(WJBC file photo)
By Dave Dahl/Illinois Radio Network
SPRINGFIELD – It’s technically not a “special session.” Perhaps they can call it a “bonus session” or “extra credit.”
Illinois senators are back at the Capitol Tuesday for the first time since May 31, the customary adjournment date. There is no budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1, and there are plenty of things to talk about. One of them is the property tax.
Today’s noon “committee of the whole,” says State Sen. Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill), “heightens the importance of what we are taking up, which is Gov. (Bruce) Rauner’s property tax freeze proposal.”
Rauner, who campaigned as an advocate for education, may disagree with Manar’s characterization of today’s activities as “his” proposal.
One witness expected today, Robin Steans, executive director of the advocacy group Advance Illinois, says she hopes the discussion “gets beyond (the question of) ‘is it a good idea or a bad idea,’ and starts to really dig into … the implication if we implement a property tax freeze.”
That hearing in the Senate chamber is scheduled for noon. House action today will include another hearing of the Appropriations Human Services Committee, which has invited education secretary Beth Purvis to testify. She’s the one whose salary is paid out of the Department of Human Services, a fact debated at length a week ago.
