To those who made the greatest sacrifice for our freedom: Thank you for your service. 🇺🇸 Wishing everyone a safe and happy Memorial Day! pic.twitter.com/PvvJMzwZG8
As we make plans to enjoy this weekend with outdoor fun, barbecues, and family we must not forget who it is we are celebrating. pic.twitter.com/4DSTUynFrF
The Illinois House unanimously passed Senate Bill 1933 to create automatic voter registration (AVR) on Monday, to applause from backers in the Just Democracy Illinois coalition of civic and voting rights groups.
“We are thrilled that automatic voter registration passed the House today with broad, bipartisan support,” said Andy Kang, Legal Director at Asian Americans Advancing Justice Chicago, and a Co-Coordinator of Just Democracy Illinois. “We urge Governor Rauner to sign automatic voter registration into law and create a more modern, secure, and accurate voter registration system for Illinois.”
SB1933 reforms current registration laws so that whenever an eligible Illinois resident applies for, updates or renews a driver’s license or state ID, he or she will be automatically registered to vote or have their registration updated, unless they opt out. It also creates a similar program for other state agencies, such as the Department of Human Services and Department of Natural Resources.
The achievement of bipartisan agreement on legislation dealing with elections is remarkable in the midst of partisan tension in Springfield. The legislation passed the Senate on May 5th with a 48-0 vote, with 22 Republicans and 26 Democrats voting in favor. In the House, the AVR bill was cosponsored by members of both parties, and passed 115-0. Representative Mike Fortner (R-West Chicago) was a Chief Co-Sponsor and sponsored the final amendment to the bill.
“Automatic voter registration, as passed this year, will allow technology to help make our elections more secure, more efficient, and more open to all citizens of Illinois,” said Rep. Fortner. “This bill will create a seamless process for citizens to register and keep their registration up-to-date as they move. At the same time, it respects the privacy of those in the system and those who choose not to participate.”
The Illinois Senate passed a wide-ranging gambling bill, SB7, earlier this year. It would allow for six new full-scale casinos, including one in the city of Chicago. It tosses a meatless bone to racetracks, permitting them to finally conduct what every corner bar in the state now enjoys: video gaming.
The measure is too little, too late to help breathe life into a once-proud industry. Where racing once had to fight casinos with both hands tied behind their back, it now would have one hand freed if this bill is passed by the House in the next few days. That’s not enough.
Only by permitting Illinois racetracks to compete freely and openly, with slots and table games, will the state’s racing and breeding industries come back to life – with thousands of additional jobs and millions of dollars in purses and tax revenue to the state.
It’s not the most provocative topic at the Statehouse, but the process for determining how new laws will be implemented by state agencies briefly took center stage in the Senate Thursday afternoon.
Legislation sponsored by Senator Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) seeks to correct a few problems that have arisen in the General Assembly’s bipartisan rule-making review process, which is carried out by a 12-lawmaker panel known as the Joint Commission on Administration Rules – or JCAR.
Harmon is a co-chairman of the commission. He said the legislation is a response to actual problems the commission has encountered, not a backdoor attempt to hamstring any governor – an accusation levied by at least one senator.
But Harmon added that the commission wants to demand accountability of state agencies and increase efficiency and transparency in the rule-making review process.
“There is nothing saucy here. These are ministerial and mundane things. This is simply an attempt to help us maintain balance between the executive and legislative branches,” Harmon said.
* From the Illinois Policy Institute’s totally unbiased news service…
A bill likely to land on the governor’s desk within the next few days would prohibit the establishment of right-to-work zones, a blow for those who believe such zones could help recoup thousands of jobs lost to neighboring states in recent years.
A veto also is likely, as right-to-work, or “empowerment” zones, are a concept that Gov. Bruce Rauner has championed since taking office in 2015.
As Illinois’ Republican governor and Democrat-controlled House and Senate continue to spar over the best way to kick start jobs growth and pull the state back from its multibillion dollar budget deficit, the state’s black community suffers with the highest unemployment rate of the nation. New Bureau of Labor Statistics data show Illinois tied with Nevada at 12.7 percent for black unemployment.
* Unless these superintendents demand a tax increase to fund their programs and/or tell legislators what programs should be slashed to pay for all this, they should just stay home…
Illinois school chiefs are pressing lawmakers to pass a budget that fully funds schools before the legislative session draws to a close this week.
School district superintendents from across the state will convene at the state Capitol on the General Assembly’s Wednesday deadline to urge lawmakers to produce the state’s first complete budget in two years.
The coalition is calling on Gov. Bruce Rauner and legislative leaders to pay schools the $1.1 billion they say the state owes them for programs like special education and transportation. Payments have lagged amid the state’s historic budget impasse.
The 440 superintendents represent two-thirds of Illinois school children.
Demanding “a budget” misses the point. This fight isn’t about the “budget,” it’s about the governor’s non-budget demands tied to a tax hike.
These superintendents have some sway back home. They need to finally step up and tell their own constituents what needs to be done.
* I wrote much the same thing in my subscriber edition today. One superintendent had the guts to respond…
Like @capitolfax says, our schools won't survive, much less thrive, without a Illinois tax increase. There…I said it! #passilbudget
Speaker Michael J. Madigan issued the following statement Monday after the House voted to pass Senate Bill 8, a package of reforms negotiated by Gov. Bruce Rauner to help streamline acquisition of goods and services, reducing costs to the state:
“Today’s passage of a procurement reform package requested by Governor Rauner is another instance in which House Democrats have followed through on our commitment to work cooperatively with the governor to reduce the cost of government and address the issues facing our state.
“This bill is the result of negotiation between legislators and the administration. In January, I directed the House State Government Administration Committee to thoroughly evaluate the governor’s procurement proposal, and that committee approved the governor’s plan with bipartisan support.
“The biggest issue facing Illinois remains the state budget. As the governor continues to hold other aspects of his agenda as pre-conditions to his cooperation on a full balanced budget, I renew my request that the governor immediately focus on working with House Democrats to find common ground and pass a budget for our state. Today’s agreement is proof that House Democrats are willing to make compromises to move Illinois forward.”
The bill is SB 8.
*** UPDATE 1 *** From Eleni Demertzis in the governor’s office…
Tiny, incremental steps to change our broken system are better than nothing, but what the House passed today is far from what is needed.
While Speaker Madigan’s Democrats continue to argue over how big of a tax hike to impose on the people of Illinois, the governor remains focused on enacting real and lasting property tax relief.
The governor has previously said that his procurement reforms could save a half-billion dollars a year. I’ve asked for some clarification.
*** UPDATE 2 *** The answer to my question…
Because they’ve removed the most important structural changes from the bill, we can’t give any estimate on savings but we know it won’t be anywhere near that number.
*** UPDATE 3 *** From Steve Brown…
If the Governor is saying the differences between the Senate bill and the House amendment won’t result in savings, here’s the list of changes. None of these should reduce the number, and there was a claim SB8 as it passed the House would save $70M a year [the same claim made in the Senate].
* The House amendment requires agencies to submit a list of exempt contracts to the CPO. The purpose of this is to increase transparency and establish one location where members and the public can find information about exempt contracts. This was not included in the bill as it passed the Senate.
* As it passed the Senate, the bill exempted from the Procurement Code (1) public private partnerships, and (2) food purchased for commercial resale by public universities. This is not included in the House amendment.
* As it passed the Senate, the bill removes the 90-day cap on emergency procurements for construction at the request of Capital Development Board. This is not included in the House amendment.
* As it passed the Senate, the bill gives agencies authority to use master contracts, interpreted without CPO oversight. The House amendment clarifies the CPO has authority and allows a CPO to void, ratify, or affirm a joint purchase that was in violation of the law under the Governmental Joint Purchasing Act. This language was initially requested by House GOP members.
* As it passed the Senate, the bill repeals the procurement reporting requirement. The House amendment clarifies this language, but does not repeal it.
* As it passed the Senate, the bill creates a Special Committee to review procurement laws and recommend improvements in (i) efficiency, (ii) minority, female, and veterans contracting, and (iii) Illinois preference purchasing. The House amendment does not remove the General Assembly from procurement discussions, but does includes a committee solely focused on minority, female, and veterans contracting.
* As it passed the Senate, the bill allows universities to enter a lease for 30 years if the lessor has to make more than $100K in improvements. This is not included in the House amendment.
* As it passed the Senate, the bill includes the use of prequalified pools for all areas of procurement. This is not included in the House amendment.
* As it passed the Senate, the bill allows universities to directly contract, without CPO oversight, with the Midwest Higher Education Cooperation Act for computer and technology equipment, or services, and insurance. The House amendment allows these purchases with CPO oversight.
* As it passed the Senate, the bill changes the Small Business Act to allow the state to count contractors and sub-contractors toward the goal of awarding 10% of total contract dollars to small businesses. This makes it easier to meet the 10% goal. The House amendment does not include subcontractors and moves the current requirements of the Small Business Act into the Procurement Code. The intent is to urge the State to enter into a greater number of contracts with small businesses.
Farmers in Illinois are one step closer to being allowed to grow industrial hemp.
A bill sponsored by Sen. Toi Hutchinson, D-Olympia Fields, passed unanimously in the Senate this month and now goes to the House.
While the state currently allows universities offering four-year agricultural science degrees to grow hemp, this new legislation would expand that to all farmers.
According to the Illinois Stewardship Alliance, there are at least 25,000 different products that could be made from hemp, ranging from plastic alternatives, to food, cosmetics, rope and clothing. […]
“One of the most important things that we need to do is make people and farmers understand that what we’re suggesting with industrial hemp has nothing to do with cannabis or marijuana,” [Rob Davies, marketing director for the Illinois Farmers Union] said. “It’s a multipurpose commodity that we’re presently importing in enormous quantities into our own country to do jobs that we can take care of ourselves.”
The article doesn’t mention it, but the bill is stuck in the House.
The House sponsor, Rep. Larry Walsh, has a huge medical marijuana facility in his district so the med-mar lobsters were able to tie it up. The Stewardship Alliance, Sen. Hutchinson and several House members have complained bitterly about the way this bill got jammed up in the House, but the med-mar people deny they were a problem, even though they were demanding things like a 4-mile setback from their facilities (which seems ridiculously excessive for indoor grow facilities, so they eventually settled at a quarter mile). Rep. Walsh has flatly denied allegations that he was a “hostile sponsor,” claiming that he was just trying to settle differences among various interest groups.
And then all of a sudden the lieutenant governor’s office intervened. The LG runs the Rural Affairs Council, so that gave her some skin in the game. It now looks like veto session at the earliest.
The med-mar people have interests to protect. I get that. But this was starting to look to me like the days when the casinos worked against video poker machines.
[House Republican Leader Jim Durkin] said his members are “not interested in doing a repeat of 2011, a tax increase that was thrust upon Illinoisans with no strings attached that did not pay one bill.” [Emphasis added.]
The RTA has resorted to short-term borrowing to stay current in its subsidy payments to the three transit agencies.
“We have maxed out our temporary short-term borrowing capacity,” Redden said.
CTA, Metra and Pace all have cash reserves, but the reserves are intended only as a stop-gap. Redden said all three agencies are looking at options that could include service cuts and fare hikes, which may be needed sometime in the coming quarter.
CTA and Pace have in place 2017 budgets that did not cut service or raise fares; in fact, Pace has augmented service, particularly on its expressway and tollway corridor services. Metra raised fares in February, with the intention of setting aside the additional revenues generated to help pay the local share of federally-funded projects.
…Adding… From the Senate President’s office…
The Senate President spoke at an Elmhurst College event a few weeks ago. His speech included this …
My friend Kirk Dillard, the former DuPage County state senator, is now chairman of the RTA. The state owes that agency about $400 million. The agency borrows to cover the shortfall.
Here’s the catch.
The state doesn’t pay the RTA interest on the money that’s late, but the RTA has to pay interest on the borrowing to cover the state money.
The agency ends up losing about $2 million a year because of this.
That’s enough to buy five new METRA cars or rehab three train stations, which are far better uses of the dollars than paying loan interest.
So, if you use METRA and you think the train cars are too crowded or too old or your local train station is rundown and needs updated, the state’s failure to pay its bills is to blame.
* From the Illinois Policy Institute’s news service…
Testifying before the House Appropriations-General Services Committee on Sunday, officials from the Illinois State Board of Elections said Senate Bill 6 provides the department with $20.5 million.
But Elections board Chairman Charles Schultz said the appropriation doesn’t account for implementing proposed Automatic Voter Registration legislation because it would take additional funds to update hardware and software.
Schultz also said the elections board’s voting infrastructure would be threatened as its information technology and cyber security vendors, who are already waiting on payment for work that’s been done, could [not] go further without payment.
Board officials also said if there is no agreed-upon budget, they’d have to turn their internet off to maintain network security. The state’s election board suffered a breach last summer where intruders were able to capture some personal voter information, but not signatures or histories, nor was anything changed within the system, the board said.
The consequences were again hammered home earlier Sunday in testimony before the House General Services Appropriations Committee. Kevin Turner, director of information technology for the Illinois State Board of Elections, said the agency does not have enough computers to quickly dispatch with candidates filing nominating petitions late this fall for the 2018 election. There’s been no money for replacing obsolete work stations and without $25,000 for new ones, lines will be long, Turner said.
“We may be doing it in the parking lot using abacuses,” Turner joked.
Turner added that the board, which suffered a breach of election data by a foreign hacker last summer, is two years behind on paying as much as $9,000 for online antivirus protection and if it doesn’t catch up this fall, “we would have to unplug our agency from the internet.”
Um, if they can’t find a way to move around $9,000, then I don’t know what to tell them.
While the Editorial Board has championed reforms for pensions, Medicaid and other areas of government in the past, the Civic Committee’s report rightly points out that policy fights must not delay the process of balancing Illinois’ budget. Until the state has a budget, savings proposed by the Editorial Board or anyone else are unlikely to occur.
The Tribune’s position not only does harm to our state’s most vulnerable citizens, but also to our state’s reputation and credit rating. The greatest savings our state could realize would be by passing a comprehensive budget and thereby not being subjected to an exorbitant premium on delayed bill payments and not having a near-junk credit rating that is costing us hundreds of millions of dollars in borrowing costs.
“I think we all recognize that we are letting the state burn. We’ve destroyed our social-service safety net. In my opinion, at this point, there’s not enough reform to counter the damage we’ve done to the state in the past two years. and so for me, the biggest win is to create stability in this state. I want the [Turnaround Agenda] reforms. I agree with the governor that there are things in there we need to do. But the number one reform in my world is predictability and sustainability. Because people will stay [in the state] if they know what the rules of the game are.”
The one thing this state government has sorely lacked since 2003 is “predictability and sustainability.” Blagojevich was completely unpredictable and refused to do the hard work of governing, which meant the state never got to sustainability. Quinn signed a temporary tax hike into law which undermined both predictability and sustainability. And now Gov. Rauner is demanding yet another temporary tax hike coupled with a temporary property tax freeze.
This needs to end.
The House has already passed a permanent property tax freeze. Maybe they should crank it out again with some reasonable caveats.
* From the Illinois Policy Institute’s news service…
State Rep. Jeanne Ives on Sunday blasted her Democrat colleagues in the Illinois House for removing her as chief sponsor of a Senate bill that would increase taxes on Illinoisans by more than $5 billion.
Democrats, Ives said, “used a procedural move to take this bill from me, which must mean their only intent is a massive tax hike of over $5.4 billion on the hardworking folks in Illinois.” […]
Ives, an opponent of tax increases, filed to be chief sponsor of the bill in the House.
Earlier Sunday, Sen. Toi Hutchinson, D-Olympia Fields, requested that Ives, R-Wheaton, be removed as the primary sponsor in the House. Hutchinson, who carried the tax hike bill in the Senate, requested state Rep. Will Davis, D-Homewood, be assigned as the primary sponsor.
On the House floor, Ives said taking the tax hike bill away from her was a partisan move to prevent a bipartisan conversation on taxes from taking place. She said Democrats ignore the state’s poor business climate.
Rep. Ives filed an amendment (click here) which stripped out all the Senate Democrats’ tax hikes and left intact the tax credits and tax reductions. The Senate sponsor wasn’t pleased and filed her motion to remove Ives as a sponsor and add Rep. Davis.
The House Democrats had been saying they didn’t want to make Ives a martyr by taking the bill away from her, but then she started amending the bill and they received a formal request for a sponsorship change. So, they went ahead and did it anyway.
* The Senate sponsor wasn’t the only one who expressed displeasure…
“It’s no time to be playing games with people’s bills, especially this budget bill,” State Rep. Linda Chapa Lavia (D – Aurora) said during Sunday’s meeting of lawmakers.
Republicans responded to those statements, saying that Democrats have no interest in forging any bipartisan consensus on a bill.
“Democrats are not interested in bipartisan support on what we should be doing with taxes,” State Rep. Jeanne Ives (R – Wheaton) said.
That would be more believable if Rep. Ives was interested in working out the differences. But as the Illinois Policy Institute notes, she’s “an opponent of tax increases.”
[Rep. Greg Harris] said there is concern about some of the things used by the Senate to come up with a balanced budget. That includes estimating $1.25 billion from changes to state employee pensions, $435 million from changes to state employee group health insurance and $300 million from the sale of the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago.
Harris said it is too early to count on savings from pension changes and that the health insurance savings has to be negotiated with unions. The Thompson Center is a one-time revenue, he said.
“I think if we are looking at the Senate and House budget, there’s about $1.6 billion to $1.8 billion worth of difference between them,” Harris said. “We’re not sure you can really book some of the revenues that the Senate booked.”
The House has committee hearings scheduled Monday to continue reviewing the $37 billion budget plan the Senate approved. It includes $5.4 billion in revenue raised mostly by a 32 percent increase in the personal income tax rate from 3.75 percent to 4.95 percent.
The Senate sent the plan to the House last week. It also includes $3 billion in spending reductions.
As Democrats were behind closed doors, Rauner budget director Scott Harry sent a letter to House members warning the governor would veto the Senate plan should it make it to his desk. Harry estimated the budget and tax plan was at least $435 million out of balance, and said it does nothing to pay down the bill backlog or put in place economic changes the governor has pushed such as a property tax freeze.
* Here’s that memo. I’ve added paragraph numbers so we can more easily dissect it…
From: Scott Harry, Director, Governor’s Office of Management and Budget To: Members of the Illinois House of Representatives
Date: May 28, 2017
Re: GOMB Analysis of SB 6
1) The Senate Democrats’ budget bill (SB 6) proposes to spend $5 billion more than the state’s fiscal year 2018 revenue forecast of $32 billion. Notably, Senate Democrats also passed a large tax increase to accompany SB 6 without any significant changes to our broken system – no real and lasting property tax relief and no economic reforms to grow the economy.
2) Drafted and voted upon without bipartisan support, SB 6 fails to make substantial spending cuts and has no real and hard spending cap beyond fiscal year 2018. If SB 6 were enacted, government spending would likely continue to explode, driving our state deeper into debt.
3) The Governor’s budget office estimates that even if the House enacted the Democrat-only tax hike proposal accompanying SB 6, the budget would be out of balance by at least $435 million in fiscal year 2018 (due to the lack of implementing legislation to achieve savings in the group health insurance program) and roughly $1 billion in fiscal year 2019. Furthermore, SB 6 takes no action to meaningfully pay down the bill backlog – concealing an even higher planned income tax rate than the Senate already passed.
4) From a technical drafting perspective, the FY17 appropriations in SB 6 were not drafted to address the true obligations of the state and fully cover commitments from FY16 and FY17. Other problems are caused by the drafting approach to structure the FY17 appropriations around spending authority that the Comptroller has established for consent decrees, court orders and continuing appropriations.
5) In sum, the House is considering a broken budget contingent on a large tax hike without any meaningful property tax relief or job creating reforms – which even if enacted would not even balance the budget. SB 6 is a lose-lose for taxpayers. If this bad deal for taxpayers comes to the Governor’s desk, he will veto it.
1) Oh, please. That is so misleading. Unlike the governor and his budget office, the Senate Democrats cut spending from the GOMB forecast and then added revenues. And that “large tax increase” was supported by the governor during negotiations.
2) The proposal didn’t receive GOP votes, but it most definitely received lots of Republican input. It makes billions of dollars more spending cuts than Gov. Rauner and his budget office proposed in February. And while there is no spending cap beyond FY 18, one can be enacted for FY 19 and beyond in the future. The governor could also simply propose a budget that has a spending cap.
…Adding… As mentioned in comments, Gov. Rauner’s agency directors all said during appropriations committee hearings that they couldn’t enumerate any cuts and that any cuts would be bad, yet Gov. Rauner’s budget director expects the Senate to find them anyway. Nice one.
3) The governor’s proposal to reduce spending on group health insurance requires changes to collective bargaining laws - something that Senate President Cullerton has completely ruled out. The Senate proposed the same reduction as Rauner did, but they put it on Rauner to achieve his spending reductions via the collective bargaining process and/or the courts.
And, seriously, they’re worried about a possible budget deficit in Fiscal Year 2019 that doesn’t even end for two more years? Really? Rauner can’t propose a solution to this alleged problem next February? From the Senate Democrats…
How much of his job is the governor expecting the Senate to do?
Exactly right.
I agree that it’s a copout for the Senate Democrats to punt on the bill backlog, among other things. No doubt about it. But Rauner did the exact same thing in his own budget proposal. From a May 9th report…
The Civic Federation’s Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Suitability is not able to support Governor Rauner’s recommended FY2018 budget because it has an operating deficit of at least $4.6 billion, presents an insufficiently detailed plan for closing the gap and does not address Illinois’ massive backlog of bills.
And from the Senate Democrats…
Two weeks ago, the Senate came within 3 votes of passing a budget that cut deeper while also refinancing that debt, and I don’t recall the governor rounding up votes to try to help get it passed.
4) “Technical drafting” errors are fixable.
5) If this is a “broken budget,” then why doesn’t the governor’s budget office propose a real one?
Harris said the whole budget discussion is taking place while Rauner is making public appearances and airing ads that attack the Democrats’ plan.
“They (Senate Democrats) actually passed a lot of the revenue ideas he’s been championing since he became governor,” Harris said. “He’s on social media and on paid advertising and on robocalls attacking people for doing the things he’s been suggesting.”
State legislators are meeting this holiday weekend in Springfield as they try to come to an agreement on a new budget, but one of the Democrats’ key initiatives is reportedly in big trouble.
According to NBC 5, , Democrats held a caucus on Sunday night in Springfield, and only 46 representatives are planning to vote for a tax hike that the Senate passed last week. In order to pass the legislation out of the House, 60 votes would be needed, leaving Democrats well short of that mark.
Rank-and-file members were divided: some were reluctant to vote to raise taxes knowing Rauner is likely to veto the plan and try to score political points ahead of his 2018 re-election bid, while others wanted to vote for a budget plan given they expect to be attacked either way.
“We could potentially do the right thing, have the governor veto it, potentially try to push it past him, and have him still come out and say, ‘Well, I still didn’t want this. I get all the benefits of having a budget, but none of the political pain,’” said Rep. Christian Mitchell, D-Chicago. “I think there’s real reluctance to do that.”
Mitchell said House Democrats also were spooked by what they saw happen in the Senate, where Democrats decided to go on their own following months of negotiations with Republicans.
“So mimicking that experience in the House, I don’t think appeals to a lot of people,” Mitchell said.
House Deputy Majority Leader Lou Lang, D-Skokie, on Sunday night said Democrats are discussing the Senate bills, but he noted there’s discussion of “some new items and different ways of looking at things.”
“I think it’s premature. Some might say well, ‘We’re three days away from May 31, how can it be premature?’ ” Lang said. “I think we know that in the life of the General Assembly, three days is a lifetime.”
Um, it’s only a “lifetime” if everyone is pulling in the same direction.
In a hearing on higher education spending, Rep. Sara Wojcicki Jimenez, R-Leland Grove, expressed frustration with another hearing that covered the same ground.
“I respectfully request that instead of asking the universities to continue to come in and tell us how bad things have been operating without a budget, I think it’s time for our committee to come up with a bipartisan solution,” she said. “With all due respect, it’s our turn.”
Rep. Greg Harris has said he invited the House Republicans to participate in drafting a budget. They declined.
* A group founded by the Illinois Policy Institute…
The Liberty Justice Center is prepared to sue the Illinois Department of Revenue if the Senate’s latest budget proposal becomes law.
The Illinois Senate passed a series of tax hikes May 23 that would raise more than $5.4 billion in new tax revenue. In addition to increasing the personal income tax rate by 32 percent, the Senate bill would slap new taxes on services that previously were not taxed, including laundry and dry cleaning, storage, pest control, alarm systems, tattoos and piercings. It would also create new taxes on satellite TV and streaming services.
These new taxes on services, satellite TV, and streaming services aren’t just a nuisance; they are unlawful, according to attorneys at the Liberty Justice Center, a Chicago-based nonprofit law firm.
“The bill’s 1 percent tax on subscriptions to video entertainment violates the Internet Tax Freedom Act, a federal law that prohibits states from imposing taxes that discriminate against online commerce,” said Jeffrey Schwab, an attorney with the Liberty Justice Center. The bill’s 5 percent tax on satellite TV service – but not cable service – violates the Illinois Constitution’s Uniformity Clause, which requires the state to tax similar services at the same rate. And the bill’s tax on certain services – but not others – also violates the uniformity clause.
“If Senate Bill 9 becomes law, the Liberty Justice Center stands ready to immediately bring a lawsuit on taxpayers’ behalf to have these unlawful taxes struck down.”
“People are fed up. Not just the constituents, the members of my chamber,” says Steve Andersson, a Republican House member from the Batavia area who was named GOP floor leader in January. “I think the Senate is equally if not more frustrated. People are just not willing to leave this place without a budget by May 31st.”
He continues, “Now, maybe we’re wrong. This place is leadership-driven… But I sense there is so much pent up frustration. I think we all recognize that we are letting the state burn. We’ve destroyed our social-service safety net. In my opinion, at this point, there’s not enough reform to counter the damage we’ve done to the state in the past two years. and so for me, the biggest win is to create stability in this state. I want the [Turnaround Agenda] reforms. I agree with the governor that there are things in there we need to do. But the number one reform in my world is predictability and sustainability. Because people will stay [in the state] if they know what the rules of the game are.”
Emphasis added.
*** UPDATE *** From Rep. Andersson…
I, like all other members of the General Assembly, admit that this budget impasse is doing no favors to Illinois’ financial outlook. In no way did I insinuate any kind of “revolt”. Instead, we need to be spending this time picking up where the Senate left off and continue negotiations to find agreement and get this done by May 31st.
* Last week, the House Democrats were expected to unveil their own plan during appropriations committee hearings today. But, as I told you Friday, the House Democrats caucused and couldn’t agree to a plan. They’ll be caucusing again later today, so in the meantime…
The Illinois House is holding a public review of a state budget plan.
Democratic leadership scheduled committee hearings Sunday afternoon for the $37.3 billion spending outline the Senate approved and sent across the state Capitol last week.
Senate Democrats adopted the proposal after they said they couldn’t wait for a negotiated agreement with Republicans. The General Assembly’s scheduled adjournment is Wednesday.
One main point of contention: Harris said House Democrats are united in their opposition to making the income tax hike retroactive to Jan. 1 of this year as the Senate called for. If lawmakers approved a higher rate starting at the first of the year, Illinoisans would have more money withheld from their paychecks to cover income from the first several months of 2017. The biggest question that remains, however, is what kind of tax proposal House Democrats could get behind, and whether they would be willing to pass it without Republican support.
Madigan has long insisted that Republicans must share in the responsibility — and blame — of raising taxes. But some Democrats frustrated with years of inaction say they’d rather be able to tell voters back home that they took a stand to help dig Illinois out of the financial morass, even it if it’s not politically popular.
They contend that no matter what path they take, Rauner is likely to go on the attack against them in next year’s legislative contests, similar to how he spent millions of dollars against Democrats in last year’s elections for the General Assembly.
Illinois Democratic senators Friday approved changes to the state’s workers’ compensation laws over the objections of Republicans who said the changes didn’t go far enough. […]
Changes to workers’ compensation have also been a demand of Rauner, who said it will improve the state’s business climate and help create jobs.
The Senate approved the bill on a 35-19 vote with one voting “present.” Sen. Sam McCann, R-Plainview, was the only Republican to vote for the legislation. […]
The changes include new standards for use of American Medical Association impairment guidelines, creation of standards for prescription drug coverage, categorizing certain injuries and review of workers’ compensation insurance rates. Democrats have long complained that savings from a 2011 revision of workers’ comp laws were not passed on to employers in the form of reduced rates.
“I think we have a good product here that should further reduce the cost to Illinois employers,” said Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago.
Despite Gov. Bruce Rauner saying earlier this week the Senate was within spitting distance of agreeing on meaningful fixes to Illinois’ workers’ compensation system, Democratic Senators passed bills sent to them by the House that Republicans and the state’s leading manufacturing group characterized as distractions and fake reforms. […]
Illinois Manufacturers’ Association’s Mark Denzler called the bill fake reform and something that will actually make the state’s climate worse. […]
Denzler said the governor should veto both measures.
“These are not workers’ compensation reform bills. These are not going to reduce costs. They’re not going to make Illinois more attractive,” Denzler said. “And really what you’re going to see with $5 billion in new taxes that were proposed and no reforms, you’re going to see every other state around Illinois sending thank you cards to the Senate Democrats.”
As state child welfare investigators probed allegations of abuse in the Joliet Township home where 17-month-old Semaj Crosby would later be found dead, their supervisor was launching a contest that awarded $100 gift cards to the two workers who closed the most cases in a month, according to agency interviews and internal emails examined by the Tribune.
The 3rd place winner would get a $50 gift card. […]
While the dollar amount of the Joliet contest was relatively low, DCFS Director George Sheldon told the Tribune that the competition was improper.
“Offering financial incentives like that I think is an inappropriate step,” Sheldon said in an interview Friday.
Rauner has frequently touted his desire to increase the state’s share of funding for schools. It would take a significant tax increase to do it in a way that local property taxes could be pared back, though. At the moment, school districts and vendors are owed more than $1 billion because of the budget impasse’s effect on state cash flow and delayed payments, State Board of Education records show.
The acknowledgment that Senate Democrats might even consider a more modest temporary tax freeze for schools is a recognition that Rauner’s criticism over their lack of action may be having some political impact — something that has yet to be felt by Democrats in the House.
“I know (Rauner) knows it polls well. Everything he talks about he knows polls well,” said state Rep. Greg Harris, a Chicago Democrat who is a key point person on budget issues.
A new statewide poll finds that strong opposition to an income tax hike to solve the state’s budget problems significantly eases when the tax increase is coupled with a property tax freeze.
That’s important because Gov. Bruce Rauner has insisted that he won’t approve any tax hikes or a budget without a four-year property tax freeze. Democrats in the General Assembly, however, have resisted the governor’s freeze proposal. And the Senate Democrats last week went ahead and passed a budget with tax hikes without including Rauner’s freeze.
The poll of 500 likely Illinois voters was taken May 23rd by Fabrizio, Lee & Associates, a Republican firm. The poll’s questions that we’re going to look at today weren’t horribly biased, even though the poll was paid for by the Illinois Policy Institute (which for whatever reason didn’t include the property tax freeze numbers in its press release). The poll’s margin of error was +/-4.4 percent and 40 percent were reached via their mobile phones.
“One of the elements of a proposed solution for the Illinois state budget impasse involves raising the state income tax,” the pollster told respondents. “Do you favor or oppose a state budget that includes raising the state income tax?”
Just 31 percent favored an income tax hike, while 64 percent were opposed and 51 percent strongly opposed it. No surprise there. Every poll I’ve ever seen had numbers similar to those.
“One of the elements of a proposed solution for the Illinois state budget impasse involves raising the state income tax but at the same time enacting a property tax freeze,” respondents were told. “Do you favor or oppose a state budget that includes raising the state income tax but also includes a property tax freeze?”
-
The percent of those favoring the “hybrid solution” involving a freeze jumped 8 points to 39 percent. That’s still far from a majority, but not too bad, considering more money would be coming out of their pockets to fund a supremely dysfunctional state government.
The more dramatic movement came from the opposition. A slim majority of 51 percent were still opposed to the hybrid solution, but that’s down 13 points from the income tax-only question. And those who were strongly opposed, which indicates that they might cast their vote based on the topic, dropped 17 points, from 51 down to a mere 34.
So, it’s not difficult to see why Gov. Rauner has been talking about almost nothing but a property tax freeze lately. He did a bunch of TV and radio interviews last week saying he absolutely won’t sign a budget unless it includes the freeze. Simply put, the issue moves numbers.
The freeze is like that old Mary Poppins song, “A Spoonful of Sugar.” It helps the medicine go down, although definitely not in a “most delightful way.” There are undoubtedly other issues which could help make a tax hike more palatable, but we’re stuck with this one because the governor is so adamant about a win on this topic.
If you look at the crosstabs, you’ll find that 79 percent of Republicans are opposed to raising the income tax, but that opposition drops 20 points to 59 percent when coupled with a property tax freeze. Opposition by independents drops from 66 to 53. And opposition by Democrats falls from 52 to just 45.
Now, look at those who are strongly opposed to the hybrid plan that Rauner is pushing and the results are even more dramatic.
72 percent of Republicans were strongly opposed to an income tax hike, but that falls 28 points to 44 percent who were strongly opposed when the tax hike is coupled with a property tax freeze. 54 percent of independent voters strongly opposed an income tax increase, but just 39 percent opposed it when attached to a property tax freeze. And strong opposition dropped from 34 percent to 25 percent among Democrats.
Also, when respondents were given a choice, 45 percent said only cut spending and don’t raise taxes, while 41 percent said the state should cut some spending and raise some taxes. That’s exactly what the Senate Democrats did last week, but most people don’t know that.
However, when it was pointed out that “Illinois already pays the highest property taxes in the country and has the fifth highest overall tax burden,” and that some believe another tax hike would drive more people out of the state, 54 percent said only cut spending and don’t raise taxes, while just 36 favored a mix of cuts and tax hikes.
Property taxes are a killer issue. The Democrats need to come to terms with that.
* This column was based on a subscriber-only story from last week. I received this e-mail after it was published…
Rich,
Thanks for including the poll in this morning’s email. Your take is fascinating – and perhaps representative of your point of view of the situation.
You want a deal. A budget, any budget. So you want to justify a tax increase. Therefore, when you look at these results you don’t see how the majority of Illinoisans feel; you see the most unpopular point of view and then attempt to mainstream it. It’d be like reporting on the most recent Kirk v. Duckworth contest, and leading with Kirk’s measly 40 percent. In our poll, only 16 percent of respondents “strongly favor” a hybrid solution (as you phrased it). More than half of respondents do not favor an income tax increase combined with a property tax freeze. That’s the dominant point of view.
There’s another way to look at that question, too. People who “somewhat favor” are essentially saying “Ehh…. maybe?” The fact that some people would maybe consider swapping an income tax increase for a property tax freeze illustrates the utter desperation of homeowners in Illinois. Remember, a freeze isn’t a great deal. We’d be freezing an already-high bill. But homeowners are seeing their property tax bills climb and their home values plummet. If they try to escape by reselling, it’s a nightmare. People are desperate, and that’s why some people would entertain the idea of keeping the higher taxes off their property tax bill and paying on the income side.
Of course, the bottom line from this poll is this: When the Illinois tax burden is mentioned, nearly every cohort shifts toward support for an all-cuts-and-no-tax-hike state-budget solution.
Diana
–
Diana Rickert
Vice President of Communications
Illinois Policy Institute
* Illinois Senate Democrats twerk taxpayers with latest budget attempt: [The Senate Democrats’] plan will take $1,124 from each household in the state for a total hike of $5.4 billion. They also want to extend the state sales tax to everything from home improvement services to tattoos to your Netflix subscription. For what? There’s no property tax relief in this plan. There are no reforms. There’s nothing to pay down the $14.4 billion bill backlog. It’s likely dead on arrival — even Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan was balking at it.
* Keep in mind when reading this tweet that Gov. Rauner has supported a much bigger and broader service tax since the 2014 campaign and supports an income tax hike…
Springfield insiders want to raise your taxes by billions of dollars. That’s unacceptable. Our taxes are too darn high. We need some relief pic.twitter.com/FNkOOly1g2
And I cannot figure out why they used a cartoon Abe in this thing, except perhaps to suck up to viewers and put the governor on the side of an American hero… or something. Your thoughts?
Governor Rauner’s property tax freeze is just a political stunt. Since day one, Governor Rauner’s strategy has been to starve social service agencies and local governments to force the crisis we now suffer from. His cynical approach has often led to the increases in property taxes he claims he wants to freeze. Governor Rauner should stop playing politics and offering gimmicks and start doing the job he was elected to do, including putting Illinois on a path to fiscal responsibility and the state providing additional support for education funding.
* Now, here’s the transcript of what was asked and what Pritzker said…
AUDIENCE QUESTION: Bruce Rauner was downstate earlier this week saying the two greatest problems for small business are property tax and workers comp. And I know you’ve done work on this. Could you just tell us what you think about that claim?
PRITZKER: The two biggest problems in the state are property tax and workman’s comp? Okay, lets talk about that. Property taxes are a pretty big issue, but it’s an issue for a different reason than he says it’s an issue. He polled a property tax freeze. And it polls really well, because nobody wants to pay higher property taxes. And so that polls really well, and that’s why you see his commercials, it’s one of the first things he lists of things that he wants to do.
Look, nobody wants higher property taxes, but we can’t hamstring all of our local governments that way.
Here’s what I want to do. If you raise revenue at the state level and pay for education at the state level – constitutionally mandated at 50%, we’re only providing 26% — if you raise revenue at the state level and do it on a progressive basis, local governments will have choices, you all will have choices about whether you want to lower your property tax revenue for your city.
If you want a property tax break, you should go get that. He’s not advocating anything like that, by the way. And so, the best he can do is say property tax freeze, and then he throws the problem at you, at the local level to figure out what you’re going to do if you need a property tax increase, or you need more revenue. He’s not creating any jobs, so we’re not creating any more revenue around – 0.5 percent job growth last year, which is in the bottom third of states. So that’s the property tax issue.”
[I put this up really late in the day and I’m about to close comments. You can still comment below, but they won’t be visible to anyone. However, I’ll “release” them from moderation on Sunday.]
* So, Mrs. Rauner’s group is pleading with people to support the House’s budget on Monday? Did she “cave” to Speaker Madigan, too? Such a bizarre time we live in…
IL House likely to take floor votes on state budget on Memorial Day. Call your Rep. now & urge support of a full-year, fully-funded budget! pic.twitter.com/BnqGxSqZY5
Gov. Rauner also claimed that the Senate Democrats “caved in” to “the Speaker’s pressure” on the grand bargain. Rauner claimed yet again that Madigan sent interest groups to the Senate to kill the grand bargain.
“We need the members of the General Assembly in the Democratic caucus to not be afraid to stand up to Speaker Madigan,” Rauner told reporters.
I asked for a response from the Senate President’s office.
* From John Patterson, spokesman for Illinois Senate President John Cullerton…
“I don’t know if the governor realizes it yet, but the Senate balanced and approved the budget he proposed. He has an odd way of saying ‘thank you.’”
*** UPDATE *** Press release…
Senator Don Harmon, an Oak Park Democrat and president pro tempore of the Illinois Senate, issued the following statement about the Senate’s votes Friday to significantly reform Illinois’ workers’ compensation system:
“Senate Democrats sent a strong message today that, while we are open to working our partners in the business community to reform the state’s workers’ compensation system, we are not willing to do so entirely on the backs of Illinois workers. We were able to identify sensible reforms on both sides of the equation – the employer side and the employee side – that will help to bring costs down without inflicting additional and unnecessary financial harm on injured workers.
“Workers’ compensation reform is one of Governor Rauner’s demands to sign our balanced budget. We have delivered on that demand and many others. It’s time for him to deliver on ours – that he signs our budget so we can move the state forward.”
Rep. Enyart responds by hiding behind the telephone – sticking taxpayers with the bill
Mike Bost, candidate for the 12th Congressional District, announced that he would take a leadership role on behalf of the constituents of the 12th district by holding a town hall forum on the VA on Wednesday, June 4, 2014 at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 1601 W. White Street in Marion from 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm. The decision to hold the forum comes as Congressman Bill Enyart has routinely ignored his constituents by denying them the opportunity to voice their opinion on the national VA debate.
“With the VA dominating the agenda in Washington and across the country right now, constituents should have the opportunity to have their voices heard,” said Mike Bost. “I am hosting this forum because I’d like to explain my thoughts on the matter but more important hear the public’s. To me, hearing from local voices matter and is a key requirement of a responsive congressman.”
Congressman Bill Enyart has yet to hold a single town hall forum after a year and half in office. After learning of Bost’s town hall forum, his congressional office quickly announced a teletown hall on the same night – calling it a “unique event.” Teletown halls allow Congressman Enyart’s staff to handpick the questions he’s asked while forcing the taxpayers to pay for it in response to a political campaign. Congressman Enyart claims to be a leader for the area but he seems to be following one instead.
“Congressman Enyart and I have a different view of representation. I provide open forums to take questions while he hides behind a telephone in a scripted setting while billing the taxpayers for it,” added Bost. “With Congress not in recess this week, the only thing stopping Congressman Enyart from holding a public town hall forum is his willingness to do so. Constituents deserve better from their representative.” [Emphasis added.]
Nowadays, Bost opts to use telephone town halls to communicate with constituents, along with speaking to constituents in person in small, private meetings, which sometimes are open to the media. […]
“Every one of them that calls our office that says we want this type of town hall, the problem is they are now organized at a national level to cause chaos,” Bost said in a recent interview with the BND. […]
Bost also has chosen to hold telephone town halls, where he takes questions for about an hour after calling constituents who have signed up to participate.
His office says about 85,000 people are called for each telephone town hall.
Responding to nearly two years without a state budget, The Baby Fold will discontinue residential treatment center services, the Normal-based human services agency announced Thursday.
The program, which was reduced from serving 28 children to 14 children in 2015, will cease operations June 30.
Including all its programs, Baby Fold serves more than 1,000 vulnerable children and families.
“We will be working diligently to arrange new placements for the children over the next 30 to 60 days so they can be well-settled prior to the next school year,” Baby Fold President and CEO Dianne Schultz said in a prepared statement.
“I am saddened by the circumstances surrounding the state budget impasse that have made this decision necessary,” Schultz said. […]
The residential treatment center is for children who have been removed from their homes because of trauma, abuse or neglect and have significant mental health issues. The program in Normal is believed to be the only one of its kind in Central Illinois.
Ugh.
…Adding… Andrea Durbin at the Illinois Collaboration on Youth sent me the link to the above story and has given me permission to post her e-mail…
As with much of the recently-announced Lutheran Child and Family Services closures, this is not only due to lack of payment but also due to insufficient payment. Our elected officials need to have the political courage to face reality and address the continual erosion of the human services safety net with a real budget.
I know you know this, but I can’t help saying it again. It is unconscionable that abused and neglected children may go without effective treatment so we can have a political fight.
“The program in Normal is believed to be the only one of its kind in Central Illinois.”
Today, the Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois announced their endorsement of JB Pritzker for Governor at a press conference in Peoria. The endorsement comes after careful consideration of every candidate in the race and their commitment to fighting for Illinois working families.
The Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois represents 15,000 fire fighters and 221 local chapters across the state. They are Illinois’ first responders, keeping our state safe from harm.
“I am so proud to receive the endorsement of the Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois and their 15,000 hard working members across our state,” said JB Pritzker. “Our fire fighters put their lives on the line every day to keep our families and our state safe, but they have been let down by their governor. Bruce Rauner has failed to pass a budget for 695 days and his special interest agenda is a direct attack against working families. Our fire fighters deserve a governor who stands with them and I will always work to protect the right to organize, fight for safe working conditions, and ensure our children have access to high quality education. It is an honor to have our state’s heroes standing with me in this campaign and I will always stand with them as governor.”
“JB Pritzker has the competence and the compassion to be the governor Illinois working families need and we are so proud to endorse his campaign,” said Pat Devaney, President of the Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois. “JB is committed to lifting up Illinois working families and making sure our economy works for everyone. He has a record of creating opportunity and fighting for quality education for all Illinoisans. This is a stark contrast to the willful neglect of Bruce Rauner, who has failed to pass a budget and shows contempt for Illinois working families. Illinois needs a governor who is ready to fix Rauner’s mess and we are proud to support JB Pritzker to lead our state.”
Governor Rauner and Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau joined homeowners Ken and Andi Borucke to urge the General Assembly to pass true, lasting property tax relief.
“Illinois home and business owners pay the highest property taxes in the nation. The median average for property taxes in Illinois is $3,995 compared to $1,085 average property taxes in Indiana,” said Governor Rauner. “We can’t just keep sticking it to the taxpayers without any real property tax relief.”
Under the governor’s proposal, property taxes would remain frozen unless voters chose to raise them through a referendum.
“In Orland Park, we remain committed to keeping your taxes as low as possible while still maintaining the quality of services you expect and deserve,” said Mayor Keith Pekau. “I am glad the Governor is pushing for property tax relief to help our residents.”
This week, Governor Rauner announced that any budget agreement that increases revenue must include real and lasting property tax relief. In making the announcement, he stressed that Illinois needs to make changes in order to grow the economy, create jobs and get state finances back on track.
“We love Illinois, but one thing we’ve never loved is our property taxes,” said homeowner Andi Borucke. “The current system doesn’t work and hurts working families like ours that have done everything right. We deserve to have more a voice in our property tax system. We keep paying more and more money, but see little value in return.”
* DGA…
Today Governor Rauner continues his campaign “negotiation” tour with a stop in Orland Park, 181 miles away from the State Capitol and a possible budget solution.
While Rauner postures in front of cameras, Illinois state institutions continue to suffer the disastrous effects of Bruce Rauner’s failed leadership. The “Women’s Center” in Carbondale, open for 45 years, announced staff cuts and said it could shut down programs in September. And Northeastern Illinois University announced it would be continuing its furlough program and faced serious program cuts.
The fact is simple – Governor Rauner is failing his responsibilities as Governor. From the Sun-Times Editorial:
“Rauner is running political ads, the goofy ones with the duct tape, laying the groundwork for his re-election next year. But he is not governing. As we said in a previous editorial, the first and most basic job of a CEO — and a governor is a CEO — is to produce a budget. The buck stops there.”
It’s time for Governor Rauner to go back to Springfield and finally pass a budget.
“Governor Rauner is marching Illinois towards an unprecedented third year without a budget,” said DGA Illinois Communications Director Sam Salustro. “And instead of exhibiting real leadership and working out a deal, Rauner is pulling stunts as far away from Springfield as possible. Illinois needs a Governor who’s going to deliver a budget, not one who’s going to chase cameras across the state.”
…Adding… From comments…
Uh, someone tell DGA the House just went home and session tomorrow is cancelled.
From 2010 to 2014, Chicago and 73 of the suburbs saw their populations increase.
But the trend reversed from 2014 to 2016. In that time, Chicago and 61 suburbs saw their populations shrink.
So far, the numbers are small. In 2015, the 91 communities lost 0.1 percent of their collective population, or nearly 3,700 residents. Last year, they lost an estimated 0.2 percent, which represents nearly 10,000 residents. […]
Decreases were sharpest in the Cook County suburbs closest to the Chicago. Towns including Rosemont, Des Plaines, Elk Grove Village, Mount Prospect and even Hoffman Estates experienced declines of a full percent or more during the past two years.
Yesterday, the governor’s office blamed Mayor Rahm Emanuel for Chicago’s population loss. You gotta wonder whether he feels the same about Mayor Stephens, et al. So, I asked. Awaiting a reply.
Among larger downstate cities, Bloomington and Champaign added population from 2010 to 2016, according to the census figures, while Springfield, Rockford and Peoria lost residents.
Two college towns were both net gainers over time.
* This Tribune piece is very well-written, well-researched and timely. So you should definitely go read the whole thing…
Democrats and some Republicans are pushing ahead with an attempt to overhaul the way state government doles out tax dollars to elementary and high schools, setting up a potential showdown with Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner over funding for Chicago Public Schools.
Few issues have kicked around the Capitol for as long as the education funding formula — a controversial system that’s proven resistant to major change thanks to a combination of political and financial factors.
Rauner hasn’t offered his own bill, deferring to the education task force that was supposed to produce legislation but instead came up with a broad framework for fixing the formula. His education secretary, Beth Purvis, says the governor has been “pretty clear about what he would like to see in these bills” and noted that it’s not up to the governor to write legislation.
Historically, though, Rauner has not been shy about introducing legislation when he has an idea that he’d like to see enacted by lawmakers. That Rauner’s left the process up to the General Assembly has some critics questioning how badly he wants to see the formula changed.
Historically, Rauner has avoided drafting his own legislation like the Plague. He steers clear of ownership on controversial stuff. It’s why he has never introduced a balanced budget or unveiled his own detailed criminal justice reform bills. And it’s why legislators are constantly wondering if he’s truly serious about moving forward with things, like education funding reform.
Ending what the campaign considers to be an introductory phase, Democratic governor candidate Chris Kennedy is set to speak Tuesday to offer his vision for the state.
The early afternoon speech Tuesday at the Harold Washington Cultural Center will take place the day after the 100th birthday of Kennedy’s uncle, the late President John F. Kennedy.
Campaign aides said Kennedy will talk about how the state “needs a complete break from the status quo” and will try to distinguish his candidacy, announced in February, from his Democratic rivals, namely J.B. Pritzker. […]
Kennedy also is expected to call for property tax and education funding changes. He has been hitting his rival, Pritzker, over a controversial tax assessment reduction for a mansion he purchased next to his own Gold Coast mansion. He also has been seeking to tie the issue of the state’s property tax system to the unfairness of education funding.
* Meanwhile, Kennedy’s campaign manager Brendan O’Sullivan sent out a fundraising e-mail this morning with the headline “Rauner doesn’t want a budget”…
Last week, Illinois Senate Democrats called for a vote on a budget deal. Then, that same day, Governor Bruce Rauner’s billionaire pal Ken Griffin put $20 million into Rauner’s campaign coffers.
Why the same-day timing?
As Politico reported yesterday, “if Republicans weren’t already clear on the message to stay in line during those votes, that probably did it.”
Rauner doesn’t want a budget. And Griffin’s money showed up just in time to serve as a threat to Illinois Republicans not to vote against his interests.
Let’s show Bruce Rauner and Ken Griffin that we won’t let their money bully or intimidate us. Please contribute now to invest in electing new leadership in Illinois.
As we approach the two year mark without a budget, Rauner is reportedly spending his time trying to recruit candidates to run against Comptroller Susana Mendoza and Attorney General Lisa Madigan in 2018.
He’s also trying to silence members of his own party through financial bullying and economic intimidation. And he’s doing it to try to tear down the very programs, institutions and policies that we, as Democrats, have dedicated our lives to building up.
Rauner threw a million people out of state programs in the first 18 months, and he has not asked any of his fellow billionaires to make a single sacrifice.
Some Democrats believe that best way to combat Rauner’s campaign war chest is with another billionaire who self-funds his campaign. But we should not elect a candidate to represent our party who does not need our money, our ideas or our support.
Instead, the path to fixing our state lies in building a movement of thousands of Illinois residents committed to restoring the American Dream.
O’Sullivan, by the way, used to run Senate President John Cullerton’s campaigns. I’ve been told, however, that Cullerton is not taking sides in the governor’s race. One of his own members, Daniel Biss, is also in the contest.
Pritzker Campaign Introduces Tick Tock The Budget Clock
Tick Tock Will Join Bruce Rauner For Breakfast Today At A Private Golf Course, Rich Harvest Farms, Then Later At An Orland Park Press Conference
Chicago, IL – Today, on day 695 without a budget, the Pritzker for Governor campaign is introducing Tick Tock the Budget Clock. Tick Tock joins Crisis Creatin’ Rauner, a multimedia campaign designed to highlight the budget crisis of Bruce Rauner’s own making and the families, schools, and social service agencies that continue to pay the price.
As the hours and days tick up, Tick Tock’s presence will serve as a constant reminder of the damage Rauner’s crisis is creating in Illinois. The fact is, it is past time that Illinois families receive a budget from their failed governor and Tick Tock won’t let Rauner forget it.
“Time is running out for Bruce Rauner to take responsibility for the crisis he has created and even though he runs away from reporters, Bruce Rauner won’t be able to hide from Tick Tock the Budget Clock,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “As the clock counts up, this historic budget crisis of Rauner’s own creatin’ is doing irrevocable damage to our state. Rauner deserves a constant reminder of how his failed leadership has hurt working families across Illinois – and Tick Tock will remind him of the alarming mess he has created every step of the way.”
It’s an anti-Bruce Rauner move right out of the Rauner playbook. Rauner’s campaign team, some of whom worked for former Sen. Mark Kirk, love these characters. During Kirk’s 2010 campaign, they sicced a shark to follow around his opponent, then-state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, to remind him of a loan to the mob-associated Michael “Jaws” Giorango. In 2014, the Rauner campaign came up with “Quinnochio” to badger then-Gov. Pat Quinn outside of events. That character was dressed up as Pinnocchio. If you’ve forgotten, here’s Quinnochio on youtube. They also slapped a mask on another staffer who dressed in an orange jumpsuit to represent imprisoned ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich. […]
We’re confident the Rauner camp will come up with a rebuttal caricature in short order. But, gee, we can’t imagine what this race will look like when we’re actually within the same calendar year of an election.
…Adding… The Pritzker campaign seemed quite pleased this morning at all the attention their new mascot got from the TV types (those teevee people love them some visuals, no matter how silly they might be). But the Republicans sent me their own Tick pic…
True, but so was Quinnochio and they did it anyway. This stuff works.
…Adding Still More… Check out the video clip to see how the Chicago TV cameras gravitated to the new mascot today. Like I said, this stuff works, even if it is goofy…
The attached letter was sent by the Speaker after reviewing the recent report of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club. It is a recounting of the Speaker’s effort to address a variety of issues. I thought it might be of interest.
* The letter…
May 25, 2017
Chairman Frederick H. Waddell
Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago 21 South Clark Street, Ste. 4301
Chicago, IL 60603
Dear Chairman Waddell:
I appreciate your recent report and its detailed recommendations on the state budget. I agree that our state is a vibrant place with much to offer as a center for innovation and growth, but the budget crisis is holding us back. I have stated repeatedly that the budget is the most important issue facing our state, and I wanted to make sure you and your colleagues are aware of what steps House Democrats have already taken to put Illinois on more sound financial footing.
Between Fiscal Year 2012 and Fiscal Year 2014, Democrats made significant progress in paying down the state’s backlog of old bills. Under Democratic budgets, the state’s debt dropped from over $8 billion in 2013 to $4.5 billion in July 2015. In fact, as a candidate Rauner criticized Illinois’ bill backlog in May 2013. However, Governor Rauner’s impasse has completely reversed the progress we made; after nearly two years without a budget, the backlog of unpaid bills has now grown to over $14 billion.
In recent years, House Democrats have pushed for cost-saving reforms to state pensions and the Medicaid system. We have also taken steps toward greater pension parity for Chicago; during the 99th General Assembly, House Democrats advanced Senate Bill 2822, which provides state funding for Chicago teacher’s pensions. Unfortunately, Governor Rauner vetoed this legislation.
House Democrats also implemented significant reforms to the workers’ compensation system, and we are beginning to see the impact. Costs, injuries and claims have call dropped significantly since our law passed in 2011, and Illinois now has a lower frequency of medical payments per claim than Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin. While the governor has prioritized further changes to the system, we have engaged in this dialogue. We have offered additional reforms that will make sure employers see the benefit of reform. This month, we passed House Bill 2525, which codifies causation standards to make sure only legitimate workplace injuries are compensable, and requires workers’ compensation insurers to pass these savings on to employers.
We’ve passed significant reforms to the criminal justice system that will help reduce costs. Last year, the House passed bipartisan legislation that expands the Department of Corrections’ ability to offer early release to some non-violent offenders, and give judges more flexibility in sentencing for some non-violent crimes.
House Democrats have led efforts to empower taxpayers to consolidate local government. In the 99th General Assembly, we passed House Bill 229, which expands a pilot program that will empower taxpayers to consolidate duplicative or unnecessary taxing bodies.
We continue to work toward education funding reform. A House Democratic plan would help students across the state and put all Illinois schools on an equal footing. But the Republican proposal is not a fair proposal for all our students; it slashes funding for the Chicago Public Schools. I would be interested in knowing which proposal you and your colleagues would prefer.
While we continually strive to address Illinois’ challenges, there are some proposals that have failed to find consensus within the General Assembly. Reductions to the Local Government Distributive Fund is one suggestion in your plan that has already been met with concern by Democrats and Republicans, who fear the loss of revenue for local governments will only force higher property taxes and cuts to public safety, health and other community services.
I remain committed to working in good faith with the governor to pass a full, responsible budget, and address the other major issues facing the state. Last week, I assigned four members of the House Democratic leadership team to meet with Governor Rauner and discuss his off-budget agenda items. Unfortunately, to date, the Governor has chosen not to meet with these members.
I hope you will join me in urging the governor to take up House Democrats’ offer and help us end this budget crisis.
With kindest personal regards, I remain
Sincerely yours,
MICHAEL J. MADIGAN
Speaker of the House
*** UPDATE 1 *** I’m told on background by the Rauner folks that during his 40-minute meeting with the governor last month, Speaker Madigan came right out and asked Rauner to cancel their meeting with the Civic Committee, which was scheduled for the following week. Rauner refused to comply, and then Madigan canceled. The Raunerites believe that Madigan only sent this letter today because they “outed” his refusal to meet with the Civic Committee.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Steve Brown in comments…
Gotta love those “deep background” update.
Now just a couple of facts.
The Speaker met with the Civic Committee in mid April
The group offered to bring themselves into the budget impasse. A similar offer was made by the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.
Given on-going activities in Springfield it did not appear necessary to engage either offer.
Today’s attempted history rewrite is both false and another glimpse to thinking of the administration.
*** UPDATE 3 *** Gov. Rauner told reporters today that Madigan’s letter is “intentionally misleading.”
“He refused to meet with the Civic Committee and me,” Madigan said, claiming that since then Madigan has refused to meet with the governor. “The Speaker has shown no interest in compromise for two years, zero interest.”
Gov. Rauner also claimed that the Senate Democrats “caved in” to “the Speaker’s pressure” on the grand bargain. Rauner claimed yet again that Madigan sent interest groups to the Senate to kill the grand bargain.
“We need the members of the General Assembly in the Democratic caucus to not be afraid to stand up to Speaker Madigan,” Rauner told reporters. “Speaker Madigan does not want any changes whatsoever. Zero. He just wants Republicans to support a massive tax hike that just sticks it to taxpayers with no property tax relief.”
“The Civic Committee has provided a comprehensive Framework for our State’s governmental leaders to solve our budget crisis. It is now their responsibility to compromise and pass a comprehensive budget package which will move our State forward. The people of Illinois are depending on it.”
- Kelly Welsh – President, The Civic Committee of The Commercial Club of Chicago
Every once in a while this happens in the capitol basement women's bathroom. Laden with metaphors about state government waste. pic.twitter.com/uykvw37TXJ
* The dustup started this afternoon when Rep. Steve Andersson (R-Geneva) rose to call for compromise. Andersson reminded the chamber about the 33 House members who signed a letter encouraging the Senate to wrap up the grand bargain. And he said it was now time to work on what the Senate had sent the House. Some of it was bipartisan, he said, some partisan. But the Senate, he said, was very close to a deal. “Let’s pick up where they left off.”
Andersson said the chamber’s appropriations committee leaders were meeting, which he called a “good sign.”
Rep. Andersson also addressed yesterday’s blowup on the floor about who should be invited to negotiate with the governor’s chief of staff.
“It’s not the time to debate who last invited whom to the table, Andersson said. “Just come to the table.”
“And my call, most importantly, is to compromise,” he said. “Let’s push our leaders as hard as we can.”
Andersson is the GOP’s floor leader, so he may have struck a raw nerve with Lang. “It’s one thing to say you want to do a budget, it’s another thing to do one,” Rep. Lang said.
Lang went on to say that today Gov. Rauner “invited 13 House Democrats to a meeting to discuss all these issues, completely ignoring the letter that Leader Currie, Leader Hoffman, Leader Turner and I sent to him offering to sit down and get these things accomplished, completely side-stepping the negotiating team that’s been created here in the House on our side of the aisle to meet with the governor.
“Instead the governor has chosen, very carefully it appears, 13 Democratic political targets to meet with. I think that says a lot about his resolve and it says a lot about his desire to work with this General Assembly as a co-equal branch of government.”
Lang then encouraged Republicans to “pull away” from the governor and work things out. “That’s when the crisis will end.”
* However, I’m told that the 13 Democrats were simply invited by the governor’s legislative shop to a briefing about where the Senate situation stands.
We live in a divided state. The rich live near the rich and the poor live near the poor.
The poor no longer have access to the tax base that the wealthy have access to. As a result, their schools will never be as good as the schools in wealthy communities if Illinois continues to rely on property taxes to pay for education.
We can’t allow that to happen anymore. We need to fix the way we fund our schools.
Reforming our property tax system and changing the way we fund education in Illinois is a central part of fixing the mess in our state.
Property taxes are determined by how you appraise the property – which means the wealthy and connected who can hire lawyers can do a better job of getting the value of their homes or commercial properties knocked down. And in the end, our public schools suffer. That’s a terrible system.
If you don’t pay your income tax, you’ll go to jail.
If you want to contest your property taxes, all you have to do is get a good lawyer, if you can afford it.
That’s not how we should operate in this country. We’re condemning the next generation to a life of economic oppression and segregation, and it doesn’t have to be that way.
We can do better by learning from lessons and better practices from around the country. We shouldn’t look to Springfield or to the Thompson Center for great ideas. We should look to other states. Look outward and forward, not inward or backward.
It’s time for bold action and fundamental change. If you agree, please sign up now to join our campaign for Illinois governor.
Thank you,
Chris
That looks to me like he might be thinking about adopting the old Dawn Clark Netsch tax swap plan. I asked the campaign what he’s proposing to actually do about property taxes and received this reply…
In a stunning display of partisanship, Democratic Rep. Robert Martwick – a supporter of billionaire J.B. Pritzker – last week announced that he would kill his own bill, HB 2517, that would crack down on the kind of vacancy fraud the billionaire is engaging in to wrongly slash his property tax burden.
After House Minority Leader Jim Durkin signed on to the Vacancy Fraud Act, Capitol Fax reports that Martwick issued a statement saying he would not call the bill, calling the bipartisan backing he received “political gamesmanship”.
This week, DNAinfo reports that Rep. Martwick “launched into a ‘tirade’” after finding out that his bill was receiving bipartisan support.
Only a Madigan-Pritzker politician would attack bipartisan reform.
But the Illinois Republican Party is holding Martwick and Pritzker accountable, releasing robocalls today into his district highlighting his capitulation to the broken status quo.
Martwick should stand by his legislation, even if it bothers his political bosses Madigan and Pritkzer.
Martwick’s bill has been languishing in the Rules Committee since late March and its passage deadline has long since passed, so he didn’t actually kill it.
The May 22nd DNAInfo story mentioned in the press release is just plain goofy…
An effort to reduce the number of vacant storefronts in Chicago neighborhoods stalled in Springfield last week amid a political brawl sparked by the race for Illinois governor.
Martwick even says in the story that the bill wasn’t ready to move.
* But politics is politics, so let’s move on to the robocall…
* Script…
Hi, this is Caroline, and I’m calling regarding our State Representative, Robert Martwick.
Martwick has sold taxpayers out to his political boss Mike Madigan’s billionaire financial muscle, and recently revealed tax cheat, JB Pritzker.
Martwick used to support legislation that would crack down on property owners collecting unfair tax breaks on vacant properties. He used to be for the common man.
But the moment billionaire JB Pritzker was exposed using this property tax scheme to cut property taxes on Pritzker’s mansion by $240,000 while making all of us pay more, Martwick immediately flipped his position out of blind loyalty to Madigan and his new friend Pritzker.
Martwick isn’t working for you or me anymore. He’s out to serve the same corrupt system that rewards the well-connected while you pay the price.
Paid for by the Illinois Republican Party.
Not a bad message at all, despite the underlying facts. Props for that.
* I told you yesterday about the ILGOP’s robocalls on the Senate’s tax hike and budget votes. The robocalls were blasted statewide and into targeted House districts (click here for the list).
Well, the Pritzker campaign is launching its own robocalls into the same House districts that the Republicans targeted, which ought to make some House incumbents happy. I’m told they’re also doing a statewide blast.
Here’s the press release…
Today, on day 694 without a budget, the JB for Governor campaign released a new statewide robo call highlighting Rauner’s failure to lead our state. The robo call joins the multimedia Crisis Creatin’ Rauner campaign, holding Rauner accountable for this crisis of his own making and the families, schools, and social service agencies that continue to pay the price.
“Illinois families across the state deserve to know that this budget crisis is a crisis of Rauner’s own making,” said Pritzker campaign communications director Galia Slayen. “Illinoisans are hurting and he refuses to act on day 694 without a budget. Instead of bringing people together to negotiate, Rauner is too busy playing politics and standing in the way of compromise. Bruce Rauner has failed our state and working families have had enough.”
Illinois is approaching 700 days without a budget under Bruce Rauner. 700 days.
Social service agencies are shutting down, schools are scraping by, and working families are suffering, but Bruce Rauner doesn’t care, he continues to hold our state hostage.
Just like he has since the day he took office, Bruce Rauner would rather play politics instead of doing the job he was elected to do.
Don’t believe Bruce Rauner’s lies, it’s time to hold him accountable. Illinois deserves a budget and we deserve it now.
The Republicans have had this particular playing field all to themselves this year. The playing field has now expanded.
* Bernie’s column quotes Sen. Andy Manar, but he’s far from the only member of his caucus who believes this. These are all widely held notions..
Does [the Senate’s tax hike/budget bill votes] make the Democrats political targets?
“I’ve come to the determination that there’s always going to be criticism … no matter what we do,” said Sen. ANDY MANAR, D-Bunker Hill. “That comes with the turf of being an elected official. … I don’t lead with the idea that I’m here for self-preservation. I’m here to weigh the pros and cons of every issue … and then be accountable for the decision that I make to voters. … Our budget protects education. It protects health care. The governor has proposed devastating cuts to higher education. We protect higher education. … And we live within the governor’s spending limits that he put in his own budget in February.” […]
And in an interview Wednesday with the Illinois News Network — an independent project of the right-leaning Illinois Policy Institute — Rauner called the Senate action “a massive mistake. … The Democrats have been on a mission to just raise taxes without any significant reforms for years.” He said the “biggest failing” was the lack of property tax relief.
Property taxes go to local governments, not the state, but Rauner has been pushing for a freeze.
But, Manar said earlier, “It’s always a changing demand from the governor. We could have passed a property tax freeze bill yesterday, and it would have been something else today.”
I agree totally with the first part. Sometimes, you just gotta do what you gotta do. Rauner’s coming after them with tons of dough anyway, so whatevs.
But if they thought Rauner was bluffing on the property tax freeze, they should’ve called him on it and passed something that was more in line with the governor’s demand.
Legislation that would allow telephone giant AT&T to direct its resources away from landlines and into newer technology passed the Senate Wednesday.
The bill sponsored by Sen. Bill Cunningham, D-Chicago, passed easily by a vote of 57-2 now goes to the House.
The legislation would allow the phone company to free itself from a legal obligation to provide landline service in areas with old technology. AT&T has said almost 90 percent of its customers have gotten rid of landlines in favor of wireless technology or internet-based communication.
Cunningham said a compromise was reached with the bill’s critics who had concerns that residents wouldn’t be notified in a timely matter.
Supporters of legislation to crack down on repeat gun offenders continued to tweak the measure Wednesday to try to win over reluctant African-American lawmakers who fear the proposal will land more minorities in jail without addressing underlying causes of violence.
A deal has yet to be reached on the measure, which is being pushed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson. One version has cleared the Senate but faces a tougher hurdle in the House. In that chamber, debates on gun restrictions often fall among economic and regional divides, as Downstate lawmakers push to protect the rights of hunters amid the concerns of city and some suburban legislators who want to tackle gun crime.
Under the changes proposed by House Republican leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs, the state would set up a trial program for first-time, nonviolent offenders charged with certain weapons crimes that is focused on rehabilitation and keeping them out of the prison system.
Durkin’s amendment says the program is designed to recognize that some people, “particularly young adults in areas of high crime or poverty, may have experienced trauma that contributes to poor decision making skills, and the creation of a diversionary program poses a greater benefit to the community” than a jail sentence.
For years, there have been on-and-off efforts to abolish the role of lieutenant governor in Illinois.
While supporters say the savings from such a move would be significant, detractors have maintained the office has its own important focus and its absence could also create problems in the event a governor was unable to complete a term.
Sen. Sam McCann, R-Plainview, believes he has a way to appease both sides. He has introduced legislation that, if approved by voters as a constitutional amendment, would streamline the offices instead of scrapping one for the other.
Senate Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 15 would ask voters during next year’s election whether the lieutenant governor and governor’s operations and staff should be merged and have a single appropriated budget.
DAVE DAHL: You talk about finger-pointing. When you were a candidate, you said, “I’m going to take the arrows.” And you’ve been governor now for more than two years, I’m not sure I can identify an arrow that you’ve taken, as opposed to: it’s the unions, it’s the speaker, it’s the comptroller, it’s the Democrats. Where am I wrong on that?
GOV. RAUNER: Well, you know what I’ve been governor, Dave, for two years. It’s really dog years, it’s like fourteen years, but it’s two years. And we’ve changed great things on issues that we can control. We’ve brought down spending in government, we’ve cut spending, we’ve got new contracts with government unions — 18 new union contracts that are innovative and save taxpayers’ money. We’ve transformed the technology use inside our government. We’ve transformed criminal justice. We formed Intersect Illinois and recruited thousands of new jobs here to Illinois. We’ve done great things.
But where Speaker Madigan’s majority can block us, they’ve blocked us at every step. Their answer is not what’s good for the people of Illinois, it’s whatever can block the governor. And that’s what the speaker has done — and his allies. They blocked the Fair Foundation for here in Springfield to fix up the fairgrounds. They blocked the Thompson Center sale up in Chicago. They blocked the I-55 managed lane on the highway. They blocked a balanced budget. They blocked workers’ comp reform.
They don’t want to change the system because they created it over the last 35 years. They don’t want to admit that the system is broken. They don’t want to change it. They and their buddies in the political class are making a lot of money in the current system, but your average family — and I just saw that our middle class is down dramatically over the last 30 years in Illinois, middle class down dramatically in Illinois because the political class and Speaker Madigan are doing well and the working families aren’t.
That’s why we’ve got to change and we’ve got to stay strong on it.
DAHL: In two plus years, can you name a time where, “You know what, I messed up,” or “the buck stops with the governor,” or “that’s on me” or “I took an arrow?”
RAUNER: Boy, well in terms of taking arrows, I take arrows every day. We’ve got, all of us have a duty to change the system and provide a better future for the people of Illinois. That’s why we’re in office. And this should be public service. This should not be a way for elected officials to make money, accumulate power from their position.
I’m a volunteer, Dave, and I believe in term limits. I’m fighting for term limits. I would term limit myself at two terms no matter what else happens. And I’m not taking any pay, I’m not taking any pension. People should be in office for public service. And as part of public service what we should do every day is to think about: what’s the right answer for our children and our grandchildren? What’s the best answer for Clifford and his classmates in school? What’s the best answer for the young people of Illinois?
And what’s not the right answer is more deficit spending. What’s not the right answer is more debt. And it’s immoral that over the last 35 years under Speaker Madigan’s control we’ve got 180 billion dollars of debt. That is immoral. That is not fair to our kids — my kids, your kids, Dave — and we’ve got to change the system. And those folks who say: well let’s just raise taxes, like the Senate did yesterday, and things will be okay, we’ll get a balanced budget. You know what? The budget will be out of balance within a year or two, and we will have pushed more jobs out, we will have raised the cost of living on the families of Illinois, and we will continue our broken system. We cannot allow that to happen.
*** UPDATE *** From the Democratic Governors Association…
“Today Bruce Rauner confirmed that while he’s been sitting in the Governors chair for two years, he has not acted like one,” said DGA Illinois Communications Director Sam Salustro. “Governors pass budgets, stand up for their citizens, and take responsibility for their own failures and Bruce Rauner has not performed any of those tasks. Governors lead, and Bruce Rauner’s failure to do so is causing the state to slide backwards. Illinois families deserve accountability.”
WHAT: JB Pritzker to join the Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois in Peoria for a press conference announcement.
WHEN: Friday, May 26 at 11:00 AM
WHERE: Peoria Labor Temple
The ad claims that Pritzker “has been a champion for getting innocent men and women the justice they deserve.” It doesn’t say what he’s actually done on that front, or if he helped the man in the ad, however. I’ve asked for an explanation.
Pritzker on Thursday also unveiled a new TV ad and the campaign’s first radio ad. The TV ad focuses on Dana Holland of Sauk Village, who was wrongfully convicted of armed robbery, attempted murder and sexual assault and sentenced to 118 years in prison. After serving 10 years, Holland was released with the assistance of Northwestern University’s Center on Wrongful Convictions.
Pritzker and his wife gave $100 million to Northwestern’s law school, which included endowing the wrongful conviction center.
“I will never forget the people who stood by me, refusing to let my life be thrown away. People like J.B. Pritzker,” Holland says in the one-minute ad.
* And then there’s this…
Today, the JB Pritzker for Governor campaigned released its first radio ad, “Trust,” featuring Barbara Bowman. The new ad highlights JB’s commitment to working with educators like Bowman to ensure quality early childhood education for all Illinois children. In conjunction with the radio ad, the campaign is also releasing the next in its JB & Me video series featuring Bowman.
On the campaign trail, Pritzker has been trying to appeal to progressive voters who favor tax-the-rich policies to keep governments well-fed. Theme: Make the rich guys pay more! And in a May 13 appearance in Oak Park, Pritzker reportedly told the crowd that he opposes Rauner’s long fight to freeze property taxes.
Except, oops. Pritzker has managed to save nearly $230,000 on his own property taxes through a peculiar special designation from the highly political Cook County assessor’s office. The primary election campaign ads from other Democrats running for governor, or the general election campaign ads from Rauner, practically write themselves: J.B. Pritzker won big savings on his property taxes — but he wants yours to keep rising!
It’s not just that Pritzker won a reduced assessment of his own Gold Coast mansion (12,500 square feet). Several years ago he bought the mansion next door (6,387 square feet). He then allowed Mansion Two to fall into disrepair — and got a property tax break there too. […]
Among the reasons claimed by Team Pritzker: The house the Sun-Times dubbed “J.B.’s Trash Pad” evidently has no working bathrooms; somebody disconnected all the toilets. Wonder why.
* Related…
* ILGOP press release: Pritzker, Kennedy OPPOSE Property Tax Freeze, But BACK Tax-Hike Agenda
Thursday, May 25, 2017 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
According to a recent statewide poll, 76% of Illinois voters oppose “Right to Know” legislation because it will capture additional consumer data and eliminate anonymous use of the internet.
Of those Illinois voters that had an opinion:
- 90% oppose a law that would require websites to link names and browsing history – eliminating anonymous use.
- 77% oppose a law that prevents consumers from using anonymous accounts for emails and apps.
- 77% oppose an increase of data privacy regulations if these new policies were created by special interest groups that would directly profit from lawsuits.
“Right to Know” is a privacy policy in name only. In reality it would reverse many of the privacy protections already put in place by companies who handle your sensitive data.
“Illinois consumers can and should be protected from violations of their online privacy, but the legislation currently under consideration will simply make life harder for consumers and Illinois businesses.” – Omar Duque, President & CEO, Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (Chicago Sun-Times, April 11, 2017)
Senate Bill 1502 does not protect Illinois consumers. It hurts Illinois businesses.
Vote No on “Right to Know.”
Even during an unprecedented 23-month long budget impasse, the state of Illinois is somehow managing to make millionaires out of first-time commercial real estate buyers.
Michael Grazi, a 49-year-old Brooklyn native, is cautiously optimistic that he’s on the verge of striking it rich — if the state ever gets around to paying its bills.
Grazi bought an empty Springfield warehouse at a tax auction in 2014 for $760,000. After three years of failing to find a tenant for what Grazi claims is his first-ever real estate deal, the Bruce Rauner administration accepted his offer and signed a 5-year lease worth $2.04 million. The deal goes into effect on June 1st, 2017. […]
CMS claims between 80 and 100 DoIT staff will eventually occupy the building next to Harbor Freight after renovations are completed. Currently, those staff are working out of Building 30 at the State Fairgrounds. The DHS warehouse staff moved in from a former Department of Corrections property in Dwight, Illinois. The IDOT pole barn contains documents previously stored in various government agencies. None of the three properties are fully occupied, although CMS Director Michael Hoffman has insisted they will reach capacity later this summer. […]
Grazi claimed he was in line to win the DHS lease, but says he lost out to the Cellini family at the last second. CMS records show Grazi did apply for the IDOT deal, but he is not listed in the DHS paperwork.
Yikes.
And why the heck are we spending money to move employees from a government-owned building to a leased building?
*** UPDATE *** Gov. Rauner was on Tom Miller’s radio program today and was asked about the lease. Rauner blamed the procurement process. I kid you not…
It’s because of our procurement system. We’re blocked on what we can buy and how we can do. Our procurement system is broken. That’s why the procurement reforms we were able to get through the Senate will help make that better. We can save money. Our bureaucratic purchasing process with all the restrictions in it, costs, wastes taxpayer money about a half a billion dollars a year.
So, less hoops to clear will mean fewer needless and potentially shady leases?
Right.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* The Senate held a hearing on this issue today and our buddies at BlueRoomStream.com provided us an embed…
Chicago Public Schools will look to borrow $900 million in the coming weeks — adding to the district’s $9 billion debt — but it remains unclear if anyone will actually give them all the money.
The loans are $500 million more than what Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office announced last week when a financial rescue plan was outlined. That’s because the district is looking for loans not only to get through this school year, but also to start off next year with a financial cushion.
District officials told board members Wednesday that the district would likely “just run out of money” if it didn’t take out these loans.
“The consequences would be dire financial straits in June,” said Senior Vice President of Finance Ronald DeNard. “[The borrowing is] very critical to our cash flow.”
The board unanimously approved two different borrowing packages on Wednesday. The first, which Emanuel announced last week, allows the school district to borrow $396 million against unpaid state grants. The other allows the district to borrow $215 million.
District officials also said they will try to borrow an additional $285 million that it got the authority for last year and didn’t use.
Emanuel said he would wait until the Illinois General Assembly adjourns its spring session before identifying a local source of revenue to generate the $400 million to $600 million in annual revenue CPS desperately needs.
In other words, the mayor doesn’t want to show his hand too soon and let Springfield off the hook.
“If you think in the final seven days that I’m gonna tell Springfield everything I’m gonna do while they’re negotiating an education budget, you’ve got to get yourself another negotiator. That would be the dumbest thing you could do,” the mayor said.
“I’m supposed to … give them a road map of how to take them off their responsibility, which is in the [state] constitution, to fund education? The state of Illinois that is dead-last in funding education? The state of Illinois that is dead-last in actually paying their bills once they make their pledges? The state of Illinois that has one of the worst formulas [for] funding education for poor kids? I’m supposed to tell them what I’m gonna do so they don’t do their job? Not a chance.”
CEO Forrest Claypool indicated he would continue to fight for fair funding against Rauner, whom he frequently blames for CPS’ budget troubles.
And yet, Claypool did not mention that late last week that his general counsel quietly refiled a civil rights lawsuit against the governor, a stark contrast to the publicity he sought with press conferences and tours of African-American churches for its original iteration. The original suit was dismissed in late April by a Cook County judge who invited CPS lawyers to take another stab at it.
The lawsuit also was one source of contention between Claypool and his longtime friend, Emanuel, who believed the case a lost cause, as the Sun-Times has previously reported.
Illinois’s nearly two-year budget impasse has created a buying opportunity for municipal-bond investors willing to bear the risks, according to Citigroup Inc.
With the Democrat-led legislature and Republican Governor Bruce Rauner unable to forge agreement on how to close the state’s chronic budget deficits, Illinois’s 10-year bonds yield 4.43 percent, or 2.45 percentage point more than top-rated municipal borrowers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s the biggest premium since the indexes were started in January 2013.
That may mean it’s a good time to buy, according to Citigroup. Despite the governmental gridlock, the fifth most-populous state has “strong fundamentals” and the power to tax and grow its way out of the financial hole, the bank said in a report to clients this week, citing the diverse economy and strong legal security backing its debt. While Illinois hasn’t had a full-year budget in place since June 2015, it hasn’t missed any bond payments and state law has required it to continue making monthly deposits to its debt-service funds.
“The state’s credit rating and bond prices have suffered and may present opportunity for a bold investor,” analysts Vikram Rai, Jack Muller and Loretta Bu, said. “We strongly encourage investors to take advantage of the cheapness of the front and intermediate IL GOs.”
Makes sense. The problem proved to be manageable before the last tax hike partially expired.
Chicago lost population for the third year in a row last year, the only one of the nation’s top 20 municipalities to hold that streak.
According to new estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau, the decline of 8,638 in the year ended June 30, 2016, was rather small, just 0.3 percent of the total population. But combined with other Census data, the figures suggest that while the city is adding Asians, Latinos and whites, African-Americans continue to depart in large numbers, perhaps propelled by better job prospects and safer communities elsewhere. […]
According to the new estimates, Cook County, too, has lost people for three years, and at a faster rate: down about 21,000, or 0.4 percent in the past year. DuPage, Lake and McHenry counties also saw their populations dip, as did Cook suburbs including Arlington Heights, Evanston, Schaumburg, Skokie and Tinley Park. […]
And cities on the edge of the metro area that saw strong population gains prior to the sub-prime mortgage recession have been able to regain just a fraction of their prior magic. For instance, Naperville, Joliet and Elgin in the last year saw gains of just 0.2 percent to 0.3 percent.
Chicago’s population plunge continues to be a result, mostly, of losing residents to other states. About 89,547 residents left Chicago and its surrounding suburbs for other states in 2016, a number that couldn’t be offset by new residents and births, according to an analysis of census data released in March. The number of people leaving the Chicago region is the highest since at least 1990.
More than any other city, Chicago has depended on Mexican immigrants to balance the slow growth of its native-born population. During the 1990s, immigration accounted for most of Chicago’s growth. After 2007, when Mexican-born populations began to fall across the nation’s major metropolitan areas, most cities managed to make up for the loss with the growth of their native populations. Chicago couldn’t.
The entire Midwest has been losing residents, census data show. Detroit lost 3,541 residents from 2015 to 2016, and Milwaukee lost 4,366. But job and business opportunities are still stronger in neighboring Midwestern states than in Illinois, sending more Chicagoans to other parts of the Midwest than vice versa, experts said.
The greatest number of Illinois residents in recent years went to Texas, followed by Florida, Indiana, California and Arizona, according to 2013 Internal Revenue Service migration data.
Both Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office and Gov. Bruce Rauner’s office suggest political factors might be related to the population issues.
“Chicago’s population grew each of the first three years the mayor was in office, but since taking office the governor has driven uncertainty in every corner of the state, and Chicago has not been immune from the effects,” mayoral spokesman Grant Klinzman said. “The fact that the State of Illinois is leading the nation in population loss and the loss of college students is a direct result of a lack of leadership by Governor Rauner and the instability he has created.”
Eleni Demertzis, spokeswoman for Rauner, pointed to some factors specific to Chicago.
“Let’s review what’s happened in Chicago the past two years under Mayor Emanuel: The city’s property taxes and fees have skyrocketed; it has surging violence; and it has threatened to close schools due to decades of fiscal mismanagement,” she said.
So, the governor’s office finally admits that a top dog can make matters much worse over the course of two short years?
* Well, the group finally decided to drill down into the actual numbers this week instead of just posting blatant click-bait…
Illinois’ budget mess is the stepchild of Illinois’ pension mess, and for that perhaps nothing incites more steam-coming-out-of-the-ears fury from critics than the volume of six figure annual retirement payouts—topped by one at $581,000—pledged to former public workers.
Yet a BGA analysis of 2017 data from major pension funds for state and municipal employees vividly illustrates the disconnect between high-rolling pensions, legally protected but irksome as they may be, and the deep financial plight experienced by many of those funds.
Simply put, the state’s 17 major pension funds are slated to pay out more than $17.3 billion in benefits to some 483,000 retirees and survivors this year, totals that underscore the broad reach of pension checks for former public employees. Those payments do not come direct from tax money, though there is an indirect correlation that can render the public confused and budget makers dyspeptic.
Just four percent of all beneficiaries this year are in line for pension paydays exceeding $100,000, with the biggest checks largely going to once high-paid former school administrators as well as doctors and dentists at public teaching hospitals. Payments for the overwhelming majority of pensioners, most of whom don’t qualify for Social Security, are far more modest.
The median pension in 2017 for retired suburban and Downstate teachers stands at $52,016, the analysis shows, while the median for general state workers is $28,946. For university workers, the median pension stands at $26,101, while for non-public safety municipal workers outside of Chicago it is $9,064.
* Gov. Rauner took mostly softballs from TV interviewers yesterday, but Emilee Fannon at WCIA threw him a curve…
Despite donating $2.5 million to Liberty Principles PAC, Governor Bruce Rauner denies he has any knowledge of a controversial, privately-funded newspaper organization run by the same political operative.
Dan Proft is a conservative radio talk show host who runs the Liberty Principles super PAC. Proft also launched a private news publishing group, which is not required to disclose it’s donor or “investor” list.
Last week, Democrats accused Proft’s ‘Local Government Information Services’ of spreading “fake news” in an alleged plot to sabotage the effort to alter the education funding formula. They claimed without providing any evidence that the erroneous, outdated information published in these papers was planted by the Rauner administration.
— IL Working Together (@IllinoisWorking) May 25, 2017
*** UPDATE *** Pritzker campaign…
Today, on day 694 without a budget, Bruce Rauner finds himself embroiled in controversy over conservative fake news and the millions of dollars he spent to fund it.
Yesterday, Rauner took a break from attending concerts and chatting on Facebook, to sit down for an interview with WCIA’s Emilee Fannon. It didn’t go well. Fannon pressed Rauner on his connection to Dan Proft and Local Government Information Services, a Proft run company responsible for spreading fake news to Illinoisans. Rauner’s response:
“I’m not familiar with it.”
There are a few problems with that:
Bruce Rauner donated $2.5 million to the organization he says he is not familiar with. Local Government Information Services is just the latest iteration of Liberty Principles PAC. Rauner donated $2.5 million to the PAC back in June, which accounts for much of their funding. The PAC is known for, among other things, disseminating fake conservative news.
Bruce Rauner’s administration potentially leaked false information to the organization he says he is not familiar with. Just last week, the Rauner administration was caught leaking misleading and confidential state records to the conservative organization in order to prevent compromise on school funding reform.
Bruce Rauner has consistently benefited from the organization he says he is not familiar with. 694 days into the state’s budget crisis and it’s no surprise the real news hasn’t been too kind to Rauner. But Proft’s fake conservative news remains on his side. Proft’s organizations have consistently worked to advance Rauner’s interests in state legislative races and spreads fake news to his benefit.
“Bruce Rauner can’t get any good news as he continues to decimate our state’s economy so he decided to create his own,” said Prizker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “After spending millions of dollars to fund conservative fake news that lies to Illinois families, he says ‘I’m not familiar with it.’ Illinoisans have learned not to expect too much from Rauner, certainly not a budget or a firm grasp of the truth.”
TO: Representative Jeanne M. Ives
FROM: Mark Dyckman General Counsel
Illinois Department of Revenue DATE: May 24, 2017
RE: Senate Bill 9 Constitutional Issues
This memorandum is in response to your request that the Department discuss constitutional issues associated with the tax provisions of Senate Bill 9. These issues are explained below.
1. Service tax provisions. The bill inserts 5 discrete services in the Retailers’ Occupation Tax Act (ROT) (storage; laundry and dry cleaning; private detective, private alarm, and private security service; structural pest control service; and tattooing and body piercing). These servicemen are taxed on 100% of the selling price and enjoy an exemption for sales to businesses making purchases of service for the benefit of the business (other than resale). All other servicemen in Illinois continue to be taxed under the Service Occupation Tax Act/Use Tax on only the tangible personal property transferred incident to service; they enjoy no business exemption.
It is the Department’s opinion that there is a substantial risk that the service tax components violate the uniformity clause of the Illinois Constitution (Art. IX, Sec. 2). In order to survive scrutiny under the uniformity clause, a non-property tax classification must (1) be based on real and substantial differences between those taxed and not taxed; and (2) must bear some reasonable relationship to the object of the legislation or to public policy. Illinois service tax classifications have previously been invalidated under the uniformity clause, notably in the case of Fiorito v. Jones, 39 Ill.2d 531, 236 N.E.2d 698 (1968). In that case, existing service taxes were replaced with a tax on only 4 itemized service categories. The Illinois Supreme Court could find no reasonable differences between servicemen who were taxed and those who were not taxed. Senate Bill 9 carries similar risks since it chooses only 5 categories of servicemen from the thousands of servicemen in Illinois and taxes them differently. A court may struggle to find the “real and substantial differences” that justify this differential treatment. Any service tax that simply picks and chooses services at random to be taxed or exempt from tax runs this substantial risk of being unconstitutional.
While not focused on in Fiorito, it is also possible for uniformity violations to be found within specific classifications made in a bill. For instance, the bill continues to tax retailers making sales of tangible personal property to other businesses for business purposes (e.g., a retailer selling security cameras to a business). However, the bill does not tax servicemen (now included in the ROT) when they make sales of service for business purposes (e.g., a serviceman selling alarm services to a business).
2. Entertainment Tax Fairness Act. The bill creates a new 1% tax on subscribers of entertainment (paid video programming through numerous methods including cable). It is our opinion that this tax could be challenged under the Federal Internet Tax Freedom Act (ITFA). ITFA, in part, prohibits states from imposing discriminatory taxes on electronic commerce. A discriminatory tax under ITFA is a tax that is not generally imposed and legally collectible by a State on transactions involving similar property, goods, services, or information accomplished through other [than electronic commerce] means. SB 9 imposes tax on subscribers renting movies on an internet or cable platform. However, when a subscriber rents the same movie from a video store, he or she incurs no tax liability. As a result, the bill appears to impose a discriminatory tax because it taxes transactions made through electronic commerce more harshly than those made through non-electronic commerce. The Illinois Supreme Court used a similar analysis to strike down Illinois’ first “Amazon law” related to click-through nexus for certain internet links in Performance Marketing v. Hamer, 2013 IL 11496 (2013). The General Assembly corrected that constitutional infirmity in subsequent legislation. It is the Department’s opinion that there is a substantial risk that these provisions violate ITFA.
3. Video Service Tax Modernization Act. SB 9 creates a new 5% tax on providers of direct-to-home satellite service, direct broadcast satellite service, and digital audio-visual work. The bill does not tax cable companies. It is very likely that this tax will be challenged by satellite service providers. Across the country, satellite companies have argued that such laws are discriminatory because they do not tax cable companies. While results have been mixed, challenges have been consistent. As noted in the discussion of Fiorito, above, such a challenge could be asserted under the State Constitution’s Uniformity Clause.
Senate Democrats noted Rauner had recommended service taxes.
“Yikes! How’d the governor take that news? Sales taxes on services have been part of his economic agenda going back to 2014,” said John Patterson, spokesman for Illinois Senate President John Cullerton. “I’m sure he can get this resolved with his Revenue Department.”
