* Believe it or not, I’ve been listening to a lot of pop country lately. Hey, some of it is pretty darned good. So, when I went looking for a summer song to commemorate the end of the regular spring session, I thought this one might be appropriate…
Singing along with the radio
It’s such a beautiful sound
* Reporters often write only about what they see, or what they want to see. Here’s a standard article…
The Illinois Hospital Association took no chances as state lawmakers debated in recent weeks whether nonprofit hospitals should pay property taxes. It unleashed a self-described media blitz.
“My baby is sick — anyone help, please!” screamed an actress portraying a mother in radio ads aired in Chicago and 41 other markets starting in early May. A baby wailed, an ambulance siren blared and a voiceover asked what the terrified parent would do if no hospital were around.
The blitz worked. The Illinois General Assembly this week handed hospitals a long-sought victory: a sweeping legislative antidote to a recent state Supreme Court decision that threatened to slap many hospitals with potentially millions of dollars in tax liabilities just as they say they’re struggling to survive.
The radio ads worked? That was what passed the bill? OK. Or maybe it was the ad the IHA bought here. That seems more likely, actually, because legislators and staff actually saw that one. But, whatever. Ads weren’t the only factor highlighted in the story…
The association, representing about 200 hospitals and health systems, urged Illinoisans to write to state officials. By this week, the IHA reported, more than 12,000 people had signed an online petition. The group created templates for member hospitals to customize anti-tax e-mails to legislators and letters to local newspaper editors. And it suggested members provide kiosks or special computers for workers to send notes condemning property taxes for hospitals and Quinn’s proposed $2.7 billion in reductions to projected Medicaid payments.
An online petition worked? Well, maybe. I’m not sure how many legislators actually saw it, though. And then, of course, there was this…
For 2011 and the first quarter of 2012, the association contributed about $397,000 to state office holders, candidates and the state Democratic Party, according to the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, a watchdog group. That included $143,000 to legislative leaders of both parties and $198,000 to other lawmakers in the General Assembly.
The IHA gave even more than that in 2010: $725,089.56. It has a very active, very aggressive political organization.
* But there’s more to this story. Hospitals are in every legislative district. And hospital boards are usually made up of the region’s biggest bigshots, who are accustomed to hob-knobbing with local politicos. Hospitals are also large employers, and their workers usually earn pretty good salaries. They are almost always involved with local charitable causes, spend big money on public relations and they advertise heavily in local media. As a result, they’re the most trusted institutions in almost every region. Crossing them ain’t easy.
The IHA lost its top lobbyist and political guru when Howard Peters retired. It recently hired AJ Wilhelmi right out of the state Senate. Wilhelmi had never been a lobbyist before, but he worked like a dog. He returned one of my calls after midnight one evening, waking me up.
Add all that up and it’s no great feat to figure out why they did pretty well this year. They almost always do.
That’s not to say they’re right all the time. They used to constantly battle with nurses in Springfield. Those fights hurt them. And getting crossways with the attorney general has had many downsides. She was right to question their level of charity care. Some of what they classified as charity was just silly PR.
* And they’ve been one of the most aggressive bill collectors of any industry, prompting legislation to clamp down on entities that seek to put people in jail for not paying a bill. From a press release…
Attorney General Lisa Madigan today applauded state lawmakers for supporting the Debtors’ Rights Act of 2012, a measure that would protect poor people from being jailed over unpaid debts.
House Bill 5434 would prevent creditors from abusing the court system to put debtors in jail to collect on a debt they are clearly unable to pay. Over the last year, Madigan has learned that residents in roughly a third of Illinois’ counties commonly face incarceration when they fail to appear in court over a previously entered judgment to pay a debt. In many of these cases, notices of court hearings were mailed to addresses that were no longer valid, leaving many debtors unaware of the hearings. In spite of the failure to notify the debtors, courts have frequently issued warrants for their arrests.
“Long ago, our society recognized that it was immoral to send a poor person to debtor’s prison. Yet this practice has reappeared in Illinois through creditors’ abuse of the courts,” Madigan said. “This legislation will ensure that people who have the means will pay their debts, while also preventing poor older and unemployed persons from being illegally and unfairly incarcerated.”
Compounding the problem, Madigan said, is that many victims of these practices are living solely on income that is legally protected from being used to pay outstanding debt judgments, including Social Security, unemployment insurance or veterans’ benefits.
Madigan’s legislation would also ban abusive and burdensome “pay or appear” orders that are routinely entered against debtors in some Illinois counties. These orders – which usually remain in effect for three years – require debtors to make a monthly payment or appear in court each month to explain why they are unable to pay, even if their financial circumstances have not improved. Madigan said if a debtor misses just one payment and court hearing, they can end up in jail. Debtors who have been victim to this practice typically owe outstanding medical bills, credit card debts or payday loans.
The legislation would amend the Code of Civil Procedure to codify and clarify practices followed by attorneys, creditors and courts across Illinois to ensure that courts make a finding of a consumer’s ability to pay before entering a payment order. The legislation also would prohibit payment orders that rely on legally protected income and prevent arrest warrants from being issued unless the debtor was personally served with a hearing notice.
The combination of mandated free care (pushed by AG Madigan) and the attorney general’s debtor protection bill were not hospital “wins.” But like all smart organizations, they recognized that getting what they wanted required giving up something else. So, they agreed to a scaled back (but still significant) Medicaid rate cut and they accepted the attorney general’s demands. That’s an optimal conclusion for pretty much everybody.
State lawmakers spent the final day of the spring session failing to act on the crucial issue of pension reform, instead approving a major gambling expansion that wasn’t at the top of the agenda.
Actually, the Senate did pass a major pension reform bill yesterday. It effects both the General Assembly and state employee retirement systems, and will almost undoubtedly either be eventually passed by the House and signed into law or the exact same language will be incorporated into a new reform law. The bill passed with 16 Democratic and 14 Republican votes and it showed that pension reform is legislatively and politically doable.
But you’ve got to read through 16 grafs of that story before you get to this…
While the House pension talks collapsed, the Senate sought to politically insulate itself by passing a plan affecting the pensions of themselves and state workers — even though the legislation was not taken up in the House.
I don’t get that logic. The Senate ought to be applauded for passing a pension bill that should’ve also cleared the House last night, but didn’t because of partisan infighting. And they passed the gaming bill because they could.
* Now, on to gaming. I was sitting in the Senate press box next to a reporter interviewing Sen. Jacqueline Collins about her gaming expansion vote. Collins told the reporter sitting next to me that she didn’t know who hit her switch because she was in the bathroom with a headache…
On the dubious strength of an errantly cast voting switch, the expansion plan passed on a 30-26 roll call, the bare majority needed to approve the bill and six votes shy of the vetoproof majority needed to overcome the objections of Quinn, who has criticized the legislation for its “ethical shortcomings.”
The development made for one of the more intriguing storylines on a hectic final day of the spring legislative session when lawmakers also voted to hike fees on satellite television customers, strip-club patrons.
On the gambling bill, which was backed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, supporters used a parliamentary maneuver to immediately lock in the 30-26 roll call before state Sen. Jacqueline Collins (D-Chicago), a traditional opponent to gambling expansion, stood to say she wanted to have her “yes” vote reflected as a “no” in the official Senate record — even though that gesture carried no real effect and did not undo what had happened.
Collins told the Chicago Sun-Times that Sen. Donne Trotter (D-Chicago), who sits near her, deployed her voting switch when the gambling vote was taken even though she wasn’t at her seat.
“I have a headache, and I was in the back getting an aspirin. I always vote ‘no’ on gaming, but when I came out, I saw I’d been voted ‘yes,’” Collins said.
But, remember, she didn’t see who did it.
I didn’t see who hit her button either because I wasn’t on the floor. Ironically enough, I was up in Trotter’s office taking a little break, listening to the debate and talking to somebody about a piece I was thinking about writing. I spend time in several Statehouse offices during session days, hanging out and digging for stories, and his is one of my favorites.
* So, pardon me if I seem biased, but this is a bit much…
The top Republican in the chamber, Senate Minority Christine Radogno (R-Lemont), who voted against the gambling bill, called for an investigation. “That is absolutely wrong. It changed the outcome of a major issue,” she said.
We went down this phony road before with what the Sun-Times referred to as “Buttongate.” It was silly then, and it’s silly now. People who call the cops for stuff like that are the ones who are wrong. And did it really change the outcome? What most likely happened is a handful of Senators were watching the Big Board to make sure the bill got 30 votes. Once it hit that number, they felt free to vote “No.” Happens every day.
The approved budget cuts discretionary spending by $700 million with reductions hitting areas like education, universities, healthcare for the poor, and corrections, while increasing overall spending by about $400 million due to mandatory increases.
“Two years in a row, spending is going up,” said Republican state Sen. Matt Murphy of Palatine. “We are not closer to the fiscal responsibility needed.” Senate Republicans believe that billions in cuts are needed to avoid making permanent the temporary income tax hike approved last year.
Democrats counter that the slight increase still keeps state within self-imposed annual spending increases and that skyrocketing pension payments are driving the hike. The state will pay $5.2 billion into the pension system in fiscal 2013, up from $4.1 billion in the current fiscal year.
Spending is going up not because lots of new liberal Democratic programs are being created, but mainly because the state is finally making its full pension payment.
But Murphy is right that this budget does not make all the cuts necessary to avoid making the income tax hike permanent. The pension payments are just eating up pretty much all the revenue growth, requiring further cuts elsewhere.
Some Senate Democrats refused to vote for the House’s K-12 education budget the first time the legislation was called for a vote, and the measure failed. “We should be voting no on this bill because the House sent us a budget with further cuts to education. The House sent us a budget that only added back $50 million more in general state aid,” said Sen. Kimberly Lightford, a Democrat from Maywood. “We put a whole a lot of burden on the local school districts and at the same time continuously underfunded them.” (For more on the spending levels in the House budget, see yesterday’s blog.)
“Maybe some members did not get the memo that we don’t have any money,” said Sen. Dan Kotowski, a Democrat from Park Ridge “We are out of money.” But Senate President John Cullerton proposed some ways to find new revenue for education spending. House Bill 5440 would add a 5 percent tax to the gross profits of satellite television providers such as Dish Network and Direct TV. Cullerton said cable providers already pay the fee and that the legislation would bring in about $75 million. He also sponsored House Bill 5342, which would close some corporate tax loopholes for oil companies. He estimated that legislation could bring in $100 million. “Closing loopholes is definitely fair, and I think targeting certain tax credits is appropriate,” Cullerton said during a committee hearing on the legislation.
Senate Bill 2365 would dole out the new revenues According to an analysis from the Democrats:
$24.9 million would go toward early childhood education.
$134.7 million would go into general state aid for schools.
$15.4 million would go to the Monetary Assistance Program for college students.
$24 million would go into the Circuit Breaker program, which provides assistance for the elderly.
Cullerton’s bills passed without Republican votes. “It is just another tax increase. Pass it on to the people who have been nickeled and dimed to death,” said Sen. Dale Righter, Republican from Mattoon. But with the additional education spending, Democrats did not need the Republican votes to pass the bulk of the budget bills. The House’s education budget passed on a second floor vote.
Both of those tax hikes passed, but they went nowhere in the House. Democratic Senators allowed themselves to be convinced that they’d actually done something when they really didn’t. That was pretty unserious, if you ask me.
* The Sun-Times editorial board points the finger of blame for the lack of pension reform at the two House leaders…
Quinn said Illinois has no choice but to dramatically reduce pension costs. He is absolutely right, and we hope he won’t let anything stand in his way. And, more importantly, we hope House Speaker Michael Madigan and House Republican Leader Tom Cross take up the cause with the same level of fervor.
The bill to lower the state’s crippling pension costs went down in flames after those leaders, who had successfully worked together most of the session, started butting heads.
One state representative explained it this way: “We’re caught in a game between Cross and Madigan and we don’t even know what game they’re playing.”
It’s time to end the games, and do the exceptionally hard but necessary work of protecting the state and its employee pension systems from insolvency.
But nothing important sails through the legislature without the speaker’s full support.
And it slowly became apparent Thursday that in dropping his sponsorship of the pension measure and tossing it into the lap of House Republican Leader Tom Cross, Madigan had sealed its doom.
I say slowly became apparent, because many of his own members were still guessing about his intentions even after a Madigan-controlled committee sent the measure to the full House first thing Thursday morning with some of his closest allies on board.
Then came word that Madigan himself intended to vote no, and the storm clouds slowly gathered until the point late Thursday evening when Cross announced that Gov. Pat Quinn had asked him to pull the plug for now — and try again in a few weeks.
In essence, Madigan was saying: Don’t blame me, blame the Republicans. It’s their bill now.
The Republicans, of course, had been telling us all along to blame Madigan, even though many admit they agree with the principle on which he was standing — that you can’t truly bring the pension costs under control once and for all until the people making the spending decisions are called upon to pay the bills.
In the blame game, both political parties put as much effort into making sure the other side gets the blame for the failure of some important piece of legislation as they put do into actually getting something accomplished.
The blame game is serious business. If played well, one side can gain political advantage over the other in the next election.
In focusing on Madigan, I’m not suggesting that he and his Democrats were any more to blame for the legislation’s failure than were the Republicans, who couldn’t put on enough votes to make it work. […]
I understand Madigan’s point about the cost shift, if that was truly his point, as nobody is ever sure what the speaker really wants, and most have given up trying to read his mind.
In the end, though, neither party brought you pension reform. A pox on both their houses until they come back and get it right.
Most importantly, Gov. Pat Quinn has firmly established a leadership role here, especially in his unsuccessful last-minute bid to appease House Republicans by signing onto Cross’s plan.
Still, how discouraging it is to conclude another legislative session unable to address one of the two most important issues for the state’s financial well being for the next three decades.
Quinn evidently wants pension reform just as urgently as the rating agencies that are now threatening to drop Illinois’ already dismal creditworthiness into free-fall. The possibility of reform wouldn’t have made it this far without his declaration in February that lawmakers had to solve the problem now.
Many Democrats and Republicans, under intense pressure from their pals in public employees unions, shied away from any vote that would have made changes to a state pension system at serious risk of insolvency. But timid avoidance has its limits: If more credit downgrades arrive, or if poor investment returns further imperil pension funds, members of both parties won’t be able to explain why they didn’t stabilize a system now $83 billion in the red.
So we encourage members of both parties to do pension reform right. And we encourage Quinn to make sure they do.
Your opinion?
* Related…
* Legislators punt on pension reform but pass gambling expansion
* As mentioned earlier, Gov. Pat Quinn will hold a press conference at 10 o’clock this morning to talk about the session. You can listen or watch the live stream by clicking here. I’ll post audio and/or video of the presser afterward in case you miss it.
* Session ran very late last night and so did the “end of session party,” which wasn’t really an end of session party because, well, we’re now in overtime.
The governor is expected to talk to reporters this morning about the failure to enact pension reform. He issued this release last night…
“While this has been a productive legislative session, our work is not done for the people of Illinois.
“Many members rose to the occasion to take difficult votes to save our Medicaid system from collapse, enact retiree healthcare reform and abolish the oft-abused legislative scholarship program. But we have not finished our work to reform Illinois’ pension system, which is drowning in an ocean of unfunded liability.
“As I have repeatedly made clear, inaction on pension reform is not a choice. We must fundamentally reform our pension system and we must enact bold reform that eliminates the unfunded liability.
“We have made great headway on stabilizing our pension system and we are very close to a solution, but we are not there yet. Therefore, I will convene a meeting with President Cullerton, Leader Radogno, Speaker Madigan, and Leader Cross in the coming week so we can forge a pension reform agreement as soon as possible and return to Springfield to enact it into law.”
* The Question: What should Gov. Pat Quinn say today about the lack of a pension reform agreement? Explain.
And, hey, it’s Friday and everybody’s probably tired from the late night session, so snark is heavily encouraged. I’ll be back with more posts once I finish the Fax.
