by Ulysses Arn
- Rep. Tom Demmer
Now that 2016 has officially started one of the nearly 300 new laws in Illinois that took effect is a moratorium on the creation of new governmental bodies in the state.
Republican state Rep. Tom Demmer of Dixon authored the bill which will prevent Illinois, which already has the most units of government of any state in the country at over 7,000(some 2,000 more than the next closest state), from adding any more layers of government on the people for the next 4 years.
This comes as Gov. Bruce Rauner has spent considerable time and political capital addressing the need to reduce the size, and shear number of, government in the state as a means of addressing the states budget problems along with reducing the unfunded state mandates forced upon local government units.
Demmer's bill will prohibit for example the creation of new park and library districts.
Demmer is among the members of a task force created by Gov. Rauner and headed by Lt. Gov. Sanguinetti looking into government consolidation.
Another new state law taking effect will require colleges and universities to make the severance packages for their leaders open to the public. This comes in the wake of the multitude of scandals at the College of DuPage, which centered in part around former President Dr. Breuder getting a $750,000 golden parachute.
