By Stephanie Fryer | Illinois Statehouse News

SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois House voted Wednesday to eliminate a premium-free insurance perk for retired state workers, including university employees, judges and lawmakers.

Senate Bill 1313, which passed by a 74-43 vote, would require retirees to pay for their health insurance, regardless of how long they worked for the state. The pricey perk costs Illinois more than $800 million a year.

“I think this is a good start toward doing the difficult things we have to do — to put the state of Illinois on a path toward fiscal solvency and fiscal responsibility, which is very much needed,” said House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, who sponsored the proposal.

State employees with 20 years of service now qualify for premium-free health insurance. The years of service are even lower for judges and General Assembly members, who receive the perk after serving six and four years, respectively.

“Not only are these benefits unaffordable, given today’s fiscal situation, but they are far more generous than those provided by other governments to their employees and those provided by the private sector,” Madigan said.

Madigan acknowledged Illinois is the only state offering free health care to state retirees after 20 years of service.

“We have for years seen this state spend money we didn’t have and make commitments that we could not keep,” said House Minority Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego. “We are at that point if we do not address retiree health care, pensions, Medicaid, the budget, we will find ourselves where we can no longer fund schools, charge even more for higher education, not be able to protect our communities.”

So far its unknown how much retirees would pay under the new measure. One possibility is having premiums set on a sliding scale based on income.

The legislation places the price-setting power in the hands of the state Department of Central Management Services. The Joint Committee on Administrative Rules would have veto power on any recommendations from the department.

House lawmakers debated the bill for about an hour. Opponents argued it breaks a promise to retirees. Retirees last week in Springfield pointed out that free doesn’t always mean free, and many still have to pay the cost of prescriptions and co-pays.

The bill heads to the Senate.

By Anthony Brino | Illinois Statehouse News

SPRINGFIELD —  Illinois‘ Senate leader wants to require publicly traded corporations operating in the state to disclose certain financial information, an idea Republicans and business groups criticized.

Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, introduced the Corporate Disclosure and Responsibility Act on Wednesday and said the goal is to help the state and public evaluate the effectiveness and need for corporate tax breaks, such as the deal offered last year to the CME Group Inc. and Sears Holdings Corp., aimed at keeping them in Illinois.

“Publicly traded corporations already tell shareholders how their investments resulted in losses and profits,” Cullerton said. “The people of Illinois deserve the same transparency.”

The measure goes to the Senate for a vote after passing the Senate Executive Committee by a vote of 9-5, with Republicans voting no.

Senate Minority leader Christine Radogno, R-Lemont, said it was “political gamesmanship” on the part of Cullerton and Senate Democrats, calling the measure “a cheap shot to the business community.”

Among the required disclosures in the bill are publicly traded companies’ income, including from subsidiaries, before and after tax credits, as well as their total taxable income, and other more technical information similar to what they file with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Companies would give the information — with a two-year delay — to the Illinois Secretary of State, who would make the files public.

The Illinois Chamber of Commerce said the bill would be burdensome and could threaten competitiveness.

“It flies very much in the face of a long tradition in Illinois, and we’d say across the nation, for confidentiality of tax returns,” said Todd Maisch, vice president of government affairs at the chamber, which advocates for state businesses.

By Andrew Thomason | Illinois Statehouse News

George Egan, former director of portfolio management for College Illinois!, and others also were given combined bonuses of $176,003 after resigning or being fired.

By Anthony Brino | Illinois Statehouse News

SPRINGFIELD — Illinois nonprofits receive nearly $1.1 billion in state funding a year, and two lawmakers want them to post how the money is being spent on an online public database.

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The Senate Higher Education Committee on Tuesday is expected to consider a proposal to bar publicly funded universities from using tax or tuition money to pay for outside firms to hire executives, such as coaches and top administrators.