Tax-break transparency bill sent to Quinn
By David Mercer The Associated Press June 4, 2012 9:34PM
Updated: July 7, 2012 8:33AM
SPRINGFIELD — A measure awaiting action from Gov. Pat Quinn would require Illinois to publicize the details of corporate tax breaks as soon as they’re completed, but a provision aimed at strengthening oversight of those deals was removed to get the bill through the General Assembly.
Before lawmakers left Springfield last week, they approved the bill sponsored by Rep. Jack Franks (D-Marengo), a longtime critic of the tax breaks, requiring the immediate public release of the amount and details of any tax breaks issued under the Economic Development for a Growing Economy, or EDGE, program.
Quinn has made heavy use of the program over the past 18 months, cutting high-profile deals with companies such as Sears Holdings Corp., CME Group Inc. and CBOE Holdings Inc. that threatened to leave Illinois. The details of those deals sometimes remain secret long after they’re made.
Franks’ original bill included a requirement that a committee of experts would review any tax-break deals, but that provision was deleted to improve its chances. He said he plans to re-introduce that proposal early next year but views Quinn as the biggest hurdle.
“The governor doesn’t want any oversight on this. He wants to be able to cut deals,” Franks said. “That’s the bottom line.”
Quinn’s staff didn’t immediately respond Monday to questions about the governor’s position on the measure.
Marcelyn Love, a spokeswoman for the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, the agency that oversees the EDGE program, said Quinn favors greater transparency but hasn’t taken a position on the bill.
“Gov. Quinn has long advocated for openness and transparency in state government, and he is supportive of measures that will continue to do just that,” Love said in an email.
But the objections began before the bill ever reached either house of the General Assembly, Franks acknowledges. Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity officials testified in the State Government Administration Committee that it would slow them down as they tried to woo companies. Opposition within the committee — which Franks chairs — was so strong that he cut the review committee altogether.
Without it, the bill sailed through and was unanimously passed by both the House and Senate.
