Illinois House Recap

Decatur, IL – In typical fashion the Democrats have ignored the several suggestions Republican legislators have made over the last several weeks to cut the budget and get the Illinois economy back on track.

State Rep. Dan Caulkins (R-Decatur) said some of the ideas suggested were to stop the creation of new programs and to eliminate the duplication of services by state agencies. And in addition to reforming Medicaid, voters should have the opportunity to amend the State Constitution in order to enact meaningful pension reforms, Caulkins said.

“The Democrats’ only solution to the fiscal problems facing our state is to raise taxes,” Caulkins said. “Past history clearly shows that raising taxes only leads to more spending. In 2011, the Democrats pushed through a temporary income tax to pay unpaid bills. Despite what we were promised, spending went up and the unpaid bills barely went down. Income taxes went up again in 2017, and like clock-work so has our spending. What we need is spending reform – not more tax increases.”

According to a recent study, Illinois currently spends about 25 cents of every dollar in revenue on pensions. The pension bill for next year is estimated to be about $9 billion. Additionally, about 25 percent of the Illinois population receives Medicaid benefits.

“We are not going to get out of this financial mess unless we address pensions and Medicaid,” Caulkins said. “Illinois needs pension reform and we also need to make sure that the people receiving welfare benefits are indeed eligible for those programs. The rising cost for pensions and unchecked entitlement programs are the main causes of Illinois’ economic issues. Raising taxes does not solve the problem. It is a Band-Aid solution. We need real, permanent solutions, not the status quo policies of the last 20 years that have made Illinois the highest taxed state in the country. What we need is get our spending under control.”

Bill creates $50 Scholarship for newborns

Democrats in the House this week approved a measure giving every child born in Illinois a $50 scholarship to encourage parents to save for their children’s education.

House Bill 2237 will cost up to $10 million a year for an estimated 155,000 babies born annually in Illinois.

“I think it is important for parents to develop a savings plan for college,” Caulkins said. “Unfortunately, this bill is a typical example of the tax and spend policies coming out of Springfield. We have more than $8 billion in unpaid bills and the Democrats are only concerned about pandering to their base and spending more money. If we really want to help Illinois kids get a college education, we need to look at ways to lower tuition costs at state universities. That would help far more than giving away $50 to newborns.”

Legislation puts general contractors on the hook for subcontractors’ wages

Once again, the leadership in the Illinois House is showing a complete disregard for business owners.

The House this week approved a measure (HB 2838), along party lines, exposing general contractors to litigation in the event subcontractors did not pay wages owed to their workers.

“This is going to drive up the cost of construction and ultimately cost jobs,” Caulkins said. “It should not be the legal responsibility of the general contractor to ensure a subcontractor has paid his employees. There are currently existing laws to protect those employees from unscrupulous employers. This is another example of the difficulties that employers face when doing business in this state, and we wonder why we lost over 45,000 people last year.”