State Senator John O. Jones

SENATE WEEK IN REVIEW MARCH 8 - 12

SPRINGFIELD, IL - Despite Illinois’ overwhelming deficit, on March 10 Gov. Pat Quinn presented a “borrow and spend” budget that State Sen. John O. Jones (R- Mt. Vernon) said may be the most irresponsible budget ever submitted to the General Assembly.

Not only is the budget proposal out of balance by almost $5 billion—violating the governor’s constitutional duty to propose a balanced budget—under the plan presented by Quinn nearly a fifth of General Funds spending doesn’t have a single penny to back it up.

The Governor also advanced a 33 percent increase on the state income tax, proposing a surcharge from 3 percent to 4 percent for education funding. However, Senator Jones stressed that this $3 billion increase was obviously a tactical maneuver to pressure lawmakers into increasing taxes in the short-term, with an even larger tax increase likely to be pushed following the November elections.

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SPRINGFIELD, IL – Governor Pat Quinn rolled out his vision for the Illinois budget on March 10 and State Sen. John O. Jones (R-Mt. Vernon) says that the budget is not very truthful.

“Governor Quinn’s budget proposal is dishonest at best; he will spend the next couple months using scare tactics to enrage teachers, health care providers and citizens who depend on critical services,” Jones said. “This budget is unconstitutional because the proposal has more expenditures than revenue.”

Quinn’s proposed Fiscal Year 2011 budget totals $32.1 billion in expenditures, but the state’s estimated income from taxes, fees, and other revenues will total $27.4 billion, leaving a difference of $4.7 billion. The Governor’s own budget people acknowledge that most of the budgetary imbalance will be shoved into Fiscal Year 2012. Jones notes that this budget will rely on borrowing and will likely push the state’s long-term debt to a whopping $113 billion.

SENATE WEEK IN REVIEW MARCH 1- 5

MT. VERNON, IL - Legislative committees met continuously during the week as Senate lawmakers attempted to move all Senate bills out of committee by the scheduled March 5 deadline, said State Sen. John O. Jones (R- Mt. Vernon).

The Senate Executive Committee considered legislation that would require a photo of any prisoner who received early release to be posted online, while additional measures would increase the speed limit for cars and trucks to 70 mph on rural interstates and allow $300 million in short-term borrowing for health care providers.

Following reported problems and abuses related to Gov. Pat Quinn’s “MGT Push” inmate early release program, Senate Bill 3411 was introduced to make public identifying information and a photograph of any inmate who is released earlier than was delineated in their initial sentence. The information would not only include the inmate’s name and age, but also his or her physical attributes, address, the offense that was committed and the county where the conviction took place.

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