Yesterday morning, Gov. Pat Quinn celebrated the Blago anniversary by signing into law a comprehensive campaign finance reform bill, the first in state history to cap (in some form) campaign contributions.

"When we enact a reform like today," the governor said at the signing, "it is not the end but the beginning." He reiterated that theme in a video his gubernatorial campaign released yesterday morning documenting the "year of reform," in which he calls the legislation "historic" and commits to fighting corruption as long as he is in office:

Reformers offered reserved praise for the final bill. CHANGE Illinois! co-chair George Ranney called this version "a marked improvement" over the legislation Quinn vetoed this summer, calling it a "historic step forward." Cindi Canary of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform also said the package establishes a reasonable baseline, but she promised to work next legislative session to strengthen it.

So what could reformers focus on when lawmakers head back to Springfield this fall? First on the list should be boosting funding to the Illinois State Board of Elections (ISBE), which needs an estimated $1.4 million added to its budget to implement the new regulations (plus an additional $787,000 annually to operate). But like agencies statewide, Gov. Pat Quinn is asking ISBE to cut 14 percent from its budget in the coming fiscal year.

Reformer groups have also promised to push additional legislation aimed at capping contributions from political parties and legislative leaders during the general election cycle, which are left unrestricted under the new law. After spending much of the year working on the this issue, however, it's not likely that legislators will be eager to revisit it in the near future. Here's State Sen. Don Harmon (D-Oak Park), sponsor of the campaign finance bill, talking to WBEZ:

HARMON: We spent an inordinate amount of time this past year dealing with ethics issues for obvious reasons. But we need to spend much of this coming year focusing on job creation and putting people in Illinois back to work.

Harmon says he wants to see what recommendations a campaign finance task force comes up with. That panel was created by the new law.

That task force isn't scheduled to release its findings until January 1, 2012.