* From the social service providers suing the state…
Hi Rich,
Here is the latest on the Pay Now Illinois coalition lawsuit against the State. Judge Garcia today set the next hearing date for Aug. 31 at 2pm, at which time he will hear arguments on the request for the preliminary injunction for immediate payment for the 98 plaintiffs’ contracts and on the State’s request to dismiss the suit.
Meantime, please find attached a new filing from plaintiffs in the wake of the stop-gap budget. The filing adds to earlier claims of “irreparable injury.” The filing states: “In sum, it is impossible to tell whether many of the plaintiffs will be paid at all for any of their costs in fiscal year 2016. And if they are paid anything at all, it may be no more than 20 percent, 15 percent, 10 percent or even five percent of these contracts that have now been fully performed.
Meanwhile, the plaintiffs in most cases are under obligation to keep performing under similar contracts for fiscal year 2017. Under the most likely scenario, without preliminary injunctive relief, all of the plaintiffs will suffer a grievous downgrading of their capabilities: and in the next 60 or so days, at least some will collapse. Even for those who do not collapse, they will be unable to rehire professional staff, or restore programs to carry out service requirements for fiscal year 2017. The State’s infrastructure for providing human services is, without exaggeration, in severe jeopardy.”
Finally, attached, please find several examples of agencies facing “irreparable injury.”
* I asked about the above claim: “if they are paid anything at all, it may be no more than 20 percent, 15 percent, 10 percent or even five percent of these contracts that have now been fully performed.” They supplied a quote from Nora Collins-Mandeville, Policy Director, Illinois Collaboration on Youth: “These numbers are based upon a comparison between the stop-gap budget and the Governor’s own budgetary documents released in February.”
The new filing is here.
* And here are their examples of “irreparable injury”…
Northwest Homecare, DBA as Abcor Home Health, Chicago and suburbs, which provides home healthcare services at four sites, is owed $3.4 million; it has neither cash reserves nor lines of credit remaining. To preserve what cash it has, it is delaying payment to vendors.
Fox Valley Older Adult Services, Sandwich, which provides a range of services for the elderly, is owed $657,200. It has no credit or cash reserves remaining. It is paying the interest on its mortgage but not the principal. It has borrowed more than $100,000 to cover payroll and incidental expenses. At this point it has closed two adult day service sites and is contemplating closure of its Community Care Program, which would discontinue adult day service and in home services to more than 225 senior citizens and lay off more than 100 people.
Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault (ICASA), Springfield, whose member programs provide 24-hour rape crisis services, is owed more than $5 million; it has currently reached the limit of its credit. ICASA and its 29 rape crisis centers have laid off staff, frozen hiring, or left positions vacant.
Youth Crossroads, Berwyn, and works to help guide youth through difficulties, is owed $193,678, has no cash reserves remaining and is contemplating total closure within six months. Three full time staff have been laid off reducing the number of high-risk youth receiving crisis intervention and violence prevention by the hundreds.
- Mama - Monday, Jul 25, 16 @ 4:02 pm:
Gov. Ruaner simply does not care if social service providers go bankrupt.
- Honeybear - Monday, Jul 25, 16 @ 4:02 pm:
Yep, there is the horror.
But for Rauner and Republicans,
You don’t have to pay what doesn’t survive.
If your goal is/was to reduce social spending Rauner is a super genius, sociop_thic, but a brilliant genius none the less. He has achieved what, heretofore, could only be dreamed of by Ayn Rand herself. I know who John Galt is.
- Honeybear - Monday, Jul 25, 16 @ 4:06 pm:
But let me tell you what this means for the average citizen of Illinois, Incomes under 150k.
More crime
More despair
More blight
No services
Less help
No help
More senseless death
ie. a rapid acceleration of every social ill and malady.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Jul 25, 16 @ 4:07 pm:
Diana Rauner believes it’s a business decision and now doesn’t care.
Diana Rauner said so.
- Illinoised - Monday, Jul 25, 16 @ 4:11 pm:
Rauner administration is compassionless.
- 13th - Monday, Jul 25, 16 @ 4:13 pm:
yeah DHS sends out system generated e-mails, and then project officers, managers and some in contracts not sure where those numbers comes from and not for sure if they are correct and that all for FY16. They can not or will not tell us what amount was in the stop gap bill for FY17, no telling how long before we get that inform. Never the less no payments yet for FY16
- illinois bob - Monday, Jul 25, 16 @ 4:22 pm:
@honeybear
If these things are so horrible, why won’t you compromise on getting a fair and equitable Workmans Comp program and leveling the playing field so that citizens and children are protected against public union strikes and letting the taxpayers pay fair market rates for construction for their kids instead on the inflated prevailing wage?
Your side could end this and solve what you seem to think are intolerable conditions, but you care a little more about keeping union power than those suffering, right?
- Team Warwick - Monday, Jul 25, 16 @ 4:27 pm:
I wish they would go to the public with a clear, concise statement on the state approps they did.
Im getting weary of a bazillion calls, conversations and emails that usually start out ” now that the state gas a budget……….”.
Seriously? Not a thing changed at my desk and no, there is no state budget to pay you or do any projects. Since Fy 2015. People think there is.
- illini - Monday, Jul 25, 16 @ 4:31 pm:
We have been reading these disturbing reports for close to a year now.
We all know, and I know that some Do Not Care, about what is happening to those most deserving and needing even the minimal services from the contracted agencies is more than disturbing.
Illinois deserves better and all those agencies that agreed to provide services need to be paid IN FULL and IMMEDIATELY.
- Anon221 - Monday, Jul 25, 16 @ 4:41 pm:
Rauner, ck, Trover, anyone in the Gov’s office could do some damage control on this issue if they would simply show that the invoices/vouchers are being released to the Comptroller’s office. Every day that passes and this isn’t done, is one more day that cements Rauner’s squeezin’ plan. It is truly Rauner and the Agency heads he controls!
- Nick Name - Monday, Jul 25, 16 @ 4:44 pm:
It’s not personal. It’s business.
- CCP Hostage - Monday, Jul 25, 16 @ 5:01 pm:
How is it ok that one person is making the decision not to pay providers? I mean, we have a stopgap budget and we’re still not getting paid.
- Last Bull Moose - Monday, Jul 25, 16 @ 5:02 pm:
When we finally get through this, the Human Services network in the state will have to be built anew with a different model. Even when funded, the past system had serious problems with effectiveness. Families would deal with multiple agencies with little coordination. Agencies would spend a lot of time and effort making sure that the services they delivered were compliant with policy and law, especially federal law for reimbursement. Sometimes the people being served were lost in the system.
I am not sure how much change can happen at the State level. So much money is tied to federal funding that compliance with federal rules drives the system.
- Groundhog Day - Monday, Jul 25, 16 @ 5:16 pm:
—It’s not personal. It’s business.—
Unless it is you that is personally suffering from this.
- Huh? - Monday, Jul 25, 16 @ 5:35 pm:
“It’s not personal. It’s business.”
It is personal to those people who are in need of services. It is personal to those people who are homeless. The list can be endless.
To say that is it “just business” ignores the real suffering that is taking place because of 1.4% squeeze the beast agenda. It changes the people in need into a dispassionate number and that is cruel.
1.4% has a quote that went something along the lines of “we have to be more competitive before we can be compassionate.” I probably got the quote wrong, but my point is that 1.4% is putting his wealthy buddies before the needy, infirm, lame and helpless. And that is personal.
- Anon221 - Monday, Jul 25, 16 @ 6:12 pm:
Not really detailed, but you can use the Comptroller’s Open Books site to look up service providers and view their contracts. Click on a contract to see when they were last paid.
http://openbook.illinoiscomptroller.gov
- Anon221 - Monday, Jul 25, 16 @ 6:15 pm:
Youth Crossroads was last paid in Nov 2015. Ounce was last paid at the end of May 2016. Which organization is hurting more???
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Jul 26, 16 @ 1:05 am:
Many times agencies have multiple grants. So even agencies who look like they have been paid lately, are close to closure. As the paid portion may be 10% or less of money owed and bills accrued.
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Tuesday, Jul 26, 16 @ 5:24 am:
Illinois Bob -
Hostage takers blaming the airline pilots union for the pile of corpses?
C’mon: it’s been explained before.
Nobody is gonna believe it’s Democrats’ fault that you closed programs for rape victims.
Everyone believes Democrats love spending money.
Thanks GOP!
Seven out of eight voters do not support Rauner’s “Grand Bargain” of stripping worker’s rights in exchange for raising taxes.
Honeybear didn’t cook up this mess.
- Ms. SHEESH - Tuesday, Jul 26, 16 @ 8:02 am:
“It’s not personal. It’s business.” /say the wealthy 1%