LAWMAKERS RETURN TO WORK ON BUDGET

Lawmakers will return to Springfield next week to work on the Fiscal Year 2011 budget.

The House of Representatives plans to return to Springfield on May 24. The Senate will reconvene on May 26 to consider the budget proposal.

The General Assembly has until midnight on May 31 to approve a budget by a simple majority vote. After that date, a super majority vote will be required to approve a budget.

AUDIT SHOWS MISUSE OF STATE FUNDS

Illinois Auditor General William Holland released an audit this week of ousted Governor Rod Blagojevich’s last year in office, which revealed a litany of problems related to the way his Administration hired legal help.

According to the audit, Blagojevich spent millions of taxpayer dollars on outside lawyers instead of using attorneys who were already on the state payroll, which had been standard practice. The report says the former Governor opted not to use the Attorney General’s office, often going around Attorney General Lisa Madigan. He did not seek competitive bids for the legal services—more than $5 million of $7.2 million in contracts weren’t competitively bid. In addition, Blagojevich reportedly used taxpayer dollars to hire lawyers for his own impeachment-related issues.

In what was apparently an attempt to disguise its growing legal costs, the Blagojevich Administration distributed the bills among other state agencies.  Holland said of the $7.2 million worth of legal work performed during Blagojevich’s last year, the Governor’s office paid less than $22,000. Burdening these agencies—including Public Health and Transportation—with the unrelated expenses meant that the agencies had less money to spend on their own programs and services.

The list of offenses found by the audit is just another example of Blagojevich’s mishandling and mistreatment of Illinois government—at the expense of Illinois taxpayers.

GOVERNMENTS, AGENCIES HIRE LOBBYISTS

A report released by the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform (ICPR) revealed that Chicago-area transit agencies, along with public community colleges and universities, counties and municipalities, spent millions in taxpayer dollar on lobbyists in Fiscal Year 2009.

The annual survey of local governments and public agencies facilitated by the ICPR found that more than 119 governmental units spent more than $6.3 million to hire more than 80 lobbying firms in the 2009 fiscal year. This figure is 23 percent higher than the first year the survey was conducted in 2007.

The top five lobbyist spenders include the Chicago Transit Authority, DuPage County, the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, Metra, and the City Colleges of Chicago. Combined these entities spent a total of $1.3 million, more than 20 percent of the total lobbyist costs identified.

As a result of the group’s study, the ICPR is advocating for an increase in the amount of lobbying information that is made public. Additionally, the organization believes there should be greater enforcement of the state’s lobbying laws.

NEW LAW EXTENDS COVERAGE

Unemployed small-business workers will continue to receive COBRA health care insurance coverage and premium discounts provided under the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, under legislation signed into law May 15.

Senate Bill 3004 applies to those who worked in a company with 19 or fewer employees and it extends the insurance premium subsidy from 12 to 15 months.

The new law ensures that former small-business workers will be eligible for premium reductions for as long as the federal government has funds available.