FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                         June 19, 2009

Springfield, Ill. – As the end of the current fiscal year rapidly approaches, Governor Pat Quinn and lawmakers agreed to return to Springfield on Tuesday, June 23.

State Senator Dan Duffy (R-Lake Barrington) said that although there has not been substantial progress on resolving the state budget, lawmakers are expected to address some technical changes to the capital infrastructure plan that must be made before the legislation can be signed into law. Senator Duffy did applaud Governor Quinn for making the “call” for a special session broad enough to encompass critical structural and ethical reforms needed to move Illinois forward.

Because a special session can only address the issues laid out in the Governor’s proclamation calling the legislature into session, Senator Duffy explained that is was important that the proclamation be broad enough to include key reforms needed to address the underlying causes of the gridlock that has become routine in Illinois over the last six years.

However, while the Governor’s action was an encouraging sign, Democrat legislative leaders have yet to agree to effective ethics reform measures, ending the partisan gerrymandering of the state and making needed spending cuts and structural reforms.

Despite Democrats’ desire to increase income taxes as a way to bolster state revenues, Senate Republicans have consistently said that before any revenue discussion can begin, real, substantive changes must be made to the way business is done in Springfield. Senator Duffy explained that simply increasing taxes in order to dump billions of new dollars into the state’s broken system would be a mistake.

Also during the week, Senate Republicans unveiled a new, informational website designed to educate and promote reforms that would end the excessive partisan gerrymandering of the state and restore the right to free and fair elections to voters. The site can be found at www.gerrymandering.senategop.net. The reforms were developed by the non-partisan Illinois Reform Commission, appointed by Governor Quinn and chaired by former federal prosecutor Patrick Collins.

Senator Duffy also expressed frustration with the choices that were made in the budget that was approved in the final hours of the legislative session in May. Senator Duffy did not support that budget and has said that the decision to impose draconian cuts to the state’s human service programs and services was a conscious choice by the majority party to increase spending in some areas of the budget and place the burden for absorbing budget cuts on human service agencies. Overall, the budget provided about 90% of the funding originally requested by the Governor, but cut about 50% from human service agency funding.