Springfield…State Representative Kay Hatcher today cast a resounding “no” vote on a Democrat-backed redistricting plan that continues to allow lawmakers to draw their own legislative district boundaries to suit their personal needs.

“In areas where it truly matters, there’s very little difference between our current, flawed redistricting system and the so-called ‘reforms pushed by House and Senate Democrats; both allow legislators to draw their own district boundaries and hand pick who will be in their district and who won’t,” Hatcher said.

The Democrats plan, SJRCA 121, failed on the House floor.

Hatcher and her House Republican colleagues today instead called for House consideration of the Illinois Fair Map Amendment, the redistricting reform plan supported by a host of good government groups, the League of Women Voters and newspaper editorial boards throughout the state. Fair Map takes the process of drawing maps away from lawmakers and turns it over to an independent commission. House Republicans have called for consideration of Fair Map on the House floor numerous times over the past two months, only to have each attempt blocked by Democrat leaders from Chicago.

“Fair Map is the real deal. It removes legislators entirely from the map drawing process and prohibits the drawing of district boundaries based on voting records or other political data. Hatcher said. It’s real, substantial reform and it’s the plan that needs to be called for a vote.”

Springfield…Legislation on its way to the governor’s desk will bring more accountability to the state budget process said State Representative Kay Hatcher, a chief House sponsor of the measure. House Bill 4836 creates a “Sunshine Commission” which enlists the volunteer services of members of the private sector with a background in finance or accounting to conduct a thorough review of the state budget to identify and eliminate waste and duplication.

“This is about getting the biggest bang for the buck we can for local taxpayers. If the Governor signs this legislation, we’ll be bringing in independent members of the public that have no personal interest except to help us identify the hidden duplications and unnecessary expenses in the budget, and to eliminate them,” Hatcher said.

Representative Hatcher (R-Yorkville) noted that bringing-in independent members of the private sector to review the budget is a key component of the Fiscal Reform Agenda she and fellow House Republicans crafted last year.

“Opening up the budget for a review by independent experts is a victory in our efforts to hold state government more accountable for how it spends taxpayer dollars,” Hatcher said.

Yorkville…State Representative Kay Hatcher has posted petitions on her website so local families can sign-on in support of measures to create jobs and to make known their opposition to proposed tax increases.

“Creating and supporting jobs must be our top focus. No matter what other steps we take, families will continue to struggle and so will our economy and state budget until we get people back to work,” Hatcher stressed. “I’m supporting a number of job renewal measures from expanding credits and incentives for new employers to helping existing employers retrain workers and expand their workforce. With these petitions, we will be sending a loud and clear message to the governor and to Speaker Madigan that we need jobs now.”

Hatcher said that Fox Valley families also need to send the message to the governor and the speaker that we can’t afford a 33% income tax increase.

“Unemployment statewide is at 12%. Since the economic downturn began, we have lost 407,000 jobs. Raising taxes on families or employers now is one of the worst things we could possibly do. We need to make sure that message gets through as well…and the more signatures we get, the stronger the message,” Hatcher said.

Both petitions are posted on Representative Hatcher’s website www.hatcher.ilhousegop.org. Once signatures are collected, Representative Hatcher will take the petitions to Springfield.

Click here to print “Help Rep. Hatcher Bring More Jobs to Illinois” petition.

Click here to print “Just Say No to Taxes” petition.

Honorable Governor Pat Quinn
207 State House
Springfield, IL 62706

Dear Governor,

Previously you should have received correspondence from members of the House and Senate Republican caucuses identifying key reform proposals we feel need to be enacted to restore fiscal responsibility to our state. We have a number of additional ideas that collectively will add up to meaningful savings for taxpayers.

Some of the ways we can begin to get state spending under control include:

Fiscal Reforms to Control Spending:
o HB 4095 Utilizes the same rules as the Comptroller’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report to create a balanced budget that is consistent with accrual accounting
o HB 6626 Requires the budget to be posted online for seven days prior to vote
o HJRCA 28 Requires 3/5th supermajority vote on any legislation to raise taxes or fees on Illinois families or business
o HB 4836 Creates a Sunshine Commission made up of business leaders to review programs and services to eliminate duplicity and make government more efficient
o HB 5212 Adopts Truth-in-Accounting principals
o SB 1679 Requires Zero-Based Budgeting
o HB 4711 Allows school districts to suspend unfunded mandates of their choice
o No out of state travel for elected officials or state employees
o Eliminate perk of free cars and cancel all gas cards with the exception of the Illinois State Police
o Sell ½ of the state automobile fleet
o No state office should be remodeled, no new furniture or carpet
o HB 6622 Prohibits legislative pay raise for FY11
o HB 6625 Institutes 12 furlough days for lawmakers
o HB 5488, HB 4800 Eliminates fleet of state aircraft (Generate $25 million and save millions more each year to operate) Continue reading »

Springfield… “It’s disappointing that the Governor’s State of the State address was focused much more on the past than on plans for the future,” State Representative Kay Hatcher said today. Hatcher (R-Yorkville) said the address to a joint session of the General Assembly was long on what the governor considered past accomplishments, but short on details of his plans to solve our worsening financial crisis.

“The Governor devoted much of his address today to what he considers his accomplishments from the past year, and in good economic times, that might be just fine. But in my opinion, when you have an $11 billion deficit and $6 billion in unpaid bills, that is the state of the state, and that’s what we need to be focusing on,” Hatcher said.

Representative Hatcher noted that Governor Quinn did touch briefly on the need to work to create jobs. “While he offered no details, I was glad to hear the governor wants to focus on jobs. As a member of the bi-partisan job creation task force, that will be one of my primary goals this year,” Hatcher said.

She added, though, that Quinn also hinted that he will continue to push for tax increases. “On this issue, the governor and I strongly disagree. Families and businesses are struggling to hang on in these desperate economic times. Raising their taxes is the absolute worst thing we could do.”

Yorkville…Creating and protecting good jobs in our communities will be a key focus this spring for State Representative Kay Hatcher. Hatcher (R-Yorkville) has been tapped to serve on the newly created House Bipartisan Job Creation Task Force.

“There will be no real economic recovery without putting people back to work,” Hatcher said. “Unfortunately, Illinois has a reputation of being unfriendly to business, and we have suffered for it. Statewide, we lost 52,000 manufacturing jobs last year alone. We need to turn that around, and I know that working together with business leaders and workers from our local communities, we can do that.”

Hatcher said the task force will in the coming months hold hearings throughout the state, hearing concerns and ideas from business, labor, community leaders and others to put together a long-term strategy to create and protect good jobs and to rebuild our economy. Hatcher said she will push to host a local hearing here in the Fox Valley.

“According to the Illinois Department of Employment Security, unemployment in Kendall and Kane Counties is topping 10% and in LaSalle County it’s more than 13%. Passage last year of our first statewide capital construction plan in more than a decade will help create new jobs, but it’s only a first step,” Hatcher said. “I talk with workers and business owners in our communities every day, and I know they have good ideas on how we can help our local businesses grow and how we can attract new and better jobs to Illinois. This new task force will help us put those good ideas to work.

Yorkville…State Representative Kay Hatcher this week helped introduce new legislation that would help restore crucial dollars for Monetary Award Program (MAP) grants for students without raising taxes. Hatcher’s legislation, House Bill 4622, instead offers a tax amnesty period for those delinquent in state income or sales taxes to “pay up” without having to pay a penalty.

“History shows that tax amnesty works. The last time it was offered by the state in 2003, almost 280 million dollars in delinquent tax bills were settled,” said Rep. Hatcher (R-Yorkville). “Nearly 140,000 college students here in the Fox Valley and across the state get financial help through the MAP grant program. This is a funding option we need to explore for them.”

According to the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (COGFA) the amnesty program Representative Hatcher and several of her House Republican colleagues are proposing for individuals and corporations that didn’t pay their taxes on time between June 20, 2002 and January 15, 2010 could bring in up to $104.9 million in revenue owed. All of the tax amnesty proceeds would be deposited into the Monetary Award Program fund. Continue reading »

Yorkville…State Representative Kay Hatcher today is calling for a full investigation by the Illinois Attorney General into questionable and potentially illegal practices by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN).

“I believe we were all shocked and appalled by the undercover video showing ACORN representatives on several different occasions allegedly counseling individuals about how to run an underage prostitution ring,” Hatcher said. “This is an organization that has received taxpayer funding. Any allegation that that funding is being misused in any way either at the state or federal level needs to be instantly and thoroughly investigated.”

In an open letter to Governor Quinn, Rep. Hatcher and several of her House Republican colleagues state: “If such alleged acts have been perpetrated, then families across Illinois have been defrauded of much needed state resources and services in today’s troubled economy. We cannot, and will not, condone such egregious behaviors in our state.

We urge all state resources and contracts with ACORN be immediately suspended until a thorough investigation and its finding by the Illinois Attorney General is reported to the General Assembly.” Continue reading »

Prohibits the Election of Candidates with Felony Criminal Convictions

Springfield…A new law spearheaded by State Representative Kay Hatcher will bar residents with felony convictions from seeking election to local park district boards. Hatcher (R-Yorkville) guided the new standards through the General Assembly this spring. They were recently signed into law by Governor Quinn.

“Illinois law already prohibited anyone with a felony conviction from running for a local municipal office, but for some reason, park district commissioners were overlooked,” Hatcher said. “Tens of thousands of children visit our parks each year and park district commissioners have access to those children. Now, the commissioners will be subject to the same criminal background restrictions placed on everyone else who holds a local public office.”

The new law (PA 96-0458) bars anyone convicted of a felony crime in the United States from serving as a park district commissioner in Illinois. Representative Hatcher said the change was suggested by the Illinois Park District Association. The legislation also bars anyone owing taxes or any other debt to the park district from serving as a park district commissioner. Continue reading »

Yorkville… State Representative Kay Hatcher says “Everyone is invited!” to an open house at her district office in Yorkville on Friday, September 18th. Rep. Hatcher is partnering with the Illinois Farm Bureau on the event, which will feature food, fun and conversation. Representatives of the Illinois Department of Transportation will be on hand with the latest transportation improvement maps, and the Illinois Library Association will help Representative Hatcher recognize young members of her “Foxy Readers” Summer Reading Club.

“I am honored that the Illinois Farm Bureau is partnering with me on my first District Office Open House to underscore the importance of our agricultural heritage here in the Fox Valley. Please mark your calendar and come join us for food and conversation, and to help me honor our local young readers who met the challenge to keep reading over their summer vacation,” Rep. Hatcher said.

Representative Hatcher’s Open House will run from 3:30 to 6:30pm on Friday, September 18th at her district office in Yorkville, located at 608 E. Veterans Parkway (behind the Blackstone Restaurant). Continue reading »