Legal/Legislative Scene 86th General Assembly Convenes By Peter M. Murphy Legal/Legislative Counsel

The new 86th General Assembly convened on January 11, 1989, with a swearing in ceremony for new and reelected members. Of the 10 new members elected to the Illinois House, 5 will be in the House for the first time, 2 have been in service in previous General Assemblies, and 3 were elected to seats that they had been holding by appointment.

The numerical division between Republicans and Democrats in both Houses will remain the same for the third General Assembly in a row. The Senate is divided between 31 Democrats and 28 Republicans, and the House is divided between 67 Democrats and 51 Republicans. In addition, Democrats hold a majority in both Houses for the fourth successive General Assembly and this is a first for this century.

In the Senate, all 39 incumbents at the end of their term ran for re-election in 1988, and all were re-elected.

Although no new Senators were elected, one vacancy occurred before the 86th General Assembly convened, and that was the position of Senator Glenn Poshard, Democrat, who was elected U.S. Representative from the 22nd congressional district.

Senator Philip Rock, D-Oak Park, was re-elected to an unprecedented sixth term as President of the Illinois Senate for the 86th General Assembly. He was elected on the second ballot by a 30-27 margin, with Sen. Frank Savickas, D-Chicago, abstaining.

Rock named as assistant majority leaders Sen. Vince DeMuzio of Carlinville, Sen. John D'Arco of Chicago and Sen. Earlean Collins of Chicago. Sen. Ted Lechowicz of Chicago and Sen. Richard Luft of Pekin were named majority whips. Sen. Sam Vadalabene of Edwardsville was named caucus chairman.

Sen. James 'Pate' Philip, Republican, was elected minority leader and named Sen. Stanley Weaver of Champaign, Sen. John Davidson of Springfield and Sen. Aldo DeAngeles of Olympia Fields as assistant minority leaders and Sen. Jack Schaefer of Crystal Lake as minority whip. Sen. Adeline Geo-Karis of Zion was named chairman of the Republican caucus.

In the House, two incumbents were defeated in their bids for re-election. Representative John O'Connell, Democrat, lost to Ann Zickus, and Representative Sam Panayotovich, Republican, was defeated by Clem Balanoff.

Republicans lost one incumbent, defeated one Democrat, and took a vacant seat formerly held by a Democrat. The Democrats lost one incumbent, defeated one Republican, and took a vacant seat formerly held by a Republican, thus making an even exchange.

Rep. Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, was re-elected to a fourth term as Speaker of the House for the 86th

Wednesday, February 1, 1989
10 A.M. House Rules Committee Meeting, Room 114. Consider House Rules for the 86th General Assembly.

12 Noon Governor's State of the State Address

2 P.M. Floor Session. Consideration of House Rules

Thursday, February 2, 1989 — Tentative Session

Wednesday, March 1, 1989
12 Noon Session. Governor's Budget Address

Thursday, March 2, 1989 — Session

Friday, March 3, 1989 — Tentative Session

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday - March 7, 8 and 9 — Session

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday - March 14, 15 and 16 — Session

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday - March 28, 29 and 30 — Session

The House and Senate will be off for Easter Recess the week of March 20.

General Assembly on a 67-51 straight party line vote. Rep. Lee Daniels, R-Elmhurst, was re-elected minority leader. As it now stands, here is House Speaker Madigan's leadership for the 86th G.A.: Majority Leader - James McPike; Assistant Majority Leader - E. J. 'Zeke' Giorgi, John Matijevich, William Laurino, Anthony Young, James Keane, Lou Jones; Majority Whip - John Capparelli, Peg Breslin; Caucus Chairman - Frank Giglio; Speaker Pro-Tem - John Cullerton. Madigan said he will introduce legislation that will make all of the above-mentioned (excepting McPike and Cullerton) Assistant Majority Leaders.

Rep. James F. Rea, D-Christopher, has been replaced in the House by Larry Wollard, 58 Meadowlark Dr., Carterville, IL 62918. He resigned to fill the unexpired term of state Senator Glenn Poshard, D-Carterville. After having been sworn in, House Republican Jane Barnes resigned in order to seek a position with the Governor's office. Appointment to her seat is pending at this writing.

Legislative platform

The IAPD/IPRA Boards took action at the IPR conference to approve the Associations' Legislative Platform for introduction in the 86th General Assembly. The Platform will be printed in this column in its entirety in the next issue of the magazine, and public forums will be organized to discuss Platform content with local legislators. Please contact your Hotline coordinator to find out when such an event will take place in your area.

IAPD/IPRA legislative events

Mark your calendars now for the IAPD's upcoming Annual Legislative Conference to be held on April 19. It is very important that professional staff and commissioners from your district attend this event. In addition, the Legislative Golf Outing has been scheduled for July 21 at the beautiful Bensenville Park District. We look forward to seeing you there.

National legislation

The National Recreation and Park Association is hosting its Midyear Meeting in Washington, D.C., from February 8 through February 12. At this time, park and recreation professionals and commissioners from across the country will be working to secure congressional co-sponsors for Congressman Morris Udall's American Heritage Trust Act. When House and Senate bill numbers become available, we will be contacting you.

The importance of action taking place on the Federal level in order to provide state and local funding cannot be overstated. The Illinois Department of Conservation is expecting a maintenance budget for fiscal year 1990. This budget includes no new 'Build Illinois' money to fund the OSLAD program. The OSLAD program has previously been the source of grant money, on a 50/50 matching basis, for Illinois units of local government wishing to acquire or develop park land. As a consequence, the only grant money that will be available will be that coming from the Federal level. The decline of these funds over the past six years will result in no more than $600,000 being made available for such programs. This funding level is offset on the demand side of more than $13.5 million in local applications.

HOUSE

HB 9 Matejevich — Amends Open Meetings Act; prohibits public bodies from adopting nondisclosure policies with respect to closed session discussions of topics for which a closed meeting is not specifically authorized.

HB 43 W. Peterson — Amends act authorizing townships to buy/maintain parks and golf courses; eliminates limitation that any one park, except when received as a gift, be no more than 10 acres.

HB 70 Parke — Amends Code of Civil Procedure; repeals provisions requiring court in negligence/product liability cases to instruct the jury in writing that the defendent shall be found not liable if jury finds the plaintiff is more than 50% at fault of the proximate cause of the injury/damage for which recovery is sought.

HB 71 Parke — Amends Code of Civil Procedure; provides that punitive damages may not exceed the amount of compensatory damages for economic loss; requires convincing proof of actual malice or intentional and reckless disregard for the safety of others to obtain punitive damages.

HB 79 Capparelli et al — Amends Revenue Act; increases general homestead exemption from $3,500 to $7,000 beginning in 1988.

HB 80 Capparelli — New Act; enacts Property Tax Freeze Act; provides that amount of the property taxes extended in 1989 and 1990 may not exceed the 1988 extension, with certain exceptions.

HB 101 Cullerton — Amends Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act; deletes provision that public entities/workers are not liable for injuries caused by failure to upgrade existing streets or ways/places from standards which existed at time of original dedication/acquisition; other related deletions.

HB 116 McPike — Amends Workers Compensation Act and Workers Occupational Diseases Act; creates the State Compensation Insurance Fund, an independent public corporation to insure employers against liabilities for certain injuries/diseases for which their workers may be entitled to benefits under specified acts.

HB 120 Terzich et al — Creates the Clean Indoor Air Act; prohibits smoking in areas which are used by and open to the public except in portions of such areas in which smoking is expressly permitted; other provisions.

SENATE

SB 32 Smith et al — Amends The Minimum Wage Law; makes specified increases in the minimum wage; provides that the minimum wage shall not be less than the federal minimum wage.