State Representative Tom Cross blasts the Democrat-crafted budget as unbalanced and unconstitutional.

Budget
Gov. Quinn’s “supplemental” budget request includes significant overtime payments to unionized State employees.  State auditors have reported that the Department of Corrections (IDOC) notched $62 million in overtime expenses in fiscal year 2013 (ended June 30, 2013).  The overtime payments, which are required by the terms of the union contracts signed by the Quinn administration and the AFSCME union that represents prison guards, help compensate these workers for the dangerous work of maintaining control of overcrowded prisons.

This year, Illinois joined three other states in establishing a diabetes awareness license plate, a plate which would set aside $25 for the Diabetes Research Check Off Fund.

With the legislation creating the new plate now signed into law, Representatives Tom Cross (R-Oswego), Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) and Mike Tryon (R-Crystal Lake) are encouraging Illinoisans to sign up for the new plates.

In order for the plates to to enter production, 1500 must be requested. The Legislative Diabetes Caucus has set November 14, Diabetes Awareness Day, as its goal for reaching that mark.

More information from the Illinois Legislative Diabetes Caucus, including the registration procedure, is available here.

Row 1:  Rep. Bob Pritchard celebrated summer reading success with members of his Summer Reading Club.  House Republican Leader Tom Cross checks out the chickens at Kendall County Fair.

Row 2:  Rep. Charlie Meier discussing the status of  Murray Center. Rep. Sandy Pihos joins Lombard village trustees for ribbon cutting for the Great Western Bike Path Bridge over Grace Street.

House Republican Leader Tom Cross

Over my lifetime I have had the opportunity to go to many events in our area and across the state.

There have been very few that have touched me quite like the naturalization ceremony in Aurora recently. If you haven’t had the opportunity to attend one — you should.

From the moment I walked into the auditorium at West Aurora High School on that hot summer day, you could feel the patriotism and excitement in the room.

The only decoration behind the stage was an enormous American flag, the size of one that you see at parades or sporting events that require dozens of people to hold because it is so large.

Hundreds of people filed into their seats waiting for the ceremony to begin. This is a ceremony that many of them have been waiting years and years to attend.

One of the most touching moments of the ceremony is when the Senior Immigration Services Officer did the “Roll Call of Nationalities.” According to officials there, approximately 350 were candidates for citizenship that day from 61 countries.  Read the rest of Tom Cross' guest commentary in the Beacon News.

Today, the governor signed Leader Tom Cross' Diabetes Awareness Bill into Law.

Diabetes and Public Health
House Republican measures aimed at improving public diabetes awareness become law.  The bipartisan Illinois Legislative Diabetes Caucus 2013 agenda included two measures to raise funds for diabetes research and direct that the State systematically monitor the growing diagnosis of diabetes among Illinois residents.  HB 1815 (Cross/Hunter) and HB 2199 (Durkin/Muñoz) were signed into law on Thursday, July 18 as P.A. 98-96 and P.A. 98-97.

• HB 1815 creates the Diabetes Awareness special Illinois license plate.  As with most other Illinois special license plates, persons showing a commitment will help to raise money for a cause recognized by the State.  The supplemental fee for original issuance of this plate will be $40, and the fee for annual sticker renewal will be $27.  $25 from each sum will be transferred to the Diabetes Research Checkoff Fund, and will be used to supplement the monies raised from the State income tax checkoff for diabetes treatment and research.
• HB 2199 will create a biennial report to be submitted by the State Diabetes Commission, an independent panel staffed by the State’s Department of Public Health.  The report, which will be submitted every two years starting in January 2015, will list not only the number of Illinois residents with diabetes, but also (a) the number of Illinois family members directly affected by these diagnoses, (b) the financial impact of diabetes upon the Illinois economy and its public-sector budget, and (c) the costs and benefits of anti-diabetes public health and diabetes prevention measures.  The report will also direct the State to look at, and continuously monitor, the level of cooperation between different State and other public-sector programs that are aimed at the treatment of diagnosed diabetes and the slowdown and prevention of existing cases of metabolic syndrome and other pre-diabetic conditions from progressing to a diagnosis of diabetes.  

Rep. Sandack on the House Floor

The embezzlement and fraud that occurred in Dixon, Illinois is almost impossible to believe.  Over $30 million embezzled over 6 years, by a single government employee all from a town that only had an annual average budget of $8 million.  While most news outlets focused on the accused’s extravagant lifestyle and lavish hobbies, the more concerning story to me was how did this happen and how do we protect taxpayers in the future.

The answer, in one word:  Transparency.


Transparency serves as a sort of disinfectant to graft, corruption and fraud.  The more access the public has to information, the more responsible government will be.

The State of Illinois has moved swiftly to open access to information.  Both watchdog groups and government officials are providing endless streams of data on state contracts, spending and salaries.  I believed that it was necessary for taxpayers to have that same type of data available from them for their own hometown.  That’s why I worked with House Republican Leader Tom Cross to develop a new transparency initiative to provide taxpayers with even greater insight into how their tax dollars are spent.

Reboot Illinois has the rest of the story.

In an effort to honor President Abraham Lincoln in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of his death and interment at Oak Ridge Cemetery in 1865. House Republican Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego) has filed a resolution calling on the United States Secretary of the Treasury to mint a Lincoln Sesquicentennial coin in time for circulation in April and May of 2015, the period during which Lincoln’s funeral train made its way from Washington, D.C. to Springfield.

“Abraham Lincoln’s life and legacy is a critical part of Illinois’ heritage,” said Cross. “We can encourage students and families to learn more about our most distinguished native son by minting a coin that celebrates the defining achievements of President Lincoln in ending slavery in the United States, advancing the cause of equality and succeeding above all else in unifying our country.”

There was standing room only as Illinois’ pension conference committee met for the first time Thursday in Chicago. The bipartisan 10-member committee comprised of State Senators and State Representatives has been tasked with producing a compromised bill that enacts meaningful reform to the worst funded pension system in the nation. The committee heard testimony from state agencies, the business community, advocacy groups and unions who pleaded their cases and offered their positions and priorities to be read into the record.

Illinois House Republican Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego) tapped state Rep. Darlene Senger (R-Naperville) and state Rep. Jil Tracy (R-Quincy) to serve on the pension conference committee to represent the Illinois House Republicans because of their expertise on this pressing issue. On the pension reform discussion table are topics that need to be considered that will have an impact to our state’s finances, the economy, taxes, spending and the budget. State Rep. Senger cited a

Standing room only for Day 1of
Pension Reform Conference
Committee Meeting 

representative’s remark from the Fitch credit rating agency, that Illinois currently has what is equivalent to a junk bond rating for a corporation because we have failed to enact meaningful pension reform.

Despite recent reports that the conference committee would clear the slate of previous pension proposals, most of the testimony offered yesterday was geared around components of Senate Bill 1 and the union-backed Senate Bill 2404. Senate Bill 1 has passed the House and Senate Bill 2404 has passed the Senate, but neither bill has advanced in the other chamber. It was established yesterday that Senate Bill 1 goes further in savings than Senate Bill 2404.

Governor Quinn has tasked the pension conference committee to produce a compromised piece of pension reform legislation by July 9 when session reconvenes. It remains unclear if that will happen.

The pension conference committee will reconvene in Chicago on July 3rd at 9am.

In June of this year, for the first time since December 2005, the Illinois General Assembly appointed a conference committee. The subject for this one is SB1: Pension reform legislation. That committee will meet in Chicago at 11 AM on Thursday, June 27 in room C600 of the Bilandic Building to start the steps necessary to reach consensus on pension reform. Additional meetings will likely be necessary. If agreement can be found, the conference committee will report its recommendations to the General Assembly, perhaps as early as July 8. The final step will be a vote by the entire legislative body.

The General Assembly has long been able under House and Senate Rules to appoint conference committees to resolve differences between versions of specific legislation that had passed out of the respective chambers.

The pension reform impasse brought on by Democrat leaders in Springfield is costing Illinois taxpayers $17 million for each and every day a solution is not found. It is threatening the financial future of the state including the ability to provide resources to the elderly, veterans, children and our most vulnerable populations. What’s more, without reform there will not be funds available to ensure the state’s current and future retirees will have a pension at all.

Budget/pensions
General Assembly prepares for special session.  The meetup, called by Governor Pat Quinn on Thursday, June 6, and scheduled for Wednesday, June 19, is being urged to deal with outstanding Illinois State budget and pension issues.  Illinois continues to labor under the burden of unpaid bills currently totaling $5.8 billion, although this is significantly lower than the $8.5 billion of past-due bills in State files in April.  Actions by House Republicans, when the FY13 budget was passed in spring 2012, were influential in ensuring that almost one-third of this past-due bill load would be paid down before the end of the fiscal year.

With the unfunded liabilities of the State’s managed systems continuing to grow at an estimated rate of $17 million/day, pension issues will be at the center of the special session; but the House and Senate are not constitutionally bound to any single subject and could deal with other questions as well.  In particular, if Gov. Pat Quinn issues any vetoes prior to the special session, the General Assembly could take action to override these vetoes in one or both houses.  Either or both chambers could also discuss and debate various issues, such as gaming expansion, that were not resolved when they adjourned in May.

Tap Dance to Block Pension Reform

Colleges and universities
House Republican college affordability plan released; would provide additional middle-class tax credits and deductions to students’ families.   HB 3640 (Cross) and HB 3641 (Brown) were introduced on Wednesday, June 12.  The Cross measure, lead-sponsored by House Republican leader Tom Cross (R-Kendall Co.) creates a new income tax credit of up to $1,000 per year for most families, if the family is the principal means of support for a full-time or part-time student in an accredited Illinois institution of post-secondary education (i.e. a college or a university).  A middle-class tax credit, this benefit would only be available for households declaring adjusted gross income of less than $150,000 per year.

Via Reboot Illinois

This week, caucus members joined House Republican Leader Tom Cross in unveiling a legislative package designed to make college more affordable for Illinois families.

Illinois House Republican Leader Tom Cross said Wednesday that he believes there’s an ulterior motive behind the ongoing pension reform standoff between House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton.

Lawmakers adjourned their spring session at the end of May without approving a plan for comprehensive reform of the state’s public employee pension systems. A plan backed by Madigan was soundly defeated in the Illinois Senate, while a plan backed by Cullerton never got a vote in the Illinois House.

WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports Cross was brief and direct Wednesday when a reporter asked him if he believes Madigan and Cullerton have been working together to keep pension reform from happening.

“Yes,” Cross said.

Seriously? Craig Dellimore has the story on CBS Chicago.

As the cost of college tuition continues to rise at Illinois state universities, college students are being lured to out-of-state schools with lower tuition rates.

Illinois' state universities feel the need to increase their tuition and fees to supplement the loss of revenue caused by past state budget cuts that started with the Blagojevich administration. The result has been a drop in student enrollment at 8 of Illinois 12 public universities. The brain drain is real and will only get worse if we don't act now to help Illinois students and their families with the cost of quality education, right here in Illinois.

The House Republicans have a solution. This week, several members joined House Republican Leader Tom Cross in unveiling a legislative package designed to make college more affordable for Illinois families.

The College Affordability plan provides for a tax credit and a tax deduction that together will result in real savings for Illinois families and at the same time keep the best and the brightest right here in Illinois. 

House Republican Leader Tom Cross

"Our pension crisis is so severe that Illinois’ credit rating has been downgraded twice in one week. Inaction is costing Illinois taxpayers $17 million a day. The sooner the Illinois General Assembly returns to Springfield to get the job done on pension reform the better."

House Republican Leader Tom Cross' Adjournment Statement on the last day of Regular Session.

In the waning hours of the legislative session, House Republican Leader Tom Cross speaks in opposition to shifting the state's financial burden to universities and community colleges (and ultimately to Illinois families). Instead, he calls for substantive pension reform to set the state back in the right direction.