General Assembly Adjourns With Much Undone
June 4th, 2014
WUIS 91.9
By Brian Mackey
The General Assembly finished its legislative session shortly after midnight Saturday, approving a billion-dollar road construction program.
Democrats started the session with an ambitious agenda: raise the minimum wage, boost college assistance for low-income students, maybe even change Illinois’ flat tax into a graduated one. In the end, none of that happened.
“This has been a difficult session. Maybe a very difficult session,” said Speaker of the House Michael Madigan, closing out the session Friday evening. “Over the last few years, nothing seems to be simple. Nothing seems to be easy. It’s just one difficult, complicated issue after another.”
This year’s most complicated issue was what to do about the state’s income tax — vote to make the 2011 tax hike permanent, or let rates drop at the end of the year as scheduled.
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