March 5, 2010—Issue 7

Hectic Week in the Senate….Next Up the House

This week was committee deadline week in the Senate and the action was fast and furious as Senators scrambled to pass their bills before the cutoff date for bill consideration at the committee level.  Several tax credit bills were heard in not only the Senate Revenue Committee but also in the Senate Commerce Committee.  The Commerce Committee provided a more favorable venue for passage of these tax credit bills while the Revenue Committee sent their assigned tax credit bills to subcommittee for further study.  Some of the bills that didn’t pass out of committee this week may be granted “committee deadline extensions” and TFI will continue to monitor for those developments.  Next week, the focus will shift to the House for their committee deadline week and TFI will continue to oppose all new and expanded tax credits due to the current state fiscal crisis.  A full legislative update will be part of TFI’s 2010 Spring Conference on March 16^th and 17^th in Springfield and we hope to see you there!

Amazon Nexus Bill – Update

SB 3353, sponsored by Senator Jeff Schoenberg (D-Evanston), which would expand the sales tax nexus standard to internet agents, was held this week in the Senate Revenue Committee.  Sen. Schoenberg provided testimony supporting the bill and indicated that he would be seeking a “committee deadline extension” in his effort to secure committee approval at a later date.  Here is a link to the bill: click here

Elimination of Single Sales Factor – Update

SB 3257, sponsored by Senator Martin Sandoval (D-Chicago), to eliminate the Single Sales Factor in Illinois was not called for a vote this week in the Senate Revenue Committee.  TFI opposes this anti-job creation measure and will continue to monitor this bill closely for any potential movement.   Here is a link to the bill: click here

Recently Released Information

The Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (COGFA) has released the February 2010 State of Illinois Economic Forecast Report prepared by Moody’s/Economy.com.  The report may be accessed at this link: click here

And Finally….

Governor Pat Quinn will give his Annual State Budget Address on Wednesday March 10^th at 12pm.  TFI will bring you highlights of this speech next week in the TFI Report from the Capitol.