The stories are compelling. A 55-year-old single father is facing a 100 percent funding cut for his disabled child living at Misericordia. How will he earn a living or care for this child? A mother with both a child with Down syndrome and an autistic teenager will lose funding for respite care, which she desperately needs because she works full time to cover their bills.

Making the public aware of the impacts of the proposed cuts is an excellent way to educate people as to the need for additional funding. I have gotten hundreds of calls asking that legislators support human services with an income tax increase. I agree that we can't accept 50% cuts to human services, as is currently being proposed.

I have encouraged Governor Quinn to make public the cuts that the state will make beyond human services and to get the word out to the people of Illinois that such other massive cuts to the budget are being made. We are already making billions of dollars in cuts to the budget in areas other than human services, and it would be unfortunate to expect human services to bear the brunt of state cuts. I do sincerely believe that as the budget unfolds human service programs will not be cut in half or eliminated.

Former Republican Governor Jim Edgar has gone on the record as stating that we will need both an increase in the income tax rate and budget cuts to solve the state's fiscal problems. GOP leaders in Springfield early on acknowledged that we could not simply cut our way out of the state's present budget mess.

We must come together in a bipartisan fashion to fix the state's financial problems. I sincerely hope that we will be able to do so and that our trip to Springfield this week will not be in vain. The looming cuts will dismantle our safety network for our disabled, mentally ill and foster children.

Some people also ask that we cut "fat" in government. While everyone likes to cast stones, I found this story from the Daily Herald very interesting.

We have been tightening our belts and have one of the lowest head counts of state employees per capita.

Why are we building roads and not funding human services? I said the same thing during the floor debate on the capital bill. The capital bill, which is for bondable construction projects, is totally separate from our General Revenue Fund (GRF) budget for program expenditures. We passed a capital bill in May, which I think was wrong, because the revenue sources such as alcohol taxes and video gaming receipts could have been used to fill our GRF hole instead of for the capital bill.

The votes were there for a capital bill and quite simply are NOT there for an income tax increase. The vote on a 1 ½ percent increase in the House received 42 votes, while a vote on a 2 percent tax increase with some property tax relief passed the Senate but was not called in the House.

I am pleased to announce that on June 18 Governor Pat Quinn signed a law that I authored and sponsored, making health insurance more affordable for laid-off workers of small businesses and their families. House Bill 2325 passed overwhelmingly with bipartisan support.

Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, (more commonly known as the stimulus package,) those who formerly worked at companies of 20 employees or more are eligible for a subsidy that reduces by 65 percent the cost of COBRA health care coverage. The new Illinois law provides a 65 percent health insurance payment subsidy to those who worked for companies with fewer than 20 employees as well.

"I am pleased to sign legislation to help those, who through no fault of their own, have lost their jobs and can no longer afford health insurance for themselves and their families," said Governor Quinn. "I thank the General Assembly for its bipartisan support of this legislation and I look forward to their continued cooperation as we work to protect our most vulnerable citizens."

The legislation gives employees of small businesses who lost their jobs after September 1, 2008, and who declined COBRA because of its high costs, a second chance to enter the program. Under this plan, those former workers can continue their health insurance coverage and receive a 65 percent premium reduction.

The law also provides up to an additional three months of coverage for many former small business employees who pay the full premium. It also clarifies notification requirements by employers so that people know their rights of continued healthcare coverage.

In these tough economic times, I believe it is important to provide immediate assistance to the citizens of our State, which is precisely what this law does. I have worked to strengthen Illinois' COBRA continuation law for two years, and am so pleased that the Governor has signed this measure into law.

I want to thank Senator Susan Garrett for carrying the bill in the Senate. I am pleased the Governor signed the bill so quickly, because it has an immediate effective date, so our citizens can access these important benefits in this economic recession.

"With the enactment of this new law, small business employees will also receive the full benefit of the federal subsidy, enabling them to afford much-needed coverage instead of having to decline health insurance in favor of other necessities," said Michael T. McRaith, director of the Illinois Department of Insurance.

Background

• Federal and state laws require employer-based health insurance plans to provide the option of "continuation coverage," commonly referred to as COBRA, for employees who lose group health insurance, usually due to a termination of employment or a reduction in hours. The former employees are typically required to pay the full premium cost, including any portion previously contributed by the employer.
• On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), commonly called the federal Stimulus Plan. ARRA provides a subsidy for up to 9 months that may reduce by 65% the cost of continuation coverage for workers who lose their jobs between September 1, 2008, and December 31, 2009.

  Who benefits from the new mini-COBRA law?

  • Former employees who qualify for the premium reduction will only be required to pay 35% of the premium for continuation coverage. For employees of small businesses, the remaining 65% will initially be paid by the insurer providing coverage under the group plan. The insurer will then be reimbursed by the federal government.
  • ARRA also permits employees of larger businesses (20 or more employees) who declined or withdrew from COBRA due to its high cost a second chance to join the program and receive the 65% premium reduction.
  • For employees of small businesses (less than 20 employees) who lost their jobs after September 1, 2008, the new mini-COBRA law will:
  • Provide a second opportunity to continue their employer-based health insurance and receive the 65% premium reduction.
  • Ensure that all eligible employees receive timely information about their rights to continue group coverage and receive the premium reduction.

  For detailed fact sheets about the stimulus plan premium reductions and federal or state continuation laws, call (877) 527-9431, or visit

While I voted against the final campaign contribution limit bill because I had been pushing for much lower limits, overall, we did make progress on ethics. I sponsored bills to further limit pay-to-play, to abolish the compensation review board and to increase transparency in government. If the measures become law, we will have strong procurement reform and greater transparency thanks to new disclosure requirements when inspectors general find evidence of serious wrongdoing - corruption in state purchasing and a practice of sweeping evidence of mismanagement and fraud were serious problems in past gubernatorial administrations.

The Collins Commission offered many good ideas, but not all of its ideas were good and it dropped the ball in some areas - it could not agree on recall, which I support and have voted for twice. The commission did not suggest abolishing the compensation review board so that legislators have to openly and directly vote on their salary increases. The ability of lawmakers to escape direct responsibility for hiking their own pay has been a great source of frustration for me, so I am glad that this long overdue reform passed.

The bottom line: Rome wasn't built in a day and we have to continue our work for genuine campaign finance reform. Do not believe those who say nothing was accomplished just because campaign limits are not strong enough.

I provided columns to the newspapers and several email reports on my push for ethics reforms this year. For more information detailing reform measures that passed the General Assembly, you can find those columns posted on my Web site.

email: karen@repkarenmay.org

phone: (847) 433-9100

web: http://www.repkarenmay.org