* Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart had this letter delivered to the governor’s office yesterday evening…
Illinois is in serious financial distress and we owe the citizens of this state an honest conversation about how we address the crisis, both from a fiscal standpoint and a moral one. Like many, I welcome a fresh look at how taxpayer dollars are being used and abused in all levels of government.
Yet, your budget proposals are alarming, not only for their insensitivity to the millions of lives they impact, but also for their lack of financial sense. In the face of jaw-dropping budget shortfalls, politicians for years have looked to cut state services that are crucial to large segments of our population who lack the cash and the lobbyists to fight back.
After just a month in office, you are proposing more of the same. Cutting already strained mental health programs; alcoholism and substance abuse treatment programs; criminal justice services and youth services does nothing to make Illinois a place people want to live. Slashing funding for our most vulnerable children through DCFS and kicking 18-year-old wards to the curb with no transitional support does nothing to right our ship.
Morality aside, such tactics – which are scaring hundreds of thousands of people and children across this state – are simply bad budgeting. When mental health and substance abuse programs are shuttered, where do you think the people needing that care end up? When a DCFS ward – even the ward’s child in some cases – is sent into the world without adequate help, what do you think will happen to that teenager on the street?
We know, all too often, they end up in the most costly government system of all, the criminal justice system. Once there, costs for prosecution and incarceration start racking up every minute, every day, every month.
You know this too. Your own budget calls for spending more money to reduce recidivism to save the state prison system money. You recently announced an ambitious goal to lower the state prison population by 25% in the next 10 years. Yet, cutting social safety net programs will only widen the pipeline to state prison for the most vulnerable members of our society.
Knowing your business acumen, I expected a budget proposal that was not so penny wise and pound foolish with people’s lives. Please reconsider this short-sighted proposal.
* President Obama is in Chicago to designate the Pullman Historic District as a national monument. It’s Chicago’s first national park. From the pool report…
THen at 2:25 [the President] gathered with officials, including Emanuel, and signed the official documents presumably designating the monuments.
Rauner tried to make his way onstage for the signing but was left at the rope-line.
Asked afterwards about not being invited onstage, Rauner just smiled and walked away.
Rauner proposes saving $75 million by being more aggressive in determining eligibility and by adding new efforts to “detect and prevent fraudulent and abusive billing practices by providers,” according to the budget document.
* Riopell writes about a little-noticed Bruce Rauner proposal from yesterday…
Rauner wants to change a state law that makes local school districts pay penalties if they give big end-of-career pay raises to teachers and administrators.
School districts can still give the pay raises, but the state says local officials have to pay for the pension consequences.
Now, school districts have to pay penalties if they give late-career pay raises of more than 6 percent. Rauner wants to enact penalties for those pay raises if they’re greater than the rate of inflation, which lately has been around 1 percent. […]
Most districts avoid big penalties, even writing in a 6 percent pay raise cap into their contracts with teachers. But 1 percent is a lot lower, of course.
“While a so-called reform was enacted in an effort to prevent pension spiking, teacher contracts in recent years have made the six percent cap a floor rather than a ceiling,” Rauner spokesman Lance Trover said.
The ABC7 I-Team has been looking into a mind-boggling statement made by the Gov. Bruce Rauner on Wednesday.
“One out of every four dollars taken from taxpayers by the state goes into a system that is giving more than 11,000 government retirees tax-free, six-figure pensions worth as much as, in one case, $450,000 per year,” Rauner said. […]
The person receiving a $450,000 pension went unnamed, but the I-Team has learned he is a man named Tapas Das Gupta, a doctor retired from University of Illinois Chicago Hospital. Currently taxpayers are footing his annual pension of $452, 843, but what the governor didn’t mention is that the No. 2 top pensioner also makes about that much. […]
Runner-up top state pensioner is Dr. Edward Abraham, a UIC orthopedic surgeon educated in Beruit, Lebanon, who retired at age 66 and receives a $439,000 a year pension.
Even as he receives that pension, Dr. Abraham has been hired back here at UIC part-time. It’s double dipping that is perfectly legal in Illinois and that other state pensioners take advantage of.
Thursday, Feb 19, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Illinois is often compared to our neighbor Indiana when it comes to workers’ compensation costs for businesses. Unfortunately, it is not a fair or accurate comparison. Wages are the main driving factor when it comes to workers’ compensation costs. Workers’ compensation benefits (non-medical) are based on a worker’s average weekly wage. On average, Indiana pays its workers 27 percent less than Illinois. Illinois ranks 8th in the country for average weekly wages, while Indiana ranks 35th. Because workers’ compensation replaces lost wages, lower wages in Indiana naturally creates lower workers’ compensation costs.
Indiana businesses may have lower workers’ compensation costs for employers; however workers injured on the job have meager options for their health care under Indiana’s workers’ compensation laws. In addition, Indiana’s early return to work program often forces injured workers back to work sooner than they should be and often leads to re-injury or new injuries.
Workers in Illinois deserve better. A fair and reasonable workers’ compensation system in Illinois helps injured workers get back on their feet and back to work.
For more information on workers’ compensation, click here.
* Illinois State University President Larry Dietz reacts to the governor’s proposed 31 percent cut to his school’s state funding…
“Some areas that could be affected include tuition – as set by our Board of Trustees – scholarships, faculty and staff compensation, hiring decisions and maintenance projects.
“Throughout the process, I want to assure you that protecting the jobs of our outstanding faculty and staff is our highest priority. We will do everything we can to prevent measures such as layoffs and forced furlough days.”
So, tuition and scholarships are on the table then?
I believe it’s imperative that we strengthen our university systems. But this insistence on protecting the bureaucracy to the detriment of the students is preposterous.
[US Sen. Mark Kirk], Diana Rauner To Highlight Success of Early Childhood Education Programs in Englewood
Participating Children were 35% Less Likely to Visit an Emergency Room
Every Dollar Spent Provides Return Investment of $5.70
* It’s probably no accident that Gov. Rauner proposed increasing early childhood education funding yesterday by $25 million. From a Wednesday press release by Illinois Action for Children…
Governor Rauner should be applauded for making early childhood a clear priority today. As the Governor said in his address, every dollar invested today in early childhood saves us more than $7 in the future.
It is a positive sign that the Governor has proposed to increase Pre-K investments and maintain child care funding in FY16, while also signaling that he and the General Assembly are negotiating to reach an agreement to fill the current $300 million shortfall facing the Child Care Assistance Program. Ending that crisis now must be the highest priority of our elected officials.
But much of that increase will be paid for by zeroing out all state funding for Advance Placement, Arts/Foreign Language, Agricultural Education, After School Matters, the Parent Mentoring Program, Lowest Performing Schools, funding to East St. Louis SD 189, Regional Safe Schools, Children’s Mental Health Partnership, National Board Certified Teachers, Tax Equivalency Grants, Teach for America, and Targeted Initiatives.
I wonder what Sen. Kirk and Mrs. Rauner think about those cuts?
The advisory notes—correctly—that Diana Rauner heads the Ounce of Prevention Fund, which has done some very nice work trying to help poor families. It says that the federal Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Visiting Program has provided assistance to young mothers that not only makes childhood injuries less likely but has cut teen pregnancy rates. […]
I just have to wonder whether such needy folks might have a harder time of it if hospitals are less willing to provide treatment in the future because the governor has cut reimbursement rates. Or whether the fewer government-funded slots that will be available in alcohol and drug treatment programs might make a difference in their lives.
Thursday, Feb 19, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
The cable industry is asking lawmakers to place a NEW 5% tax on satellite TV service. The satellite tax is not about fairness, equity or parity – it’s a tax increase on the 1.3 million Illinois families and businesses who subscribe to satellite TV.
Satellite Tax Will Hurt Illinois Families and Small Businesses
• Satellite TV subscribers will see their monthly bills go up 5%.
• This tax will impact every bar, restaurant and hotel that subscribes to satellite TV service, which will translate into higher prices, decreased revenues, and fewer jobs.
• Rural Illinois has no choice: In many parts of Illinois, cable refuses to provide TV service to rural communities. Satellite TV is their only option.
Satellite Tax Is Not About Parity or Fairness
• Cable’s claim that this discriminatory tax is justified because satellite TV doesn’t pay local franchise fees could not be further from the truth. Cable pays those fees to local towns and cities in exchange for the right to bury cables in the public rights of way—a right that cable companies value in the tens of billions of dollars in their SEC filings.
• Satellite companies don’t pay franchise fees for one simple reason: We use satellites—unlike cable, we don’t need to dig up streets and sidewalks to deliver our TV service.
• Making satellite subscribers pay franchise fees—or, in this case, an equivalent amount in taxes—would be like taxing the air. It’s no different than making airline passengers pay a fee for laying railroad tracks. They don’t use; they shouldn’t have to pay for it.
* The response from the Senate Black Caucus to Gov. Bruce Rauner’s budget proposal was mostly predictable, but on point…
“Yes, government leaders in positions of power hold many responsibilities, one of which is ensuring a thriving private sector, attractive to business and industry – but not to be forgotten are the awesome responsibilities of protecting and serving the people.” – State Senator Kimberly Lightford (D-Maywood 4th)
“Cutting services that uplift communities are not only a slap in the face, but it’s an attack on the lower and middle class. This irresponsible, smoke-and-mirrors budget balances our state’s debts on the backs of the neediest, but refuses to close corporate loopholes.” – State Senator Donne E. Trotter (D-Chicago 17th)
“I am outraged that the governor is knocking middle and lower-class families down when they are already facing tough economic circumstances. He’s putting lives and livelihoods in jeopardy by treating our state’s most vulnerable people like burdens.” – State Senator Mattie Hunter (D-Chicago 3rd)
“This proposed budget would close doors of opportunity for youth in disadvantaged communities throughout the state.
“By cutting funding for anti-violence initiatives and services for wards of the state who face homelessness and exploitation when they turn 18, this administration signals that it is giving up on the tremendous potential within our young people struggling to emerge from difficult circumstances.
“And with one-third of higher education funding eliminated in the Rauner budget, young men and women who beat the odds and make it to college would face higher tuition, less assistance and fewer resources.” – State Senator Jacqueline Y. Collins (D-Chicago 16th)
* Sen. Gary Forby also got in some licks…
“It’s pretty cold of the governor to propose cuts to energy cost assistance at a time when working families are struggling to deal with spikes in the utility bills.”
“This budget is filled with cut after cut after cut,” Forby continued. “Tuition costs are going to go up putting more of the burden on our students when they are trying to prepare themselves for the workforce.”
* As did Sen. Heather Steans…
In hearings starting next month, my colleagues and I will thoroughly discuss each agency’s needs and where savings can be achieved. But the numbers in today’s proposal simply don’t add up. I look forward to working with the governor’s office on a balanced budget that is realistic and fulfills our responsibilities to our most vulnerable residents.
* And Sen. Daniel Biss…
(T)he Governor’s proposal singles out working families and the most vulnerable among us for the deepest cuts, while asking nothing of the rich. It is simply unconscionable to slash Medicaid, foster care, and much of the rest of our safety net while leaving the most fortunate among us untouched.
Sen. Donne Trotter said Wednesday Rauner has proposed a “slash-and-burn budget.” The Chicago Democrat says Rauner acted “as if he was an ISIS warrior fighting a battle, not against the state of Illinois but against the people of Illinois.”
Rauner spokesman Lance Trover says the administration welcomes dialogue with legislators. But he’s urging lawmakers “to refrain from over the top rhetoric that demeans the process.”
Trover is right, Trotter is wrong.
What the Senator did was distract attention away from the governor’s cuts and put it onto himself.
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s proposed $1.47 billion in Medicaid cuts includes reductions in dental services, mental health care and other coverage. But some legislators and patient advocates say the targeted services don’t just help keep people healthy — they also save the state money. […]
“We found, for example, that if you cut people’s dental services and then they don’t go to a dentist, they end up going to an emergency room and it costs us more money,” Cullerton said. “So we went back and examined that and made a change.”
“People will not miraculously get better if they’re denied care for services,” said Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago. “They’ll just end up at a higher level of care in an acute care setting at the most expensive end of their disease.”
Other legislators responded that the added costs of emergency room services have not been well-documented.
In a report this year, [the Pew Center on the States] estimated that preventable dental problems were the primary diagnosis in 830,590 emergency room visits in 2009 — up 16 percent from 2006.
“It’s penny-wise and pound-foolish,” said Shelly Gehshan, the director of the Pew Children’s Dental Campaign. “Rather than an $80 extraction or a $300 filling, states are spending much more on emergency room visits that can’t fix the problem.”
(M)any Medicaid enrollees continue to live with the pain and discomfort of tooth decay and gum disease, which can exacerbate other health problems, such as heart disease, diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. Eventually, some go to costly emergency rooms, which can do little but provide short-term pain relief.
…Adding… More on this general topic from the Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities group…
Governor Bruce Rauner’s $27 million cuts to drug treatment services undermine the very criminal justice reforms that he has been publicly championing.
Criminal justice reforms and cost savings simply cannot happen without drug treatment and coordinated case management upon which Illinois courts rely.
Last year alone, working with judges and community-based treatment providers, TASC diverted 2,080 people from prison and immediately saved Illinois $35 million. Under the governor’s proposed budget for next year, millions of those savings would be wiped out.
“If you’re going to look for major reforms and finding savings, I suggest you look at the tax code where there’s a bunch of corporate giveaways and corporate loopholes,” Emanuel said. “That’s a perfect place to start, but do not think you are going to do this, not only on the backs of families and children, but the resources that go directly to the city are things that we use to pay for our police, firefighters and first responders.” […]
Rauner’s draconian budget offers little hope for Emanuel that such solutions are on the horizon. Instead, it’s estimated Chicago could lose $135 million in income tax distributions, which Emanuel said would lead to sharp cuts in city services.
“We use those resources to pay for police officers, firefighters, basic services. The idea that you would be look at basic services and cuts to the municipalities when you have a tax code that has giveaways to corporations, in my view is the wrong priorities,” Emanuel said. “I understand the need for change. I understand the need for reform. Start with the tax code that doesn’t actually meet the obligations of the state’s economic opportunity and future.”
The mayor criticized Rauner’s mass transit cuts saying, “This is not the time to cut back on the support for mass transit. This is the time to double down, just the opposite” to drive economic growth and create more jobs.
Last year, Rauner repeatedly said he wanted to close several corporate loopholes. So, why didn’t he include them in his budget yesterday? Well, state law forbids this. Governors are required, by statute, to introduce budgets with existing tax revenue streams. The law was designed to prevent fantasy budgets from being submitted with tax hikes that couldn’t pass anyway.
He could have, of course, mentioned his desire for loophole closures yesterday. But that phrase has not crossed his lips since the election. Almost all the sacrifice he demanded is placed on the backs of public employees and the poor and those who serve them.
While it’s a dose of tough medicine, Illinois needs to take action in order to get a healthy financial outlook once again. It’s important to stop kicking the can down the road and restore fiscal stability. Balancing the budget while preserving critical programs like education and vocational training will help jump start Illinois’ economic engine leading to job growth and economic development.
Rauner said Illinois could save more than $2 billion by moving all state workers to a less-generous pension system lawmakers approved in 2010 for employees hired after Jan. 1, 2011. Workers also would have the option of moving to a 401(k)-style plan. He said firefighters and police would be able to keep their current benefits.
Projected savings from any pension changes aren’t likely to be realized in the next fiscal year, however. Even if Rauner could get a bill through the legislature, the state’s powerful labor unions — with whom Rauner has clashed repeatedly since taking office — would challenge it in court.
Those unions and retirees already have sued over a 2013 pension overhaul that cut benefits. A lower court found the measure unconstitutional, and the Illinois Supreme Court is considering the case.
* Sen. Daniel Biss, who helped craft the current pension reform law, agreed via press release yesterday…
“It is completely irresponsible to claim to balance a budget through pension reforms that would surely be litigated. An inevitable lawsuit will leave the state in financial limbo while the proposal meanders its way through the judicial system, and banking the savings of such a plan during that process puts us at risk of further damaging the fiscal condition of the pension systems.”
Governor Rauner leaves a $2.2 billion hole in the budget by relying on unrealistic revenues from a questionable pension proposal. Even as the courts review a significant test case, the governor’s plan banks phantom savings for a pension plan that may fail key legislative and judicial tests. When we passed pension reform last year, we took care to exclude possible savings from budget plans pending a legal resolution. The governor’s plan rejects that wisdom.
Madigan said the governor shouldn’t be balancing his budget with money from a pension reform plan that has yet to pass, let alone be tested in court.
“I think the governor proposes to engage in conduct which I would consider reckless,” Madigan said.
He said Rauner’s plan cuts benefits, unlike the pension reform bill he championed that he said only cut increases in benefits going forward. Also, Madigan said the state did not count on any savings from the pension reform bill, which is currently being heard by the Illinois Supreme Court.
On Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Madigan renewed his call for an income tax surcharge on millionaires, which I don’t regard as either serious or responsible
The truth is, nobody is being serious about this budget. Not Rauner and not Madigan. The Democrats have been completely unserious for way too long, and the new governor clearly demonstrated yesterday that he’s not above the same sort of ridiculous sleight of hand games that the Democrats have played for years.
Rauner touted increased education spending in the form of General State Aid. He talked about waste and special interest groups and laid out ways to combat both. But what he did not talk about are the cuts he proposed to programs that serve children, the elderly, the poor and the disabled in Illinois. Rauner’s budget plan includes substantial cuts to:
* The Department of Children and Family Services. It would also eliminate services for youth ages 18 to 21.
* Community care for senior citizens.
* Mental health services.
* Addiction treatment.
* Dental Care for adults on Medicaid.
* Support for children on ventilators.
After the speech, Democratic lawmakers on budgeting committees decried the proposed cuts of state funding for the Arc of Illinois, a nonprofit that provides services to developmental disabled residents and their families, The Autism Project, a major statewide provider of services to Autistic Illinoisans, and programs for epileptic.
Rauner wants to pump more into general funding for schools, but he is also making some cuts to education. The plan would zero out line items in the State Board of Education’s budget for:
* Arts and foreign language
* The Children’s Mental Health Partnership program
* Advance placement courses
* Regional Safe Schools, which offer education to students who are expelled or suspended.
Failure to mention those reductions shows either that he’s not wedded to those cuts, or he just didn’t have the guts to talk about them. Or?…
Republican lawmakers downplayed Rauner’s tough talk, saying it is early in the budgeting process.
“It’s opening day here for the budget in Springfield,” said state Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington.
But, he added, “All of those are going to be sacrifices, painful sacrifices.”
Brady himself will be asked to make a painful political sacrifice.
Illinois State University, which is in Rep. Brady’s district, is slated to receive a $23 million cut in state subsidies, a 31.5 percent reduction. Rep. Brady is the Republican Spokesman on the House Higher Education Appropriations Committee - which means if these university cuts survive the budget process, Brady will have to sponsor and argue for the approp bill in his chamber.
* Prosecutors are asking that former state Rep. Derrick Smith (D-Chicago) be sentenced to four to five years in prison for accepting a $7,000 cash bribe. He’ll be sentenced today…
Prosecutor Marsha McClellan argued in court papers filed ahead of Thursday’s sentencing that Smith’s “steadfast refusal to accept responsibility, no doubt contributes to the erosion of the public’s trust in its elected officials.”
But Smith’s attorney Vic Henderson urged U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman not to compare “Smith’s conduct to that of other Illinois politicians, such as Governor Ryan and Governor Blagojevich,” citing the small sum of cash involved and adding, “Derrick Smith did not orchestrate the incident leading up to his indictment.
“The situation was created by the government.”
Given Smith’s ongoing denial of guilt, he is unlikely to offer a full-throated apology on Thursday, though Henderson said Smith is “is remorseful for bringing himself and his family shame as a result of his arrest and conviction.”
* Rep. Rich Brauer (R-Petersburg) is resigning from the House effective Friday. Brauer has been widely rumored to be moving into the Rauner administration.
* Last year’s winner of our Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Insider is moving up in the world…
Nancy Kimme, who was the top aide to the late Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka, is hanging out a lobbying shingle. Given that she privately was very much inside Gov. Bruce Rauner’s kitchen cabinet, she should do quite well.
Kimme’s clients so far include the Illinois Hospital Association—man, do they need help, given what Rauner is proposing to do with cuts to Medicaid—the Illinois Casino Gaming Association, Ameren and a cable TV group. All are top clients.
“I am going to lobby both the General Assembly and the (Rauner) administration,” Kimme tells me in an email. “That’s the one good thing about being around so long. I have gotten to know a lot of folks.”
She should do more than quite well. She’s one of those people who knows everybody and everything and has been indispensable to Team Rauner. They’ll be lining up around the block to give her contracts.
She’ll also be setting up Comptroller Munger’s campaign.
Wednesday, Feb 18, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
While the state budget crisis increasingly hits struggling Illinois families, Exelon demands a corporate bailout. This is exactly the wrong thing for Illinois’ citizens and businesses.
Exelon is a successful, profitable company. While we appreciate success, when they claim they need more of OUR MONEY, it’s time to be skeptical.
EXELON 2014 PROFITS: $2,068,000,000.00
That’s two BILLION with a B. And yet this wildly profitable company is asking US for a bailout while Illinois struggles. So let’s review:
In 2014, EXELON made $5,665,753 per day or $236,073 per hour
When legislators are being asked to slash everything from education to healthcare to mental health services, and when Crain’s Chicago Business says Exelon actually MADE money from its Illinois Nuclear Fleet, how can anyone think having struggling Illinois businesses and families bail out a highly profitable company is a good use of OUR money?
* The Tribune has a profile today on Donna Arduin, Gov. Rauner’s $30,000 a month CFO. Here are a couple of excerpts about her time in New York and California…
While Arduin was working for Pataki, the state enacted tax cuts, reduced the number of employees and had a run of budget surpluses. But those successes came at a time when tax revenues were booming from a bull market. Pataki was criticized for not preparing for tougher times ahead, and after a recession hit in 2001, Albany again faced major budget problems. […]
Schwarzenegger used voter-approved borrowing to finance the state deficit and won a one-year, $2 billion cut from education. The rest of the budget was balanced by shifting local property tax revenue and transportation funds, and raising some taxes and fees.
Arduin lasted just 11 months in Sacramento. Some said she had never intended to stay more than a year, but others questioned whether the political environment drove her away.
“Maybe it was difficult because it was a Democratic legislature facing a Republican governor, but it’s also possible that a governor and a finance director with a different approach might have made some headway,” said Graves, the budget advocate. “A lot of it has to do with personal relationships. It seems pretty clear that Donna Arduin did not put much stock in developing personal relationships with members of the legislature.”
* A group called the United Working Families has been pushing stories on Arduin for the past few days. Here’s the latest…
Cutting Medicaid for the sake of cutting, then hoping “for the best”
Before she became more polished in selling her massive cuts to Medicaid, Arduin experienced a rare moment of candor, explaining massive cuts to Medicaid acknowledging that there was nothing to support an argument that it produced efficiency.
In 1995, as a deputy budget director for New York Gov. George Pataki, she told the New York Times: “The first thing you can do is hope that the cut will force industries to create efficiencies. We can only hope for the best there.”
(“In New York The Dying Days of Expansive Government” The New York Times, May 8, 1995)
Replacing more effective drugs with down-brand, generic alternatives
Arduin proposed a cost-cutting plan for then-Florida Gov. “Jeb” Bush to replace effective drugs for Medicaid recipients with down-brand, less-effective generic alternatives. “If they started switching people from the new drugs to the old drugs, it would turn the clock back years,” one critic told the St. Petersburg Times in 1999.
(“Plans Push Cheaper Medicines” St. Petersburg Times, February 28, 1999)
Political appointees limit drugs to Medicaid patients
Arduin’s radical plan for Jeb Bush included installing a politically-appointed panel that “would describe which drugs require authorization,” according to the St. Petersburg Times.
(“Medicaid Cost-Cutters looking to lose Viagra” St. Petersburg Times, April 19, 1999)
Getting “compassionate conservative” rhetoric down, Arduin begins to claim that limiting Medicaid drugs was to benefit other social programs
Where before Arduin provided no “compassionate conservative” justification, in 2000, she justified a draconian program to limit Medicaid drugs by claiming (falsely) that it was being done to expand other social spending. She told the Ledger that, “We’re trying to manage our funds better so we can use the funds for other needs like developmental disabilities and improving student achievement.”
(“Bush Aims to Cut Medicaid Drug Costs” The Ledger [Lakeland, Fla] February 21, 2000)
Arduin’s “efficiency” rhetoric is a sham
As Arduin continued to work for Republican governors seeking to cut Medicaid and social services, her game plan was clear. A Florida lobbyist described it thusly in 2003: “There have been a lot of serious cuts proposed…It was always done in the name of efficiency and streamlining, and the rhetoric always followed that it was not going to hurt the delivery of servides, which in fact never was true.”
(“Budget auditor may target social services” Sacramento Bee [California] October 19, 2003)
Cuts to therapy for the disabled and AIDS programs and reduced payment rates for Medicaid
As part of her controversial 2003 proposal of cuts to California’s Medicaid program, Arduin targeted disabled children and immigrants with AIDS. As well, she sought lower payments to doctors and hospitals for Medicaid patients.(“Schwarzenegger Aide Offers First List of Proposed Budget Cuts” The New York Times November 26, 2003)
Would put tens of thousands of children on a waiting list for Medicaid
Arduin proposed placing tends of thousands of California children on a waiting list for Medicaid benefits as part of her 2003 proposal.
(“Schwarzenegger proposal alarms children health advocates” Associated Press December 1, 2003)
“Donna Arduin is (Gov. Schwarznegger’s) John Ashcroft.”
As she proposed massive cuts to California’s Medicaid program, Arduin was compared in 2004 to the ideologically pure member of George W. Bush’s cabinet. “Her history has been one of slashing and burning on social programs,” one legislator said.
(“Governor’s Hard-Nosed Budget Boss; Arduin Known for Tough Fiscal Views” San Jose Mercury News March 8, 2004)
Draconian proposals included ending access protections for developmentally disabled
Arduin’s massive cuts to Medicaid and social programs were rejected in budget talks in California in 2004, but not before she proposed ending legislation guaranteeing access to programs for the developmentally disabled, care for homebound family members and a string of Medicaid caps.
(“Revised budget backs off cuts; $103 billion plan mostly spares health services” Sacramento Bee [California] May 14, 2004)
Rejects legislative oversight and storms out of hearing
During Schwarznegger’s first week in office, according to the Los Angeles Times, Arduin stormed out of a committee hearing during a question. She left the position in California after 11 months and in controversy.
(“Audit to Leave Finance Position” Los Angeles Times October 14, 2004)
Sought to end $10 million program for strays and more quickly euthanize cats and dogs
As part of her round of cuts in California, Arduin proposed ending $10 million in aid to shelters which would have “shortened the length of time dogs and cats are kept alive at shelters.”
(”A Florida Transplant, Arduin was on Job for Less than a Year” San Francisco Chronicle October 14, 2004)
Anti-ObamaCare, free-market Medicaid voucher program a failure
Arduin has been a critic of ObamaCare and has proposed vouchers as a replacement. A pilot plan in Florida she supported was a total failure. “Hardly any of the 300,000 Medicaid patients enrolled in the pilot project…” the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel reported.
(“Skimming Through the GOP Gubernatorial Job Plans” Sun-Sentinel [Fort Lauderdale, Florida] July 29, 2010)
* I’ll be on Jak Tichenor’s Illinois Lawmakers program today before and after the governor’s budget address. Click here to watch. You can watch Speaker Madigan’s budget react by clicking here.
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner on Wednesday plans to propose a 6.7 percent increase in general school spending despite signals that he’ll call for major cuts elsewhere during his first budget speech.
A Rauner adviser said the governor will suggest a $300 million boost in general state aid, the main pot of state dollars for education. […]
The increase would build on the more than $4.5 billion lawmakers in general aid signed off on last year. However, it would fall $266 million short from what the Illinois State Board of Education says is needed to reach what’s called the “foundation level” — the minimum amount of spending per student to provide a basic education. That benchmark is $6,119 per pupil, which education officials said would require spending more than $5 billion a year.
Still, Rauner’s office said it was “proud of the commitment we are making in this budget,” saying education spending has been cut in recent years even when it didn’t need to be.
In a report released [yesterday], the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability—a group that leans left but generally gets its math right—says just 11.8 percent of Illinois individual income tax payers got 54.5 percent of the savings when… the tax rate dropped from 5 percent back to 3.75 percent. […]
According to the analysis of state tax collections, those with an adjusted gross income of more than $1 million make up just 2 percent of tax filers, but they got 13.5 percent of the savings, with an average of $37,000. Those with AGI of $200,000 to $1 million got 19.2 percent of the savings, and those earning between $100,000 and $200,000 captured 21.7 percent.
Of course, it’s hard to get much money out of low-income people who don’t make much. To put that a different way, the rich of course will benefit most from a tax cut, at least in the short run, because they make the most.
But the relative shares of who got what still are pretty stark. According to the analysis, the combined savings netted by every taxpayer in the state who reported AGI of under $35,000 was less than the savings earned by the 0.2 percent of taxpayers who are millionaires.
(B)y focusing the majority of tax relief on top income earners, the phase-down of the personal income tax rate cannot be expected to generate much economic activity. That’s because the economy is primarily made up of consumer spending, and typically, affluent families are not likely to spend most of the tax relief they receive, because their disposable income is already increasing significantly over time. Given this growth in disposable income, affluent families do not have significant unmet needs, and tend to save rather than spend what they receive in tax relief.
Low and middle income families, however, have greater unmet needs because in real terms their earnings are declining over time.1 So when low or middle income households obtain an additional dollar of income—say through targeted tax relief—they tend to spend that dollar in the consumer economy. Unfortunately, the bottom 60 percent of income earners in Illinois will receive only $491 million or 13.2 percent of the $3.7 billion in tax relief from the phase-down, which greatly diminishes any potential the phase-down has to stimulate spending.
In fact, to the extent that there is any mild stimulative impact that can be anticipated from the phase-down of the personal income tax rate, it will be negated by the public service spending cuts that will have to be made to pay for the $3.7 billion loss in recurring tax revenue it causes.
* A commenter pointed to this 2014 statement yesterday by Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle as an explanation for why Gov. Bruce Rauner is so hostile to unions. He’s always been hostile to unions…
[Preckwinkle] told a reporter that long before Rauner was a gubernatorial candidate, she had interviewed him for an opening on the board of the county health system, and was turned off by him then.
“First of all, he was very arrogant. He was a know-it-all,” Preckwinkle said.
“Second, he made claim to know about health care, and when I said, ‘What do you know?’ he said, ‘You know I own this health care company,’ and we’ve seen what that’s about. And then he went on a rant against public employee unions when I asked where the challenges were. I said, ‘You understand that almost all our workforce is unionized? How are you going to be an effective board member if that’s your attitude?’
Illinois’ new Republican governor on Wednesday will pitch a plan for fixing the state’s budget mess that includes deep cuts to Medicaid and higher education and a new plan for reducing pension costs, according to three lawmakers with knowledge of the proposal. […]
The three legislators, briefed on details of the plan discussed in a Tuesday meeting between Rauner and legislative leaders, told The Associated Press that the governor will recommend cutting Medicaid by $1.5 billion and reducing funding for higher education by nearly $400 million, or 31 percent. They said he’ll also propose reducing state aid to local governments and ask lawmakers to approve a new pension reform plan he says will save Illinois $2.2 billion. […]
A Rauner administration official said Tuesday the governor will call for hiring more prison guards and spending more money on mental health care for inmates. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly before the noon speech.
The mental health funds are aimed at meeting a federal court mandate that requires Illinois to improve its services, while the official said hiring more than 470 new prison guards would reduce overtime costs by about $10 million.
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 would establish the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum as an “independent entity,” according to an administration source with knowledge of the budget.
No details were immediately available on what form that entity would take.
The presidential library and museum is now managed by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, which oversees more than 50 historic sites and memorials across the state, including Lincoln’s Tomb and the Old State Capitol in Springfield and Cahokia Mounds in Collinsville.
Under Rauner’s proposal, the management of all sites under the Historic Preservation Agency — except the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield — would be transferred to the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. DCEO’s Illinois tourism office would be in charge of administration of the sites.
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Rauner wants to cut off services for former foster care children who have passed the age of 18, the source said.
News of that recommendation already drew the ire of the American Civil Liberties Union, which has longstanding legal battles with the state and its child welfare agency.
“For us to essentially throw them out on the street at age 18, if that’s what the governor is going to propose, is just plain cruel,” said Benjamin Wolf, associate legal director of the ACLU of Illinois. “If you want to increase homelessness and suffering, abandoning them at age 18 is a good place to start.”
Child-related funding that was spared the budget ax includes early childhood education. The governor wants to increase state support by $25.3 million. He also wants to continue funding for the All Kids health care program, including for undocumented children, and leave intact health and human services programs for children of immigrants.
Rauner wants the ability to move funds within the current budget to plug gaps in a day care program that helps low-income parents. The state’s main tax collection agency, the Department of Corrections and the Illinois State Police also face funding challenges that could be resolved by giving the governor more flexibility to shuffle money within the budget.
Madigan, however, said that concept remains a hard sell among Democrats.
“There are certain members of the legislature, Democrats and Republicans, who will not be anxious to give up authority,” Madigan said. “It’s going to require some persuasion.”
Slipping, dodging, sneaking
Creeping hiding out down the street
See me life shaking with every who I meet
Refried confusion is making itself clear
Wonder which way do I go to get on out of here
