Springfield, IL – State Senator Ed Maloney (D-Chicago) believes that the Illinois General Assembly had a productive day in Springfield during summer session. They reauthorized spending on the State’s capital construction plan, passed an election law reform bill, cut their own pay, and dealt with several other lingering issues.

Because the legislators returned on their own and not in response to a call from the governor, the cost of Wednesday’s session was minimal, and legislators did not receive per diem payments to pay for travel and lodging.

"We had to come back to Springfield to authorize the capital construction bill," Maloney explained. "Summer is the peak time for construction work. If we had not reauthorized this spending, it would have cost our economy thousands of jobs. It also would have delayed some very important repairs and upgrades to roads, bridges, schools, and other state facilities."

In May, the Senate passed a bill that authorized construction spending but including additional funding for other programs. The House did not pass this bill. The full budget cuts total State spending by billions of dollars and does not involve any new borrowing.

To save more taxpayer dollars, the General Assembly also voted to cancel their scheduled cost of living adjustment, freeze per diem travel reimbursements at a lower rate, and take 12 furlough days. Legislators have done the same thing for the past two years.

"We passed a balanced budget this year, but we also cut spending in almost every area," Maloney said. "We should not ask the taxpayers who rely on State services and State employees to sacrifice without sacrificing ourselves."

While in Springfield, legislators dealt with several other lingering issues. One was an election reform bill that will require local election authorities to make sure they have enough ballots for overseas members of the military, lowers the number of petition signatures needed to put measures on a ballot, and caps the number of signatures candidates can collect when trying to get on the ballot (forcing candidates to be more responsible when collecting signatures), in addition to some other changes. They also passed a bill making it easier for the State to capture extra Medicaid funding from the federal government and several trailer bills to fix small problems with bills passed earlier in the year.

"I think we had a very productive day in Springfield," Maloney said. "I also think that there’s a strong possibility that Illinois will take in more money than it spends this year. If we do, when we come back in the fall or next January, we can use that extra money to pay past-due bills or fill any budget holes that we discover in the months to come."