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Tag: Tom Cross
Jack Barry
The Northern Illinois University Student Association hosted six state Republican lawmakers Wednesday morning at the Holmes Student Center Sky Room for a news conference to address the issue of college affordability. “The rising cost of a college education is becoming the main obstacle to obtaining a degree,” Student Association President Jack Barry said in a...
State Rep. Robert Pritchard
NIU’s Student Association will welcome several Republicans from the Illinois House of Representatives to campus Wednesday morning. The GOP state lawmakers will conduct a news conference at 10 a.m. in the Sky Room of the Holmes Student Center to promote a package of bills that aim to provide college affordability options. Legislators include Reps. Bob...
State Pension & Budget Update
Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan filed an amendment to a comprehensive pension-reform package passed by the Senate last month that caps the salary on which a pension can be based and limits annual cost-of-living increases. The House Personnel & Pensions Committee is scheduled to consider the legislation at an 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, May 1, meeting. The...
Seal of the State of Illinois
The presidents and chancellors of the 14 public universities in Illinois have unanimously endorsed a six-point proposal for addressing the state’s pension funding crisis as it relates to the State Universities Retirement System (SURS), and in a letter to the governor and legislative leaders they called it “a thoughtful and responsible approach.” “We write to...
Symbol of the State of Illinois
In Springfield … The Illinois General Assembly has been busy with committee activities over the last two weeks. This week is the last week to get bills through committees in their house of origin. Higher Education-Related Legislation In the Senate Higher Education Committee, SB 2163 passed unanimously out of committee Tuesday, March 12. Sponsored by Sen....
Pension reform bills in both the State Senate and House of Representatives failed to come up for a vote before the midnight, May 31, deadline that marks the end of the spring legislative session. “While this has been a productive legislative session, our work is not done for the people of Illinois,” Illinois Gov. Pat...
A stripped-down pension reform package absent a controversial cost-shifting provision that would have transferred responsibility for payments of normal costs of pension benefits from the state to employers (universities, school districts and community colleges) passed the House Personnel and Pension Committee for consideration by the full House Thursday. Pension reform legislation stalled yesterday due to...
Photo of scissors cutting $100 bill
In Springfield … The Illinois Senate Executive Committee voted to approve House Bill 3810, a bill that will eliminate the General Assembly Scholarship Program on Sept. 1, 2012. Senate President John Cullerton, who had picked up sponsorship of this bill, testified that this program was good overall and that it had helped many very deserving...
Seal of the State of Illinois
Presidents and chancellors of public universities in the State of Illinois sent letters Thursday, May 3, to Gov. Pat Quinn as well as Illinois General Assembly leaders Michael Madigan, John Cullerton, Christine Radogno and Tom Cross. The letters outlined a statement of 10 objectives for stabilization of the State Universities Retirement System that is fair...
Photo of a piggy bank on a stack of textbooks
In Springfield … The Illinois General Assembly faces some upcoming deadlines on when substantive bills must be out of their chamber of origin, so last week was very busy and this week promises to be even more hectic. Last week, House Bill 5531, sponsored by Rep. Luis Arroyo, was passed out of the House Executive...
On a personal note … I would like welcome Zachary Jordan, a senior at NIU majoring in political science and philosophy, who is interning with our Government Relations Office this spring and will be helping with this column and our legislative updates. Zach has been in the NIU Honors Program for three years, in the...
Wrapped up neatly with a bow ...
In Springfield … The Illinois General Assembly reconvened Tuesday to try to finalize some issues left pending during the regularly scheduled fall veto session. Senators passed, with a veto-proof majority, a Chicago Mercantile Exchange/Sears tax relief package (HB 1883); however, this bill was defeated in the House by a vote of 99-8. This bill was a...
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