The state's unbalanced budget is on everyone's mind as lawmakers rush to prematurely complete their spring session by Friday.  It seems likely that the legislature will quickly pass yet another stopgap budget before skipping town -- avoiding an income tax increase while relying on heavy borrowing and further cuts to state services.

Aside from that issue, there are still plenty of bills with statewide significance that need to be resolved. Here are a few to watch:

Telecommunications

The deadline for final action on what industry officials have dubbed the "Broadband Investment and Consumer Choice Act" (HB 6425) was extended through Saturday. That means we can expect lawmakers to vote this week on a rewrite of the state's Telecommunications Act (which is scheduled to expire this summer).

Lawmakers are attempting to balance the regulatory concerns of telecom companies with consumer protections -- a very tight needle to thread -- and they are still finalizing the language. Some progress was made early in negotiations, when AT&T agreed to strip a provision in the bill that would have killed its "safe-harbor" packages, which guarantee low rates to vulnerable customers. Still, the two sides are at loggerheads on more substantial regulatory changes, like the proposed elimination of standards for service quality.

It's anyone's guess what shape the bill will take in the coming days. House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) held the bill until his daughter, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, could weigh in.  Her office did so at a hearing in mid-April, criticizing the industry's reform package as one that creates "unsubstantiated promises." Still, the telecom lobby has a lot of clout in Springfield, particularly with the legislative leaders.

Nursing Homes

The fight over nursing home reforms (HB 6440) escalated quickly last week. The sticking point in this debate has to do with a provision pushed by Gov. Pat Quinn and supported by the SEIU Healthcare IL/IN (whose state council sponsors this website) that would raise the minimum staffing levels at Illinois facilities. Specifically, local nursing homes would be required to provide a minimum of 4.1 hours of care per day for residents who need skilled care and 2.8 hours per day for residents needing intermediate care. This is important because Illinois' for-profit nursing homes have one of the lowest average staffing level rates in the nation. Several studies suggest that health improves care from nurses and aides increases.

The Health Care Council of Illinois -- the state's largest nursing home trade group -- has stood firm in its opposition to across-the-board staffing requirement increases. That point wasn't lost on members of the Civic Action Network, who showed up at HCCI's Springfield office last week carrying mock caskets they said "represents people in nursing homes that are dying every day." (Capitol Fax has extensive video of the skirmish.)

Lisa Madigan figures into these negotiations, as well. Just last week, the attorney general led a team of law enforcement officials on a raid at a South Side nursing home, making three arrests of wanted felons living at the facility.

McPier:

Juan Ochoa must see the writing on the wall. The Tribune is reporting this morning that he is likely to resign as the chief executive of the Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority -- the public agency, known as "McPier," that oversees McCormick Place and Navy Pier. Ochoa will likely be replaced by a "special adviser" that will oversee the implementation of the reforms implemented by the General Assembly in the coming days.

What will those reforms look like? Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) says the pieces are still being put into place. If lawmakers take the advice of Jim Reilly, they would restructure the debt accrued by McPier, the public authority that currently operates the convention center. They would also impose a series of "cost-cutting" measures proposed by conventioneers. Greg Hinz summarizes:

Included would be reducing work-crew sizes; straight pay for any eight hours of work between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. at McCormick Place; reducing the number of unions with jurisdiction at the convention hall, and allowing exhibitors to set up their own booths, provided  they use only their own employees.

McPier officials, who want increased bond authority to make infrastructure improvements, went so far as to suggest reclassifying workers at the trade shows as public employees, which would strip them of their right to strike. That isn't sitting well with the unions that represent McCormick employees, who blame show contractors for rising costs.

STAR Bonds

A proposal to fund a giant new entertainment and retail center in Glen Carbon using sales tax revenue (STAR) bonds went down in flames late last week, but advocates of the development are switching gears quickly. A Metro East developer has proposed moving the project to nearby Marion, which is represented by two different lawmakers -- State Rep. John Bradley (D-Marion) and State Sen. Gary Forby, (D-Benton). They are expected to file a bill today asking their colleagues for bonding approval to start construction, which advocates say will lead to 6,000 permanent jobs.

While this project seems pretty small-bore, it could have huge implications on Illinois' budget. Last year, Capitol Fax's Rich Miller described this effort as the "worst bill ever." Here's why, from a post we wrote in March:

If you follow the debate over tax increment financing, this should look familiar. If a STAR bond district is approved by the General Assembly, developers capture all of the state sales tax proceeds generated by businesses in that district. They can then take that money, bond it, and use the cash flow to build out their project. Taxpayers across Illinois, unfortunately, lose out. A new study by the St. Louis-based Peckham Guyton Albers & Viets Inc. estimates that the state will lose $729 million in sales tax revenue over 20 years if the project is paid for using STAR bonds. Decreased retail spending in other parts of the region would also starve metro-east communities of some $400 million in retail sales annually.

What's most frightening is that other localities will undoubtedly lobby the state to establish their own STAR bond districts. That means they could phase out their own tax increment financing districts, which drain money from local revenue sources, and fund developments using exclusively state money. If you think our structural deficit is bad now, imagine would it would look like without significant sales tax revenue.

Mayors across the Metro East region are furious that lawmakers are seriously considering this proposal, describing it as a "massive public sales tax subsidy" that would have "negative impacts on the entire region." Spokesperson Steve Brown says that Speaker Madigan is "trying to work … on a compromise that would bring jobs to that part of the state."

Odds and ends.

The House will take up two education bills in the next few days, one that would provide school vouchers to children from city elementary schools that rank in the bottom 10 percent in district test scores and another that would give universities authority to borrow against back-owed payments. The latter is expected to pass while the former is still in question.

Also on tap is Gov. Pat Quinn's property tax relief package (HB 6863). Madigan says he supports the changes, but the bill has not yet left the Rules Committee.