May 19, 2011
ACTION NEEDED:
Ask your state legislators to Maximize Revenues to Reduce Harmful Budget Cuts
- Request that both houses in the General Assembly use the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (CGFA) estimate for revenue projections, not only the Senate.
- Do not provide an accelerated $600 million tax break for large businesses
- Authorize debt-restructuring bonds
ACTION NEEDED: (from the Responsible Business Coalition)
The General Assembly must take a thoughtful, balanced and responsible approach to crafting a new state budget that avoids further, undue pain to people and communities throughout Illinois. State leaders should pursue every option for maximizing the resources available to maintain crucial public services.
The House has adopted revenue projections (HR110) and spending allocations (HR156) that require about $1.4 billion in cuts below the appropriations proposed by the Governor for FY12. The revenue options below do not raise taxes but would eliminate the need to make such cuts. The last idea below, debt restructuring, provides immediate relief to the state’s creditors and also allows more of the state’s cash flow to be used to avoid damaging cuts to vital programs:
- Use the most accurate revenue estimates. The bipartisan Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (COGFA) is charged with making revenue projections for the General Assembly and has a solid record for accuracy over the past 10 years. The Senate is using CGFA’s most conservative estimate of FY12 revenue. However, the House has chosen to use a different estimate that is $1.1 billion less, which would force much deeper budget cuts. Both chambers should use the CGFA estimate.
- Do not provide an accelerated, $600 million tax break for large businesses. The federal government is speeding-up a tax break for large businesses by letting them deduct the entire cost of machinery and equipment purchases immediately rather than over the course of a few years, as is normally done. This change in federal tax law will reduce by $600 million the state taxes paid in FY12 by large corporations, unless the General Assembly “decouples” Illinois tax law from federal tax law on this point. Illinois lawmakers decoupled state tax law from a similar federal tax break with a bipartisan vote in 2002.
- Authorize debt-restructuring bonds to reduce an enormous backlog of state bills. Long-overdue payments to schools, local governments and providers of critical health and human services total billions. Illinois must get caught up to a responsible payment cycle. The interest rate on the bonds will be well below the interest rate the State will otherwise pay under state law for overdue bills. Lawmakers should settle on a reasonable restructuring plan, with an accurate total for the back bills and a reasonable bond re-payment schedule. Funds were earmarked for this purpose in the new income tax law, and they should be used for this purpose. The debt service payments allow the state to use more current cash to avoid cuts (rather than allocating more current cash to pay back bills).
Education Funding/Charter Schools--Update on May 17, 2011 TFA on SB 79 and HB 190:
In regard to the TFA that went out on May 17, 2011, soon after it was sent out, we learned that SB 79 was pushed through the House and passed without amendment. It now heads to the Governor's desk to be signed. No action necessary on this bill.
However, you can still advocate for HB 190 which was moved from assignments to the senate education committee yesterday. Please continue to advocate for HB 190:
Support with reservations HB 190 (Eddy-R) Status: HB 190 has crossed to the Senate and is in assignments awaiting approval for a third reading. HB 190 allows an additional 5 charter schools devoted exclusively to students from low-performing or overcrowded schools to operate at any one time in Chicago. Rep. Eddy offered this as an alternative to SB 1932. SB 1932 would establish a pilot voucher program serving the same population. The League supports HB 190 with reservations. LWVIL sees it as a viable alternative to vouchers, which it opposes. However, LWVIL's standard reservation as to the economic impact of charters on local schools still applies (see LWVIL's position in Where We Stand for clarification).
You can find contact information for your elected officials at: http://www.elections.il.gov/DistrictLocator/DistrictOfficialSearchByAddress.aspx or http://www.ilga.gov/house/ |
