LAST YEAR 125 bills were required to pass appropriations for the 1976 fiscal year. This year, if Rep. Gerald Shea, House Democratic majority leader, had his way, the job would be done in a 575-page executive omnibus bill and 10 minor bills. All departments and agencies under the governor's control were included in Shea's major proposal. Requests for the lieutenant governor, secretary of state, treasurer, comptroller, attorney general, legislature, judiciary, education and miscellaneous agencies would be considered separately in Shea's minor appropriations bills.
Shea introduced the 11 bills on March 19. That same day, Speaker William Redmond (D., Bensenville), a cosponsor with Shea, informed House members "the bills were introduced at this time in order to speed up the House consideration of appropriation bills and to enable the House to examine the Governor's budget comprehensively."
Balancing the budget
Redmond also asserted that the consolidation of budget bills will enable the
General Assembly to "balance appropriations and revenue estimates against
each other." In the past, introduction of
a large number of bills at different stages
in the legislative process made it virtually impossible to know how much had
been approved. Yet the Constitution
requires a balanced budget (Art. VIII, sec. 2).
The House Democratic staff has been laying the groundwork for a consolidated budget bill since last July, after Shea and Redmond became irritated at the difficulties of controlling the appropriations process when spending bills were parceled out among several legislators, and the House leadership lost control over their progress. However, concern for providing a balanced workload between the House and Senate, adequate committee procedure, orderly debate for amendments, enforceable conference committee authority and a feasible printing schedule have caused many legislators to challenge Shea's plan.
An eight-member bipartisan committee, composed of both representatives and senators, met on April 21 to consider other alternatives for handling the budget this year, and developed three plans in addition to the Shea and traditional budget techniques. If the leadership and membership of both chambers accept any of these suggestions, major code departments and agencies would be extracted from the omnibus bill and broken down into separate bills. The other 10 proposals from the Shea-Redmond package would remain, although a division of higher and lower education bills could occur.
Committee members were Reps. Gerald Bradley (D., Bloomington), James M. Houlihan (D., Chicago), Donald L. Totten (R., Hoffman Estates), George Ryan (R., Kankakee)and Sens. Thomas C. Hynes (D., Chicago), Kenneth V. Buzbee (D., Carbondale), John J. Nimrod (R., Skokie) and Stanley B. Weaver (R., Urbana).
This is Shea's last session in the legislature. He has given what amounts to an "exit interview" to Illinois Issues (see p. 7) and the omnibus plan was his final chance to make what may be the most significant step forward in legislative control of the budget since the creation of the Budgetary Commission in 1937.
Ogilvie's executive budget
The plug was pulled on the Budgetary
Commission a few years ago after Gov.
Richard B. Ogilvie refused to give its
members their usual opportunity to
hold hearings on appropriation requests before formulation of the budget. This
was a vital step in the Ogilvie development of a genuine executive budget. Under his predecessors, Illinois had developed a hybrid legislative-executive budget with the Budgetary Commission holding hearings on agency requests with the budget director sitting in
and taking notes.
More and more legislators were growing dissatisfied with a small group of leaders exercising so much power, and this feeling crystallized in the report of the 1967 Commission on the Organization of the General Assembly (COOGA). This group charged that the Budgetary Commission "has never fulfilled its legal obligation to report its recommendations and the rationale for making them to other members of the General Assembly" (Improving the State Legislature, p. 106).
COOGA, chaired by Rep. Harold A. Katz (D., Glencoe), recommended that "no legislative agency participate formally in pre-budget hearings." But legislators don't like to kill legislative commissions and Ogilvie was left to carry out the recommendation. Despite criticism of the Budgetary Commission, some old-timers insist its role in holding down spending has not been equalled.
A radical reform?
Shea's move to encompass the enormous (over $9.9 billion) Illinois budget
in 11 bills could have been merely a device to permit early committee hearings
on appropriations or to scare agencies
into introducing their own bills sooner.
Or it could be the beginning of a radical
reform that may enable the House to
manage its business so that it can plan to
adjourn on or before June 30.
In the past, many different legislators have sponsored budget bills. Some legislators became identified with the interest of the agency whose bill they
June 1976 / Illinois Issues / 29
were handling rather than with the public interest as perceived by legislative leaders. If it suited the interest of the agency to slow the progress of a bill, the sponsor cooperated. When June 30, the end of the fiscal year suddenly loomed on the horizon, any bill caught in a slowdown left little time for effective legislative action on it. But an omnibus bill, if delayed, could be disastrous — could tie up almost all of state government if not passed in early July. Legislators who prefer the old system will raise this specter.
Half of the states use a single budget bill, according to the Council of State Governments' study, State Legislative Appropriations Process (1975). Only Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi and Oregon are like Illinois in making budgeted appropriations in more than 100 separate bills.
Committee structures
The General Assembly is now served by 93
commissions and committees in addition to
its 38 standing committees. The 93 commissions and committees, consisting of 41
continuing commissions, 21 continuing
advisory committees and interstate agencies,
17 temporary commissions, and 14 committees or commissions created by resolution, are described in a report issued April 12 by the Legislative Council, Summary of provisions concerning legislative commissions 1976.
Legislative occupations
The current House membership has 66
full-time legislators and 52 attorneys according to a recent study conducted by Rep. Ron
K. Hoffman (R.., Westchester). An additional 18 representatives listed themselves as
insurance and real estate agents; five as city
employees, educators, county employees
and farmers; four as executives and three as
pharmacists. One each was listed in the
occupations of bakery and catering service
owner, financier, fireman, florist, funeral
home director, hotel manager, jeweler,
minister, optometrist, restaurant owner,
realtor and union representative. One
occupation was not identified.
New internship program
A Private Sector Legislative Internship
Program has been announced by the Illinois
Legislative Studies Center, Sangamon State
University, Springfield. It will involve
graduate level study and assignment with
lobbying organizations. Internships will
begin October 1, 1976, paying a stipend of
$650 per month. Deadline for applications is
June 15.
30 / June 1976 / Illinois Issues