BRADY: PROTECT CHARITABLE FUNDS FROM SWEEPS

I have filed legislation that would stop Gov. Pat Quinn from using charitable donations to pay the state’s bills.

Senate Bill 2489 would protect taxpayer contributions to income tax check-off funds from being “swept” by the Governor. The Administration borrowed $1.176 million from 11 tax check-off funds during Fiscal Year 2011.

Years of “tax-borrow-and-spend” fiscal mismanagement have brought Illinois to the sad state of affairs that, despite a 67 percent income tax increase approved earlier this year, the Governor is using funds donated by taxpayers to charitable organizations to pay the state’s bills. The Administration says the money will be repaid, but it should never have been borrowed in the first place. This is not the state’s money.

On June 30, I sent a letter to the Governor asking that he repay charitable funds he used during FY 2011 to pay the state’s bills. “We need to rethink our approach and provide a government that works for the people, not the politicians. Robbing Peter to pay Paul, or in this case taking money from charitable funds to pay the state’s bills, is not the way to do it,” I wrote in the letter.

The 11 funds swept by the Governor during FY 2011 are:

• Penny Severns Breast Cancer Research Fund, $354,200;

• Alzheimer’s Disease Research Fund, $134,900;

• Epilepsy Treatment & Education Grants-in-Aid, $26,000;

• Diabetes Research Check off Fund, $141,100;

• Autism Research Checkoff Fund, $63,000;

• Autoimmune Disease Research Fund, $44,000;

• Prostate Cancer Research Fund, $25,000;

• Healthy Smiles Fund, $22,600;

• Hunger Relief Fund, $98,400;

• Illinois Military Family Relief Fund, $224,400;

• Crisis Nursery Fund, $42,500.

TOTAL: $1,176,100

HEALTH INSURANCE EXCHANGES COST COULD $89 MILLION ANNUALLY

A special joint Senate and House committee met during the week to continue discussions about the potential costs associated with the state’s forthcoming health benefits exchanges.

The Illinois Health Benefits Exchange Study Committee, which I co-chair, met Sept. 21 in Chicago to continue hearings on the impact of the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA). One purpose was to review a consultant’s report, released days earlier, which showed health insurance exchanges required by the new federal law could cost Illinois up to $89 million annually.

The exchanges are intended as high-tech clearinghouses to assist individuals and small businesses in buying health insurance, which is required as part of a controversial provision included in the ACA. Although health insurance exchanges will not begin operating until 2014, state plans must be submitted to the federal government by next fall.

The report, from Health Management Associates and the Wakely Consulting Group, called the responsibilities of the health insurance exchanges “substantial.” The report pointed out that although federal funds would initially be available to assist in establishing an exchange, federal support would disappear by 2015.

The report also predicted that Medicaid enrollment in Illinois, already one of the fastest growing costs in state government, would grow by more than 3% between now and 2014. This increase would add about 400,000 new persons to the Medicaid rolls in Illinois, resulting in more than $109 million in new Medicaid costs beginning in 2014.

BUSINESS EXECS RATE ILLINOIS BUSINESS CLIMATE POORLY

Earlier this week, a recently released survey completed by more than 300 business execs revealed a grim view of how companies perceives Illinois’ business climate.

Bringing up the rear, Illinois is considered by the business executives surveyed to be one of the worst states to do business, third behind California and New York. Taxes, cost of business, over-regulation and anti-business policies all contributed to the state’s underwhelming ranking.

In contrast, Texas, North Carolina and South Carolina were viewed as the top three best states to do business. The survey was conducted by Development Counsellors International, a consulting firm specializing in economic development and travel marketing.

HOUSE GOP PLAN MIRRORS SENATE GOP IDEAS ABOUT JOBS

The survey results made headlines the same day Illinois House Republican Leader Tom Cross and House Republicans unveiled a plan they say will attract and keep good jobs in Illinois.

The House GOP proposal offers several suggestions that were included in a jobs recovery plan rolled out by Senate Republicans last spring, including: reinstating the Net Operating Loss (NOL) deduction that was suspended in the 96th General Assembly, re-enacting and making permanent the Illinois Research & Development tax credit, which expired in 2010, and extending the duration of enterprise zones.

Additional proposals advanced by House lawmakers include reducing the cost of establishing a Limited Liability Corporation in Illinois and increasing the estate tax exemption; the Senate GOP plan advocated for a complete repeal of the estate tax.