Budget, education, elections to shape spring session

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| Saturday, February 07, 2004 | (No comments posted.)

SPRINGFIELD (AP) -- Illinois lawmakers expect their spring session to be dominated by the governor's proposed education overhaul, the challenge of holding the budget together and the political maneuvering that always accompanies elections.

Legislators will push other issues -- reducing the cost of medical malpractice insurance, for instance, or giving drivers licenses to illegal immigrants -- but the odds are against such measures reaching Gov. Rod Blagojevich's desk.

Blagojevich has so far asked lawmakers for essentially just one thing. His State of the State address was devoted to one topic: creating a Department of Education.

"The real focus is making sure we get a budget that is balanced and -- let's be frank, this is an election year -- the other issue is getting members elected," said Sen. James Clayborne, D-Belleville.

Last year, lawmakers passed major ethics legislation, an overhaul of the death penalty system, higher minimum wages and a budget that attempted to erase a $5 billion deficit through spending cuts, higher taxes and fees and a variety of one-time revenue increases.

This year, the only issue comparable to the death penalty or government ethics is Blagojevich's education proposal.

He wants to strip the semi-independent State Board of Education of all its duties and create a new Department of Education answerable to him. He also proposes a series of measures, such as centralized purchasing of supplies, that he says would save schools hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

Skeptics say Blagojevich is wrong to target the State Board of Education as the chief problem facing Illinois schools. They want to discuss other education problems, too.

"Put it all on the table and let's really have a vigorous debate about what we need to be doing," said Sen. Peter Roskam, R-Wheaton. "This system needs fillings and all the governor wants to do is floss."

But no one denies Blagojevich has made education a priority for this session.

Any education debate involves money -- how much goes into the classroom, which part of the state gets the most, how much of it comes from local taxes. The budget deficit, which is expected to be about $2 billion, means Blagojevich and lawmakers will have a hard time finding new money for schools or for anything else.

The governor's office says the gap between expenses and revenues for the coming fiscal year could be more than $2 billion.

Officials have few options, none of them particularly attractive, for filling that hole.

Some lawmakers want to raise income or sales taxes, but Blagojevich opposes that and no one will seriously push it in an election year. "That has been taken off the table," said Sen. Miguel del Valle, D-Chicago.

Blagojevich last year raised hundreds of fees and ended some tax breaks for business. Lawmakers are unlikely to approve that again, at least on a large enough scale to really help the budget, because it would hurt both consumers and businesses in the wallet.

Republicans say they want to cut government spending, but the state payroll already has been trimmed by more than 10,000 workers. They are usually vague on where else to cut except for reducing benefits for state employees -- an option that Blagojevich's budget office has raised.

The least painful option could end up being an expansion of legalized gambling. But gambling is a big topic every year, and the political forces rarely align to produce action.

One plan calls for allowing two new riverboat casinos, letting existing riverboats expand, putting slot machines at racetracks and legalizing video poker. Supporters say it could bring the state nearly $2 billion in extra tax revenue a year.

Blagojevich rejected the idea last year and says he is still skeptical about it but is willing to listen.

Again and again, though, lawmakers said the governor and his budget office will have to be "creative" in solving the budget crisis. And what does that mean?

"'Creative' could be a euphemism for coming up with a wonderful patchwork that gets us by this fiscal year," del Valle said.

Other issues will at least be discussed during the upcoming session. Some may be driven by efforts to get lawmakers on the record for or against a particular bill going into the election.

Senate Republicans say something must be done to keep doctors from being driven out of the state by huge insurance costs and costly lawsuits. A legislative battle between doctors and lawyers could generate significant campaign donations.

Some lawmakers hope to take another stab at passing legislation to protect gay people from discrimination, while others are seeking a constitutional amendment to bar gay marriage. A proposal to issue drivers licenses to some illegal immigrants, which narrowly failed last year, could surface again.

Each is the kind of issue that could be used in brochures and commercials to attack a candidate -- something lawmakers will remember as they decide how to vote.

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