* Maybe we should ask the Texas governor for advice on how to deal with this obvious military invasion…
STATEMENT FROM THE CITY OF CHICAGO OFFICE OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS REGARDING TRAINING IN CHICAGO JULY 20-25
The City of Chicago is providing continued support for a routine military training exercise in and around the Chicagoland area over the next week. This routine training is conducted by military personnel in cities across the country, designed to ensure the military’s ability to operate in urban environments overseas, as service members meet mandatory training certification requirements and prepare for upcoming deployments worldwide.
As part of this training, residents can expect to see increased aircraft activity, including helicopter flights. All training activities have been pre-coordinated with federal, state and city officials, and these locations have been carefully selected to minimize the impact on the daily routine of residents.
The training is not open to the public and the sites will be secured to ensure the safety of residents and the participants.
On an unrelated note, I’ve heard the phrase “Chicagoland area” all my life and have always thought it’s redundant. Wouldn’t “Chicagoland” suffice?
Governor Bruce Rauner signed Executive Order 15-16 today to remove a layer of government bureaucracy in hiring civil-service positions (Rutan-covered positions) and to protect the hiring process from unlawful political influence.
Executive Order 15-16 rescinds Executive Order 03-01, which required the Governor’s Office to review and approve the hiring and promotion decisions of Rutan-covered positions at state agencies. This system was inefficient, contributing to significant delays in hiring and promotion decisions. It also became a tool for political patronage, which led to an increase in patronage hiring in previous administrations.
Governor Rauner requested Illinois Central Management Services and the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget to review this system – known as EPAR – and they recommended it be discontinued. Agencies will be subject to budget and headcount limits, but will be allowed to fill Rutan-covered positions according to the applicable personnel rules and collective-bargaining agreements.
Executive Order 15-16 also requires all employment and personal services contracts going forward to allow the State to terminate the contract without penalty.
EPAR was a reform that had certainly been abused. But what he’s also doing here is eliminating any legal paper trails between his office and agencies that are hiring.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, a key ally of Senate candidate Andrea Zopp, stepped up pressure on the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee on Wednesday for endorsing her rival, Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill. […]
Jackson wrote, “to the chagrin of many loyal Democrats, we have read in the press that Representative Tammy Duckworth has been endorsed by your committee without a phone call or the proper vetting conversation.”
“Ms. Zopp is in the community she represents. She deserves respectful treatment,” Jackson said.
Last week, Justin Barasky said before endorsing Duckworth they met with others considering an Illinois Senate bid, including Reps. Cheri Bustos, Bill Foster and Robin Kelly, who is African-American. Baraksy said the DSCC “kept the lines of communication open but Andrea Zopp did neither.”
“The DSCC is proud to have endorsed Tammy Duckworth and stand with her throughout the campaign because she is the best candidate to beat a senator like Mark Kirk, whose racist and sexist comments have repeatedly put him in hot water.”
* From Matt McGrath, who says he is a “Senior Communications Adviser to DPI [Democratic Party of Illinois], working on the U.S. Senate race”…
By now you’ve probably seen this: Senator Kirk is making headlines across the country for saying something outrageous and offensive - only this time it was on Boston’s largest radio station, not into a hot microphone.
Please note this is the second time Kirk felt compelled to invoke Hitler and make an ahistorical reference to appeasement. Back in April, he said “Neville Chamberlain got a lot more out of Hitler than Wendy Sherman got out of Iran,” while discussing the agreement’s framework. Those remarks were widely panned at the time.
He upped the ante this morning, however, when he said (and then reiterated) this: “The only reason that the president supported Corker legislation is because it allows him to get what he wants on Iran which is to get nukes to Iran.”
If that’s not accusing the President of treason, it’s awfully close.
In the same interview, Kirk refers several times to the President, whose Senate seat Kirk now holds, as Barack Hussein Obama… for some reason.
These are outrageous remarks, and they have no place in civil discourse. How does this square with Senator Kirk’s self-styled image as a “moderate” who “reflects Illinois values”?
There are so many banned commenting words in that e-mail of his that I hesitated to post it.
Let’s all try to be a bit more reasonable than both of those gentlemen, please. Thanks.
Mark Kirk made deeply inflammatory comments about the proposed Iran nuclear agreement yesterday, saying that what the President wants is “to get nukes to Iran.”
He also called the deal “the greatest appeasement since Chamberlain gave Czechoslovakia to Hitler,” and repeatedly referred to the President as Barack Hussein Obama — an obvious attempt to make misleading insinuations about the President’s religion and loyalties.
Add your name: tell Mark Kirk that his incendiary language and partisan fear-mongering is unacceptable.
This isn’t the first time Kirk has invoked Hitler or made a careless reference to appeasement when discussing the Iran negotiations. He was also one of the 47 Republican Senators who undercut the President’s authority earlier this year by sending a partisan letter directly to Iranian leaders during the negotiations.
This kind of language is inappropriate coming from a U.S. Senator, and Kirk’s comments, which border on accusing the President of treason, are disgraceful.
Kirk made these comments before he’d even read the agreement. Tammy believes that Congress should carefully review this deal, without rushing to judgment or resorting to reckless partisanship.
Sign our petition condemning Kirk’s remarks:
http://action.tammyduckworth.com/iran-comments
Thank you for adding your voice,
Kaitlin Fahey
Campaign Manager, Tammy for Illinois
[Gov. Bruce Rauner’s pension reform] proposal would give state employees incentives to move into a cheaper pension system known as Tier 2. Democrats said the move is hypocritical in light of a decision to give Rauner’s newly hired pick for state schools chief a special perk to boost his pension.
“This supplemental perk is a clear admission that Tier II is grossly inadequate as it stands. Thousands of Illinois educators receive this very same, insufficient retirement plan, but rather than make them whole as he is doing for his own executives, Rauner is proposing a plan that cuts them more deeply,” said Illinois Federation of Teachers President Dan Montgomery. “This is illegal, hypocritical, and a stunning display of the Governor’s real priorities.”
* The Tribune editorial board concurs in part and dissents in part…
Employees enrolled in Tier II earn pensions based on a less lucrative formula than those in Tier I. Higher salaries mean higher pensions, but the Tier II formula includes a strict ceiling on the earnings used to calculate retirement benefits.
[State schools superintendent Tony Smith’s] base salary for this year is $225,000. But his contributions to the Teachers Retirement System, or TRS, will be based on a capped salary of just under $112,000.
Smith’s contract requires taxpayers to make both the “member” and “employer” contributions to his pension, a rant for another day. Because of the salary cap, the “member” share is about half what it would have been under Tier I. So the taxpayers will write him a check for the difference.
Because Tier II, a baby step in a desperately needed pension system overhaul, is too onerous for the governor’s guy? We don’t think so.
Moving new employees into a sustainable pension plan was a sound policy decision by the state. Rauner has no business creating exceptions for his chosen aides.
Anybody who calls Tier II a “baby step” - when employees are essentially subsidizing everybody else - isn’t quite clear on the concept.
Even so, give ‘em props for finally speaking up about something.
Former U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock’s legal woes have been lucrative for a handful of law firms that have collected more than $1 million from his campaign fund over the past three months, according to a campaign disclosure report released Wednesday by the Federal Election Commission.
In addition, the report shows that Schock owes almost $750,000 to the law firm Jones Day. […]
In recent months, Schock returned $57,800 worth of political contributions, the report shows. Reimbursements were made to contributors including prominent Chicago-area businessmen Ron Gidwitz, Sam Zell and restaurateur Richard Melman.
As of the end of June, $2.1 million remained in Schock’s campaign fund.
He paid $500,000 to McGuire Woods, a Richmond, Virginia, based law firm. McGuire Woods partner George Terwilliger, a former top official at the Justice Department, is representing Schock.
Schock owes $746,985 to the firm Jones Day, according to the Federal Election Commission report, which was made public Wednesday. […]
He paid $333,628 to Berliner Corcoran and Rowe, a firm with offices in D.C. and San Francisco, and $91,000 to Lane and Waterman. Jeffrey Lang, a former U.S. attorney in central Illinois who works at Lane and Waterman, is on Schock’s legal team.
The Bopp Law Firm, a Republican firm run by attorney Jim Bopp, did $25,000 in work for Schock. Berke Farah, a D.C.-based political firm, made nearly $3,500 from the former lawmaker.
Schock paid $25,000 in legal fees to JJ Jackson Consulting and $20,000 to Schertler and Onorato, a D.C.-based litigation firm. Schock also shelled out $50,000 to Blank Rome.
Illinois lawmakers adopted a stop-gap budget plan Wednesday and readied to send it to a likely dismissive Gov. Bruce Rauner, one piece of a flurry of state Capitol activity that did little to move the state toward a yearlong spending agreement.
Despite the first-year Republican governor’s well-known opposition, the Senate put up a partisan vote on a $2.3 billion, one-month budget to keep state government functioning; approved 39-0 with 15 voting “present.” Democrats, who have used provisional fiscal plans several times in the past decade, want to keep essential and emergency services available during the budget standoff, but Rauner wants a permanent agreement.
But the day’s bursts of activity provided more heat than light. […]
“We would strongly recommend to the governor that he put politics aside, ignore the advice of his campaign advisers, and sign the bill,” House Speaker Michael Madigan told reporters
There’s no doubt that the governor is using campaign tactics to govern. But he has some legitimate gripes about the way this state is run and the sorry state of our economy.
It would help if the Democrats finally realized that they haven’t exactly created a Heaven on Earth in Illinois.
* Regarding AG Lisa Madigan’s legal moves to block state worker pay without any authorizing state appropriations…
Madigan contends that she is doing the right thing (vindicating the Illinois Constitution) for the right reason (because it’s her statutory duty). If that’s true, her action would be almost without precedent in the history of Illinois politics.
Not mentioned is that her actions are “almost without precedent” because AG Madigan made pretty much the exact same legal moves in 2009 as she is this year. So, yeah, “almost.”
Consider the 2012 lawsuit filed against Cook County and the state by gay-marriage advocates who challenged the constitutionality of an Illinois law that permitted homosexual civil unions but limited marriage to a man and a woman. (The lawsuit became moot after the General Assembly approved same-sex marriage).
Both Madigan and Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez ignored their statutory duties to defend state law. Both said the Illinois law limiting marriage to a man and a woman was legally indefensible on constitutional grounds.
The American Civil Liberties Union and New York-based Lambda Legal originally filed separate lawsuits against Cook County Clerk David Orr, a supporter of gay marriage whose office is responsible for issuing marriage licenses in the county, which includes the city of Chicago.
The action was taken on behalf of the 25 couples, some of them from outside Cook County, but all of whom had applied for marriage licenses there and been denied. […]
Alvarez said it’s her job to represent Orr – and they both agreed with the plaintiffs.
* Back in the day, outgoing Senate President Phil Rock got his chief of staff elected to the vacant Auditor General post. This time around, Speaker Madigan wants that plum for one of his guys…
A top lieutenant of House Speaker Michael Madigan has launched a bid to become the state’s next auditor general.
State Rep. Frank Mautino, D-Spring Valley, resigned his post on the Legislative Audit Commission last week as a precursor to applying for the $152,000 per year post.
Mautino, who serves as deputy majority leader under the powerful house speaker, has begun spreading the word among some lawmakers that he wants the job after serving on the commission for 18 years, including 12 years as co-chairman. […]
“I think he’d be a very good auditor general. He’s served for years on the audit commission. And through that service on the audit commission he’s acquitted himself with what the office does,” Madigan said.
He’ll need a three-fifths super majority in both chambers. Considering that Mautino barely won last year and the governor wants to target his district next year, the Republicans will probably be more than happy to comply.
“We’ve had a lot of political leaders in this state who have been fighting to advance the political class rather than the middle class in Illinois. We’re going to change it right now, big time, here this summer.”
Thursday, Jul 16, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Credit unions remain true to one principle – people before profits – and represent a highly valued resource for more than 3 million Illinois consumers during times that post economic and financial challenges. This includes circumstances that arise beyond their control, such as interruptions in paychecks for state workers due to the current budget impasse.
In response to this situation, credit unions from all across Illinois have been proactively working behind the scenes to provide their members and consumers with peace of mind. This includes partnering with Illinois State Treasurer Michael W. Frerichs who last week announced his office’s collaboration with Illinois’ credit unions to provide more than $50 million in available funding for interest-free loans to state workers during this challenging time. Credit unions from all across the state have stepped up to help their members, consumers and state workers alike with loan assistance programs and other crucial options, such as waiving skip payment fees and allowing early withdrawal of savings without penalty. And that list is growing every day.
To find out which credit unions are specifically reaching out to Illinois families, please go to www.icul.com and contact a credit union near you. During these uncertain times, Illinois credit unions will be there for its members.
The State Government Leadership Foundation announced a digital advertisement purchase to run throughout the state for the rest of this week, directing users to www.stopdiggingmadigan.com, an online petition to urge the speaker not to continue pushing for a state budget which spends $3 to $4 billion more than it takes in.
“The over 12 million people of Illinois are owed answers by Speaker Madigan on why he insists on deepening 30 years of reckless spending with his current budget proposal,” said SGLF Executive Director Matt Walter in a news release. “Such an enormous debt impacts every member of the Prairie State, and it’s time to tell the speaker that enough is enough.”
Steve Brown, Madigan’s spokesperson, responded the claims are misguided and attack the speaker for issues he himself did not create on his own.
“People try to use Mike Madigan’s longevity in office as a negative weapon,” Brown said. “They forget that he’s never signed a bill, he’s never appointed an agency director and never made a pension investment.”
Since Mike Madigan became House Speaker in 1983, Illinois total debt levels have risen to more than$321 billion, leaving it with the 5th highest debt levels in the country. That means every citizen of Illinois, all 12.88 million of them, owes $24,959 to pay off the debt that Madigan caused.
With his current budget proposal, he wants to add another $4 billion to that debt.
Don’t let Michael Madigan dump his mess on you and your children.
“What happens next is we all go home, listen to our constituents and wait for the other side to blink,” said Republican state Sen. Jason Barickman of Bloomington.
“Speaker Madigan and the legislators he controls will leave town without a responsible, balanced budget and without any reforms while taking a pay raise for themselves. That’s unfair to taxpayers and the people they represent. It is time to stop protecting the political class at the expense of the middle class.
“Everyone knows the status quo is broken and Illinois needs to change. Governor Rauner is committed to enacting a true balanced budget and real reforms to grow the economy and free up resources to protect the most vulnerable. The legislature should join the governor in committing to move the state forward.”
The law allows for discounts for up to 4 hours a day and up to 15 hours a week as long as they are promoted a week in advance.
There are limitations to the Happy Hour Law including serving two or more drinks to one person for consumption by that person, increasing the volume of alcoholic liquor contained in a drink or the size of a drink, without proportionally increasing the price regularly charged for that drink on that given day, and more.
Gov. Bruce Rauner has signed legislation making it legal to hunt bobcats in Illinois.
Regulatory officials said after the signing Tuesday that the first hunting season won’t open until late 2016 because the state must get federal and other permits.
Supportive lawmakers say the once-endangered cat now numbers as many as 5,000 in the Prairie State and poses a nuisance and potential danger.
No more than 300 bobcats may be hunted or trapped during a season running from Nov. 1 to Feb. 15. State-issued permits will cost $5.
But the first season won’t begin until 2016, said Chris Young, spokesman for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. The state must first require necessary permission from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which requires proper tagging of bobcat pelts.
“Hunters and trappers play an important role in managing resources and paying for conservation services, and Illinois homeowners should be given the ability to manage wildlife that are causing problems on their property,” Catherine Kelly, spokeswoman for the governor, an avid hunter, said in a prepared statement. “If at any time the species is threatened, the IDNR will suspend hunting and trapping.”
Opponents argued bobcats aren’t hunted for eating, just for sport by those seeking a prize and bragging rights.
The new law, which the governor’s office said takes effect Jan. 1, opens up bobcat hunting for the first time in 40 years. The short-tailed feline, about twice the size of a domestic cat, had been on the state’s threatened species list but was removed in 1999 as its population grew.
Bobcats are nocturnal, reclusive animals with few predators in the state. They use their keen sight and hearing to hunt rabbits, squirrels, small rodents and some birds.
We know you support hunting, which is fine by us. But people don’t eat bobcat meat. The cats don’t threaten large livestock or most other wildlife. Bobcat conflicts with agricultural animals are rare, IDNR biologist Bob Bluett tells us. In 2014, for instance, the department issued three permits to kill bobcats for “killing chickens or other small animals.”
Bobcats dine on smaller animals, including rabbits, mice, squirrels and rats. Anyone in favor of more rats in Illinois?
Bobcats roam forest lands and make homes in downed trees, hollow logs, thickets, rock piles and caves. To allow “random shooting of bobcats to control a nonexistent problem is not a sound strategy,” Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, tells us. “It’s like a crime control strategy that involves shooting into a crowd.”
I’ll just say right up front that this question is intentionally designed to put some of y’all in a trick box…
* The Question: Do you agree with Gov. Rauner or the Tribune editorial board? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
Over the past two years, Southern Illinois University administrators have spent more than $180,000 on in-house chartered airplane flights, according to data provided by the university’s Department of Aviation Management and Flight, which operates the service.
Two SIU-owned twin-engine planes are available for administrators’ business use. Since July 1, 2013, those planes have shuttled staffers on more than 130 flights to and from locales as close as Springfield and as far away as Houston, Texas.
The average cost of a round-trip flight totaled about $1,400. Flight data from July 2014 and June 2015 was not included in the information provided.
SIU spokeswoman Rae Goldsmith said administrators try to balance potential time savings with increased cost when deciding whether or not to use the service, operated out of Southern Illinois Airport.
- A $1,745.60 charge for a round-trip flight on April 8, that brought SIU Executive Director of Governmental Affairs John Charles, and state Sens. Heather Steans and Mattie Hunter to a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing held at the Student Center, at which [SIU system President Randy Dunn] lobbied against Gov. Bruce Rauner’s proposal to slash 30 percent from higher-education budgets beginning July 1.
Wednesday, Jul 15, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Illinois is in crisis. Our budget woes are exacerbated by rising rates of costly chronic diseases. Through a penny-per-ounce tax on sugary drinks, the Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) Act would generate an estimated $600 million annually to invest in community health programs supporting healthier nutrition and exercise, and to restore cuts and fund prevention in Medicaid.
A recent opinion poll found that this modest tax enjoyed broad support in every part of the state provided the funding is dedicated to health. This reflects growing awareness of the proven dangers of sugary drinks, the largest source of added sugar in the American diet.
In June, a New York Times article featured preliminary results from a comprehensive study that found that a tax on sugary beverages is one of the most effective approaches to lowering body mass index in children for the least cost and greatest return on investment. Also, The Washington Post reported on a study that showed sugary drinks are linked to 25,000 American deaths annually, and more than 180,000 globally.
* Democratic state Rep. Scott Drury penned an op-ed for yesterday’s Tribune…
How can we end the stalemate and move Illinois forward? Rauner, Madigan and Cullerton should each issue a public proposal detailing how they plan to close the budget deficit. These proposed budgets must be balanced with real dollars — not projected future savings or borrowed dollars. Moreover, each proposal can be accompanied by any legislation deemed necessary to claim “victory.” Once the proposals are made public, the General Assembly can vigorously debate and, ultimately, vote on them.
This plan would accomplish two critical things. First, it would ensure that respective plans for balancing the budget actually exist. Second, it would force an end to the current game of “scapegoat” and move Illinois toward a real budget solution. Good government and transparency demand this process.
I’m not sure what Statehouse he reports to, but the stalemate isn’t about the budget. The budget can eventually be dealt with pretty easily because the governor has said he can be for a tax hike. The end product - if we ever get there - will probably look a lot like the budget Rauner vetoed.
The stalemate is all about the governor’s other demands.
So, when Rep. Drury comes up with an idea for how to deal with issues like local collective bargaining, prevailing wage, property tax freezes, tort reform, etc., he should let us know ASAP.
* Speaking of the budget, as of last night, no final decision had been made by the Senate Democrats about whether to override the governor’s approp vetoes. But, even if they do, it’s not looking good in the House…
With Democrats filling 39 of 59 seats in the Senate, the majority could likely gather the 36 votes needed for a three-fifths majority.
But the supermajority in the House is 71, the same number of posts Democrats hold. There, Democratic Reps. Jack Franks of Marengo and Scott Drury of Highwood oppose override because the plan still doesn’t have enough revenue to cover spending.
“I’m getting pressure, and the easy way for me is to vote for an override,” Franks said, “but it’s the wrong solution.”
Of the 19 bills in the budget plan, the Senate controls eight; overrides begin in a bill’s original chamber.
Offering rare public comment on state politics, Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke said Tuesday it was “regrettable” that Gov. Bruce Rauner characterized the high court as untrustworthy and part of a “corrupt system” in remarks earlier this year.
“Well, I think it’s regrettable if he said that,” Burke said after a speech at the City Club of Chicago.
“I just have to tell you that my colleagues are outstanding legal educators. They’ve been in the law for their whole lives,” she said. “They’re good people. Honest, moral, ethical. And I can unequivocally say that isn’t true.”
Not only did Burke criticize Gov. Bruce Rauner for accusing the high court of being part of a “corrupt system,” but later told Sneed: “[Rauner] should not be demonizing people.”
“He won. He should be magnanimous. He should be sitting down with people like [former] Governors [Jim] Thompson, [Jim] Edgar and [George] Ryan did to work things out, not saying bad things about people. What good does that do?” added Burke, who rarely strays into the political fray.
Burke told Sneed she and her husband, Ald. Ed Burke (14th), tossed a Christmas party for Rauner and his wife last year at their home to serve as an “opportunity for collegiality and working together.”
State House Speaker Mike Madigan, State Senate President John Cullerton and their wives were invited.
“It was really historical,” she added.
“What I observed then is not what I am seeing now,” she said.
“Everyone was having a good time and singing Christmas carols at the piano. It really looked like everyone was going to be able to work together.
“I am surprised at what has happened. Devastated by it. Why try and demonize Mike Madigan when you are trying to work with someone? What good does it do? It’s not going to improve relationships. It only makes people tighten up more.”
With no end in sight to an impasse that has left state government in limbo, Democrats spent Tuesday shining a spotlight on plans by Gov. Bruce Rauner to reduce the number of senior citizens who receive state assistance.
Just as their counterparts in the House have tried to paint the Republican chief executive as a threat to the poor and middle class, Senate Democrats held press conferences and conducted a formal hearing Tuesday on Rauner’s plan to alter a ranking system that determines who gets government help and who doesn’t.
The governor has proposed changing the rankings in order to take aid away from thousands of seniors and disabled Illinoisans.
While Rauner says his administration needs to find savings because of a decrease in revenue after the expiration of the state’s temporary tax increase in January, Democrats said the impact will be devastating.
Mary Schnell of Springfield said the proposed changes would leave her and her husband, John, without services. John Schnell suffers from dementia, and twice a week he attends day care services outside the home paid by the state. Also, the Schnells get four hours a week of in-home services to help with work around the house and to take them grocery shopping and to do other tasks outside the home.
“It’s just been a godsend for us,” Mary Schnell said. “It’s getting to the point that without help, I can’t do it.”
The administration said the determination-of-need scoring system hasn’t been changed in 30 years and that Illinois provides services to a lot of “low need” people.
“Presumably as part of the governor’s budget proposal it’s intended to save the state money,” Cheryl Jansen, public policy director for Equip for Equality told senators. “But it’s been shown again and again, and you’ve heard testimony here today, and the state has provided statistics that show that serving people with disabilities in their own homes, in their own communities — rather than institutions — saves money. In the long term, this change will not only cost the state money, it will deprive the individuals served by this program of their independence, of their dignity and of their improved quality of life.”
* Sen. Daniel Biss sent out a press release yesterday explaining the impact of changing the scores…
Substantial and detrimental changes to state-provided in-home or long-term care may be on the way under a new plan proposed by the governor. If it is enacted, nearly 40,000 seniors enrolled in the Community Care Program alone will be forced out of their homes and into nursing home facilities.
To decide whether or not a person is eligible to receive services, such as a home health aide or admission to a nursing home, state agencies use a Determination of Need (DON) score. It’s a tool designed to assess the level and type of need in order to provide the best and most efficient care to older adults and persons with disabilities.
The governor has proposed raising the threshold citizens would need in order to receive care from state programs. With these changes in place, the minimum score to qualify for assistance would increase from 37 from 29. Many people who rely on these services to live and provide for their families are fearing for the future and the future of their families. […]
People already receiving home services with scores between 29 and 37 would lose the services they rely on to get from one day to the next. And in most cases, the cost to the state is significantly lower than if the state were to provide nursing home services, often the only alternative.
“The governor is cutting much more than hypothetical dollars from the budget with this plan,” said State Senator Daniel Biss (D – Evanston), chair of the Human Services Committee, who led a hearing on in-home care on Tuesday. “He is cutting a lifeline for thousands of seniors and disabled Illinoisans who rely on state government to ensure their health and safety. If we raise the threshold for assistance, we lower our standards as a state at a time when we need to find our moral center more than ever. Taking away these services would also increase the cost to the state. This is a lose-lose situation.”
The governor is planning on asking the federal government for a special waiver that would allow Illinois to change Medicaid rules for determination of need. Biss is imploring the governor to first look into the human impact of a possible rule change before making any decision on this issue.
“Instead of blindly grabbing for any means to save dollars and cents, we need to take a hard look at the people we’re casting aside,” said Biss. “These citizens are not a financial inconvenience to be stripped from the books. They are in need of services, and it’s in everyone’s best interest to provide that care in the most effective way possible.”
Under cost-cutting measures imposed by Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration effective July 1, the state’s child care assistance program has been effectively closed to nearly all new enrollees.
According to advocates, in just the first two weeks more than 2,000 families who would have qualified under previous eligibility guidelines have already been denied access to the program.
These are families who rely on the child care subsidy to make it economically feasible to go to work so that someday they might escape poverty.
A family of four earning $12,132 a year will now make too much money to qualify for the subsidy, a dramatic drop from the previous income ceiling of $44,868.
Two weeks into the new fiscal year, Illinois lawmakers and Gov. Bruce Rauner still haven’t reached an agreement on the budget. That means funding for the state’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, has been suspended.
“Right now, we’re not anticipating having a cooling program due to the state budget,” said Lakisha Randle, a community service supervisor with Project NOW in Rock Island.
Last year, the agency helped nearly 1,300 people through the program. […]
“It’s sad, because people are calling here and their electricity is completely off. It’s hot outside, you know? I feel bad for people that have children, or if they have asthma or a condition that’s triggered by heat. That’s sad, very sad,” said Randle.
Temps are expected to reach the 90s in Rock Island this weekend.
One program immediately impacted by the continuing budget battle: the state’s Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which helps people struggling to pay their electric and gas bills.
The program has been suspended until at least September, said South Austin Coalition Community Council Executive Director Bob Vondrasek.
The cuts to the program are critical to Austin residents because 35 to 40 percent of people in the community – the most–populated of Chicago’s 77 community areas – need some kind of assistance, Vondrasek said.
Without that assistance, there is a fear that desperate times will push some to desperate measures.
“I’m just afraid to see what will happen when people can’t get their gas turned, their lights turned,” said SACCC lead consultant Theresa Welch.
The program is funded by an extra fee on utility bills and by the federal government.
