Luechtefeld: Budget transparency, workplace violence, hunting remains topics of new legislation
With the Thanksgiving holiday fast approaching, the countdown for new laws going into effect has begun, according to State Sen. Dave Luechtefeld (R-Okawville).
Each January dozens of new laws passed during the previous year become effective on the first day of the year. This year, that will include measures designed to make the state's budget process more open, reduce workplace violence and regulate disposal of hunting remains.
Illinois' well-documented fiscal woes have citizens-and state lawmakers-asking for more details about the state budget process. In response, this spring several measures were approved by lawmakers to improve budget transparency and accountability.
Beginning next year, a bill sponsored by Senate Republican lawmaker Pamela Althoff (R-McHenry) requires the state budget to be published online within 60 days of being signed into law. In addition, the Governor's Office of Management and Budget must also make public any related fund sweeps or charge-backs contained in the budget-a caveat introduced in response to the numerous sweeps of dedicated public funds that have been used in recent years to subsidize general state spending.
Another law sponsored by Althoff and her Republican colleague Senator Sam McCann (R-Carlinville) will create a Governmental Transparency Task Force charged with creating a plan to make the state budget process more transparent and publicly accessible. A 16-member board appointed by the governor and the four legislative leaders will study proposals seeking to increase the public's ease of access to budget materials, and the task force must submit its findings by January 1, 2015.
Republican State Senators Darin LaHood (R-Peoria), Michael Connelly (R-Wheaton) and Matt Murphy (R-Palatine) sponsored a bipartisan measure this spring to help prevent tragic acts of violence in Illinois workplaces. The bill passed unanimously in both chambers of the General Assembly.
House Bill 2590/PA 98-0430, which will take effect on January 1, creates the Illinois Workplace Violence Protection Act. It will enable employers to seek an order of protection when they can show that there is there has been violence, or there is a credible threat of violence, occurring in the workplace that has or will very likely cause great or irreparable harm.
Sportsmen should be aware that beginning January 1 hunters will have to follow new laws regarding wildlife possession and disposal.
Earlier this year, the General Assembly passed Senate Bill 1170 making it illegal to possess any wildlife or wildlife parts taken unlawfully in Illinois, any other state or country, whether or not the animal is native to Illinois. "Wildlife contraband" includes wild birds or mammals that are taken, bought, or sold without being properly tagged with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Additionally, Senate Bill 1620 ensures the proper disposal of wildlife game. This legislation makes it unlawful for any person to waste or destroy useable meat of harvested game mammals and birds. By the first of the year, hunters will no longer be able to leave or dump harvested game remains on a highway-this specifically targets sportsmen who remove the head or antlers of a deer as a trophy and then dump the carcass.
Violators of these new laws can be charged with a Class B misdemeanor, which is punishable up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,500.
The DNR says these legislative measures will reduce the amount of game waste and agency costs.
Child Deaths Hit Record High
In other news, the Quinn administration has once again set a new and undesirable record. The latest though is genuinely tragic - child deaths caused by abuse or neglect have hit a 30 year high under the Quinn administration's watch.
That startling statistic was revealed in separate investigations recently published by the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune.
Both papers reviewed cases from the past several years where the state's main child protection agency, the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) had prior contact with the children or their parents, but still failed to prevent the death of children and infants.
In the last fiscal year (which ended July 1), 111 children died in Illinois from abuse or neglect, the most since annual records began in 1981. And, as disturbing as that number may be, the most shocking statistic may be the 68 children in Fiscal Years 2011 and 2012 that died despite the fact that DCFS had been involved in their cases.
The newspapers recounted heart-rending stories of small children and infants whose short lives had become nightmares of abuse or neglect, often despite repeated calls to DCFS by concerned relatives.