FY 2023 State Budget 

Deputy Republican Leader Tom Demmer and Republican Floor Leader Mark Batinick offered the following comments on Governor Pritzker’s federally-funded budget that ignores the financial pressures in Illinois’ immediate future.

Deputy Republican Leader Tom Demmer:

“A year and a half ago, Gov. Pritzker was threatening Illinois voters with draconian cuts or across-the-board tax increases unless they approved his $3.4 billion tax increase amendment. But voters said no.

"I have always said we can achieve great things when we
respect the priorities and principles of our counterparts."
 ~ Leader Jim Durkin on the FY19 Budget

Gov. Bruce Rauner today signed into law a $38.5 billion bipartisan compromise budget that holds the line on taxes, increases funding for education, curbs spending, and creates a new adoption tax credit that will make it less costly for Illinois parents to adopt children.

“For the first time in years, we have an opportunity to manage our way into balance, and we don’t have to dip into the pockets of overtaxed Illinoisans to do it,” Rauner said. “Balance is in reach because we were able to accomplish $445 million of pension reform and the economy is stronger thanks to federal tax reform, and we are benefiting from an unexpected boost in tax receipts.”

State Rep. Mark Batinick serves the 97th District

Minnesota, Minnesota, Minnesota! It’s all Illinois Democrats seem to crow about these days. The story goes like this: If Illinois just had progressive policies like Minnesota all would be well and our problems would be solved. But like most things, the devil is in the details, so it’s important to examine those “progressive” policies and see how they stack up to Illinois.

Property taxes in Minnesota are near 1 percent and below the national average. Meanwhile, families and businesses in Illinois are faced with some of the highest property tax rates in the country, at 2.23 percent. Do Illinois Democrats have a plan for that?

Workers’ Compensation rates are about the national average in Minnesota — which is much lower than Illinois. In addition, attorney fees on Workers’ Compensation claims are capped at $26,000 in Minnesota. Do Illinois Democrats plan to make the changes necessary in our state to emulate Minnesota’s law? Read the rest of the guest column in SJ-R.

As consumers, when we walk into a store we have many options, not only in the products we choose but in the brands of those products. As taxpayers, we rarely get that option. As a state, Illinois spends 3.7 times the national average on our non-Medicaid clients, but we have one of the largest numbers of low-need individuals in costly nursing homes. Spending more money hasn’t resulted in better services or better quality of life for the people that need them.

The Illinois Department on Aging has developed a new program that will improve the way Illinois serves seniors not eligible for Medicaid while saving the state money. The Community Reinvestment Program allows the state to maintain funding at 2 times the national average for seniors not eligible for Medicaid while addressing the projected 57 percent increase in our aging population. Read more by Rep. Mark Batinick.

A group of Illinois lawmakers began in February formally requesting that Auditor General Frank Mautino work expeditiously to answer serious questions about campaign expenditures and reporting procedures dating back to his time in the Illinois House of Representatives. Today, more than three months later, lawmakers stressed that Mautino’s foot dragging needs to stop.

“Our first letter to Auditor General Mautino was sent on February 1st. He requested a bit more time to which we willingly agreed. At the end of February, he told us we could expect an answer within weeks. But now we’re in the month of May, and these questions are still festering because he simply won’t address them,” said State Representative Grant Wehrli (R-Naperville). “If there’s nothing improper, as he asserts, then why won’t he simply answer the questions so he and we can put this issue behind us?” Read more.

A group of suburban legislators led by State Rep. Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield) unveiled a new initiative to address the state’s mounting unfunded pension liability on Thursday, calling for a series of hearings on offering a lump sum buyout option to current and future annuitants nearing retirement; potentially netting the state billions in long-term savings.  Read more.

Budget – FY16
Despite deadline, Democrats again refuse to pass balanced budget for FY16. The Illinois Constitution requires that the State annually pass a balanced budget in which revenues match mandated expenditures. One way that Speaker Madigan has been Speaker for 32 of the past 34 years is by passing a series of unbalanced budgets, which have all spent money the State has not had. He has curried favor with powerful interests and forced Republicans to be the villains whenever steps are taken to prevent the spending of imaginary money.

Having only spent four months on the job, the large class of House Republican freshmen came together in the Capitol today to express their disgust with the partisan political atmosphere that has engulfed Springfield.  The message they came to deliver is there is no better time than now to call for term limits in Springfield.

“I don’t believe there’s a single one of us who truly understood the high barriers towards reform that have been erected by the entrenched leadership here in Springfield,” stated Steve Andersson (R, Geneva).  “The time is now to discuss this issue, while we are amidst this gridlock.”

Last month a group of lawmakers sought to advance a package of legislation aimed squarely at a $750K severance buyout that left local taxpayers reeling. Now revelations by the Chicago Tribune that College of DuPage administrators spent hundreds of thousand of dollars on taxpayer-funded outings at the high-end publicly-owned restaurant on the campus of College of DuPage has raised the ire of those same lawmakers.

Here's what they have to say:

Rep. Steve Andersson (R-Geneva)
“The article today by the Tribune is just another example of the largesse that Dr. Brueder engaged in to the detriment and expense of the taxpayers. The COD Board has failed its citizens in allowing this sort of abuse to occur. It is unfortunate that such an “asleep at the wheel” attitude by the Board has cost so many so much. This will likely cause other districts to lose flexibility due to the actions of the COD board.  However, reform must occur to stop this sort of misconduct from recurring.”

Rep. Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield)
“I think once people read these new revelations, there will be a renewed call for an electoral remedy for the college board members who allowed this to happen. There should be resignations, but short of that, voters should have the right to recall these officials.”

Rep. Peter Breen (R-Lombard)
“This situation clearly extends beyond just an egregious severance package, to the point we need to hold immediate public hearings, and possibly to demand resignations of those involved. We’ve been measured but firm in our call to action thus far, but it is clear we need to move more quickly.”

Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton)
“This is just one more example of the type of malfeasance that has been going on at the College of DuPage for years. It is also an example of exactly why the COD trustees need to comply with the legislative request that the Illinois Auditor General be allowed to come in and do a thorough performance audit.”

Rep. Ron Sandack (R-Downers Grove)
“As more details emerge about the impetus of the ousting of the head of the College of DuPage, the taxpayer funded, high-end restaurant on the College of DuPage campus, it only adds to the clear need for this situation to be fully vetted in the eye of public hearings.”

Rep. Grant Wehrli (R-Naperville)
"Once again, we have seen irresponsible, reckless spending out of our leadership and elected officials from the Community College of DuPage. This is just another reason why a full compliance audit of C.O.D must be completed by the Illinois Auditor General to create better transparency, reinforce accountability and start to regain the trust of the taxpayers."


Read the Chicago Tribune story in its entirety here:  http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-college-of-dupage-waterleaf

A small business owner and consultant, Rep. Mark Batinick serves the people of the 97th District.

Rep. Batinick understands how to save money and make organizations run more efficiently. As a private citizen, he has exposed waste and inefficiencies of local government bodies at the same time he provided alternative solutions that were cost-effective and improved government services. As a state legislator he will bring this experience to state government.

Rep. Batinick and his wife reside in Plainfield with their five children

Read more about Rep. Mark Batinick.

Armed with a wide set of accountability measures,
all agree that large payouts must end.

With constituents stinging from the recent severance agreement negotiated by the College of DuPage Board, area House Republican lawmakers stepped up with a range of proposals all aimed at the same goal, preventing these types of “golden parachutes” in the future.

DuPage Republican Jeanne Ives (R, Wheaton), an outspoken critic of the college board, led off the press conference stressing the intensity of her constituents over the matter.  “It’s distressing to again be forced to look to setting parameters on local government, but the fact of the matter is that the people of our area are demanding action,” stated Ives.  ”We can’t sit silently by without bringing solutions to the table.”