The state of Illinois has $13 billion in unpaid bills and an estimated $130 billion in pension liability, but that's not obvious when looking at legislation lawmakers have put forward in the House lately, according to the Illinois Policy Institute.
Diana Rickert, vice president of communications with the institute, appeared Monday on Chicago’s The Morning Answer radio show, to talk about what the legislature has been working on this session.
The legislature is now on spring break until April 25.
“They are at home getting paid and not doing anything,” Rickert said.
Lawmakers tried to make Aug. 4 Barack Obama Day, which would have given some state workers a paid day off. The bill didn’t pass, but it would’ve come with a big price tag.
“It cost $3.2 million and year and it would have been the 14th state holiday in a single calendar year and the 14th paid holiday off,” Rickert said. It also would have been $16 million in lost productivity to the state.
Rep. Anna Moeller (D-Elgin) has milkweed on the brain – the host plant for Monarch butterflies that has been a conservation concern for environmentalists. She proposed two bills this session: One asks to designate milkweed the official state wildflower, which did not pass, and another, which passed the House, prohibits calling milkweed a noxious or static weed, despite the fact that it is poisonous.
The House backed a resolution brought by Rep. Steve Anderson (R-Geneva), who considers himself a leader of the bacon caucus as a supporter of the state's $1.8 billion pork industry. Anderson recently appeared on the House floor wearing a shirt that read, “Grab Life by the Bacon," while pushing for the state to recognize and continue to defend the importance of bacon.
After a public health cancer research body declared bacon a carcinogen – a move Anderson calls "unfair" – he started working on the resolution to ensure Illinoisans know how much the pork industry contributes to the state.
Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago) proposed a parental bullying act that would make it a crime for parents to knowingly embarrass their child, but it didn’t pass.
A mandate requiring cursive to be taught in elementary school and high school was introduced but didn’t get the votes needed to pass. Another lawmaker questioned whether kids 18 and under, should be able to buy Red Bull, an energy drink.
And, finally, one lawmaker tried to ban certain Asian and African elephants from traveling circuses in Illinois.
Radio show host Dan Proft is a principal of Local Government Information Services, which owns this publication.
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