The big news out of the state capitol this week was House Speaker Michael Madigan's rather stunning proposal to "fumigate" state government by terminating all patronage workers and appointees hired under the previous two governors -- unless Gov. Quinn's administration chooses to reappoint them within 60 days.  We'll find out next week if that proposal is serious or merely theatric.  In the meantime, there was some progress on several other fronts, as we detail below.

State Budget
With 23 days until the budget deadline, lawmakers still can't reach consensus on how best to generate the revenue necessary to close the state's $12 billion deficit. Early in the week, a gaming expansion plan pushed by Sen. Terry Link (D-Waukegan) looked like it was gaining steam, gathering endorsements from Republicans Tom Cross and Christine Radogno as well as Senate President John Cullerton. But House Speaker Michael Madigan all but killed the plan, telling reporters that the bill would not come up for a vote in his chamber. Link isn't letting it die, releasing a new proposal yesterday to build three new land-based Illinois casinos as opposed to riverboats. Still, even with Gov. Pat Quinn -- a longtime gaming opponent -- hinting he might be open to the possibility, Madigan will have the final say.

Democratic leaders are also tinkering with Quinn's income tax proposal. On Wednesday, Senate President John Cullerton suggested the idea of a temporary income tax hike, although he didn't elaborate on any specifics. Quinn rejected that proposal, telling the Sun-Times: "I don't think it's prudent to focus on the short term." Madigan offered generic platitudes during a presser yesterday, emphasizing that he's prepared to support an increase in the income tax "for the purpose of balancing the budget, paying the bills, but not growing government."

Quinn, for his part, told Illinois Issues' Bethany Jaeger that he's willing to negotiate his proposal to triple the personal exemption as a way to shield middle- and low-income taxpayers from the income hike. Progressive tax reformers like Ralph Martire have criticized the exemption as going "way too high up the income ladder." Quinn also dropped his proposal requiring teachers and other state workers to kick increase their pension contributions by two percent after being booed by 3,000 Illinois Education Association members Wednesday.  He stood by his controversial proposal to create a two-tiered pension system for state employees.

Republicans, meanwhile, remain opposed to any hike and the acrimonious relationship between House Republican Leader Tom Cross and Madigan made headlines.  As Greg Hinz noted, as long as the Democrats pass a budget before the end of the month, they don't need to be concerned with the opposing party.  After that deadline, however, the threshold rises and they'll need Republican votes.

The Sun-Times added their voice to the debate, penning an editorial today calling on lawmakers to enact a permanent income tax increase "even if it's deeply unpopular."  If no viable plan surfaces, look out for another no-tax-hike "doomsday budget" from Speaker Madigan.  As Rich Miller wrote in his Monday SouthtownStar column, the results of such a spending plan would be devastating:

If Madigan did that again this year the result would likely be catastrophic. But perhaps a catastrophe might have to occur to wake everybody up to how serious this situation really is. Voters might be more open to a tax hike if they saw their state and local governments collapse.

Reform Recommendations
In its report released late last month, the state ethics reform commission asserted: "We cannot endorse efforts to selectively implement some reforms while ignoring other key proposals."  The big news this week is that the commission members -- and by extension the governor's office -- now say they are open to negotiations about passing select reforms that need legislative approval. Here's commission chairman Patrick Collins explaining his approach yesterday, via Capitol Fax:

Cullerton promised that all of the governor’s reform commission proposals would be addressed by his chamber, but he will route them through the closely-guarded Senate Executive Committee, a move the Tribune decried.

Progressive legislation
There was also some movement among the individual pieces of legislation we've been tracking. Three of those measures -- Rep. Sara Feigenholtz's bill to ease enrollment criteria for the state's Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program (HB 745), Rep. Cynthia Soto's proposal (HB 363) to reform the school closure process in Chicago, and Rep. Will Burn's legislation (HB 3863) extending protections to renters who are entangled in the foreclosure crisis -- passed out of Senate committees this week and are headed to the floor.

Rep. Greg Harris' health insurance consumer protection bill (HB 3923) was postponed in the Senate Executive Committee yesterday, despite carrying over 60 co-sponsors in both the House and Senate.  And finally, Harris' civil unions bill --  which we wrote about this morning -- was granted a second extension by Speaker Madigan.  Harris now has until May 31 to pass it out of the House.

Image used under a Creative Commons license by Flickr user sterno74.