11/21/2008
This week the House and Senate convened for the second week of Veto Session. They are not expected back until January 12, 2009.
New leaders elected in Illinois Senate
This week state senators from both parties chose new leaders for the upcoming 96th General Assembly starting in 2009.
Senate President Emil Jones announced his retirement, which set off a firestorm of activity to replace him. Ultimately the contest came down to a Chicago senator, John Cullerton, vs. a downstate senator, James Clayborne. After a few months of campaigning, Sen. John Cullerton was elected president
The Republicans found themselves looking for a new leader when suddenly Leader Frank Watson announced he would step down as leader due to health reasons. Sens. Christine Radogno and Kirk Dillard, both from the suburbs, were the two front runners. In an historic move, the Republicans elected Sen. Christine Radogno. She is the first woman, for either chamber, to be elected a leader.
By the way, Sen. Cullerton has a 28 percent lifetime NFIB rating while Sen. Christine Radogno has an 81 percent lifetime NFIB rating.
Why does this matter in the grand scheme of things?
President Jones has been a steadfast supporter of Gov. Rod Blagojevich and a strong nemesis of Speaker Michael Madigan -- despite the fact they are all Democrats. The new president, Cullerton, is a long time ally of the speaker. To many statehouse observers, this change will open the door for more cooperation and pave the way for many stalled projects such as a capital program and education funding reform.
The new General Assembly will be sworn into office in January.
Autism mandate heads to governor's desk
The mandate requiring autism coverage has been the political football of the year. Multiple versions of the mandate overwhelmingly passed the House and Senate. The sticking point was an amendment that would require all rulemaking to go through the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules. The speaker added the amendment to many bills this year. Senate President Jones refused to pass any legislation that included the amendment. Thus, gridlock.
An agreement was worked out on the amendment between the House and Senate resulting in SB 934 passing both chambers this week. The bill requires small and medium sized businesses to provide up to $36,000 in autism coverage annually in their healthcare policies. Currently under the mental health law, businesses over 50 employees must provide certain levels of coverage for autism, but small businesses are excluded.
While the governor continues to oppose the amendment he also lauded passage of SB 934, so it is unclear if he will sign the bill into law as is or amendatorily veto it.
The NFIB opposes all healthcare mandates as they add to the overall cost and only apply to small and medium-sized businesses -- those who can least afford additional costs. Businesses that self-insure, or partially self-insure, are subject to federal law and do not have to abide by any state mandates.
Illinois already has over 20 mandates as part of the Illinois insurance code. The cumulative affect of these mandates push some small businesses over the edge making health insurance too costly.
For questions or comments on small business issues contained in this edition of Capitol Roundup please contact Illinois State Director Kim Clarke Maisch in the NFIB/Illinois office at 217-523-5471.
