for adoption, or to have an abortion. This could possibly scare these pregnant teens into having an abortion instead of an adoption.

It is likely that HB 4623 will come up for a vote soon. The deadline for bills to be out of the House was Friday, April 18. The deadline for this bill has now been extended to Friday, May 9.

The roll call on this bill is very close. With a few more emails and calls to legislators, I believe we have the opportunity to stop this legislation. Please contact your legislators and ask them to vote NO on HB 4623.

Thank you for making your wishes known to your legislators. For the contact information for your state representative, go to the following website:

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/...

Man Proposes, God Disposes

Today HB 4731, the Domestic Partners Death Benefits Bill for the Chicago Teachers Union came up for a vote in the House of Representatives. As mentioned in our update this morning, it equated same-sex domestic partners with spouses and the date of filing for the benefits with the date of a marriage.

The Chicago Teachers Union told the sponsor, Rep. Greg Harris, that they wanted a vote on the bill this week. It was called for a vote on the floor of the House this afternoon at 4:30 PM, and lost 43-67-1 with 7 members not voting. This bill is much easier to vote for than the Civil Unions Bill (HB 1826), so it gives us a pretty good idea of where we are on that bill as well.

Thank you for making your wishes known to your legislators. To look at the roll call and how your state representative voted, go to the following website:

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/...

If you do not appreciate how your legislator voted, please contact him/her, and ask him/her how they plan to vote on HB 1826, the Civil Unions Bill. If your legislator voted correctly, please feel free to contact him/her to show your appreciation. PLEASE BE GRACIOUS TO YOUR REPRESENTATIVES, EVEN IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THEM. SHOW THEM RESPECT AND RESPECTFULLY ASK FOR THEIR VOTE ON HB1826.

Thank you for your prayers and your willingness to contact your legislators.

In His Service,

Rev. Bob

April 15 Legislative Update

The following are items of concern to us as we lobby this week. This Thursday is the deadline for Senate Bills to pass out of the Senate. Friday is the deadline for House Bills to pass out of the House. These deadlines are arbitrary, in some respects, since legislation can be kept alive by extending the deadlines for passage (such as the Civil Unions bill, HB 1826).

HB 4623, sponsored by Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, amends the adoption act, aloowing adoptees over the age of 21 to access their original birth certificates. There are arguments on both sides of the issue. Of concern to us, is that pregnant young girls, who may be struggling with the decision of whether to give up their baby for adoption, may decide instead to abort their babies because of a concern for their privacy being compromised later in life. There are concerns that promises of confidentiality made in the past will be broken, identifying birth parents who do not want to be identified. Currently, half of the family members contacted by confidential intermediaries refuse to meet with adoptees. Although birth parents will be allowed to register that they do not want to be contacted, those who have moved out of state will not be aware of the public service campaign going on in Illinois to notify they of their ability to opt out. This bill is on second reading on the House floor, and could come up for a vote this week.

Evening, March 12 Legislative Update

God continues to bless us in many ways as we lobby the Illinois General Assembly. Today is just another example.

This morning, in the House Human Services Committee, Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie did not call HB 5615, the Reproductive Justice and Access Act for a vote in the committee. This does not mean it could not be called up for a vote or kept alive by extraordinary measures, but it does indicate that even the sponsor recognizes that she will have problems with passage of the legislation. Again, this legislation is radical in its approach to codifying ROE v. WADE.

This afternoon, SB 2263, the Same-Sex Domestic Partners Death Benefits legislation was not called for a vote in the Senate Insurance Committee. After working with the committee members, it became clear that the sponsor, Sen. John Cullerton (D-Chicago), did not have the votes in the Committee. Tomorrow, HB 4731, which is essentially the same legislation, is assigned for a hearing in the House Personnel and Pensions Committee.

SB 2099, which legalizes selling certain lottery tickets on the internet, passed out of the Senate Revenue Committee today, and HB 4128, which authorizes a much wider sale of lottery tickets over the interent by a private vender, also passed out of the House Gaming Committee. Both of these are dangerous pieces of legislation which could increase the incidence of gambling addictions.

Again, if you have not called your legislators regarding HJRCA2, the ERA, please contact them and ask the to vote NO on ERA.