Working to bring closed-door discussions on important issues into the open, House Speaker Michael J. Madigan on Thursday announced the House will vote next week on proposals to change laws dealing with the civil justice system and assistance received by injured workers.
“Changes to the assistance received by those injured on the job and putting a constitutional limit on lawsuit judgments are at the top of the governor’s agenda, and they have a direct impact on the financial security of middle-class families and the victims of horrible tragedies due to the negligence of others,” Madigan said. “Changes to laws that impact so many Illinois families deserve serious and open discussions.”
Madigan said the House will vote on the issues on Thursday, May 21. Madigan’s announcement follows two full House hearings on the issues of assistance received by workers injured while on the job through no fault of their own and Illinois’ civil justice system and the protections it provides to victims and their families.
“We’ve had two thorough and informative hearings in the full House on both these issues, and legislators had a great opportunity to listen to the stories of real Illinois families, their experiences with Illinois’ workers’ compensation and civil justice systems compared to the systems in other states, and how their lives have been impacted,” Madigan said. “If the governor is serious about the changes he is proposing, the right thing to do now is for us to bring these issues into the open and have a constructive and open discussion, vote and see what steps need to be taken from there.”
Madigan pointed out the Legislature’s scheduled adjournment of May 31 is nearing. Madigan again encouraged the governor to file his legislation in anticipation of the votes next week.
Thursday, May 14, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
In 2011 the Workers’ Compensation “Reform” package was signed into law, aimed at lowering costs for employers in Illinois. These changes have had a negative effect on workers in Illinois and their ability to receive fair and reasonable compensation when they are injured on the job and have not resulted in insurance premium reductions for employers in Illinois, even though workers’ compensation costs have undeniably come down.
The National Academy of Social Insurance reports workers’ compensation is the second most profitable line of insurance after auto insurance. Over 300 insurance companies compete for and write workers’ compensation insurance in Illinois, more than just about any other state in the country. If Illinois is so unprofitable, why are these insurance companies climbing over one another to sell insurance here? It may be because insurance companies in Illinois are essentially unregulated when it comes to setting insurance premiums.
Decreased benefits for injured workers, medical reimbursements plummeting, claims falling, and reduced costs have all resulted in big profits for the insurance industry. This is the real result of the 2011 workers’ compensation reform.
Any further changes in workers’ compensation laws should instead look to promote insurance premium transparency and oversight – not further sacrifices by the injured worker.
For more information on workers’ compensation, click here.
While government union executives like to complain about the state shorting past pension payments (in some instances to maintain or grow the workforce unions could skim dues off of), just 40% of the unfunded liability can be attributed to a lack of funding. More generous benefits, actuarial miscalculations and lackluster investment returns account for most of the problem.
It’s not like taxpayers have not already paid their fair share. According to an analysis… “While government worker contributions to Illinois’ five pension systems have increased by 75 percent since 1998, taxpayer contributions have increased by 427 percent over the same period. In 2012 alone, Illinois taxpayers contributed $3.5 billion more to the pension systems than state workers did.”
Yeah, well, when the state doesn’t make its payments and the employees do, the state’s payments are gonna rise a whole lot more than the workers’ payments when the state tries to catch up.
Anybody wanna guess which organization produced all three of the above paragraphs?
Thursday, May 14, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Over 60 organizations representing a broad coalition of business, labor, conservation and civic organizations from across Illinois and around the country signed an open letter to voice their support for the Illinois Low Carbon Portfolio Standard (LCPS) (HB 3293/SB 1585), currently being considered by the Illinois General Assembly.
Signatories include the Chicago Urban League, Exelon, GE Hitachi, IBEW Local 15, Illinois AFL-CIO, Illinois Clean Energy Coalition, Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Illinois Pipe Trades Association, Sargent & Lundy and United Scrap. Their support comes on the heels of a rally in the state capitol last week that drew nearly 600 Illinoisans who delivered a petition with over 10,000 signatures urging state lawmakers to enact the legislation.
“Illinois’ nuclear facilities provide tremendous economic, reliability and environmental benefits to the state and the region,” said John Grimes, vice president of GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy. “The Low Carbon Portfolio Standard is the only legislation that properly values these plants. We urge the General Assembly to vote yes on this important bill.”
Illinois’ six nuclear energy facilities generate nearly half of the state’s electricity and 90 percent of Illinois’ low-carbon electricity. However, three of these plants have been losing significant amounts of money each year and may soon close without legislative action. If these plants close early, it will cost the state an estimated $1.8 billion per year in economic activity, 8,000 jobs and up to $500 million per year in higher electric costs statewide, according to a State of Illinois report.
* Gov. Bruce Rauner told Statehouse reporters today that he and the legislative leaders are “feverishly endeavoring” to come up with a viable pension reform solution. He also said they might pursue “several options simultaneously” and send them all to the courts. He laughed off a question about the Illinois Policy Institute’s idea to fire all state workers and put them in a new pension plan. Rauner said he will “negotiate in good faith” with the unions.
He also spoke a bit about “right to work,” blaming “special interest groups” for opposing his changes. He encouraged Republican lawmakers to “stay unified” with his program.
* “We have taken a number of things off the table,” Rauner said about his “Turnaround Agenda,” but wouldn’t say what those things were. He also dodged a question about a potential income tax hike.
And despite all the secret “working group” meetings, Rauner claimed he was being totally transparent, and essentially blamed the secrecy on the General Assembly, which is, sorry to say, a total crock.
Thursday, May 14, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Maybe Exelon should bail out CPS and the City of Chicago instead of demanding a $1.6 BILLION subsidy form struggling family, business and government ratepayers.
“A plan to financially reward Exelon Corp. for producing no-carbon energy and potentially save three Illinois nuclear plants from closure would cost ratepayers $1.6 billion over five years and strain budgets for financially strapped businesses and municipal governments, a study released Tuesday found.” - Associated Press, 4/21/15
We simply can’t afford to pad the pockets of Exelon shareholders while governments from Chicago to Cairo are in such dire straits. Businesses and governments can learn how much the bailout would cost them at www.noexelonbailout.com/calculator.
Just say no to the Exelon bailout. Vote no on SB1585/HB3293.
BEST Coalition is a 501C4 nonprofit group of dozens of business, consumer and government groups, as well as large and small businesses. Visit www.noexelonbailout.com.
BIG, SCARY NUMBERS: Chicago’s unfunded liability from four pension funds is $20 billion and growing, hitting every city resident with an obligation of about $7,400. Detroit’s, whose population of about 689,000 is roughly a quarter of Chicago’s, had a retirement funding gap of $3.5 billion, meaning each resident was liable for $5,100.
For one thing, Chicagoans can afford more than broke, under-educated Detroit residents…
Detroit: Median household income, 2009-2013 $26,325 Chicago: Median household income, 2009-2013 $47,270
Detroit: Median value of owner-occupied housing units, 2009-2013 $50,400 Chicago: Median value of owner-occupied housing units, 2009-2013 $233,200
Detroit: Bachelor’s degree or higher, percent of persons age 25+, 2009-2013 12.7% Chicago: Bachelor’s degree or higher, percent of persons age 25+, 2009-2013 34.2%
Detroit’s economy has been Iraq-style devastated for years.
Also, that unfunded liability is longterm debt unless all employees decide to retire tomorrow, which they won’t. The city absolutely must start paying down its debts, but it doesn’t have to do that all at once. It ain’t gonna be easy, there’s much pain ahead, but the screamers need to calm the heck down a bit.
HOSTILE COURT: When Detroit filed for Chapter 9 in July 2013, a federal bankruptcy judge exerted his considerable powers and decreed that everyone—taxpayers, employees, bondholders and creditors alike—would get a haircut to settle the crisis. When the Illinois Supreme Court ruled on May 8, it said the state couldn’t cut pension benefits as part of a solution to restructure the state retirement system.
False equivalency. A state court is not a federal bankruptcy court. And this situation clearly hasn’t had a chance to play itself out yet. I mean, it’s been less than a week since the Supremes ruled. If you want to jump out your window, be my guest. I think you’re a fool, but go right ahead.
POLITICAL PARALYSIS: Just as Detroit slid into bankruptcy after decades of economic and actuarial warnings, Chicago politicians have watched the train wreck rumble toward them for more than a decade. During that time, they skipped pension payments and paid scant attention to the financial damage being done. In 10 years starting in 2002, the city increased its bonded debt by 84 percent, according to the Civic Federation, which tracks city finances. That added more than $1,300 to the tab of every Chicago resident.
There’s no doubt that Chicago has been paralyzed with the tax fear and that Daley and Emanuel over-borrowed. There’s also no doubt that Detroit’s economic problems have been far, far worse than Chicago’s. They couldn’t even afford to buy firefighters any equipment. The place had been a bombed-out ruin forever before it declared bankruptcy.
NO BAILOUT: Detroit’s bankruptcy filing allowed it to restructure its debt, officially snuffing out $7 billion of it by cutting pensions and payments to creditors. In Illinois, the nation’s lowest-rated state, with unfunded pension obligations of $111 billion, Rauner had a blunt message last week in an unprecedented address to Chicago’s City Council: The city will get no state bailout.
It’s simply too early to tell if Gov. Rauner’s threat is real. We’ll probably know in a few weeks. There’s a whole lot of horse-trading ahead.
DENIAL: After years of denial, Detroit officials finally, if grudgingly, agreed to major surgery. At least for now, Chicago’s Emanuel is sticking to his view that the Illinois Supreme Court’s rejection of a state pension reform law doesn’t apply to the city. “That reform is not affected by today’s ruling, as we believe our plan fully complies with the State constitution because it fundamentally preserves and protects worker pensions,” he said in a statement on May 8.
Again, we need to let it play out a bit before rushing to screaming judgements.
* I want to make it crystal clear that I’m not attempting to downplay Chicago’s very real, very serious, even dire problems. The city is in a world of bigtime hurt. But it’s a Tier One city, not some backwater dumping ground. People have been saying Chicago would become another Detroit since at least the days when Harold Washington first ran for mayor. Know what happened? He raised taxes after years of avoidance by Richard J. Daley and his machine successors and the city eventually took off like a rocket. Emanuel tried to follow the Daley path after succeeding yet another Daley. It’s a failed strategy, and it has truly endangered the city’s fiscal and economic health. Taxes will have to rise so much that some people will leave. But it’s gonna take a whole lot more than that to make Chicago into Detroit.
Even before the triple-whammy to Chicago’s finances, Gov. Bruce Rauner was using the b-word, as in bankruptcy, particularly for CPS. That’s a status from which Detroit recently emerged.
Emanuel said Wednesday it would be “irresponsible and reckless to do that” as a first option. But, for the first time, he did not entirely rule out the possibility of bankruptcy. That would free the city and CPS to do things it would not otherwise be permitted to do while unions would lose their leverage.
“It exists. It can happen. [But] rushing there means you haven’t gone to your partners in labor and said, `Do you want to be part of the solution?’ ” Emanuel said.
Pressed on whether a post-election property tax increase was inevitable to solve the combined, $30 billion pension crisis at the city and the public schools, Emanuel insisted once again that raising property taxes was the “last option, not the first option.”
He maintained that the jackpot of revenue from a city-owned Chicago casino would be enough to save police and fire pension funds and that an end to the “double-taxation” of city residents for teacher pensions in Chicago and across the state would go a long way toward solving the $9.5 billion pension liability at CPS.
If the General Assembly and the governor can’t help sort this mess out, then it’s time to start worrying. Otherwise, we need some clear, calm heads around here for a change.
A lawsuit by unions and retirees challenging Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s changes to city pension funds ultimately will be decided by the Illinois Supreme Court when all is said and done, a Cook County judge said Wednesday.
To that end, Associate Judge Rita Novak set a July 9 hearing in the lawsuit centering on a state law the mayor pushed through to cut costs in an attempt to shore up the city laborers and municipal workers pension funds.
Gov. Bruce Rauner is sticking to his plan to reduce retirement benefits for government workers, even after a recent Illinois Supreme Court ruling severely limited options for cutting state pension costs, administration officials said Wednesday.
That position was relayed as the Republican governor dispatched a lawyer and policy adviser to a House committee to discuss the approach on pensions months after Rauner floated it. While no legislation has been filed, the new governor has talked broadly about moving all current workers to a less generous benefit package beginning in July. Upon retirement, those workers would collect two pensions — one from the more generous plan in place now, and a second from the less generous benefits accrued after July. […]
“We continue to believe that the governor’s proposal … is constitutional under the current constitution even after the Supreme Court’s ruling that came out Friday,” [Rauner administration attorney Kim Fowler] said.
The Rauner team’s view is that the court was unclear about whether future benefits have the same protections as those benefits already earned. “We don’t think the court clearly answered what benefits are protected,” Fowler said.
C’mon. The Supremes were abundantly clear. Do we have to go over this yet again?…
Under article XIII, section 5, members of pension plans subject to its provisions have a legally enforceable right to receive the benefits they have been promised… The protections afforded to such benefits by article XIII, section 5 attach once an individual first embarks upon employment in a position covered by a public retirement system, not when the employee ultimately retires… Accordingly, once an individual begins work and becomes a member of a public retirement system, any subsequent changes to the Pension Code that would diminish the benefits conferred by membership in the retirement system cannot be applied to that individual.
Some Democrats on the committee said they disagreed. Rep. Scott Drury, D-Highwood, said that once an employee joins a pension system, they are locked into its benefits.
“We can increase the benefits, but once we do that, we can’t take it away,” Drury said. “The court poked a lot of holes in what we did. I think (Rauner’s plan) needs to be set aside because it’s just not realistic anymore. The holding is not nearly as ambiguous as you are making it out to be.”
Rep. Mike Zalewski, D-Riverside, expressed a similar view.
“There’s no reading of that decision that squares with your testimony here today,” he said. “Benefits are benefits under this law, and there’s nothing we can do to alter them. This false distinction between benefits earned and future benefits earned is not realistic.”
Republicans said they think the governor’s plan will work. Rep. Tom Morrison, R-Palatine, said he has had teachers in his district tell him they can accept Rauner’s plan because they know that pension costs are cutting into other state services, including education.
Rep. Carol Sente, D-Vernon Hills, said she liked Rauner’s proposal to amend the constitution to change the wording of the pension clause — although that couldn’t be voted on until November 2016 at the earliest — but that “I feel the ruling was very clear and I do feel that the items in this proposal are not constitutional and would fall to the same ends.”
“I do feel that a decision has been made and we’re going down the same path in a slightly different way,” she said.
“I think its absolutely fantastic,” state Rep. Jeanne Ives, R-Wheaton, said of the proposal.
The partisan split suggested attempts to rein in state pension problems will remain a major headache as lawmakers work toward a scheduled May 31 adjournment date.
“I feel like its groundhog day,” said state Rep. Elaine Nekritz, D-Northbrook.
The committee seemed less chilly to the governor’s desire for a constitutional amendment ballot question in time for the 2016 general election.
Fowler said the proposed amendment language would make clear that benefits already accrued under the law in effect during a period of service must be protected. With that said, the amendment also would make clear the General Assembly and governor have the right to alter pension statutes through new legislation, she said.
A three-fifths vote of each chamber of the Legislature could place a constitutional amendment question on the 2016 general election ballot. To be enacted it would also need approval by three-fifths of voting on the question or a majority of those voting in the election.
* Meanwhile, the News-Gazette editorialized about pension reform today, and added this little nugget…
[Senate President John] Cullerton’s planned legislation is not the only solution he’s put forward. Months ago, he suggested another approach.
It’s unclear if he was serious. But if he wasn’t then, he and others may be now because it could be the only way to hold the semblance of a line on pension costs.
Cullerton suggested the state refuse to agree to any future pay increases for state employees. If the state can’t take control of pension costs on the benefits end, perhaps it can through salary freezes.
Such a freeze would have to last several years to have a significant impact.
U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk is touting his recovery from a debilitating stroke in the first television ads of his 2016 re-election bid.
The Illinois Republican launched the ads Thursday in Chicago and the Champaign area.
The early ad buy — which his campaign says cost more than $320,000 — is a sign of how competitive the race is expected to be.
* The press release…
“Courage”, the first television ad of the 2016 U.S. Senate election in Illinois chronicles Senator Mark Kirk’s unending determination to fight for Illinois families in the Senate. The over $320,000 advertisement flight starts airing today on broadcast and cable networks in the Chicago and Champaign media markets.
“Because we all have our own steps to climb, Kirk in spite of his stroke, is driven to fight for Illinois families in the Unites States Senate. Senator Kirk’s independent voice in the midst of partisan gridlock is a source of pride for Illinois. Senator Kirk has climbed the steps of the Capitol for fellow stroke survivors, veterans and everyone in Illinois working to overcome a challenge in their own life. He goes to work for them,” said Kevin Artl, campaign manager for Kirk for Senate.
· In 2010, Senator Kirk won President Obama’s Illinois Senate Seat defeating former Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias in one of the closest elections in the nation.
· Despite suffering a major stroke in 2012, Senator Kirk returned to work just a year later and capped off his inspiring recovery by climbing the U.S. Capitol steps surrounded by a collection of bipartisan Congressional leaders.
· In 2015, Senator Kirk, a veteran of the U.S. Navy, created the group ‘Kirk’s Battle Buddies’, to offer encouragement, support, and counseling to fellow stroke survivors and veterans. ‘Kirk’s Battle Buddies’ participated in stair climbs at the John Hancock Center and Presidential Towers with more climbs scheduled this year.
Described in press accounts and by political pundits as a “moderate” and “independent”, Senator Kirk’s record has matched the description as he has often voted against party lines to support measures important to Illinois voters, including his work to protect the Great Lakes from pollution and contaminants, his support for marriage equality as a means to end discrimination and his votes for rigid background checks for gun purchases to prevent gang members from gaining access to firearms.
During previous elections when Kirk ran in a presidential year, Kirk has outperformed the Republican presidential candidate by an average of 12 points, demonstrating strong crossover appeal to independent voters and reform-minded democrats.
The Illinois House is planning a vote on Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s proposal that would allow local governments to permit workers to opt out of unions.
Democratic Speaker Michael J. Madigan’s office says Thursday’s vote is planned even though the governor hasn’t filed a bill with the Legislature.
Rauner has spent recent months pitching city councils and business groups on the idea of local “empowerment zones.” The zones would allow voters to make union membership voluntary, rather than mandatory, at unionized workplaces in their communities.
“Our message has been to House members that this is a very serious vote, we want to see a solid “no” vote,” said Illinois AFL-CIO president Michael T. Carrigan who represents the We Are One coalition of public unions in Illinois. Last week, House Republicans voted “present” when Madigan surprised them by putting Rauner’s social service cuts language into a bill and calling it for a vote. On Thursday, he’s expected to do the same with right to work, which is designed to undercut unions’ power.
“We’re not looking for “present” votes. Present votes are not acceptable,” Carrigan told the Chicago Sun-Times. “If there are too many absences by House members, we will look at their absences with suspicious eyes. No. It’s time to find out where an elected legislator, an elected person is on this subject.”
Sources say the governor’s office has been working behind the scenes to influence the Republican House caucus.
In recent weeks, in what is viewed as an attempted show of force by the governor, Rauner has moved hundreds of thousands of dollars into various campaign committees. That is on top of the $20 million already in Rauner’s campaign committee and millions more in a Turnaround Committee that says part of its mission is to “oppose those who stand in the way” of Rauner’s “bold and needed reforms.”
Even Republican lawmakers privately say they hope that a public vote will allow legislators to move forward on issues such as the budget and how to fund pensions.
Subscribers were told about Carrigan’s demands two days ago, and learned much more about the governor’s campaign contributions that same day, plus a behind the scenes account of the governor’s lobbying this morning.
