Rauner would get to establish a private Illinois Business & Economic Development Corp. that would pick up many of the key functions of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, a state government agency. For instance, the corporation would have the power to negotiate tax incentive deals with companies, subject to final approval by DCEO. The idea is similar to proposals Rauner made during his race for governor.
Madigan, in turn, would get something he’s pushed for: the creation of an independent, free-standing agency to run the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. That responsibility would be taken away from the state’s Historic Preservation Agency, which would be dissolved and its remaining functions assumed by the DCEO, according to the proposal.
Madigan spokesman Steve Brown confirmed that the speaker agreed to put both the DCEO and Lincoln library clauses in the same bill. But he said Madigan only has agreed to “consider” privatizing some of DCEO’s responsibilities. “The speaker wants to look at it and see the ramifications,” Brown said.
But Mike Schrimpf, Rauner’s deputy chief of staff, said the measure should receive a committee hearing within a day or so and “could move through the House by the end of the week.”
* Last week, the state Senate held a hearing in Edwardsville about the governor’s budget cuts. According to the Senate Democrats, while SIUE officials were testifying about the possibility of big tuition increases and layoffs, some people assembled at the back of the room with pro-Rauner signs. Sen. Bill Haine, who was hosting the hearing since he represents the area, interrupted the SIU officials to note the Rauner supporters and ask if they’d like to testify.
They quickly lowered their signs and left. It’s today’s must-watch video…
State Representative David McSweeney’s (R-Barrington Hills) bill banning red light cameras will advance to the House Floor after the House Cities and Villages Committee approved the measure yesterday by a vote of 4-3. House Bill 173 would remove the authority of non-home-rule municipalities to operate red light cameras after January 1, 2017.
“Studies continue to confirm that red light cameras do not enhance safety,” Rep. McSweeney said. “In many cases, these cameras create unsafe conditions because drivers will slam on the brakes at a yellow light to avoid getting a ticket. Many Illinois residents rightly perceive these cameras as more about increasing revenue for local governments than actually keeping motorists safe.”
The bill is a response to investigations into the implementation and effectiveness of red light cameras. The implementation of such systems has been rife with abuse and is seen by many as more of a money making endeavor for local governments than a measure to promote safety.
“It’s become clear that these systems are ineffective, the benefits minimal, and the negative consequences on citizens unwarranted” stated McSweeney. “My legislation takes a significant step forward in dramatically reducing red light cameras in Illinois.”
Currently the Illinois Vehicle Code provides the authority to use red light automated traffic law enforcement systems at intersections in which cameras are used to photograph or video record a motor vehicle’s failure to stop and yield as required by traffic control signals. Eight counties in Illinois currently have that authority. The bill would take effect January 1, 2017.
* License plate enthusiasts may not like this bill, though…
The Illinois House Monday took a first step toward possibly ending the dizzying proliferation of specialty license plates in the state.
By a 108-1 vote, the House approved a bill that calls for creation of a universal specialty plate that can then be sold to support a variety of charitable causes.
If the bill eventually becomes law, the state would no longer issue new plate designs for charitable causes approved by the legislature.
“It’s hard for police officers to keep up with every plate on the street,” said Rep. John D’Amico, D-Chicago, sponsor of House Bill 1081. “It seems like we constantly have more and more plates coming before us. This would stop these plates from growing out of control.”
Oberweis says at first he thought his proposal would be championed by the car dealers, but quickly found out that wasn’t the case and there were lobbying groups in support of the Sunday sales ban. David Sloan of the Chicago Auto Trade Association says the bill, advocated by car dealer associations 32 years ago, helps car dealers in the marketplace where the competition is already heavy.
“They are working their tails off to compete and this is something that helps them.”
But, Oberweis says it is still fundamentally wrong for government to tell a business they can’t be open on a particular day.
“It’s wrong for government to do that. It’s wrong for government to do that even if the dealers want it. And it’s almost even arguably more wrong when the dealers are using this to prevent competition, to squash competition in the marketplace.”
Oberweis says a recent poll conducted by We Ask America found that by 2 to 1 consumers favor having the option of buying a car on Sunday. Illinois is one of 15 states that regulate car sales on Sunday with an outright ban from the practice. Last year, the Federal Trade Commission came out in support of lifting the ban saying the law limits choice for the consumer and unfairly stifles competition
* Illinois Review has a list of conservatives who are endorsing state Sen. Darin LaHood for Congress…
Rev. Bob Vanden Bosch, Concerned Christians of America
Paul Caprio, Director, Family PAC
Denise Cattoni, Founder, Illinois Tea Party*
State Senator Sam McCann (R-50)
State Senator Kyle McCarter (R-54)
State Representative Tom Morrison (R-54)
State Senator Jim Oberweis (R- 25)
Dan Proft, conservative radio talk show host
Penny Pullen, former Illinois State Representative & President, Eagle Forum of Illinois
Ralph Rivera, Chairman, Illinois Citizens for Life Federal PAC
Bobby Schilling, former Congressman (IL-17)
Paul Schimpf, former Illinois Attorney General candidate
David Smith, Executive Director, Illinois Family Institute
Joe Walsh, former Congressman (IL-8)
*title for identification purposes only
Anybody who says LaHood isn’t a tea partier is out of their freaking minds.
Monday [was] the final day to file nominating papers for the July 7 primary. Donald Reints of Benson and Mike Flynn of Quincy have filed paperwork to challenge Darin LaHood in the Republican primary. Adam Lopez of Springfield and Rob Mellon of Quincy have filed to run as Democrats.
Everybody I know who has met with Mike Flynn in recent weeks has come away impressed. Despite his hardcore reputation, he’s apparently a nice guy. We’ll see if he gathered enough petitions.
* I’m not sure what a minority party congressman can do about this problem because others from the majority party have tried and failed in the past and we have a President who is from here and it still hasn’t gotten much better, but Foster’s office asked that I pass this along, so…
* House Speaker Michael Madigan’s special oversight committee designed to get to the bottom of what happened after the Fiscal Year 2015 fix was approved met this morning. The governor’s budget director Tim Nuding is testifying as I write this. Follow along with a ScribbleLive roundup…
Governor Bruce Rauner [yesterday] met with Lieutenant Governor Evelyn Sanguinetti, State Senator Martin Sandoval, State Representative Luis Arroyo, Department of Labor Director Hugo Chaviano, Jovita Carranza, Lazaro Lopez and Manny Sanchez at the first Latino Working Group meeting.
This working group is being convened to create a forum for the governor and lieutenant governor to work with Latino members of the General Assembly and Latino members in the administration to focus on issues of concern to Latino families and businesses.
“The goal of this working group is to drive the Turnaround Agenda and make positive short-term and long-term differences to benefit the Latino community throughout Illinois,” Rauner said. “We need to empower Latinos and give them the tools and every opportunity to succeed.”
“Governor Rauner sent a powerful message to the Latino community when he selected me as his lieutenant governor,” Sanguinetti said. “I will continue to work hard to ensure the Latino community thrives here in Illinois.”
That’s a really good idea. Sandoval is Speaker Madigan’s Senator, so that doesn’t hurt, either.
* Building personal relationships is a vital first step, and as this story about the controversial FY 15 budget deal shows, it can soothe some wounds as well…
“Trust is a big thing and it is very difficult to continue negotiations with someone that you don’t believe is working in full faith,” said Rep. Pamela Reaves-Harris, a Chicago Democrat, when asked whether trust is broken.
She says the budget fix was a hard vote in the first place because it cut state services. She was taken aback when Rauner went ahead and unexpectedly cut more. […]
Despite the misunderstanding, Reaves-Harris says she’s willing to give Rauner a break. For one, Rauner has made a point to meet with legislators and reached out to Reaves-Harris and other members of the black caucus to try to smooth things over. Plus, like Rauner, she’s new to state government.
“So I’m learning as I go along. This process is very difficult,” she said. “You always have opposites sides, two sides of the story. And so when you’re trying to come to a compromise, that can be very difficult.”
* Meanwhile, from IDOT…
– The Illinois Department of Transportation, in conjunction with the Illinois Capital Development Board, announced today the start of a series of listening sessions over the next month to discuss the state’s infrastructure needs and the steps required to make sure the right investments are being made to keep Illinois competitive in a 21st century global economy. The meetings will be held in multiple communities throughout the state, with a goal of presenting Governor Rauner’s office with a comprehensive package of recommendations for consideration this spring.
“With a world-class system of roads, transit systems, airports and railroads, Illinois is rich in transportation infrastructure, but we are at a crossroads. This asset makes us stand out, but it is beginning to deteriorate and in need of reinvestment,” said Acting Illinois Transportation Secretary Randy Blankenhorn. “These meetings with the Capital Development Board are a listening tour to help us rebuild and craft a plan going forward that allows Illinois to continue to serve as the transportation hub of North America and build top-notch state facilities so we can grow our economy and improve our quality of life”
The initial meetings will be announced in the coming days. Future dates and locations will be updated regularly at www.idot.illinois.gov.
At each stop, the objective will be to engage residents, businesses, local leaders and various stakeholders in identifying the infrastructure challenges we face and setting the priorities for investing now and for future generations. Among the topics that will be addressed are establishing needs and priorities, improving deteriorating roads, bridges and transit systems, providing better access across multiple transportation modes and reinvesting in state facilities, such as schools and state parks.
“I look forward to hearing the views and thoughts on transportation from the broad spectrum of people who make up our great state,” Blankenhorn said. “The time to rethink our transportation goals and priorities is now. Inaction is no longer an option.”
Nothing helps, um, pave the way for legislative cooperation quite like capital projects. Kind of a late start, though. Tick tock.
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner on Monday sought to distance himself and a private education group he helps fund from the growing scandal over a $20.5 million no-bid contract at Chicago Public Schools that is under federal investigation.
The governor’s comments were the first since it was disclosed that federal investigators have demanded Chicago Public Schools records related to the Chicago Public Education Fund, a nonprofit education group closely aligned with the education initiatives of both Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Rauner.
The scandal has focused on CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett, who once worked for the Wilmette-based SUPES Academy company that received the no-bid contract to train school principals. The district announced Friday that she is taking a leave of absence.
The SUPES training program was launched with seed money from the nonprofit education fund. CPS took over and expanded the program after the first year.
First, Rauner mistakenly argued that the Chicago Public Education Fund had no connection to the firm at the center of the scandal. Then he characterized himself as occasionally “frustrated” by the organization’s lack of independence from City Hall. […]
“Let’s back up. Illinois and Chicago have a long, long sordid history of insider dealing and corruption and conflict of interest. . . . That particular group, I don’t know anything about, was brought in by I believe by this CEO of schools,” Rauner said. “It wasn’t brought in by the fund, by the foundation.”
Rauner was corrected by a reporter who asked the question from the audience, saying it was the Fund that Rauner was once part of that in fact brought in SUPES.
Rauner replied: “I believe that Barbara had worked there before? Had worked for that group? Anyway, but let me finish the point. I believe in public-private partnerships. I believe that there can be private capital brought to assist government in turning itself around, think that’s a good thing.
“My experience with the education fund has been mostly good although I will say this: The fund didn’t make many of its own decisions as much as it was a facilitator for the mayor or the schools leaders. It was really more of a support group rather than a truly independent group. That was a source of frustration to me at the time. The investigation, I hope the potential wrongdoing that I read about didn’t occur, I don’t know.”
Throwing the mayor under the bus likely wasn’t a good idea, either.
* Yes, Rauner once chaired the Chicago Public Education Fund. He has lots of ties to the group, as do a whole lot of other Chicago elites. And the CPEF released this statement yesterday…
The Chicago Public Education Fund is a nonprofit organization that has made more than $50 million in grants over the past 15 years, primarily to organizations working with teachers and principals in Chicago’s public schools. In 2011, our organization made a $380,000 grant to SUPES Academy for a one-year pilot program to train CPS network chiefs and their deputies. Network chiefs are the CPS employees who supervise and manage school principals.
In 2012, following the completion of that pilot program, we declined a request by CPS leadership to provide a second year of funding for SUPES Academy training of principals. The Chicago Public Education Fund, its directors, and its staff have had no involvement with SUPES Academy since 2012.
We have been advised that our participation in the recent investigation regarding CPS and SUPES Academy is solely as a witness. We continue to cooperate in the ongoing federal investigation. Throughout this process, we remain focused on our commitment to the education of all of Chicago’s students and to the educators in our schools.
They withdrew funding and have been told by the feds that they’re merely a “witness.” I kinda think this Rauner angle is a bit overblown.
A divided City Council voted to support Gov. Bruce Rauner’s “Turnaround Agenda,” his plan for fixing what ails Illinois.
The vote was 8-5 on a resolution that dominated discussion Monday, even though it was a nonbinding measure that will be sent to Springfield in support of Rauner. Winnebago County endorsed the measure April 9. […]
“I’m a Democrat, but I like 90 percent of what’s on here,” said Ald. Venita Hervey, D-5.
Hervey voted with the majority, which included Republicans Tim Durkee, Jamie Getchius, Kevin Frost, Frank Beach, John Beck and Joseph Chiarelli, and independent Teena Newburg. Democrats Tom McNamara, Marcus Hill, Jeanne Oddo, Karen Elyea and Linda McNeely voted against the measure.
Beach said the state has money problems that it has to deal with, and this was a way to start a discussion. Durkee said the government needs reforming.
“I’ve diagnosed Springfield as insane,” said Durkee, a physician.
Recent developments in Illinois and New Jersey are lessening the chances of state intervention that could result in better outcomes for bondholders than allowing distress to lead to bankruptcy, Fitch Ratings says. We believe efforts to resolve looming budget deficits and ensure the affordability of long-term obligations would be more productive than focusing on easing laws or practices to allow bankruptcy.
Illinois governor Bruce Rauner recently proposed granting the authority to local governments to file a Chapter 9 petition. The proposal is similar to a law introduced by a state representative last fall. It supports Fitch’s view that the needs of a distressed municipality are a better indication of the possibility of bankruptcy than whether current state law allows it. Current Illinois law bars local governments with populations over 25,000 from filing a Chapter 9 petition.
Further fueling concerns about the credit quality of Chicago Public Schools (CPS), Governor Rauner said this week that he fears the district may need bankruptcy as a solution to its large budget imbalance. According to CPS analysis, their reserves will likely be fully depleted by the end of fiscal 2016.
In New Jersey, the recent appointment of corporate restructuring experts to assist Atlantic City in resolving the city’s fiscal crisis appears at odds with the state’s strong history of aiding local governments to prevent the type of stress that could lead to bankruptcy. Of US states, New Jersey has historically provided among the strongest levels of early intervention to local governments with financial strain.
Fiscal intervention mechanisms vary by state. Most focus on helping local governments recover from distress, rather than preventing it. Many can approve or reject financial plans, budgets, and certain government contracts under state control. Their powers, however, are constrained by laws governing labor contracts, benefits including pension obligations, and service provision. Fitch believes this limits their ability to remediate financial distress.
