Governor's pitch for state rebate checks goes nowhere
SPRINGFIELD -- In February, Gov. Rod Blagojevich teased taxpayers and lawmakers with the whimsy of state rebate checks that could add hundreds of dollars onto the typical family's federal rebate just as incumbents hit the campaign trail.
But as those federal checks -- worth up to $1,800 for couples with children -- begin arriving in bank accounts, talk of the governor's idea of another $300 per child seemingly vanished as soon as his budget speech was over.
"Beyond the budget speech, I've not heard it advance one step," said Steve Brown, spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat.
To date, no legislation creating or paying for the rebate system is before lawmakers. In addition, the state's financial picture continues to darken, with the current budget nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars out of whack and next year's financial plan likely even more so.
Lawmakers are already wary of how they'll pay for existing services and programs, let alone add anything new to the multibillion-dollar spending plan.
"I think it was an admirable idea by the governor at the time, but with the economic downturn, … I just don't feel it should be a thing that we should do right now," said state Sen. Terry Link, a Waukegan Democrat and member of the Illinois Senate leadership team.
Lawmakers acknowledge the concept has great appeal at first glance. In 2000, Republicans and Democrats alike jumped at the chance to approve state rebate checks that arrived in mailboxes just as lawmakers began campaigning.
But economic realities make the current idea all but impossible, they said.
"I just don't think there's a way that we could do that without cutting services that are essentially needed to keep the state going," Link said.
Blagojevich's $300 child rebate checks were part of a tax relief plan that also included business tax cuts. The combined $1.2 billion price tag for the one-time program was to be paid for by having Illinois sell off its right to the annual settlement checks from a lucrative state lawsuit against cigarette makers.
But the idea of selling off the tobacco settlement checks for money up front has repeatedly been rejected in the past.
Attempts to get an update on where the rebate check proposal stands as a priority for the governor were unsuccessful.
On a related note, spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch said the Blagojeviches, who have two daughters, filed a tax extension with the IRS, so they will not be receiving a federal stimulus check in the initial cycle.