by Brad Weisenstein, Editor
Illinois Policy
It was 1984 when a German pop group made "99 Red Balloons" the No. 2 song on the Billboard charts, but by 2022 they might face a fine for releasing so many balloons in Illinois.
The Illinois House on April 21 voted to make it illegal to release 50 or more balloons in Illinois. Do it once, get a warning. Twice, a $500 fine. A third time, a $1,000 fine.
And that's for each group of 50 balloons: "The release of more than 50 balloons shall constitute a separate violation for every 50 balloons," according to House Bill 418, which passed the Illinois House 90-23. The law takes effect Jan. 1, 2022, if it passes the Illinois Senate and is signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
The bill's sponsor, state Rep. Sam Yingling, D-Grayslake, said balloons are an environmental threat and recently caused a power outage for over 1,000 customers in Champaign. After released balloons come down, they create problems for farmers and wildlife.
Interestingly, government agencies and universities are exempt from these rules, according to the bill.
Illinoisans face the highest state and local tax burden in the nation and the No. 2 property taxes. There’s a $317 billion public pension deficit eating away at state finances.
Springfield has yet to tackle those big problems. But at least Illinoisans will be safe from too many balloons, if HB 418 becomes law.
Three years ago, Madigan celebrated his record as the longest-serving state House speaker in U.S. history. Today, it looks as if his grip on power is slipping. As of this writing, 19 state representatives have publicly opposed Madigan’s re-election this January. But these lawmakers won’t just be voting on Madigan: they’ll also vote to adopt the House Rules, which help determine how much control the speaker has over the legislative process. These rules, coupled with the lack of safeguards against this steady accumulation of power, have led Madigan to where he is today. Without change, a shrewd politician could simply pick up where Madigan left off.
The House Rules establish how business gets done in the legislature. These rules let the speaker decide which bills get a fair hearing and which quietly die. They allow the speaker to select which politicians receive generous stipends as committee chairs. They allow politicians to gut and replace bills to rush through legislation – such as all 1,581 pages of the $40.6 billion fiscal year 2020 budget, originally a single-sentence bill appropriating just $2.
And, contrary to the Illinois Senate, which sets term limits of the Senate president at 10 years, the House Rules do not limit the number of terms a speaker can hold. Terms as speaker should be limited to prevent another Madigan.
This January, state representatives should reject the current House Rules. They can and should be amended.
But change can’t end there. Illinois needs to reform the way it draws political maps. Every 10 years, Illinois is required to redraw voting districts to adjust for shifts in population. But redistricting in Illinois has been used to keep incumbents in power. Earlier this month, 63 candidates ran unopposed for legislative office, including a whopping 52 of the 118 seats in the Illinois House of Representatives. This result is entirely predictable: Illinois legislators are responsible for voting on the map, so of course they will do what they can to benefit themselves. And Madigan’s bid for a new term has centered on his argument that he has the power to deliver another map that keeps his people from facing opponents.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Illinois could join the 17 other states that put independent commissions or other bodies in charge of redistricting – not lawmakers. Voters should choose their elected officials, not the other way around.
There needs to be more transparency and accountability in Springfield. Sitting lawmakers should not be able to lobby local governments or state executive agencies, and they should have a “cooling off” period after leaving the General Assembly before they lobby their former peers, as is the case in most other states. Lawmakers need to provide more detailed financial disclosures and should have to recuse themselves from voting on legislation in which they have a conflict of interest. Finally, the legislative inspector general needs the authority to open investigations and publish findings of wrongdoing without obtaining permission from lawmakers on the Legislative Ethics Commission, who have a propensity to cover for their own.
Madigan may be down, but he’s not out. Whether he can win back enough votes to get a 19th term as speaker remains to be seen, but Illinoisans deserve ethics reform no matter what. Changing the House Rules, adopting fair maps and instituting ethics reforms would begin unraveling Madigan’s web of corruption.
