Budget updates
Thursday, Jul 10, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The governor issued a press release yesterday afternoon slamming the House for not approving his revenue generating proposals, even though the House had scheduled votes in committee later that day and even though the governor had already abandoned his pension obligation bond idea, which would’ve freed up $400 million. The reaction from both sides of the aisle was swift…
“There is something wrong with the mind of a person that drags 177 legislators down to Springfield to do some work and before we have a chance to act one way or another says, ‘You know what? I am going to do these cuts anyway,’ ” said state Rep. Lou Lang (D-Evanston).
* And…
“This was done with a dull ax, will hurt people,” said Rep. Bill Black, R-Danville. “You don’t have to do this.”
* Neither the House nor the Senate acted on the governor’s vetoes yesterday. They could act today, come back soon or wait until the fall…
We’ll have something to say about all that [Thursday],” Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said.
Rep. Gary Hannig, a Litchfield Democrat and top Madigan lieutenant, said … lawmakers could come back to town soon to [act on the vetoes]…
* One revision may be on tap…
But the House showed some wiggle room in transferring about $500 million in special dedicated funds to pad the state’s general fund — but not before gutting the governor’s original version that already received Senate approval in the spring. Madigan said the intent of the revised “fund sweeps” measure is to show a willingness to work with the governor on the idea. (It’s a blank slate — they still have to insert the language.) But Madigan’s caucus wants to spell out which funds could be swept and where the money would go. Otherwise, his members object to giving free reign to the governor to sweep about half a billion dollars and spend it on whatever he pleases. Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, a Chicago Democrat and point person on human services, said she would be willing to consider fund sweeps if it saved human services from the budget ax. The governor’s cuts on Wednesday did reduce funding for human services by $210 million, erasing increases for autism programs, substance abuse treatment and mental health services.
* And the blame game has begun….
And earlier Wednesday, Senate President Emil Jones, D-Chicago, made it clear the House would shoulder all the blame if it didn’t pass plans to generate more money and the governor was forced to make cuts. Senators met briefly in session Wednesday but took no action.
“If they don’t like the revenue that was passed, pass some other revenue,” Jones said. “But don’t sit there and put money in the budget for programs and tell people you’re going to do all these things but don’t put any money in the bank. That’s legal check-kiting.”
* Keep in mind that many of these “cuts” are actually reductions in proposed increases…
# $210 million for social services. Includes elimination of a 50-cent-an-hour rate increase for mental health direct-care workers and no funding increases for rape-prevention services and domestic-violence shelters.
# $100 million for senior citizens’ and veterans’ services. Includes elimination of expansion of the Elder Abuse Hotline and delayed payments for home-care workers for seniors.
# $230 million for economic development and transit. Includes reduced operating and administrative spending for the Lincoln Bicentennial and elimination of fare subsidies to mass-transit agencies to assist students and disabled people.
# $100 million for education. Includes elimination of grants for health-services education and reduced funding for community college districts.
* Related…
* Blagojevich vetoes $1.4 billion out of budget
* Ill. governor trims $1.4 billion from budget
* Blagojevich vetoes parts of budget
* Blagojevich Vetoes Parts Of State Budget
* Budget hearings don’t sway many
* One place hurt by state budget mess
* Greg Blankenship: Needless drama masks bad decisions by state leaders
* Analysis: IDOT move a $9 million loss here
* 10th casino license to be issued soon
* State to auction Emerald Casino license
- Anon - Thursday, Jul 10, 08 @ 9:36 am:
In today’s fax, you point out that members can vote to override the governor’s cuts, then point the blame finger right at him. What a bunch of cowards! No wonder the public holds our elected officials in such low regard. They are a bunch of mushrooms.
- Ghost - Thursday, Jul 10, 08 @ 9:45 am:
I am glad to see the House is going to re-visit the fund sweeps. There has never been a reason to allow special interests these special set asides, they need to pay for al parts of government just like the people who can not afford lobbiests. I also think it is a great idea to identify where the money will be allocated. No need to sweep it as discretionary money; identify what its to be spent on (perhaps to help get the fed road funds, healthcare etc).
So the Gov increased spending on his own by putting in free transit to seniors regardless of their income level; and then come budget time has to eliminate fare subsidies to mass-transit agencies to assist students and disabled people.
Impeach now
- VanillaMan - Thursday, Jul 10, 08 @ 10:08 am:
Can the drama! This is ridiculous!
This is the most expensive soap opera I’ve ever been forced to watch. For the last few weeks Rod Blagojevich has given a prima dona performance instead of govern.
He huffs! He puffs! He huffs! He puffs! He warns! He threatens! He charges! He huffs! He puffs! “I’m gonna hafta!” “I don’t wanna!” “Don’t make me!” “If I have to, it’ll be on your head!” “He’s a meanie!” “People are going to get hurt!” “He’ll raise taxes!” “Watch out!”
A month of this! What is worse, watching a governor play to the balconies wearing a Shirley Temple wig or being forced to listen to the dramatics, courtesy of our state and local news outlets?
A normal governor would do something without the histronics. A normal governor would probably make a decision, enact that decision, then explain. But not this Norma Desmond.
This is what happens when we get a governor more interested in playing games and politics than governing. A soap opera. A utter waste of time. Another manufactured crisis to draw people’s attention to the pitiful fools parading as our state leaders.
- culatr - Thursday, Jul 10, 08 @ 10:11 am:
SB1130 was just released from House Rules. I wonder if this is the new budget vehicle bill?
- VanillaMan - Thursday, Jul 10, 08 @ 10:14 am:
==There has never been a reason to allow special interests these special set asides, they need to pay for al parts of government just like the people who can not afford lobbiests. I also think it is a great idea to identify where the money will be allocated. No need to sweep it as discretionary money; identify what its to be spent on (perhaps to help get the fed road funds, healthcare etc).==
Identifying what funds are spent on is the reason for special funds. If government wishes to tax you as a special user of a particular good or service, you would be a fool if you did not demand proof that those taxes were spent appropriately.
Taxes are our money, not theirs. They work for us.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Jul 10, 08 @ 10:20 am:
===There has never been a reason to allow special interests these special set asides===
Yes, there is a very good reason for these funds. Several of them were set up with specific fees to accomplish specific things, like regulation. Others, like CHIP, are designed to perform a specific service like insuring the uninsurable.
- Ghost - Thursday, Jul 10, 08 @ 10:22 am:
“Identifying what funds are spent on is the reason for special funds. ”
not really, if you pay taxes there is no special fund the mone goes into to make sure it benefits only you. We instead relaise that you benefit from all state services in one manor or another and so put your taxes into GRF. Also the Special funds to not cover all the the expense of the State from which those cover by the fund benefit. For example none of these funds pay for the services of the Attorney general, the State Police, the comptroller, treasuer, the regualtions which overall protect the State and its buisness etc.
Under this special fund logic every tax payer should have a special fund with their name on it, and the money should only be spent directly on a few identifed benefits for them. otherwise we treat all taxes and fees the same and use all of them to operate the State. Why shoudl a special interest group get to carve off their grps taxes to dedicated funds while the tax payers cover all State operations. They need to elminate the special funds completly.
- I'm Worried - Thursday, Jul 10, 08 @ 10:27 am:
One of the BIG cuts to human services is to substance abuse prevention and treatment. The feds require a “maintenance of effort” as match for their dollars in this area. So a cut to GRF in the range of 58mil (Blago’s announcement) really equates to 116million. Who is the loser there when more people enter the prisons, abuse their kids, are fired, etc. when they can’t get treatment for their addiction?
- Ghost - Thursday, Jul 10, 08 @ 10:28 am:
You can cover all of those programs with GRF funds. Money spends the same, and you have the statutory directive to pay the expense. These funds are sitting on surplus fee collections that should be tallied with everyone elses fee’s and taxes in the big pot of money we use to operate the State.
As an aside, anyone know which Bill has the Budget for the constitutional officers like the Gov, Lt. Gov etc?
- Anonymous45 - Thursday, Jul 10, 08 @ 10:29 am:
Vanilla Man is a bit over the top this morning (what!?) but I essentially agree.
The Governor is derelict of his duties, and probably mentally unstable…unfit for office.
Impeachment proceeding should commence if this utter nonsense doesn’t cease this week..
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Jul 10, 08 @ 10:29 am:
Fees are not general revenue, so you need special funds.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Jul 10, 08 @ 10:32 am:
== Keep in mind that many of these “cuts” are actually reductions in proposed increases…==
That’s a point that always seems to get lost in budget stories. We’re still spending north of $60 billion no matter what.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Jul 10, 08 @ 10:38 am:
culatr, that bill will apparently be used to fund some of the stalled state facility capital repairs that were halted this month.
- Irish - Thursday, Jul 10, 08 @ 10:43 am:
Special funds are monies that are generated beyond the common taxes. If you buy a snowmobile you pay a tax that goes into a special fund that pays for the creation and maintenance of places for you to use the snowmobile. ATVs, hunting equipment, fishing equipment including boats, and many other items carry similar taxes that are only paid by consumers of those goods for areas to conduct their activities. These funds are much like the gas tax that is supossed to go for the building and maintenance of state roads. Some funds are even more restrictive. Lease monies for state owned buildings on I&M Canal property are supposed to go directly into a fund from which maintenance costs for those buildings are paid. Even that fund has been swept. Isn’t it ironic that here is a fund that does exactly what Blago wanted all parks to do, be self supporting, and he took their money. Couple that with reducing monies to transit systems for free and reduced rides only a couple of months after he touted free rides for all seniors and you begin to wonder if Madigan’s people are right.
- Irish - Thursday, Jul 10, 08 @ 10:50 am:
The reason some of these funds are sitting with what appears to be a unused balance is because the gov. has directed his administrative people not to proceed on any projects or purchases. Perfect examople wqas the Open Lands Trust fund. This was set up to purchase quality natural resource land that might be lost if left in the private sector. The gov put a moratorium on all land purchases for several years. The fund then showed an unused balance. The gov declared it a surplus and then swept it. Only after the Sierra Club and others got into the fray were purchases of these lands opened up. Now there is no surplus.
- Cassandra - Thursday, Jul 10, 08 @ 11:00 am:
When Blago sweeps the funds, does he replace the monies later. I can understand using monies which are not currently in active use (it is cheaper than borrowing) but I’d be surprised if he could just take the money and run.
Anyway, this sounds like what happens when, as I mentioned a few days ago, your state has one of the most powerful governor’s offices in the country, by statute. A powerful chief executive may sound good when your guy is in there but these
incumbents are temporary kings and you can never be sure about the next one.
- Walkenstik - Thursday, Jul 10, 08 @ 11:17 am:
Deluded by vindictive impulses and clouded by incompetence, the adminstration lurches forward with yet another violent shove on the rudder further exacerbating Illniois’ harrowing nosedive. While no less morally-challenged than the Blago crew, at least Willie Sutton knew where the money was. Alas, that is not the case with these budget gurus. If the real goal was to “save” dollars - instead of thrusting healthcare providers into the role of lobbyists - the Medicaid budget would remain untouched. The $600 million Medicaid cut will not result in the State saving a like amount since the federal government was going to pay for more than half of that. The actual GRF savings will be less than $300 million (while punished healthcare providers exit the system in droves) . This unlearned lesson is the biggest reason for “unexplained” funding deficiencies in years past. The mildly good news is that these guys probably won’t be around at the end of this fiscal year scratching their heads wondering what went wrong.
- Anon - Thursday, Jul 10, 08 @ 11:45 am:
Everyone thought that the Governor would make exactly these cuts today instead of yesterday so all the drama seems a bit unfounded.
One of the interesting cuts was to capital litigation. There was a million dollars appropriated to pay for capital litigation cases for states attorneys outside of Cook County that wasn’t line item reduced, it was eliminated. There’s no money to pay for capital litigation cases for state’s attorneys outside of Cook County. SB 1102, article 3 page 38 lines 1-5. So you know the guy who killed 8 people with an ax and was arrested outside a bar smoking a cigarette, guess what happens now?
- Ringmaster Ned - Thursday, Jul 10, 08 @ 12:12 pm:
“Boys and girls, moms and dads, Bozo’s circus is ON THE AIR!”
With Whizzo the OMB guy trying to make money disappear from it’s lawful place in the special funds. I believe we need a lawsuit to settle this issue once and for all, and I believe we should have MORE, not fewer, special funds, wherever that method is appropriate. Regarding so-called “excess funds” in those accounts, it should be a simple matter for the Auditor General’s office to determine that, and the fund should then reduce or discount it’s fees to keep the fund at a set target level, set by statute.
- I'm worried to - Thursday, Jul 10, 08 @ 2:53 pm:
The substance abuse treatment services that were cut have been funded for between 10 and 20 years. This is 50% of the treatment system - then there is the preventions system - does this make sense - oh the special funds - if you make a contribution to something on your income checkoff - should it go to that - I think so - agencies are not allowed to spend the money - so it can be declared excess
- concerned voter - Thursday, Jul 10, 08 @ 4:50 pm:
Nice to see the guv didn’t cut their raises, gee thanks blago.
- steve schnorf - Thursday, Jul 10, 08 @ 6:27 pm:
The article says they have 15 calendar days to address the vetos. I don’t remember that being the case, but, if true, they certainly can’t wait until fall.
- Disgusted - Thursday, Jul 10, 08 @ 10:08 pm:
VanillaMan: LOL at the Norma Desmond comment. You are right on the money.