With Illinois government facing a lean budget year and Democrats hammering at the state`s sluggish recovery, Gov. James Thompson will deliver an election-year State of the State speech Monday that is expected to laud economic accomplishments and offer a glimpse into the future.
Thompson administration officials said the address will not include an ambitious agenda like last year`s address, when the governor first outlined his $2.3 billion ”Build Illinois” public works program.
After claiming two major legislative victories last year by getting much of his plans for Build Illinois and school reform passed, Thompson is expected to be more reflective than substantive when he addresses a joint session of the House and Senate at noon.
But, the governor does plan to use slides and a video screen to illustrate key points of his speech, including economic development, said spokesman James Prescott.
Thompson has said the speech will focus on his efforts to attract industry to Illinois.
”It`s going to be about the future and the opportunity that this state has to move into the next century as far as economic development is concerned,” the governor said last week.
Besides praising the accomplishments of his administration, Thompson is expected to discuss the state`s liability insurance crisis, which he has tabbed as the No. 1 issue of this year`s legislative session. On Friday, while taping a television news show, the governor urged reform of tort laws to make it easier for business and governmental agencies to obtain insurance.
Solutions to the problem, however, are not expected to be reached easily. Already the issue shows signs of dividing the governor and legislative leaders along philosophical and party lines.
Republicans leaders promise to study Thompson`s proposals, but Democrats have suggested more state regulation of the insurance industry may be the answer.
”Lawsuits are being filed for every imaginable injury,” said House Minority Leader Lee Daniels (R., Elmhurst). ”Tort reform is needed, but you have to look at the problem. And in part, that problem stems from a society where lawyers file frivolous lawsuits at the drop of a hat.”
State Senate President Philip Rock (D., Oak Park), said Democrats might support some modification of tort law, which governs civil actions in cases of wrongful act, injury or damage. But Rock argued that the state also should consider regulating insurance increases. Thompson is opposed to such regulation.
Skyrocketing insurance rates and the lack of available liability coverage for many Illinois schools, municipalities and small businesses also are problems being addressed by a bipartisan House task force that is holding public hearings on the issue.
”The insurance industry has done a good job of creating a panic in the state,” said State Rep. Ellis Levin (D., Chicago), a member of the task force. ”Their lobbyists are pointing their fingers at the courts and lawsuits. The companies are raising rates here because they can`t raise them as quickly in other states, and the consumer is paying for it.”
The governor is not expected to announce any new major spending programs in his speech, mostly because the state is expecting a tight budget year. Thompson also has vowed that there will be no tax increases this year.
Because of the austere budget and continued high unemployment, Thompson is likely to be ”cautiously optimistic” about the state`s economic future, said Judy Irwin, spokeswoman for Rock.
State Sen. Vince Demuzio (D., Carlinville), an assistant majority leader, also said the governor is likely to tread lightly because he ”hoodwinked”
the voters three years ago. ”He`s going to have to be more realistic than in the past,” Demuzio said.
Thompson said before the 1982 election, in which he narrowly defeated Democrat Adlai Stevenson, that the state`s finances were sound. Shortly after the election, he said Illinois would not make it through the year without higher taxes, which the legislature passed at his urging.
Stevenson, who is again challenging Thompson this year, is expected to make that a major campaign issue. In a statement prepared in anticipation of Thompson`s speech, Stevenson also harked back to the `82 race.
”By now the people know that the governor`s words and the governor`s performance are worlds apart,” he said.
Although there may be no grand pronouncements, Demuzio said, ”I don`t expect to hear too many things that are downbeat since it`s an election year.”
