* My Aunt Marilyn died unexpectedly last Friday. She worked hard, played hard and loved her family and everyone loved her back. She was a rock, but so very human. Here she is several years ago on the left next to her brothers Denny (my uncle) and Richard (my dad) and her mom (my late grandmother)…
My dad and his family always called her Marilyn Rose. It was a fitting name.
Governor JB Pritzker advanced Senate Bill 539, an ethics reform package that passed the General Assembly this session. The legislation includes a variety of measures to restrict government officials from lobbying activities, tighten regulations on registered lobbyists and consultants, and expand economic interest disclosures.
To move forward with this important legislation, Gov. Pritzker issued an amendatory veto to correct a technical drafting error. The fix will ensure that the Executive Inspectors General are able to maintain current processes and procedures regarding investigations. The Governor looks forward to working with the legislature on concurrence and pledged to certify the bill once the amendatory veto passes the legislature. Gov. Pritzker is also committed to working on additional legislation thatreflects the continued urgency of ethics reform in Illinois – which was laid out as a key legislative priority in his 2020 State of the State Address. The full amendatory veto message is attached.
“Passing real, lasting ethics reform was a top priority of mine going into the 2020 legislative session, and I’m pleased to move forward with an ethics package that includes a number of meaningful changes,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “We must restore the public’s trust in our government and this legislation is a necessary first step to achieve that goal. I remain committed to making further advancements so the well-connected and well-protected cannot work the system to the detriment of working families across Illinois.”
“While more work remains to be done to restore the faith Illinois citizens have in their government,” said State Senator Elgie R. Sims, Jr.(D-Chicago). “They demanded real ethics reform like those included in this bill, changes like stopping the practice of legislators using their influence to lobby other governments and working to enact pro-rated salaries for legislators who leave office before the end of their term. Many of the changes included in this bill place Illinois on the path to restoring the faith citizens must have to make our democracy successful.”
“This measure offers bipartisan solutions to target some of the worst abuses of power in our state’s history,” said State Senator Ann Gillespie (D-Arlington Heights). “Our plan closes many of the loopholes that have allowed bad actors to game the system for decades. Our bipartisan team on the Senate Ethics Committee stands ready to continue this vital work to make our government work for everyone, not just a powerful few.
Senate Bill 539 includes the following provisions:
• Bans government officials from engaging in compensated lobbying, including:
o State level: Legislators, Executive branch constitutional officers
o County level: elected or appointed county executive or legislative officials
o Municipal level: elected or appointed municipal executive or legislative officials
o Township: elected or appointed township executive or legislative officials
• Strengthens the Lobbyist Registration Act by expanding the definition of ‘officials’ and adding ‘consultant’ to the definition of compensation that is regulated.
• Increases transparency of lobbying activities by expanding the persons required to register as a lobbyist and establishing a shorter, two-day deadline for registration.
• Requires lobbyists to complete ethics training before their registration or renewal is deemed complete (instead of within 30 days).
• Requires lobbyists to disclose consultants and clients no later than two days after a consultant is retained.
• Restricts appointees to certain offices from being an officer of a candidate political committee or a candidate with the support of such a committee. Members of the State Board of Elections are also restricted from contributing to candidate political committees.
• Expands and clarifies disclosures required in Statements of Economic Interest, including, among others, government units that benefit the filer, lobbyist registration, and the source of gifts.
• Bans political fundraising in Sangamon County during session or the day immediately prior to such day, with limited exceptions.
• Strengthens revolving door provisions in the executive branch and establishes such provisions in the legislative branch.
• Empowers the Legislative Inspector General to undertake investigations without obtaining advance approval from the Legislative Ethics Commission.
• Revokes the provision allowing General Assembly members to receive prorated compensation following a vacancy.
…Adding… Press release…
llinois State Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s “no exit bonus/no signing bonus” reform was signed by Gov. JB Pritzker today as part of a broader package of legislative ethics reforms.
The measure ends the shady practice of legislators leaving the General Assembly in disgrace but dating their exit on the first day of the following month to claim an extra month’s pay for a day’s work.
“This is a matter of common sense and accountability,” Mendoza said. “Waitresses and factory workers don’t collect a month’s pay for a day’s work, and legislators don’t deserve that luxury either – especially on the backs of Illinois taxpayers.”
For years, legislators of both parties exploited a loophole in state law allowing them to resign on the first day of the month and collect the whole month’s pay or get sworn in at month’s end but claim a whole month’s pay.
Former State Rep. Luis Arroyo of Chicago, charged with bribery; the late former State Sen. Martin Sandoval of Chicago, who pleaded guilty to federal bribery and tax charges; and former State Rep. Nick Sauer of Lake Barrington, charged with online sex crimes, all took advantage of that loophole in state law in recent years.
In February, three legislators could all claim a month’s pay in the 22nd Legislative District following the retirement of former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan. To his credit, former State Rep. Edward Kodatt declined the month’s salary he was entitled to for his two days in office.
The comptroller’s original no exit/no signing bonus measure (House Bill 3104, Senate Bill 484) was incorporated into the legislature’s omnibus ethics legislation (Senate Bill 539), which had overwhelming bipartisan support in both chambers and was sent to the governor for his signature in June.
If equity is a top priority in many districts, it is not apparent from the most recent round of state ESSA spending reports, an advocacy organization says.
Only one state, Illinois, provided enough transparent detail to allow advocates to analyze resource inequities and the action being taken to address them, according to “Going Beyond ESSA Compliance,” an interactive report and web tool produced by The Education Trust.
The 49 other states are missing an opportunity to help advocates better assess the fairness of school spending patterns, said Reetchel Presume, Ed Trust’s P-12 data and policy analyst.
“Transparency in school spending is crucial for identifying inequities in school funding that deny students of color and those from families with low incomes the resources they need to excel,” Presume said. “For advocates and policymakers alike, school spending reports could be a tool to see if school systems are shortchanging students.”
* More from the Illinois State Board of Education…
The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) received recognition for making Illinois’ school-by-school spending data the most transparent and usable in the nation in a report released by the Education Trust. Illinois was the only state to earn a 100% rating for its development of comprehensive per-pupil school spending reports displayed in the Illinois Report Card, according to Going Beyond ESSA Compliance: A 50-State Scan of School Spending Reports. The Education Trust is a national nonprofit that works to close opportunity gaps that disproportionately affect students of color and students from low-income families. The Education Trust is a national nonprofit that works to close opportunity gaps that disproportionately affect students of color and students from low-income families.
“Data and transparency about school spending are essential to increasing equity and improving students’ opportunities and outcomes,” said State Superintendent of Education Dr. Carmen I. Ayala. “Equity does not mean equality. Different schools within the same district may have different student needs. One school may serve more students with disabilities. One school may serve more English Learners. School size and grade band can also impact students’ needs and district spending. For a long time, people have talked about equitable spending across school districts. We are proud to be leading the nation in fostering dialogue about equitable spending within school districts as well.”
Public Health Officials Announce 25,636 New Cases of Coronavirus Disease Over the Past Week
Almost 78% of Illinois adults have received at least one vaccine dose and 61% are fully vaccinated
SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 25,636 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 174 additional deaths since reporting last Friday, August 20, 2021. Almost 78% of Illinois adults have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and 61% of Illinois adults are fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,508,005 cases, including 23,889 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Since reporting on Friday, August 20, 2021, laboratories have reported 495,608 specimens for a total of 28,568,305. As of last night, 2,240 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 500 patients were in the ICU and 253 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from August 20-26, 2021 is 5.2%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from August 20-26, 2021 is 5.7%. However, regional 7-day test positivity averages range from 4.1% to 10.6%. http://www.dph.illinois.gov/regionmetrics?regionID=11.
A total of 13,914,213 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 24,056 doses. Since reporting on Friday, August 20, 2021, 168,391 doses were reported administered in Illinois.
*All data are provisional and will change. Additional information and COVID-19 data can be found at http://www.dph.illinois.gov/covid19.
Vaccination is the key to ending this pandemic. To find a COVID-19 vaccination location near you, go to www.vaccines.gov.
* Comptroller Susana Mendoza held a press conference yesterday and was asked about the state’s bill backlog. She said her office’s oldest voucher is only “10 days old.” And continued…
So we’re well within a 30-day payment cycle. It’s literally, this is the fastest we’ve been paying our bills in the state of Illinois since before the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. So, over 20 years since we’ve been paying this quickly. … I keep saying we have to be fiscally disciplined and continue to experience positive news when it comes to our finances, but we are certainly way better than we were.
As I’ve told you many times before, Illinois’ fiscal decline has been almost continuous since the economic crisis caused by those terrorist attacks.
* Related…
* Press Release: Comptroller Susana Mendoza to resume payments to contractor fined for violating Illinois’ Prevailing Wage Act
* Background is here and here if you need it. Press release…
The following was released by SEIU Healthcare Illinois President Greg Kelley on Gov. Pritzker’s recent announcement of Vaccination Requirements for Healthcare and Educational Workers:
SEIU Healthcare Illinois continues to maintain our ongoing efforts to ensure the health, safety, and wellbeing of our 90,000 members. We are committed to promoting every measure available in protecting not only our members, but our entire community, from the life-threatening impacts of the COVID-19 virus. As a result, we are in support of Gov. Pritzker’s recent announcement of the COVID-19 vaccine requirement for healthcare and educational workers.
As a union of healthcare and childcare workers, we understand how critical it is to ensure that our members are working in safe environments, while also protecting our most vulnerable populations.
In addition to our support of vaccinations and scheduled testing, it is our expectation to partner with employers to foster a collaborative approach in providing resources that enable workers to be vaccinated without negative economic impacts. These resources would include comprehensive educational programs which include channels for employee communication regarding the implementation of the vaccination.
We are dedicated to working with employers to help respond to worker needs as we combat this devastating disease.
*** UPDATE *** Press release…
The Illinois Pharmacists Association, Illinois Council of Health-System Pharmacists, and Illinois Association of Long-Term Care Pharmacy Providers support Governor Pritzker’s action of issuing Executive Order 2021-20 to protect the healthcare workforce, our communities, and patients that we serve.
Pharmacists are the most accessible healthcare providers and provide patient care in a variety of settings: from intensive care units, to emergency rooms, to long-term care facilities, to the corner neighborhood pharmacy. As healthcare providers, pharmacists took an Oath to uphold “the welfare of humanity and relief of suffering” as our primary concerns and that we hold ourselves and our colleagues “to the highest principles of our profession’s moral, ethical, and legal conduct” as entrusted to us by the public.
Through these darkest hours of the pandemic, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians have been there. We never closed; never stopped providing vital services for patients and continued to evolve our practices for safety, ensuring that needed medications, testing, and critical vaccines are accessible to the public. Despite these risks and dangers from the virus, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians have put themselves directly in harm’s way to guarantee that our patient’s medication and healthcare needs are met.
As our pharmacy teams continue to deliver patient care and battle against the coronavirus and its deadly variants, we expect all healthcare providers and healthcare workers to protect ourselves and our patients by taking the COVID-19 vaccine and wearing a mask to decrease spread of disease.
Illinois is counting on us. Our communities are counting on us. Our patients are counting on us.
* As we’ve already discussed, Gov. JB Pritzker recently extended the eviction moratorium through September 18. But the US Supreme Court recently put a stop to the CDC eviction moratorium…
In a statement late Thursday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said, “In light of the Supreme Court ruling and the continued risk of COVID-19 transmission, President Biden is once again calling on all entities that can prevent evictions - from cities and states to local courts, landlords, Cabinet Agencies - to urgently act to prevent evictions.”
Under Pritzker’s latest order, courts won’t start hearing cases related to unpaid rent again until Sept. 18. [Michael Robin, an organizer with Autonomous Tenants Union] cautioned that landlords can sometimes abuse the process by getting emergency hearings on the pretext of health and safety issues. There’s also an exception for tenants who already had a hearing scheduled. They must show up to court or risk receiving an eviction judgment against them.
Does the federal eviction moratorium apply in Cook County?
Not anymore.
On Thursday night, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Biden administration’s moratorium, blocking an order issued through the CDC in early August that had banned evictions in counties experiencing “substantial” or “high” Covid-19 transmission rates through Oct. 3, a description that fits every Illinois county, according to the CDC’s Covid Data Tracker.
But the federal order wasn’t very robust, to begin with, said Michelle Gilbert, legal director of the nonprofit Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing, or LCBH. The order only shielded tenants from being physically removed from their homes — the final stage in the eviction process that is carried out in Cook County by the sheriff. That left a lot of gray areas for local courts and judges to interpret.
With Lightfoot this week announcing that all city employees will be required to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus by Oct. 15, Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara told the Sun-Times Wednesday that the mayor had “lit a bomb underneath the membership” and began comparing the order to actions by Nazi Germany.
“We’re in America, G-ddamn it. We don’t want to be forced to do anything. Period. This ain’t Nazi f—ing Germany, [where they say], ‘Step into the f—ing showers. The pills won’t hurt you.’ What the f–k?” he said. […]
“What he said is factually incorrect and deeply offensive to the millions of people and their families of people who were killed at the hands of the Nazis. Not only that, but it’s the latest in the FOP president’s incendiary, offensive, disgusting, racist, xenophobic comments that he’s made,” David Goldenberg, regional director of ADL’s Midwest office, told the Sun-Times. “He needs to apologize and he needs to end the continued use of such offensive and indefensible language.”
Another statement by Sarah van Loon, the director of the Chicago AJC, called Catanzara’s “offensive and categorically false comparison … an insult to every Holocaust survivor and to the memory of the millions of lives lost during one of the darkest periods in human history.”
* Press release…
Jewish Caucus Calls for Catanzara to Apologize, Resign
The Illinois Legislative Jewish Caucus released the following statement in response to FOP Lodge #7 President John Catanzara’s recent remarks:
In a long career of inappropriate comments, John Catanzara has truly outdone himself. Leave aside the fact that he’s wrong about vaccine mandates - they’re a vital public health instrument, especially for government workers with whom the public has no choice about interacting.
But the comparison of vaccine mandates to the Nazi genocide is despicable. While we don’t need to belabor the distinctions between poison gas and an FDA-approved vaccine, it bears saying: Vaccines are safe. They save lives. And the Holocaust is an unimaginable tragedy that happened to our people, not a flippant metaphor for the airing of ignorant, petty, aggrieved opinions.
Catanzara has shown once and for all that his voice does not belong in civil public discourse. We call upon him to resign immediately and to issue an apology for his intolerant and intolerable remarks to Jews everywhere.
* Members…
Illinois State Representative Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz
Illinois State Representative Denyse Wang Stoneback
Illinois State Senator Laura Fine
Illinois State Senator Ram Villvalam
Illinois State Representative Jonathan Carroll
Illinois State Representative Kelly Cassidy
Illinois State Representative Margaret Croke
Illinois State Representative Daniel Didech
Illinois State Representative Robyn Gabel
Illinois State Representative Will Guzzardi
Illinois State Representative Anna Moeller
Illinois State Representative Bob Morgan
Illinois State Representative Sam Yingling
Illinois State Senator Sara Feigenholtz
Illinois State Senator Julie Morrison
Next year’s primary in Illinois has been moved to June. Filing doesn’t start until January. Regardless, the Democratic supermajority at the state house is preparing to revise maps that community groups say need more time to review.
Maps determining legislative boundaries for the next ten years have been enacted, but they’re being challenged in federal court. With the final Census data out, the Democratic majority has called a special session.
Before the maps were approved, groups were demanding two weeks to review the drafts and provide input. They didn’t get that. It now appears likely that they’re not going to get that now, as the state is moving to pass revised maps for the Aug. 31 special session.
The first hearing on Thursday featured civic groups demanding more time to review maps.
Ami Gandhi with the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights said lawmakers are doing an injustice.
“We’re uncomfortable with this redistricting process, with this huge rush, with this lack of transparency,” Gandhi said. “People are not being assured that their rights are being respected.”
Jay Young with Common Cause said the process resembles the rushed maps in May.
It’s of their own making, of course, but Democrats are now under the gun of a federal judge who essentially paused those lawsuits until after the special session ends. There will be no delays.
The mapmaking process that lawmakers have used is already the subject of two federal lawsuits being heard by a three-judge panel in Chicago. One, filed by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, or MALDEF, argues that the maps lawmakers passed in May dilute the voting power of the state’s Latino population. Another filed by Republican leaders in the General Assembly argues, among other things, that lawmakers failed to enact legal maps by the June 30 deadline set out in the Illinois Constitution and, therefore, should be thrown out and redrawn by a bipartisan legislative commission.
Republicans on the committees, meanwhile, alleged Thursday that Democrats who control the General Assembly have already started drawing new maps behind closed doors and that the public hearings now taking place are only for show.
“I literally witnessed with my own eyes a member of the General Assembly looking at the map, talking to staff about whether it was square enough or not, which is what I overheard,” said Rep. Tim Butler, a Springfield Republican. “There was many members of the majority in that room, looking at the maps. And I would ask you, the people who are going to testify today, have you been invited into those meetings so far to look at the maps? Are you having solid input on what these maps are going to be? No. They’re being drawn by the majority as we saw in the spring with partisan intent.”
Later, when asked what data was being used to draw the new maps, House committee chairwoman Lisa Hernandez, D-Cicero, said she didn’t know and that she hadn’t seen the maps that Butler was talking about. But she said Democrats were determined to draw new districts that would reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of Illinois.
Nobody knows anything when it comes to maps. Chasing that story involves a whole lot of brick walls. Even so, subscribers know a bit more.
*** UPDATE *** Press release…
Illinois House Redistricting Committee Spokesperson Rep. Tim Butler (R-Springfield) released the following statement after this morning’s abysmal public hearing on redistricting:
“This morning’s House Redistricting Committee hearing was an abuse of a free and fair democratic process. Despite hearing testimony from countless advocacy groups yesterday asking for more time, the House Democrats, who had no members in attendance [in-person], held a hearing with little notice that resulted in NO public attendance in person or even on Zoom. This continued approach from the Illinois Democrats to jam through yet ANOTHER partisan map to retain control over the state is disgusting and offensive to all the residents of our state. Let’s hope that Governor Pritzker will not lie to voters twice and will veto whatever sham map the General Assembly passes next Tuesday.”
The flip side is that everyone who wanted to say something spoke yesterday and citizens aren’t all that riled up about this as much as the commentariat might have us believe.
Kraft Heinz’s expectations about how often employees will work in the office changed during the pandemic. So will the office itself.
While some employers are waiting to see how the return to the office goes before making significant changes to their spaces, others, like Kraft Heinz and United Airlines, are moving forward with renovations meant to adapt to new ways of working.
Kraft Heinz, which plans to transition from full-time office work to a hybrid model that will see employees spend three days in the office and two at home, recently began renovating its Chicago headquarters. Individual desks and cookie cutter conference rooms are out, in favor of a wider variety of spaces for workers to meet and work together.
“If the purpose of the office is really collaboration, we need to rethink the office,” said Melissa Werneck, Kraft Heinz’s global chief people officer.
I’ve worked from home (except for session, of course) for a very long time. I see no problem with it and I don’t think I could go back to an office environment. Your thoughts?
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: Republican Mark Curran, who lost the U.S. Senate race in 2020 to Sen. Dick Durbin, says God wants him to run for the Illinois Supreme Court, so he’s following the call.
“We are taking on the Establishment, the Party Hacks, the Freemasons and those that could care less that Individual Liberty and Conscience Protection are no longer cherished or protected,” he told supporters in an email that was forwarded to Playbook.
Dude is kinda 19th Century. I suppose John Quincy Adams would approve, though.
*** UPDATE *** With thanks to a commenter, here’s video of then-Lake County Sheriff Mark C. Curran receiving a donation for “Shop with a Cop” from Barrington Masonic Lodge #522 in 2017…
…Adding… Great comment…
Did God say anything else to him? Since there was some sort of dialogue going on, it’d been nice of Mark Curran had asked for advice on how to get out of this pandemic. I think Mark Curran really missed an opportunity here.
* Rick Pearson, Lisa Schencker and Joe Mahr at the Tribune…
A Tribune analysis of state and federal data has found that the rate of hospitalization for the unvaccinated [in Illinois] has risen nearly sevenfold since the end of June. The weekly rate of hospital admittance for that group is now above 28 per 100,000 residents, approaching the peak of 35 last fall.
The vaccine doesn’t stop every bad case, but the analysis found that for those fully vaccinated, the weekly hospital admittance rate is far lower, barely 2 per 100,000 residents, albeit still about four times higher than it was at the end of June before the surge in delta cases. […]
When averaged over the past week, the southern region’s ICU availability was just 4% of all its staffed ICU beds — far lower than the 20% threshold that the state had previously set as one marker for considering mitigations. Half of the state’s other 10 regions also averaged lower ICU availability than that threshold, including Chicago (17%), suburban Cook (17%) and North Suburban (15%).
A little over half the population here is fully vaxed, so the surge isn’t putting the same pressure on hospitals as it was last fall, when nobody was vaccinated. But it’s really getting bad out there, particularly in the south. As we have seen time and time and time again, things can always get worse before they get better…
URBANA — As more of their beds fill up with COVID-19 patients, administrators at local hospitals are appealing to the thousands of unvaccinated people in their communities to get their shots.
“The hospital is filling up,” said Matthew Kolb, Carle Health’s chief operating officer.
