*** UPDATE *** If you?re watching the veto session live blog, you already know that the newly revised gaming bill passed the House Executive Committee 8-2.
* As I write this, the House Executive Committee is debating the newly revised gaming expansion bill. Watch the proceedings at our live blog. The Tribune has lots of details on the new bill?
The new Chicago casino would keep its 4,000 gambling positions but wouldn?t be allowed to station them at the city?s airports. Slot machines would no longer be allowed on the state fairgrounds in Springfield. Quinn didn?t want the gambling machines there because the fair is a family destination.
Along with Chicago, new casinos still would be authorized for Rockford, Danville, the south suburbs and Park City in Lake County. Quinn specifically had objected to designating Park City as a location for a new casino when he outlined his framework for what would be a more acceptable gambling expansion plan. Quinn preferred to designate Lake County as a whole instead.
Overall, there would be 7,000 fewer authorized gambling positions than in the plan lawmakers approved in late May, which Quinn threatened to veto.
The current 10 riverboat operators would get 4,000 fewer positions under the new plan ? being allowed to expand from 1,200 spots to only 1,600 instead of the 2,000 originally promised.
The four new casinos outside Chicago would get 1,600 fewer positions total ? each being allowed 1,600 positions to start instead of the 2,000 previously promised. The rest would be cut from the Quad City Downs track and the fairgrounds.
Gov. Pat Quinn, of course, opposes slots at tracks. But a bill without those slots wouldn?t pass. Quinn also wanted a campaign contribution ban from casino owners, but that was dropped as well. Quinn?s campaign received hundreds of thousands of dollars last year from the Pritzker family, which owns part of a casino, and from the children of the Des Plaines casino owner.
* In other news, Illinois Statehouse News has a good report on yesterday?s hearing on Speaker Madigan?s proposal to set a cap on wages and benefits that can be negotiated by the state?s public employees unions?
In the fight for control over Illinois? purse strings, House Speaker Mike Madigan says the Legislature, not Gov. Pat Quinn, decides how to spend the taxpayer?s money and balance the Illinois budget.
?I don?t necessarily subscribe to the view that what the executive (branch) does binds the legislative (branch),? the Democrat from Chicago said at a statehouse hearing Monday here.
The hearing allowed Madigan to further showcase his legislative resolution that would allow the Legislature to indicate how much the state can spend on employee pay during upcoming contract negotiations between Quinn and the state?s largest public-sector union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME.The contract expires in June.
?One of our responsibilities, under the constitution, is to adopt a balanced budget. Which means, under the constitution, we are expected to be involved in budget making,? Madigan said. ?We do not want to replace the governor in negotiations.?
Henry Bayer, executive director for AFSCME Council 31, said Monday that the Legislature gave Quinn the authority that Madigan wants to change.
?The Legislature passed the current collective bargaining (legislation), and gave to the governor the power to negotiate collective bargaining agreements,? said Bayer. ?We?ve been doing that ? since 1984.
But Madigan said Illinois is broke and the Legislature needs to have input in the negotiations.
* More?
?We do not want to replace the governor in negotiations,? Madigan said. ?It?s about getting a handle on costs. It?s not about repealing collective bargaining.?
The resolution says the state ?will appropriate no more than X% for wage increases? for union contracts. The ?X? percentage has yet to be worked out.
Bayer said the legislature gave the governor authority to negotiate contracts for employees under his jurisdiction. Putting a limit on raises before negotiations start ?does have an impact on collective bargaining very clearly.? he said. Moreover, union members will look at the number as the minimum the state can afford, he said.
?I?m not sure this will do what you want to accomplish,? Bayer said.
* Roundup?
* Big issues undecided as end of Ill. session nears: Advocates for the mentally ill are pushing lawmakers to restore $30 million that they say was mistakenly cut from their funds. They also want to block Quinn?s plan to close three state mental centers, arguing that the governor doesn?t have a clear plan for treating the people now living in those centers. The National Alliance on Mental Illness says Illinois has cut mental health funds by $187 million since 2009, or nearly 32 percent. Only three other states have cut a bigger share.
* Quinn paints bleak picture for Tinley Park Mental Health Center
* Plenty on the table heading into last week of veto session
* Lawmakers betting on new gambling plan
* Unions: Lawmakers shouldn?t be involved in collective bargaining process
* Illinois legislators return to capitol for round two of veto session
Source: http://capitolfax.com/2011/11/08/gaming-and-unions-and-a-roundup-oh-my/
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