Biography
Carole Pankau (R-Roselle) was elected for her first term in the Illinois State Senate on November 2nd, 2004. Prior to her election, she had served in the Illinois House of Representatives since 1993. She has been married to John Anthony Pankau for 38 years, and has four grown children: John, Jason, Shay, and Aaron. In 1981, she received a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting with Honors from the University of Illinois. Senator Pankau has resided in Roselle for the past 29 years.
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AWARDS AND RECOGNITION:
Budget Boosts Education Funding by $389 Million
It has been a difficult budget year – with more than seven weeks of overtime spent in legislative budget negotiations, but the bottom line for me was making sure that our schools did not lose any money. I am pleased to report that we were able to accomplish that and also earmark $389 million in new spending for elementary and secondary schools. Funding for higher education will remain at last year’s levels. Through belt-tightening and spending cuts, we were able to close a $2.3 billion budget deficit gap without raising income or sales taxes in the state.
School funding is a complicated issue – and it is determined by several formulas. The formula that calculates how much state aid school districts receive is impacted by changes in assessed property tax valuations. As assessed valuations go up, state aid calculations go down because, theoretically, higher assessed valuations should yield more real estate tax dollars to local school districts, reducing the amount the districts will need from the state. In reality, those tax dollars don’t equal reductions in state funding, and the local districts find themselves short of money. The $43 billion state budget we passed for fiscal year 2005 ensures a fair distribution of education funding for schools in every district throughout the State of Illinois.
But as important as balancing the budget and funding education are, I believe it is also crucial to preserve the programs and services that help the most vulnerable members of our society. The 2005 budget maintains funding for social services such as health insurance programs for the poor, mental health services and child protection programs.
Part of the belt-tightening we had to do to avoid increasing taxes was a 4 percent across-the-board cut in the budgets of state agencies, excluding elementary and secondary education, higher education and health care.
We also ended the tax break for corporations operating off-shore and paying no state income tax. This measure will raise a projected $120 million to $150 million. Another $43 million in projected revenue will come from higher fines for drunk driving, late license registration and state identification fees.
In an effort to trim the state’s payroll and benefit costs, approximately 3,000 state employees will be offered severance pay or an opportunity to “buy out” of the state’s pension program, which will save further pension contributions by the state.
No budget ever gives us all we would have liked to get for our constituents. But this budget holds the line on government spending, resists long-term borrowing, honors our priorities, and does not raise the income or sales tax.
Support for Local School Districts
In Governor Blagojevich’s 2004 State of the State address, he said he wanted to do away with the State Board of Education and revamp education in Illinois. I am glad to report to you that House Republicans, working through our task force, came up with a different and, I believe, better solution that was accepted in both houses of the legislature and by the governor. The education reform compromise seeks to improve the relationship between the State Board of Education and local school districts, increasing accountability of the State Board, improving the delivery of services to local districts and making the State Board a partner with local schools – not a watchdog. The State Board will develop a five-year strategic plan to meet these goals.
Senate Bill 3000 gives the State Board the power to create Administrative Technology Centers to decentralize state services to school districts and facilitate shared administrative services among school districts for local cost savings. It also prohibits the State Board of Education from adopting its own policies that contradict state and federal laws.
In addition to being a state legislator, I am also a wife, mother and grandmother. One of my highest priorities continues to be educating our children. I support and encourage local control of our public schools, along with a guaranteed adequate level of per-pupil funding and statewide standards for curriculum and achievement. I am pleased with the steps taken during this session to help local districts carry out our most important mandate – putting our children first.
Property Tax Relief for Homeowners
Skyrocketing property tax assessments have strained the budgets of homeowners, particularly seniors and the disabled. Residents in some city neighborhoods are seeing their assessments increase by as much as 40 percent, and this is wrong.
Because of my continuing goal to provide property tax relief, I supported Senate Bill 2112, now a law, which will rein in increases in property tax assessments. Homeowners, owner-occupied rental property with six units or less and cooperatives will all benefit from this cap.
Property tax assessment increases in Cook County will be capped at 7 percent per year, and other counties may adopt the 7 percent cap if they do so within six months. Whether or not a county adopts the program, if the assessed valuation of property in any county has increased by more than 20% over the previous assessed valuation, an additional exemption is allowed, determined by household income.
I also supported a bill to give additional property tax relief, including increases in: (a) the general homestead exemption from $4,500 to $5,000; (b) the additional senior homestead exemption from $2,500 to $3,000; and © the income eligibility threshold for the senior assessment freeze from $40,000 to $45,000. Seniors must file an application with the county assessor each September in order to participate in the assessment freeze program.
I will continue to monitor property tax assessments and work to provide relief for the people of Illinois and keep you advised of developments. For more information, please contact my office at (630) 582-0390.
Keeping Doctors in Illinois
Parts of Illinois are now left without any neurosurgeons….
House Republicans mounted a major push during this session for tort reform to help keep doctors in the State of Illinois by limiting amounts awarded in lawsuits and changing the rules which now allow anyone to sue a doctor whether or not the claim has any basis. Unfortunately, our efforts were blocked.
Our proposal called for potential cases to be presented to independent medical providers who would examine the patient and his claim before a lawsuit could be filed. The current situation allows anyone to file a lawsuit requiring the doctor to conduct a record search that costs him or her $100,000, whether the claimant has a legitimate claim or not. The patient’s lawyer might then offer to withdraw the case if the doctor pays $75,000.
The basic problem is that doctors are quitting their Illinois practices, retiring early or leaving the state because of high medical malpractice insurance premiums and the nightmare of costly litigation. Their departure is creating a growing crisis for Illinois residents in need of medical care, which includes all of us at one time or another. Parts of Illinois are now left without any neurosurgeons, and a recent survey of nearly 2,000 physicians specializing in Obstetrics/Gynecology across Illinois found that in the past two years, 11 percent of doctors in that specialty have decided to stop practicing obstetrics because of liability concerns.
Although many proposals were discussed, no agreement was reached. HB 0690 created the Obstetricians Task Force to study the obstacles facing obstetricians in Illinois. I will continue working on this issue which threatens the availability of health care for all of us.
Health Care for Retired Teachers
Teachers’ Retirement Insurance Program (TRIP) provides retired teachers in Illinois with health insurance benefits. The program was scheduled to expire on June 30th, and so the legislature enacted SB 1553 that removes the expiration date and safeguards retired teachers’ insurance coverage and other benefits. A commission will be created to develop a long-term funding solution for the plan.
Although teacher contributions for premiums, co-pays, deductibles and prescriptions will increase to reflect the ever-higher costs of medical services, the new plan limits future increases in contributions for active teachers, school districts, the state and TRIP participant premiums. It also requires the state to contribute $13 million annually and match active teacher contributions.
Preparing our children for productive and successful lives is one of our most important tasks. We are grateful for the men and women who serve as teachers, working hard and contributing so much toward that goal. We want to be sure that their needs are met once their years in the classroom are complete.
Creating Jobs for Illinois Families
Because new and better jobs for our families is a top priority for Republicans in the state legislature, I served on the jobs task force and co-sponsored a comprehensive 10-point plan – Destination: Illinois Jobs – to attract good jobs to our state and revitalize our economy. The plan covers such diverse subjects as job creation, infrastructure improvement and development, tax relief, and improvement of work-related education in high schools and community colleges. Its goals are to create jobs throughout the state, oppose new or increased taxes or fees, limit government growth by putting the private sector first, and address challenges with positive, forward-looking solutions.
Our proposals would offer incentives to businesses that provide their employees with health care, job training and retirement planning benefits. And businesses that move to Illinois would receive increased incentive payments if the business provides health benefits for its new employees. Under our plan, the 2003 workers’ compensation fee increase would be eliminated and funding to improve the research and development tax credit would be restored. Financing for improvements in broadband wiring for employers would be provided. The Department of Transportation’s I-FLY Fund, used for air carrier recruitment and retention in the state, would receive $25 million that would help the downstate economy.
The plan, which could result in the creation of as many as 25,000 new jobs, has the potential to generate $1.5 billion in new economic growth for an initial investment of $500 million. It has not yet been approved.
I will continue to keep the need for jobs in Illinois at the forefront of our efforts in Springfield.
Helping Our Children Stay Healthy
I’ve said before that our children are our future, and everything we can do to safeguard their health and well-being should be done. While parents are primarily responsible for their children’s health, we in the state legislature want to do everything we can to ensure that children have healthy choices available when they are away from home.
During this session, we created the Juvenile Diabetes Research and Nutritional Health Fund – funded with donations – to be used for nutritional health programs, education and public awareness campaigns and the establishment of a nutritional awareness hotline.
In addition, HB 3971 requires schools to include nutritional information of foods offered and encourage students to make wise food choices. Also, the Department of Public Health, along with the State Board of Education, will conduct a sugar consumption study to determine the effects of sugar consumption as it relates to the overall health of school children, as well as the impact of easy access to candy and soda machines in schools.
Having raised children, I know mothers realize that too much sugar is not good for our children. We know that good nutrition helps young people grow, develop and do well in school. Research suggests that skipping breakfast can hurt children's intellectual performance. Hungry children are more likely to have behavioral, emotional and academic problems in school. But today, many schools provide food with little or no nutritional value through vending machines, school stores and snack bars.
Profits from vending machine sales of carbonated beverages and snack foods such as chips, candy and cookies contribute a significant amount of money to many schools' budgets – sometimes $50,000 or even as much as $100,000 per year. In many cases, this money is used to fund sports and physical education equipment, arts and theater programs, foreign language classes, and computers and other technology.
HB 3974 requires schools to remove foods of little or no nutritional value (junk food) and soft drinks from vending machines by September 1, 2005, and replace them with healthier alternatives. This has been referred to the Rules Committee for consideration.
I will continue to support efforts to keep our children healthy by improving food choices at school.
Abortion Issues
Gun Issues
Social Issues