Governor files lawsuit in dispute with lawmakers over health care

Gov. Rod Blagojevich's ongoing power struggle with state lawmakers has heated up again with a lawsuit aimed at authorizing his health care expansion plan without legislative approval.

The governor's Department of Healthcare and Family Services has filed a lawsuit in an effort to force Secretary of State Jesse White, a fellow Democrat, to publish rules allowing the expansion of the state's FamilyCare program for Illinoisans who can't afford private insurance.

But as the legal fight continues, some of Blagojevich's allies in Springfield are taking another shot at trying to get legislative backing for the expansion.

Blagojevich has been trying since early last year to persuade lawmakers to pay for the program's expansion, without success. He then went to the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR), but was turned down twice, the last time in February, amid concerns the governor was trying to sidestep the full Legislature to get what he wanted.

The Blagojevich administration has insisted it has the authority to expand the program without legislative approval. In fact, the administration started signing people up after JCAR's first rejection last fall -- a move that prompted a suburban Chicago attorney and others to sue the governor, saying he'd overstepped his power.

Even though it was the administration that turned to JCAR for a favorable ruling, the lawsuit filed last week in Cook County argues JCAR did not have the constitutional authority to reject the program's expansion. It claims the rejection "unconstitutionally encroaches upon the powers of the executive and judicial branches."

In fact, said Blagojevich spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff, JCAR is an advisory body and the governor is not legally obligated to follow its advice. Further, she said, Supreme Courts in nine other states have ruled such bodies are only advisory and do not have the authority to make binding legislative decisions.

Ruth Igoe, a spokeswoman for the state's Department of Healthcare and Family Services, described the lawsuit as part of an "amicable process" seeking clarification after White's office raised concerns about whether or not it had the authority to accept and publish rules.

But White spokesman Dave Druker said the office has done more than raise concerns.

"Our reading of the law is we cannot accept the document unless it is signed off by JCAR," he said. "Our attorneys advised that we could not accept it."

Senate Democrats on Wednesday pushed through a Senate committee on a partisan 8-5 vote its own version of Blagojevich's FamilyCare expansion. It would provide coverage for another 147,000 Illinoisans and cost more than $40 million this year.

Republicans complained the state can't afford such an expansion, particularly for families making enough money to pay for coverage themselves. Democrats argued Illinois has to do more to reduce the cost of providing treatment for the uninsured.

"We've got to make sure we have proper health care for the people that we represent," said Sen. Terry Link, D-Waukegan.

Senate Democrats propose paying for the expansion and other state expenses -- including restoring some lawmaker's pork projects that were cut last year -- through another measure the same committee approved by the same partisan vote. That would let the governor sweep up to $530 million from special state funds this year.

Lawmakers have grilled administration officials on why they believed they had the authority to go forward with the expansion with neither approval by the full Legislature nor JCAR. And they've wondered where the administration expected to find the millions of dollars to pay for it.

The dispute has prompted action by House Speaker Michael Madigan -- himself the target of a Blagojevich lawsuit over the speaker's refusal to call special sessions at times the governor wanted.

After Blagojevich implemented the program without JCAR approval, Madigan required that House bills include language barring the governor and his agencies from using administrative rules to implement new or revised public policy ideas.