NIU Today

A bill in the Illinois General Assembly that sought to take away the 50 percent tuition discount that Illinois’ public universities currently offer their employees fell well short of the 60 votes it needed to pass a vote of the house. The bill, HB 5531, sponsored by Rep. Luis Arroyo (D-Chicago), would have amended various...

In Springfield … The Illinois primary elections were held Tuesday, March 20. The elections results can be found on the Illinois Board of Elections website. The Illinois General Assembly was in session Wednesday through Friday of last week. Members of the House of Representatives approved HB 3810 (vote: 95 yes, 25 no, 2 present), introduced by...

In Springfield … Friday, March 9, was the deadline to get substantive bills reported out of committees in the chamber of origin, so it was a very busy week. On March 6, House Bill 5745, sponsored by Rep. Brandon Phelps, passed out of the House Agriculture & Conservation Committee. This bill would allow for concealed-carry in...

In Springfield … This will be a very busy week in Springfield. Gov. Pat Quinn will give his Fiscal Year 2013 Budget Message at noon Wednesday, Feb. 22. You will recall that in his Feb. 1 State of the State message, he talked about his desire to eliminate a tax on natural cost (at an...

In Springfield … On January 30, 2012, the Institute for Illinois’ Financial Sustainability at the Civic Federation issued a report, “State of Illinois FY2013 Budget Roadmap: State of Illinois Budget Overview, Projections and Recommendations for the Governor and General Assembly.” The report states that, “given rising Medicaid and pension costs and the scheduled partial sunset of...

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...

Happy New Year, and welcome back to campus. This should prove to be a very interesting year at both the state and federal levels. In Washington, D.C. … Congress has been on holiday recess since mid-December, returning to session this week. Congress did approve the remaining FY2012 appropriations bills Dec. 15, 2011, which comply with the...

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...

In Washington, D.C. … As expected, Congress last week approved the first “minibus” Fiscal Year 2012 appropriations, which included funding for Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science and Transportation-HUD. It also included an extension of the Continuing Resolution so that the government can operate until Friday, Dec. 16. Of special interest to NIU is the increase in the National Science...

NIU representatives traveled this week to Washington, D.C., where they made a strong case for the importance of federal funding for research universities and national laboratories. “We made a lot of face-to-face contacts with our congressmen and their staffs and were able to drive home the point of how vital federal funding for research is...

In Springfield … The Illinois General Assembly finished its second week of the scheduled fall veto session Thursday, Nov. 10. However, the House of Representatives has been called back Tuesday, Nov. 29, to deal with some large, outstanding issues. We are uncertain at this time if the Senate also will be called back. Senate Bill 512,...

NIU chemistry professor Timothy Hagen will talk about the importance of federal funding for research universities and economic development during a luncheon panel discussion Tuesday in front of an audience of Washington, D.C., movers and shakers. The luncheon at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center is part of a full day of events planned for Illinois...