* I’ve talked with a couple of people who have been briefed about what went on today at the leaders meeting. It was described to me as the outline of a deal.
On K-12…
$250 million for statewide poverty grant. CPS would get a sizable chunk of that. [ADDING: CPS’ cut of that would be about 38 percent, which works out to $95 million. It could also be 40 percent, if they use the House Dems’ version of education funding.]
Legislature would mandateauthorize CPS to levy beyond the property tax cap (a bill that’s sitting in the Senate) [ADDING: This, by the way, isn’t to say that the governor “supports” a property tax hike for Chicago. What this does is essentially allow Chicago to solve/address most of its own problems.]
Starting June 1st next year, CPS would receive “pension parity” [ADDING: A third source says the pension parity bill will be voted on very soon (structured roll call), but the GA will hold the bill while everybody works on pension reform. The agreement is they have to transmit the bill to Rauner before this GA adjourns in January. The governor will veto the bill if there is no pension reform passed in the interim].
* On the stopgap…
Also hearing stopgap deal is basically done. GOMB is drafting it. Everything’s starting in the House on what I’m told will be a single Senate bill.
ADDING: The stopgap bill is the budget working group’s version, I’m told. It’s basically the contents of Cullerton’s approp bills (SB2055, 2056 and 2057).
Remember, however, things change. Stuff goes off the rails. Stay tuned.
“There’s a likelihood of the bridge budget, the stopgap if you will,” Republican Rep. Dan Brady, of Bloomington said in the early afternoon.
If it pans out, that’d lead to a temporary spending plan for universities, social services and government operations.
A source says that would be separate from funding for schools; something Brady calls a “tender nerve.”
Democrats favor spending hundreds of millions of dollars more on education, in part to help out the financially struggling Chicago Public Schools.
A deal on that could be in the works, perhaps by allowing Chicago to raise its property taxes; however that would fly in the face of Gov. Rauner’s steadfast promotion of a property tax freeze.
Brady says there needs to be a way to avoid the perception of what Republicans and downstaters call a CPS “bailout.”
First, the state would add about $250 million in spending intended for school districts with low-income students. A sizable, to-be-determined chunk of that money would go to CPS.
Second, lawmakers would approve a bill to allow Chicago to raise property taxes to help pay for CPS pensions. Mayor Rahm Emanuel has been pushing for Springfield to give him the authority to restore a property tax levy that would be dedicated to teacher pensions, and has estimated that doing so would generate an additional $175 million for the district.
And third, the state would start picking up about $200 million of CPS pension costs, but wouldn’t start doing so until next year. The delay in part is meant to allow the legislation to pass with just a simple majority. That’s because the threshold to enact bills jumped to a three-fifths majority after May 31. The pension spending could be tied to lawmakers sending Rauner separate legislation to help relieve the state’s pension troubles, with Rauner reserving the right to reject the pension help for CPS if the statewide pension legislation doesn’t materialize down the road. […]
The approach being crafted would provide full-year funding for schools statewide. The stopgap spending measure is designed to keep state government open for six months. That would allow Rauner and ruling Democrats in the General Assembly to punt their larger budget fight until after the November election.
* Do you think the state should give local government entities the option to declare bankruptcy? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
Illinois public schools that teach sex education will be required to provide information about birth control under a measure the Senate sent to Gov. Pat Quinn on Wednesday.
The legislation is a change from current policy, where abstinence is the only requirement for schools with sex ed classes. The measure was approved on a 37-21 vote and needed 30 to pass.
Supporters argue that abstinence-only education is not effective and students should be taught about other methods of birth control and protection against sexually transmitted diseases. Opponents contend abstinence-only education should remain the norm in schools, saying parents should decide how to educate their kids about sex.
Sponsoring Sen. Heather Steans, D-Chicago, said the measure still would require schools to teach that abstinence is the only way to prevent pregnancy and disease, while at the same time allowing “students to make healthy decisions for themselves.”
Chicago-area humanitarian groups have long warned that the Illinois state budget crisis would cause irreparable damage to the state’s social safety net, and the latest survey numbers suggest it’s already happened.
Of the 172 human service agencies in Cook, Lake, DuPage, and Will County surveyed by United Way this month, 91 percent said they had cut clients due to budget troubles. That’s up from 37 percent of agencies who said the same in July 2015.
More than half (55 percent) of the agencies said they would have to cease some services within the next six months if the state doesn’t fix its budget problem. And 36 percent say they will have to close their doors in that time frame. That’s 61 groups providing services like shelters for the homeless, food for the hungry, mental health care, support for domestic violence victims, and educational services that will soon shutter, according the United Way survey.
While it’s never a good sign for social service organizations to be shuttering and turning down clients, this comes at a particularly tough time for the Chicago metro area, as the Metropolitan Planning Council reports that the middle class is shrinking (down 9 percent between 2000 and 2014) and mostly moving into the lower class (up 16 percent in the same time frame). As Marisa Novara writes, “This may be due in part to the fact that our unemployment rate jumped a full 63 percent from 2000 to 2014, from 4.3 percent to 7.1, an increase second only to Los Angeles among peer metros.”
A conundrum amidst continuous news of the endless permutations of the middle class: If the middle class is shrinking, is it because the lower class is growing, or the upper? It turns out that for the Chicago region, it’s both, with substantially higher growth among the lower-income. From 2000 to 2014, the percentage of lower-income metro Chicagoans grew from 23.6 to 27.4, a jump of 16 percent. Middle incomers dropped from 56.3 to 51.1, a loss of 9 percent, and upper incomers grew from 20.2 to 21.5, an increase of 6 percent.
These changes are actually less extreme than those in, for instance, the Minneapolis/St. Paul region, where the lower class grew by 22 percent, middle class fell by 11 percent, and upper class increased 12 percent.
According to Pew, looking back further to 1970 shows an even more pronounced shrinking of the middle class. For the entire country, the middle-income share decreased from 61 percent in 1971 to 50 percent in 2015. Over this nearly 45-year period, the share of the upper-income tier rose from 14 percent to 21 percent, and the share in the lower-income tier increased from 25 percent to 29 percent.
According to Census data, Chicago’s shift was even more extreme: The share of middle class families in metropolitan Chicago has declined from 72 percent in 1970 to just 47 percent today.
A Cook County judge ruled Tuesday that the state must add post-traumatic stress disorder to the list of conditions that qualify for medical marijuana.
The ruling may be rendered moot by pending legislation that would do the same thing. Gov. Bruce Rauner’s office had indicated he will sign it, after previously blocking expansion of the medical marijuana program.
The court ruling is potentially significant because there are pending lawsuits seeking to add seven other conditions to the list, including cases involving chronic pain and osteoarthritis that are before the same judge.
In his opinion, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Neil Cohen criticized Illinois Department of Public Health Director Nirav Shah for failing to follow the recommendations of the Medical Cannabis Advisory Board.
Illinois law allows people to petition the state to add health conditions to the eligible list, but Rauner’s administration has rejected all new conditions despite the advice of an expert panel that reviewed available medical evidence.
In the case of PTSD, the advisory board voted unanimously to add it, but Shah, a Rauner appointee, conducted his own investigation and rejected PTSD applying a standard of medical evidence that “appears nowhere in the Act or the Department’s rules,” the judge wrote. Shah not only deprived the plaintiff of his right to due process but also “was contrary to the plain language of the Department’s rules,” Cohen wrote. […]
Seven other plaintiffs have filed similar lawsuits seeking to add these conditions to the Illinois program: chronic post-operative pain, migraines, irritable bowel syndrome, polycystic kidney disease, osteoarthritis, intractable pain and autism. Cohen is the judge in the chronic pain and osteoarthritis cases, while the others are before other judges.
* I’m excerpting too much from Molly Parker’s article because it’s pretty darned good…
A war of words erupted in Marion on Tuesday between a Republican House candidate taking a “Fire Madigan” pledge and his supporters, and a group of people who came out to protest the event with a message of their own: “Fire Rauner.”
The protesters – about a dozen of them – held their “Fire Rauner” signs to the window of Dave Severin’s campaign office, where inside the Republican from Benton challenging Rep. John Bradley, D-Marion, read prepared remarks about what he deemed the “defining issue in this campaign.”
Severin was flanked by a handful of supporters at the news conference, which was attended by one reporter, as he announced, “I pledge to fire Mike Madigan.”
He then went on to say that “Bradley’s loyalty to Mike Madigan has dire consequences” for the people of Southern Illinois, and closed his prepared remarks by signing a giant pledge card sealing his decision not to cast a vote for Madigan as speaker should he be elected to the House this November – not that Madigan would have been counting on his vote anyway.
Pressed on who Bradley and other downstate Democrats should support for Speaker when the 100th General Assembly is seated in January, Severin offered up zero alternatives.
The whole ordeal — including a heated exchange between a Severin supporter and a “Fire Rauner” protester stationed outside, with both trying to talk over one another, and neither even attempting to acknowledge the other’s point of view — seemed to mimic the events playing out in Springfield that have led to a protracted budget stalemate.
It was as if a mini-Capitol had sprouted in an otherwise ordinary Marion parking lot strip mall housing offices, a tattoo parlor and Mexican restaurant.
That’s even more so because the sharp political exchange that began at noon was sandwiched between two other events — of social service providers in the morning, and higher education leaders in the afternoon — where local leaders discussed the devastating effects the budget impasse is having on the region, economically and socially.
She can write, that one.
* Parker also wrote about something that I told subscribers about today. From the Dave Severin campaign Facebook page…
Well, if there was any doubt that John Bradley and Mike Madigan are best buds, this guy who protested our news conference removes it all! #LoveThePassion
Democratic U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth and the state may have settled a potentially politically problematic lawsuit alleging workplace retaliation last week, but Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk’s campaign is trying to make voters feel very unsettled about it.
A one-minute radio ad that Team Kirk said will air in Chicago and Springfield goes on the attack against Duckworth, calling her a “partisan pawn.”
“The crooked Democratic machine in Springfield spent tens of thousands of tax dollars to defend Duckworth in court, so you paid the price,” a female narrator says. “The Democratic machine protected Tammy, not the whistleblowers … and not our veterans. Haven’t we had enough of Blagojevich’s corruption?”
On Friday, Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office announced the case, which had gone on for years, had been settled for the “nuisance value” of $26,000 and “no finding of a violation of the law.”
Fighting for her political career, Tammy Duckworth finally settled a seven-year lawsuit because she tried to silence whistleblowers who exposed Duckworth’s poor record as Rod Blagojevich’s veterans’ chief.
Duckworth settled the lawsuit so she wouldn’t have to testify in open court about her shameful record – humiliating workers who reported shoddy care for veterans, and telling them to keep quiet.
When one employee blew the whistle on abuse of veterans, Duckworth even told her to quote shut her mouth.
Why? Voters will never know.
The crooked Democratic machine in Springfield spent tens of thousands of tax dollars to defend Duckworth in court, so you paid the price.
The Democratic machine protected Tammy, not the whistleblowers… and not our veterans.
Haven’t we had enough of Blagojevich’s corruption?
Illinois can’t afford to send a partisan pawn like Tammy Duckworth to the US Senate.
That “crooked” machine would be led by Attorney General Lisa Madigan.
Interesting choice there. But, as I’ve told you before, the GOP is already gearing up to challenge her in two years.
…Adding… MrJM in comments…
“Crooked”?
Team Kirk is desperately trying to distance themselves from their party’s presidential nominee, but still can’t resist using Trump’s trademark divisive language.
About a dozen Illinois newspapers are using their front pages to call on Illinois’ political leaders to end the state’s year-old budget stalemate.
Newspapers in Springfield, Chicago and other cities are publishing simultaneous editorials in their editions Wednesday, when lawmakers return to the capitol to debate budget proposals.
Newspapers rarely use their front pages for opinion pieces or coordinate opinions. Many plan to use the headline “Enough.”
Rosanne Cheeseman is interim publisher of the (Springfield) State Journal-Register, which coordinated the effort. She said papers are taking the unusual step because lawmakers appear to have stopped listening to constituents.
But that [2011] tax hike — Madigan’s solution then as it is now — solved nothing. That’s why it’s our view that Rauner would be making a mistake by acceding to Madigan’s tax hike proposal without gaining needed reforms in exchange. He has proposed changes to the state’s workers’ compensation plan, offered to back Democratic Senate President John Cullerton’s pension reform legislation and asked that local governments be given more flexibility in negotiating with unions to control costs.
Those changes could help make a positive difference in restoring Illinois’ weak economy to good health.
It would be easy now for Rauner to simply throw up his hands and cave in to Madigan’s demands. The Chicago Democrat is tough as nails in the pursuit of his political goals.
But it would solve nothing. Rauner didn’t run for governor to preside over Illinois’ continuing decline. That’s why this battle — obnoxious and unpalatable though it is — will likely resume when the truce expires after the November election.
We wake to newspapers across the state declaring “Enough!” and a small cameo for the PNI Coalition in last night’s broadcast of The Daily Show.
We also wake to details of the Governor’s proposed stopgap bill that was filed yesterday. Unfortunately, it appears that HB6591 will have little to offer human service providers despite its 773 pages. ICOY has analyzed it for youth-related funding in human services (see attached analysis of Federal and non-Federal funding) and found that it will do NOTHING to address our concerns about payment under our contracts. I strongly encourage you to take a look to see if your funding would be included as well.
Further, Nora (ICOY’s Policy Director) notes:
HB6591 was filed 6/28/16 as the Governor’s second proposed stop gap bill for FY16 and FY17. Article 23 provides for limited operational expenses, but this does not include many of the services delivered via contractual obligations without existing appropriation authority. Article 94 provides for limited operations for FY17, including many FY17 federal passthrough funds. Please note that if this bill is enacted - and SB2038 is enacted - HB6591 has a provision that repeals the section of SB2038 that prohibits the executive branch from reallocating funds to other budget items outside the intent of SB2038. Specifically, it would repeal ARTICLE 996 of SB2038: “No appropriation authority granted in this Act shall be used for personal services, state contribution for employee group insurance, contractual services, travel, commodities, equipment, permanent improvements, land, electronic data processing, operation of automotive equipment, or telecommunications services, as those terms are defined in Section 13 of the State Finance Act.” (The Governor also had another “clean” K12 education bill filed HB6590 on 6/28/16).
In short, please do not get swept away by rhetoric and false hope today. Please review this bill closely and speak to your legislators about what you find. It is unlikely that they have scrutinized such a massive bill with your interests in mind. The House convenes at 11 am and the Senate at noon.
* The Daily Show took a whack at Illinois yesterday, with a not so flattering focus on the governor. Also, the bit where Rep. Ron Sandack completely denies blame for anything whatsoever is truly something to behold…
[Click here if the embedded video doesn’t load for you.]
* The leaders are scheduled to meet at 9 today. Click here to watch live video from our good pals at BlueRoomStream.com. The House convenes at 11, the Senate at noon. Follow along with ScribbleLive…
* Keep an eye on BlueRoomStream’s live video feed from the Statehouse. They’re covering this afternoon’s leaders meeting, which started at 4:30 or so.
At about 5:20, Speaker Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton emerged from the meeting. Madigan’s spokesman Steve Brown announced that the two were “taking a break,” and would return.
I’m hearing from within that this is “potentially” a sign of progress. Keep your fingers crossed. But this being Illinois, don’t hold your breath. You could die.
