COUNTRYSIDE—State Rep. Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) insists upon returning to Springfield to hammer out a responsible state budget.
“The Democrat majority of the democrats in the House and the Senate set the schedule and adjourned indefinitely two weeks ago and they alone are the only ones who can reconvene the legislature,” Durkin said. “They need to do that. They need to do that now!”
“The House is divided on what steps need to be taken to address the state’s multi-billion dollar deficit. Taxes are the wrong choice when there are masses of waste in state government that have not been cut. Instead, we must start by cutting waste and fraud from the system, and we must enact fiscal reforms to control state spending and make government more accountable to the taxpayers.”
According to Durkin, House Republicans have introduced a long list of cuts, reforms and job creation ideas to help stabilize Illinois’ economy, but have never seen the light of day because Democrats have bottled up these reforms in committee.
“Governor Quinn must start by re-opening union contracts so that we can roll-back $336 million in pay raises for agency employees. It’s an outrage that the state is unable to pay its bills to caregivers of the developmentally disabled, the mentally ill and the elderly – yet, many state employees are still getting pay raises,” said Durkin. “The majority of people in the private sector are not getting pay raises and they have found a way to live within their means.”
A few other reform ideas supported by Durkin include:
• Tax amnesty (a similar program netted $503 million in 2003)
• Elimination of Legislative Scholarships ($13.5 million in savings)
• Elimination of free rides on public transportation for non-low income seniors ($37 million in savings for the state)
• Medicaid reforms requiring 30 days of income data to validate eligibility (HB 5240) and imposing a two-year moratorium on program expansions (HB 5242).
• Reform workers’ compensation system to equalize cost with other states (HB 6159).
• HB 6622 prohibits legislative pay raises for FY11 and HB 6625 reinstitutes 12 furlough days for lawmakers.
• HB 5212 adopts truth-in-accounting principles. Prohibits the General Assembly from passing budgets until it adopts a joint resolution reflecting for that fiscal year the State’s estimated income, balance sheet, cash flow, surplus, or deficit.
• HJRCA 28 requires a 3/5th supermajority vote on any legislation to raise taxes or fees on Illinois families or businesses.
• Review and reduce funding for boards and commissions
“I am ready to go back to Springfield at a moments notice,” said Durkin. “It is time state officials prove to Illinois taxpayers that we can be responsible with their hard-earned money. We can start by making commonsense cuts to perks such as taxpayer funded cell-phones and blackberries, selling off vacant state properties, and reviewing all programs implemented under former Governor Rod Blagojevich- As you can see we have plenty to work and there are no excuses.”
