* Doug Whitley, president and CEO of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, as quoted by Illinois Issues magazine about a year ago when Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was announcing a grand plan to take companies and jobs away from Illinois…
Whitley, meanwhile, says Daniels and Walker might find more long-term benefits if they stopped trying to poach jobs from Illinois. He says they should instead be helping Illinois succeed. “I don’t understand why the Midwest governors would want to spend so much time trying to dance on the grave of Illinois when, indeed, the Midwest as a whole has common bonds,” Whitley says. “It’s a common economy, and we have a lot at stake.”
“We know Scott Walker is controversial, but by giving him a forum, it allows us to bring more attention and dialog to the discussion regarding how Illinois can restore its fiscal integrity, our single most important public policy issue,” Whitley wrote.
When Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker comes to Springfield Tuesday to address the state Chamber of Commerce lobby day, he could well see more people outside the President Abraham Lincoln Hotel and Conference Center than inside waiting for his speech.
Labor unions, incensed that Walker – best known for his efforts to curtail most public employee collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin — was invited to speak to Illinois business leaders, plan a rally outside the hotel during Walker’s appearance. […]
“I’m amazed that anybody, especially organized labor, would be so critical of the First Amendment, for freedom of speech, for freedom of thought and the ability to share that,” Whitley said.
“Everybody should have a right to give a speech anywhere in this country. I think it’s appropriate than any organization, whether it be AFSCME or it be the Illinois Chamber of Commerce ought to have a right to have anybody come in and speak to our group whenever we want.”
The visit has prompted Governor Pat Quinn to tell Walker he may want to concentrate on the troubles he has in his own state. “He has enough challenges in his own state. I don’t plan to go to Wisconsin anytime soon. But I’m happy to compare our job record against his. Illinois is in recovery. We have a long way to go. Wisconsin is dead last in the whole country. They have not created any jobs,” Quinn said.
* The Question: Do you think it was proper for the Illinois Chamber to invite Gov. Scott Walker to speak in Springfield? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
* Back during the 2010 gubernatorial campaign, Gov. Pat Quinn suspended both the Meritorious Good Time prison release program after discovering that a new MGT “Push” program was letting violent offenders out of prison way too early. That decision caused a huge spike in the prison population, from 45,750 inmates in January of 2010 to a high of 49,135 inmates last October.
The governor is trying to close several prisons, but that big population increase has been dogging him. So, Quinn has come out in favor of restoring the original MGT program (without the notorious “push”) as long as the General Assembly makes some changes…
“I think we definitely want to work with anyone that’s interested in this issue,” Quinn said. “It has to be done very carefully. We studied it in the last several years comprehensively.” Quinn says the program, which was long used by the Department of Corrections until it was suspended in 2010, must be updated to include crimes that were once considered non-violent but are considered violent today.
“There were offenses in the past that were not put in the category of violent offenses by the General Assembly,” Quinn said. “We think that has to be remedied. Things like domestic violence and DUIs.” There are bills in both the House and the Senate that look to reinstate MGT with updated offenses but Quinn says he has yet to see them.
* But, there’s also an interesting twist which is mostly being ignored by the media. The prison population no longer appears to be spiking upward. We see a lot of news stories that are using that 49,000 inmate population figure, but according to the Department of Corrections, the census as of yesterday is 48,264 inmates - about 900 fewer than last year’s high point.
From the IDOC’s spokesperson…
Management of Illinois’ prison population is an ongoing issue that requires both administrative and legislative action. The Department of Corrections continues to work with the involved partners, including ICJIA, local law enforcement agencies, court systems and all four legislative caucuses on ways to manage population numbers while continuing to incarcerate—for safety, rehabilitation, and punishment–those individuals who should be serving prison time.
Last year, we convened continuous discussions to develop policy that deals with population, inmate reintegration and alternatives to incarceration. The issue must be addressed from both a policy and budgetary perspective, and we are continuing to work with members of the General Assembly to find long-term solutions to maintain safe, sustainable prisons.
Also to be noted- the Sentencing Policy Advisory Council (SPAC) continues to explore sentencing issues, practices and how they impact the criminal justice system as a whole. SPAC is a nonpartisan group of 18 key stakeholders from across state and local criminal justice systems, including legislators, retired judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, corrections and administrators of the court officials, law enforcement, victim’s rights advocates, and academics.
* My weekly syndicated newspaper column is about something that happened just before spring break…
Retiring state Rep. Joe Lyons (D-Chicago) said a debate on the House floor last month was his “finest hour.” He was probably right.
Lyons successfully fought off five hostile floor amendments to his bill requiring that women seeking abortions be offered a look at an ultrasound test before having an abortion. The proposal has been a matter of much contention for three years, and it came to a head again in late March.
Last year, after two years of failing to pass the House Human Services Committee, the ultrasound bill was assigned to the infinitely more conservative House Agriculture Committee, a move that enraged pro-choice advocates. They vehemently protested the assignment, claiming that “women are not livestock,” and were able to stop the legislation on the House floor with a flurry of parliamentary moves.
Lyons is a member of Democratic leadership who’s leaving the House early next year, so he took sponsorship of the bill this year to help give the effort some muscle. The measure was again assigned to the ag committee, where it was again approved.
This time, pro-choice opponents filed several hostile amendments, one requiring that men with erectile problems view a video of a painful pharmaceutical side effect. Those amendments were assigned to the House Human Services Committee, which approved it last month and sent it to the floor.
When the amendments were called on the floor for a vote, Lyons claimed that House Democratic leadership, which controls the rules committee, had deliberately shepherded the hostile amendments through the process.
“If the rules committee will do this to me as a fellow member of leadership,” Lyons said, “think what they’ll do to you if the will is there to try to hurt one of your bills and sabotage it, sabotage it in the rules committee.”
Lyons was applauded by the House several times during his speeches against the hostile amendments. Rep. Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago) said that if Lyons’ bill had been sent to “an appropriate committee and addressed in a dignified manner,” her erectile amendment wouldn’t have been needed. Rep. Jim Watson (R-Jacksonville) then rose to Lyons’ defense.
“There is no more dignified member of this chamber than Joe Lyons,” Watson insisted to roars of approval, “and for somebody to take this opportunity to try to slight him is a little out of hand.”
Feigenholtz’s amendment was soundly defeated 66-36.
Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) rose next to explain her amendment, which changed the bill’s title to the “Ultrasound and Erectile Dysfunction Information Opportunity Act.” After seeing what happened in the previous debate, Cassidy showed respect to Lyons up front but said it was “profoundly insulting” that his bill was assigned to the agriculture committee.
Lyons pointed out that the bill had gone nowhere in the human services committee and claimed the opinion of ag committee members were “just as valid as any other committee.” Cassidy’s amendment received a mere 32 votes. Three more hostile amendments went down in flames after that.
When the Chicago Sun-Times still endorsed candidates, the editors would ask my opinion of legislators. Lyons had a general election in 2010, and the editorial board seemed ready to support his opponent. But I told them that they were looking at Lyons too much from outside appearances as a mere run-of-the-mill Chicago political hack.
Lyons, however, had become one of the most respected members of the House. Legislators of both parties recognize the great reverence he shows the chamber and its members. There is, I told the editorial board, no more beloved figure in the House than Joe Lyons.
Republicans will loudly chant “We want Joe!” if whoever is sitting in the speaker’s chair acts less than evenhanded. They know Lyons always tries to be fair when he’s in that chair, and that’s why so many of his colleagues sided with him during those amendment debates.
The Sun-Times endorsed him.
Lyons’ retirement is going to be a huge loss for the House. Whatever you think of his stance on the issues, I’m here to tell you it’ll be impossible to replace him.
* Subscribers were told about this and other stuff earlier today…
A working group of state legislators tasked with charting a path to pension stability will likely miss its Tuesday deadline for releasing a draft report, but members believe they’ll have information to share soon.
The four-member committee is waiting to make its release until after another of Gov. Pat Quinn’s working groups releases its report on how to achieve a $2.7 billion Medicaid cut in fiscal 2013.
“We’ve still got some data we’d like to gather and certainly that the members of the General Assembly would like to see,” said Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, one of four legislators on the pension panel. “I don’t think we’ll release anything Tuesday, and my understanding is that the governor’s not expecting it until late next week.” […]
“I think it’s been very good,” Brady said of the process. “In the past, not everyone has participated (in these kinds of meetings). This is the first time everyone realized the need and participated. Not everyone will like 100 percent of our product, but sometimes that’s how things work out.”
Gov. Pat Quinn’s pension working group is asking public employee unions to accept lower pension benefits and a higher contribution rate in exchange for a more ironclad guarantee that the state will meet its funding obligations.
The proposal also would shift the employer costs of local teacher and university employee pensions from the state to school districts and universities, according to Rep. Elaine Nekritz, D-Northbrook.
In a statement, AFL-CIO president Michael Carrigan, who spoke for the We Are One Illinois Coalition, said labor has not been given enough information to analyze any potential proposal. The coalition is made up of the AFL-CIO, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the Illinois Education Association, the Illinois Federation of Teachers, the Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois, the Police Benevolent and Protective Association, the Fraternal Order of Police and the Service Employees International Union. […]
“Our unions are firmly committed to negotiating a solution to the pension funding crisis,” Carrigan said. “However, to go forward, we need both the data supporting any proposals and a commitment that the representatives with whom we engage are authorized to speak for the governor and the legislative leaders.”
There’s no sense in negotiating a bill if the leaders aren’t supporting the process.
* Meanwhile, figuring out how to pay or cut $2.7 billion in additional Medicaid costs next fiscal year is proving to be as tough to accomplish as pretty much everybody thought it would be…
Last week, Quinn’s administration floated a different proposal that included $1.3 billion in cuts to Medicaid program spending, with the rest of the $2.7 billion coming from a $1-a-pack increase in the cigarette tax and rate cuts to health care providers, according to Sen. Heather Steans, one of the Democrats on the Medicaid committee.
“When you look at what it takes through just cuts to get to $2.7 billion in one year, it’s impractical,” Steans said. “It’s hard to maintain program integrity.”
Rep. Patti Bellock, a Republican on the committee, is pushing for more cuts and doesn’t want to raise cigarette taxes or cut payments to providers, she said.
“The governor wanted to come forward with a plan this week and had been encouraged by some of the (legislative) leaders to do that,” Bellock said. “I’ve just been trying to push them more. … I think we can find some more reforms.”
Republican Sen. Dale Righter said a cigarette tax is not the right approach when the goal is to reduce the size of the Medicaid program.
This spring, the Illinois Defense of Marriage Initiative sought 500,000 signatures to put a non-binding referendum on the November ballot, recommending the state legislature enshrine in the state constitution rules that forbid same-sex marriage.
Jim Finnegan, the president of the initiative, said that effort will fall short with the group likely acquiring about 100,000 signatures by the end of the month. However, he said it still sends a message that those opposed to gay marriage are willing to come forward.
To secure and preserve the benefits of marriage for our society and for future generations of children, the union of one man and one woman in marriage shall be the only agreement recognized as a marriage or similar union for any purpose
State Rep. Greg Harris (D–Chicago) told the Chicago Sun-Times that reeling in Medicaid and pensions programs as well as approving an overall budget would take precedence during the homestretch of the General Assembly’s spring session.
“I never say never,” Harris quipped. “[But] I don’t think there will be a push before the end of this session.”
His bill, HB 5170, would delete a provision outlawing marriage between individuals of the same sex.
It was first introduced on Feb. 8 and, perhaps unsurprisingly during an election year in which fiscal issues have been front-and-center, remains pent up in the House Rules Committee.
As I’ve been saying for a while now, it’s probably way too early to move that gay marriage bill. It’ll take more time. It took years to pass a civil rights bill, then several more to get civil unions.
Monday, Apr 16, 2012 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Illinois is on the verge of another dubious distinction – spending the least for Medicaid patients of any state in the country.
Currently, Illinois ranks 44th in the U.S. for Medicaid spending per beneficiary – well below the national average and large states like New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.
The Governor wants to cut Medicaid by $2.7 billion (23%). No other state is considering Medicaid cuts of that magnitude in such a short period of time.
Such drastic cuts will jeopardize access to quality health care for everyone – not just Medicaid beneficiaries – and people will suffer.
Blunt Medicaid cuts will mean hospitals – one in three in Illinois are already losing money – will have to reduce or eliminate services, lay off staff, or even close.
The Illinois Hospital Association and hospital community understand the state’s budget challenges are significant. We have offered a comprehensive list of workable alternatives to generate substantial savings and new revenues for Medicaid, totaling up to $1.4 billion. Hospitals are firmly committed to working with the General Assembly on solutions to help address the state’s budget challenges and ensure we maintain a sustainable health care delivery system for the people of Illinois.
* Here we go, campers. Session restarts next week. Seven weeks of craziness are heading our way. Get some rest. You’re gonna need it.
* Jamey Johnson is right out of the old school “outlaw” country genre and he’s become a new favorite of mine thanks to a particularly cool friend. I absolutely love this song, man…
A day after he defied his security detail and ran into a burning house to save a woman’s life, Newark Mayor Cory Booker says he’s a good neighbor, not a superhero.
The mayor of New Jersey’s largest city was treated and released from the hospital after suffering smoke inhalation and second-degree burns on his hands Thursday night.
With a bandage around the thumb and first finger of his right hand, Booker said he felt terror, not bravery as he dashed through the flames with the woman over his shoulder. Though many are hailing him as a hero, he said he did what anyone would have done.
“There are people who do this every day. There are firefighters who do this every day. I am a neighbor and I did what any neighbor would do,” Booker said at a news briefing Friday.
The woman Booker helped save is in stable condition at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston with burns to her back and neck. The mayor described her as a close friend who has been his neighbor for six years.
* The Question: With snark heavily encouraged, what do you think our state’s most prominent leaders would do if their neighbor’s house was on fire?
Concerns about the shaky state budget, a new union labor contract and threats to alter state retirement plans have triggered a major exodus of state employees.
The State Employees Retirement System, which administers pension benefits to state government workers ranging from prison guards to child welfare workers, is projecting a more than 40 percent spike in the number of people retiring during the fiscal year ending June 30.
The system’s executive secretary, Tim Blair, said the state is on track to see more than 4,000 workers join the ranks of retirees this year, compared with about 2,750 last year. […]
The Department of Corrections has already seen more than 680 workers retire this fiscal year. The Department of Human Services has the next highest number of retirees at 585.
Gov. Pat Quinn’s spending proposal for the fiscal year beginning July 1 allocates money for about 51,500 workers, down from about 54,500 when he took office in 2009. It remains unclear whether the spike in retirements will drive that number even lower.
I’ve talked to several state employees over the past few months who’ve said they were getting out while the getting was good. That’s probably a decent plan, considering all the state’s problems.
A new survey of Chicago area mid-size businesses found 30 percent considered moving to another state in the past 12 months.
The firms weighing exits mainly were manufacturers with $10 million to $25 million in sales, according to Cole Taylor Bank’s first Business Owners Confidence Index survey.
The survey did not ask companies to give reasons for considering relocation, though it did ask them to identify local challenges. Those included taxes, competition, cost of materials, red tape and government interference and local budget crises.
Nearly 80 percent rated Illinois economic policy as poor, while 52 percent gave that assessment of national policy. The survey did not ask for views on specific policies.
Um, not quite. I checked with Cole Taylor Bank and got the exact wording of the poll question…
In the last 12 months, has your business considered relocating outside of the Chicago area? [Emphasis added.]
“Outside of the Chicago area” could mean Downstate.
Also, since those businesses are still located in the Chicago area I’m not sure this is much of a story. Yes, they considered leaving, but they stuck around or they wouldn’t have been polled.
Also, this is an Internet poll, which isn’t mentioned in the article. However, company execs were contacted via e-mail, so it is not a self-selected universe.
* That’s not to say there aren’t problems here. There are. Many of them. This poll result is telling…
What is the most challenging aspect of conducting business in the Chicago area?
Taxes 26%
Competition 12%
Expenses, materials 10%
Red tape, government interference 8%
Government uncertainty, budget crisis 7%
More than two-thirds (67 percent) of Illinois business owners plan to grow their businesses over the next six months — up from last fall’s reading of 61 percent.
And more than half of Illinois entrepreneurs — 52 percent — have a positive outlook on the economy, but they’re slightly less enthusiastic than their national counterparts, 56 percent of whom on average are optimistic about the nation’s economic prospects.
These are just a few of the findings in the latest American Express OPEN Small Business Monitor, a survey of the nation’s small-business owners released each spring and fall since 2002. […]
More than 4 in 10 Illinois business owners (41 percent) are planning to hire within the next six months, up from last fall (34 percent). More than 1 in 10 (11 percent) are currently recruiting for an open position. As for the economy, more than one-third of Illinois business owners (38 percent) would say we are still in recession, nearly one-third (32 percent) would say we are recovering and 25 percent say the economy is stagnant. Nearly 8 in 10 (76 percent) Illinois business owners say the economy stresses them out, down from last fall (83 percent). Sixty-three percent of Illinois business owners report having cash flow issues, down from last fall (70 percent).
* Caterpillar CEO’s pay package grows 42 percent in 2011: The CEO of heavy equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. saw the value of his compensation jump 42 percent to $14.8 million last year as the company’s global sales grew nearly as much. An Associated Press analysis of a document the company filed Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission shows the world’s largest maker of construction and mining equipment gave Doug Oberhelman $1.4 million in salary plus stock options worth $8.3 million and incentive pay of $4.9 million.
* Industry lobbying for Illinois to extend life of enterprise zones: Illinois’ system of enterprise zones, a set of incentives extended to businesses aimed at stimulating economic growth, are set to expire within the next couple of years, but lawmakers and industry groups want an extension. Groups such as the Illinois Manufacturer’s Association are pushing for passage of Senate Bill 3688, which would increase the lifespan and number of enterprise zones. Mark Denzler, IMA vice president and chief operating officer, said that without action by the governor and the General Assembly, eight of the zones will expire next year. The enterprise zone in Springfield expires Dec. 31, 2014.
* Taxed by the boss: Across the country more than 2,700 companies are collecting state income taxes from hundreds of thousands of workers - and are keeping the money with the states’ approval, says an eye-opening report published on Thursday.
* Report: Few states effectively track tax breaks: Most states are doing a poor job tracking whether their tax breaks for businesses are actually spurring job growth, including some that have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into corporate incentive programs even while grappling with record deficits, according to a new report. The report released Thursday by the Pew Center on the States found that no state regularly takes a hard look at the effectiveness of all of its tax breaks. Twenty-five states and Washington, D.C., do little if any evaluation, including Illinois, which is among the states facing major budget struggles.
* Cook County wages silent battle against IL cottage food: But the Cook County Department of Public Health isn’t taking registrations, citing an ambiguity in the Illinois Local Food Entrepreneur and Cottage Food Operation Act, which requires “a unit of local government” to take registrations, not necessarily the local health department. “It’s not our responsibility to take on additional work unnecessarily,” said Sean McDermott, spokesman for the health department and a county alderman.
* The Speaker introduced a similar proposal last year, but local governments opposed it, so Madigan revamped the idea…
Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan on Wednesday proposed making it tougher to approve increases in pension benefits for public workers throughout Illinois, an idea immediately opposed by the state’s largest employee union.
The Democratic leader from Chicago introduced a state constitutional amendment that would ask voters this fall to require the Legislature to approve pension benefit increases by a three-fifths vote instead of a simple majority.
The stricter voting requirement also would apply to city halls, school districts and their retirement boards.
The measure would need to pass the House and Senate by early May for it to go before voters in November.
The latest proposal is aimed at dozens of bills introduced over the years to sweeten government workers’ pensions. The piecemeal changes add up. The rub is that most of those proposals get nearly unanimous support, anyway.
In the Teachers Retirement System alone, legislative changes have added more than $2 billion to the state’s unfunded liability since 1996, or 6 percent of the total growth in the state debt to the system, according to TRS figures.
The largest state-employees’ union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, opposes Madigan’s plan, while the Illinois Municipal League views it “very favorably.”
House Minority Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego, said he supported the measure but echoed AFSCME’s repeated concerns about the $80 billion debt.
“Our real focus needs to be on how to reduce the unfunded liability,” Cross said.
The TRS told me and Northwest Herald readers – many of whom are teachers – there was nothing to worry about. TRS denied the crisis before running the numbers themselves, and attacked the credibility of people who suggested that the pension funds could belly up.
But when their actuaries finally looked at the numbers, they found that the retirement fund that so many in Illinois are counting on could run dry in less than 20 years.
Maybe in political terms, 2029 is far away. Maybe it’s another doomsday date that few legislators still will be around to see, so they don’t understand the urgency for reform.
But to a 45-year-old teacher, 2029 is right around the corner. Last week’s news that the TRS could be insolvent means her pension fund might run out of cash precisely at the time she hopes to retire.
* The TRS FY 2012 contribution grows by 3% each year for 37 years
o TRS is insolvent in 2049 ($2.9 billion deficit)
* The TRS FY 2012 contribution of $2.4 billion is frozen at that level for 37 years
o TRS is insolvent in 2038 ($8.4 billion deficit)
* The FY 2012 contribution is cut to 60% of the original level and stays frozen at $1.4 billion for 37 years
o TRS is insolvent in 2030 ($434 million deficit)
Nobody is talking about doing any of those things. Period. This is a total non-story.
