Friday, June 4, 2010 Reinvent E-newsletter

Illinois’ budget problems will not be solved by raising taxes, or by excessive borrowing. To stop the bleeding and begin the recovery process, we must enact meaningful fiscal reforms to control spending, increase transparency and accountability, and change the way the budget is crafted. With 11.2 percent unemployment in Illinois our top priority must be to get people back to work. Every 1 percent net increase in unemployment costs $277.8 million a year in tax revenues to the state. If we ever hope to solve our state budget crisis, we need to work with employers to create jobs which ultimately will result in more tax revenue for the state.

House Republicans have taken a number of ideas submitted to Reinvent Illinois and drafted them into legislation. Many of the ideas were included on a list (see below) we asked Speaker Michael Madigan and the House Democrats to release from the House Rules Committee – only to be rejected. Time and time again, we stood on the floor and demanded these and other reform measures be released from the Rules Committee in order to receive a fair debate on the House floor. Over the past two years we held numerous press conferences in Springfield and around the state touting Your ideas, we sent press releases, and we sent letters to Governor Quinn (to view the letter visit: http://www.tomcross.com/rep-cross-sends-budget-ideas-to-gov-quinn/) with ideas – only to have our suggestions fall on deaf ears by the Democrat Majority and the Governor.

We share your frustration, and want you to know we will continue to stand up and fight for reform and for passage of the following bills:

Government Savings

HB4800 (Black) Requires the Executive Ethics Commission to adopt rules for the use of and travel on state aircraft that supersede any such rules applicable to the executive branch of State government adopted by the state’s various travel control boards or the Travel Regulation Council. Provides that 3 executive aircraft and 2 helicopters owned by the state and not designated for emergency use are surplus property and must be sold by a competitive sealed bid method.

HB 5488 (Mitchell, B.) Provides that all but one airplane and one helicopter owned by the state and not designated for emergency use are surplus property and must be sold by a competitive sealed bid method.

HB 6269 (Connelly) Requires PAYGO budgeting to provide that if a Public Act requires additional spending from state funds, then no appropriation for the additional spending required by the Public Act may be obligated or expended unless the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability certifies to the State Comptroller that the same or another Public Act specifically identifies adequate decreases in expenditures or enhancements in revenues to completely offset the additional spending required by the Public Act.

HB 6870 (Black) Prohibits assignment of State-owned automotive vehicles to the General Assembly for use by legislative leaders, members, or staff. Requires the sale of any such automotive vehicles, with the proceeds deposited into the General Revenue Fund.

HB 6872 (Bassi) Means Testing for Senior Free Rides. Requires that seniors must be aged 65 or older, as well as eligible for benefits under the Senior Citizens and Disabled Persons Property Tax Relief and Pharmaceutical Assistance Act, to receive free service. Provides that the requirement must be imposed no later than 180 days after the effective date of the amendatory Act. Provides that the Department on Aging shall furnish all information necessary to establish eligibility for free service.

HB 6873 (Sacia) Amends the Compensation Review Act. For fiscal year 2011, reduces by 10% the annual compensation of (i) directors, secretaries, assistant directors, and assistant secretaries of State agencies under the Governor’s jurisdiction and (ii) compensated members of State boards and commissions under the Governor’s jurisdiction.

HB 6875 (Coulson) By July 1, 2010, requires each State agency to develop, and file with its chief procurement officer, a plan for the renegotiation of its procurement contracts.

HB 6877 (Durkin) Amends the Counties Code. Rolls back the Cook County sales tax from 1.25% to 0.75%. This would reverse the 2008 sales tax increase. As of May 2010 the Chicago total sales tax is 10.25%, the highest sales tax rate charged in any major U.S. jurisdiction.

HR 109 (Black) Urges the Governor to suspend all out-of-state travel for the remainder of FY09, to meet with the Department of Central Management Services, Department of Revenue, and the Auditor General to determine what other expenses could be reduced for the remainder of FY09, and to consult with the Illinois Department of Transportation’s Division of Aeronautics to further limit the use of executive aircraft and/or explore the sale of said aircraft.

HR 423 (Black) Instructs the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability to study the actual costs associated the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) Division of Aeronautics Bureau of Air Operation’s Springfield-Chicago and Chicago-Springfield shuttle service and additional flight services provided upon request of State employees and officials, and perform a cost-benefit analysis to determine whether such air transportation services are an efficient use of State revenue.

HR 1218 (Leitch) Urges the Governor to reopen collective bargaining agreements to remove pay increases for State employees in FY11.
Government Efficiencies.

HB 4622 (Pritchard) Offers a tax amnesty to fund college financial aid.

HB 5541 (Cavaletto) Provides that all hiring of employees and contracting for personal services by State agencies is frozen, and no expenditure may be made for the purpose of creating a new State program or expanding an existing State program, until the State Comptroller certifies in writing to the Secretary of State that payment is issued to all State vendors within 30 days after receipt of a proper bill or invoice.
HB 6270 (Tryon) Creates the General Accounting Office as a legislative support services agency. Directs the ILGAO to conduct a thorough review of each State executive branch program and agency.

Government Sunshine

HB 474 (Winters) and HB 6266 (Hatcher) Creates the 72-Hour Budget Review Act, which sets forth time requirements for which certain appropriation or revenue legislation must be made publicly available before passage.

HB 828 (Black) and HB 4883 (Black) Creates the Appropriation Sunshine Act to provide that a bill making an appropriation may not be considered for final passage by either the House of Representatives or the Senate unless a copy of that bill, in its final form, has been made available on the General Assembly’s Internet website for at least 48 hours before the bill is considered for final passage by that chamber.

HB 4771 (Pritchard) Provides that, before final passage in either chamber of the General Assembly, a bill with fiscal impact, in its final form, must have been posted on the General Assembly’s Internet website for at least 5 business days.

HB 5212 (Tryon) Adopts the Truth-in Accounting principals. Prohibits the General Assembly from passing appropriation bills until it adopts a joint resolution reflecting for that fiscal year the State’s estimated income, balance sheet, cash flow, and surplus, or deficit.
HB 6626 (Schmitz) Requires the budget to be posted online for seven days prior to a General Assembly vote.

HR 1057 (Bellock) Directs the Auditor General to conduct a forensic audit of all State spending, hiring, procurement, and contracts awarded and the appointment of board and commission officials and decisions made by boards and commissions or those with procurement or hiring authority during the Blagojevich administration. Provides for an oversight commission of members of the House of Representatives.

HJR 112 (Tryon) Adopts the revenue estimates released on March 16, 2010 by the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability as the funds estimated by the General Assembly to be available during FY11 for purposes of the constitutional limit on appropriations.

Government Accountability

HB 570 (Mulligan) Requires the Governor’s budget to include projections of revenues and expenditures for the 5 following fiscal years, and requires the budget for the next fiscal year to set forth new or expanded expenditures of $1 million or more.

HB 1173 (Hatcher) Creates the Agency Appropriation Act to require separate legislative bills for appropriations to each State agency.

HB 4095 (Cross) and HB 6264 (Senger) With respect to fiscal year appropriations, requires the General Assembly to take into account (i) whether the previous fiscal year’s revenues were sufficient to pay for all obligations incurred during that fiscal year or whether those obligations were shifted to future years and (ii) whether revenues for the budgeted fiscal year can be reasonably projected to meet appropriations for the budgeted fiscal year.

HB 6622 (Reboletti) Provides that members of the General Assembly, State’s attorneys, the elected constitutional officers of State government, and certain appointed officers of State government are prohibited from receiving and shall not receive any increase in compensation that would otherwise apply based on a cost of living adjustment, as authorized by Senate Joint Resolution 192 of the 86th General Assembly, for or during the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2010. Deletes a provision stating that the cost of living adjustment shall apply beginning July 1, 2010 and thereafter.

HB 6625 (Senger) Requires members of the General Assembly to take 12 furlough days in FY11. Medicaid Accountability/Efficiency/Social Services Reform.

HB 389 (Sacia) requires a drug test for initial eligibility for programs under the Illinois Public Aid Code (this would include TANF and Medicaid).

HB 4809 (Rose) requires LINK cards to have a picture of the cardholders face. Adds language requiring the Department of Human Services to issue a caregiver identification card to the facility provider, guardian, or caregiver of a person entitled to benefits funded under the federal Food Stamp Program.

HB 5244 (Bellock) Establishes a Medicaid oversight committee within COGFA to report to the General Assembly on the status of the Illinois Medicaid Program and other state administered medical programs and to provide continued oversight of such programs.
HB 5544 (Cavaletto) requires LINK cards to have a picture of the cardholders face. Establishes that an individual may only use the LINK card if the photo on the card matches the user or if they present a current and valid photo identification that confirms they are a secondary user listed on the card.

HB 5893 (Mitchell,B.) Requires at least a minimal co-payment for the filling of all prescriptions, including Generic medications.

HB 6139 (Rose) provides that the Department of Human Services shall enter into an agreement with the Illinois State Police (ISP) to allow DHS’s database of public aid recipients to cross-reference with ISP’s database of outstanding criminal warrants. Further provides that public aid recipients who are found to have an outstanding criminal warrant shall be subject to an immediate suspension of their public aid benefits, including the immediate deactivation of their electronic benefits card or LINK card provided under the food stamp program.

HB 6146 (Rose) requires a drug test for initial eligibility for programs under the Illinois Public Aid Code (this would include TANF and Medicaid).Exempts Individuals who are 65 years of age or older and residents of a facility licensed under the Nursing Home Care Act or the MR/DD Community Care Act.

HB 6265 (Cole) Ends the practice of pushing off Medicaid bills into the next fiscal year. HB 6277 (Bellock) Amendment #1 was filed to require HFS to implement a mandatory Medicaid managed care program for individuals in All Kids and FamilyCare. Amendment #1 was not released from the House Rules Committee.

HB 6296 (Bellock) Place asset limitations on enrollees in all programs receiving medical assistance funds to help focus the program on the most vulnerable.

HB 6876 (Tryon) Amends the Covering All Kids Health Insurance Act. Within 90 days of the enactment of these provisions, the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, in cooperation with the Department of Human Services, shall develop and implement procedures in administration of the All Kids program to: (1) Require applicants to provide proof of birth, for example but not limited to providing a birth certificate, to prove the age of the applicant; (2) Provide documentation to prove identity of applicant (this requirement refers to proving applicant’s identity, not immigration status); (3) Provide documentation proving residency of the applicant; (4) Develop a procedure to provide evidence of the documented status of documented immigrants; (5) Cross reference income reported by applicants at the time of original application or renewal to other state records, including Department of Employment Security data or tax records; (6) Require all enrollees to return an annual redetermination to verify that there were no changes to their eligibility information; and (7) Require termination of coverage if the premium for an enrollee is not paid by the end of the month of coverage.

HB 6879 (Bellock) Requires the use of 30 days of income data instead of just one paycheck. HB 6880 (Tracy) Provisions provide for an income cap of 300% FPL ($66,150 for a family of four) and also require enrollees to notify HFS of any change in access to employer sponsored health insurance.

Job Creation

HB 4659 (Mitchell, B.) Utilizes our existing unemployment insurance program to enable employees to share their work and avoid layoffs.

HB 4777 (Moffitt) Amends the Sales Tax Acts. Provides that, for a period of 10 years beginning on the effective date of the amendatory Act, new flexible fuel vehicles, as defined in provisions of the Alternate Fuels Act, new hybrid vehicles, and new electric vehicles are exempt from sales taxation under the Acts.

HB 4943 (Bassi) Creates a grant fund to attract small employers to Illinois, and to encourage job creation by existing Illinois small businesses.

HB 5199 (Cavaletto) Increases the jobs tax credit for a trade or business located in an enterprise zone to $2,500 for each eligible employee hired to work in the enterprise zone (now, $500). This jobs tax credit creates an incentive to create new jobs.

HB 5484 (Kosel) Tort-reform bill. Establishes requirements for qualifications of “expert” witnesses and limits the testimony of non-experts and sets the same standards for admissibility of expert testimony as is the accepted practice in federal courts.

HB 5793 (Tracy) Tort-reform bill. Prevents “venue shopping.” If no defendants are residents of Illinois, a lawsuit may only be filed in this state in the county in which the cause of action arose, or in which some part of that transaction occurred.

HB 5794 (Tracy) Tort-reform bill. Requires a court to determine that a proposed class action is superior to other available methods for the fair and efficient adjudication of the controversy in question.

HB 5795 (Stephens) Tort-reform bill. Establishes proportionate liability requiring each defendant to pay damages based on its degree of fault, rather than requiring any single defendant to pay all or most of the damages. Abolishes joint and several liability.

HB 5796 (Stephens) Re-enacts key provisions of the State’s Code of Civil Procedure tort reform law of 1995. This law capped awards for pain and suffering at $500,000, and separately capped punitive damages at no more than three times economic damages. The state Supreme Court struck down the 1995 tort reform law in 1997.

HB 5797 (Reboletti) Tort-reform bill. Clarifies that the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act does not apply to damages for conduct resulting in bodily injury, death, or damage to property other than the property that is the subject of the practice claimed to be unlawful.

HB 5798 (Cross) Tort-reform bill. Creates the Full and Fair Non-economic Damages Act, which establishes guidelines for the fact finder in determining non-economic damages, compensatory damages, and punitive damages. Establishes a post-trial review of the non-economic damages awarded. Requires the appellate court to use the “de novo” standard of review.

HB 5805 (Mathias) Enacts the Illinois Emergency Economic Development Act. Creates a subsidized wages and job- training program to offset the cost to companies who create new jobs for unemployed workers.

HB 5806 (Senger) Expands the EDGE Tax Credit from corporate income, to corporate income plus withheld employee income, for companies who create jobs with benefits.

HB 5807 (Reis) Offers a 30% state tax credit to attract wind turbine manufacturers to Illinois.

HB 5808 (Hatcher) Creates the Manufacturing Job Destination Tax Credit Act. Provides for an income tax credit of 25% of the Illinois labor expenditures made by a manufacturing company in order to foster job creation and retention in Illinois.

HB 5809 (Mathias) Amends the Income Tax Act to extend the carryback and carryover periods for net losses by an additional 5 years, from 20 to 25 years.

HB 5810 (Mathias) Creates the Green Energy Business Act. Offers property tax incentives for new or expanded renewable energy businesses.

HB 5811 (Black) Creates the Employ Illinois Job Renewal Act. Provides tax incentives to companies who locate in rural areas with high unemployment (Job Renewal Zones).

HB 5812 (Senger) Re-enacts and expands the training expense credit as incentive to employers to train and retrain employees.

HB 6086 (Reis) Expands the number of enterprise zones in Illinois from 95 to 145. Enterprise zones offer companies a mix of state and local incentives for locating or expanding within the zone.

HB 6159 (Reis) Limits workers’ compensation to instances where the underlying injury was the direct result of work preformed on the job, and denies workers’ compensation to an employee found to be under the influence of alcohol or narcotic drugs when injured.

HB 6275 (Mathias) Increases compensation for jurors and makes jury service more tolerable by providing opportunities to reschedule services.

HB 6858 (Schmitz) Allows for the extensions of Enterprise Zones for an additional 20 years upon application by the corporate authorities of the county or municipality that designated the Enterprise Zone.

HB 6861 (Cross) Provides that the Research & Development Tax credit is not subject to the automatic sunset.

Give Your Feedback at www.budget.illinois.gov

As part of his reasoning to postpone his annual Budget address until March 10, 2010, Governor Pat Quinn said he would establish a website allowing public input into the budget process. That website is now up and running today at www.budget.illinois.gov.

Since the House Republican Caucus first launched Reinvent Illinois back in July of 2009 we have been collecting your ideas to help us find waste in state government and to solve our budget crisis and we urge your continued participation.

Each post has been reviewed and shared with our membership and many of your ideas have been borrowed and crafted into legislation. Just last week, we compiled a list of fiscal reforms, Medicaid reforms, and job creation ideas (Many of these ideas were posted by you on Reinvent Illinois) and presented them to Governor Quinn. We believe these ideas collectively will add up to meaningful savings for Illinois taxpayers and deserve a fair hearing by lawmakers.

Here is a sampling of some of the ways we believe we can begin to get state spending under control:

Fiscal Reforms to Control Spending:

o HB 4095 Utilizes the same rules as the Comptroller’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report to create a balanced budget that is consistent with accrual accounting
o HB 6626 Requires the budget to be posted online for seven days prior to vote
o HJRCA 28 Requires 3/5th supermajority vote on any legislation to raise taxes or fees on Illinois families or business
o HB 4836 Creates a Sunshine Commission made up of business leaders to review programs and services to eliminate duplicity and make government more efficient
o HB 5212 Adopts Truth-in-Accounting principals
o SB 1679 Requires Zero-Based Budgeting
o HB 4711 Allows school districts to suspend unfunded mandates of their choice
o No out of state travel for elected officials or state employees
o No state office should be remodeled, no new furniture or carpet
o HB 6622 Prohibits legislative pay raise for FY11
o HB 6625 Institutes 12 furlough days for lawmakers
o HB 5488, HB 4800 Eliminates fleet of state aircraft (Generate $25 million and save millions more each year to operate)
o HB 4888 Reduces number of license plates to one per car ($1 million annual savings)
o HJRCA 36 Eliminates LT Governor office ($2 million in savings)
o HJRCA 49 Combines Comptroller/Treasurer (up to $12 million in savings)
o HB 2657 Ends free rides for seniors ($37 million savings to state)
o HB 4633 Eliminates General Assembly Scholarships (Cost to universities over 2007-2008 $12.5 million)
o HB 4662 Offer Tax ‘Amnesty’ for delinquent taxpayers(COGFA estimates $104 million in new revenues)
o Impose hiring freeze and freeze state employees’ salaries
o Review entry level state employees’ salaries
o Sell Lincoln Developmental Center ($1 million savings)
o Sell eight state-owned prison warden’s homes

2010 Session Preview

E-Newsletter sent to subscribers February 2, 2010

The new spring session is getting underway with the General Assembly scheduled to return to Springfield on Wednesday. As you will see many of your ideas are being developed into legislation, and over the next several weeks we will be unveiling more of your suggestions.

HB 5008: Imposes campaign limits on legislative leaders’ caucus committees and political parties in general elections

“The current law puts campaign contribution limits on everyone EXCEPT the four legislative leaders and political parties in the general election. That is not fair—we must apply the rules to everyone,” said House Republican Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego). “House Republicans refused to support the bill that passed last year because it only imposed these limits in primary elections. This new bill closes the gaping loophole that was created by that law.”

“Simply put, unlimited money means unlimited power in the hands of a few individuals,” said Rep. Dan Brady (R-Bloomington). “Imposing reasonable caps across the board in the General Election will curb influence by legislative leaders and put power back into the hands of individual voters.”

According to Cross, the majority of money is spent in general elections – not in primaries. In fact, in the 2008 election cycle – the Democratic Party of Illinois spent 40 times more in the general compared to what it spent in the primary.

Single License Plate Could Save State Over One Million Dollars

State Representative Jerry Mitchell (R-Rock Falls) is proposing a change in state law that would require Illinois drivers to only have one license plate on the rear of their vehicle, as opposed to the current law requiring front and back plates. Currently, 19 states, including neighboring Indiana and Kentucky, only require a single license plate on the back of a vehicle.

“At a time when our state is facing a serious financial shortfall, every little bit helps,” said Rep. Mitchell referring to the approximate one million dollars in savings. “At this point, I think everything should be on the table.”

House Bill 4888 would require the Secretary of State to issue only a single license plate that would be attached to the rear of vehicles registered in Illinois. State Representative Mitchell gives credit to Illinois residents who submitted the idea through the www.ReinventIllinois.com website.

State should sell its fleet of aircraft

State Representative Bill Mitchell (R-Forsyth) believes the State should sell its fleet of executive aircraft and is suggesting the Governor and state employees use the Amtrak service between Chicago and Springfield.

“We’re spending $4 million a year to fly the Governor and other top officials back and forth from Chicago to Springfield,” Mitchell said. “Instead of spending $3,000 an hour for these flights, state officials should be taking Amtrak, especially since it only costs $36 round trip.”

The State of Illinois maintains a fleet of sixteen aircraft, including six executive aircraft, worth an estimated $22 million. The State pays for daily air shuttles between Chicago and Springfield; back and forth in the morning and the evening. Representative Mitchell is proposing legislation to sell the state fleet, with the exception of aircraft used by the Illinois State Police.

Most other large states, including California, Florida and Texas, don’t fly daily shuttles for state employees. They only have flights by appointment for the highest ranking officials. The State of New York does not fly employees from the capitol of Albany to New York City.
“If it’s good enough for these other big states, it’s good enough for Illinois,” Mitchell said.

Reinvent Illinois Veto Preview

E-Newsletter sent to subscribers October 2, 2009

In a couple of weeks, we will be going back down to Springfield for the veto session to consider Governor Quinn’s actions on legislation we passed in the spring. This session, we passed 788 bills to the governor for him to decide whether to sign them into law or to make some changes to them.

He then sends them back to us in the legislature to either accept his changes or vote to override his action returning to the original intention of the bill. The governor signed into law approximately 92 percent of the bills we sent to him including: the first major capital construction bill in nearly a decade, a bill that would ban texting while driving, and strengthening the laws that make government information more accessible to Illinois residents.

He either totally vetoed (didn’t like the bill at all, so he just vetoed the whole thing) or amendatorily vetoed (didn’t like parts of the bill or he found technical errors, so he changed it) approximately 67 bills. To review all of the bills up for reconsideration during the fall veto session log on to www.ilga.gov and click on Legislative Reports.

When lawmakers return to Springfield in October there are other issues we are hoping to address as well such as ethics reform and fiscal reforms to improve the overall well being of our state. It is disappointing that more has not been done in these areas to date given the seriousness of our state’s financial and ethical crisis. One example of a reform bill that has passed the House and is awaiting action in the Senate is the Recall Amendment, which could allow the citizens of Illinois decide whether or not a Governor should be removed from office.

This would provide an avenue for the citizens of Illinois to directly deal with a governor they may feel should no longer serve in that capacity before his or her term is complete.

With one governor in prison and another impeached and awaiting trial, the ability by the people to recall a corrupt or incompetent governor should be a no-brainer, but unfortunately this legislation has been stalled by politics.  Right now, according to the state constitution, only the legislature has the ability to remove a governor from office, as it did in January of this year through the impeachment process.

We continue to push for reforms in other areas as well including campaign contribution limits, public pensions, Medicaid, and the length of the campaign season, just to name a few. We need to keep the pressure on the democrats who control state government right now, to stop stalling and work with us to get things done for the good of the state.

A Message from Reinvent Illinois

E-Newsletter sent to subscribers September 1, 2009

We are pleased Governor Quinn vetoed House Bill 7, the so-called campaign finance reform bill, forcing lawmakers back to the drawing board to start over.  With one governor sitting in prison and another impeached and awaiting trial on serious corruption charges, we have the opportunity and the responsibility to change Illinois’ culture of corruption.  House Bill 7 was a sham passed under the guise of reform.  It would not have reformed the campaign finance system in Illinois; it would have weakened the system…if that is possible.

HB 7 was fatally flawed in many areas:

• Contribution limits from individuals would have been too high and in-kind contributions (For example: paying for television ads, campaign fliers, phone calls, etc.) were unlimited which has the effect of negating the limits entirely.

• There is no real time reporting of campaign contributions.  The media and public will continue to have to wait months to see who is contributing to candidates for elected offices.

• This legislation would have led to an explosion in the number of campaign committees formed by political candidates making it harder to track how much money is going to each candidate.

• The effective date of the bill was actually delayed so these so-called reforms would not have gone into effect until after the 2010 elections.

We are hopeful that the Democratic leaders are sincere in saying that they will bring Republicans and Democrats together along with leading campaign finance reform groups, to put together a bill that truly reforms the campaign finance system in Illinois.

The Illinois Reform Commission crafted a better package of meaningful reforms.  Many of your posts have suggested that the legislature should vote on the Illinois Reform Commission’s recommendations, and we could not agree with you more.  House Republicans have introduced the following bills based upon the Reform Commissions Report and will continue to push for their passage in the upcoming fall and spring session, they include:

• HB 1061/HB 4571 would require real-time contribution disclosure to allow the public and media to track campaign contributions.

• HB 825 would “open” primaries to combat patronage and intimidation by party leaders and would ensure all elections are private.

• HB 4448 would change the primary election date to June or later.

• HJRCA 5, HJRCA 8, HJRCA 17, HJRCA 21 would create a fair and competitive process when drawing legislative

• HB 4572 would provide prosecutors and investigators with many of the same tools available to federal authorities.

• HB 4577, HB 4578, and HB 4579 would increase corruption penalties.

• HB 4112 would strengthen the State Board of Elections ability to investigate and penalize campaign finance violations.

• HB 4110 would prohibit contributions from lobbyists.

• HB4109 seeks to reduce patronage and hiring abuses by requiring CMS to establish and maintain the Illinois New Employee Portal on its official website.

• HB 474, HB 4095, HB 4098, HB 4099 seek to restore meaningful checks and balances to the budget approval process.

• HB 2312 would require greater disclosure for state officials

What is Reinvent Illinois?

Illinois’ greatest natural resource is the ingenuity and thoughtfulness of its 13 million residents.   House Republicans believe we should use this natural resource to help us develop innovative new approaches to solving our state’s budget problem.

Illinois’ unemployment rate has topped 10 percent, food and gas prices are rising, the utilities want rate increases and families are making dramatic changes in the way they live.  We agree state government needs to change as well by living within our means and want to put a stop to business as usual.

Have a suggestion on how to make government more efficient or cost effective? Have you witnessed waste in state government?  We want to hear from you.

We will keep you updated on our progress and let you know how you can help along the way.  But right now, we want your ideas.

Change begins with you.