Today, Governor-elect JB Pritzker announced the formation and members of the Healthy Children and Families Committee of the transition team at Children’s Home and Aid, the first social service agency JB visited while considering his run for governor.
The committee is the third of several working groups of the transition made up of subject-matter experts who will advise and guide the incoming Pritzker-Stratton administration. The Healthy Children and Families Committee will be chaired by state Sen. Heather Steans, Howard Brown Health President and CEO David Munar, and Children’s Home and Aid President and CEO Nancy Ronquillo and consist of 36 members.
“Our transition’s Healthy Children and Families Committee will focus on how we should rebuild social services, identify ways we can help children and families build better lives, and expand health care in this state,” said Governor-elect JB Pritzker. “Over the last few years, state funding for community organizations was cut and families were no longer receiving the services they needed to thrive, but we’re going to reverse course. As governor, I’ll be their partner, and together, we’ll confront challenges head on so families and children can thrive.”
HEALTHY CHILDREN AND FAMILIES COMMITTEE MEMBERS
State Senator Heather Steans co-chairs the transition’s Healthy Children and Families Committee and has represented the 7th district in the Senate since 2008. Steans chairs the Appropriations I Committee and the Special Committee on Oversight of Medicaid Managed Care, vice chairs the Appropriations II Committee and serves on the Executive, Environment and Conservation, Government Reform and Human Services committees. She has passed legislation to bring marriage equality to Illinois, reform the state’s Medicaid program, enact significant nursing home reform and improve the environment by reducing mercury waste, creating commercial composting capabilities and banning microbeads. She also passed the Equal Rights Amendment in 2018, making Illinois the 37th state to ratify it and secured the passage of legislation that ensures Illinois remains a state where women can safely and legally exercise their right to choose.
David Munar co-chairs the transition’s Healthy Children and Families Committee and has served as president and CEO of Howard Brown Health since 2014. Munar has focused on ensuring the delivery of excellent patient services, strengthening finances and operations, and positioning the Midwest’s largest LGBTQ organization for long-term sustainability and growth. Prior to Howard Brown, Munar honed his career at the AIDS Foundation of Chicago where he held several positions, including president and CEO. He serves on the boards of the Cook County Health and Hospital System, the Illinois Primary Health Care Association, AllianceChicago, AIDS United, and the Black AIDS Institute. In 2007, he helped launch a national coalition that led to the National HIV/AIDS Strategy unveiled by President Obama in July 2010.
Nancy Ronquillo co-chairs the transition’s Healthy Children and Families Committee and has served as president and CEO of Children’s Home & Aid since 2001. Ronquillo has been a leader in the human services field for over four decades. She has served as the founding chair of Children’s Home Society of America and Illinois Partners for Human Service, an 800+ member statewide advocacy organization. Ronquillo was named American Business Woman of the Year and received the Woman of Distinction Award. She serves on both national and local boards, including the Children’s Home Society of America and National Veterans Arts Museum (NVAM). Ronquillo serves on the local boards of Chicago Thrive Leadership Council, Chicago Alliance for Collaborative Effort, Axelson Center for Nonprofit Management and Advisory Board and the Chicago Horse Center. She is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago.
Lisa Morrison Butler, Commissioner, Chicago Department of Family and Support Services
Pat Comstock, Executive Director, The Health Care Council of Illinois
Deb Conroy, State Representative, Illinois General Assembly
Esther Corpuz, CEO, Alivio Medical Center
Chris Cox, Executive Director, Hoyleton Youth and Family Services
Ryan Croke, Executive Director, Illinois Centers for Independent Living
Risa Davis, Vice President of Corporate Development, United Way of Metropolitan Chicago
Andrea Durbin, President, Illinois Collaboration on Youth
Theresa Eagleson, Executive Director, University of Illinois, Office of Medicaid Innovation
Sara Feigenholtz, State Representative, Illinois General Assembly
When Colorado voted in 2012 to legalize recreational marijuana, Gov. John Hickenlooper was against it.
To do something no other state had, in opposition of federal law, was a daunting task. Fast-forward six years and his perspective has changed.
“The things we most feared — a peak in teenage consumption, a peak in overall consumption, people driving while high — we haven’t seen,” Hickenlooper said Wednesday, speaking at a lunchtime event of the Economic Club of Chicago. “I’m not quite there to say this is a great success, but the old system was awful.” […]
He also recommended putting strict limits on edibles, going as far as restricting in each dose the allotted concentration of THC, the chemical that gets users high. He warned against overtaxing the drug and driving users back to the black market.
J.B. Pritzker says he supports legalizing recreational marijuana in Illinois, but the state of Iowa has no intention of doing the same right now. If Illinois legalizes it in the future, some in the Quad Cities worry about the drug making its way across the river into Iowa.
Illinois and Iowa are only 5 to 10 minute drives from one to the other if you live in or near the Quad Cities, so Scott County Sheriff Tim Lane thinks it is reasonable to assume the drug will make its way to his home state.
The case for treating pot like alcohol, with licensed retailers and minimum age requirements, has a good deal of logic behind it. But what’s the hurry?
The hurry is people like me have been waiting for this moment all of their adult lives. But, either way, it’s not like a bill is gonna pass in a day. This is too new for that to happen. If the process is indeed too rushed, then say something. Otherwise, sit down, Tribune.
For politicians, the chief appeals of allowing the legal sale and possession of cannabis for mere enjoyment is that (a) it would bring in revenue from taxes and fees, and (b) it would please an energetic constituency.
How about (c) it’s the right thing to do because it puts illegal drug cartels out of business, and (d) will create legitimate jobs where they do not currently exist? Just stop it, already.
* And Bruce Rushton wants to give Secretary of State Jesse White the responsibility of legalizing marijuana because his office does such a good job with drivers licenses…
Jesse White, master that he is in issuing driver’s licenses and plates at light speed, surely can do better than the legislature. For one thing, folks seem to trust him. For another, he understands customer service. He knows how to collect money. And he also, likely, wouldn’t want the job, given that he’s said he opposes recreational pot, which is all the more reason to appoint him state marijuana czar – never let someone who says they want to be a drug dealer become a drug dealer. So, let’s just hand it over to White and let him figure out the details. We could all be stoned by the Fourth of July, and that wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.
Responding to concerns over allegations that the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation paid millions for a stovepipe hat that may not have actually belonged to President Abraham Lincoln, State Senator and Legislative Audit Commission Co-Chair Jason Barickman and State Representative Tim Butler (R-Springfield) are calling for an audit to review the financial relationship between the foundation and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (ALPLM).
“The foundation is asking the state for millions of dollars to cover the purchase of artifacts, including the hat that has been heavily scrutinized,” said Sen. Barickman. “Before we can make a decision on that, we need to better understand the financial connection between the foundation and the ALPLM, as well as what agreements are in place governing purchases made by the foundation.”
“Even after the Illinois House hearing, many questions still remain about the relationship of the Foundation with the Presidential Museum and the money which has been raised for this state agency,” said Representative Butler. “This audit will hopefully shed light on the operations of the foundation and help us plan a path forward to the goal we all desire: ensuring the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is a world-class institution.”
Barickman and Butler said that an audit of how state funds were spent will shed light on whether taxpayer money was misspent or mismanaged. The process may help determine if the foundation bought the famed hat from a former member of the board for $6.5 million without first authenticating its true origin.
The audit could also assess the merits of the acquisition of the $25 million Barry and Louise Taper Collection. The foundation secured a loan in order to purchase the pieces; however, a balance of more than $9 million remains. The loan is due in October 2019.
An audit resolution, SR2179 has been introduced in the Senate by Sen. Barickman, and an identical resolution, HR1300, has been filed in the House by Rep. Butler. If either is passed by its chamber, the Auditor General will conduct an audit and report his findings to the Legislative Audit Commission.
I’d also like to see the loan itself looked into. Who provided it? What are the specific terms? How was it negotiated and by whom?
Thursday, Nov 15, 2018 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Illinois’ clean energy economy is here but there’s still more we can, and must, do.
In 2016, the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition championed passage of the bipartisan Future Energy Jobs Act (FEJA), the biggest clean energy breakthrough in the state’s history. From Carbondale to Peoria to Chicago and everywhere in between, FEJA is already building a new economy and reshaping Illinois’ energy landscape by reducing pollution, keeping energy bills affordable, and creating new jobs.
But there’s still more the General Assembly can do to make Illinois a leader in clean energy. That’s why earlier this year, the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition launched “Listen. Lead. Share. A Conversation About Winning a Clean, Equitable Energy Future.”
Over the last 10 months, local residents, community leaders and businesses participated in 58 Listen. Lead. Share. events across Illinois to discuss how Illinois can:
• Put Illinois on a path to 100% renewable energy by 2050
• Achieve a carbon-free power sector by 2030
• Create sustainable and equitable job growth
• Reduce pollution from the transportation sector
The time to act is now, and together we must work exhaustively on economic policies that build on the success of FEJA, lift up all of Illinois, enact much-needed climate and health protections, and spur investment and job creation in the communities where they’re needed most.
Well. According to several sources, the bomb threat at the Capitol on Wednesday was prompted by a man named Tom who called the tourism desk to ask about visitors. The woman thought he said “bomb,” not Tom. #twill
* By the way, I asked the secretary of state’s spokesman why only the third and fourth floors were evacuated yesterday. I mean, couldn’t the would-be bomber (or, in this case, the Tomer) have been lying about where he placed the device?
I was told that these threats are taken on a case-by-case basis and it was “determined early on in this process that it was not a viable threat,” but that they nonetheless completed their due diligence.
I’m betting Tom asked about tours of the third and fourth floors.
* Back in high school, I was once put in charge of publicity for the annual school musical. I worked part-time at the town’s only radio station, so that was easy to deal with (and probably why I was handed the task). I met with the town’s newspaper publisher/editor and explained what I was doing and what I’d like and he said, “Where’s my ad?”
What?
“My newspaper ad. You want me to run a story you have to buy an ad.”
This is Chicago, after all, so even a billionaire’s campaign had to contend with a shakedown of sorts. A steady flow of vendors came knocking at the campaign’s doors, sometimes with outrageous offers, said Quentin Fulks, who oversaw the Pritzker campaign budget.
In one case, Fulks said an owner of a local publication, which he would not name, asked that the Pritzker campaign pay $300,000 to bankroll the individual’s personal book project that had nothing to do with the campaign or Pritzker.
“We told them ‘no’ for the book and they got mad. The same person owns a newspaper publication and ran some pretty negative stuff against us when we didn’t agree to publish,” Fulks said. “You can make a lot of political enemies when people think you have an unlimited budget and you have to tell them ‘no.’ People take that really personally, they feel offended.”
The Senate has voted to override a veto of legislation encouraging immigrants who are victims of crime to cooperate with police.
Senate President John Cullerton’s plan was approved 40-12 Wednesday. It would set a 90-day deadline for law enforcement officials to complete paperwork immigrants need for visas to stay in this country.
The Chicago Democrat says it’s prompted by an illegal sex trade which lures or forces girls and women from other countries to come to the U.S.
Federal law established the visas for cooperative victims. Cullerton says some law enforcement agencies delay completion or ignore it.
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner vetoed the proposal in August. He says setting a deadline could result in mistakes or perjury.
That was a pretty silly excuse by the governor to cover his politically motivated veto.
* The GOP was all about immigration this year and while it backfired in most of the suburbs, it did do the trick in some areas…
Voters in more than a dozen counties recently approved measures urging the state not to pass further gun control measures. And in several counties, the proposals added immigration to the mix.
Some of these ballot questions asked if their county should become a “sanctuary county” for gun owners. This language evokes the term “sanctuary cities,” including Chicago, which have immigration policies that clash with federal guidelines.
In Logan County, in the central part of the state, the ballot question linked immigration and gun control in an even more direct way. The question was a mouthful:
Shall Logan become a ’sanctuary county’ for all firearms unconstitutionally prohibited by the government of the State of Illinois, for everyone except for undocumented immigrants, in that Logan County will prohibit its employees from enforcing the unconstitutional actions of the state government.
Senate President John Cullerton said the legislative push, Senate Bill 34, is necessary because of complaints from immigration advocates that certain local state’s attorneys failed to ever fill out the forms, thus denying immigrants a chance at the visas. Cullerton was unable, however, to cite a specific instance.
“If the authorities don’t think the person qualifies because (they) didn’t cooperate they can say that in the report,” Cullerton said. “All this does is set a 90-day deadline for finishing the report … it closes a loophole in the process.”
Cullerton said Rauner rejected the proposal “over the summer, in the heat of an election campaign with immigration being a political buzzword.”
In his veto message, Rauner called the plan an “unfunded mandate” that would put additional strain on already-stressed law enforcement agencies, subjecting them to “significant liability, even for good faith efforts to certify. Requiring certification within a tight timeline but also subjecting law enforcement to perjury if a mistake is made is an unacceptably risky position to put law enforcement in.”
The bill gained steam from May, when it passed the Senate with 37 votes. The override motion succeeded yesterday with 40 votes.
“Just as lawmakers have come together to raise awareness and fight back against human trafficking, we came together to make sure the existing process works for these victims,” Cullerton said in a statement after the override. “This system was created to empower victims to come forward knowing they’ll be protected if they help us bring to justice the people behind these horrible crimes.”
The federal government in 2000 created special immigration visas for victims of human trafficking and other crimes — such as abduction, kidnapping, female genital mutilation, incest, murder, sexual assault and slave trade — who work with police.
“Immigrants should not be living in fear or hiding in the shadows. Teachers, business owners, social workers, childcare givers, police officers, firefighters, communities depend on them,” state Rep. Juliana Stratton, D-Chicago, said at a press conference prior to the Senate override. “We have to ensure that victims of crime feel safe reporting those crimes to the appropriate authorities regardless of citizenship and when crimes go unreported, the perpetrators of those crimes go unsolved, making communities less safe for the victims and less safe for everyone else.”
* Related…
* Cullerton: Trafficking victims deserve our help, not hateful rhetoric
The Senate has overturned a veto by Gov. Bruce Rauner on a measure that would regulate so-called peer-to-peer car-rental businesses.
The vote Wednesday was 39-12 to require the companies to comply with the same safety standards and pay the same taxes as traditional rental-car companies.
Turo and Getaround are examples of businesses that provide online apps for people to rent cars from other people.
Republican Rauner says the measure is too restrictive and could “smother” growth of an innovative new industry. He suggested a rewrite of the regulations.
Illinois lawmakers are set to consider legislation this week that would limit the use of antibiotics in food-producing animals, a practice that has been shown to fuel drug-resistant bacteria that can be dangerous to humans.
On Thursday, the Illinois Senate’s Agriculture and Public Health committees are scheduled to hold subject matter hearings on a bill introduced earlier this year by state Sen. Daniel Biss that would further restrict antibiotic use on the nearly 20,000 Illinois farms with beef cattle, hogs or pigs.
Experts from the World Health Organization have for years warned that the routine use of antibiotics on animals that aren’t sick leads to drug-resistant bacteria that can have deadly consequences for humans.
Each year, millions of Americans get sick with antibiotic-resistant infections, and at least 23,000 of them die as a result, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A recent study estimates that by 2050, drug-resistant bacteria could kill more people worldwide than cancer kills today.
…Adding… The hearing was postponed due to weather.
Meanwhile, lawmakers started moving a bill aimed at the Chicago mayoral race. A plan that cleared a House committee would open a special election for Cook County board president to more people if Toni Preckwinkle is elected mayor. Now, only Cook County commissioners could run for president if she won and left the board president job.
Also, lawmakers are trying to negotiate a compromise on dueling proposals aimed at companies such as Sterigenics in west suburban Willowbrook that emit dangerous ethylene oxide gas.
Separate bills from House Republican leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs and Democratic state Rep. Carol Sente of Vernon Hills would limit and eventually ban use of the chemical in Illinois. Lawmakers say they’re trying to come up with legislation by the end of the month.
Also on Wednesday, the Senate failed to override the governor’s veto of a measure that would remove the state from the Crosscheck voter registration system. But senators are expected to try again for an override. Democrats say the measure would help protect voter information, but Republicans say the extra check is needed to make sure voters aren’t also registered elsewhere.
Four years after an expert found that the Illinois Department of Corrections failed to provide adequate medical care to prisoners across the state, conditions are “either no better or in fact worse in 2018.” Most disturbing, the medical professionals who conducted a new examination in 2018 finds that the poor care is resulting in deaths that could be prevented. Dr. Mike Puisis and his team – in a damning report filed in federal court today – examined 33 deaths in IDOC facilities. They found that one-third – 12 deaths – were preventable. Another 7 were possibly preventable and the record-keeping in 5 cases were so poor or had missing documents so that the experts could not determine if the death was preventable.
The stories of the preventable deaths are heart-breaking. In one instance, a 24-year-old with mental illness swallowed two plastic utensils (two sporks). Despite being seen by medical personnel for symptoms including abdominal pain and the inability to eat, he went untreated. The patient lost more than 50 pounds and was hospitalized only after being found unresponsive, where he died. The utensils were discovered during an autopsy.
“We knew four years ago that prisoners in Illinois were subject to needless pain and suffering,” said Camille Bennett, staff counsel at the ACLU of Illinois. “This latest report shows that the lack of adequate care is lethal. Illinois must fix this problem.”
The report by Dr. Mike Pusis and a team of court-appointed experts was filed today in federal court as part of on-going litigation in Lippert v. Godinez, a lawsuit challenging medical care in the IDOC system. It builds on a report filed in 2015 (conducted in 2014) by Dr. Ronald Shansky and a team of medical experts.
“This report tells a remarkably ugly story,” added Harold Hirshman, Senior Counsel at the Dentons law firm and counsel in the case. “Once again, a carefully-drafted, professional report concludes that the quality of care provided to Illinois prisoners is atrocious and leads to death.”
Among other detailed findings, the new expert report criticizes DOC for not having enough qualified physicians. At Dixon Correctional Center, for example, 20% of the healthcare positions at the facility are vacant. Staffing shortages exist in every facility operated by IDOC.
The filing of the expert report is the latest development in Lippert, et. al, v. Ghosh.
Illinois moved closer to raising the minimum age to buy cigarettes, vaping devices and other tobacco products to 21 after the state Senate on Wednesday voted to override Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of the plan. […]
Under the tobacco legislation, it would be illegal to sell tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes and vaping devices, to anyone under the age of 21. Retailers who violate the law could be fined, but the state would no longer penalize those caught possessing tobacco while underage.
Chicago boosted the minimum legal tobacco age from 18 to 21 in 2016. Rauner this summer vetoed the plan to do the same thing statewide, but the Senate voted 36-19 on Wednesday to override him, sending the legislation to the House for final review. The 36-vote tally was the bare minimum supporters needed to override Rauner, and their success in the House is far from guaranteed.
The measure, which also raised the age to purchase vaping devices, would make Illinois the sixth state in the country to raise the age, which supporters believe will reduce the number of high school students who use tobacco products.
* One bit thing grand juries do is issue subpoenas. So this was bound to happen…
A downstate grand jury has subpoenaed records from Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner’s office and at least two more state agencies as part of a criminal investigation into fatal Legionnaires’ disease outbreaks at the Quincy veterans’ home, WBEZ learned Wednesday.
Rauner’s administration surrendered copies of the Adams County grand jury subpoenas in response to a series of open-records requests.
The grand jury’s demand for Legionnaires’-related records tied to outbreaks at the Illinois Veterans Home went to the governor’s office and to the Illinois Departments of Veterans’ Affairs and Labor. Last week, WBEZ reported that the grand jury had also subpoenaed the state public health department.
The subpoenas, which went out Oct. 25, demand that Rauner’s administration turn over the documents by Thursday. No one has been charged with any wrongdoing relating to the outbreaks.
The subpoena sought a sweeping array of public health records about Legionnaires’ cases at the Illinois Veterans Home, where nearly 70 residents and staff have been sickened since 2015, with 14 deaths linked to the illness.
The query for records also sought information about, among other things, agency procedures for providing notice about Legionnaires’ at the facility and any communications by Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration and officials in other locales that have experienced big Legionnaires’ outbreaks, including Flint, Mich.
Illinois senators have rejected Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of legislation allowing for larger damage awards in lawsuits against the state.
Sen. Michael Hastings is the sponsor of the measure which would raise the $100,000 limit on damage awards to $2 million. The Orland Park Democrat and military veteran noted the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak at the Quincy veterans’ home where 14 residents have died in the past three years. Families of several deceased victims have filed lawsuits against the state.
Hastings contended that the administration fell short in preventing the problem and notifying the public about what was happening. Rauner has repeatedly said his staff did everything it could and followed national experts’ advice.
Rauner rewrote the bill in an amendatory veto and suggested a $300,000 limit.
The silliest lament we’ve heard this week, from the editorial page of the other big Chicago paper, is that the failure of Chicago and Illinois to win Amazon HQ2 was a repeat of the state’s failure to win Foxconn, the electronics manufacturer now building a plant across the border in Wisconsin.
As if any sensible person cannot see by now what a bad deal Wisconsin struck to get Foxconn — and how lucky Illinois was to lose that bidding war.
The real lesson of Foxconn, worth remembering as we consider what else Chicago and Illinois could have done to win Amazon HQ2, is that there’s a limit to how much a community or state should give away in return. At some point, all those tax breaks and financial incentives become a burden on the local taxpayer, a drag on the local economy and cancel out the value of whatever jobs are gained.
We don’t yet know why Amazon took a pass on Chicago, though it’s pretty clear one big negative was our state’s dysfunctional government during the tenure of Gov. Bruce Rauner. It is telling that the last big question Amazon executives put to officials in New York — the governor and the mayor — before awarding Queens a part of the HQ2 prize was whether they could stop bickering long enough to see the project through.
But to the extent that this was about money, with the subsidies of $2.25 billion offered by Illinois and Chicago falling short, so be it. A prudent city and state, confident in their many strengths — excellent universities, a top international airport, a superb workforce and the like — can’t just write bigger and bigger checks.
The taxpayer costs of these two deals is high, both in absolute terms and on a per-job basis, contrary to Amazon’s artful spin. Together, we believe they exceed $4.6 billion and the cost per job in New York is at least $112,000, not the $48,000 the company used in a selective and incomplete press release calculation.
Amazon’s statement contains a classic example of cost-benefit apples and oranges. Citing only one New York State incentive, it says the sum ‘equates to $48,000 per job for 25,000 jobs with an average wage of over $150,000…’ Of course, wages cannot be compared to tax breaks since employees pay only a small percentage of their salaries as taxes to offset the tax breaks. And the cost per job in New York is actually at least $112,000 but that is not a full accounting.
