Some Illinois towns could lose broad home rule taxing authority as the state’s population continues to decline, a possibility that could ease local taxes and further squeeze municipal budgets.
U.S. Census numbers released Thursday show the population of Freeport, Collinsville and Harvey fell below 25,000. That’s the threshold for automatic home-rule status.
In 2010, Freeport had 25,638 residents. Now, it has an estimated 24,091 people. The city of Collinsville became home-rule by special census in 2005. Its population has declined to 24,703, according to new Census estimates. Harvey had 25,282 residents in its borders in 2010. Now, there are 24,908.
Home rule authority gives local elected officials expanded powers for self-government, including the ability to raise certain taxes and issue debt without voter approval. […]
Unless those cities persuade more people to move in by 2020, they’ll have to place a question on the ballot in November 2022 asking voters if they want to retain home rule status. […]
Taxes and fees levied by the city under home-rule authority would be rolled back en-masse as soon as the referendum saying so is certified, Diamond said. The exception would be taxes levied to pay bonds, like those referenced in a recent court decision on Harvey’s debt. […]
Six cities, including these three, are within 1,000 people of falling below the home-rule threshold. One notable population slide toward the threshold is Kankakee, which has lost more than 1,300 people since 2010 and is now at 26,216 residents.
Keep in mind that these population figures are estimates. The decennial Census will conduct a full count…
Mitch Blair, the city manager for Collinsville, disagreed with the Census Bureau’s estimates, which had his town dropping below 25,000 residents.
Blair said city officials looked at the building and demolition permits for multifamily and single-family homes since 2010 and came up with its own estimate of about 25,800 people living in town.
* Related…
* Census: Peoria losing residents quickest among large Illinois cities: The agency estimated the city’s population at 112,883 people as of July 1, 2017, a decline of 1.3 percent from 2016 and a 1.9 percent decrease from the last full census in April 2010. From 2010 to 2016, the Census Bureau estimated Peoria’s population decline at 0.7 percent, indicating that the rate at which people are leaving the city also increased last year.
* Chicago’s population drops 3rd year in a row, US Census Bureau says: While downtown may be gaining, Chicago is losing residents overall. The decline is getting attention as it’s the third straight year of decline. … “The decline in the city of Chicago is largely happening among African Americans and among African American communities, those communities on the South and West Sides, that’s generally what the city of Chicago is seeing in terms of loss. Every other community type is growing and every other demographic is growing,” Loury said.
* In a shrinking state, half of Illinois’ largest cities have shed population since 2010: Nearly 80 percent of Illinois’ most populous cities saw population decline from July 2016 to July 2017, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau released May 24. Of the state’s top 50 cities, 39 saw a shrinking population over the year, while 25 have seen their populations shrink compared with 2010.
* Here’s How Illinois’ Population Changed Between 2016 And 2017: Cook County had the largest population decrease, with more than 20,000 residents leaving. … McHenry County saw the largest population increase, with 1,150 new residents.Illinois’ housing stock grew to 5,359,557 housing units between 2016 and 2016, adding 14,327 units. The state’s growth rate for housing units was 0.3 percent, which was below the nation’s growth rate of 0.8 percent.
* New census numbers show which Southern Illinois communities are shrinking: Belleville has seen a 6 percent drop since the 2010 official head count. Granite City saw a 4 percent drop. Alton, East St. Louis, Freeburg and Cahokia also saw population drops, according to census estimates. Edwardsville, Columbia, Waterloo, O’Fallon and Shiloh, however, all saw population growth.
A person commits death penalty murder when at the time of the commission of the offense he or she has attained the age of 18 or more and he or she purposely causes the death of another human being without lawful justification if:
(1) at the time of the offense, the person caused the death of 2 or more other human beings without lawful justification; or
(2) the victim was a peace officer, as defined by Section 2-13 of this Code, killed in the course of performing his or her official duties, either to prevent the performance of the officer’s duties or in retaliation for the performance of the officer’s duties, and the person knew that the victim was a peace officer.
* Gov. Rauner today…
We agree with Representatives Costello and Bryant. Mass murder and killing police officers and firefighters are crimes so heinous that they deserve the death penalty. #PublicSafetyIL#twill
Rob Warden, who has spent years exposing wrongful convictions as a journalist and academic, noted that while Rauner might call his idea on capital punishment “limited,” it’s easy for lawmakers to expand.
When Illinois restored capital punishment in 1977, there were six “aggravating factors,” or legal determinations that, if met, could warrant a death sentence, Warden said. When it was abolished, there were 20.
That tweet by the governor is the best proof yet that his AV is just “show-biz.”
* Lots of unconfirmed rumors floating around out there that Gov. Rauner may go up on TV early next month. If that happens, JB Pritzker is expected to quickly follow suit. Until then, we’ll have to settle for digital ads…
Today, the Rauner campaign launched a new digital ad on JB Pritzker’s refusal to call out Mike Madigan’s corruption involving sexual harassment and retaliation cases within his political operation.
After sexual harassment allegations swirled around Speaker Mike Madigan’s political operation, State Representative Kelly Cassidy came forward about what she calls retribution for speaking out against Madigan’s investigation into the accusations.
Pritzker refuses to speak about Madigan’s role.
If Pritzker won’t call out Madigan now, how can we trust him in the future?
The Gun Dealer Licensing bill was expected to be called for a vote Thursday, but not enough lawmakers showed up.
This is the second time this week lawmakers told Newschannel 20 they’re holding off bills because of attendance.
The sponsor of the Gun Dealer Licensing Act measure said she also delayed calling the bill Thursday because she may amend it.
The sponsor of the Equal Rights Amendment said he’s not calling the resolution because of attendance.
By the end of yesterday, the House had nine excused absences and a few others who were listed as not voting.
Lots of family graduations are happening these days. Tons more are scheduled for May 31st.
But, remember, there’s still plenty of time to move bills that will need as many bodies in town as possible. May 31st is next Thursday. They’re coming back to Springfield on Monday.
State Rep. Jerry Costello II, D-Smithton, state Rep. John Cabello, R-Machesney Park, state Rep. Brian Stewart, R-Freeport, state Rep. David McSweeney, R-Barrington Hills, state Rep. Natalie Phelps Finnie, D-Elizabethtown, state Rep. Monica Bristow, D-Godfrey, state Rep. Dave Severin, R-Benton, and state Rep. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro are working with a bipartisan group of lawmakers working to reinstate the death penalty for cop killers, killers of firefighters and mass murderers, while also rejecting sweeping gun control measures proposed by the governor.
Gov. Bruce Rauner has tied reinstatement of the death penalty to strict gun control measures opposed by the National Rifle Association and other gun-rights advocates. Costello is working in a bipartisan effort with other members of the legislature to introduce their own clean death penalty legislation without Rauner’s gun control language, in order to protect law enforcement officials and firefighters to keep local communities safe without infringing on the rights of law-abiding gun owners.
These legislators released the following statement:
“According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, 28 police officers have been killed in 2018. Our law enforcement officers are doing everything they can to keep our families safe and they shouldn’t have to fear for their own lives. As a community, we have a responsibility to support members of law enforcement for all that they do for us. It is unacceptable that anyone would target police officers or firefighters for doing their jobs, which is why we support the death penalty as a form of punishment for those who target our members of law enforcement.
“While the governor’s amendatory veto of House Bill 1468 supports the death penalty in the situation of targeting a police officer, it also places overreaching restrictions on law-abiding gun owners. As strong supporters of the Second Amendment, we oppose these new restrictions which only punish those who are already following the law. When the men and women who keep our communities safe are injured in the line of duty, we have a responsibility to be there for them. Police officers and firefighters continuously put their lives on the line to protect the public in times of crisis. The families of police officers and firefighters deserve justice and the ability to hold people accountable for their actions, which is why those who knowingly and willingly kill members of law enforcement and firefighters should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
The bill is here. All those Democrats represent conservative pro-Trump, pro-gun areas where this will play well. Adding firefighters was a nice touch, too.
Rep. McSweeney, of course, is one of the most frequent Republican critics of Rauner. Rep. Bryant is a Tier One target.
WHEREAS, The budget estimate contained in this Joint Resolution reflects the repeal of Public Act 100-22, the income tax hike, enacted in July 2017;
He can’t help himself. He just loves sticking it to the governor, who will obviously use a revenue estimate based on every dime of the money from last year’s tax hike.
Jeanne M Ives - John M. Cabello - Brad Halbrook - Margo McDermed, Tony McCombie, Mark Batinick, Brian W. Stewart, David A. Welter, Thomas Morrison, Allen Skillicorn and Joe Sosnowski
* Other bills…
* SIU study, if approved, may delay vote on splitting university system: State Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville, said in a phone interview that state Rep. Jay Hoffman, D-Swansea, will not call for a vote on his bill to separate SIU Edwardsville from SIU Carbondale, if a resolution for a study were to pass.
* Should SIU Edwardsville And Carbondale Split? Or Stay Together For The Kids?: Rep. Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro) and Rep. Norine Hammond (R-Macomb) both warned that having the IBHE assess the feasibility of splitting ISU would set a precedent that could be the proverbial “camel’s nose under the tent” that could lead to similar investigations in everything from the University of Illinois system to community colleges with satellite campuses.
* Lawmaker charging retaliation wants complaint system changes: Under the current process, the legislative inspector general, who works independently from the ethics commission, cannot conduct an investigation into a complaint without the ethics commission’s permission. The commission is composed of eight state legislators — four Democratic and four Republican.
* Bill to give Sangamon County first dibs on state jobs passes Senate: If signed, House Bill 4295 would make Springfield and Sangamon County the default location for employees of most state agencies. The director of Central Management Services would have to establish a geographic location for each state job and specify why positions located outside the capital city need to be there. The legislative and judicial branches are exempt, as are the offices of the state’s constitutional officers and those employed directly by the governor’s office.
* House OKs bill to pay $63M in back wages owed to 24,000 workers: The issue stems from 2011 when former Gov. Pat Quinn said lawmakers did not appropriate enough money to cover 2 percent raises for thousands of AFSCME members at 14 state agencies. Quinn said that without the appropriation, the state could not pay the additional money to workers.
* Press Release: To expedite discrimination case decisions and clear the backlog of claims, the Senate recently approved State Senator Heather Steans’ (D-Chicago) measure to restructure the Human Rights Commission. “The Human Rights Commission is an important avenue for individuals who have been discriminated against or harassed to resolve their complaints,” Steans said. “Due to the current structure and process, a backlog of cases has developed over time. To expedite cases, I worked to restructure the commission to ensure that cases are addressed quickly and efficiently.” Senate Bill 20 would change the Human Rights Commission from 13 part-time commissioners to seven full-time, dedicated commissioners. Additionally, it creates a temporary three-person panel to address the backlog of cases. To prevent a future buildup of cases, it streamlines the administrative process and removes duplicative steps. In March 2017, Gov. Bruce Rauner issued an executive order to consolidate the Human Rights Commission with the Department of Human Rights. However, the executive order did not take effect following the House’s passage of a resolution disapproving the order.
* Press Release: A measure sponsored by State Senator John G. Mulroe to simplify Illinois’ complicated court fee system recently cleared the Senate. Because court fees in Illinois vary greatly among counties, House Bill 4594 aims to standardize them by establishing four categories for civil fees and fines and 13 categories for criminal and traffic cases.
* First it was the Nazi running against Dan Lipinski, and now this…
The Republican nominee for a US House seat in Illinois has said the September 11 terrorist attacks were an inside job and that singer Beyonce Knowles has ties to the Illuminati.
Bill Fawell is running against incumbent Democratic Rep. Cheri Bustos in Illinois’ 17th District, where she won by 20 points in 2016 even though the district also voted narrowly for Donald Trump. Fawell won his uncontested primary in March. He has not reported any fundraising to the Federal Election Commission, per publicly available records. […]
In an interview with CNN, Fawell stood by his blog posts and the theories he espoused on them. He said that Jay-Z and Beyonce expressed their support for the Illuminati in their videos, and that singer Taylor Swift had as well. […]
The Illinois Republican Party did not respond to a request for comment. […]
In a 2014 post, Fawell speculated that New York City was going to be destroyed in a false flag attack by the deep state in either the year 2016 or 2017.
County Republicans have asked Glen Evans, state representative candidate for the 72nd District, to withdraw from the race. […]
Court records show Mr. Evans, of Rock Island, was charged with criminal trespass and criminal contempt after violating an order of protection in December 1997. The charges were dismissed in February 1998.
In addition, Marion County, Indiana records show an outstanding warrant for Mr. Evans in 2008 after he failed to appear for a probation hearing on a charge of violating an order of protection against his wife, Erica Evans.
In November 2009, an emergency order of protection was filed by Ms. Evans in Rock Island County, following a domestic battery charge against their 5-year-old son. According to an article in the Dispatch-Argus, Mr. Evans struck his son while he was sleeping after he witnessed his son sucking his thumb.
Ms. Evans withdrew her petition in Rock Island County in October 2010. The protective order and charge was dismissed. […]
Rock Island County Clerk Karen Kinney said Mr. Evans has previously run for office as a Democrat in about 18 different local races. He has lost every election with the exception of two precinct committeeman races.
Evans is running against Rep. Mike Halpin (D-Rock Island). Like the Nazi, neither Evans nor Fawell were given a chance in Hades of winning even before their history was known.
Defying a warning from the Internal Revenue Service, the Illinois Senate has overwhelmingly approved a bill intended to give local taxpayers a workaround for new federal caps on state and local tax deductions. […]
The Senate action came yesterday afternoon when, by a 51-1 margin with one abstention, the Senate approved a bill sponsored by Sen. Julia Morrison, D-Deerfield, that allows taxpayers to substitute donations to charities benefiting state government, municipalities and school districts for regular Illinois income-tax and property-tax payments. Donors would receive a credit worth 90 percent of their donations, applied to their state or local tax liability.
The IRS earlier this week suggested that it will rule against such measures, which already are the law in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and other high-tax states. The agency suggested that charitable donations are not supposed to reap a financial reward for the donor and said it will follow not state but federal law, which under the measure approved by President Donald Trump last year limits SALT deductions to $10,000 a year.
“Property tax relief is an important issue all around the state,” Morrison said in a phone interview. Any final IRS ruling “probably is not going to happen until the fall,” and may be challenged in court, she said. “I think it’s important for us to pass legislation that will help our residents.” […]
“How quickly, what’s in it, how it’s impacted by the IRS, all those things need to be considered,” [Steve Brown, spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan] said. Concurrence motions on House bills that were amended in the Senate and sent back will occur “next week.”
* Sen. Jim Oberweis was the lone “No” vote. From a press release…
The Internal Revenue Service has warned states looking to get around the deduction caps – New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and now Illinois – that they could face new regulations.
“There is no way the federal government is going to allow states to pull a fast one like that, to find a tricky way around the deduction limits,” Oberweis said. “Trying to get around the IRS is not a good idea. This is a ‘lose-lose’ situation.”
If somehow a court upheld the Illinois plan (unlikely), Oberweis said the federal government could come back and limit all deductions to $10,000, which would be bad news for charities, as charitable contributions could be negatively impacted.
In an accompanying video, Oberweis called the bill “fools gold” a “phony, tricky work-around” and “sham legislation.”
I am pretty stunned at the “won’t SOMEONE think of the carjackers?” approach to this bill from @ToniPreckwinkle, her allies and now Cassidy. We look completely insane as a state and city https://t.co/nb5TgK5Doz
Because the bill doesn't go after "carjackers." It goes after people in possession of stolen property. Worse still, it violates equal protection by treating juveniles more harshly than adults, which we know does long-term damage to kids and communities. https://t.co/9mRtBkbcpu
Amdor is right. Even the bill’s House sponsor, Rep. Jaime Andrade (D-Chicago), freely admits that his bill is not about carjacking. From a statement Rep. Andrade sent me via text on May 16th…
The biggest issue is that people are calling it a “car jacking” bill.
This is NOT a carjacking bill.
This is a change to the PSMV [Possession of a Stolen Motor Vehicle] act. That needs to be changed because modernizations of vehicles, the FOBS, keyless entry, etc.
My goal is to deal with the 1000s of motor vehicle thefts in the state.
Most car thefts involve parked and unattended vehicles, not violent seizure. Under current law, people who were not involved in the original theft may still be prosecuted for possession of a stolen motor vehicle. It is a serious offense which carries a sentence of between 3 and 7 years, and one for which passengers as well as drivers can be held liable no matter how long ago the car was stolen.
Considering the length of the sentence and how broad the liability is, it is important to establish that the defendant knew that the car was stolen. This requirement to show knowledge is not a “loophole,” as the bill’s staunchest proponents would have you believe, but rather an essential way of making sure the law is fair.
Carjacking is a very different crime, a violent and dangerous one. But the barrier to prosecuting carjacking effectively is not that so-called “loophole” in the law. It is, quite frankly, that nine out of ten carjacking offenses in Chicago never result in an arrest.
If the police do not successfully arrest the perpetrators, the State’s Attorney has no one to prosecute.
Instead of developing a strategy that could result in more arrests, the mayor and the Chicago Police Department have proposed a law that is overly broad and would result in punishing not only the person in possession of the car, but also their passengers, many of whom may not even know they are committing a crime.
It is perhaps instructive to note, by the way, that the state’s attorney’s Motor Vehicle Theft unit was funded for many years by a state grant that fell victim to the recent budget standoff.
* Zeke’s reasons for staying calm during times of legislative strife was as sound back then as it is today…
May 24, 1994: The House paid tribute to the late Rep. Zeke Giorgi, who at the time of his death was the body's longest-serving member. His protégé, Speaker Madigan, recalled Girogi's frequent admonition during difficult debate to "Stay calm, Mike. It's just show biz." pic.twitter.com/1znQlb5YnI
The General Assembly can often resemble professional wrestling. The results are almost always preordained and, while the fights can draw real blood, they’re mostly staged.
* Lightly edited text exchange between Rich and myself…
Him: Um, why haven’t you done a blog post about your new Chicago Mag piece? Me: That’s self-promotional! Him: Do it.
* So here we are. Earlier this week Chicago Magazine published a story I wrote about the revenue ideas too politically difficult to even mention in Illinois these days: taxing retirement income and expanding the state’s sales tax to certain services. A big thank you to editor Whet Moser for making it happen. Here it is…
As Illinois lawmakers stare down their final weeks in Springfield, the state is staring down its own fiscal realities: $6.5 billion in unpaid bills, a $130 billion pension shortfall, and credit ratings still barely teetering above junk-bond status despite an income-tax hike last summer. That makes it an anomaly within the Midwest, a state that can never seem to manage its money while surrounding ones thrive. But its tax system is also strikingly different than theirs, a fact members of both parties have long bemoaned but not changed.
J.B. Pritzker’s campaign is the latest to propose aligning the state’s revenues with that of its neighbors, and it would be a considerable shift. After years of non-serious discussion of the issue, he’s pushing to change the state’s constitution to permit a graduated income tax instead of the mandated flat tax. If that happens, it would bring Illinois closer to the tax structures of surrounding states.
But there are two other types of taxes employed by our neighbors—ones brought up again and again—that still seem too poisonous to consider.
[Note from Rich Miller: I’m often asked by reporters to post their stories because y’all can really drive up their numbers in a big way. So, please, click the link and read Hannah’s story before commenting below. Thanks.]
* Both the House and Senate have canceled their previously scheduled Saturday and Sunday sessions. The chambers return on Memorial Day. Follow today’s action with ScribbleLive…
* In 1879, a Springfield photographer created a montage of Illinois House members. He took all their photos and then pasted them into one big picture. These pics of the montage do not do it justice…
The montage was found years ago and sent to a restorer. The finished product was unveiled earlier this week. It’s on the third floor and you should definitely go take a look.
* National Review has published a fawning profile of Dick Uihlein…
As a young man in 1969, Uihlein learned about getting things done in politics when he knocked on doors for a little-known congressional candidate in a special election: Phil Crane, who won that race and whose career as a conservative in the House of Representatives lasted until 2005. “It was a huge upset and it was done through the grassroots — and that’s where a lot of my activity is now,” says Uihlein. For a long while, however, Uihlein put politics on hold. “I was so dang busy building this company,” he says. “There was so much going on.” Decades passed. When his father died, in 2005, he knew he wanted to get more involved.
Around this time, Uihlein met John Tillman, a businessman who was looking for work after selling his sporting-goods store. “I’d been getting the Uline catalogue for a while,” says Tillman. “So I wrote a letter to the owner.” They met and discussed a sales job, but soon their conversation turned to Tillman’s real passion: creating a network of freedom-minded organizations in Illinois. “Dick became my anchor donor,” says Tillman. An initial gift of $50,000 helped Tillman launch the Illinois Policy Institute, a free-market think tank. Millions followed, destined for a variety of projects, including the Liberty Justice Center, a public-interest law firm with national sway: Its Janus v. AFSCME case, which challenges the rights of labor unions to collect fees from nonmembers, is now before the Supreme Court. A ruling, expected by the end of June, has the potential to halt a major source of revenue for Democrats.
Uihlein also donated to candidates for office in Illinois, trying to strengthen the Republican presence in Springfield as well as to make the GOP caucus there more conservative. Democrats still dominate the state legislature, but Uihlein won’t bow to pessimism: “Nothing is hopeless.” He points to the election of Governor Bruce Rauner in 2014 as proof that Republicans can compete in a state that many other conservatives have written off. Yet 2017 featured tax hikes as well as Rauner’s approval of an abortion-funding bill, prompting Uihlein to break with him and donate heavily to Jeanne Ives, a conservative state lawmaker who nearly beat Rauner in a March primary. “Jeanne proved that people are hungry for change,” says Uihlein. He’s now skeptical about Rauner’s ability to deliver it but says that the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, J. B. Pritzker, would be a disaster for Illinois: “I will vote for Rauner over Pritzker.” […]
Uihlein’s political activism has made him a person of interest in the media, even though he rarely grants interviews. Crain’s Chicago Business invoked the bogeymen of liberalism when it dubbed him “the Koch of conservative politics in Illinois.” Recent articles in Politico, the Washington Post, and elsewhere have treated him with a mix of curiosity and suspicion, and the Daily Beast even dug up a story about a woman who claims to have suffered from employment discrimination at Uline — a tale that wouldn’t have interested its editors if Uihlein weren’t a major funder of Republicans. Uihlein doesn’t relish the attention, but he recognizes its inevitability: “I’m not going to give up supporting the people who deserve it. That’s what they want me to do.”
Regulators in Wisconsin say they have found probable cause to believe that Liz Uihlein and her company, industrial supply giant Uline, may have refused to hire an executive because she suffered from lupus, an autoimmune disease, according to internal state government records obtained by The Daily Beast. Uline denies the charges. […]
The job applicant said in her complaint that, during her interview, Uihlein even inquired about her prescribed dosage of Prednisone, a steroid used to treat lupus, “which is a highly inappropriate line of conversation during a formal interview and none of her business.” […]
In a response to the complaint, Uline, the company, flatly denied that it had declined to hire the applicant due to her medical condition. Uihlein’s discussion of that condition, the company’s attorney wrote, “was one of compassion, not discrimination. Ms. Uihlein relayed her and her husband’s own personal experiences with his autoimmune disease in an effort to empathize with Complainant.”
“Yes, Ms. Uihlein referenced her own husband’s personal experiences as detailed in my initial complaint,” the applicant responded in a written retort, “but it wasn’t to empathize with me over my disease but rather to further justify her concerns that she didn’t believe someone with an autoimmune disease could do the job.”
* The Chicago Reader has a long piece on the dysfunction within Cook County Court Clerk Dorothy Brown’s office, whose antiquated work processes have apparently made it difficult for those fighting to overturn convictions — including wrongful convictions — to get their day in court. It’s entitled “Hundreds of Illinois prisoners languish behind bars waiting for Dorothy Brown to do her job“…
This could be the story of two wrongful convictions. This could be the story of how James Allen was railroaded by a Chicago police detective and Cook County prosecutors who didn’t think he deserved to be free. But before he has the chance to prove that he’s innocent of two murders, Allen needs one thing: for Dorothy Brown, the clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County, to do her job. […]
Allen is far from the only defendant whose postconviction proceedings have been stalled because Brown, the guardian of more than a million boxes of Cook County criminal and civil case records, has delayed in finding or failed to supply requested files. Currently some 25 other defendants represented by the appellate defender’s office are in the same situation, and some delays have dragged on for more than a year. (No data is available for the number of defendants stymied by this issue who have private attorneys.)
Brown’s failure to provide warehoused records in a timely manner has been an ongoing problem for years. In 2013, after being publicly chastised by the appellate defender’s office, Brown promised sweeping reforms in her management practices. She also touted major improvements in record storage and retrieval in 2014, when the county opened a $24 million, state-of-the-art warehouse in Cicero, largely for her office’s use. However, as Allen’s case indicates, timely record retrieval continues to be a challenge for the clerk of the circuit court. Since the passage of a new law in 2017 that requires Brown to provide records for appeals electronically, there’ve also been significant delays in scanning and transmitting warehoused files. Allen’s attorneys haven’t been able to get digital records to proceed with his appeal of a rejected postconviction motion in the Gibson case for more than a year. The appellate defender’s office says more than 600 of its cases are currently held up for the same reason.
“This is not normal,” says Patricia Mysza, head of the state appellate defender’s Cook County office. “Our clients have a constitutional right to an appeal. . . . It’s the clerk’s obligation to prepare the complete record on appeal. And without that record our clients are not getting their constitutional right.”
Definitely go read the whole thing. At my old job, I wrote plenty about a legal fight attempting to force Brown to make e-filed complaints available to media immediately. But these stakes are far higher. Also a good read: Tribune’s story on Brown’s office from February.
Illinois judges would have discretion to temporarily suspend the gun rights of someone who displays violent warning signs if family members, housemates or police seek court intervention, under a proposal that cleared the state House on Wednesday.
Proponents have billed the legislation as a way to prevent mass shootings and other common gun-related deaths. Opponents, meanwhile, question its necessity and whether it would interfere with law-abiding gun owners’ civil liberties.
Sponsoring Rep. Kathleen Willis, D-Addison, said the measure would create a way to prevent gun violence before it occurs by getting guns away from someone who raises “red flags,” such as concerning posts on social media or threatening remarks.
She said families and friends of people who show signs of mental illness or distress “oftentimes feel powerless” and would rather not put their loved ones in a situation where they could face arrest. […]
Under Willis’ proposal, a judge could suspend someone’s gun rights for up to six months.
The bill passed with 80 votes.
* Other bills…
* Carle-initiated bill to help those working while on public aid heads to Rauner: The pilot program is intended to help boost financial self-sufficiency among 500 future entry-level Carle employees also participating in Carle’s job-readiness and learning program. Some may also be participating in Carle’s healthy-beginnings program.
* Rauner gets bill legalizing industrial hemp: Rebecca Osland is a lawyer with the pro-farming Illinois Stewardship Alliance. She says the move can add hundreds of new jobs and up to $100 million in state revenue.
* Illinois Senate panel endorses wage-equity plan: A showdown between two Democratic measures to close the wage gap ended with Illinois senators rejecting one considered more business friendly. The Senate Labor Committee voted 11-6 Wednesday to approve legislation prohibiting employers from asking applicants their salary history. It has stiffer penalties for violators than one supported by business interests.
* Lawmakers debate non-death penalty parts of Gov. Rauner’s safety rewrite: But, Rauner spokeswoman Rachel Bold later walked back Risley’s claim, saying the administration would like the General Assembly to consider the comprehensive package that ““Believe it or not the University of Wisconsin did a study and deer can see blaze pink less than they can see blaze orange and people can see it more,” said Costello. gets to the heart of critical public safety issues.” “A motion to accept the governor’s changes to House Bill 1468 has been filed by the sponsor,” Bold said. “There is a clear opportunity for the House to consider the package in its entirety.”
But what about the Trib, which has been hostile to the Democratic nominee on its editorial page and has published some highly damaging reports on his taped phone conversations with former Gov. Rod Blagojevich on its news pages? “We have put out a schedule for televised debates,” spokeswoman Galia Slayen emailed back. Is that a yes, a no or a maybe? “No comment.”
Okay, how about WTTW, which traditionally sets both candidates on the same stage at the same time and has one of its capable crew of political vets question them? “They’re not on the list,” the campaign replies.
One insider tells me the Pritzker people haven’t yet decided about the Tribune. As that source puts it, “They haven’t exactly been nice.”
“Nobody owes us anything. Candidates owe voters,” Tribune Editorial Page Editor John McCormick responds. “We’ve had nothing but good conversations with Mr. Pritzker, and will look forward to to another before the election.”
Lots of Democratic legislative candidates have, in the past, refused to attend the Trib editorial board endorsement sessions, so that wouldn’t be totally unprecedented. But skipping WTTW would not be cool.
But Rauner campaign spokesman Will Allison said the Pritzker camp did not reach out to them beforehand. Allison said it “doesn’t mean we aren’t going to do those debates,” but noted they were not given any “heads up.” Allison, too, said the participating TV stations were also not notified.
If the schedule goes as Pritzker planned, both candidates have a big stake in downstate Quincy. Rauner has been embroiled in controversy over his administration’s response to a deadly Legionnaires’ outbreak at the Illinois Veterans’ Home. He spent several nights there in January and a task force he created is poised to try to rebuild the flailing home. Pritzker has continually hammered Rauner over the outbreak, labeling the governor’s handling of it “fatal mismanagement.”
Of note, the Quincy debate is the only one the billionaire Hyatt heir included outside the Chicago area in his schedule - avoiding both southern Illinois, as well as the Springfield-Decatur-Champaign market which candidates typically try to hit. Coverage from WCIA has been unfavorable to Pritzker at times, as the only television station in Springfield broke a story in January on his use of offshore accounts, dominating the political news cycle in Illinois.
Rauner has shied away from debates in the past, participating in just one face-to-face appearance with his conservative challenger in the Republican primary, state Rep. Jeanne Ives. The two faced off in a heated endorsement session before the Chicago Tribune editorial board, with Ives on the attack - likely a preview of the demeanor at debates to come, should Rauner agree to participate.
Sources in both parties and both chambers, and a source close to Rauner, all tell me the same thing: Real progress has been made by negotiators from the four caucuses, known as “budgeteers.” That progress has been affirmed by relatively tranquil if incomplete negotiations between the four legislative leaders and Rauner. […]
“We are doing absolutely everything we can to give the governor a reasonable budget that he can sign,” says one Democratic budgeteer. “I’d makes the odds 60-40 this gets done by the end of the month,” says one top Republican.
One factor that ironically may be working in favor of a deal is the latest flap over whether House Speaker Mike Madigan is serious about curbing sexual harassment by his associates and whether he retaliated against a House critic. With even many House Democrats not wanting a repeat of the budget standoffs of earlier years, the desire not to be in Springfield and under a harassment microscope “only increases the pressure on him” to finish up the budget quick.
But sources in both parties say they’re still not completely convinced that Rauner, running for re-election after last year’s budget and tax hike were enacted over his veto, really wants to move on.
One source close to him says he does, but laid down some conditions: The budget has to be balanced, more or less; it can’t include a lot of new spending; and there must be no new taxes in the plan.
A year ago on this date, the Journal Star joined with other Illinois newspapers to publish front-page editorials under the headline “Unacceptable” as our state government approached a third consecutive year without a budget. To give you a taste: “There is nothing wrong with Illinois but its politics … Govern, for a change. Resolve never to return Illinois to this hellish place again.”
Fast-forward 365 days and the contrast could not be more stark, the silence out of Springfield more profound.
“Please take that as a good sign for the moment,” said state Rep. Ryan Spain, sharing a sentiment largely echoed by his Peoria-area colleagues on both sides of the aisle. “Cautiously optimistic,” said Rep. Mike Unes, R-East Peoria, with some identical nods. […]
We’re told that bipartisan, bicameral, orderly and productive meetings have been taking place on a daily basis, outside the media glare. If that’s what it takes to get a budget that is balanced and on time, so be it.
Illinois’ key budget deadline is barely a week away and one of the state’s budget negotiators says he believes lawmakers can break a three-year trend and get a budget done on time.
“I’m very encouraged by where we are at right now,” State Rep. Dan Brady declared. “We’ve got communication going between all the rank-and-file, that’s the budgeteers.
For the first time in years, budget talks are looking up at the Capitol.
The deadline is in just eight days, but those negotiating final details aren’t breaking a sweat. Many say they’re optimistic it will be done in time.
House Minority Leader Jim Durkin (R) says communication is much better across the aisle this year. There was some fighting about a revenue estimate a few weeks ago, but he says they made it past that.
Durkin says this time around lawmakers are learning to trust each other. He anticipates a balanced budget, but says they’re still working to get there. He says they’re trying to work about five or six major issues first.
* I was in the House press box yesterday when Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago) took a point of personal privilege to apologize to Grant Wehrli (R-Naperville) for “extremely inappropriate, intemperate language,” she had used earlier. The other reporters and I asked each other what had happened earlier, but no one knew.
Turns out, a hot mic had caught Currie calling Wehrli an “idiot” off mic during debate on SB427, which would allow the governor or mayor to appoint members the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Board for three terms instead of two terms. The rationale behind the bill, Currie said, is to not impose an arbitrary limit on the time someone could serve “if that individual is making major contributions to the success of this enterprise.”
Wehrli, and most Republicans who stood up against the bill pointed to the bigger movement (championed by Gov. Rauner) to implement term limits, while the bill would extend the amount of time someone could serve in a public role. Plus, Rauner has already vetoed a version of this bill…
Wehrli: Leader, in your opening remarks, you mention that this is somebody is making a major contribution to the board. Can you define what a “major” contribution is, as opposed to a minor contribution?
Currie: A major contribution would be in the eye of the governor or the eye of the mayor. All this bill does is to say either the governor or the mayor has the opportunity to appoint someone to a third term. And I don’t understand why the governor would veto that bill. He doesn’t have to exercise the authority if this bill were to become law. He doesn’t need to appoint someone to a third term. But why he would deny that opportunity to the Mayor and to any future governor makes zero sense to me.”
Wehrli: So when you’re saying major contribution, you’re talking about work product and not financial contributions in some way, is that correct?
Currie: What I said is it depends on what the mayor or the governor wants to do. This is permissive. This doesn’t require them to use my standard, your standard or anybody else’s standard. It just says that they have that opportunity.
After a two-second pause, Currie added, “idiot” off-mic.
“I certainly hope that Rep. Wehrli will accept this apology in the manner in which I offer it, which is to say with deep sincerity,” Currie said. “And I hope that you will still be my friend.”
Wehrli replied that he “warmly” accepted it, adding that he looks “forward to continuing our work collaboratively on solutions for the great state of Illinois.”
The Internal Revenue Service is preparing to crack down on states that try to circumvent a new limit on the state and local tax deduction, saying on Wednesday that it will not allow local governments to find creative ways to help individuals fully deduct those taxes.
The I.R.S. warning comes in response to states, like New York, that have looked for ways to blunt the impact of a new $10,000 cap on the state and local tax deduction, known as SALT. The cap, which was included in last year’s $1.5 trillion Republican tax overhaul, hit predominantly Democratic, high-tax states hardest since it limits the amount of state and local sales, income and property taxes that residents can deduct from their federal taxes.
That has prompted a scramble among local lawmakers to find ways to allow constituents who owe more than $10,000 to continue to fully deduct those taxes and avoid a tax increase.
The I.R.S. said it would not tolerate states that try to flout the law — a stance that is likely to be challenged in court.
New York, New Jersey and Connecticut have passed laws to allow taxpayers to circumvent the federal cap, according to the Tax Foundation.
“In the notice, the IRS emphasized the ’substance over form’ doctrine, meaning that the IRS cares about the actual substance of a payment, and not the name or form it may be given,” the foundation wrote in an email. “While the actual guidance remains forthcoming, this is clearly bad news for the charitable contributions in lieu of taxes approach.”
* From a letter to state legislators that went out this morning…
NO ABORTION FUNDING IN THE BUDGET
On September 28, 2017, Governor Rauner signed into law House Bill 40, which authorizes the use of taxpayer funds for abortions through Medicaid and state employee health insurance. This new mandate is not eligible for reimbursement by the federal government, putting the entire cost on Illinois taxpayers.
House Bill 40 did not contain an appropriation; therefore, funding for elective abortions will come out of state Medicaid and health insurance funding.
No one knows how many more abortions there will be due to House Bill 40, but no matter the number, the principle is the same: our state tax dollars should not go to pay for abortion. You have the opportunity to ensure that no taxpayer money is used to end the life of any unborn child.
We are asking all members of the Illinois General Assembly to refuse to provide the means for House Bill 40 to accomplish its deadly consequences by including language in annual appropriations denying the use of tax dollars for elective abortions.
Due to our less-restrictive laws, in 2016 there was a 40 percent increase in the number of people coming to Illinois from out-of-state to undergo an abortion, forcing Illinois taxpayers not only to pay for abortions of Illinois citizens but of those from out-of-state. House Bill 40 will accelerate this trend.
Please work with us to protect taxpayers and unborn children.
Robert Gilligan, Executive Director
Catholic Conference of Illinois
Mary Kate Knorr, Executive Director
Ralph Rivera, Legislative Chairman
Illinois Right to Life Action
Dawn Behnke, President
Illinois Federation For Right to Life
Bonnie Quirke, President
Lake County Right to Life
Eric Scheidler, Executive Director
Pro-Life Action League
This could make it more difficult to reach a budget deal. We’ll see.
*** UPDATE *** Statement from Brigid Leahy, Senior Director of Public Policy for Planned Parenthood Illinois…
“Whether she has private or government-funded health insurance, every woman should have coverage for a full range of pregnancy-related care, including abortion. Last year, the Illinois General Assembly recognized the right of women to safe and legal abortion regardless of how much money they make or how they get health care coverage when it passed HB 40. And, Governor Bruce Rauner showed leadership when he signed the bill into law. Now, in the last days of the legislative session, anti-abortion groups are calling for legislators to hold up the budget process so that they can deny a woman health coverage and overturn HB 40. This move is dangerous for the women who rely on Medicaid and State Employee Health Insurance, and it is irresponsible to all Illinoisans who are relying on the timely passage of a state budget. We urge the members of the General Assembly to pass a budget that serves the interests of all Illinoisans and not be distracted by cynical attempts to insert the issue of abortion into the process.”
…Adding… ACLU…
When it comes to the most important decisions in life – including whether to become a parent – a woman must be able to consider all options available to her, regardless of how little money she makes or how she is insured. Last year Illinois took a big step in respecting this goal for all women. Because of House Bill 40 being enacted into law, the State of Illinois joined the list of states recognizing that coverage for comprehensive reproductive health care, including abortion, is critical to women’s health.
Politicians should not be allowed to deny a woman’s health coverage simply because she is poor. And attempting to turn back the clock through a budget maneuver should not be tolerated. Politicians have no business controlling the decision-making process for women regarding their most personal health care decisions.
State Rep. Steven Reick, R-Woodstock, said Illinois should cut spending instead of finding ways to increase revenue.
“Don’t talk to me about revenue until you can talk to me about how to control spending and things like that,” Reick said. […]
Reick said one thing lawmakers need to do is reform pension spending “where we’re not paying 25 percent of our budget toward past pension debt, allowing us to figure out how to do that without having to do taxes.”
Provides that, if the amount of the credit for residential real property taxes exceeds the taxpayer’s liability, that amount shall be refunded if the taxpayer is 65 years or older and has a federal adjusted gross income of not more than $50,000.
REPORTER 1: “Should McCann be included in the debates? Would you attend debates in which McCann is invited with Pritzker?”
RAUNER: [Laughs]
REPORTER 2: “Will you attend any debates? I don’t know if you’ve committed to any.”
RAUNER: [Laughs] “We’ll talk about the process of the election.”
REPORTER 2: “You can’t say now whether you’ll commit to being in-“
RAUNER: “Debates haven’t even come up yet, we’re barely getting started with the election.”
REPORTER 1: “We’ve reached out, we’ve reached out to you.”
RAUNER: “I’m sorry?”
REPORTER 2: “You haven’t-“
REPORTER 1: “We’ve reached out to your campaign.”
RAUNER: “Okay great, well you know what? There’s debates-”
REPORTER 2: “And we have not gotten any responses.
REPORTER 1: “No. No responses.”
REPORTER 2: “Collectively. So will you comment here, will you join debates?
RAUNER: “You guys sound like you’re as patient as me.”
REPORTER 1: The Pritzker campaign said yes.
RAUNER: “Of course we’re gonna – of course we’re gonna have debates, of course we’re gonna have debates.”
REPORTER 1: “Should – will Sam – Are you okay with Sam McCann being included in the debates?”
RAUNER: [Laughs]
Sounds like some media outlets have been trying to get something scheduled for a while now.
* Pritzker campaign today…
After participating in over 50 forums and several debates in the primary election, today JB Pritzker is announcing that he will participate in three media sponsored debates ahead of the November 6th general election. This includes a downstate debate that will be broadcast statewide and reflects the same number of televised debates as the last gubernatorial election.
“This is a critical election for our state and it is important for all voters in Illinois to hear from the gubernatorial candidates about their plans to fight for working families,” said JB Pritzker. “I look forward to sharing my vision for creating jobs, expanding healthcare, and investing in education and comparing it to Bruce Rauner’s failed record of causing a 736-day budget crisis, attacking public education, and driving the state economy into the ground. It’s time for a governor who will fight for all communities and bring people together to put Springfield back on the side of working families. I’m ready to move Illinois forward.”
September 20th: Debate Sponsored by NBC 5, Telemundo, Union League of Chicago, and Chicago Urban League – Chicago, IL
October 3rd: Debate Sponsored by ABC 7, Univision, and League of Women Voters – Chicago, IL
October 11th: Debate Sponsored by WGEM and the Illinois Broadcasters Association – Quincy, IL
I’m told there were no negotiations between the candidates in advance of this announcement. The Pritzker people didn’t even reach out to the Rauner organization before distributing this press release.
* From the Rauner campaign’s Will Allison…
Governor Rauner looks forward to participating in debates to talk about how JB Pritzker is wrong on taxes, corruption, and Mike Madigan.
Tuesday, Speaker Madigan reversed course from his earlier denials over the concerns I raised about retaliation and requested an investigation by the Legislative Inspector General. While I applaud his openness to an inquiry, I continue to have very real concerns about the venue he’s selected.
The Office of Legislative Inspector General made headlines late last year after it was revealed that the position of LIG had remained vacant for 3 years, a situation many in the Capitol were completely unaware of, despite the early discussions about problems with harassment in our Capitol. During the time the office was vacant, several complaints piled up unaddressed and we had to pass emergency legislation to extend the statute of limitation on cases that had died of neglect during that time. Some members of the General Assembly, myself included, suggested that the statute empowering the LIG be overhauled at the same time to better equip a new LIG to truly operate independently, but the changes made were limited to the timeline extension at that time.
While the reasons for the lengthy vacancy in the office of Legislative Inspector General were never publicly reported, news reports at the time suggest that the issue related to a situation where the LIG found cause to launch an investigation and was denied permission to open an investigation by the partisan leadership appointees to the Legislative Ethics Commission. It bears repeating here - the Inspector General cannot proceed with an investigation unless a panel of members of the body they are charged with overseeing grants them the permission to do so. The flaws in the process don’t stop there though, it is riddled with trap doors, blind alleys and loopholes designed to allow political consideration to bury any complaint that is politically inconvenient. In addition to the lack of true independence in choosing whether to proceed to the investigative phase, other problems include:
◼ Neither the LIG nor the Ethics commission are required to publicly share any information about complaints, investigations, or findings by the LIG, which is the mechanism that allows the partisan nature of the Ethics Commission to keep facts from the public.
◼ The Legislative Ethics Commission, the group of General Assembly members appointed by legislative leadership (4 Democrats and 4 Republicans), has the power to reject any findings of an Inspector General.
◼ A simple majority vote is required to move an action forward and no provision exists for breaking the tie vote, so anything serious could die for the lack of one vote. As a result, party line voting on the commission all but guarantees no serious consequences exist.
◼ The minutes of the meetings of the Legislative Ethics Commission are not required to be publicly disclosed.
There are a couple of pieces of legislation moving through the Senate now, where members are working together in a bipartisan fashion to find workable solutions to the problems in both the Legislative Inspector General’s office and the Department of Human Rights. The proposed changes to the Ethics Act are simple and straightforward and I stand ready to support these changes when the bill comes over to the House.
The proposed changes to the Ethics Act, carried by Sens. Cristina Castro and Karen McConnaghy, include:
◼ Most importantly, the bill will remove the outrageous barrier to investigative independence by removing the provisions requiring the Legislative Inspector General to seek the permission of the Ethics Commission before opening an investigation. As mentioned above, Illinois is the ONLY state in the country with such a provision in their Ethics Act.
◼ The bill will bring desperately needed transparency and accountability to the Office and the Commission, requiring publication of case summaries in instances where a violation has been found as well as mandating public release of meeting minutes. A supermajority, which by the design of the Ethics Commission would require bipartisan cooperation, will be required to quash the release of any case summary.
◼ Critically important for restoring faith in the process, four members of the public would join the Ethics Commission.
◼ Ethics Commission members involved in cases would be required to recuse themselves and be temporarily replaced on the commission.
◼ Finally, the bill sets out a process for the timely replacement of the Legislative Inspector General in the case of a vacancy.
Each chamber has other pieces of legislation on the topic, but progress has been limited. Just as I suggested last fall when this all began, it would be ideal if we could have started this process with the creation of a bipartisan, bicameral task force seeking real solutions to improve the workplace we all share.
* Related…
* DemToo? GOP fans out to hang #MeToo around Democrats’ necks: But Collin Corbett, a Republican consultant working on several legislative races, says the focus makes perfect political sense. “You’re going to see this in every campaign. It’s going to be highlighted in every campaign, whether it’s for state Senate or state House, unless the Democratic candidate is willing to go out and oppose Mike Madigan, which none of them have the guts to do,” Corbett said. Corbett said the #metoo movement “goes to the heart of Democratic support.” “It goes to the heart of Democratic control of the state because they control the suburbs, and suburban women are the most important bloc in any statewide campaign,” Corbett said. “You’re not going to see this as much of a problem in Downstate races. You’ll see it front and center in the suburbs.”
* Sen Kwame Raoul: “I’ve worked with Representative Kelly Cassidy for many years as a trusted colleague and close personal friend. She has my full support, not just in sharing her story this week but for the critical work she is doing on the bipartisan Sexual Discrimination and Harassment Awareness and Prevention task force.
I know they are working hard to address these issues and understand they will be releasing legislative proposals in the coming days. Representative Cassidy and I agree that this issue should not be politicized. It is too important, not only in her case but for all women. As Attorney General, I look forward to building upon this panel’s work to change the culture and ensure that all citizens have access to support and justice.”
* Ethics board says it lacks jurisdiction to take up sexual harassment inquiry into Madigan ally: In addition to the ethics panel, Hampton also wrote to City Hall’s top watchdog in her request for a review. On Wednesday, Inspector General Joseph Ferguson signaled there’s little room left for his office to pursue the Hampton request. “The Board of Ethics is the adjudicator,” Ferguson said. “When a judge says there is no jurisdiction, that effectively ends the matter.
* Republican calls Madigan investigation conflict of interest: Deputy Majority Leader Lou Lang (D- Skokie), one of Madigan’s most loyal allies, says McConnaughay’s argument seems politically motivated and illogical. “The purpose of the ethics commission is to externally take a look at what’s going on in our system, whether it be staff or members and so there would be an inherent conflict in any claim made under that test and I just don’t think that’s appropriate,” says Lang. Lang says the commission is assessing rules internally but welcomes legislative changes if need be.
* Two anti-sex harassment bills go to Rauner’s desk: House Bill 4242 would require local governments and school districts to make public within 72 hours the name of any employee accepting a severance payment due to being accused of sexual harassment within 72 hours, unless there is a confidentiality clause in that employee’s contract. HB 4243 prohibits state legislators from using public money to pay off victims of harassment to keep quiet. Despite wide support in committee and in both houses of the legislature, the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois opposes HB 4242. … [Ben Ruddell, an attorney with the ACLU] said the public posting requirement creates a “pseudo-sex offender registry,” which could lead to further invasions of privacy for government employees.
