Thursday, Sep 24, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Recently, Exelon announced that all of its nuclear plants in the PJM market cleared the most recent capacity auction and that it will defer any decisions about the future operations of its Quad Cities and Byron nuclear plants for one year. As a result, the Quad Cities nuclear power plant will run through at least May 2018, while the Byron plant will run through at least May 2019.
This is encouraging news for Illinois. According to a report by the State of Illinois, the Quad Cities and Byron plants support 5,075 jobs and contribute $1.39 billion to the state’s economy. Overall, Illinois’ nuclear energy facilities produce 90 percent of the state’s carbon-free energy, support 28,000 jobs, and inject nearly $9 billion into the Illinois economy every year.
While the recent results of the PJM capacity auction which reflect new market reforms that better recognize the unique value of always-on nuclear energy is encouraging, Quad Cities and Byron, as well as Clinton, remain economically challenged. These plants are long-lived assets with decades of useful life left and today’s announcement is only a short-term reprieve. Policy reforms are still needed to level the playing field for all forms of clean energy and best position the State of Illinois to meet EPA’s new carbon reduction rules.
The Chicago Tribune filed a lawsuit Thursday alleging that Mayor Rahm Emanuel violated state open records laws by refusing to release communications about city business conducted through private emails and text messages.
The lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, asks a judge to order the mayor to comply with a state Freedom of Information Act request from the Tribune and produce the documents. The lawsuit also seeks to have Emanuel declared in violation of the Illinois Local Records Act for failing to preserve emails and texts he sent or received while doing city business. […]
Illinois law says written communications by government officials are subject to Freedom of Information Act requests. The law covers “electronic communications,” but does not spell out the rules for the use of personal email and text messages on private cellular phones, according to experts.
The office of Attorney General Lisa Madigan has issued an opinion on the matter. In 2011, in a case involving members of the Champaign City Council, Madigan’s public access counselor determined that written communications about government business on personal email accounts and private cellphones are subject to FOIA. In essence, the office said it was not the device that mattered but the person using the device and the content of the communications.
The case was appealed to the Illinois Appellate Court in Springfield, which took issue with some aspects of the attorney general’s opinion. But the court agreed that emails and texts on personal devices sent by council members during a public meeting were subject to FOIA.
On your blog, there has been a lot of discussion about a lack of good news. Today, the City of Chicago legalized food carts– a huge win for Hispanic food vendors who have been operating illegally. Additionally, this creates significant growth opportunities, similar to what we’ve seen from food trucks in Chicago.
Here is a copy of the legislation.
Matt
—
Matt Paprocki
Senior Vice President
Illinois Policy Action
Background article is here. The legislation is here.
* From Emily Miller at Voices for Illinois Children…
Today in an Illinois House Committee lawmakers discussed SB2046, a bill appropriating funds for social service programs, and Voices for Illinois Children heard a different tone from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
It seems that a growing number of lawmakers are listening to providers in their districts who are unsure how they will keep their doors open in the face of this budget impasse. There appears to be a growing understanding of the vital role these providers play, and a recognition that these services are worth paying for.
While SB2046 appropriates funds to pay for services, the promise of funding runs pretty shallow when you take into account the fact that Illinois lacks the revenue to make good on that promise.
Voices was very encouraged to hear Representative Tryon say in his remarks before the committee that the time to have a revenue discussion is now.
He wondered aloud how that conversation starts. We hope it just did.
I hate to say it, and I really hope I’m wrong, but I just don’t think things will move forward until some sort of major calamity happens - and maybe not even then.
Calamity isn’t enough. Then will come the blame game and then someone will have to clearly lose the blame game before this thing starts to resolve itself. Calamity will at best mark the end of the beginning and not the beginning of the end.
Thursday, Sep 24, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
The final results are in and as many analysts have noted, “Exelon was the big winner in this year’s [PJM grid capacity} auction.” Here are the highlights:
$1.7 BILLION RATE INCREASE FOR EXELON – Exelon engineered the new rules to increase their profits. Their $1.7 BILLION reward will be paid for by struggling Illinois ratepayers.
Byron and Quad Cities Both Cleared the Auction and are Obligated to Run Well into the Future
Exelon’s Low Carbon Portfolio Standard would have raised $1.6 billion over 5 ½ years for Exelon. The Capacity markets, under Exelon-pushed rules, earned Exelon $1.7 billion over only three years.
Illinois doesn’t have a balanced budget, service providers are being decimated and real people across Illinois are hurting. It’s time for Exelon to take their HUGE $1.7 BILLION WINDFALL and stop asking legislators to keep padding their profits.
Enough is enough!
Just Say “NO” to the Exelon Bailout
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.
* And, yes, we have video. GOP Rep. Ed Sullivan was rightly outraged at Sherman’s goofiness and Democratic Rep. Greg Harris correctly disassociated himself from the comments…
Also contrary to popular belief, the state does not tax its citizens more heavily than its neighbors. While Illinois ranks near the top nationally in property tax collections — all of which go to school districts and other local governments — the state is more middle-of-the-pack for state income and sales taxes as a percentage of personal income, according to the Federation of Tax Administrators.
* WalletHub recently ranked Illinois 46th worst for overall tax fairness. The first number is the overall rank, the second is for dependency on property taxes, the third is for dependency on income taxes and the fourth is dependency on other taxes…
You just can’t ignore property taxes. Yes, they’re local, but they’re high because of a lack of state support and because some governments are just way over-spending.
Those high property taxes meant WalletHub ranked Illinois as 10th worst for the middle class and 3rd worst for the bottom 20 percent.
As Senate President John Cullerton has argued for years, Illinois would be in much better financial shape if it had the exact same tax laws as some of its neighbors. For example, if Illinois had Wisconsin’s revenue structure — higher income tax rates, a tax on retirement income, sales tax on services — the Prairie State would collect almost $10 billion a year more than with its current taxing provisions, more than enough to cover Munger’s projected shortfall.
Or they would’ve already squandered it.
* None of this is to suggest that the state has no revenue deficiency problem. It obviously has one and raising income tax rates isn’t a killer on its own. But it also has a serious problem with high property taxes outside of Chicago, and even that’s about to change now. Those taxes should be factored into the equation, so something needs to be done about them alongside state revenue solutions.
An aide to Mayor Rahm Emanuel is testifying before state lawmakers on a proposed property tax exemption as Chicago looks to increase property taxes to help pay pensions.
Deputy Mayor Steven Koch told legislators Thursday that the city wants to protect residents whose homes are worth $250,000 or less and Chicago’s downtown business core will absorb much of the burden.
Emanuel has called for a $543 million property tax over next four years. But he needs sign off from Springfield on an exemption. Democratic legislative leaders say they’re on board, but Gov. Bruce Rauner hasn’t been as receptive.
* The Question: Do you support this concept? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
* It’s a credit to all the state’s many vendors that this hasn’t been a bigger problem already. How long these folks can hold out is anybody’s guess, however…
The state’s Department of Veterans’ Affairs confirmed Wednesday that some food vendors for the agency’s veterans homes have said they may have to suspend deliveries because of the state’s ongoing budget problems.
The agency said it is working to find alternative suppliers to ensure that food service is not interrupted to the four homes the state operates.
“There are vendors who either have, or may have to suspend deliveries in the future,” Veterans’ Affairs spokesman Ryan Yantis said in a prepared statement. “For those vendors, alternate solutions have been identified to ensure the homes receive needed supplies and services to continue to provide care to residents.”
Yantis said that includes finding other companies willing to supply the homes with food products.
That may not be easy, considering the somewhat remote locations of some of those homes.
Richard Tego hasn’t coped well with the recent cutoff of services to help him deal with autism.
“He will sit and cry because he can’t go see his friends,” his mother, Veronica Morse of Carlinville, said Wednesday. “He’s going back into his shell.”
Richard, 13, an eighth-grader at Carlinville Middle School, is among more than a dozen children who were cut off from services at The Autism Program of Illinois’ Springfield center in late August because of the ongoing state budget impasse.
The regression Morse has seen is what Autism Program officials fear will happen to hundreds of children statewide as the impasse continues to cause unprecedented damage to a network of autism diagnostic and treatment services that began to be developed in 2003. […]
Diagnostic services and treatments for children with autism have stopped at nonprofit agencies in Chicago and Charleston that receive state funding through The Autism Program, Bonanno said. A program in Rockford that gets money from the program soon may run out of cash.
The Illinois State Council of the Service Employees International Union said Wednesday that it has endorsed Chicago City Clerk Susana Mendoza for state comptroller next year.
The SEIU is one of the state’s most politically active unions, and its backing could help Mendoza in a Democratic primary bid against state Sen. Daniel Biss of Evanston. The two announced candidates are vying to face Republican Comptroller Leslie Munger in a special statewide election in 2016. Munger was appointed to the post by GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner after the December death of Judy Baar Topinka.
Tom Balanoff, president of the 150,000-worker SEIU Illinois council, said Mendoza would work to “to champion the needs of the most vulnerable Illinoisans by restoring balance, reviving neighborhoods and helping to build an economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthy few.”
With Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez on the electoral bubble, you can logically expect the Democrats and their allies will make sure there’s a Latina on the ticket next fall.
Construction and mining equipment maker Caterpillar plans to lay off more than 10,000 workers in a bid to save $1.5 billion a year in operating costs, it announced Thursday.
Nearly half those job losses — 4,000 to 5,000 salaried and management employees — will come before the end of 2016, with most completed this year, the company says in an SEC filing.
Doug Oberhelman, CEO of the Peoria-based firm, blamed “challenging marketplace conditions” in the energy and mining sectors, as Caterpillar, one of Illinois’ biggest employers, revised downward its sales projections for 2015 by $1 billion, to $48 billion.
It noted in a news release that this is the “company’s third consecutive down year for sales and revenues, and 2016 would mark the first time in Caterpillar’s 90-year history that sales and revenues have decreased four years in a row.”
· An expected permanent reduction in Caterpillar’s salaried and management workforce, including agency, of 4,000 – 5,000 people between now and the end of 2016, with most occurring in 2015, and with a total possible workforce reduction of more than 10,000 people, including the contemplated consolidation and closures of manufacturing facilities occurring through 2018.
· The company will offer a voluntary retirement enhancement program for qualifying employees, which will be completed by the end of 2015.
· Slightly less than half of the $1.5 billion of cost reduction is expected to be from lower Selling, General and Administrative (SG&A) costs. The reduction in SG&A will largely be in place and effective in 2016 and occur across the company.
· The remaining cost reductions are expected to come from lower period manufacturing costs, including savings from additional contemplated facility consolidations and closures, which could impact more than 20 facilities and slightly more than 10 percent of our manufacturing square footage. A portion of these cost reductions are expected to be effective in 2016, with more savings anticipated in 2017 and 2018.
Caterpillar remains committed to Peoria, though with Thursday’s announcement central Illinoisans shouldn’t expect construction to begin soon on the new Downtown world headquarters complex.
That was the message from the Fortune 50 company after announcing a significant restructuring and the likely reduction of 4,000 to 5,000 employees worldwide by the end of 2016 and potentially as many as 10,000 — with likely facility closures or consolidations — by 2018.
“Above all, we remain committed to Peoria and Illinois,” spokeswoman Rachel Potts said. “Our vision and our hopes and plans for a headquarters in Downtown have not changed.”
That said, “given the current conditions, now is not the time to start, and we cannot say now when that will begin,” she said by phone Thursday morning.
Illinois Times [yesterday] sued Gov. Bruce Rauner after Attorney General Lisa Madigan ruled that the governor must turn over his appointment calendar in response to the paper’s request made under the state Freedom of Information Act.
The newspaper asked for Rauner’s appointment calendar last spring after the governor walked out of a Holocaust remembrance ceremony. The newspaper’s request came after the governor’s press office ignored an emailed query asking where the governor had gone while a Holocaust survivor spoke at the annual ceremony held at the Old State Capitol.
Rauner gave the newspaper a redacted version of his appointment calendar showing that he had attended a meeting in the governor’s office while the ceremony continued. The governor redacted the names of the person, or people, with whom he met. The newspaper subsequently appealed to the attorney general, who ruled that Rauner must disclose the names of the people who attend meetings memorialized in his appointment calendar, which is prepared by public employees on public time using public equipment.
Rauner had claimed that the calendar was maintained for the governor’s convenience, but the attorney general determined that the calendar is the public’s business.
“(T)his office’s review of the redacted entries indicates that they all appear to pertain to the business of the state, rather than the personal affairs or private business interests of the governor,” Michael J. Luke, counsel to Madigan, wrote in the 18-page decision issued Tuesday. “Because the governor’s calendar was prepared and is maintained by the governor’s office and pertains to public business, it is a public record of the governor’s office for purposes of the Illinois FOIA.”
Governors leave events early all the time, but he kinda walked right into that one, so to speak.
Thursday, Sep 24, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
When you join a credit union, you’re a member — one of nearly three million in Illinois. Even so, members are not just a number. They know their credit union is a trustworthy place where the best interests of individuals and their communities come first.
Cornerstone Credit Union in Northwestern Illinois is no exception, where helping their members build strong financial futures, offering community assistance and supporting aspiring college students are top priorities.
A Community Relations Committee empowers staff to fulfill year-round outreach programs. This has been a top level initiative because the credit union’s board of directors, who serve in a volunteer capacity themselves, value the fundamental credit union principle of freely offering assistance to their neighbors in need.
For the past 17 years, Cornerstone has facilitated a scholarship program to the tune of two, $5,000 scholarships for local college students per year. That’s $170,000 of welcome relief given back to local families faced with the continuing rise of college tuition.
When life presents many financial challenges and opportunities, credit unions are the best partner to help members build strong financial futures. Isn’t it nice to know that someone is looking out for your best interests? Credit unions truly are A Smarter Choice.
* WBEZ’s Tony Arnold has a long story today about Richard Goldberg, AKA the governor’s chief legislative liason , AKA “The Prince of Snarkness.” We’ve already covered pretty much everything in the piece, but there are some funny new lines. For instance, Senate President Pro Tempore Don Harmon offered up this observation…
“Rich’s job is to be the governor’s unmentionable anatomy. And he embraces that role with the flare and enthusiasm that can only have been born of years of experience in fraternity houses and undergraduate bars,” Harmon said.
After the initial interview with Harmon, WBEZ went back to clarify what the senator mean when he said, “unmentionable anatomy.” He said he meant something that rhymes with “grass bowl.”
Rauner’s administration did not make Goldberg available for an interview for this story. But his office did send a written statement.
“It’s no surprise that these local legislators aren’t willing to clean up Springfield, when they relish the opportunity to personally attack a Navy reservist who served our country fighting terrorism in Afghanistan,” said Lance Trover, a Rauner spokesman.
In other words, Trover said: Hey Democrats, you just called a war veteran a ‘grass bowl.’
And we wonder why the two sides ain’t getting anywhere. /snark
