On Tuesday, Senator Duffy introduced a bill that could eliminate leadership stipends for state legislators, and save the state roughly $1 million a year.  The bill was the topic of an article from the Daily Herald.  

From the Daily Herald:

“I have always believed that we (the Senate) keep adding or creating new committees so that the majority (leaders) can give out salary increases to every member by making them a ‘chairman’ of a committee,” Duffy said in an email. “We do not need all these committees. By eliminating the bonus in pay, we will save much-needed revenue. And I guarantee, a lot of these committees will disappear.”

To read the full article please click here.

Recently legislative scholarships have made headlines as various legislators have made their positions on awarding the tuition waivers clear. In an article from the Northwest Herald, Senator Duffy explained why his office does not award these scholarships.

From the Northwest Herald:

State Sen. Dan Duffy, R-Barrington, withdrew his office’s participation in the program a few years ago. In a 2009 letter to constituents, he said the “Legislative Scholarship process has very little oversight, it is not transparent, and it opens up the floodgates to corruption. … Unfortunately, the Legislative Scholarship program is too easy to abuse.”

 To read the full article please cilck here.

This Friday, January 13 marks the one year anniversary of the 67 percent tax increase passed by Illinois Democrats in the final hours of the 96th General Assembly.  According to State Senator Dan Duffy (R-Lake Barrington) the increase has placed an unfair burden on Illinois citizens and exacerbated existing financial problems.  

“Last January I called this tax hike the nuclear bomb of jobs bills, and the numbers have proven me correct,” says Duffy. ”Illinois’ unemployment rate is once again in double-digits.  In November alone it was 16 percent above the national average.”  

On average the tax hike meant the loss of a week’s pay for Illinois residents, or about $1,000 dollars per family.  “This is money that working families don’t have to spend on groceries, gas, and life’s other necessities,” says Duffy.  “Not only has the increase taken cash out of the pockets of Illinois residents, it has also put their jobs in jeopardy and their financial security at risk.”

When the increase passed, proponents of the legislation said that it would not affect jobs.  However in the year since the tax increase took place, Governor Quinn has spent significant time rushing around the state offering special tax deals to large companies to keep them from taking jobs out of Illinois.  Many small businesses, which provide 80% of the jobs in Illinois, have quietly fled the state with no attention from the Governor.

More than 200 new laws, covering everything from local library boards to murder, went into effect on January 1, according to State Sen. Dan Duffy (R-Barrington).

Among the more notable measures are bills that would give citizens greater access to government information through the Internet, encourage the use of alternative energy sources, reduce regulations for home-based food businesses and allow motorcyclists to proceed through a red light if the tripping device fails to turn the light green after a reasonable time.

Senator Duffy added that, as is the case nearly every year, many of the new laws are aimed at closing loopholes needed to crack down on criminal offenders. These include:

• “Andrea’s Law,” which will better track persons convicted of murder once they have been released from prison (HB 263/Public Act 97-0154);
• Tougher penalties for child pornography (HB 3283/Public Act 97-0157);
• More tools to prosecute persons who attempt to lure children for sexual purposes (SB 1038/Public Act 97-0160);
• A prohibition against shining a laser light into a cockpit when a plane is taking off or landing (HB 167/Public Act 97-0153); and
• New penalties for selling manufactured substances know as synthetic cannabinoids, that produce a “high” similar to marijuana (HB 2595/Public Act 97-0193)