35 Comments - Johnny Pyle Driver - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 12:52 pm: I mean, road projects stop on July 1 right? And schools don’t open til august? I’m guessing I’m missing something - Formerly Known As... - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 12:52 pm: =is supposed to be the product of the bipartisan working groups= If this doesn’t get a vote, it will say a great deal about Speaker Madigan’s desire for continuing the =epic struggle= even in the face of possible compromise. - A guy - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 12:53 pm: Nail head, meet hammer. Rich, you are precisely right. Parents are already wigged out about the schools not opening on time. I can’t imagine members of both parties not coming back with that seared in their heads. If they don’t, they haven’t spent their extra free time in June talking to people in their districts. - 32nd Ward Roscoe Village - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 12:55 pm: –The “panic” of a threatened IDOT shutdown is gonna pale in comparison to the reaction of parents who are gonna freak out beyond all previous freak-outs if K-12 isn’t taken care of pretty darned soon.– Amen, with gusto. This is the key. No one but the inner circle are panicking over an IDOT shutdown. Normal citizens dealing with street closures and road construction all day long, every season long. Northsiders have been dealing the past several months with the Western Ave. street closures by the old Riverview site and the complete rebuild of the Elston-Fullerton-Damen intersection. We would not miss more construction. There will be a freak out over no CPS in the fall!! - A guy - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 12:55 pm: Johnny PD, School is a lot more than school. It’s a safe place while parents work. It’s the most productive, lowest cost day care there is. It upsets their “daily” lives. Asphalt…doesn’t. - Formerly Known As... - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 12:55 pm: The heat from all the calls being placed by parents will melt phone lines to member offices if K-12 does not open on time due to a hostage situation. That is just the start. - Formerly Known As... - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 12:59 pm: =It’s unclear where there would be enough votes to pass a bill this time of the year= 2016 is the first time in at least fifteen years the House has fewer than 40 Regular Session days between January 1 - May 31. When you don’t show up to work, you tend to run out of time to finish the job. - phocion - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 12:59 pm: Johnny is right. Hazardous driving conditions everywhere and 25,000 instantly unemployed starting Friday is an immediate threat. Schools are closed for the summer - no immediate pressure there. - The Colossus of Roads - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 1:00 pm: Come on Mr. Miller, one crisis at a time, just like last years piecemeal budget. K-12 will be next. - Give Me A Break - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 1:02 pm: Have to think members of the GA might want to find something else to do while their local July 4th parades and celebrations are going on. I’m sure a lawmaker’s conversation with local educators and human service providers might not be so pleasant and could cause the lawmaker’s to have a not so fun holiday. Would love to hear one of the 177 profiles in courage explain how they could not in 12 months come up with a budget. - Anon221 - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 1:03 pm: “…the governor’s new non-education approp package is supposed to be the product of the bipartisan working groups. So, maybe, you know, if Madigan just went ahead and embraced those non-education proposals that’s where he could find the votes?” **** “supposed to be” is the key here. Until we can actually see the bills, the sponsors, and the language, speculation on who has the votes is just that- speculation. There are a couple or three (Dunkin, Drury, Franks) who are not easily counted on for the 71. Then you need R votes. If the bill(s) is/are bipartisan, and the GA leaders agree, then don’t let Rauner torpedo it at the last minute. Remember HB2038 may be the new battle cry. - Triple fat - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 1:06 pm: Too much pain Ron? Hang in there buddy. - Honeybear - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 1:07 pm: –Schools are closed for the summer - no immediate pressure there.– School funding is not a just in time funding institution. They’ve got to plan, hire, budget, do a million things before the doors open. No it’s got to get done, 3 months ago, kinda now. - Winnin' - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 1:07 pm: The parents will start freakin’ about the time the GOP starts shriekin’. - ChicagoVinny - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 1:07 pm: Arguing over which hostage should be released first seems kind of pointless to me? - wordslinger - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 1:08 pm: Schools will open, simply because every one of the Springfield politicians will get burned if they don’t. The “don’t blame me” act won’t work for any of them. And schools aren’t “day care.” - Johnny Pyle Driver - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 1:12 pm: I guess my question was, does July 1st trigger something new as regards to school funding? Like a K12 bill needs more votes or it has to go through some different process? I’m certainly not comparing the importance of schools to asphalt, and lord knows my facebook feed tells me everything I need to know about how the people of Illinois prioritize those things. I’m just wondering what difference it makes if they pass the roads before the schools? - Anon221 - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 1:13 pm: “…but how do you find three-fifths on the 29th?”” It is clear if there are Dems who might vote against the bill(s) and Repubs who won’t or are afraid to cross the aisle. - Saluki - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 1:24 pm: At this point, I am ambivalent about the whole thing. Maybe after Rauner and Madigan are out of office there can be a reconstruction of the state. I have no hope that our current leadership will solve the problems that face us. - New Slang - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 1:26 pm: I agree…Governors govern/lead from the front. Now, what to Presidents of the Senate/Speakers of the House do? CALL THE BILLS for a vote. I know, why call them if they don’t have the votes. Why put a bill/budget/stop-gag out for public consumption if it’s not worth the paper it’s written on. What came first, the chicken or the egg, or in this case, the bill or the votes? - Huh? - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 1:28 pm: In defense of the roads, there is nothing that we buy, sell, use, trade, beg, borrow or steal that doesn’t make use of a road somewhere. The inconvenience of shutting down highway construction adds to the costs of our commutes and commerce. It isn’t just 25,000 people out of work. It is our neighborhood store trying to get that special something you ordered for your significant other. That coveted new toy you ordered on line that won’t be delivered on time. The quoted 25,000 instant unemployed are the tip of an iceberg. These are the people working on the road. There are many multiples of the 25,000 in associated industries supplying materials, fuel, equipment, the back office staff that will be impacted by the shut down. Oh by the way, the kids riding a bus to school will by impacted by the shut down if it goes on long enough. - here we go - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 1:30 pm: quoting Green Day here, “Wake me up when September ends.” I’m slowly giving up on Illinois. - How Ironic - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 1:36 pm: @ New Slang- Just in case you’re new…bills are typically not called (high profile bills anyway) unless passage is assured. Of course, one can’t always count on say someone being in New York during a crucial bill…but those things happen. - Norseman - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 1:37 pm: Time to shut down the Owl’s twitter account. He can’t help but say silly things. - How Ironic - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 1:47 pm: @Ron Sandack “Who, Who, Who do you think has the votes” - Road Engineer - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 2:04 pm: @32nd Ward Roscoe Village-The “panic” of and IDOT shutdown is realized well outside the inner circle. Its a real panic among real people. Lots of them. If IDOT does shutdown on July 1, then all contractor labor forces on these jobs suddenly have now work. All consultant enginners who are managing these projects for IDOT will become unemployed, unless their parent company can sustain them elsewhere. All projects currently in design, by consultant engineers, will cease and cannot be worked on. So, all of those engineers now need something to do or else get laid off as well. When you add up all of the people that will be affected by this statewide, its alot and yeah, we’re all nervous. - Mama - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 2:05 pm: Rich, is the stopgap only about union construction workers and P-12 education? No stopgap for prisons? That will not end well. Any money in the Stopgap for higher education or social services? - Mama - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 2:08 pm: - Formerly Known As… == The schools which operate under a balanced calendar start back to school in July. - Lester Holt's Mustache - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 2:23 pm: Look, I understand all of the things the Governor has done to this point - the daughter clouting, demanding the income tax rollback, the obstinacy on CPS, his very personal assaults against labor and poor people, etc etc etc. And I wholeheartedly agree with all of you (except Bob) on each and every topic. But! Rauner owns the biggest microphone, and the biggest war chest. While Madigan and Cullerton refuse to do any messaging (although that’s probably a good thing considering the Speakers weekly spring pressers), Rauner has been and will continue to get out there every single day and spin his message. His friends that run Illinois media outlets are going to continue to run with his version of events. He will continue to use his unlimited cash to bash Dems over the head from now until November. Dems so far have been relying on snarky media inquiry responses from Steve Brown, and that alone is not going to be enough to stem this tide. The only chance state Dems have of gaining seats, or just breaking even, is to get out of the way and hope to ride an anti-trump wave. If they pass a road bill and leave town without doing anything for schools, they are going to get hammered at the polls this fall - and they will deserve it. - Anon221 - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 2:24 pm: Correction to my earlier post- Remember SB2038 will be the battle cry. - The Lowly LA - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 2:25 pm: Mama: The new GOP approp bills are HB 6590 (Education) and HB 6591 (Stopgap), the latter of which contains SOME money for just about everything. The SDems are reported to be working on a handful of bills that address various things and the HDems have said that all that may be accomplished is a transportation bill. So in essence there are three factions with three approaches right now. HB 6590: http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/99/HB/PDF/09900HB6590lv.pdf HB 6591: http://ilga.gov/legislation/99/HB/PDF/09900HB6591lv.pdf - The Lowly LA - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 2:29 pm: …and as the GOP bills are newly filed they would take at least three or four separate session days to go through the process and make it to the Governor, provided they were allowed to move in the first place. - Casper - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 2:52 pm: @NewSlang and @HowIronic - call all the stop gap budget bulls and let the votes fall where they may. Don’t try the old song of “big bills only get called with passage” because the House does NOT have that record. For example, how many times did the House vote on various versions of the concealed carry bill? When the D’s want R’s on the record as voting against for “present” for votes, it’s ok to call bills that may/may not have the votes. And by on the record, let me be clear - votes for mail pieces in the general election. It’s all a bad dangerous game being played at the expense of taxpayers and not truly about the policies. - northernwatersports - Tuesday, Jun 28, 16 @ 5:09 pm: Pressure. Must. Have. Pressure. No pressure…no movement….no solutions. Stop gap bills relieves the pressure. Don’t do them. They only prolong the pain and confusion. Let the construction stop, schools stay closed and any other act that brings pressure to bear. Now is the time. - Say WHAT? - Wednesday, Jun 29, 16 @ 10:55 am: I feel bad for district office staff. Life on the front lines has to be difficult under the current circumstances. Over the past year, so many of Illinois most vulnerable citizens have lost services they can’t survive without. Now roads and schools? What will happen to the companies currently under contract with IDOT? What will happen to those who just won low bid for road projects, were notified and spent money out of pocket for projects that were about to start? What will happen to those contracts? Will they lose them altogether? Companies losing multi- millions usually have to lay people off. Please work together as statesmen and women! Enough is enough. Less politics and more policy. We can’t keep giving away what we don’t have. We must stop making promises we cannot keep. At the same time, we should not cause harm to people to make a point. Rule # 1 - When your expenditures exceed your revenues, you WILL fail! Rule # 2 - Focus on correcting rule #1. I see both sides. There has to be balance. Please find it! Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.