* This bill was sent to the governor on November 9th…
I don’t see any of the bill’s sponsors in the photos. Curious.
* Press release from the bill’s chief sponsor…
A measure from Senator Melinda Bush (D-Grayslake) to reduce opioid abuse and “doctor shopping” was signed into law today.
Senate Bill 772 requires prescribers of controlled substances to check the Prescription Monitoring Program database to see if a patient has been prescribed a controlled substance by another doctor prior to writing an initial prescription. This would make it harder for individuals to obtain prescriptions from multiple doctors, a practice known as doctor shopping.
“As elected officials, we should be doing everything we can to prevent addiction and reduce opioid abuse,” Bush said. “Requiring doctors to check a patient’s prescription history before prescribing opioids is a simple way to ensure doctors aren’t overprescribing and patients aren’t doctor shopping.”
* Anyway, the place that “does God’s work” was seriously damaged by the impasse. From September of 2015…
Comprehensive Behavioral Health Center in southern Illinois relies on state money to run some of its addiction programs. But because the state still doesn’t have a budget, the East St. Louis organization hasn’t gotten funding.
So recently the center had to lay off staff and shut down two of its residential programs. About fifty people who had been living at the center and getting addiction treatment had to leave.
You should really listen to the audio portion of that report. Ugh.
…Adding… From the audio…
* This April, 2016 story also quoted Jumper saying “We have no money. I don’t know how we’re going to make payroll”…
Amelia Jumper, the executive director of Comprehensive Behavioral Health in East St. Louis, told St. Louis Public Radio she’s not sure how she’s going to make pay this month.
Jumper closed her agency’s inpatient drug treatment center and its halfway house last fall due to lack of funding from the state, but she recently reopened the inpatient center.
“Not because we received any money, but something had to be done,” Jumper said.
- illini - Wednesday, Dec 13, 17 @ 11:08 am:
I suppose Rauner will tout this signing as being one of “his” accomplishments. Good photo opportunity without telling the backstory. Sad.
- Annonin' - Wednesday, Dec 13, 17 @ 11:10 am:
Reeally curious why GovJunk goes south and then needs to do one of his 110 mph races to Chicago.
Heck there are battered behavioral health centers at every exit on I55
- @misterjayem - Wednesday, Dec 13, 17 @ 11:13 am:
“Anyway, the place that ‘does God’s work’ was seriously damaged by the impasse.”
One only needs to remember how Catholic Charities and Lutheran Social Services were abused as “wedges” to know that merely “doing God’s work” didn’t shield anyone from being hammered-and-shaken by Bruce Rauner.
– MrJM
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Dec 13, 17 @ 11:17 am:
If you’re in a Social Service, and Rauner comes to sign something, smile, let him do his thing, then..,
Remember who purposely held you hostage, it was Bruce Rauner.
Come next November, remind Rauner… you haven’t forgot what Rauner did to you… and vote accordingly.
Rauner is not an ally of social services.
Allies don’t starve funding as leverage to destroy a foe unrelated.
Let Rauner have his day.
Never forget… tomorrow.
- Huh? - Wednesday, Dec 13, 17 @ 11:18 am:
Isn’t there a saying along the lines of “a criminal returning to the scene of the crime.”
- Huh? - Wednesday, Dec 13, 17 @ 11:19 am:
1.4% is his usual tone deaf self.
- Honeybear - Wednesday, Dec 13, 17 @ 11:21 am:
God’s work indeed
These folks are professionals
Consummate professionals
Do not mistake
Natural Metro East Curtesy
And professionality
With forgiveness.
They have not forgotten.
Nor I’m sure forgiven
What you did to them.
But they remain the
Model of class and decorum
An excellent example
Of East St. Louis Illinois
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Dec 13, 17 @ 11:34 am:
Bruce doesn’t do “GOD’S WORK’ sort of things. He does things that make others do ‘GOD’S WORK’ sorts of things.
- Jocko - Wednesday, Dec 13, 17 @ 11:38 am:
In the spirit of this Friday “The shamelessness is strong in this one (exclamation point)”
BTW - Is this the first Sanguinetti sighting of 2017?
- NeverPoliticallyCorrect - Wednesday, Dec 13, 17 @ 11:43 am:
I run a social service agency, it isn’t just Rauner. Yes, he threw us further under the bus but state government from previous years put us in the terrible position to begin with. And the real issue is citizens who can’t get services, wait years for services and receive inadequate services. The Dems and Repubs have together done only the minimum needed to keep programs alive. So if you think one person, for example Pritzker, will make a difference, good luck and keep drinking the Koolaid.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Dec 13, 17 @ 11:48 am:
===I run a social service agency, it isn’t just Rauner.===
Then if that’s how you feel, Rauner was right to hold you hostage.
You are clueless to what happened and how it’s different than what went on “years” ago.
Holding hostage purposely, versus negligence or budgetary incompetences… big difference.
Congratulations. You are whom Rauner hoped social services would be;
“Meh, I’ll hold them hostage to bust unions, but they’ll just blame both sides” - Fake Bruce Rauner.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Dec 13, 17 @ 11:51 am:
Why am I so… “so”?
Only one person had the veto to hold hostage social services.
Ignoring those vetoes to blame both sides?
… I can’t help you
- Earnest - Wednesday, Dec 13, 17 @ 12:00 pm:
>So if you think one person, for example Pritzker, will make a difference, good luck and keep drinking the Koolaid.
Someone other than Rauner will make the difference between intentionally destroying the human services system and keeping it going. That’s huge and critical.
I railed against Quinn’s choices in cutting human service funding and being incredibly late on payments. I respect the fact that he was balancing a budget and making difficult choices and being up front about it.
- DeseDemDose - Wednesday, Dec 13, 17 @ 12:04 pm:
=== I own a social service agency ===.
And I own the Statue of Liberty.
- Skeptic - Wednesday, Dec 13, 17 @ 12:15 pm:
” the minimum needed to keep programs alive. ” which is far more than what Rauner did.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Dec 13, 17 @ 12:20 pm:
Rauner to those in picture “ Madigan wanted to burn this place down. I said “NO’……let’s starve it”
- Norseman - Wednesday, Dec 13, 17 @ 12:31 pm:
I hope they charged a room rental.
- Lester Holt’s Mustache - Wednesday, Dec 13, 17 @ 12:52 pm:
==I run a social service agency,==
I find that hard to believe, coming from the same guy who continually submits posts praising the guy (and his bought and paid for party) that tries to cut and/or defund social service agencies. And if you really are telling the truth, I wonder how many of your partners/employees/volunteers know how much time you spend here cheerleading for a guy whose proposed budgets take a chainsaw to social service funding. A guy who cut autism funding on world autism day. A guy whose companies literally bankrupted nursing homes.
Does your supposed “social service agency” offer mental health services?
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Dec 13, 17 @ 12:54 pm:
===I find that hard to believe===
A significant number of Republicans run not-for-profits. I know one in Springfield.
- Cheryl44 - Wednesday, Dec 13, 17 @ 1:20 pm:
So Rauner’s throwing you further under the bus was…helpful?
- Steward As Well.... - Wednesday, Dec 13, 17 @ 1:22 pm:
The hands governor…. That can get one into trouble.
- wordslinger - Wednesday, Dec 13, 17 @ 2:02 pm:
Reminds me of something Adlai II said about Nixon: He’d chop down a redwood and then mount the stump to give a speech on conservation.
- Langhorne - Wednesday, Dec 13, 17 @ 2:27 pm:
BTIA—this is part of your southern initiative?
Go to a place you starved for a photo op.
Arrive w “When he entered the building, he called on the General Assembly “to pass a balanced budget” from
Gov IANIC?
- Lester Holt’s Mustache - Wednesday, Dec 13, 17 @ 5:19 pm:
==A significant number of Republicans run not-for-profits. I know one in Springfield==
He/she ever give you a good explanation why they continue to support the guy trying to hold hostage what little funding they get from the state? It seems an odd juxtaposition, running a non-profit and then voting for a guy (or coming to Capfax to cheerlead for a guy) who wants to squeeze non-profits in an effort to score political points.
- Sigh - Wednesday, Dec 13, 17 @ 5:35 pm:
I saw where the Governor tweeted about transparency today.
What has he really done to address the opioid crisis? Other than sign a couple bills and create a task force, that basically duplicated the work of the opioid council… Appears that he is piggybacking on the work of the Illinois General Assembly.
- Jaxon - Wednesday, Dec 13, 17 @ 7:58 pm:
An addictions treatment facility in Jacksonville Il had survived 50 years through several Governors until 5/17 and the clearly stated reason was the budget impasse . I do not see that as a coincidence or those rascally “Dems and Repubs”. One man was in charge and now he does not even own that . Not sure why a social service manager would carry Rauner water for him ??