Question of the day
Tuesday, Jun 11, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I’ve tried watching Channel 20 news over the past few years and I could never make it through an entire broadcast. To me, it’s unwatchable. I didn’t even know who Joe Crain was until the recent uproar…
WICS-TV’s general manager said Monday the Springfield television station will change the phrase it uses to label early severe weather alerts.
Gone is “Code Red,” words that drew the ire of some viewers and prompted station meteorologist Joe Crain to use a morning on-air weather report last week to criticize the phrase, saying it is a “corporate initiative” that “doesn’t recognize that not all storms are equal.” Crain hasn’t been on the air since his comments, and his biography has been removed from the Channel 20 website.
In Code Red’s place now is the phrase “Weather Warn,” WICS general manager Rick Lipps said in a video posted to the station’s website.
“We firmly believe in the need to provide an early warning alert and will continue to provide this potentially lifesaving information, but we have come to understand that the words ‘Code Red’ may no longer be fitting,” Lipps said. “As such, we are changing the name of our early warning alert to ‘Weather Warn.’ In addition, we will continue to work to more precisely define the specific geographic areas of greatest concern.”
* The Question: Do you regularly watch local TV news? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
panel management
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* The Daily Line’s Hannah Meisel…
A new poll commissioned by Ideas Illinois, a dark money group formed to fight a ballot question that would change Illinois’ flat income tax to a graduated tax, shows support for the idea is slipping, especially in a key central Illinois media market. […]
Ideas Illinois’ new poll, conducted by We Ask America on May 29 and May 30, found that support for a graduated income tax has fallen to 51 percent among likely voters — 8 percent below the minimum 60 percent threshold of voters needed to approve the measure. A similar poll in February had found a higher level of support — 59 percent — prior to a blitz of television advertising from both sides this spring as Pritzker rolled out his specific proposals surrounding a graduated tax.
The poll also found that opposition to a constitutional change to a graduated tax has risen slightly in the same time period
As more voters have heard from both sides — which featured Pritzker in ads from both Ideas Illinois and the pro-graduated tax group set up by a former Pritzker campaign staffer — Republicans registered the biggest drop in support for the concept of a graduated income tax. While 32 percent of self-identified Republicans supported a graduated tax in February, 21 percent of Republicans support the idea now, according to the poll.
* Jim Dey…
The poll revealed support for the Pritzker tax plan has fallen “despite nearly $5 million in spending by (pro-amendment) Think Big Illinois.”
Why the decline in support?
We Ask America attributed the decline to Ideas Illinois’ attacks on what Pritzker calls a “fair tax.”
“Voters see right through it. While voters right now are seeing the Pritzker messaging, they also don’t like it,” the memo states.
Sampling from the Champaign/Springfield areas, where pro- and anti-tax television advertising has been heavy, found 46 percent “agreed that the constitutional amendment is ‘just a blank check for Springfield politicians to spend more and will hurt Illinois’ economy and force businesses to leave the state.’” The poll indicated 32 percent of respondents disagreed with that statement.
The harder the critics hit that idea, We Ask America concluded, the more opposition there will be to the proposed amendment.
* Daily Herald…
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said opponents of the proposed graduated income tax plan are intentionally misleading voters who will ultimately decide its fate in November 2020.
“I think opponents of the fair tax certainly are trying to muddy the waters trying to come up with words to make it seem like something it’s not,” Pritzker said Thursday morning in a meeting with the Daily Herald editorial board. “The most recent silliness was a ‘blank check jobs tax,’ which I’m not sure I understand. It really is a crazy notion that they’re putting forward and an untrue notion.”
That phrase was used by former Illinois Manufacturers’ Association President Greg Baise, whose Ideas Illinois opposes the graduated tax and says it will push jobs out of state.
* From the polling memo…
A near majority (46%) agree that the constitutional amendment is “just a blank check for Springfield politicians to spend more and will hurt Illinois’ economy and force businesses to leave the state,” with 32% disagreeing. While 74% of Republicans agree with that assertion, just 25% of Democrats do, but among Independents, 46% agree versus 33% who disagree.
The key here is to persuade Republicans that this is a Democratic trick and to pull away enough indies to deprive the governor of a win.
* However, a big Democratic turnout in a presidential year could allow the proponents to take advantage of this highlighted constitutional provision…
A proposed amendment shall become effective as the amendment provides if approved by either three-fifths of those voting on the question or a majority of those voting in the election.
* Since 2010, the dropoff rate (those who took ballots compared to those who voted on the proposed constitutional amendment) has ranged from 8.1 to 17.15 percent. Here’s Scott Kennedy’s chart on the percentage needed to pass compared to the dropoff rate…
…Adding… Think Big Illinois Executive Director Quentin Fulks…
After trying and failing to prevent voters from having a say at the ballot box on the fair tax, opponents are now even more desperate to defend the current unfair tax system. This is nothing more than political posturing – Illinoisans want a tax system that works for everyone, not just the wealthy few. As voters continue to learn the truth about the fair tax, Think Big Illinois is confident they’ll vote for it next November.
Also, Idea Illinois’ memo about reaching 60 percent is here.
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Because… Pickleball!
Tuesday, Jun 11, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune…
Pickleball courts, dog parks and grants for an arts program led by House Speaker Michael Madigan’s wife are on a lengthy list of lawmakers’ pet projects paid for by a massive gambling expansion and tax hikes on smoking and parking.
The pork barrel bonanza comes courtesy of Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s $45 billion construction program that lawmakers approved as the spring legislative session spilled into overtime last weekend. It’s a signature away from becoming law. […]
Standing to benefit is pickleball, a fledgling sport that’s part tennis, part badminton and part pingpong. Democratic Sen. Terry Link of Vernon Hills tucked in $100,000 for the Buffalo Grove Park District for pickleball courts and other renovations.
The Park District plans to seal coat eight new courts at Mike Rylko Community Park because the paddle sport has “really taken off,” said Ryan Risinger, the district’s executive director. The new courts would replace rarely used sand volleyball courts, he said.
There’s also $20,000 for pickleball courts at Gwendolyn Brooks Park in Chicago’s North Kenwood neighborhood. Freshman Democratic Sen. Robert Peters said the court provides “first touches” for people in his district, saying he made choices based on local experts and community leaders who saw the need to upgrade broken and rusted equipment.
“I hope people understand why kids feel like they can’t even be in their own neighborhoods right now — if the park isn’t even safe in its structure,” Peters said. “Growing up on the South Side, the park was where I would go when I couldn’t go home. It’s its own shelter in a time of need.”
The $120,000 total listed above is 0.00027% (two-point-seven ten-thousandths of one percent) of the new infrastructure bill. And even that microcosmic percentage is way too high because the Buffalo Grove Park District appropriation isn’t solely for pickleball…
The sum of $100,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated from the Build Illinois Bond Fund to the Buffalo Grove Park District for costs associated with the arts center renovations, pool repairs, ADA compliant ball field construction, playground renovation, and a pickleball court.
Build Illinois is from the George Ryan Jim Thompson era, by the way.
* State capital bills routinely help fund local park projects. But, hey, cherry-picking an odd-sounding newish “sport” can be a useful tool to persuade the masses that the rest of their tax dollars are being misspent. Hey, they could very well be right, but a little context might be in order. Here’s the Tribune editorial board to close…
Illinois taxpayers deserve more accountability from their elected leaders. This bill should have been downsized significantly. It wasn’t.
Anyone for pickleball?
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A quick look at the budget
Tuesday, Jun 11, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Revenues are up, but net spending increases appear to be held to a minimum at first glance…
Healthcare expenditures appear to decrease because of the tax on managed care companies…
In the enacted budget, about $500 million of the total taxes paid by managed care organizations (MCOs) will be used in place of General Funds revenues
The state also paid off its Pat Quinn-era pension bond earlier this fiscal year, freeing up more than $600 million in base spending.
Those reductions allowed net General Funds expenditures to rise by just $766 million, or 1.9 percent, even though spending actually rose much higher than that.
* But is the budget really balanced? Wirepoints…
The state’s pension funding laws, set up nearly 25 years ago by the General Assembly and then-Gov. Jim Edgar, require the state to pay $9 billion* to Illinois’ five state-run pensions in 2020. “We are paying the full payment that is required under the ramp that was put in place in 1995, the statutory required payment,” Pritzker said when he signed the budget.
But what Pritzker ignores is the amount the state’s own actuaries say is required to properly fund Illinois’ pensions in 2020, an amount that exceeds $13 billion. That’s a total shortfall of $4 billion.
That’s true, but that’s the Edgar ramp. We’ll eventually get to the top. Until then, it won’t be pretty or cheap and folks will scream bloody murder.
* And what about the bill backlog?…
Despite these steps, [Comptroller Susana Mendoza] said it’s important to “remain grounded” and focused on paying down Illinois’ outsized bill backlog, which sits between $6 billion and $7 billion.
“We have $6.6 billion worth of bills that have not been paid yet, which means that we still owe that money; those are real liabilities that have been incurred,” she said. “But this is by far, by far, the closest thing that we’ve seen to a balanced budget in probably over a decade.”
That number sits at $6.4 billion today. The state gets to a 30-day payment cycle at somewhere around $3 billion. There’s $1.2 billion in bonding authorization in the budget to pay off some of that debt in order to reduce borrowing costs. Illinois didn’t get into this mess overnight and it won’t get out of it overnight either.
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The very definition of “polarized”
Tuesday, Jun 11, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* New York Times…
When J.B. Pritzker took over as the governor of Illinois this year, Democratic lawmakers, who had spent four years at an impasse with his Republican predecessor, vowed that their party’s new grip on the State Capitol would bring immediate change.
The pace has been startling. In recent months, Illinois legislators have moved sharply to the left, deeming abortion a fundamental right for women no matter what the Supreme Court might decide, raising the minimum wage, taking steps to legalize recreational marijuana and introducing a graduated income tax.
Some 700 miles to the south, the Alabama State Capitol, dominated by Republicans, has raced in the opposite direction.
Alabama lawmakers voted during this term to ban most abortions. They eliminated marriage licenses, so that probate judges opposed to same-sex marriage would not have to sign marriage certificates. And they approved requiring sex offenders who commit crimes involving children to undergo chemical castration at their own expense.
* There was one bit of agreement, however…
This year’s [Alabama] legislative session started with the gasoline tax for roads clearly established as the top priority for leaders in the Republican-controlled Legislature and Gov. Kay Ivey. The legislation quickly passed with bipartisan support during a special session Ivey called to focus on the issue.
The tax on gasoline and diesel will increase by 6 cents a gallon after Aug. 31 and by 2 cents each of the next two years. The 10-cent increase is projected to raise more than $300 million a year for roads. The state gas tax was last raised in 1992. Advocates for the increase said the state could not build and maintain a road system to handle traffic volume and economic demands without more revenue.
Leaders from both parties joined the governor for a ceremony to sign the bill that Ivey called historic.
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Let’s be careful out there
Tuesday, Jun 11, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sun-Times…
There are more questions than answers when it comes to where a Chicago casino will land — and a revamped Illinois Gaming Board will be wading into uncharted territory in taking up the biggest gambling expansion the state has ever seen.
Although the measure passed by the Illinois General Assembly hasn’t yet been signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, there are plans to make changes to the Illinois Gaming Board to make the board more “pro-gaming,” according to state Sen. Terry Link, D-Vernon Hills, who sponsored the gambling legislation and has worked to expand gaming in the state for years.
“You’re going to see changes rapidly,” Link said of the board tasked with regulating six new casinos, including a privately owned one in Chicago.
With one vacancy, the Gaming Board is likely to grow to five members. And Pritzker is expected to name a new [chairman] next month to replace Don Tracy, an appointee of former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.
You don’t want an “anti-gaming” Gaming Board, which was partly why video gaming legalization took so long to implement. But a “pro-gaming” Gaming Board could open a different can of worms.
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* Mr. Kass somehow managed to pack more sputtering vitriol than usual into this one. One notable example…
All that spending comes with no structural reforms whatsoever in return. But that hasn’t stopped Gov. Big Boy and Boss Madigan and even a few quisling Republicans are bragging about the historic nature of their deal.
He goes on to identify those quislings as the Republican legislative leaders.
* Merriam-Webster…
Vidkun Quisling was a Norwegian army officer who in 1933 founded Norway’s fascist party. In December 1939, he met with Adolf Hitler and urged him to occupy Norway. Following the German invasion of April 1940, Quisling served as a figurehead in the puppet government set up by the German occupation forces, and his linguistic fate was sealed.
Work cooperatively for the betterment of the state, get called a Hitler lover by an editorial board member at the state’s largest newspaper.
Keep that in mind the next time the paper complains about candidates refusing editorial board interviews.
…Adding… Here’s some of what those horrible traitors did this spring…
* In response to #MeToo, state lawmakers approved sweeping legislation to fight sexual harassment in Illinois: “Hopefully, it will change not only the behavior in Springfield, but across the state in the workplace,” said Rezin, a Morris Republican. “If I heard of someone being harassed, I would bring it to the attention of superiors. The complaint seemed to go no further. Now, at least, the individual can file a complaint in a confidential manner and an independent inspector general will investigate their claim. That’s so important.”
* Editorial: Speaking as one is how you get stuff done: Rockford’s wins went beyond the big four — casino, video gaming fees, airport and rail. There were other “really amazing things,” McNamara said. There was more money for Rockford University, Rock Valley College, RAMP and the Boys & Girls Clubs. Rockford Mass Transit District did well and there was $250,000 for the Rockford Art Museum. Not Rockford specific, but sure to help the city, there were increases in funding to fight sexual assault, fight domestic violence and improve early childhood education to name just three.
* SIUC Chancellor Dunn: State budget brings good news for SIU: The budget for the 2020 fiscal year includes a 5 percent increase in general operating funding for each institution plus increases in funding for MAP grants, the Illinois AIM High program and more. When added together, the increases total 8.2 percent, reflecting the largest percentage increase for higher education since 1990. The budget also includes increases for capital projects.
* Pritzker’s Nearly $45B Capital Plan Is Way Better for Transportation Than Expected: The bill also includes longterm, sustainable funding for public transportation, with transit receiving $4.7 billion over the first six years and $281 million for each year afterwards. That represents 23 percent of the total transportation spending, or about twice as much as was indicated in the initial proposal.
* From road repairs to transit expansions, $33 billion in capital bill will have ‘monumental’ impact: One big difference in the funding bill passed last weekend compared with previous capital bills is that it not only provides a one-time infusion of funding through bond sales but also sustainable funding for projects, repairs and new equipment over time. Transportation funding is being mostly paid for through a doubling of the state’s 19-cent-per gallon motor fuel tax, starting July 1. The gas tax, last raised in 1990, will be indexed to future inflation increases. One of the most significant road projects funded in the bill is the I-80 expansion, which will get $1 billion. According to Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman Guy Tridgell, the project will include replacing two of the state’s most dilapidated bridges, which cross the Des Plaines River in Joliet.
* Illinois doubles fuel tax rates, nixes despised truck fee: One more provision in the bill will end collection of the commercial distribution fee. The Illinois Trucking Association, Midwest Truckers Association, and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association have long pushed to get the fee eliminated.
* Pritzker after Legislature adjourns: ‘Illinois is back’: Advocates for the nursing home industry say the added funding will help stem a tide of 20-plus skilled- and intermediate-care facility closures that occurred over the past five years due to crippling budget cuts and decades-old Medicaid reimbursement rates. “This money means survival,” said Pat Comstock, executive director of the nursing home advocacy group Health Care Council of Illinois. “Our members are thrilled, but they’re also relieved because these dollars are going to provide some much needed relief from the struggles to survive that members are experiencing.”
* Tom Kacich: Capital program full of benefits for area: The capital bill the Legislature approved means $100 million for construction of a math, statistics and data science center at the University of Illinois-Urbana; $195 million for other unspecified improvements at the UI; $118 million for a new science building at Eastern Illinois University; $2.2 million for renovation of a clock tower center and ornamental horticulture facility at Danville Area Community College; and $100 million for unspecified passenger rail improvements on the Chicago to Carbondale Amtrak route.
Shocking.
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Today’s quotable
Tuesday, Jun 11, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Former Attorney General Lisa Madigan in Chicago Magazine…
I was a government major at Georgetown, and I don’t think I learned one thing in class that helped me at all in the last 20 years. What I’ve said to so many students is, “If you really think this is what you want to do, you’ve got to work on a campaign, you need to work for an elected official. Because you’re not going to learn it in a classroom.”
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* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…
If you talk to the Statehouse old-timers, they’ll tell you they haven’t seen such a productive spring legislative session since Gov. Jim Thompson’s days.
I think it’s probably safe to say that Gov. J.B. Pritzker cleared even that high historical bar this year, mainly because he had friendly Democratic super-majorities in both chambers. The Republican Thompson had to deal with a Democratic-controlled Legislature for almost all of his tenure.
Thompson, a master schmoozer and cajoler, didn’t try tackling nearly as many huge, generational changes all at once like Pritzker did in his first session. And even with Pritzker’s supermajorities, passing bills like almost doubling the minimum wage, changing the state Constitution to allow for a progressive income tax, rewriting almost all of the state’s abortion laws and legalizing recreational cannabis were seriously heavy-duty lifts.
On the afternoon of Friday, May 31, the last scheduled day of session, House Speaker Michael Madigan announced that the House could not possibly adjourn by the end of the day and would be in overtime session at least throughout the weekend. That meant all the tax and fee hikes and the gaming expansion to fund the massive $45 billion infrastructure bill would need three-fifths majorities, and everybody knew there was no way Madigan would take the political risk of putting 71 of his 74 members on those bills. Republicans, therefore, would be needed.
The rookie governor claims he didn’t panic, saying he “knew there was a path to dealing with all of it.”
”Going from a 60-vote requirement to a 71-vote requirement, having just gone through the ‘Fair Tax’ amendment, felt like a high bar, but I also knew that there was a path,” Pritzker said during a phone interview.
”Yeah, the odds have gone down of getting everything done, but there’s a path,” Pritzker said he felt at the time.
Asked at what moment he felt like everything would be OK, Pritzker pointed to House Republican Leader Jim Durkin’s demands later that Friday for pro-business legislation in exchange for his caucus’ support. Pritzker said he felt that “several” of Durkin’s proposals, which were developed by business groups “were relatively easy for us to come to an understanding about” because, the governor said, he agreed with them.
Pritzker inherited much of his money, but he has been involved in business most of his life. When Durkin broached the subject of repealing the state’s franchise tax, Pritzker said he quickly agreed. The franchise tax, which is essentially a tax levied for the privilege of doing business in Illinois, has been a bane to business groups forever. And Pritzker said he looked at it and decided “it didn’t need to be there, for small business especially.”
Gov. Thompson was endorsed by both the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and the Illinois AFL-CIO when he sought his fourth and final term. Pritzker’s steep minimum wage hike, the graduated income tax and the dozens of pro-labor bills he’ll be signing in the coming weeks makes a repeat of that feat impossible. But there is no doubt that business lobbyists were pleasantly surprised by the session’s final days.
Pritzker also revealed to me that he began studying “Big Jim” Thompson’s tenure before taking office.
”It was important to me after I won the election to figure out what are the models out there for governing that have been effective and fit with who I am,” Pritzker said.
”Certainly, lots of people pointed to Jim Thompson,” Pritzker said, unprompted, of the former Republican governor. “Thompson was somebody who could talk to anybody (and) they would talk to him. He would go to the floor and speak with legislators. He had people go to the mansion to negotiate, to discuss and sometimes have a drink with. There was just a lot of bipartisan, across the aisle dialogue. That kind of leadership fits with who I am and my own background and people that I’ve worked with over the years.”
Thompson was, indeed, a talented governor who got a lot done. Sometimes, though, the things he got done came back to bite his state in its collective rear. Thompson’s annual three percent compounded pension payment increase for public retirees has forced the state to spend tens of billions of dollars, while exempting retirement income from state taxation dried up untold billions more from an important and growing revenue source.
So, just a cautionary note to our new governor that just because you can pass a bill doesn’t always mean that you should.
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* Unfortunately I will miss this because I am taking tomorrow off…
I think he is probably talking about infrastructure funding since the operating budget didn’t rely on tax hikes.
* Gov. Pritzker was asked yesterday about the impact of the fees and tax hikes to fund infrastructure on everyday people. He talked about job creation, but also said this…
I would say that the infrastructure bill allows us to invest in things that will save people money in the long run.
For example … when you drive to work and you hit all those potholes and then you get a flat tire, that costs you money. When you drive to work and you hit the potholes and now you need to go out and get your steering realigned and you have to get your car fixed because of it, that costs you money.
When the rail system, when our mass transit system isn’t operating properly and you can’t get to work, that costs you money.
* Speaking of which…
*** UPDATE *** Here you go…
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Somebody isn’t telling the truth
Thursday, Jun 6, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Background is here if you need it. Springfield Bishop Thomas John Paprocki was asked today if he believed in the concept of separation of church and state. He said he did and said…
This is not a case of the church trying to tell government officials what to do. It’s not intended as a political statement, it is intended, in fact it’s being issued after the vote here because it’s a statement really talking about the integrity of what it means to be a Catholic.
* From Speaker Madigan’s statement…
I was notified by Bishop Paprocki that if I permitted the House of Representatives to debate and pass the Reproductive Health Act, I would no longer be allowed to accept the sacrament of communion.
…Adding… Tribune…
Madigan and Cullerton would be allowed to receive the church sacrament again in Springfield if they make a public statement and introduce legislation to repeal the recently passed abortion bill, the bishop said.
That sounds like a church official “trying to tell government officials what to do.”
* Paprocki was then asked if he had reached out to Speaker Madigan about this topic…
I have spoken with Speaker Madigan on a couple of occasions and some time ago we spoke about it in a general way. I called him last week just to basically remind him of the importance of this issue and it was a brief conversation.
…Adding… Bishop Paprocki also said he followed up with Madigan and Cullerton last week by sending them letters. Speaker Madigan’s spokesman said today that, as of this afternoon, no such letter had been received.
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Question of the day
Thursday, Jun 6, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* WMAY…
Even though legal marijuana is coming to Illinois next year, Springfield Mayor Jim Langfelder still isn’t ready to say if he favors allowing it to be sold in the city.
Local communities could opt out of legal sales under the law passed last week, although city residents would still be allowed to possess and consume it. Langfelder says he wants to talk more with Police Chief Kenny Winslow about the effect legal pot could have on public safety and law enforcement.
Langfelder acknowledges that if Springfield doesn’t allow it, some other nearby community almost certainly will… and will get the tax revenue from it. But the mayor says that’s only one factor in his decision.
* Springfield didn’t raise taxes or make big budget cuts this year, but that’s a first…
In the last two years, the city council has cut millions out of the budget and raised the city’s sales tax by a quarter percentage point, the city’s hotel-motel bed tax by one percentage point and the city’s telecommunication tax by two percentage points.
* The Question: What do you think Mayor Langfelder will do about this subject? Make sure to explain your answer in comments, please.
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Floodtown, Illinois
Thursday, Jun 6, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Many of us vividly remember the devastating 1993 floods. Grafton residents are once again battling high waters…
Governor JB Pritzker paid a special visit to Grafton on Tuesday and announced he has activated an additional 200 Illinois National Guard soldiers for State Active Duty to engage in the state’s active flood fight along the Illinois and Mississippi rivers.
This came as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers confirmed an overtopping at the Nutwood Levee, which forced the closure of Illinois State Route 16 at the Joe Page Bridge near Hardin. In all, more than 400 guardsmen are reinforcing the state’s efforts to fight raging floodwaters as more precipitation takes aim on river communities.
Task Force 2 (TF2) is made up of approximately 200 soldiers supporting flood operations in the Metro East area of Illinois. The soldiers of TF2 are drawn from the 233rd Military Police Company based in Springfield, 933rd Military Police Company based in Fort Sheridan, 1844th Transportation Company based in East St. Louis, and the 709th Medical Company from Bartonville, Illinois.
* Zero disrespect is intended here. Real people are dealing with very real hardships right now. But here’s a little context…
* February 2018: Grafton isolated after flooding closes Great River Road
* March 2017: Grafton gets ready for major flooding
* July 2015: Grafton restaurateurs: the town has flooded, but we’re still open
* April 2013: Grafton Preparing To Be Cut Off By Rising Rivers
* June 2008: As the floodwaters moved south, the Mississippi River produced near-record flooding from Canton, MO to Clarksville, MO with major flooding also reported at Grafton, IL and Chester, IL.
* 1973: Flooding began in July and when it receded in November many structures (businesses and residences) were damaged, 22 of them so seriously that they were removed. After fighting the flood for 5 months, some residents left town, but most rolled up their sleeves and began the process of cleaning up and rebuilding
* June 1903: The Mississippi north of the mouth of Missouri is rising more slowly, owing to the numerous breaks in the levees above Hannibal, but will continue to rise, and a stage of 24 feet will be reached at Grafton by Saturday night.
* 1844: The water was so deep that steamboats moored in Jersey and Distillery Hollows and a bridge was built over the area now known as The Grove Memorial Park
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Unforced error by BPIA™
Thursday, Jun 6, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I told subscribers about some of this yesterday…
State Sen. STEVE McCLURE, R-Springfield, was among a handful of Republicans who went to the governor’s Statehouse office following the end of the legislative session Sunday, but things got unexpectedly uncomfortable.
Someone on the governor’s staff had called, he said, with the message: “The governor wants to have a press conference right now about Scott’s Law. Would you be available for that?” […]
But it turned out the news conference, where most lawmakers in attendance were Democrats, highlighted many things Republicans had opposed. A sign on the rostrum said, “Governor JB PRITZKER: Keeping Promises, Delivering Results,” and among items with check marks next to them were “Fair Tax,” ”$15 Minimum Wage” and “Reproductive Health Act.”
McClure and Sen. Jason Plummer both discreetly walked out.
* Back to Bernie…
“I’m going to give the governor the benefit of the doubt and say it was a staffer who didn’t really know” about the news conference subject matter, McClure said of his invitation, “because they’ve never lied to me on anything before, and I pretty much have a good working relationship with the governor and his staff.”
Similarly, Plummer said he is “going to operate under the assumption that maybe they had some miscommunication on their team, and it was an innocent mistake.”
The governor called Senate Republican Leader Bill Brady later and apologized. Brady’s people told me he was OK with the governor’s explanation. But it was a really dumb staff mistake.
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No good deed goes unpunished
Thursday, Jun 6, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* WTTW…
During an appearance Wednesday on “Chicago Tonight,” Senate President John Cullerton and House Minority Leader Jim Durkin both said they didn’t knew about a provision that would allow the Illinois Gaming Board, the regulatory body that oversees the gaming industry, to operate with less public scrutiny.
WBEZ and ProPublica Illinois first reported about a provision in the gaming bill that would give the Gaming Board authority to close off some of its meetings from the public under the State’s Open Meetings Act.
Durkin said he was unaware of the provision until earlier Wednesday.
* This is the language in question…
Exceptions. A public body may hold closed meetings to consider the following subjects […]
Those deliberations or portions of deliberations for decisions of the Illinois Gaming Board in which there is discussed any of the following: (i) personal, commercial, financial, or other information obtained from any source that is privileged, proprietary, confidential, or a trade secret; or (ii) information specifically exempted from the disclosure by federal or State law.
* From the Senate President’s spokesperson…
There has been some media confusion regarding legislation that deals with the Gaming Board.
Senator Syverson has a constituent who sued the board after being denied a license. It is my understanding the court took issue with the way the board conducts business in closed session.
In response, Syverson filed SB 1245 in February. The intent was to force the board to do more in open session by reminding/spelling out the only reasons it could go to closed session. These exemptions are not unique to the Gaming Board. They exist elsewhere in the Open Meetings Act.
It’s an acknowledgement that lawmakers have concerns too with how the board was operating.
This provision has been part of negotiations ever since and was included in the final proposal that was approved.
This is a reform to address concerns at the Gaming Board.
* I called Sen. Dave Syverson (R-Rockford) today. “Are you kidding?” he asked when I explained the argument against his legislation which was included in the gaming bill. Syverson said his proposal was “just the opposite” of what ProPublica was claiming.
“They were using everything as a reason to go into closed door meetings,” Syverson said about the Gaming Board. “Some things they have to do closed-door, but it was just too broad,” he said.
“So I came back with legislation that would clarify that these are the only reasons that justify closed door meetings,” Syverson said. “Everything else has to be open. It was just the frickin’ opposite” of the gist of the criticism.
“I wish the reporter had called and asked me about that as opposed to making that kind of accusation,” Syverson added.
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* AFSCME…
Gov. JB Pritzker’s $40 billion budget—passed with bipartisan support—includes a 3.5% rate increase for state-funded community disability agencies and a 5% increase for youth care agencies.
In an extraordinarily challenging time, AFSCME members succeeded in sharing their story and fighting for continued progress for the adults and youth they serve every day. Hundreds of frontline staff at state-funded agencies lobbied their legislators in their home districts and at the State Capitol. They spoke directly to the governor’s office and delivered thousands of postcards to his door.
“We are one step closer to a fair wage for DSPs, paraeducators and other frontline staff at disability and youth care agencies across the state,” said AFSCME Council 31 Executive Director Roberta Lynch.
* But this is from Kathy Carmody, CEO of the Institute on Public Policy for People with Disabilities…
While the FY20 rate increase for community agencies that support people with disabilities is welcome, it’s not enough to impact the workforce crisis affecting agencies that provide community services to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities that is in full swing across the state. The crisis is one of the key reasons Illinois has been found out of compliance with a Consent Decree overseen by a federal court appointed Monitor for the 3rd year in a row.
Similar to your observation regarding the DCFS budget, consider that when the community residential (CILA) program began in 2000, reimbursement from the state for the average wage (meaning everyone from a first day employee to a 20 year veteran) for direct support workers was 93% higher than minimum wage. This differential was essential and intentional in recognition of the critical role this workforce plays and the distinction between direct support work and minimum wage positions. Today, that differential is only 45%, with agencies in Chicago receiving reimbursement that only matches minimum wage and will fall below minimum wage on 7/1/19. Once minimum wage is increased in 2020, the differential between minimum wage and reimbursement from the state for direct support workers will fall to only 24%; agencies simply cannot compete with other industries that pay far better for far less challenging work.
Illinois ranks 47th lowest in the country for funding community services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities; a once-in-20 years 3.5% increase isn’t going to move the needle on the crisis impacting community agencies serving people with disabilities.
One reason reimbursement was so much higher than the minimum wage back then was that the minimum wage was lower than it is now. Click here for a chart.
* From the They Deserve More Coalition…
“These are not minimum wage jobs, caring for people with disabilities,” said Ben Stortz, president and CEO of Cornerstone Services. “It is strenuous work with long hours where you are responsible for someone’s life and wellbeing. Wages were already deplorably low, and now the good work done by state leaders for the rest of Illinois workers will unwittingly exacerbate the staffing crisis for people with disabilities as more and more DSPs leave for Amazon or Walmart or $15-an-hour fast food jobs.”
With so many DSPs reluctantly leaving for other opportunities with higher pay, people with disabilities and their families face constant change and uncertainty. Insufficient staffing can lead to dangerous, even life-threatening situations. More and more providers are forced to shut down programs and turn people away who need and deserve support.
“We are glad to get a very small piece of this year’s budget and greatly appreciate those legislators who have championed our cause in recent years,” said Kim Zoeller, president and CEO of the Ray Graham Association. “But we are so far behind, and the minimum wage legislation – which is important for many – has the unintended consequence of leaving us in more dire straits than ever. We hope and pray that our budgeteers will take this into account as they look at new revenue coming in, and we will not stop pressing until our state leaders make people with disabilities a priority.”
The argument is they need to pay people more than the minimum wage because the jobs are so difficult and recruitment and retention suffers if they can’t offer premiums above the minimum. But what happens when the minimum wage is more like a livable wage? If these groups don’t get any more money, we’ll probably find out.
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Capital bill roundup
Thursday, Jun 6, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* A circle can’t fit where a square should be takes a look at the capital bill…
In Springfield, $350 million is earmarked for the Capitol complex, but it’s unclear for what. Messages left for the Capitol Architect on Wednesday were not immediately returned.
There’s also $122 million for the long-shuttered State Armory, which is right across the street from the Capitol in Springfield.
“The funding included in Rebuild Illinois will allow the state to return the Armory to a usable space and that work will include new HVAC, plumbing, electrical and an entirely new roof and renovations to the interior space,” Central Management Services Deputy Director Mike Deering said. “But right now we don’t have a determination of what agency or what it will be repurposed for.
“It’s just not usable, the water is turned off, all the different utilities, it needs to brought up to speed and for a safety standard,” Deering said. “It’s much needed for that facility.” […]
The plan includes $3.1 billion over several years for school construction. In the first, first year there’ll be $200 million available for grants. It goes up from there to $450 million the second year, $500 million each for years three and four. Year five there’ll be $800 million in grants awarded and each year after that there’ll be around $660 million available for school construction grants.
For higher education buildings, Eastern Illinois University is getting a new science building for $118.8 million.
“After a couple of decades we’ve got funding … for a new science building,” said Butler who’s a graduate of EIU. “There are so many high schools in the state of Illinois that have much better science facilities than EIU does and that’s a shame. There are tarps that are over some of the equipment to make sure the ceiling doesn’t fall on some of the equipment.”
* Mark Brown has an exhaustive list and this tidbit…
I’m told state representatives were instructed to designate $2.5 million-$3 million worth of projects for their districts, while senators were allotted $5 million-$6 million, not to suggest everyone was treated equally.
Although many of those “member initiatives” are detailed in the legislation, H.B. 62, others are lumped together in large multi-billion categories with more specific appropriations expected to be disclosed later. […]
Individual legislator’s names are not listed with the earmarks in the legislation.
Sen. Ram Villivalam (D-Chicago), the first Indian-American elected to the Senate, said he pushed for the new Pan Asian community center, which he envisions as a place for the area’s diverse and fast growing Asian population to come together for services of common need. He expects it to be located on the North Side or north suburbs with Skokie emerging as an early favorite.
I didn’t spot any obviously egregious taxpayer boondoggles in my first reading of the bill, which is not to say they aren’t in there.
Those member projects lists have been leaked in the past, so we’ll just have to see if that happens again.
…Adding… Daily Herald…
State Sen. Cristina Castro confirmed she will receive $6 million in member initiative money. The former Kane County Board member said she isn’t giving any to Longmeadow. She’s committed her dollars to projects brought to her by local officials during the state budget process. […]
[Republican Sen. Don DeWitte] received “an awful lot of” funding requests for local projects. … DeWitte and fellow Republican state senators expect to receive about $4 million each from the member initiative pool.
* Click here for a decent explanation of how the new revenues will be divvied up. It was put together by a group affiliated with Local 150 of the Operating Engineers. Here’s a couple of charts…
Distribution of Anticipated New Annual Revenues from Increasing Motor Fuel Taxes
Bonding Authority Increases for Transportation Projects
* Related…
* Pritzker’s Budget Funds Roadwork For South Suburban Airport: In May, Kelly reported that land acquisition and planning for the airport was 90 percent complete. The state so far owns 89 percent of the land where it will sit and is poised to secure the rest once all other details are in place. All FAA approvals are in place, except for the final, detailed construction plan by the contractor. What’s needed, she and the other elected officials said in a letter to Pritzker, was the funding to wrap up the final leg of the project. The new budget gave them $162 million to do that.
* Lawmakers pass bill for infrastructure - Granville mayor is pleased by the news
* Illinois Central College lands $5.1M in capital bill
* SIU Carbondale gets about $140 million in construction, upgrades in capital bill
* ISU staff optimistic to receive government funding; Money will be used for renovations
* Northlight Theatre receives $927,500 from newly announced statewide arts funding
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Eliminating a flawed reform?
Thursday, Jun 6, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Dispatch/Argus editorial…
As expected, the devilish details lurking in the mass of legislation approved by the 101st Illinois General Assembly continue to emerge.
Today’s unwelcome example hikes statewide costs for funding teacher and administrator pensions. It was tucked — as such surprises often are — into the omnibus bill that implements the $40 billion budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
The move cuts in half what taxpayers statewide will save from so-called pension thresholds. The goal of such thresholds is to reduce the costs to taxpayers statewide when school boards give big raises to educators at the end of their careers so they will receive bigger lifetime state-funded pensions than they would otherwise have earned. The higher threshold wasn’t designed to stop districts from giving generous raises, but to ensure taxpayers across the state do not have to bear the burden for local leaders’ generosity.
Before the original 6 percent cost-shift thresholds were added in 2005, the burden for all pension spiking costs fell to every taxpayer, not just the taxpayers of the local school districts responsible for the spikes. So there was zero accountability and little incentive for local school boards to decline to handsomely reward longtime educators using other people’s money. A year ago, lawmaker faced with a massive and growing public pension crisis agreed to modestly reduce the teacher pension threshold to 3 percent. It was a move we and others hungry for reform applauded.
* But this is from that Center of Squares site…
The initial measure passed in the budget implementation bill for fiscal year 2019 meant the school district or public university had to pay for the entire pension cost of pay raises above 3 percent directly to the pension fund.
State Sen. Dale Fowler, R-Harrisburg, didn’t like that.
“It applied to the teacher that worked overload classes, or became a coach, or became a principle,” Fowler said. “It applied to a teacher that became a mentor, to a teacher that was a band director, or even a teacher that worked on the duty of writing a curriculum for the school.”
“Teachers told me what it was doing to them in the classroom,” Fowler said. “They asked me to fight for the repeal of the 3 percent [cap] and I told them that I would.”
Last year’s cap probably could’ve been drafted better. If a teacher took on additional responsibility or was promoted, that teacher probably should not have been subjected to the cap.
* Illinois Policy Institute…
Local taxpayers also suffer. True, local property taxpayers aren’t directly on the hook for TRS benefits. But they do pay the price in a painful but overlooked way: As pensions consume state education funds, school districts must resort to hiking already-high property taxes to find needed revenue. School districts currently consume nearly two-thirds of total property tax dollars collected in Illinois.
They just made a pretty sound argument for higher state taxation, or massive state cuts.
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* LifeSiteNews…
[Springfield] Bishop Thomas John Paprocki has ruled that state legislators who are working to pass Illinois’s new abortion bill may not present themselves for communion in his diocese and that priests are expressly forbidden from giving the Eucharist to both the Senate president and the speaker of the House.
“In accord with canon 915 of the Code of Canon Law … Illinois Senate President John Cullerton and Speaker of the House Michael J. Madigan, who facilitated the passage of the Act Concerning Abortion of 2017 (House Bill 40) as well as the Reproductive Health Act of 2019 (Senate Bill 25), are not to be admitted to Holy Communion in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois because they have obstinately persisted in promoting the abominable crime and very grave sin of abortion as evidenced by the influence they exerted in their leadership roles and their repeated votes and obdurate public support for abortion rights over an extended period of time,” Paprocki wrote in a statement dated June 2, 2019.
“These persons may be readmitted to Holy Communion only after they have truly repented these grave sins and furthermore have made suitable reparation for damages and scandal, or at least have seriously promised to do so, as determined in my judgment or in the judgment of their diocesan bishop in consultation with me or my successor,” he continued.
Although they are not named, Paprocki included other pro-abortion state politicians in his interdict, saying, “I declare that Catholic legislators of the Illinois General Assembly who have cooperated in evil and committed grave sin by voting for any legislation that promotes abortion are not to present themselves to receive Holy Communion without first being reconciled to Christ and the Church in accord with canon 916 of the Code of Canon Law.”
The full decree is here.
* Paprocki was interviewed by the National Catholic Register…
I think they should see this as a clear affirmation of Church teaching about the respect for human life from conception to natural death. It should be also an affirmation of the clear teaching that abortion is wrong. It should also be seen as a clear effort to uphold the integrity of the sacraments and to maintain the consistency between all of those.
It is scandalous, I think, to people — that’s another issue here — it is truly scandalous to people when they see Catholic politicians saying, “I’m a Catholic but I am going to vote for this abortion legislation.” And then they do vote for it, and they vote for this extreme legislation that is promoting abortion, and other faithful Catholics wonder how can they do that? How can they do that and get away with it?
This document is not intended as a political document. The legislation has already passed. What this document is saying is that the people who have done this have done something that is simply not acceptable to the Catholic Church.
So the approach I’m taking here is, there’s two canons in the Code of Canon law, Canon 915 and Canon 916 that are applicable. Canon 915 is the one that has received a lot more media attention, and that is the one that basically says that those who have obstinately persisted in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Holy Communion. So obstinate persistence requires more than one act. And that’s why my decree really just singles out the Speaker of the House here in Illinois, Michael Madigan, as well as the president of the State Senate, John Cullerton, because they have a persistently over a number of years now, pushed this pro-abortion legislation.
* Tribune…
“To the best of my knowledge the Senate President hasn’t ever attended services there,” a Cullerton spokesman said Wednesday.
Madigan issued a statement saying Paprocki had notified him earlier that if he permitted the House to debate and vote on the Reproductive Health Act, he would no longer be able to take communion.
“After much deliberation and reflection, I made the decision to allow debate and a vote on the legislation,” the Madigan statement said. “I believe it is more important to protect a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions, including women who become pregnant as a result of rape or incest. With women’s rights under attack in an increasing number of states across the country, Illinois is now a leader in making sure women are protected and their rights are upheld.”
When asked if Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich has ever imposed similar sanctions on lawmakers who supported abortion-rights legislation, the Archdiocese of Chicago released a statement: “Cardinal Cupich has had a longstanding position over his 20-plus years as a bishop that it is important to place the emphasis on teaching what the Church believes about important issues of the day, all the while maintaining an unshakable confidence that the Eucharist is an opportunity of grace and conversion to bring people to the truth.”
…Adding… Full Madigan statement…
The Reproductive Health Act is a recognition that women across Illinois deserve access to health care without intrusion from government. I was notified by Bishop Paprocki that if I permitted the House of Representatives to debate and pass the Reproductive Health Act, I would no longer be allowed to accept the sacrament of communion. After much deliberation and reflection, I made the decision to allow debate and a vote on the legislation. I believe it is more important to protect a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions, including women who become pregnant as a result of rape or incest. With women’s rights under attack in an increasing number of states across the country, Illinois is now a leader in making sure women are protected and their rights are upheld.
I don’t think it’s totally legal to offer an inducement to legislators or threaten a specific punishment of them in advance of a vote on legislation.
* ACLU IL statement…
It is sad to read the report of the legislative leaders targeted because each took their oath to our state constitution seriously and respected the religious liberty of all Illinois residents.
We know the passage of the Reproductive Health Act — at a time when other states are criminalizing reproductive health care - was possible because of the leadership and vision of Speaker Madigan, in particular, to move this legislation forward in the House.
The Speaker and Senator Cullerton deserve deep appreciation for advocating for the fundamental rights of individuals to make their own health care decisions.
…Adding… With a hat tip to Hannah Meisel, Madigan doesn’t even attend church any longer. From February..
While he’s known as a classic Chicago South Side Irish politician and went to Catholic school (he graduated from St. Adrian elementary school, St. Ignatius College Prep in 1960, Notre Dame in June ‘64 and Loyola Law School in June ’67), Madigan does not go to church. Madigan said “once upon a time” he regularly attended services as St. Adrian and that “for a time” he “would be a regular attendee at St. Nicholas of Tolentine” but he does belong to a church or parish.
…Adding… One more reference…
Madigan also said he was not a member of any church or parish, including St. Mary Star of the Sea, the neighborhood Catholic church less than half a mile from his West Lawn home of the last 42 years.
Asked if he ever regularly attended church, Madigan said, “Once upon a time St. Adrian. And let me amend that, for a time I would be a regular attendee at St. Nicholas of Tolentine.”
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