Paul Sassone

It’s not true that Illinois’ General Assembly can’t get anything done.

Just last week the House and the Senate overwhelmingly approved  a stopgap funding bill of $700 million for social-service agencies that haven’t received state money in almost a year.

That so many Republicans and Democrats voted for the funding shows how despeate the plight is of those who receive social services — children, the

elderly, the mentally ill, the hungry and homeless.

Illinois legislators can’t agree on much, but they agreed on this legislation. The bill now is on Gov. Bruce Rauner’s desk, where it is likely to sit.

Since being elected, Rauner hasn’t had a lot to do. By day, he tools around the state on his motorcycle. By night, he dreams of a world without unions.

Until the legislature adopts his so-called turnaround agenda of pro-business/anti-union legislation, he seems to think Illinois government should cease to function, no matter who it hurts.

But perhaps that characterization is unfair.

The Governor did dust off his pen last July to sign into law a bill that allows the killing of bobcats.

Killing bobcats had been illegal in Illinois since 1972. The feline was placed on the state’s endangered species list. Bobcats were removed from the list in 1999. The ban on killing had been a success.

There now are an estimated 5,000 bobcats in Illinois.

There were legislative attempts to resume bobcat hunting, all unsuccessful.

Until Rauner was elected governor.

The bill he signed into law provided for the killing of bobcats beginning in 2016 from Nov. 1 through Feb. 15. For a $5 fee a would-be bobcat slayer could kill one bobcat each hunting season. Bobcat pelts are bringing about $35 on the bobcat pelt market.

Killing beautiful animals for fun and profit is not to eveyone’s taste.

There is a bill before the Illinois Senate — SB 2143 — that would amend the bobcat hunting law to prohibit trapping bobcats and selling their pelts. The bill has passed out of committee and awaits the vote of the full Senate.

Which may not happen this session.

The General Assembly is set to adjourn May 31 with a lot more undone than the bobcat bill.

Illinois still doesn’t have a budget and state finances are a mess.

A large part of the budget debate is how much to raise our income taxes. I hear legislators are considering raising the income tax from 3.75 percent to somewhere in the neighborhood of 4.85 percent.

Looks as if bobcats aren’t the only Illinoisans in for a skinning.

–Bobcats not only ones  in for skinning in state–