* As we’ve already discussed, Rep. Chad Hays (R-Catlin) led the mini revolt that passed a 911 emergency call center fee hike last month. He talked to Tom Kacich…
“I came to the conclusion that my constituents weren’t that concerned with the amount that the people of Chicago paid and if Chicago legislators were comfortable with that amount, fine,” Hays said. “But what I was not willing to do was go home and tell my own constituents that when you dial 911 and on the other end of the line it says that this has been disconnected and people ask, ‘Why did this happen?’ I was totally uncomfortable with saying that the mayor of Chicago and the governor are in a wrestling match over something peripheral to your 911 service.” […]
“I suspect that with this subject matter, if the governor chooses to veto the bill, he will be overridden,” Hays declared.
The problem comes if Rauner chooses to use his amendatory veto powers and then Speaker Madigan does his usual thing and rules it out of compliance with the Constitution and the bill dies from inaction.
* Hays also talked about if that template could be used to break the impasse…
“In the House, it’s very difficult to get anything passed that the speaker doesn’t at least allow for a vote. That’s the inherent problem with the rules of engagement in the House of Representatives, that the speaker of the House has the rules screwed down so tight that if he doesn’t want to run a bill, it doesn’t run,” Hays said. “So going over the head of the speaker in the House of Representatives and doing what you just darn well please whether he likes it or not is nearly impossible. […]
But Hays insisted that “there are budget talks going on as we speak behind the scenes” and “people talking to ascertain if there is a deal to be made.”
“If that is the case,” he added, “I think you’ll be seeing some more concrete proposals coming in the next couple of days.”
Hays said again he’s prepared to vote to raise taxes and cut spending as part of a budget deal.
If anybody can get this done from the ground up it’s gonna be people like Chad Hays. There aren’t many of them in the House, but you takes what you can gets.
*** UPDATE *** I just talked to Rep. Hays, who said that while people are holding discussions to see if there’s a pathway to ending this impasse, he didn’t mean to imply that something was imminent.
* Related…
* Kansas legislature overrides Brownback’s veto of bill that rolls back his 2012 tax cuts: Lawmakers marshaled together a coalition of moderate Republicans, conservatives and Democrats to overcome the governor’s opposition to seeing his landmark tax cuts, which have in large part come to define his tenure in Topeka, fundamentally come to an end.
* Illinois owes billions to suburban non-profits, companies, government agencies: In the suburbs, that adds up to $2.2 billion owed to more than 5,100 health care providers, local government agencies, small businesses and other state vendors… The amount is roughly 15 percent of the $14.7 billion the state owes all vendors. Chicago-based vendors are owed close to $5.6 billion, according to the comptroller’s figures.
- Moe Berg - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 11:06 am:
If the Speaker decides it is out of compliance, the only option is a total override motion. He does allow that, just not a motion to accept the AV language.
- Cheryl44 - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 11:08 am:
I really really hope the IL-GOP takes a cue from Kansas before it’s too late.
- Chicago_Downstater - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 11:08 am:
I’m rooting for the folks like Chad Hays to get this budget done. It’s probably a long-shot, but I’ll root for just about anyone looking for a workable solution. Here’s hoping I suppose.
- AC - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 11:09 am:
It’s too bad no one thought of putting together a grand impasse ending deal in the Senate that would’ve put pressure on Madigan and the Raunerites in the House. /s
- JPC - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 11:11 am:
This absurdity has gone on long enough. Where I work we spend all of our time on the absence of state money essential to our institution. It is a double-waste of time, resources, reputation, etc.
- Ginhouse Tommy - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 11:17 am:
The reason Ill can’t follow Kansas lead is because Gov. Brownback is not a cold-hearted billionare who will spend millions of dollars of his own money to defeat you in the next election if you cross him. That’s his ace in the hole. Money talks in this case.
- NoGifts - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 11:20 am:
“that adds up to $2.2 billion owed to more than 5,100 health care providers, local government agencies, small businesses and other state vendors…” That adds up to $2.2 billion removed from the local economy. No wonder Illinois economy isn’t growing as fast as other areas.
- Matt - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 11:24 am:
Boat drink caucus to the rescue! I told you alcohol solves all problems.
- Bob Hicks - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 11:32 am:
The House and Senate have very similar rules and they were written by the republicans after the ‘94 election.
- 47th Ward - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 11:33 am:
It looks like Kansas discovered the rules of arithmetic apply inside the Sunflower state just like everywhere else. And they are impervious to political ideology. Math is math.
- The Captain - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 11:40 am:
Kansas, which has been the petri dish for anti tax crusaders, finally has had enough and their Republican dominated legislature passed a tax increase to raise the revenue necessary to pay for their government, which was subsequently vetoed by their Republican governor and then that veto was overridden by their Republican legislature.
Here are the tax rates this tax and spend Republican government decided to impose:
The Illinois constitution does not allow for a graduated income tax rate so we cannot do likewise. Kansas will be taxing all income higher than Illinois was prior to the 2011 temporary tax hike (3%), and income over $30,000 will be taxed in Kansas at a rate higher than the Illinois temporary tax increase of 2011 - 2014 (5%) and higher than what was proposed in the Grand Bargain that Rauner sabotaged (4.95% - 4.99%).
- WhoKnew - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 11:44 am:
- NoGifts -
You nailed it.
It’s called the velocity of money!
And Illinois is shriveling from the inside out!
- Grandson of Man - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 11:51 am:
Great to see Kansas overturn the Koch brothers/IPI supply side/trickle-down “experiment,” which was a fiscal and economic disaster. Let this–finally–be a lesson to others who want to try it.
- 47th Ward - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 11:56 am:
Wasn’t Rauner Superstar Donna Arduin the brains behind Brownback’s near destruction of education in Kansas? Whatever happened to her?
- AC - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 12:02 pm:
Who knew - and presuming a multiplier of (conservatively) 1.46x, that $2.2 Billion took $3.212 Billion from the Illinois economy.
- Soggy Seabiscuit - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 12:06 pm:
Legislators like Chad Hays are unicorns headed to the glue factory. Soon they will all be gone and we’ll be left with the overbred, broken down geldings scarred with the Madigan/Rauner whip marks. Sad.
- Chicago_Downstater - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 12:21 pm:
Well shucks, that was a rather short-lived hope.
- doggonit - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 12:29 pm:
The failure of Brownback was inevitable, just as is the failure of Rauner. The question is when do legislators bail on Rauner? Chad Hays, or someone like him, could be a hero for getting the momentum going.
- Ginhouse Tommy - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 12:49 pm:
Doggonit We can only hope.
- Chicago 20 - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 12:59 pm:
- “Kansas, which has been the petri dish for anti tax crusaders, finally has had enough and their Republican dominated legislature”
It really wasn’t a Petri dish experiment. Trickle down Reaganomics was a disaster then and now. The reason it keeps reoccurring is it benefited the wealthy, who now spend billions to rewrite history so they can avoid taxes and warp public opinion.
- Longsummer - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 1:06 pm:
Look at the statewide 911 report and read if “911 is in danger of going away.” It isn’t. In fact the 911 Report suggested not touching Chicago’s 911 fee and raising rest of state to $1.05.
- Roman - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 1:30 pm:
- AC - brings up a good point. The Senate has passed a balanced budget with cuts and revenue. It’s sitting in the House. Shouldn’t that be the focus?
- Bob Hicks - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 1:57 pm:
The most puzzling part of this story is the “demand” for a COS meeting. The COSs were not elected by the people of this state. The Governor should “demand” a meeting of the 5 Tops and govern.
- DeseDemDose - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 2:19 pm:
Johnny come lately Hays and any other shoulda woulda coulda Republicans are already past the point of pretending they arent scared to come out from under Rauners apron.
- Ginhouse Tommy - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 4:12 pm:
This has been repeated constantly on this blog. Rauner has the last say on the budget and will veto it unless he gets all of his draconian cuts and has everyone buckle under to his demands and that includes MJM. He doesn’t want a budget. He wants chaos. He just doesn’t care.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Jun 8, 17 @ 10:47 am:
911 call centers are havens for mediocrity. In most counties outside the metro area, 911/ETSB centers are under the control of the sheriff, which means political hiring.
In northwest Illinois, the 2015 911 consolidation bill forced Rock Falls to shut down their dispatch, and Sterling dispatchers now become Whiteside County employees of the Sheriff, with no effective oversight by the waxworks on the county board.
Enquiring minds in Whiteside county want to know why the minutes of the October 20, 2016, ETSB/911 board meeting were not posted on the website as of February, 2017, and why dispatch “supervisor” Ellen Anderson still has a job.