SPRINGFIELD—State Representative Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) voted today in the Illinois House to support a Constitutional Amendment requiring a 3/5 supermajority vote in the General Assembly to adopt any additional enhancements to the state’s pension systems.

“This is a small step we needed to take to begin restoring stability to both our state budget and our state pension systems,” said Durkin. “This is just start. We cannot leave Springfield this session until meaningful structural changes have been made.”

House Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 49 will put before the voters in the fall the question of whether a 3/5ths supermajority vote of both the Illinois House and Senate should be required to pass legislation that enhances state pension benefits.

“One of the biggest reasons our pension systems are in crisis is that in good economic times it was just too easy to pass pension sweeteners that we simply can’t afford. This measure will not change current pension benefits, but if approved by the voters statewide, it will force any legislator wanting to add additional benefits in the future to make a much stronger case for their necessity.”

SPRINGFIELD— Today the Illinois House of Representatives passed an important resolution to limit spending for our FY 13 budget.

State Representative Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) supported House Resolution 706 that passed the House Thursday which limits next year’s state spending to $32.9 billion.

“We have over spent for years and are leaving our children with huge piles of debt,” said Durkin. “We must cut spending, reform our pensions and Medicaid and start meeting our obligations.”

This is an important step in the process to get Illinois back on a sustainable budget track. The House previously set a conservative revenue estimate for this year of $33.7 billion.

“This plan fully funds our state pension payment obligation of $5.065 billion for this year and will allow the state to pay off $1.5 billion in old bills to providers that are struggling to survive,” said Durkin. “This plan is the responsible action to take and even though it will be difficult to cut spending by 5.4 percent we simply do not have the money to sustain the spending levels we are at.”

Next, the appropriations committees will need to go through the budgets line by line and make appropriate allocations.

Click to hear Representative Durkin discuss HR706………

Today I presented House Bill 4116 to the State Government Administration Committee where it passed.

SPRINGFIELD—Legislation sponsored by State Representative Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) to require College Illinois! to make investment decisions in open meetings passed out of the Illinois House unanimously today.
House Bill 3923 no longer allows investment decisions under the Illinois Prepaid Tuition Trust Fund to be conducted behind closed door. The rationale behind investment decisions having been excluded from public review is due to an exemption in the Open Meetings Act. These decisions must be made public for the stake holders.

“This is a first step of several to bring structural change to College Illinois!,” said Durkin. “Under the previous College Illinois! administration questionable investment decisions were made behind closed doors and may have been prevented if the discussions were held out in the open and families with children in the fund were aware of these investment choices.”

The Illinois Student Assistance Commission has made recent changes including hiring a new executive director, consultant and Chief investment officer. The administration discontinued investments Chairman Kym Hubbard deemed inappropriate and are working to establish a safer, but well-rounded investment policies.

“This legislation brings transparency and accountability to the College Illinois Investments and confidence to current contract holders and future enrollees in the program,” said Durkin.

This is just one of several legislative proposals Durkin has filed as a package to get College Illinois! on the road to sustainability.

Click to hear Rep. Durkin discuss HB3923….

“Today the Governor called for huge cuts and reforms in his annual budget address. I want to see the governor implement the nearly $1 billion in reforms for Medicaid we have already passed. We cannot continue to look at the big picture with rose colored glasses. Last year we approved a truly balanced budget and the administration out spent it by nearly $500 million. We have to sit down and make the hard decisions now; we can’t keep pushing this off. We are not going to borrow or tax our way to prosperity.”
–State Representative Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs)

Click to hear comments from Rep. Durkin on budget address…..