An email from State Rep. Mike Tryon:

Last week legislators returned to Springfield for the start of the spring legislative session.

On Wednesday, a joint session of the Illinois House and Senate convened for the Governor’s annual State of the State address. I had high hopes that we would hear a speech about the bipartisan support that would be needed during the next several months to tackle the issues that you, the constituents I serve, have told me are important to you, including:

• How the Governor plans to spur the economy and create more private sector jobs
• How the Governor plans to address the state’s fiscal crisis by cutting spending and paying the backlog of bills

Unfortunately, the governor chose not to address any of the state’s big issues.

He was silent on the fiscal crisis and the economy.

Instead, lawmakers listened to a 45-minute speech where the Governor patted himself on the back for public initiatives that cost the taxpayers of Illinois money, and congratulated a handful of Illinois companies, which ironically have succeeded over the last year in spite of the massive corporate and personal tax increases implemented 12 months ago.

We also heard Governor Quinn rattle off a laundry list of new spending initiatives that will do nothing to close our state’s spending gap, but will, in fact, add to our debt.

He unveiled a new “Illinois Jobs Agenda for 2012” plan which calls for increased spending on

• college scholarships,
• early childhood education programs and on
• updating schools with modern labs, smart technology, digital books and high-speed Internet access.

He spoke of additional spending for

• affordable housing programs,
• initiatives to help return vacant properties to usable space and
• a plan to hire thousands of people to work on clean water initiatives.

All are noble programs, but Governor Quinn has made no mention of how he plans to pay for these new projects.

To be fair, the Governor will present his annual budget address in three weeks.

I know that I am not the only legislator who is wondering why the governor is proposing new spending at a time when Illinois finances are spiraling out of control.

A few days before the Governor’s speech, Illinois Civic Federation issued a report that stated that Illinois is on track to quadruple what it owes over the next five years.

The report also suggests that the state’s operating deficit will swell to $3.2 billion from the current $508 million. You can read this report at: http://www.civicfed.org/sites/default/files/FY2013%20Illinois%20State%20Budget%20Roadmap.pdf.

During his speech on Wednesday, the governor did say that Medicaid and pension reform must happen this year.

While I support reform in both areas, I would suggest that we should first fully implement reforms that we have already approved before we move on to new efforts.

Last year the General Assembly approved sweeping Medicaid reforms that had the potential to generate $800 million in savings for Illinois taxpayers.

The bill, approved by both chambers and signed into law by the governor, put more stringent eligibility requirements in place and imposed a two-year moratorium on eligibility and program expansions.

A key component of the reform dealt with a provision for verification of income eligibility and Illinois citizenship.

Even though our Governor has a direct line to the White House since President Obama is a former Illinois Senator, at no time did he press the issue when Federal officials said Illinois could not insist on income or citizenship verification.

Furthermore, Governor Quinn’s administration chose not to implement a Medicaid Payment Recapture Audit that could have recaptured up to 10% of the total cost of the Medicaid program through identifying fraud and other errors. If implemented, those savings would have been significant.

I am looking forward to working with my colleagues over the next several months on legislation that will help all Illinoisans. As always, if I or a member of my staff can be of assistance to you, please contact my Crystal Lake office at (815) 459-6453 or at mike@miketryon.com.