Hippies are gonna make us kill all our dogs!!!
Wednesday, May 9, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Oh, for Pete’s sake…
If Illinois legalizes marijuana for recreational use, law enforcement officials fear job losses for hundreds of officers — specifically, the four-legged ones.
Agencies spend thousands of dollars and months of training to teach their dogs how to sniff out and alert officers to the presence of marijuana, heroin, cocaine and other drugs. If pot use becomes legal, the dogs would likely either have to be retrained — which some handlers say is impossible or impractical — or retired. […]
Training a K-9 can take anywhere from eight to 16 weeks and cost between $3,000 to $5,000, not including the time commitment, overtime costs or advanced training. Depending on the dog’s breed, training and purpose, the price of an animal can range anywhere from $8,000 to $16,000 each. […]
Because many K-9s are trained not to be social so that their work won’t be affected, Larner said a number of dogs would likely have to be euthanized.
Um, maybe they could just sell the dogs to lesser evolved states and then don’t train replacement dogs to sniff out pot?
They’re making such a weak argument.
* For instance, just last year, the Illinois Sheriffs’ Association among others backed this bill…
Creates the Police Dog Retirement Act. Provides that a police dog, which is deemed no longer fit for public service, may be offered by the county, municipality, or State law enforcement agency to the officer or employee who had custody and control of the animal during its service. If the officer or employee does not wish to keep the dog, it may be offered to another officer or employee in the agency, or to a non-profit organization or a no-kill animal shelter that may facilitate an appropriate adoption of the dog.
That bill is now law. So, spare me the scare tactics.
Besides, if military dogs can be adopted, why not these? Oh, wait, they can be adopted. Who knew?
* From a Seattle Times report after Washington legalized marijuana…
The dogs will get a good home, police Chief Tim George promised. They definitely would not be euthanized, he said.
I mean, seriously, of all the “consequences” of legalizing marijuana, this is what the cops come up with?
C’mon, man.
* Meanwhile…
It’s being heralded by Democrat gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker as a potentially giant revenue maker for Illinois, but recreational marijuana has produced “limited” tax revenues in two states that have legalized it — with little of that money flowing to the state or city’s general fund.
Those are among the findings in a new report from Moody’s Investors Service.
That’s so incredibly misleading. Just because most of the pot money isn’t funneled into their General Revenue Fund, doesn’t mean there’s not a lot of cash coming in.
* From the Moody’s report...
Marijuana revenues generally make up only a relatively small share of state general fund revenues, and therefore provide only modest budget relief. Colorado’s gross revenues from recreational and medical sales in fiscal 2017 equaled only 2.0% of total general fund revenues. Washington state’s gross marijuana revenues for the 2015-17 biennium equaled only 1.2% of general fund revenues.
Furthermore, in most states, voters or statute have earmarked most marijuana revenues to special programs and only a small portion is available for general fund spending. In Colorado, almost half of state fiscal 2018 marijuana revenues are directed to the Marijuana Tax Cash Fund where they are used for a variety of marijuana-related programs including enforcement, regulation and prevention, as well as substance abuse programs; 40% is earmarked for K-12 education including capital assistance for school construction; and 7% is distributed to local governments. Only about 5% is directed to the general fund, representing only 0.1% of state general fund revenues(see Exhibit 2). In Washington, only about one-third of state marijuana revenues are directed to the state’s general fund, representing only 0.6% of general fund revenues in the 2017-19 biennium.
Moody’s is looking at state GRF, but K-12 is getting a goodly amount of money from Colorado’s legalization…
Total state tax revenues from medical and recreational sales on a cash basis grew by 118% to $223.5 million in fiscal 2017 from $102.4 million in fiscal 2015, the first full fiscal year of legal recreational sales. The state projects total state marijuana revenues to grow to $258.6 million (budget basis) in fiscal 2018
That’s $258.6 million for a state with much less than half the population of Illinois.
49 Comments  
|
Loyola’s Sister Jean comes to Springfield
Wednesday, May 9, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune…
The Illinois House and Senate are in session. Loyola University’s Sister Jean (and some players) will be at the Capitol for lawmakers to honor the basketball team’s NCAA tournament run.
I’m told she’s delivering the opening prayer in the Senate today. Expect a packed gallery.
7 Comments
|
* WGN TV…
ICC investigators concluded Lincoln Towing conducted 462 unauthorized tows in a seven month period they examined.
“Lincoln’s pattern and practice of conducting unauthorized relocations harms the public and demonstrates that Lincoln is incompetent and unworthy to hold a relocator’s license,” ICC staff concluded.
Lincoln Towing’s tactics have been the subject of complaints for decades. Folk singer Steve Goodman recorded a song in 1972 referring to the towing outfit as the “Lincoln Park Pirates.” At various times politicians have promised to shut the company down. After WGN Investigates reported the towing firm’s more recent troubles in January 2017, the ICC investigation intensified. Dozens of hearings took place as investigators and a lawyer for Lincoln Towing traded accusations.
“If I explained to you how many tows a year and how few violations we have, it’s like .0003 percent of 1 percent,” Lincoln lawyer Allen Perl told WGN in 2017. “Literally every 500 cars is a violation. That’s a pretty good record.”
The staff recommendation on whether the company should lose its license is here. The matter now goes before an administrative law judge.
26 Comments
|
* Northwest Herald…
A state lawmaker is lambasting Gov. Bruce Rauner after Illinois’ top leader met in private during the weekend with members of the McHenry County Republican Party.
Rauner spent part of his Saturday at an invitation-only roundtable at the McHenry County GOP’s Crystal Lake headquarters – an event featuring a who’s who of party insiders, including McHenry County Sheriff Bill Prim, McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally and County Board member Jim Kearns.
But state Rep. David McSweeney, R-Barrington Hills, took issue with someone else in attendance at the meetup: the local Republican Party’s new chairwoman, Diane Evertsen, who at one time served as president of the Minutemen Midwest – an organization the Southern Poverty Law Center designated a “nativist extremist” group.
“The governor should apologize for meeting with a known extremist,” said McSweeney, who heard about the meeting after it happened.
McSweeney pointed to Evertsen’s association with Minutemen Midwest, which the SPLC named several times on its annual list of nativist extremist groups between 2007 and 2010.
* A blog popped up in 2010 that saved deleted posts by Evertsen like this one…
An invasion is taking place. Whether by means of legal or illegal immigration, the third-world hordes are invading the first world, and they are taking no prisoners. If this is not stopped now, America within one generation will be a third-world sewer.
Invaders from the Orient, Asia, Africa, Central and South America are invading the first world, and they are intent only upon conquest. (cut) Americans have been duped by the left-wing notion of a “proposition nation” and by myths about third-world assimilation, neither of which will occur. Historically, nations have been built upon blood and soil, kith and kin, ancestral rites, and genealogical ties. A real nation is but an extension of a tribe, and this realization should be shared by all traditionalists, conservatives, paleolibertarians, patriotic liberals, union democrats, and moderates. The “creedal nation” (one only has to believe in propositions to be a good citizen) is a lie; it is but a Trojan horse to implement the third-world invasion of America.
That’s quite a county party chair they have up there.
…Adding… DGA…
Yesterday, the Northwest Herald reported that Governor Bruce Rauner recently met with McHenry Country GOP leaders, including Diane Evertsen, former President of the “nativist extremist” group Minutemen Midwest. The Southern Poverty Law Center labeled them a “nativist extremist” group from 2007 to 2010 for writings that warned of a “conspiracy afoot to merge the U.S. and Mexico” by a “shadow government” and claimed “most Mexicans…are not Western; genealogically, they are Asiatic, and they despise the West.”
Rauner’s clandestine meeting is not out of line with his overall record - Rauner’s done little to push back on President Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and refused to protect the 42,000 DACA recipients in Illinois facing deportation. But Rauner’s cozying up to the far-right risks alienating other Republicans like state Representative David McSweeney who called on the governor to apologize for agreeing to the meeting.
“Bruce Rauner is showing his stripes by cozying up to anti-immigrant extremists and silently supporting Donald Trump’s agenda,” said DGA Illinois Communications Director Sam Salustro. “After failing to protect Illinoisans from President Trump, Rauner’s giving the far-right a voice in Springfield.”
…Adding… Democratic Rep. Sam Yingling…
Instead of negotiating in good faith to pass a state budget or working to reduce local property taxes, Bruce Rauner spent last weekend meeting with the former leader of Minutemen Midwest, a group the Southern Poverty Law Center labeled a “nativist extremist” group. There’s no place in for the fear-mongering tactics and conspiracy theories these extremist groups espouse in our state, and I applaud Representative Dave McSweeney, a Republican from McHenry County, for demanding an apology from Bruce Rauner, the head of the Illinois GOP. I join my colleague across the aisle in demanding an apology from this failed governor and hope other local elected officials and candidates will as well.
23 Comments
|
* From the Rauner campaign…
Democrats Refuse to Give Revenue Estimate for Budget Negotiations
When Illinois families sit down to hammer out their budgets, the conversation starts with a simple question: “how much money is coming in?”
It is the starting point for any discussion of how to allocate their money.
Since his budget address in February, Governor Rauner has asked time and again for the General Assembly to provide a revenue estimate as a basis to negotiate, but Democrats have failed to produce one. It’s time to be honest with taxpayers about how much of their money is expected to flow into state coffers to pass a balanced budget.
Um, they could also just use the governor’s own revenue estimate if they want to base the negotiations on something. From the Civic Federation’s new report…
Going into FY2019, revenue forecasts by the executive and legislative branches are $99 million apart—less than 0.3% of expected revenues and among the closest they have been in recent years. The Governor’s Office of Management and Budget (GOMB) forecasts General Funds revenue of $37.96 billion in FY2019, while the legislature’s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (COGFA) forecasts $37.87 billion. The relatively small differences between the two estimates are offsetting. COGFA estimates $164 million less individual income tax revenue than GOMB and $76 million less sales tax revenue, but $77 more in corporate income tax.
* WCIA TV…
“I believe that Democrats are strongly in favor of actually finally getting a real budget done before the May 31st deadline,” Pritzker said. “It seems clear to me that the governor is not, but we will see over the next couple of weeks whether he is willing to actually work with them to get the job done.”
Pritzker would not comment on the necessity of a revenue estimate, which Republican leaders have insisted is a crucial starting point to any budget negotiation, required by state law. […]
Senate Republican Leader Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) chimed in too, calling the morning meeting an “important step” toward closing the gap that divides the two parties.
“I think we’ve all agreed that the CoGFA numbers are a realm to begin with,” Brady said, referring to bipartisan analysis from the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability. “We’d like for [Democrats] to solidify that,” but said there was “nothing we can do” about “their reluctance to do so.”
Brady has the right attitude here.
* Tribune…
Still, lawmakers likely are facing a budget gap of several billion dollars. The legislature’s forecasting arm predicts the state will have roughly $37.8 billion to spend this year, down $2.7 billion from the $40.6 billion it has currently. That’s because several one-time revenue sources can no longer be relied upon.
Yeah, but that’s still up from the $31 billion or so the state took in last fiscal year.
* Related…
* Rep. Keith Wheeler: How Speaker Madigan elbows aside Illinois taxpayers
22 Comments
|
|
Comments Off
|
* This sort of thing may be one reason why the governor’s office is asking for a supplemental approp for IDOC…
A Peoria murder trial was delayed this week after the Illinois Department of Corrections said it was short of gas money.
This week, an official at Western Illinois Correctional Center in Mount Sterling sent an email to the Peoria County State’s Attorney’s Office saying it couldn’t bring an inmate, who was slated to be a witness in a murder trial, because it was “having difficulties with making fuel purchases at the current time.”
The official then asked the state’s attorney’s office to push the trial back later in May “when the probability is more likely that we will be able to obtain fuel while on the road if needed.” […]
The delay is significant because Samuel T. Clay Jr.] has been in custody since the fatal shooting [of October 2015 shooting of 14-year-old and has only days left before the 120-day limit for the Speedy Trial Act. While he’s been in custody for well more than that, the clock is stopped when he asks for or agrees to continue the proceedings.
His attorney Maureen Williams had initially agreed to the continuance Monday but then vigorously opposed it on Tuesday, saying it was within the power of the state’s attorney’s office to get the prisoner to Peoria — a notion that both Judge John Vespa and prosecutor David Gast contested.
Oy.
*** UPDATE *** From Lindsey N. Hess at IDOC…
While the Department acknowledges it is in desperate need of additional appropriation authority from the General Assembly, I want to make it clear that no offenders have missed scheduled court appearances because of a fuel shortage. The IDOC has no record of the offender who was named in the article being required to attend court on May 8. The Department will transport him, and all other offenders who have court appearances, on the dates they are scheduled.
36 Comments
|
* Precariously…
A Chicago-based fiscal watchdog group said Gov. Bruce Rauner’s budget proposal is “precariously balanced” and doesn’t do enough to pay down the state’s remaining backlog of bills.
The Civic Federation’s Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability, said in a report released Wednesday that Rauner’s budget plan released in February “is substantially closer to being balanced than his administration’s previous proposals.”
But it concluded Rauner’s plan relies on “aggressive assumptions” that may not come to fruition.
“Illinois residents were able to breathe a sigh of relief following the end of the unprecedented impasse, but the state is far from fiscal stability,” Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the possibility of renewed political stalemate hangs over Springfield and it would be financially reckless to wait until after the upcoming election to start working toward long-term stabilization.”
* Sun-Times…
The civic watchdog’s report says the group “cannot support” Rauner’s recommended budget because it is “only precariously balanced,” citing a projected surplus of $351 million that depends on “various aggressive assumptions” totaling $1.8 billion in savings or additional revenues.
“It is not clear whether these assumptions are backed up by contingency plans,” the report says.
The report says the budget again relies on the selling of the James R. Thompson Center for the third year in a row and on “speculative group health savings.”
The Civic Federation also says it doesn’t support a budget that doesn’t have a plan to eliminate the unpaid bill backlog. The surplus would go towards the bill backlog — which was at $6.88 billion on Tuesday — but it’s “unclear how the State will pay the remaining backlog in future years.”
* Trib…
There are some parts of Rauner’s plan the group supports, but it does not endorse shifting suburban and Downstate teachers’ pension costs to local school districts.
* From the report…
The Civic Federation is supportive of several initiatives in the Governor’s recommended FY2019 budget, including aligning responsibility for payment of current-service pension costs with decision making about workers’ salaries and reducing the State’s role in financing health insurance costs for teachers and university and community college employees and retirees. The Federation also supports the proposal to enact the “consideration model” of pension reform, while not applying any savings until it is certain that the reform is constitutional.
* Crain’s…
The federation also generally sided with mayors in arguing against Rauner’s budget proposal for the second year in a row to grab a portion of the municipal share of state income-tax receipts for his budget, rather than passing it on to cities and villages
More ominously, the federation noted that Illinois “narrowly avoided a (bond) downgrade to junk status” last year.
“Illinois residents were able to breathe a short sigh of relief following the end of the unprecedented impasse,” in which the state went two years without a full, normal budget, federation President Laurence Msall said. “Unfortunately, the possibility of renewed political stalemate hangs over Springfield…Another impasse could squander recent progress.”
Illinois needs a long-term plan for fiscal stability, Msall added. “This proposal does not accomplish that goal.”
15 Comments
|
* WCIA TV…
“No new taxes, truly balanced budget and for a full year, [and we should] not [be] waiting to deal with some of the difficult decisions until after the election,” Rauner said. “There was some expression within the conversations about ‘Maybe we should deal with some of these things post election.’ We should not let politics or elections get in the way of doing the right thing for the people of Illinois.” […]
“It’s apparently the kind of confusion [Rauner] is attracted to, for whatever reason,” Madigan spokesman Steve Brown responded, suggesting Rauner had perhaps seized on Cullerton’s public comments to reporters and not to any conversations that had occurred in private.
“What is true is that there’s an election in the middle of the fiscal year and we haven’t had that before,” Cullerton said, “so that might play a role in somebody’s motivation.” He quickly clarified the political calculations were “Not mine.”
The Senate Democrats agree with Brown’s claim that the topic of delaying decisions until after the elections wasn’t discussed during the leaders meeting.
I think Brownie may be right on this one. After previous meetings, the governor has watched BlueRoomStream.com’s live video of the leader avails and then reacted. So, Gov. Rauner could’ve been watching yesterday’s video feed of Cullerton’s post-meeting comments and heard that election mention and then said what he said afterward.
20 Comments
|
|
Comments Off
|
|
Support CapitolFax.com
Visit our advertisers...
...............
...............
...............
...............
...............
...............
...............
...............
...............
|
   
|
Hosted by MCS
SUBSCRIBE to Capitol Fax
Advertise Here
Mobile Version
Contact Rich Miller
|
