Springfield, Ill. - With less than two weeks left before the scheduled 2012 spring session, State Sen. Dave Luechtefeld (R-Okawville) said lawmakers have been busy approving legislation to be sent to Gov. Pat Quinn for consideration, while behind the scenes negotiations continue on the state’s most pressing issues: the budget, Medicaid and state pension reform.

On the critical issue of Medicaid reform, at week's end it appeared significant progress was being made toward closing a $2.7 billion gap in the program. Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno said a key objective of Senate Republicans is to enact reforms that will force the state to "cut up its Medicaid credit card" by reforming the controversial "Section 25" provisions in state law. Reforming this provision is critical to assuring that savings approved by the legislature actually materialize, by limiting the administration's ability to push off costs.  

Okawville, Ill. - Legislation extending the state's popular Enterprise Zone economic development tool won unanimous support in the state Senate April 26, capping off a busy week that, according to State Sen. Dave Luechtefeld (R-Okawville) also included a scathing audit of the administration's management of the state's workers' compensation program and a Comptroller's report that Illinois is more than $9 billion behind in paying its bills.

Scheduled for May 1 is the release of Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (COGFA) recommendations on several proposed closures of state facilities.  

During the week lawmakers focused mainly on reviewing bills in committees so they can be voted on by the full House and Senate, Sen. Luechtefeld said. One measure drawing attention was a key campaign finance reform aimed at closing a loophole in existing state law. 

Okawville, Ill. - Medicaid and Pension reforms took the spotlight, when on April 19 Gov. Pat Quinn advocated for a tax increase as a key part of his plan to dig Medicaid out of a multi-billion dollar hole. The following day the Governor announced his own pension reform package to scale back benefits and reduce costs in the nation's worst-funded public pension system. And State Sen. Dave Luechtefeld (R-Okawville) said buzz once again surrounds the state’s Lottery program, as media reports outline what appear to be conflicts of interest between Gov. Quinn and the group awarded a 10-year contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars to oversee the Lottery program.

Lawmakers returned to Springfield to kick off the seven week stretch to the scheduled end of the Spring 2012 legislative session. Having spent the first portion of the Spring session focused on Senate bills, Senate Committees this week began considering legislation introduced by House lawmakers, though notably absent from Committee discussion was a vote on a measure to eliminate the state’s scandal-plagued legislative scholarship program.