Tuesday, November 29,
2011
Tax Packages...Not Done Yet! - SB 397 & HB 1883
The saga of passing a tax package for CME Group, Inc. (CME) and
Sears continued today, yet no agreement was reached and no package
was passed.
You may recall that during the Veto Session of the General
Assembly, a proposal had been unveiled that addressed several tax
items, including changing the way the CME was taxed on electronic
trades. Illinois Farm Bureau opposed this proposal because it
included a provision decoupling the State from the federal bonus
depreciation retroactively to Jan. 1, 2011. IFB opposed the
packages despite the fact that it increased the State estate tax
individual exemption from $2 million to $5 million over several
years.
A new package surfaced in the House this week,
included as an amendment to SB 397, that made numerous changes to
the original proposal. The biggest difference was that
the decoupling of the bonus depreciation had been removed.
The bill increased the individual estate tax exemption from $2
million to $3.5 million over two years and extended the life of the
sales tax exemptions for ethanol and biodiesel to 2018. The
bill also made changes for electronic financial transfers being
sought by CME Group, other tax changes for Sears, personal income
tax deduction changes, and other tax related changes. The
total cost of this tax package was estimated to be $250
million.
While SB 397 was being discussed in the House, the Senate
unveiled its own version of the tax package. The Senate
version, included as an amendment to HB 1883, was similar to
the House version but included some changes. Among them were
that the increase in the personal income tax deduction was indexed
to the CPI and that the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) in Illinois
was increased from 5% to 10% over the next two years. These
changes, which increased the overall cost of the package, were
supported by the Governor.
Based on the removal of decoupling from the federal bonus
depreciation, increasing the estate tax individual deduction level,
and extending the life of the ethanol and biodiesel sales tax
incentives, IFB supported both SB 397 and HB 1883.
HB 1883 was called for a vote in the Senate. The bill
passed the Senate with 36 yes votes and was sent to the
House. However, many House members were not supportive of the
Senate version of the tax package. The bill was called for a
concurrence vote on the Senate amendments, but it received
only 8 yes votes.
At this point, there is an impasse. There are not enough
votes to move a package forward. Rep. Bradley, chairman of
the House Revenue Committee, announced prior to tonight's
adjournment that the House Revenue Committee will continue to work
on a package that could hopefully receive enough votes for
passage. It was then announced that the General Assembly may
return to consider a tax package sometime in the "near
future." Stay tuned.
IFB supports House Amendment #3
to SB 397 and Senate Amendment #7 to HB 1883. SB 397 passed
the House Revenue Committee but was not called for a vote in the
House. HB 1883 passed the Senate with 36 yes votes, 18 no
votes, and 1 present vote. A concurrence vote on the Senate
amendments made to HB 1883 was defeated in the House with a vote of
8 yes, 99 no, and 6 present.
Tenaska Taylorville Energy Center - SB 678
The issue of
Tenaska Taylorville Energy Center (TEC) continued to stick around
for this extended Veto Session. The bill would authorize the
construction of the Tenaska Taylorville Energy Center and would
require higher electric rates charged to both residential and
business customers in order to subsidize the construction and
operation of the plant. You will recall the bill was called
for a vote in the first week of the Veto Session and failed by a
vote of 25 yes, 31 no, and 2 present. Senator Cullerton
exercised his parliamentary right to place the bill on postponed
consideration, which allowed the bill to be called a second
time.
Today, Senator Cullerton called SB 678 for a second vote and it
passed the Senate by a vote of 30 yes votes and 28 no votes.
The bill has never been read in the House, so it still needs to
move to the other chamber and be considered there.
SB 678 has passed the Senate
with 30 yes votes and 28 no votes . IFB opposes SB
678.
Additional Appropriations For State Facilities
- SB 1311 and SB 2412
Legislative leaders and the governor met yesterday afternoon to
work on the state budget and cuts that were made during the
Spring Session. Following the meeting, it was announced that a deal
had been reached that would avoid the previously announced closure
of seven state facilities and the layoff of approximately 2,000
state employees. The Governor had stated that the closures
and layoffs were caused by a lack of operating funds included in
the budget passed by the General Assembly during the Spring
Session. The budget deal reached would move money around
within the budget and redirect cash from some state funds to keep
state facilities open and prevent layoffs for the remainder of the
fiscal year.
The Department of Agriculture was affected by the budget cuts
and the announced layoffs. Due to the cuts, the department
had proposed 23 layoffs because of the lack of funding for
various positions.
In the agreed budget deal, the Department of Ag will receive an
additional appropriation of $1.7 million. With this
additional money, the department should be able to avoid these
proposed layoffs.
SB 1311 and SB 2412 passed the
House and the Senate.
Cemetery Act Changes - SB 1830 (Majority Leader Currie)
You may recall that at the end of the last week of the originally
scheduled Veto Session, an amendment to SB 1830 surfaced that made
new changes to cemetery regulations. This amendment was a result of
discussion between the Illinois Dept. of Financial and Professional
Regulation and the cemetery industry and reduced some of the
regulatory burden placed on smaller cemeteries. Among the
numerous changes made by the bill, it provided a complete exemption
from the Act for cemeteries that are family or religious burying
grounds; have not had an internment, inurnment, or entombment
in 10 years; or are less than three acres. The bill also
provided a limited exemption for a cemetery that has engaged
in 25 or fewer interments, inurnments, or entombments of human
remains for each of the preceding 2 calendar years; operates
as a public cemetery; or operates as a religious cemetery.
This legislation reduced the regulatory burden placed on smaller
cemeteries from the Cemetery Oversight Act.
SB 1830 was called for a vote in the House today. It
passed out of the House with significant support, but was not
called for a vote in the Senate.
SB 1830 passed the House with 91
yes votes and 22 no votes. IFB supports SB 1830.
