The Sixtieth General AssemblY 



V^^^^ HE Sixtieth General Assembly 

 ^^— -^ adjourned its regular session 

 ^^_y shortly after midnight on June 

 30. Like many of its predecessors this 

 Assembly, which convened January 6, ac- 

 complished little during the early months 

 of the session. No bills were introduced 

 until February 2. Only four bills were 

 passed in February and eighteen in 

 March, a total of 22 in the first half of 

 the session. The General Assembly 

 passed 22 bills in April and 56 in May, 

 a total of 100 bills in the first five 

 months. It began to speed up in June, 

 passing 188 bills up to and including 

 June 25. In the three days, June 28 to 

 30 inclusive, 177 bills were passed, more 

 than half as many as had passed during 

 the preceding five months and three 

 weeks. For the greater part of the ses- 

 sion, the legislature convened at 8:00 

 o'clock on Monday evening and ad- 

 journed shortly after noon on Wednes- 

 day. During the last few weeks, some 

 business was transacted on Thursday also. 



Many members of the General As- 

 sembly have protested vigorously against 

 the waste of time and State funds and 

 have pointed to the poor quality of some 

 of the legislation passed in the legisla- 

 tive "jams " universal in Illinois in the 

 last few days of every regular session. 

 Some of the most valuable members of 

 the General Assembly have declined to 

 seek re-election for this reason. Even 

 the most diligent members cannot always 

 vote wisely upon the large number of 

 bills upon which they are expected to 

 act in the closing days. 



The General Assembly enacted Senate 

 Bill 354, which creates a legislative 

 council consisting of senators and repre- 

 sentatives to prepare a legislative pro- 

 gram in advance of the regular session 

 and present such program, with drafts 

 of proposed legislation, to the General 

 Assembly. This measure would seem to 

 be constructive and if members of the 

 council are conscientious in their work 

 and give real consideration to the needs 

 of the State, should result in more ade- 

 quate consideration of major legislation 

 and help to lessen the "jam" of the 

 closing days. 



A total of I6l4 bills were introduced 

 and 465 bills were passed aind of these 

 62 were vetoed by the Governor. Some 

 of them, such as the Insurance Code, the 

 Parole bills, the Drivers' License bills 

 and the bill requiring a physical examin- 

 ation before marriage, received much 

 newspaper notice. Most of the bills and 

 resolutions, some of them as important 



STUDY THEIR RECORDS 



The Aaaociation again appeals to its 

 members to study more careiully the 

 records of theii respective representa- 

 tives in legislative bodies. It urges 

 that in going to the polls members be 

 guided much more by the voting rec- 

 ords oi these representatives and 

 their desire tor governmental econ- 

 omy, as reflected by their record, 

 than by any oge-old considerations oi 

 political party aiiiliation. B the think- 

 ing citizens oi Illinois are to stop the 

 steady enroachment oi government 

 upon the rights oi citizens and the un- 

 necessary restrictive regulation oi 

 both the activities and business oi 

 citizens, much more emphasis must 

 be placed upon the need oi support- 

 ing those seeking to represent them, 

 who, by their records, have proven 

 themselves worthy oi support li 

 thinking citizens are to stop the grow- 

 ing increase in public expenditures, 

 they must not be lulled by campaign 

 promises oi economy but must look to 

 the voting record ior guidance in 

 casting their ballots. 



as any of the bills named, received little 

 public notice. 



The Illinois Agricultural Association 

 is principally concerned with measures 

 affecting agriculture. However, as citi- 

 zens, Farm Bureau members cannot ig- 

 nore other legislation and the trend in 

 State legislation. The trend in the pres- 

 ent General Assembly is well illustrated 

 by the increased appropriations made, 

 the increased salaries authorized, the 

 large number of bills introduced increas- 

 ing taxes, and the number of bills pro- 

 posing to regulate many kinds of private 

 business Many members apparently had 

 no concern for the manner in which the 

 money to meet the increased appropria- 

 tions was to be raised. Practically all ap- 



Now the 15 Hour Week 



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WELL.' ir'i , 

 WCDME^DAY NOOH .' 

 TIM£ TO KNOCK OFP 

 FOR THE WEEK. 



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propriations were increased. The appro- 

 priations for the biennium are said to 

 total more than $468,000,000 or about 

 $79,000,000 in excess of the total appro- 

 priations at the regular session two years 

 ago. The appropriations of the regular 

 session are said to exceed the total appro- 

 priations of the Fifty-Ninth General As- 

 sembly, including the appropriations at 

 the several special sessions for Old Age 

 Assistance, Relief and other purposes, by 

 more than $23,000,000. 



Of this total amount, roughly $72,- 

 000,000 is for relief, $49,300,000 for 

 old-age pensions (of which $23,150,000 

 will be recovered from the Federal Gov- 

 ernment), and $26,000,000 for the State 

 Distributive School Fund. In connection 

 with the appropriation for relief, it de- 

 velops that in 1933 there were in round 

 numbers 344,000 relief "cases." In 

 May, 1937, there were 149,000 "cases"" 

 of home or direct relief, 143,000 per- 

 sons on W.P.A. and 118,000 persons re- 

 ceiving old-age pensions in Illinois. De- 

 spite business recovery, the policies in 

 administering relief have been such that 

 the relief load has decreased but little. 



The trend toward extravagant appro- 

 priations is well illustrated by the appro- 

 priations made to the Secretary of State 

 for administration of the so-called Uni- 

 form Motor Vehicle Anti -Theft Act or 

 Certificate of Title Law. When this law 

 was passed in 1933, and certificates of 

 title were required for all motor vehicles 

 in the State, $750,000 were appropriated 

 for administration of the Act. In 1935, 

 $750,000 were again appropriated for 

 administration of this Act. In 1937, 

 this appropriation was increased to more 

 than $850,000. Apparently the legisla- 

 ture was convinced that it costs more to 

 make the transfers of certificates on used 

 cars that are sold and to issue certificates 

 for new cars than it cost originally to set 

 up the system and issue certificates for all 

 of the cars in the State. Governor Hor- 

 ner vetoed $40,000 from this appropria- 

 tion. 



Unusual increases were made in ap- 

 propriations for many budget items. 

 Such increases, together with appropria- 

 tions for non-budget items, account for 

 the report that total appropriations ex- 

 ceed total anticipated revenues more than 

 $12,000,000. Unless the State collects 

 much larger revenues than the State bud- 

 get indicates and this increased income 

 together with the items vetoed by the 

 Governor is sufficient to bring the total 

 appropriations within the revenues, 

 either a deficit will result or additional 

 taxes will be required. The General 



6 



L A. A. RECORD 



