Sen. Jim Oberweis (R-Sugar Grove) addressed two bills on the Senate floor back on June 2.
Oberweis told his fellow members he would be voting "present" on Senate Bill 689. Sponsored by Sen. Toi Hutchinson (D-Chicago Heights), SB 689 makes several changes to the Use Tax Act and the Service Use Tax Act.
"I have always been strongly opposed to decoupling," Oberweis said on the floor. "It makes everything more complicated. Having said that, I think there are some positive things in this bill, but some of those things could benefit me personally, so I will be forced to vote present," Oberweis said.
Illinois state Sen. Jim Oberweis (R-Sugar Grove)
The bill, which passed the Senate 49-8 with the one "present" vote from Oberweis, creates a credit for taxpayers who have been awarded a data center certificate of exemption and provides that the amount of the income tax credit shall be 20 percent of the wages paid during the taxable year to a full-time or part-time employee of a construction contractor employed by a certified data center.
Senate Bill 1814 was sponsored by Sen. Heather Steans (D-Chicago) and makes changes to pensions, removes a salary cap on teachers' pay and creates the Fiscal Year 2020 Budget Implementation Act. Oberweis said a compromise could have made both sides happy pertaining to the salary cap on teachers' pay.
"We should allow school districts to have whatever salary they wish because they’re the ones paying the bill, and then have the cap be on pension increase so that it doesn’t cost the state millions or billions more," Oberweis said. "We have the most underfunded pension system in the nation."
The bill, which passed 52-6, makes a technical correction to a provision of the Illinois Pension Code, adds provisions amending the Urban Weatherization Initiative Act and amends the Access to Justice Act.
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