A retirement reception in honor of Ken Zehnder is planned from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 31, in the University Suite of the Holmes Student Center. Refreshments will be served. For more information, contact Joan Laurino at (815) 753-2253 or via e-mail at [email protected] NIU’s director of state and local relations since 2009, Zehnder joined the university...

With only five weeks remaining in the spring legislative session in Illinois, a multitude of measures is moving forward after clearing the April 15 deadline to pass proposals out of each chamber. Illinois Senate President John Cullerton has provided a succinct summary of the budgetary process: The anticipated general revenue for Fiscal Year 2012 is $34.3...

Late last month, Speaker Mike Madigan and House Minority Leader Tom Cross appeared together at Higher Education Appropriation Committee hearing in a rare public showing of bipartisan cooperation. They testified in support of a bill that would fully fund the 2012 fiscal year group insurance costs and pension contributions. Questions of how those payments would...

NIU President John G. Peters indicated in his March 24 campus update that “it is difficult to predict the precise course of this spring’s budget debate” and that “what happens in Springfield during the next 60 days will be of critical importance to every employee and annuitant at Northern Illinois University.” His message to be...

Every two years, with the January swearing-in of a newly elected Illinois House of Representatives, the legislature starts fresh. All bills and legislative proposals that were not enacted by that point are rendered null and void when the new General Assembly is convened.  The last assembly, the 96th in the state’s history, introduced more than 13,000...

Talk of budget cuts, borrowing, deficits, tax increases and pensions have dominated conversation throughout the halls of the Illinois Capitol this year.  Legislators and staffers have debated whether the budget cuts actually cut the budget or whether they merely act as a substitute for the absence of federal funding.  The income tax hike is real...

Gov. Quinn laid out his budget plans for Fiscal Year 2012 last Wednesday to mixed reviews. The $35.4 billion in general revenue funds expenditure, $1.7 billion dollars higher than last year, supports no new programs, provides additional headcount for agencies including the Departments of Revenue and Corrections, and provides for the state’s increased payments for health insurance...

Parameters of the budget discussions will be set this week. Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn presents his budget address Wednesday, Feb. 16, and is expected to identify cuts that have already been made, debts that must be paid and the need for bonding in order to expedite those payments to vendors. The size of current obligations range from...

The February blizzard of 2011 postponed the first full week of the 97th General Assembly before the first snow flake fell. Legislative bills are being introduced and a host of issues — old and new — are on the horizon but will wait until the second week in February for the process to begin. House members are...