Illinois legislators sweat the small stuff

by Kristina Rasmussen Illinois has trouble. Big trouble. Our public pension system is one market crash away from disaster. Our unemployment numbers are over 10 percent. People are hightailing it for greener pastures. You’d think Illinois legislators would focus on turning this state around with bold reforms. Think again. Even as the Illinois General Assembly failed to address the pension crisis,...

by Kristina Rasmussen

Illinois has trouble. Big trouble. Our public pension system is one market crash away from disaster. Our unemployment numbers are over 10 percent. People are hightailing it for greener pastures.

You’d think Illinois legislators would focus on turning this state around with bold reforms. Think again.

Even as the Illinois General Assembly failed to address the pension crisis, the jobs crisis, and the crisis of confidence, they did find the time to pass these new laws:

• Allowing hunters to harvest roadkill.
• Allowing liquor to be sold at university-owned golf courses.
• Forbidding laptops in the front passenger seat of cars.
• Encouraging schools to promote an hour of reading for K-3 students, but not requiring schools to actually implement it.
• Allowing chiropractors to prescribe oxygen.
• Providing incentives for the recycling of asphalt roofing shingles.
• Clarifying that emergency vehicles may use oscillating lights when parked an the scene of a fire, rescue call, or car crash.
• Requiring homeowners’ associations to specify rules regarding wind energy collection, rain water collection, and composting.
• Requiring physicians’ orders and plans of treatment to have an original written signature or electronic signature instead of a stamp.
• Requiring costly project labor agreements on public works projects.
• Requiring dogs and cats to be scanned and examined for identification within 24 hours of impoundment.
• Requiring private detectives to register with the sheriff before serving court documents.
• Increasing insurance mandates by requiring coverage of up to $500 for tobacco use cessation programs.
• Prohibiting local government from contacting out jail services.
• Mandating aquariums and museums be open to Illinois residents (as opposed to “the public”) without charge for a period equal to 52 days.

Do they have the right priorities? You be the judge.

Thanks to the Senate President’s staff for the list of laws.