The Illinois State Legislature held a two-day session this week, taking very little action, while Governor Pat Quinn gave the annual State of the State Address Wednesday afternoon. The governor’s address did not provide any specific proposals or any new plans as the state is staring down the barrel of a $12-billion budget deficit for the current fiscal year.
Instead, many lawmakers are focused on the state’s primary election that is less than three weeks away. Illinois’ primary is Feb. 2, and early voting has already begun, which has local and statewide candidates scrambling to rack up as much support as possible in the coming weeks.
The Illinois House returns to Springfield February 3 and the Senate returns to February 9 to officially begin the 2010 Spring Legislative Session. When lawmakers do return, they will be forced to deal with the looming budget deficit as that state will be forced to cut spending, raise taxes, borrow more money, or select a combination of these options.
And once the current fiscal year’s deficit is solved, lawmakers can immediately move on to crafting the 2011 fiscal year budget which takes effect on July 1. The 2011 fiscal year budget is due May 31.
LEGISLATOR CONTACT INFORMATION
Want a way to continually communicate with lawmakers about trucking industry issues that are vital to the success of the industry in this state? To see who your Legislators are go to:
http://www.elections.il.gov/DistrictLocator/SelectSearchType.aspx
For the contact information of your legislator, go to:
http://www.ilga.gov
