House Explodes Over Plan to Pre-Empt Blago

1 comment February 14th, 2008

House Speaker Michael Madigan’s plan to pre-empt Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s renegade rule-making sent House lawmakers into a partisan frenzy on Thursday, a brawl that boded ill for a constructive, or even civil, spring legislative session.

Republicans threw a fit on the House floor over Madigan’s plan to include in most legislation considered by the chamber this spring language that would prohibit Blagojevich or his agencies from attaching administrative rules to those bills once they become law.

The Republicans said it’s past time for the House Democrats to learn to get along with the governor of their own party.

Yes, this all sounds arcane. But it’s significant for two reasons:

1) As a political matter, Madigan’s new strategy is a clear indication that his bitter feud with Blagojevich, a fellow Chicago Democrat, will continue into its second year. The prospect is both titillating (for us political junkies, anyway) and exhausting.

2) As a practical and legal matter, Madigan’s new strategy will make the already cumbersome and dynamic process of lawmaking downright insane. Again, fun to watch. But not so fun if you have an legislative agenda in Springfield and you actually hope to advance it.

Here is a copy of the language Madigan would like to see inserted into each bill. From this provision, you get the idea:

Notwithstanding any other rulemaking authority that may exist, neither the Governor nor any agency or agency head under the jurisdiction of the Governor has any authority to make or promulgate rules to implement or enforce the provisions of this amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly. If, however, the Governor believes that rules are necessary to implement or enforce the provisions of this amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly, the Governor may suggest rules to the General Assembly by filing them with the Clerk of the House and Secretary of the Senate and by requesting that the General Assembly authorize such rulemaking by law, enact those suggested rules into law, or take any other appropriate action in the General Assembly’s discretion.

Madigan’s new strategy could radically change the legislative process in Springfield. The AP has more background.

Writing and enforcing rules is a fundamental function of the executive branch in state government. Simply put, it’s how the governor and his agencies interpret and execute state law. But Blagojevich drew Madigan’s ire when he used an “emergency” administrative rule to implement part of his plan for universal health care.

The governor’s move was highly unusual, to say the least. Rules generally are not used to implement major spending initiatives which the Legislature has not approved. Moreover, after a special committee of lawmakers rejected the governor’s so-called “emergency,” the governor said he’d decided that the committee’s decisions were merely advisory and not binding.

House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, D-Chicago, said Thursday that the governor’s decision to sidestep the bipartisan oversight committee forced Madigan’s new strategy of attempting to pre-empt the governor rule-making authority. She called the governor’s actions “a direct challenge to the authority, to the prerogative of the Legislature.”

Currie said it is too risky to have faith that state agencies, which answer to the governor, will properly interpret the Legislature’s will in crafting its rules. Filling legislation with rule-like language, she said, is a way to ensure that the Legislature’s intent is truly reflected.

“Maybe (the governor) can be clear about what we do need, and we can put in the muscle so that we can tell the agency exactly what we mean,” she said.

The fight on Thursday stemmed from a raucous committee meeting the day before. A committee I was observing turned upside down when news of the new amendment emerged and Rep. Bill Black, R-Danville, began shouting at committee chairwoman, Rep. Karen May, D-Highland Park.

The meeting stalled for about 10 minutes as young staffers talked on cell phones and conferred with May, the committee’s chairwoman. Then May, following the orders she was given, announced the committee would not vote on any bills until next week.

Black, who was prepared to testify for one of the bills on the committee’s agenda, erupted as he began shouting at May and the committee staff, believing the announcement was disrespectful.

On Thursday, House Republican Leader Tom Cross of Oswego asked what it would really mean to take the governor’s rulemaking authority away.

“We will be bogged down in rules that (this special committee) has historically done for many, many years to the point that nothing gets passed and the people of the state of Illinois will not have their issues addressed in this session,” he predicted.

Cross said the people should not suffer because the House Democrats and the governor can’t get along.

Don’t Forget: Guv Shot Himself in Foot on Health Care

Add comment February 14th, 2008

Cap Fax Blog today highlighted some of the more interesting but largely unnoticed points of state Comptroller Dan Hynes’ recent report on state finances.

Cap Fax noted the comptroller’s observation that the rate of uninsured people in Illinois has not dropped, despite Blagojevich’s repeated new health care spending initiatives:

While spending more on health care, the number of uninsured in Illinois has not changed significantly. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, approximately 1.76 million Illinoisans (13.9% of the population) were uninsured in 2003. In 2006, the estimate of uninsured was 1.78 million, or 14.0% of the state’s population.

Cap Fax added:

The governor’s office claims that the number of insured has increased since that Census report was issued, but the impact - while undoubtedly important to those who now have health insurance - hasn’t been huge overall, despite all the huffing and puffing from the guv.

I’d like to add one more point. Let’s not forget that Blagojevich actually cut Medicaid spending by $90 million when he vetoed more than $400 million from the state budget in August. In doing so, he constricted his own health care agency’s spending on his own top — priority.

In one section of the budget, lawmakers appropriated $2.706 billion in Medicaid spending on hospitals and Blagojevich reduced it to $2.666 billion — a difference of $40 million. In that same section, lawmakers appropriated $744 million in Medicaid spending on nursing homes, and Blagojevich reduced it to $694 million — a difference of $50 million.

If you’d like to see for yourself, the budget approved by lawmakers is here. The relevant hospital and nursing home funding is on page 436. Hospital spending is line 13 and nursing home spending is line 18.

Blagojevich’s veto message is here. The vetoes corresponding with the hospital and nursing home funding are on page 67 of the message. See the third and fourth lines of the page.