League of Women Voters of Illinois^®

Action Foci 2007-2009

MAKING DEMOCRACY WORK: Assess and strengthen citizen participation in the state legislative process, which will include but not be limited to, efforts to pass the Show Us Amendment.

MAKING DEMOCRACY WORK: Efforts to increase voter education and reduce barriers to the electoral process. The action item will strengthen our judicial system by promoting the creation of an Illinois Judicial Evaluation Commission to provide voters with impartial evaluation of judicial candidates.

PUBLIC EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SERVICES FUNDING: Promote efforts to provide stable, reliable and adequate revenues for public education and other social services.

STATE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION: Investigate the need for a State Constitutional Convention. The Constitution of the State of Illinois requires that the question of a need for a constitutional convention be submitted to the voters every twenty years, if not sooner. The question was last submitted to the voters in 1988.

Fiscal Policy / Funding of Public Education and Social Services

The State of Illinois must take action to resolve the structural budget deficit it has had for the past several years. Natural revenue growth has not met the revenue needs to pay for existing programs. The LWVIL believes the State Legislature and the Governor must enact general tax increases to repair the State's structural deficit so that it can retire the debt, pay for current programs, and invest in the future.

The LWVIL supports efforts to provide stable, reliable and adequate revenues in the FY2009 budget for fair and equitable public education and social services. The needed social services include: early intervention programs for children; expansion of child and family health insurance; implementation of the Health Care Justice Act; low and moderate income housing; implementation of the Children's Mental Health Plan; alternatives to juvenile incarceration; and prison education and other programs that reduce criminal behavior.