State Representative Darren Bailey (R-Louisville), announced today that he is drafting legislation to block the taxpayer funded sex-change operations in Illinois being pushed by Gov. JB Pritzker. The move to allow Medicaid funding of such operations will be taken up under new policies being established by the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS).
“This is yet another example of why people in our part of the state want to separate from Chicago,” declared Rep. Darren Bailey. “The Governor says that supporting the LGBTQ community by this publicly funded kind of operation is the right thing to do. Well, I disagree!” […]
“We do not need the government intruding on our private lives and at the same time we absolutely do not need government spending our tax dollars on programs that are morally offensive to most people,” Bailey added. “First it was the mandating of teaching LGBTQ history to our children and grandchildren and now it’s forcing taxpayers to pay for elective surgeries for sex changes. When will this stop?”
* From the governor’s press release…
“Expanding Medicaid to cover gender affirming surgeries is cost effective, helps avoid long term health consequences, and most importantly is the right thing to do. With continued attacks coming from Washington, this administration will always stand with our transgender community and their right to lead safe and healthy lives.” [said Gov. Pritzker]
The Department has begun developing administrative rules to offer this coverage. Input from stakeholders and the public will be considered during the public comment period. The Department anticipates coverage will become available to Medicaid members upon adoption of the administrative rule, which is likely to be this summer.
Under the proposed coverage rules, Medicaid members age 21 and older who are diagnosed with gender dysphoria will now be eligible for genital and breast-related surgeries.
In studying other state policies, the Department found that in addition to addressing the struggles associated with gender dysphoria, gender affirming surgery is also cost-effective. HFS determined that the policies of the State of Vermont particularly offer a comprehensive and appropriate approach and has been using these as a model.
Coverage for these procedures serve to prevent negative health impacts – such as depression and suicide. Seventeen states and the District of Columbia offer these services and have not reported significant cost increases. The most recent data available shows that 1,400 of the state’s 3.1 million Medicaid members are diagnosed with gender dysphoria, and last year around 2,500 prescriptions for hormone therapy were covered.
“For those facing gender dysphoria, every day can be a painful challenge,” said Theresa Eagleson, director of HFS. “Helping these individuals overcome their struggles through compassionate and comprehensive treatment is the right approach for them and for Illinois. They may not be a major portion of our total Medicaid membership, but the coverage can be so vital for everyone confronting this.”
The Department’s announcement comes during the week of International Transgender Day of Visibility, which is observed on March 31 every year.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2016 set rules to require access to gender transition services. However, the previous administration in Illinois did not create the policies and coverage requirements to accomplish this.
* Gov. Pritzker is proposing a $52 million operating increase for higher education while cutting pension payments by $13 million. So, while Sen. Rose is being a bit hyberbolic here, in a system that’s already severely underfunded, that $13 million shortfall will grow exponentially in the coming years…
Even though the governor is proposing a decrease in how much the state contributes to the State Universities Retirement System, total higher education funding is up from $3.86 billion in fiscal year 2019. Pritzker and university officials said the additional state funding is an investment in stability for the institutions.
State Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, said a 5 percent increase that fails to address pension costs doesn’t make sense. Growing pension costs will eventually eat up that increase. Pritzker’s proposed budget earmarks $1.63 billion for SURS, that’s down from $1.65 billion in fiscal year 2019 and about even with $1.63 billion in fiscal year 2018.
“When you go back to ‘05, ‘06, that skipped pension payment was a third of our unfunded pension liability now,” Rose said. “Our pension payments in 2002 were $2.2 billion a year, now they’re like $9.5 billion a year. OK, that is coming from somewhere and it’s coming out of higher ed and K-12 and everything else and ultimately comes out of the taxpayers’ pockets.”
“I would caution all the folks back home who got excited about this 5 percent increase for higher ed and just let them know that you don’t get there without this pension, whatever it is,” Rose said. “The retired teachers are saying it’s a skip, the [Illinois Education Association] and the [Illinois Federation of Teachers] are a little leery about it. I want to know a lot about it.”
* Robert Feder asked some prominent Chicago political reporters to offer predictions about and advice to Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot. Here’s Mary Ann Ahern…
Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot’s transition will no doubt be different, since she is not coming from a top post at the White House. Mayor Emanuel’s initial months with the press were rough, as he seemed to think he was still in that White House bubble. Perhaps you recall those moments when we tangled after he walked away after taking only a few questions, or when I asked him if his children were going to go to the University of Chicago Lab School and he took off his microphone and walked out of the interview — then turned around the next day and called another TV reporter to tell him his children would go to U of C.
Over his eight years in office, he adjusted that style and to this day offers off the record sessions with reporters and is less combative.
Lightfoot has needed the media through the campaign to get out her message, but we’ll see if that access continues. Of course my hope is it will, but I also realize campaigning and governing are far different. I would think all of us who cover City Hall — print, radio, TV — will be quite competitive on wanting to know how she plans to carry out her mandate for change. Since there really are no deadlines any more, social media will drive the coverage — as reporters look to be the first to know the mayor-elect’s next moves.
As for as City Hall’s operation, under Mayor Emanuel, reporters often got responses to questions from departmental spokesmen at the very last minute, just before deadline. It happened so often it seemed to be something of a strategy, but it actually hurt the administration because the responses couldn’t be thoughtfully considered or integrated into a story. What’s more, responses to FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] requests were painfully slow. Mayor-elect Lightfoot has promised openness and transparency. Changing these practices would be one way she could show it.
* The Question: Your own advice for the incoming mayor?
CSL Behring is in the early phases of a 1.8 million-square-foot expansion which will easily require an investment far north of $1 billion.
Although employment projections have not been publicized yet, there is speculation it could come close to doubling the existing 1,600-member workforce.
The Australian-based pharmaceutical company has not asked for a penny of financial assistance or tax breaks from any governmental body.
It has made one seemingly simple request. This request was made 16 months ago, and as of this week, it still has not been satisfied.
CSL wants a traffic light put at its pending new entrance at the intersection at the Lowe’s Hardware store. The company has told the Illinois Department of Transportation it will pay for the stoplight.
Incredibly, a state thirsting for manufacturing development has yet to OK what seems to be a simple request. […]
Abell said CSL is making the largest investment anywhere in the state and perhaps beyond and yet, their request cannot be resolved.
“We can’t get a three-way light to become a four-way light.” […]
Kankakee County Board Chairman Andy Wheeler said he’s been calling IDOT in Springfield, local state political leaders and anyone else he can think of to get the situation rectified.
I’d have to ban myself from my own blog if I wrote what I really think about this level of ineptitude.
*** UPDATE *** It should never have come to this, but I’m glad to see it’s finally being “expedited.” From Sen. Toi Hutchinson’s Facebook page...
This afternoon, I reached out to the Illinois Department of Transportation to receive an update on the situation with CSL Behring’s expansion plans in Bradley.
I was assured the stoplight project would be approved and the agency is currently working to expedite that approval.
There’s never been a Chicago politician who quite fits the profile of Andre Vasquez, the former battle rapper and current democratic socialist who just took down veteran 40th Ward Ald. Patrick O’Connor, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s city council floor leader.
That probably scares some people.
But those folks might want to nod to the wisdom of the 54 percent of voters in the North Side ward who waded through an onslaught of attack ads and concluded they have nothing to fear from the 39-year-old AT&T account manager, his music or his politics.
I stopped by Vasquez’s campaign office to satisfy my own curiosity about this new breed of aldermen. Vasquez will be part of a Chicago City Council bloc of at least five, probably six democratic socialists who, if nothing else, will alter the debate on a range of issues. […]
“I think even within democratic socialism there’s such a spectrum of different folks, right? I tend to be a counterbalance to some of the louder stuff, the louder hardcore, what some would view as extreme,” said Vasquez, noting that he sometimes takes flak within democratic socialist circles because he’s never read Marx and doesn’t “bleed rose red.”
“Everyone’s got their part to play,” he said. “Somebody’s going to be the loud one in the room because you need that kind of impetus to move things forward. And someone’s got to be the one who’s making deals on legislation. You can’t have ideological fights and think you’re going to come up with solutions.”
The thing that separates Brown from a lot of other political columnists is he is still a reporter at heart. He does the legwork you won’t see from some others. Anyway, go read the whole thing.
Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza has suspended $5.7 million in payments on an online state-employee health insurance program, a project so botched it also prompted her to begin ordering performance reports for all large state technology contracts.
Mendoza told The Associated Press she will review the contract with Georgia-based Morneau Shepell before deciding on payment. She plans a Monday announcement on that and the new requirement that state agencies complete annual reports for the public on the progress of their information technology deals exceeding $5 million.
A state audit last week found that the previous administration’s contract with Morneau Shepell for a custom-benefit portal that was supposed to save the state $500 million a year was so sloppily executed that the program, which auditors determined could have been done in house, is costing taxpayers $10 million extra a year and still isn’t delivering the services promised. […]
The Democrat’s Monday announcement will detail her “IT Milestone Report” for contracts over $5 million, which will be made public. Not only will it require updates on the purchased work’s progress, but agencies will have to confirm that everyone involved in contract decision-making has completed required paperwork disclosing potential conflicts of interest. And if a contract doesn’t include a provision for ensuring minority- and women-owned business participation in the work, the agency must explain why.
MyBenefits shifted state program administration from CMS offices in Springfield to a Morneau Shepell call center in Atlanta where the Canadian company created between 100 and 115 new jobs.
Following its rollout, MyBenefits users soon reported wrongful termination of health insurance for new retirees; unexplained changes in life insurance policies; difficulty accessing flex spending accounts; difficulty receiving claims reimbursements; and payroll errors.
Mendoza’s office will now suspend over $5.7 million in payments to the vendor pending further review. Next steps regarding outstanding payments to the company are to be determined, Comptroller Mendoza said.
“What happens next is going to be a balancing act. Taxpayers must be represented and employees and retirees need continuity when it comes to their benefits, especially health care. Should the contract be renegotiated or invalidated? Do we bring these functions back in house? What’s clear is Morneau Shepell failed to meet performance standards, and they owe it to the State of Illinois and the nearly 500,000 MyBenefits users to make this situation right as soon as possible,” Comptroller Mendoza said.
Mendoza’s office will also implement new contract reporting standards for Information Technology vendor agreements over $5 million. State agencies will be required to provide certifications that all conflict of interest disclosures have been submitted by state employees. If minority contracting goals aren’t included in a contract, agencies will have to explain why they have been omitted.
Most significantly, the Comptroller will implement an Information Technology Milestone report that, for the first time, will require state agencies to publish progress and performance updates on ongoing IT initiatives.
Comptroller Mendoza said both state agencies and the IT vendor community need to work quickly to restore confidence and integrity to the contract procurement and performance process.
“Over the last four years, the state has expended hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on IT projects, like MyBenefits, with little or nothing to show for it. Its past time to bring more transparency and accountability to a function that ultimately costs the state over $1.5 billion each year,” Mendoza said.
* We talked last week about how Rep. Curtis Tarver (D-Chicago) denied writing a tweet during the 2018 campaign about the need for rent control. Tarver, who voted against Rep. Will Guzzardi’s bill in subcommittee to lift the state’s ban on rent control ordinances, claimed that a staffer had written the tweet and he was opposed to rent control. He then claimed in another tweet that he’d never been in favor of rent control.
A revised plan to make it easier for McHenry County voters to abolish local townships is now headed to the Illinois Senate.
The plan, approved by the Illinois House this week, and also would require townships in Lake and McHenry counties to dissolve road districts that maintain less than 15 miles. The earlier version of the proposal was vetoed by then-Gov. Bruce Rauner in the last legislative session.
State Rep. David McSweeney, who introduced and championed the plan, said he is hopeful that this time the bill will become law.
“It has bipartisan support,” said McSweeney, a Barrington Hills Republican, noting that state Sen. Terry Link, a Vernon Hills Democrat, likely will be sponsoring the Senate version of the bill as he did last year. “I don’t want to be presumptuous but I hope the governor would sign it.”
The state’s environmental regulatory body was prevented from taking measures to address greenhouse gases in Illinois for more than 20 years.
That might soon end after the Senate voted Thursday on a bill led by Sen. Laura Ellman, a Democrat from Naperville, to repeal a law enacted in 1998 that blocked the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and the Pollution Control Board from introducing or ratifying rules comparable to those adopted at an international conference in Kyoto, Japan, in the late 1990s. […]
“This (1998 law) is basically, you can consider it a gag rule for Illinois. This prevents us as a state from proposing or doing anything as far as greenhouse gases,” Ellman said. “It doesn’t change the way that we have to comply with federal law at all.” […]
“The state can eventually enact new regulations on our power industry, which right now is 40 percent fossil fuel-based, and we have serious concerns about the direction that could take for our consumers,” Plummer said. “Right now, the state of Illinois needs to explore every source (of energy) it can, but by allowing the IEPA to come and set new standards, it’s going to have a significant impact on our power supply for communities, especially in downstate Illinois.”
The state currently produces vastly more electricity than it consumes.
Rick Chignoli, owner of Chignoli Auto Sales in Joliet, said he does not like the idea of his business being open on Sundays at all.
Chignoli said it’s been his experience that customers use Sundays as an opportunity to shop on the lot on their own without salespeople bothering them. He also said it’s nice to have one guaranteed day off, especially since staff for the family owned and operated business, which has been open for 45 years, comprises nearly all of his family members.
“It would be really difficult for me to tell them that they have to work on a Sunday,” Chignoli said.
Chignoli’s comments come after State Sen. Jim Oberweis, R-Sugar Grove, proposed Senate Bill 22, which would repeal the 1982 prohibition of dealerships selling cars on Sundays. The bill, which has been proposed in the Illinois General Assembly for six years in a row so far, would allow for the sale of motor vehicles on any six days of the week chosen by the business owner.
* The Better Government Association took a deep dive into IRS tax data and found that this happened after Illinois raised its income tax at the beginning of 2011 and before it partially rolled back at the end of 2014…
Over that time frame, the total number of federal tax filers in the state grew by just 9,000, an almost imperceptible one-tenth of 1 percent. But the number of filers reporting adjusted gross income between $100,000 and $200,000 grew by 16 percent, while the number reporting income in excess of $200,000 rose by 29 percent.
The wealthiest got even wealthier, with 3,618 Illinoisans reporting $1 million-plus incomes in 2014, up 25 percent from four years earlier. Collectively, the adjusted gross income of those earning more than $1 million annually jumped 37.5 percent over the period.
The portrait of those who left the state during the four years of the income tax hike is dominated by the young and those with modest earnings. Records show about 55 percent of departees were under 35 years of age, and more than 60 percent reported incomes of less than $50,000. […]
The IRS data do show a leap in net out-migration from Illinois in most years after 2012. Yet the biggest jump occurred following the partial rollback of the tax hike, underscoring the difficulty in making cause-and-effect arguments about population loss and tax burdens. […]
The declining number of Illinois tax filings is most pronounced downstate, records show. Macon County recorded a 6 percent drop in tax filers between 2011 and 2014, a period during which food processing giant ADM moved its headquarters and top executives from Decatur to Chicago. Even so, Macon experienced a 17 percent jump during those years in tax filers reporting income higher than $100,000. The tally of those reporting income below $100,000 fell 9 percent.
A similar dynamic played out in rural counties along or near the Indiana and Kentucky borders. Total filings dropped by a range of 1 percent to 6 percent between 2011 and 2014, while the percentage of those reporting six-figure incomes grew.
People tend to leave when they can no longer afford to stay. Or, in the case of young people, when they find opportunities elsewhere (which is why a properly functioning higher education system is so important).
* Several newspapers editorialized over the weekend in favor of a Fair Maps constitutional amendment. Here’s the Dispatch-Argus…
A whopping 70 percent of Illinois residents support independent maps, according to the Paul Simon Public Policy institute. But poll numbers are no substitute for the combined voices of Illinoisans demanding action. It was, after all, a citizen call-in campaign that convinced state leaders to end the record budget impasse.
Many Quad-Citians who joined that effort are part of a cadre of volunteers who helped collect nearly 600,000 signatures to put independent maps on the ballot in 2014. Only the Illinois Supreme Court stood in the way of a vote.
Now reformers are back with a new amendment designed to survive a court challenge and put an end to politicians’ “incumbency-protection racket.” But time is running out to keep it alive. The deadline to get the measure on the Nov. 3, 2020 ballot, is May 3. If it doesn’t make it, voters could be condemned to contend for another decade under the old, unfair and broken system.
1) A “citizen call-in campaign” ended the impasse? Huh?
2) The Supreme Court was just following precedent and pretty clear constitutional language. Proponents had devised yet another Rube Goldberg machine that couldn’t pass muster.
3) The deadline to get the proposal on the 2020 ballot is next spring, not next month.
We’re disappointed that Cullerton, typically the grown-up in the room on important issues, hasn’t assigned the proposal to a committee, a step that would allow hearings to begin. It has overwhelming support in his chamber: 36 senators from both parties, including Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, and Steve McClure, R-Springfield, have signed on as co-sponsors. That’s the necessary three-fifths support it would need to pass. The House version so far is supported only by Republicans.
Cullerton loves almost nothing more than the remap process. He lives for it, even.
Gerrymandering has not skewed fair representation in Illinois as much as it has in some other states. For example, Democratic candidates for the Illinois House got 58 percent of the vote in November, and the party wound up with 60 percent of the seats.
But as long as gerrymandering remains the political norm — red state or blue state — democracy is under attack.
Politicians shouldn’t choose their voters. Period. But convincing Cullerton and Madigan to pass a constitutional amendment is just not in the cards. They are who they are. Gov. Pritzker has pledged to veto a 2021 remap bill that isn’t drawn using Fair Map principles. That’s pretty much our only hope to get something done.
Pritzker wants approval this year of a proposed amendment to change the state’s income tax from a flat rate to graduated rates that would require wealthy Illinoisans to pay more. He argues that a graduated tax is needed to raise the billions necessary to solve the state’s many fiscal woes. His long-term plans for the state hinge on this change. But voters can’t weigh in on that until November 2020, either.
Illinois legislators historically have not been great stewards of taxpayer money, yet Pritzker is asking us to trust them with even more of it. How’s this for a deal? Pritzker wins legislative approval of the income tax amendment and throws his weight behind an amendment that would create an independent commission to redraw legislative maps. We call that a win-win.
* But David Greising, the president of the Better Government Association, has a different idea…
The rules governing the creation of electoral maps should be fixed. But the one that bears the most direct correlation to Pritzker’s progressive tax amendment is this: the clause that has protected pensions from any meaningful reforms for decades now.
The Illinois Constitution’s best-known codicil is the one that declares pensions are a contract that can never be “diminished or impaired.” Those words have stood in the way of several fair-minded reform plans, including one passed by the Democratic-led Legislature in 2013 that the Illinois Supreme Court later killed.
Adding a change to the pension clause, alongside the plan for reform of the tax system, would constitute a classic negotiating strategy: The progressive tax appeals to liberals and the pension fix to more fiscally conservative voters.
This is so easy to say from a tall ivory tower, but wake me when Mr. Griesling can identify the 71 House members and 36 Senators willing to do such a thing. I mean, they don’t yet even have enough votes for the progressive income tax proposal.
* We shouldn’t be so excited about stuff like this, but we live in Illinois, where higher education has been hit with funding cuts since Rod Blagojevich was governor and then everything was made worse by the impasse…
Representatives of the Illinois Community College Board told a Senate appropriations committee Thursday they were looking forward to a period of stability in higher education after weathering several years of state government dysfunction.
“I’m excited to come before you and not be talking about drastic budget cuts,” ICCB Executive Director Brian Durham told the committee, noting that community colleges have “continued a rich history of student success” despite “the challenges and uncertainty of a prolonged budget impasse, and declining state support.”
The ICCB’s total request is level with Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s budget proposal, which includes approximately $388.5 million from all funds. The total general revenue fund expenditures of $334 million represent an approximate 5 percent increase from a year ago for the community college system, which serves more than 675,000 students at 48 institutions.
Durham touted the governor’s proposal for adding $13.9 million into the system for community college operating grants and adult education programs.
“The governor’s investment in community colleges recognizes that we are the largest provider of public workforce training in the state,” Durham said.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker predicted Sunday he’ll have “a great relationship” with Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot — one that should certainly improve on the frosty four years endured by their predecessors.
Chicago’s incoming mayor dined with Illinois’ new governor late last week, days after Lightfoot’s landslide victory. Pritzker and First Lady M.K. Pritzker invited Lightfoot and her spouse, Amy Eshleman, to their Chicago home for dinner Friday, Lightfoot’s press secretary confirmed. […]
“The relationship is a good one,” Pritzker said Sunday at an unrelated news conference. “She, you know, is very much an advocate for so many things that I think we all care about for the city of Chicago. We’re going to have a great relationship.” […]
“We had four years where the mayor and the governor didn’t talk to one another,” Pritzker noted Sunday.
The governor also said Lightfoot is expected to visit Springfield on Wednesday. She’ll be staying until Thursday.
Illinois Senate President John Cullerton said fixing the funding of the Municipal and Laborers pension funds, as well as the city’s other financial problems, will remain a major issue. And he wants to talk to Lightfoot about whether there would be local taxation when it comes to legalizing marijuana or expanding gambling in Chicago.
As for the type of demeanor needed to work with Springfield’s leaders, Cullerton credited Emanuel’s ability to work behind-the-scenes with the four legislative leaders as well as rank-and-file lawmakers to push for legislation, including the school funding formula bill.
“He rarely came down here, but he had very good people, folks that represented him down here. The speaker and I would have frequent meetings at City Hall to kind of review legislation,” Cullerton said.
“When I meet with Lori I’ll urge her to do the same thing. The mayor is an important political figure in the state Legislature. … She has influence beyond the city borders,” Cullerton said. […]
“The speaker’s record of working with the mayors of Chicago who came over his tenure, at any shape or size, has been a good one and that will continue,” Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said.
“I’m going to be mayor of the city, I’m not going to be part of the party apparatus. I’m obviously a Democrat. Been a lifelong Democrat. That’s where my political interests lie, in terms of the values and the issues that I hold dear. But I’m not going to be part of the broken machine. Ever. That’s not happening,” Lightfoot said.
In what would be another break from the past, Lightfoot also aims to distance herself from the state party, led by Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
She didn’t have a direct answer when asked whether Madigan should remain head of the Democratic Party of Illinois.
“I respect the speaker. But I believe in term limits,” Lightfoot said. “He is the leader and I’m going to do everything I can to have a good, productive working relationship with him. As with (Senate President John) Cullerton. But I’m sure there are going to be issues on which we disagree. But that too is part of the democratic process.”
* Related…
* Mayor Rahm Emanuel: “In our first meeting, as well as in subsequent conversations, I made it very clear to the Mayor-elect that I would not move forward on these projects if she wanted to delay the process. While I firmly believe in the value of these projects to the entire city, out of respect for her wishes and request, I will honor my commitment and delay the vote. I am hopeful that under the mayor-elect’s leadership of the new City Council these critical projects will move forward and bring the kind of investment and job creation that has been a hallmark of the past eight years.”
WHEREAS, The City of Chicago is often bailed out by taxpayers in the rest of the State, such as the $221 million bailout for the CPS pension system that was signed into law last year;
Halbrook’s resolution claims that “the City of Chicago is often bailed out by taxpayers in the rest of the State,” pointing to the funding CPS received in 2017 to help cover its pension costs.
We previously rated a similar claim False because the measure only provided CPS with financial support the state had long offered to all other districts in the state except Chicago.
Halbrook also upped the ante by contending the money for CPS wasn’t an isolated incident, with the state “often” throwing a lifeline to Chicago taxpayers at the expense of those Downstate. He offered no evidence, however, and academic research has found the opposite is true.
Experts we spoke with summed up the claim as a “myth,” “clearly not true” and “total nonsense.” We have a rating for claims that fit that description: Pants on Fire!
* But Rep. Halbrook has come up with a new explanation for why Downstate doesn’t get as much money as it appears…
It is, of course, true that downstate and central Illinois receive more direct state-level spending than income-tax dollars we pay. But this simple data point leaves out who actually benefits from that spending.
For example, tax dollars that flow to the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign are actually used to subsidize the education of students from throughout the state of Illinois.
A fair study would show that the benefit of higher-education spending is less to the county hosting the institution and far more to the residents of the counties sending students to those institutions.
*Sigh*
Using that logic, couldn’t you also point to the “free” room and board that Chicago-area residents are receiving from the state while locked up in Downstate prisons?
A “fair study” would show the benefits to the entire state of higher-education spending, but when you’re so focused on individual counties instead of the state as a whole, this is the silly “logic” you’re bound to come up with.
* Related…
* Davidsmeyer signs onto separation resolution for Chicago, sparks debate: “It’s more of a frustration of the policies than the true belief that Chicago and Illinois would be better off as separate states,” he said. “… I don’t believe that Chicago and the state of Illinois should be separated. Our relationship is mutually beneficial.”
Illinois will become the eight state to raise the legal age to 21 to buy or use tobacco products after Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed new legislation into law Sunday afternoon.
Flanked by lawmakers and public health advocates in Chicago, Pritzker signed the Tobacco 21 bill, which goes into effect July 1. The new law raises the legal age from 18 to purchase or use cigarettes or other tobacco products as well as vaping products. […]
Former Gov. Bruce Rauner vetoed similar legislation, saying people will just cross state lines to get tobacco products.
Before signing the bill, Pritzker noted that 1.5 million more young people used e-cigarettes in 2018 than in 2016. “We’re dealing with an old problem in a new form,” he said.
With Pritzker’s action, beginning on July 1, Illinois will join California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Oregon, Hawaii, Maine and Washington, D.C. in banning sales to those under 21. Included in the ban are cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco and nicotine-based products such as e-cigarettes and vaping materials.
The legislation also does away with penalties for underage possession. Businesses, however, will still face fines and other sanctions for selling to underage customers.
Supporters say the law will discourage teenagers from a deadly, lifelong habit. The legislation’s opponents contended if 18-year-olds can vote and serve in the military, they should be able to decide whether to smoke.
* Kevin Burns, JUUL Labs CEO…
Tobacco 21 laws fight one of the largest contributors to this problem – sharing by legal-age peers – and they have been shown to dramatically reduce youth-use rates.
“Often, we only think of the 18, 19 and 20-year olds being affected by this law, but actually the target age group is the 14-17-year olds. One of the points of this legislation is to remove the 18-year-old supplier from the high schools,” said Rep. Camille Lilly.
Ninety-five percent of smokers start before the age of 21, and in Illinois 5,700 teens become new daily smokers each year, according to a Cook County Health press release.
The City of Chicago raised the age to purchase tobacco products to 21 in 2016, becoming one of the first municipalities to tax e-cigarettes, ban tobacco discounts and require that clerks who ring up tobacco sales be at least 21-years-old. A similar Cook County law was set to go into effect in unincorporated areas June 1.
“As a result of the city’s robust policy agenda and enforcement actions, teen smoking in Chicago has reached a record low of six percent, dropping by more than half over the last six years,” Emanuel’s office stated in a press release.
Freshman Rep. Terra Costa Howard (D-Glen Ellyn) was reportedly none too pleased when Think Big Illinois began running TV ads in her district.
Think Big Illinois is the dark money group created to support Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s progressive income tax proposal. It started running ads in late March in four individual House districts a couple of days after an opposing dark money group called Ideas Illinois targeted the same Democratic House members: Costa Howard, Monica Bristow, Jonathan Carroll and Mary Edly-Allen.
One of the Ideas Illinois ads ended by telling viewers: “Tell Terra Costa Howard to vote ‘No’ on the jobs tax.” A pro-Pritzker Think Big Illinois ad told viewers: “Tell Terra Costa Howard to vote ‘Yes’ and put the middle class first.”
None of the four Democrats were given a heads-up about the pro-tax ads. And word got around that Rep. Costa Howard wasn’t happy, so a Think Big staffer reached out to her. I’m told she didn’t specifically demand that the ad be taken down, but the group pulled the spot off of cable TV almost right away.
Costa Howard scored a huge victory when she defeated Rep. Peter Breen last November. Breen (R-Lombard) is a nationally known pro-life attorney and by last year had become the House Republican floor leader. But Costa Howard beat him by a solid seven points.
Normally, legislators like Costa Howard are encouraged by staff to not stick out their necks on controversial legislation. Costa Howard voted against the $15 minimum wage bill, as did Reps. Bristow and Edly-Allen. The idea is to hold the seat for the party and let other, more politically secure members pick up the slack on the tough stuff.
But the Democrats have 74 seats and the governor needs 71 House votes to put his graduated income tax proposal on the ballot. Since the House Republicans are universally opposed, he can’t afford to lose more than three Democratic votes.
While the purpose behind the ads was to defend fellow Democrats against attacks from the other side, the spots can be perceived as Democrats being pressured in their own home districts by a billionaire governor to “put the middle class first” and vote for his tax plan. A vote against that plan, of course, would be perceived in that frame as a vote against “the middle class.”
Also, governors tend to inform legislators when they so much as travel to their districts. It’s seen as a common courtesy. Running TV ads without notice like this is simply unheard-of.
Even so, the other three Democrats said it was no big deal. Rep. Jonathan Carroll (D-Northbrook) said he has “no issues with the Think Big ads.” Carroll is the most liberal of the four. Rep. Carroll said he “appreciate(s) them engaging my constituents on an important issue.”
Rep. Mary Edly-Allen (D-Libertyville) said “I welcome the efforts to provide cover in my district on the issue.” The freshman claimed the local response to the ad “has been very positive and I look forward to continued discussions.”
Rep. Monica Bristow (D-Godfrey) echoed her colleagues, saying she “welcomed” the ads, and claiming “I think it’s important that my constituents hear the other side of the issue.”
And how are things going in the House? So far, House Speaker Michael Madigan hasn’t done much more than informally poll his members. He does that to see how many votes he (and the governor) will eventually need to find.
As of last week I was told, “We don’t have 60.” That’s far short of the 71 they need, but members aren’t really being pushed on it yet. Pritzker’s folks are having some informal chats with members.
To say that this is the governor’s top priority would be a huge understatement. Pritzker has staked his entire future on this proposal. His “bridge” budget proposal kicks the can in anticipation of eventual fiscal relief from his so-called $3.4 billion “Fair Tax.” It’s fully integrated into who and what he is.
If Pritzker fails, it will be the most spectacular flame-out since Republicans helped override Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of the 2017 tax hike. Come to think of it, this could be worse because that override saved Illinois from junk bond status and if this graduated tax thing goes down Pritzker could be the one tagged “Gov. Junk” unless they quickly switch their focus to a higher flat tax. And that’ll come with its own political nightmares.
Today, Gov. JB Pritzker took the following bill action:
Bill Number: SB 886
Description: Provides for the sale of the James R. Thompson Center by competitive sealed proposal process within two years. The purchaser must enter into an agreement with the City of Chicago and CTA to maintain operations of the Clark & Lake station.
Action: Signed
Effective: Immediately
The timeline of the JRTC sale is as follows:
Phase 1 (Present to Months 3-6) — The state will draft a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to interested purchasers within the next four to six weeks and will re-engage negotiations with the City of Chicago regarding zoning and transit station within three to six months;
Phase 2 (Months 7-12) — The state will issue an RFQ and begin discussions with interested purchasers in four to six months’ time and draft and publish a Request for Proposal (RFP) to acquire and develop the property in four months’ time;
Phase 3 (Months 12-17) — The state will allow four to five months for interested purchasers to develop their proposals and respond to the RFP;
Phase 4 (Months 15-20) — The state will evaluate proposals, which includes discussions with proposers to clarify responses, within three months;
Phase 5 (Months 17-22) — The state will negotiate and award the contract within two months, which will conclude before the 24-month deadline.
Simultaneous with the sale of Thompson Center, the state will implement a planned relocation of current Thompson Center employees to the Michael A. Bilandic Building and other under-utilized, state-owned or rented facilities, consistent with recommendations made by the newly-created Pension Asset Value and Transfer Taskforce.
* The Question: Think it’ll happen? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please…
…Adding… Lori Lightfoot on the sale of the Thompson Center back in February…
As a lover of Chicago’s architectural history, in general, my first instinct will always be to protect historical treasures. The Thompson Center has had a checkered history and there are valid concerns about maintenance. The fight between outgoing Governor Rauner and Mayor Emanuel should be in the rearview mirror. I would welcome dialogue with the Pritzker administration to devise a plan for the building’s future.
* Why Illinois should reform the hotel-motel tax - For municipalities, a vibrant local economy equals more business for local hotels. In the end, a town’s size should not prevent it from investing tax revenues in projects that will strengthen the entire community.
Q: You ran on getting rid of aldermanic privilege (the practice of aldermen having veto power over all permitting and zoning decisions in their wards). That’s probably easier to talk about than the mechanics of actually withdrawing that practice. It’s not like it’s a line in the city code. It’s deeper than that. How do you go about addressing that?
A: I’m going to consult with some of the alderman who have been supportive of the campaign. I’m very clear on it. Some of them have a very different view, but I’m very clear that it’s got to go. I want to do it in a way that doesn’t do further harm, the quintessential throwing the baby out with the bathwater. But it’s got to go. How do you do it? My thoughts are that because it’s not written into law and it’s just a very dominant culture … I’m thinking about an executive order from day one that says in more legalese than this, “This is not a thing. We will no longer honor this.”
Because the way that aldermanic prerogative works is there’s got to be compliance with the executive branch, because otherwise it doesn’t work. So, you’ve got to eliminate that compliance, and you make it a mandate. And then you do training, particularly in the city licensing departments whether it’s zoning, buildings, housing, planning, and you pick the people who run those agencies and the deputies that are pledging allegiance to the new world order and good governance. And then I think you have the inspector general do some spot audits to make sure that there is real compliance.
You obviously have to engage in a dialogue with the City Council. It’s not that alderman no longer are able to have notice and an opportunity to be heard. If aldermen are doing their job right, they should be the people who are closest to the vibe and the beat in their neighborhood and have a very important role to play on a number of different issues, but not a unilateral, unchecked right. That’s gone as soon as I take office, because it prevents us from engaging in citywide initiatives, it prevents us from moving ahead on important issues like affordable housing and it is fundamentally corrosive and there is no way to monitor it in a way you can bring transparency and accountability to it.
If I’ve got to go and kiss the ring of the alderman for everything, for a license to have a block club party or whatever it is and there is a catalog of all the things that are run through the aldermanic offices, that is fundamentally a problem. And it’s the tens of thousands of touches that an alderman has on a regular basis with constituents who think that they have to give some additional thing to get access to basic city services, that is the corrosive effect. And it’s obviously worse when an alderman takes that power and then tries to monetize it for him or herself.
Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot on Friday accused Ald. Edward Burke (14th) of attempting to organize the City Council against her and threatened to expose aldermen who dare to conspire with him.
“Any alderman who’s gonna try to align themselves with Ed Burke at this time — we’re gonna make sure that gets very public and exposed . . . I’m going to do everything I can to shine a light on that,” Lighfoot told the Sun-Times.
“They’re gonna have to explain to the public why they’re aligning with him against the voters of this city.” […]
“We’re not gonna resurrect the Vrdolyak 29 in the form of Ed Burke. That’s not going to happen. He can try all he wants. He’s not going to be successful,” Lightfoot said. […]
“He’s been very successful in accumulating power despite the odds and he’s not gonna give up on that easily. But beware.”
* Lightfoot urged to back off proposal to raise hotel tax: Michael Jacobson, president of the Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association, noted the total tax on a Chicago hotel room already stands at 17.5 percent. That’s the highest of any of Chicago’s leading competitors for conventions and tourism. … During Emanuel’s tenure, the number of tourists visiting Chicago grew by 40 percent—from 39 million to 55 million-a-year.
At the Barbara Sizemore Academy, a charter school in the Englewood neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side, only 62 percent of students are protected against measles. The rest, 98 students, either have exemptions, aren’t vaccinated or didn’t bring their shot records.
Jocelyn Mills, the school principal, says the number is concerning but her hands are tied.
“Each child’s individual circumstance in their family is different,” she said, adding there are economic and social barriers that keep students from getting the shots or bringing in the paperwork.
Low-income families often move frequently, and it gets harder to keep track of important documents. Some families, she said, don’t have access to medical centers where they can get free care and some students don’t live with their parents or legal guardians. […]
But excluding students is extremely difficult for school administrators to do, Mills said. “How do you close the door to 40 percent of the population, especially when you are also on the hook for attendance?”
I’m not sure what the answer is, but the state might start with putting resources on the ground in low-income areas and telling upper-income private schools to increase their vaccination rates or face a shut-down.
* Thankfully, the Senate will try to work something out with the incoming mayor instead of just blindly zooming a bill through the chamber like the House did yesterday…
The Illinois House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to make Chicago’s school board elected rather than appointed by the mayor, approving a bill that Chicago Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot told WBEZ would be a “recipe for disaster and chaos.” […]
The vote comes just two days after Lightfoot won the election to be Chicago’s new mayor. Lightfoot campaigned in support of moving to an elected school board, but told WBEZ last week that the bill, which calls for 20 board members plus a board president, would create a school board that’s far too big.
“Having a school board of 21 people is completely unwieldy,” Lightfoot said in an interview. “That will be a recipe for disaster and chaos. It’s way too large.”
Q: A bill allowing a Chicago elected school board passed the House today (Thursday). Under that version, I think there’s 20 members and the legislature gets to draw the districts. Do you have thoughts on who should draw the boundaries, how many members there should be?
A: Well, I think there are some fundamentals that still haven’t been addressed, and I’m not fond of the bill in its current iteration at all. I don’t think you can have a number of people on a board that’s completely unwieldy and are not going to be able to do their business. We haven’t answered the questions of, “OK, if we have an elected school board, what’s the selection process?” And it can’t just be this is like aldermanic races. That’s not going to work.
I want actual parents to be able to sit on that board, and if we treat it like another political body, that’s not going to happen and that to me is absolutely untenable and a nonstarter. What the level of experience is that people have to bring, and the kinds of experiences also make a difference to me. I favor a situation where we have people who have come through the (Local School Council) process, because they have skin in the game. That means they’re probably a parent. They’ve been able to make and meet budgets. They have some expertise in doing hiring. I think all those things are very valuable skills that will help inform a school board. So obviously, Mr. (state Rep. Robert) Martwick did not confer with me about the content of his legislation. That to me is a nonstarter.
Q: So, maybe you’ve had to serve for a certain number of years on a Local School Council before you can run for school board?
A: Yeah. I want to spend a little more time with it, but that makes more sense to me than just throwing it open, because then it just becomes another political monster. We’re going to replace one broken system with another broken system, and that’s not going to build confidence in anyone. I don’t favor this bill at all. I don’t favor it.
Lots of interesting stuff in that interview, by the way. Click here to read the whole thing.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker has staked his future budgets on convincing lawmakers and voters to change the state’s constitution to allow for a progressive income tax with higher rates for those who earn more, but not enough members of his own party in House are prepared to put the question to voters.
Fewer than 60 lawmakers in the House are in favor of asking voters to change the state’s flat income tax to a graduated one, according to a report from Politico. That means Pritzker could have to look to other sources to come up with the more than $3 billion he said the state needs to stabilize its finances.
Pritzker ran on changing the flat income tax to a progressive one. For that, there would need to be a constitutional amendment approved by voters. The House would need 71 votes to pass it to voters. Multiple roll call votes on the progressive tax proposal registered support “in the 50s,” Politico reported. To pass just the rates, if there were ever a constitutional change from the flat tax to the progressive tax, it would require a simple majority of 60 votes in the House.
“Leaders are having difficulty getting to 60 votes because some Democrats are pushing back on the measure. So the vote may be moved to April 30,” Politico reported.
Pritzker remained optimistic about his graduated tax plan on Thursday.
“I wouldn’t believe everything you read, but I would say, especially a few of you out here,” Pritzker said in Springfield Thursday.
State Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago, confirmed Democrats don’t have the supermajority needed to get the constitutional amendment question on the ballot for voters.
“What we have now is a roll call that is short of the 71 votes, but we’ll see how the governor convinces the public and legislators and see things the way that many people do,” Ford said.
Ford said it’s important the governor doesn’t attempt to force his will on the legislature and voters. The governor needs to hear their concerns.
I went over this with subscribers yesterday and earlier today, but suffice it to say there were no hard roll calls taken and there was never a set, scheduled early April House vote to “move.” That’s just nonsense.
But a Democrat in the House said there’s been “grumbling” and “a fair degree of hesitation” in the caucus, particularly over the details of the rates.
Another Democrat, state Rep. Mike Zalewski of Chicago, said it should be relatively easy for lawmakers to put a graduated income tax on the ballot. But he says there’s more resistance on the question of what the tax rates should be.
Pritzker is proposing a modest tax cut for every income bracket below $250,000 dollars a year. In some cases, that tax cut could be $100 dollars.
State Rep. Kathleen Willis, a member of the House Democratic leadership team, said there was some concern that trumpeting such a small amount as a tax cut could be perceived as “almost insulting” by some constituents.
Still, another Democrat involved in negotiations on the tax, Rep. Robert Martwick of Chicago, says he’s not worried yet.
In this case, I’m gonna agree with Martwick. They are definitely short in the House right now. But aren’t they always short before a big vote? Yes. They keep those House Democrats afraid of their own shadows, so they have never started with a comfortable surplus of income tax votes in that chamber as long as I’ve been around. Remember marriage equality? Same sort of thing.
Also, is it common for legislators to grumble before a big and important vote like this? Always. Heck, it’s common for them to grumble on good days. That’s just what they do.
Pritzker needs lawmakers to pass a constitutional amendment eliminating the state’s flat income tax protection, which would then head to voters on the 2020 ballot. But scheduling in the General Assembly indicates Pritzker will fail to get his amendment before a key deadline: April 12, when lawmakers leave Springfield for a two-week spring break.
April 12 is not a “key deadline” for anything but moving substantive bills to the other chamber.
The time to worry is if Speaker Madigan ever takes a walk. I don’t yet see any evidence of that on this particular topic.
* I have an appointment this morning that I can’t get out of and then I think I may try to get a haircut because, man, it’s getting long. I might also run some much-needed errands after that. I just have no idea when I’ll be back today.
So, keep it Illinois-centric, use this thread to discuss any breaking news and, above all, be kind to each other.
…Adding… Appointment is over, hair is cut, errand was accomplished. I’ll be back after I finish my lunch.
Megadeth will open the Illinois State Fair by playing on Friday, August 9 on the Illinois Lottery Grandstand Stage. They have long been one of the most influential and respected acts of heavy metal music with 38 million albums sold (6 consecutive platinum) and 12 GRAMMY nominations.
Staying true to their signature style with incisive vocal styles and penetrating lyrics, Megadeth has released their 15th studio effort, Dystopia, much to the delight of fans. Dystopia debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard Top 200, No. 1 on the Hard Music/Top Rock Chart, No. 2 on the Top Album Sales chart, No. 2 on iTunes’ Top Albums chart and No 1. on iTunes’ Metal chart. Dystopia also won a 2017 GRAMMY® Award for “Best Metal Performance” for the title track. […]
Friday, August 9: Megadeth
Saturday, August 10: Bad Company with Foghat
Sunday, August 11: Dan + Shay
Monday, August 12: The Traveling Salvation Show – A Tribute to Neil Diamond
Tuesday, August 13: Why Don’t We
Wednesday, August 14: Pentatonix with Special Guest Rachel Platten
Thursday, August 15: Old Dominion
Friday, August 16: Snoop Dogg w/ Dogg Pound, Warren G, DJ Quik, Twista, and Do or Die
Saturday, August 17: Shinedown
Sunday, August 18: Reba McEntire with Rachel Wammack
* The Question: Your suggested 2019 Illinois Lottery Grandstand Stage advertising slogans?
Illinois has 102 counties, so that patchwork of regulations is bad enough. But imagine the potential problems if 1,432 townships step in with their own rules.
Illinois lawmakers have pushed through legislation that would keep townships from holding up wind farm construction in the midst of a court case over that issue in central Illinois.
The legislation would restrict regulation of wind farm establishment to the county or a municipality if the windmills are close enough. It would effectively remove townships from having any objection to wind farm construction.
Senator Chapin Rose, R-Mohamet, said that a township is fighting against a wind farm in his Champaign-area district and the bill was simply meant to squash that legal challenge.
“Instead of allowing those folks to have their day in court, we’re going to statutorily legislate an outcome for that court case,” he said Wednesday.
In an unusual move, Senators held a hearing on the bill when it was still in the House of Representatives, saying that they would discuss it, but not vote on it under the assumption that it would be sent straight to the Senate floor.
In a previous hearing, a representative with EDP Renewables, the company that is fighting the wind farm case in a Douglas County Court, said the suit was holding up the company’s progress on building a wind farm there, costing money and endangering the process in its entirety.
This is not a perfect solution and it is unusual that the General Assembly is stepping in during a court case and the process was unnecessarily rushed in the Senate. Also, some folks have serious gripes about what they view as lax county rules. Sen. Rose says the issue has sharply divided people in his district, and I do not doubt that.
But we need some semblance of uniformity and predictability here. State law already says counties should be in charge. Townships were given no explicit statutory role. If this is allowed to continue, other townships could very well jump in with their own rules.
A super PAC affiliated with the Illinois Network of Charter Schools is celebrating some of the winners it backed in Chicago’s aldermanic runoff elections on Tuesday.
The Action Independent Committee of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools dramatically boosted its spending in the 2019 election. It spent less than $30,000 on materials supporting only two aldermanic campaigns in 2015. This year, that spending jumped to more than $800,000.
INCS endorsed 13 aldermanic candidates this year. Between February and Tuesday’s elections, 10 of those candidates won. […]
But INCS took a major loss in the 40th Ward on the city’s Far Northwest Side. The group endorsed longtime Ald. Pat O’Connor and spent more than $80,000 on his re-election campaign, the largest amount it spent on any runoff race. O’Connor was defeated by political newcomer Andre Vasquez.
This is quite surprising because it really seemed that the tide had completely turned on charter schools, particularly in Chicago.
The group reported raising $1.7 million since mid-November, much of it from Walmart heirs. It spent about half that on independent expenditures.
* These include races in both rounds. INCS winners…
O’Connor and Joe Moore probably couldn’t be helped. Their time had passed. Acevedo had his own issues.
…Adding… Very good points by Dri. They didn’t mail on their issues and weren’t necessarily the only candidates in their races…
Interesting that the charter group that didn’t actually mail on their issues us claiming wins, by candidates all except one also endorsed by the Chicago Federation of Labor, somehow represents some big gains for their issues. https://t.co/ozOjxwP5jY
* Now, let’s take a look at candidates reporting contributions from the Chicago Teachers Union. As above, these include results from both the first and second rounds. Winners…
Sawyer (6)
Sadlowski Garza (10)
Taylor (20)
Rodriguez (22)
Sigcho-Lopez (25)
Martin (47)
Maldonado (26)
Ramirez-Rosa (35)
Hadden (49) ADDED: Vasquez (40)
* Losers…
Murphy (39)
Yanez (15)
Dalieden (40)
Wozniak Francis (46)
* To be determined…
Hairston (5)
So, the final tally is 10-3 vs. 10-4-1. [Corrected because I put one contest in the wrong spot.]
* Looks like we have an official Senate vehicle bill and a hearing target date for recreational cannabis…
There are no details filed yet for a bill to legalize recreational adult-use marijuana in Illinois, but that did not stop the state Senate Executive Committee from voting on the measure Wednesday.
As it stands now, Senate Bill 7 is what is referred to as a “shell bill,” which can be amended with substantial language in the future. The shell bill passed committee by a 12-4 vote, with all four Republicans present voting against.
“We’re going to be coming back to the committee with the full amendment,” said state Sen. Heather Steans, the bill’s sponsor. “Hopefully we’re going to file it by the end of April and we’re going to have plenty of time to hear it and debate it.”
The actual details of the bill are being negotiated privately by lawmakers, the governor’s office and cannabis industry advocates who say the existing medicinal growing market has the capacity to meet the initial demand of adult-use marijuana legalization.
Steans said she and other stakeholders are looking to allow people 21 and older to have a little more than an ounce at a time. They are also considering proposals to add three new licenses to the state’s existing medical marijuana program’s cultivation and dispensary licenses.
“So keeping the cultivation centers in place, but adding a craft grow license for a smaller footprint that could be loaded more flexible and have smaller capital entry requirements, a processing license, a transportation license and then the dispensary license,” Steans said. […]
Lawmakers have also talked about making sure there’s diversity among those who have legal pot industry licenses, including efforts to get communities and groups that have been most affected by the prohibition of the drug involved in the legal industry. […]
Lawmakers are still discussing whether the bill will allow adults to grow their own cannabis at home, Steans said. Law enforcement groups have raised concerns about a possible provision to allow five plants per household.
“There is discussion about maybe limiting that to just medical patients, which certainly may be an easier way of enforcing it,” Steans said.
Two days after Chicago elected a mayor who supports an elected school board, the Illinois House on Thursday approved a measure that would make that change.
By a vote of 110-2, the House passed a bill that would replace the current seven-member Chicago Board of Education, whose members are appointed by the mayor, with a 20-member board elected from districts across the city beginning with the 2023 election. The board would also have a president, elected citywide. The General Assembly would draw the initial district boundaries, and the setup would be phased out after the 2027 election unless lawmakers in Springfield vote to extend it. […]
Martwick, a Preckwinkle ally, publicly clashed with Lightfoot during the campaign when he crashed a news conference during which she criticized a bill that he filed that would change the Cook County assessor from an elected position to an appointed one. He later apologized, and he said Thursday that he’d “be happy to work with her” but hasn’t yet spoken to her about the issue.
“It hasn’t fallen on my radar because this is something I’ve been working on for four years, before she even mused about the idea of running for the mayor of the city of Chicago,” Martwick said.
Illinois’ state treasurer could soon become the lien holder of your student loan debt.
An initiative of Treasurer Michael Frerichs’ office would allow him to refinance an Illinois resident’s college loans at low-interest rates in hopes that it will help them better afford their payments. The office could extend up to 5 percent of the $31 billion it manages to help with student loans. That’s about $620 million.
State Rep. Carol Ammons said the program would help reduce the number of local student loan defaults.
“The goal is to get the interest rate low enough so that people can really afford to make their payments,” she said.
Ammons said the interest rate would be set by the treasurer once the bill passes.
The treasurer’s office said there would be an upfront cost of $150,000, but the interest on payments from students should then cover the administrative costs thereafter.
State Rep. Mark Batinick, R-Plainfield, told Ammons that while helping those with student loan debt is laudable, he said the state shouldn’t put taxpayer dollars at risk given the high rate of defaults on student loans.
The average student loan interest rate was 5.8 percent in 2017, which is almost a couple points higher than a 15-year mortgage, so it’s an issue. But the bigger problem here is the price of tuition, fees and books.
* More bills…
* Lawmakers Look To Keep 10-Year-Olds Out Of Jail: “There’s an implication here that these children are just horrible, horrible people and have done horrible crimes,” Gabel said. “But … in 2016, there were nine children who were detained based on probation violations. Those are not heinous crimes. There were no children detained based on charges of homicide.” That year, the majority of kids ages 10 to 13 were detained in four counties: Cook, Peoria, Sangamon and Winnebago.
* Illinois House votes to lower age of ‘Home Alone’ law: Under current state law, parents can be charged with neglect for leaving children younger than 14 unsupervised “for an unreasonable period of time.” Parents can be charged with child abandonment if they leave children under the age of 13 alone for 24 hours or more without supervision by someone over the age of 14. The bill that passed Wednesday by a vote of 111-1 would lower the threshold, applying to children younger than 12 The bill’s sponsor, Republican state Rep. Joe Sosnowski of Rockford, said lowering the age to 12 would correct the legislature’s “overreaction to a terrible situation that happened in which a couple left young children at home on their own for well over a week while they traveled out of the country.”
* Plan would allow shoplifters to pay rather than go to jail: State Sen. Jason Plummer, R-Edwardsville, is pushing the idea to let some shoplifters and thieves pay their way out of jail. Plummer, a freshman lawmaker, got Senate President John Cullerton to co-sponsor the legislation. Plummer said he worked closely with the Democrat leader’s office to craft the bill. … “Essentially, what it would do is allow that person to avoid a misdemeanor or felony offense,” Plummer said. “If they go through the process with the state’s attorney, if they reimbursed the retailer, then their record would be wiped clean.” The legislation includes a number of other rules. For example, the program is only open to first-time offenders and only for retail theft. Anyone who pays back the store then would be on probation for three years.
* Yesterday, we discussed a story about how 35 DCFS workers and contractors had falsified reports or falsely testified in court over the past five years. Gov. Pritzker was asked about the report today. He called their behavior “unacceptable” and added this…
These folks not only should not be there any more, there are cases in which we ought to consider prosecution if there’s a law that allows us to do that. And if there isn’t, we ought to be looking at those enhancements.
There may not be a criminal penalty for falsifying some of these agency reports, so a new law may be required.
* The ACLU also sent this over yesterday…
The public reporting that 35 investigators working for or on behalf of DCFS have been disciplined in recent years for falsifying reports and testimony is appalling. How could the Department fail to address its chronic failure to retain a sufficient workforce of investigators, and its inadequate supervisory practices, after uncovering such wrongdoing? The answer is that leadership has careened from one crisis to another rather than doing the hard work to fix its fundamentally broken practices.
The dishonest behavior of these 35 workers is but a symptom of a wider problem – an agency which has lost its focus on its core mission. The new director and new leadership have an opportunity to refocus the work of DCFS on providing safety, care, and desperately needed services for children. That cannot be accomplished with slogans, wishes, or good intentions.
There is a great need for re-establishing basic honesty and providing critical services for children in Illinois throughout DCFS. That hard work must begin as soon as possible. The lives of children who are the future of our state literally depend on DCFS succeeding at its core mission of caring for youth and families. We stand ready to work with the new leadership team to accomplish this goal.
The Illinois Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday from a man who earned a state teacher pension after substitute teaching — for one day.
David Piccioli is a retired lobbyist for the Illinois Federation of Teachers. The one day he spent in the classroom back in 2007 nearly doubled his pension. Piccioli was able to do this by using newly-enacted legislation to purchase retroactive credit for his time as a union official.
That legislation, which was sent to then Gov. Rod Blagojevich in late December of 2006, only allowed a small portion of union employees to become certified and complete teaching service before the 2007 law took effect and become eligible to receive these benefits. While other union leaders were theoretically eligible, Piccioli is the only one who cashed in. […]
Years later, after the matter received attention in the press, legislators passed another law to strip Piccioli of most of the benefits. Piccioli was refunded the money he paid into TRS for the past credits. However, he says the Illinois Constitution does not allow the diminishment of state pensions.
Since the 2007 amendment is not special legislation and the circuit court did not invalidate the law on any other constitutional grounds, we hold that it confers a pension benefit protected by our state constitution. See Ill. Const. 1970, art. XIII, § 5 (“Membership in any pension or retirement system of the State, any unit of local government or school district, or any agency or instrumentality thereof, shall be an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired.”).
Plaintiff followed everything the law required in order to establish his eligibility to purchase TRS credit for his past union service. While nothing prevented the legislature from eliminating this benefit for future employees, there is no legal justification for reducing or eliminating the pension benefits plaintiff was awarded pursuant to the 2007 amendment. See Carmichael v. Laborers’ & Retirement Board Employees’ Annuity & Benefit Fund of Chicago, 2018 IL 122793 ¶ 26 (pursuant to the pension clause, “once a person commences to work and becomes a member of a public retirement system, any subsequent changes to the Pension Code that would diminish the benefits conferred by membership in the retirement system cannot be applied to that person”). We hold that the provision in the 2012 Act (Pub. Act 97-651 (eff. Jan. 5, 2012)) that repealed the 2007 amendment violates the pension protection clause in the Illinois Constitution and, therefore, that plaintiff is entitled to summary judgment.
* Three justices dissented, claiming the original law allowing the pension was itself unconstitutional…
The trial court correctly held that the 2007 amendment violated the special legislation clause. Because I would hold that the 2007 amendment was unconstitutional, I would also hold that it conferred no rights for the pension protection clause to protect.
We’d also recommend a cooperative approach with aldermen, at least publicly and initially. One of the most insurmountable mistakes by former Gov. Bruce Rauner, also elected as a reformer, was his dismissive attitude toward legislators in the General Assembly. He lost leverage by shooing them off, by not engaging sincerely with them, and by publicly blasting them. Rauner’s agenda foundered.
That’s really good advice, except for the fact that the Tribsters cheered Rauner on at just about every turn.
Remember the editorial that proclaimed Jim Edgar wanted Rauner to “surrender” because the former governor merely suggested Rauner focused on whatever was “doable”?
I could go on, but why bother? We all know the history, except, apparently, for the people who wrote it.
Today, legislation known as the ‘Guilty by Association bill’ advanced out of the State House Judiciary Criminal Committee. Citizens across Illinois are raising concerns about HB 1633, sponsored by Rep. Jay Hoffman (D - Belleville), citing concerns that the bill is heavily influenced by out-of-state special interests, will intimidate citizens from expressing opposition to new sources of pollution, and creates vague parameters that will be difficult for both individuals and law enforcement to interpret.
Opponents of the bill have dubbed HB 1633 the ‘Guilty by Association bill’ because it would allow industrial polluters to suppress opposition to proposed projects by threatening excessively harsh penalties on Illinoisans and nonprofit groups for legally exercising their right to free speech and assembly, and by unfairly tying them to the illegal actions of other independent actors.
“This bill places an extreme burden on nonprofit organizations of all sizes,” said Jen Walling, executive director, Illinois Environmental Council. “Any nonprofit could be found guilty by association, receiving a million dollar fine and jail time, if an independent actor identified by law enforcement as associated with their organization–in any way–is accused of intentionally or unintentionally committing one of the ambiguous crimes outlined in the bill.”
Walling continued, “Over 1,000 Illinoisans have already contacted their lawmakers in opposition to this bill and I expect this number to greatly increase as this bill begins to receive the negative attention it deserves. You will not see that kind of mobilization on the other side of this issue because this bill originated at the request of out-of-state, extreme right-wing special interests, not out of a need identified by everyday Illinoisans.”
HB 1633 mirrors legislation proposed in other state legislatures across the country by the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, a national right-wing, corporate-backed organization that recruits state legislators to run model conservative legislation.
“This bill is not about protecting private property or public safety; Illinois already has criminal laws against trespassing, property damage and similar offenses,” said Advocacy and Intergovernmental Affairs Director Khadine Bennett of the Illinois ACLU. “This bill is about one thing: imposing excessive criminal penalties in order to chill environmental protests at the very sites where many of the urgent threats to our environment arise. We have seen the power of such protest at the Dakota Access pipeline and the Keystone pipeline. The full House should reject this measure and demonstrate its commitment to free speech and protest in Illinois.”
The bill will be debated next on the House Floor.
ALEC’s “model bill” is here. The introduced version of Rep. Hoffman’s bill is here. Notice the similarities? The measure has since been amended twice.
* Letter to House members…
Dear Representative,
On behalf of the Illinois AFL-CIO and the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, we strongly encourage your support of HB 1633 (Hoffman).
This legislation will protect critical infrastructure in Illinois from criminal trespass and intentional damage. In 2013, President Barack Obama designated critical infrastructure sectors including water and wastewater plants, dams, telecommunication facilities, military bases, nuclear reactors, pipelines, manufacturing facilities, electric generation, refineries, and railroads.
These sectors are considered so vital to the United States that “their incapacitation or destruction would have a debilitating effect on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any combination thereof.”
HB 1633 protects an individual’s rights under the First Amendment and will not impede or diminish their right to protest or demonstrate. Protections are included to make sure that members of labor unions can picket or organize at the workplace.
Unfortunately, we have seen increased occurrences across the United States where organizations and individuals are intentionally damaging, destroying, or tampering with equipment in order to impede or inhibit operations of the facility. This risks the health and safety of the protestors, employees, and communities.
This will not penalize individuals that may simply vandalize or deface property. For example, this law would not impact a person that trespasses and spray paints a facility or piece of equipment.
Nearly twenty states across the country have taken similar legislative steps in light of growing incidents where real damage is incurred resulting in health and safety threats.
We respectfully ask for your support. Sincerely,
Michael T. Carrigan
President
Illinois AFL-CIO
Mark Denzler
President & CEO
Illinois Manufacturer’s Association
I asked the proponents if they know of any significant problems here in Illinois that prompted this legislation and they couldn’t name one. Apparently, the pipeline companies are worried about another North Dakota-style protest. The refineries are also pushing hard. But this bill covers a lot more than those industries.
A letter outlining a series of unauthorized expenses made by Ricardo Munoz — including travel, restaurants and money spent at a suburban lingerie and sex-toy shop — using funds from the City Council’s Progressive Reform Caucus was hand delivered to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office Wednesday.
“I think using the funds the way he did, it’s possible there was criminal wrongdoing there,” said Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd), who replaced Munoz as head of the caucus in January, explaining the decision to inform State’s Attorney Kim Foxx.
Munoz (22nd) spent a total of $36,849 on “unauthorized expenditures” drawn from an account held by the caucus’ political action committee, said attorney Ed Mullen, who represents the caucus.
Reached via text, Munoz said, “I’m paying it back.”
The accusation of rogue spending was laid out in amended expense reports along with a letter from Mullen that were filed Monday with the Illinois State Board of Elections.
An Illinois state representative charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and impeding traffic said he fell asleep at a traffic light Friday in Springfield because of exhaustion.
State Rep. Kambium Buckner, D-Chicago, said it was “simply a result of exhaustion.” He said he looks forward to addressing the citation of driving under the influence of alcohol in court.
Secretary of State Police noticed Buckner asleep in a running 2017 Land Rover at 3 a.m. March 29 at a stop light at 2nd and Adams Street in Springfield, just a block north of the Illinois State Capitol building. […]
Buckner, 33, of Chicago “was found by Secretary of State Police asleep in his running vehicle,” according to a police report.
“He slept [through] four cycles” of a traffic light, according to the report. “During contact strong odor of alcoholic beverage on breath. Eyes glassy. Pupils nonreactive to light.”
Buckner either refused to submit to or failed to complete field sobriety testing, the report said. As a result, his driving privileges will be suspended for a minimum of 12 months. He was served immediate notice of summary suspension/revocation of driving privileges, records show.
Buckner was released after paying a $100 cash bond, according to Sangamon County Circuit Court records.
He is next due in court for the DUI charge on at 9 a.m. April 30.
Hopefully, Rep. Buckner learned a valuable lesson here. Glad nobody got hurt. That may not be the case next time, however.
* Retired judge John Donald O’Shea’s op-ed in the Dispatch-Argus arguing against the proposed constitutional amendment for a graduated income tax…
Once on the ballot, it will require approval of a majority of those voting in the election, or 60 percent of those voting on the question. What they will be approving is a Trojan Horse.
Once the Legislature is given power to enact a graduated state income tax, all of Pritzker’s promises — his proposed rates — mean absolutely nothing. The following, day, the General Assembly will have unfettered power to enact a truly progressive graduated income tax with whatever rates it pleases.
If you want to see how the old shell game is played, just stand back and watch. You’ll get a lesson from professionals in the art of bait and switch.
Our Democratic Legislature will have power, for example, to exempt the first $50,000 of income from the new Illinois income tax while, at the same time, taxing incomes over $50,000 at 10 percent, incomes over $100,000 at 20 percent, and incomes over $1 million at any rate it chooses (to the extent it is not already taxed by the feds). The Democrats will be able to create a whole new class of voters who pay no tax, but have power to vote to tax their neighbors without taxing themselves.
The judge apparently thinks it would be easy-peasy to double or even quadruple state income tax rates on the majority of Illinoisans.
We’ve been through this before, but let’s try it again.
The state’s individual income tax rate bounced around between 2.5 and 3 percent from 1969 to the end of 2010 - 41 years.
The legislature passed a temporary 2-point tax hike in 2011, but only after years of piling up crushing debt. The tax rate rolled back to 3.75 percent in 2015 because there was nothing close to consensus on making it permanent. And it was raised back up to 4.95 percent in 2017 after a massive and terribly damaging political war over the state’s future.
To think that the same body would quickly jack up taxes to 10 percent on people making $50,000 is beyond hyperbole.
Illinois Senate President John Cullerton said fixing the funding of the Municipal and Laborers pension funds, as well as the city’s other financial problems, will remain a major issue. And he wants to talk to Lightfoot about whether there would be local taxation when it comes to legalizing marijuana or expanding gambling in Chicago.
As for the type of demeanor needed to work with Springfield’s leaders, Cullerton credited Emanuel’s ability to work behind-the-scenes with the four legislative leaders as well as rank-and-file lawmakers to push for legislation, including the school funding formula bill.
“He rarely came down here, but he had very good people, folks that represented him down here. The speaker and I would have frequent meetings at City Hall to kind of review legislation,” Cullerton said.
“When I meet with Lori I’ll urge her to do the same thing. The mayor is an important political figure in the state Legislature. … She has influence beyond the city borders,” Cullerton said. […]
Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan and Cullerton maintained close relationships with Emanuel, and were among the strongest advocates for key issues, such as funding for CPS and gun legislation. They also worked hard to defend Chicago from a city versus Downstate storyline.
“The speaker’s record of working with the mayors of Chicago who came over his tenure, at any shape or size, has been a good one and that will continue,” Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said. […]
Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, is a family friend of the newly elected mayor. Lightfoot worked for Durkin’s brother in the U.S. attorney’s office and at the law firm, Mayer Brown. The Republican leader heaped high praise on Lightfoot, saying she “understands how to win by addition not subtraction.”
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