Figures for 2016 show $99 million in Mega Millions sales and $208 million in Powerball sales in Illinois. About 40 percent of each comes back to Illinois in revenue. […]
“That’s money that won’t be available for helping schools,” [Laurence Msall of the Civic Federation] said.
The loss of the ticket sales will also impact store owners, because lottery buyers also shop.
“I would estimate on average Powerball and Mega Millions brings in $25,000 to $30,000 a year on average,” said Jigar Shah. “That would possibly lead smaller ones to go out of business.”
Lottery spokesman Jason Schaumburg said Powerball would be suspended after the June 28 drawing, and Mega Millions would be suspended after the June 30 drawing if a budget deal isn’t reached.
He would not respond to questions about whether the decision to end sales of the popular interstate games was made by the Illinois Lottery or the organizations that administer the games.
A spokeswoman for the Multi-State Lottery Association, which runs Powerball, declined to confirm that a decision had been made to end sales of that game.
“The Multi-State Lottery Association is focused on protecting the integrity of its games and the experience of its players,” association spokeswoman Anna Domoto said in a written statement to the Tribune. “We work closely with the Illinois Lottery, and all lotteries selling Powerball, to achieve those objectives. … Matters involving the Illinois Lottery should be directed to Illinois officials.”
* The Question: Setting campaign politics aside, is this a good policy idea? Click here to take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
We’re still pushing for the passage of an actual state budget between now and July 1, the beginning of the next fiscal year, because we’re hopelessly naive that way. In the meantime, here are 10 bills, all largely independent of the budget stalemate, that the governor can sign into law now.
For the second time this year, an influential group of Chicago-area business leaders is openly challenging the Trump administration’s tough anti-immigration policies.
But this time around, the more than 170 corporate CEOs, midsized-business owners, neighborhood entrepreneurs and investors are pressing Gov. Bruce Rauner to join their crusade.
This week, the Illinois Business Immigration Coalition sent a letter to Rauner urging him to sign the Illinois Trust Act, which recently was passed by the General Assembly. The bipartisan measure seeks to provide increased legal protections to immigrants.
Rauner should sign this bill into law, despite the possibility of political blowback or maybe a nasty tweet from President Donald Trump. It will boost the state’s economic fortunes, while enabling Illinois to chart a realistic approach to dealing with the complex issue of immigration, particularly its impact on labor and business.
Meanwhile, I’m pleased to report that, despite the budget blues, legislators were once again capable of getting important things done. Last year they passed 23 local government reform bills that accelerated the long march to the open, accessible, honest and efficient government taxpayers are entitled to.
Gov. Bruce Rauner signed all but one—he vetoed automatic voter registration—but this year he’s promising to sign a new and improved AVR measure that could legally put thousands more Illinois residents on the voter rolls. That’s a major civic engagement victory that can strengthen our fragile democracy.
We’re also asking the governor to sign 11 other good-government bills making their way to his desk—measures that would give the reform fight even more momentum by increasing local government transparency and accountability, and one group of bills in particular with the potential to be game-changers:
Lawmakers finally approved “smart streamlining” proposals that, among other reforms, would enable all 102 Illinois counties to begin “consolidating”—merging or eliminating overlapping and arguably unnecessary units of government, including many of our 1,400 antiquated townships.
Further complicating the job of paying the stack of unpaid bills, which stood at $14.8 billion at this writing, is an out-dated state law which makes it impossible to be certain how many financially wounded state creditors are out there and how much the debt to them will end up costing taxpayers.
Currently, state agencies are only required “to report the aggregate dollar amount of any bills held at the state agency on the previous June 30 to the Office of the State Comptroller.” As a result, often huge piles of overdue bills are dumped on the comptroller all at once.
Unfortunately, nothing can be done about our state’s checkbook balance without a state budget, and we continue to urge lawmakers and Gov. Bruce Rauner to end the political gamesmanship and do their duty before the start of the July 1 fiscal year.
Fortunately, however, something can be done immediately about the comptroller’s inability to accurately estimate how much the state owes and to whom. Gov. Rauner has only to sign the long-overdue Debt Transparency Act passed by the General Assembly this spring.
* Related…
* Tribune editorial: Why an elected Chicago school board is still a bad idea
Pritzker comes across terribly in this, ducking basic questions. Looks like a total insider.
For instance, Pritzker was asked three times whether he thinks we should ban property tax assessors from accepting contributions from property tax appeals attorneys. He dodged every time.
He even criticized Chris Kennedy for using property tax appeals attorneys who donated to Berrios, when Pritzker’s lawyers did the same - giving six figure contributions to Berrios and his daughter.
Towards the beginning of the interview, Pritzker also said that his uninhabitable mansion was “in disrepair when we acquired it.” As interior photos from when the property was sold to the Pritzkers show, the mansion was clearly liveable.
Finally, towards the end of the interview Pritzker is given two opportunities to criticize Madigan for anything and ducks the question each time.
Not a good interview for Pritzker’s campaign at all.
He’d only say that the question should be looked at in the broader context of campaign finance reform. I suppose we should give him a bit of credit for staying on message. He’s almost as disciplined as Gov. Rauner in that regard.
Ponce: By the way, do you consider Chris Kennedy to be your biggest competitor right now?
JB: My biggest competitor is Bruce Rauner. I think that us having a fight with him this Democratic primary and attacking one another is a mistake. I think that there are 8 candidates as you mentioned at the beginning of the broadcast. And the 8 candidates on the Democratic side all believe one thing, which is Bruce Rauner should not be governor and we should be focusing on the failures of this governor because he is the one who has not stepped up to the plate with a constitutionally mandated budget. I mean, a balanced budget is what is required in this state and we’ve now gone 716 days without a balanced budget, without even passing a budget. It’s longer than any other state in the United States, in the history of the United States, so that is a massive failure and as you know, one of the challenges of that is the safety net is falling through. That people aren’t able to get to a mental health facility because they’re closing, they can’t find a shelter because they’re closed, and we’ve got unfortunately middle class and people who are striving to get to the middle class who are looking for jobs and this governor hasn’t created any because he isn’t passing a budget. Who wants to invest in jobs in this state if we don’t have a budget and you don’t know what the future is going to look like? He’s created massive uncertainty.
Ponce: As we mentioned, the state’s credit worthiness is now just approaching junk status, how would you change that if you were elected governor?
JB: Well first thing that all the rating agencies have said about our state is ‘Pass a budget, balance the budget,’ so the first thing you’ve got to do is get that done. And remember the new governor doesn’t come in until January of 2019, so I hope the problems don’t get worse between now and then, but it does appear this governor really isn’t going to get to a budget. We’ll see. I hope they do get to a budget in Springfield. But in January 2019 the very first thing we are going to have to do is pass a stopgap half year balanced budget, and then we are going to have go for a full year at the same time balanced budget. And that’s going to require real leadership.
Phil: JB Pritzker, so much of you is known in the public sphere, personally what do you want people to know about you and who you are as a person and your background that maybe they don’t know?
JB: Maybe the most important thing to know is that my life I have tried to work hard for the social justice values that my parents stood for. The things that really matter to me are standing up for people who don’t have somebody standing up for them. And in the state of Illinois that unfortunately has been middle class, people who are striving to get to the middle class, and the people dependent upon the safety net in the state. No one’s really standing up for them and those are the fundamental values of the Democratic Party too. So when I become governor that’s my goal, is to stand up for them, it’s to make their lives easier, and you know we need a progressive income tax.
Frankly, I think we are going to need to get, to legalize marijuana so that we can get some tax revenue in there too, and also change the criminal justice system around that, make us safer. But there are a lot of things that need changing in the state especially expanding health care and not contracting it like the way Donald Trump and his local partner Bruce Rauner are trying to.
State Senator Tom Cullerton (D-Villa Park) is outraged at the latest golden parachute payout at Northern Illinois University.
News released today outlines NIU’s plan to pay President Doug Baker $600,000 plus benefits when he steps down later this month in the wake of the Illinois Inspector General’s investigation into illegal hires made by the university.
“As students across the state of Illinois are struggling to pay tuition and fees, our public higher education institutions are handing out golden parachutes to disgraced administrators for violating taxpayers’ trust,” Cullerton said. “What message are we sending? This needs to stop now. Illinois needs to get out of the business of paying university administrators off for their mismanagement and failing to comply with state laws.”
Under the deal, Baker will receive a full year’s salary of $450,000 and $137,000 to not serve as a member of the College of Business faculty. He also will be paid up to $30,000 for his “reasonable, unpaid expenses for legal counsel” related to his time at NIU.
“It is simple. If you mismanage state funds, you should not be rewarded,” Cullerton said.
The Inspector General’s report was publically released on May 31. The report details hires made by Baker and his administration that were paid contracts over $20,000, which are supposed to be subject to competitive bidding in accordance to state law. The jobs were incorrectly classified to get past the requirement according to the report.
The Chicago Tribune went on later to report that two of the nine employees involved in the hiring scandal made more than $400,000 for 15 and 18 months of work.
In the midst of the state’s budget impasse, NIU announced in May they will be eliminating and reducing 150 staff positions, which included 30 active employees. The active employees will have to transition to open positions across the university, exercise their civil service employment rights within their employment classifications or have contracts that will not be renewed.
“We are in the middle of a budget impasse. Every dollar, every penny, needs to be put toward the betterment and education of our children,” Cullerton said. “This deal is a betrayal of taxpayers’ trust. State dollars should not be used to line the pockets of failed administrators. ”
Cullerton is calling for tougher regulations to stop state universities and community colleges from paying out administrators while under investigation or found guilty of university mismanagement
The Senate president said he won’t call a Republican spending bill without a corresponding revenue bill.
Senate Democrats already passed a revenue bill with no Republican support. And while Rauner and the Republicans say they’ll now back a tax plan on their own terms, Republicans aren’t on record for voting for the measure, which would hike the income tax to 4.95 percent.
“I’m not going to vote on that [spending bill] unless we have a corresponding revenue bill to vote on, and they have to introduce that. And it would be helpful if the governor would say he’s for it because he’s never done that,” Cullerton said. “We are not going to take up any spending bills, especially since we already passed the governor’s exact introduced spending bill. So it’s hard to say that there’s anything wrong with that if you are a Republican.”
The Republican plan introduced on Wednesday is reliant upon a revenue bill, but didn’t include one. The politically unpopular measure continues to be a sticking point in the budget impasse.
* Despite what the Senate President says, a new spending bill is needed because the Senate Democrats’ plan didn’t factor in paying off the state’s mountain of past-due bills. That’s a very huge problem that has to be dealt with in an honest way.
But it would be helpful if the governor and the Republicans introduced their own tax hike bill. Introducing their own bill would prove they’re serious about this new “Capitol Compromise.” They’re going to need to at least amend the Senate’s tax hike bill (SB 9) anyway to change the income tax increase from permanent to temporary and to delete the retroactive to January 1st provision.
* There’s another problem with the new Rauner/Republican tax hike plan, however. A commenter reminded me earlier today of an Illinois Department of Revenue memo I published in late May about the Senate Democrats’ tax hike proposal…
Service tax provisions. The bill inserts 5 discrete services in the Retailers’ Occupation Tax Act (ROT) (storage; laundry and dry cleaning; private detective, private alarm, and private security service; structural pest control service; and tattooing and body piercing)… It is the Department’s opinion that there is a substantial risk that the service tax components violate the uniformity clause of the Illinois Constitution […]
Entertainment Tax Fairness Act. The bill creates a new 1% tax on subscribers of entertainment (paid video programming through numerous methods including cable). It is our opinion that this tax could be challenged under the Federal Internet Tax Freedom Act (ITFA). […]
Video Service Tax Modernization Act. SB 9 creates a new 5% tax on providers of direct-to-home satellite service, direct broadcast satellite service, and digital audio-visual work. The bill does not tax cable companies. It is very likely that this tax will be challenged by satellite service providers.
If Gov. Rauner and the Republicans listen to IDOR and jettison that revenue, they’ll have to find a way to fix the resulting budgetary hole. Because, according to IDOR, the Rauner/Republican budget may not actually balance the way it stands now.
Oops.
*** UPDATE *** A commenter on another thread reminded me that the Illinois Policy Institute’s Liberty Justice Center has threatened to sue if some of the Senate’s tax hikes are signed into law…
These new taxes on services, satellite TV, and streaming services aren’t just a nuisance; they are unlawful, according to attorneys at the Liberty Justice Center, a Chicago-based nonprofit law firm. […]
“If Senate Bill 9 becomes law, the Liberty Justice Center stands ready to immediately bring a lawsuit on taxpayers’ behalf to have these unlawful taxes struck down.”
* As we’ve already discussed a bit, the Illinois Policy Institute is promoting Facebook posts that bash the GOP’s budget proposal. Here’s the first one…
Illinois Republicans introduced a budget plan that hits Illinoisans in fiscal year 2018 with the same $5 billion-plus tax hike from the “grand bargain” that failed in May.
That plan starts with a 33% income tax increase, and includes questionable new taxes on services such as Netflix, dry-cleaning services and more.
No no… It’s the democrats that want the 4.5 billion tax increase….. Rauner wants a 4 year property tax freeze…. The Dems …. Won’t budge!!!! Fake news!!!
This is fakenews…. Rauner has stated he will veto this
The only thing Rauner has said about this is that he is calling a special session to start Jun 22 and not end until June 30. Why is this site full of bait and listen? Cite your sources.
I’ve been following this site for far too long. There are multiple admins with varying opinions. For the most part, they are FOR Madigan and the members are 75% against him. If whoever is answering to this post on behalf of Illinois Policy could cite their sources when they say Rauner is behind this, I’ll believe them. Until then…#FAKENEWS. Every other source states nothing close…. Only that Rauner wants to “round ‘em up” and get the legislators working again toward a balanced and sane budget. He has always said he’d veto overtaxation. And there isn’t a single story or statement to back this post!!!! I call BS and #FAKENEWS until then.
Illinois Policy is lieing. This is bait.
FAKE NEWS…..ITS THE DEMOCRATS WANTING THIS
I think you have Republicans and democrats mixed up
I would need to hear Rauner say he supports this before I even began to believe it.
It is the domocraps not Republicans this site is full of it
Liar
fake news.
Fake news. It’s the democrats that are bleeding we the people.
This site has to get the facts right.Your as bad as fake news
* But then during a subsequent post that asked folks to call the governor’s office, the reality started to sink in amongst the faithful…
Call made. Message left. That message was this. “We are Republicans. We vote Republican. If you (Governor Rauner) sign this proposed tax hike into law, we will campaign against you”.
Reject any tan increase as it’s Chicagos problem not ours!
Reject it no more taxes thank you period or I will vote independent for gov
How much of this tax increase is going to bail out the CPS? The state taxpayers should not have to pay Chicago’s bills.
Just made the call - the woman who answered sounded less than thrilled to take another call on this subject. But call, call, call!!
Like he cares!! Straight up peice of [expletive deleted]!! He is no better then the rest!! He will do nothing!! All he does for us is collect a pay check!! I thought Bruce would be different but surprise surprise he is worse!! Illinois sucks they are all crooked!! I’m moving after living here for 30 years!! Illinois is going no where!! Get out while you can
Gov Rauner make campaign commercials repenting tax relieve for Illinois people, yet toys with the idea to go ahead and raise taxes?
what happened to the taxes we already sent the state ?
If the governor doesn’t know by now we we don’t want a tax increase he should not be in office
We need a budget not a tax hike you moron. Why are You still getting a check if I don’t do my job i don’t get paid so why are you moron
I was a big Rauner fan, but the Clinton bail out is terrible, if he signs a $5 billion dollar tax hike, I will be done with him.
Didn’t that Joker say that the Democrats increase was bad??? More proof Republicans and Democrats don’t give a crap about us. Wakey wakey people.
You have to wonder what all those thieves in Illinois Government think they are going to live on when they are the only ones left to pay the tax burden?
if Rauner sign’s,he’s capitchulated..
They all work together and then afterwards they play baseball, well, I do not think there playing baseball lately
Illinois votes crooks in all the time they are all idiots
Why are Republicans attacking Illinois families with this massive tax increase?
They screw up, mismanage, are completely incompetence and we have to pay.
Rauner is not a Republican, not sure why he ran that ticket, he’s been useless, he’s done no campaign against the machine, no special election, nothing, he’s a puppet enriching himself for his business
Another Governor that thinks putting a bandaide on the problems that will never help anyone.
Waiting on elections won’t help. The citizens have to tear it down and start over. Flee or fight. But we are happy to be fleeced instead it seems.
* But there were still plenty of dead-enders in those above posts. For instance…
Get rid of Madigan and his rules committee!
Why don’t you ALL call Mike Madigan, he is at fault. He refuses to work with Rauner. Madigan controls everything, just because Rauner is Republican he won’t meet with him to discuss the budget.
Good luck Madigan will never let this happen
Does this include a term limit on Madigan if so the tax hike is worth it!
* This is the question I asked all Democratic gubernatorial candidates early yesterday afternoon…
What are your candidate’s responses to the Republican “compromise” budget/reform proposal from yesterday and the governor’s special session announcement today?
They were given a hard deadline of 10 o’clock this morning. The responses are listed in the order they were received.
* JB Pritzker…
“Calling something a compromise doesn’t make it a compromise. A budget deal worked out between Republicans behind closed doors isn’t a great start. This is more of Bruce Rauner’s my way or the highway mentality as he moves the goal post and his only commitment is to his special interest agenda.
“Illinois will now spend $40,000 a day on a special legislative session because Rauner refused to negotiate a budget during regular session. The governor should come to the table and negotiate, but after 716 days of inaction, this is likely just another political stunt from Rauner to continue the blame game as Illinois families foot the bill.”
* Sen. Daniel Biss…
“As Bruce Rauner and Mike Madigan have proven over the last two years, simply being in Springfield isn’t enough. The Senate worked hard to pass a balanced budget earlier this year, while Rauner, Madigan, and the Republicans refused to do their jobs. And the current Republican “compromise” isn’t a compromise at all - it’s simply political cover to screw over Chicago school kids.
We’ve seen this before: political stunts that cost taxpayers money instead of actual governing. Sitting down face-to-face, hammering out details not press releases, making compromises, not tv ads is the leadership we need.”
* Rep. Scott Drury…
“Representative Drury is pleased the Governor and the General Assembly are coming around to embracing his idea of allowing pressure to build in order to arrive at a comprehensive budget. Had this been done in 2015, when Rep. Drury first pushed the idea, the pain caused to countless people as a result of the budget impasse could have been prevented. Unfortunately, Senator Biss and others kept using the “stopgap budget heroin” pushed by Speaker Madigan to make themselves feel better, while those around them suffered.
“As for the special session, Rep. Drury intends to invite Mr. Pritzker to be his honorary page-for-a-day. This assumes the Treasurer-Wannabe doesn’t have any phone calls scheduled with disgraced former Governor Blagojevich. Drury looks forward to learning whether Pritzker was subpoenaed by the Blagojevich grand jury back in 2008 and, if so, whether Pritzker intends to make public all documents he turned over in response. Drury also is anxious to learn whether Pritzker ever was considered a subject or target of any federal investigation related to the corrupt former governor. If it makes Pritzker more comfortable, Drury will record the conversations. After all, he is a former federal prosecutor.”
Yikes.
* Bob Daiber…
I do not support the proposed budget as it is presented for two reasons: 1) The property tax freeze will be disastrous to many school districts with no other additional state revenue. 2) The budget needs to include a funding component to help Chicago Public Schools. CPS is cash strapped just as many downstate districts.
This special session will be an additional cost to taxpayers. I believe the budget should have been finalized by May 31. The senate had passed a balanced budget that the Governor opposed. So, there is no other choice at this date but to have a special session so a budget deal can be made and the state moves forward.
* Chris Kennedy…
Here we are in the same place two weeks after session should’ve ended: Governor Rauner failing to pass a budget. Where were the Republicans weeks ago when the Democrats were negotiating? Democrats have compromised significantly, making a good faith effort to get a budget passed. They are making tough decisions because they know the worst thing we can do is continue operating without a budget. Credit rating agencies have given us a loud and clear warning. But for Governor Rauner, compromise isn’t good enough. He wants to destroy the Democratic party and he’s destroying our state in the process. The most basic part of the governor’s job is introducing and signing a budget. Every other governor in our state’s history has managed to do it. He hasn’t.
* Ameya Pawar…
Governor Rauner’s historic reign of destruction represents the consequences of electing out-of-touch billionaire businessmen with no legislative experience to political office. For 716 days, Bruce Rauner has failed the men, women and children of Illinois by refusing to do his job. No last minute sham “compromise” budget proposal or special-session announcement posturing will take a way from that.
I asked Tio Hardiman’s “campaign” for a response and never heard back.
* Subscribers have more background on this stuff. Tribune…
In a Thursday interview with the Chicago Tribune, Cullerton noted that his Senate Democrats are so far the only ones who’ve been willing to put their names on a tax hike vote. He warned that his caucus wouldn’t go along with another stopgap measure that sets the tax increase issue aside for another day.
“Why would you even think about a stopgap? To continue this horror show ’til the election year when we owe $24 billion?” Cullerton said. “You think it’s easier to vote for an appropriation without revenue after you’ve already voted for an appropriation with revenue? The Senate wouldn’t do that. I’m not talking about me. I’m talking my caucus doesn’t want to do that.”
Cullerton insisted his Senate Democrats did their job in sending the House a budget plan that addressed some of Rauner’s prerequisites.
“Maybe there’s a need for a special session in the House because they haven’t been passing bipartisan bills or budgets, so that’s great,” Cullerton said. “And now you need Republicans for sure over there. But I just don’t know exactly what he wants us to do.”
For the past week, Rauner suggested he might call a special session, an idea dismissed as a waste of time last year.
Shortly before the interview with Cullerton began, members of the Senate could be heard phoning his office, asking when they were required to report to Springfield and for how long.
Asked whether it was pertinent for his members to be in Springfield at all, Cullerton said: “We’re not going to vote on anything. … The action should be in the House. What you normally expect should come out of a special session, we’ve already passed that.”
I just sent this to the committeemen in my district.
Mr. Matt Flamm
Democratic Committeeman, Palatine Township
Mr. Michael Kreloff
Democratic Committeeman, Northfield Township
Mr. Terry Link
Democratic County Chair, Lake County
Mr. Mark Walker
Democratic Committeeman, Wheeling Township
Dear Sirs,
It has been an honor to serve as State Representative from the 57th District since 2003. I have worked diligently from the day I was elected to represent the good people of this district and this state with humility and passion. But after careful thought, it is time for me to step back and create an opportunity for a new leader who can take on our state’s tremendous problems with the same mindset.
I am writing to inform you that I will not be seeking reelection to the position in the 2018 election cycle and intend to leave at the appropriate time before the end of my term. I know how important it is for this seat to continue to be represented by someone who shares our core goals and values, so I wanted to make sure you and the other members of our local Democratic Party had ample time to find the right person who will best represent our area.
Thank you again for your support in my elections and service in Springfield, and your good work for our district. I trust you will find the right candidate who will help move our state forward.
Regards,
Elaine Nekritz
Man, that’s a huge loss for the House and for the state. Elaine is a quality legislator and highly respected. But she’s been supremely frustrated with this impasse and I don’t blame her for moving on.
I think there will be more of these, by the way. Lots more, particularly if nothing is done by the end of June.
* From Sen. Toi Hutchinson, the sponsor of SB 9, which is the Senate’s revenue bill…
I have been calling for urgency and pointing out the dangers of running down the clock for months now. When our Caucus passed SB9, the revenue that every single budget plan out there relies on, it was at a rate and structure that the Governor demanded.
It was interesting to see them file a new budget bill, and a new school funding bill, but no new tax increase bill. Instead, they issued a demand that SB9 be amended to be temporary, turning it into little more than a 4 year stop gap.
If they get to demand everything that is in the tax package but have yet to say who will actually vote for it, I suppose we should all anxiously await a tax increase bill filed by Republicans for the money that their Capitol Compromise requires.
