LINGERING ISSUES MAY PUSH ILLINOIS LEGESLATURE TO `OVERTIME'

The Illinois Legislative session will wind down this month perhaps.

"We were scheduled to adjourn our spring session on May 28, a month earlier than usual," said Sen. Jim Rea of Christopher. "But, it didn't happen."

Rea said Friday that it now appears the session will go through June.

"Unfortunately it appears we'll be working right up to our constitutionally mandated June 30 deadline," said Rea. "We may even go into July."

The session is recessed now and will resume June 23.

"We may have to go into an overtime session," said Rea. "We need a three-fifths vote of the legislature to do that."

Rea explained there are some stumbling blocks which have dashed the hopes of quickly ending the session.

One of the most controversial, said Rea, is finding a replacement for the universally reviled Medicaid assessment tax, commonly known as the "granny tax."

Although this is a small tax applying to only 40,000 people, those people are nursing home residents. The tax is part of a larger program that helps the state pay for Medicaid, the medical program for poor people. The state taxes hospitals and nursing homes, and then the federal government matches the tax money, raising about $1.3 billion.

"You may recall that last year, in an attempt to prevent the state from losing $750 million in matching funds, the General Assembly and the governor approved, over my objections, a $6.30 per day tax on hospitals and nursing homes that was passed along to the residents," said Rea.

"I strongly opposed this tax because it added $2,300 a year to the cost of keeping a resident in a nursing home," added Rea. "One reason many lawmakers voted for the tax was the fact they knew it would expire on June 30 of this year. Now, it's back to the drawing board."

Renewing the nursing home portion has little support at the Capitol now, noted Rea, so lawmakers must find a substitute or do without the money: about $373 million.

"Several proposals that have surfaced to replace the revenue generated from the granny tax have been rejected," said Rea. "One of the proposals was a 70-cent increase in the state cigarette tax. But, this would have hurt Southern Illinois merchants who have seen customers traveling to Indiana, Kentucky and Missouri to buy cigarettes and other products."

Gov. Jim Edgar warned the solution could be a month away. Edgar and legislative leaders are meeting in an attempt to resolve the issue.

Other issues that have kept lawmakers past their May 28 adjournment date are: an effort to permit up to five floating casinos and an adjoining theme park in the Chicago area; possible extension of an income tax surcharge; and passing the state's $29 billion budget.

"Instead of wasting taxpayer dollars keeping lawmakers in Springfield, lawmakers have returned home to work until returning to Springfield June 23," said Rea. "For the first time since 1979, I'll be spending the better part of June working back in the district.

"I hope we can conclude our business in time for me to spend the 4th of July weekend back in Southern Illinois."