Moody’s has released its adjusted net pension liabilities (ANPL) for U.S. states for Fiscal Year 2018 (states report their pending funding positions with a one-year lag, so this year includes the strong market performance of FY 2017). Total state ANPL was $1.56 trillion in FY18, a 3.6% drop from FY17. The median state ANPL for FY18 was $12.2 billion, which represents 91.5% of state revenues.
The five states with the highest ANPL were Illinois ($240.8 billion/505.1% of revenue), Kentucky ($45.9 billion/308.7% of revenue), Connecticut ($62.1 billion/285.8% of revenue), New Jersey ($113.8 billion/274.9% of revenue), and Maryland ($59.3 billion/236.5% of revenue). The five states with the lowest ANPL were North Carolina ($9.4 billion/31.4% of revenue), Tennessee ($6.4 billion/32.3% of revenue), North Dakota ($1.8 billion/32.6% of revenue), New York ($39.2 billion/40.2% of revenue), and Iowa ($4.8 billion/43% of revenue).
Moody’s uses a lower discount rate than others who monitor state debt, which tends to increase the size of Illinois’ hole. Ergo, according to the bond-rating firm, Illinois’ adjusted net pension liability as of June 30, 2018, stood at a cool $240.8 billion.
That’s more than any other state, with California coming in second—its population is more than three times ours—at $230.8 billion and Texas coming in third at $132.8 billion.
Difficult as it is to fathom, Illinois’ figure actually was a little worse this time a year ago, topping $250 billion in unfunded liabilities. But according to Moody’s, the whole reason for the decline was the market, which was really hot but lately has been pretty flat. With Illinois putting in only about two-thirds of what we need to hold even—Moody’s so-called “tread water” line—the hole probably already has resumed growing, it says.
And it will continue to grow because that’s the Edgar pension ramp. The state will gradually work its way up to “tread water” status and then beyond. Candidate and Governor-elect Pritzker pledged to put money into the system up front to get ahead of the ramp, but Gov. Pritzker has stopped talking about that idea.
By the way, Moody’s says the state’s Adjusted Net Pension Liability per capita in Illinois is $18,896. The national median is $2,903 per capita. Mean is $4,883.
The Illinois Gaming Board said Monday that state lawmakers need to change a law they enacted earlier this year if they ever hope to see a casino developed in the city of Chicago.
That vote came in response to a feasibility study released in August that said such a casino would not be feasible given the “onerous tax and fee structure” that lawmakers imposed.
At its regular monthly meeting in Chicago, the board voted unanimously to adopt a resolution stating that, “based on results of the study as required by the Illinois Gambling Act, the board recommends that the General Assembly consider making modifications to the terms of the Chicago casino license authorized under the Illinois Gambling Act.”
* The Question: Should the Illinois General Assembly lower the tax rate for the Chicago casino or should the city try to bid out the license with the current rates? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please…
Staff at all levels of the Illinois’ beleaguered Department of Children and Family Services is not responsive to calls, several stakeholders have told The Daily Line, pointing to major communications issues as one reason for the agency’s troubles in recent years.
But some say the slowness to respond has gotten worse in the months since new agency Director Marc Smith was appointed by Gov. JB Pritzker in March. Smith came to DCFS from the state’s largest nonprofit provider of services to families in crisis and worked for the department from 1993-2000. […]
DCFS spokesperson Jassen Strokosch said the agency’s mid- and high-level staff has seen a lot of reorganization in the last few months, which may explain why those on the outside are having issues getting in touch with the right people. […]
[Jill Glick, a physician with the University of Chicago and founder of its Child Advocacy and Protective Services team] said issues within DCFS — especially communication — is “probably the worst it’s been.”
“Cases are getting reassigned between workers a lot,” Glick said. “They’re so understaffed because of changeovers. The reality is, many workers I’ve worked with for over 10 years, who were rapid-fire responders, are not answering their phones.” […]
“I don’t know if [Smith] is aware of it,” Glick said. “It’s crucial they know the phone is not getting answered right now. I work my behind off. They all have our personal cell phone numbers…Mark Smith needs to be answering his phone and listening to this stuff.”
And when stakeholders tried to speak with Director Smith after a recent legislative hearing, he blew them off.
State Senator Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill) gathered with fellow state lawmakers and diabetes health advocates in Springfield Tuesday to urge support for new a new measure aimed at reducing the skyrocketing price of insulin.
“There are people in this state who have to choose between buying their prescription insulin and paying for groceries or making their mortgage payment,” Manar said. “These prices are absolutely out of control and we have a responsibility as lawmakers to take immediate action to ensure that every person has access to the care they need.”
Senate Bill 667, introduced by Manar, would cap out of pocket insulin expenses at $100 for a 30-day supply.
Manar was joined by State Rep. Sue Scherer (D-Decatur) to push for the legislation’s passage and hear from individuals who have been directly impacted by rising insulin costs.
“It’s been 10 years since the insulin I need to survive was only $800. Now it cost $1800,” said Megan Blair, a single mother who has experienced firsthand the consequences of rising insulin costs. “Something needs to change. Something has to be done about this.”
According to the American Diabetes Association, there are over 30 million Americans who have diabetes, 7.4 million of which require prescription insulin every day to survive. However, the increasing costs associated with the medication have led many patients to ration their supply or seek care outside of the country.
The legislation would make Illinois just the second state in the country to cap out of pocket insulin expenses. Colorado became the first to do so earlier this year.
“We cannot continue to sit back and allow drug companies to charge exorbitant prices on lifesaving medication that people depend on every day,” said Rep. Will Guzzardi, the bill’s lead sponsor in the House. “Instead of crushing Illinois consumers to pad corporate profits, let’s take real action to prioritize the actual health and well-being of Illinois residents who rely on insulin.”
The legislation has also garnered the support of several advocacy organizations, including the American Diabetes Association, Illinois State Medical Society, Illinois Pharmacists Association and AARP.
“AARP Illinois supports this measure on behalf of our 1.7 million members, many of whom have told us about the hardships they face in paying for their prescription drugs,” said State Director Bob Gallow. “We commend Sen. Manar, Rep. Guzzardi, and other legislators for recognizing that everyday Illinois residents are having to make heartbreaking choices about whether to pay for medicine or other basic necessities with their fixed incomes. And we hope that SB 667 will be a stepping stone to getting further reforms that will lower the cost of prescription drugs for everyone.”
Opponents include the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois, Eli Lilly and Company, the Illinois Insurance Association, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and others.
* More from AARP…
Lori Hendren with @aarpillinois: an aging population has to deal with the cost of insulin on a fixed income, an issue for our members as costs skyrocket. In Illinois, 28% of people with diabetes stopped taking #insulin as prescribed by their doctor because of cost. pic.twitter.com/vWjAVTv9ZG
Manar was joined by state Sen. Dave Koehler (D-Peoria), state Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth (D-Peoria), two people with diabetes, and local health care professionals. Gordon-Booth said it’s important to remember African-Americans are twice as likely to deal with diabetes than non-Hispanic whites.
“If we’re talking about ensuring the ability of people to live safe and healthy lives, they have to have access to insulin. It’s not optional. It’s mandatory,” she said.
She said several members of her family have struggled with this issue, and mentioned she struggles with high blood pressure despite maintaining a healthy diet and lifestyle.
Because she struggles to pay for insulin, Megan Blair has been hospitalized multiple times in the 10 years since she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 18. […]
“It turned into a game for me. How much insulin could get me through the day? If I don’t give myself all the insulin I need in one day, I would have leftovers for the next day and maybe I could learn how to turn this 30-day supply into a 60-day supply,” she said. “Well, this worked for a little bit, until my body couldn’t keep functioning … I ended up in the hospital several times.” […]
“The total cost of care of patients with diabetes goes up when you don’t take care of diabetes, making them at increased risk for heart attacks and strokes. Who pays for that? Everybody who pays taxes pays for that, and everyone that has private insurance pays for that through increased insurance costs,” said [Dr. Gregg Stoner, the medical director for the Heartland Clinic]. “So while patients suffer from the physical consequences of diabetes, we all share in the cost.” […]
“In Colorado, where they have already passed a similar bill, it has not raised any costs of insurance on anybody else,” said Koehler. “If you think about it, making sure people have insulin when they need it probably prevents a lot of ER visits, and a lot of other medical costs that could have been avoided.”
Illinois taxpayers who incurred tax liabilities between July 1, 2011 and June 30, 2018 may be eligible for the one-time tax amnesty program. Beginning October 1, 2019, eligible taxpayers who pay their eligible tax liabilities in full will have associated penalties and interest waived. Taxpayers have until November 15, 2019 to make a full payment on their liabilities and file the required paperwork with the Illinois Department of Revenue (IDOR).
“Now is an excellent opportunity for taxpayers with tax liabilities to pay what they owe and come into compliance with the law,” said David Harris, Illinois Department of Revenue Acting Director. “By taking advantage of this amnesty program, taxpayers can eliminate any eligible tax debts owed, without penalty or interest. This allows them to have a clean tax slate with the State of Illinois. The Department of Revenue is committed to achieving a tax system where everyone pays their fair share and citizens can trust they are treated equitably. This one-time amnesty program helps us achieve that goal.”
During budget negotiations this year, Governor Pritzker proposed a tax amnesty program for taxpayers who have state tax liabilities, and the General Assembly agreed to include the program as part of this year’s fiscal budget. The Governor’s Office of Management and Budget estimates the tax amnesty program will recover $175 million in outstanding tax liabilities.
To participate in Illinois’ Tax Amnesty Program, taxpayers must pay all outstanding tax on an amnesty qualifying period in order to have eligible penalties and interest waived. Taxpayers who failed to file during the original filing period will need to file an original return in addition to making full payment of tax due. For taxpayers who want to report changes to previously filed returns, an amended tax return and full payment of tax due are required. The tax amnesty program includes most types of tax liabilities and penalties, but excludes taxes not collected by IDOR, such as property or local government taxes, and some fees, such as bad check fees and outside collection agency fees.
A similar tax amnesty program in 2010 brought in nearly $332 million for the state, exceeding the $250 million then-Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration anticipated.
The Revenue Department is mailing notifications to eligible taxpayers. More information on the amnesty program is available at tax.illinois.gov.
In the grip of a national opioid crisis that has been destroying families and driving up the cost of health care, controversy over an addiction facility is unfolding in west suburban Itasca.
Residents of the 8,600-plus village are aggressively fighting a proposal to allow a drug treatment center to open in an up-for-sale Holiday Inn. The hotel is confined within a business park off Interstate 290, away from residences. Introduced by Haymarket Center, which is headquartered in Chicago’s West Loop, the facility would provide in-patient treatment for drug addiction aimed at suburban residents on Medicaid.
Opposition in Itasca has been pronounced. But the “No Haymarket” signs poking from lawns around town are symbols of fear, not fact. Residents worry the facility will damage their community. The reality is, the opioid epidemic already has. […]
Rosecrance, another in-patient drug treatment facility network, faced similar backlash when it opened a location in Lakeview, one of Chicago’s more upscale neighborhoods, in 2016. Residents resisted fiercely. But the treatment center opened anyway, and the bulk of complaints since then have been about cigarette smoking near the building. That’s it.
It sometimes feels like fear and loathing is our national pastime.
*** UPDATE 1 *** From Rep. Deb Conroy (D-Villa Park)…
Thank you for your support of Haymarket in Itasca. It is time that state and local leaders come together to support this desperately needed facility and the location in Itasca. Between state and county officials we can come together to help address the loss of tax revenue. This will take away the opposition and leave only the hate. We can not let hate win when we have so many people dying from the disease of addiction. Addiction is a disease, not a crime and it does not discriminate.
With a little over 100 days until recreational marijuana becomes legal in Illinois, Oglesby licensed cannabis grower is expanding and adding new jobs.
Monday, Oglesby Mayor Dom Rivara announced that Green Thumb Industries plans to launch a $1.5 million expansion of its operations in the next 30 days. Rivara termed it “an elaborate kind of operation” that, once completed, would create 40-50 jobs.
Rivara said he has “mixed emotions” about legalization — Oglesby, he said, would not modify its drug testing policy for city employees — but not at all conflicted about the economic development opportunity at hand.
City Manager Bill Nicklas said the city is already being approached by interested parties looking to set up a marijuana shop in DeKalb, as city staff and the council move forward to set policy for allowing dispensaries on Jan. 1.
“In the last month and a half, we’ve had four or five different entities,” Nicklas said Friday. “So I think once we can define the standards and parameters, we’ll have people approaching us for formal consideration.”
The City Council has already expressed strong support for recreational marijuana dispensaries in DeKalb, with a desire to impose a full 3% tax on sales. On Monday, the council will consider revisions to medical cannabis dispensary regulations, and begin developing a framework for local zoning and permits in the hopes that, come Jan. 1, sellers will begin eyeing DeKalb as a spot to set up shop.
The Sycamore City Council is going to wait to hear public input before it makes any decisions, but several council members seemed favorable to the idea of allowing recreational marijuana sales in the city.
At Monday’s meeting, members compared sales of recreational marijuana to previous decisions the council has made on video gambling or alcohol sales in the city. First Ward Alderman Alan Bauer said that he had voted against many of those measures in town.
“What I’ve seen over those votes is we’ve properly regulated those things,” Bauer said. “Even though I was pretty pessimistic, it turned out OK. I guess I’m OK with this.” […]
Sycamore City Manager Brian Gregory told the City Council Monday that there were several taxes that would benefit the city.
“I read all of these horrible things that are going to happen, without a shred of evidence,” [Village President Ben Sells] said. “If you want to say it’s against my values, I personally don’t want it here, absolutely. But don’t try to bootstrap that into some kind of quasi-scientific argument that there’s support for, because there isn’t.”
* The proprietors of legalized and regulated adult use cannabis dispensaries will not interrupt your shopping experience by trying to rob you at gunpoint…
A woman was attacked early Monday morning and robbed at gunpoint by two men with whom she was discussing buying drugs, police said.
The 59-year-old woman was beaten and her cash was stolen shortly after 12:30 a.m. in the 500 block of Cherry Street, according to police. She was taken to a Rockford hospital for treatment of minor injuries. Police spokeswoman Christie Castillo said one of the men was armed with a gun. The amount of money stolen was not released.
A drafting error in the law legalizing recreational marijuana in Illinois starting in January may mean counties and towns have to wait an extra nine months before gathering their share of potential revenue bonanza.
The delay has been attributed to a drafting glitch in the municipal cannabis retailers’ occupation tax (MCROT) that will prevent municipalities from collecting taxes until Sept. 1, 2020. MCROT was a prominent feature of H.B. 1438, which made Illinois the 11th state to legalize recreational marijuana.
Even so, a change is probably coming during veto session.
As Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration makes its first moves into regulating the recreational marijuana industry, it is releasing guidelines on where the new businesses can locate—and they’re all outside the city’s central business district.
The state will grant as many as 91 licenses to Chicago sellers, which will be divided among seven zones in the city. Initially, no zone will be allowed to have more than seven locations. Eventually, that number will climb to 14. […]
The central business district exclusion area will include Oak Street to the north, Lake Michigan to the east and Ida B. Wells Drive to the south, with the western boundary being LaSalle Street in River North and the Chicago River in the Loop. Lightfoot will introduce the restrictions at tomorrow’s City Council meeting.
“The frame of this is to really focus on equity and making sure we use an equity lens as this industry grows,” Mayekar said, adding that the city’s regulations nudge market outcomes but do not force them. “I think this is a pretty nuanced regulation that takes into account the demand of the market. The real design principle here is to ensure we don’t have over-saturation in a particular zone. . . .The seven zones were created in a way that they have more or less the same population. The goal is to have equal distribution per capita of dispensaries.”
* A Bloomington Pantagraph story about a legislative breakfast this morning with the McLean County Board…
Republicans in the Legislature called for some kind of regional conditions on the minimum wage bill, but that was not included in what lawmakers approved and Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law in February. The rate will increase statewide to $9.25 on Jan. 1, $10 in 2020 and by a dollar each year to 2025. […]
“I hear comments … saying, ‘Please reconvene the discussion on the minimum wage and how that may be worked in, particularly for downstate,’” said state Rep. Keith Sommer of Morton during a legislative breakfast with the McLean County Board. “This issue isn’t going away.” […]
“I’ve got an 800-employee factory in my district that’s now looking to potentially move out of state. That is a huge problem,” [Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet] said. […]
“That 5 percent increase (universities) got will be very quickly eaten up by payroll cost,” Rose said. “Superintendents have told me the minimum wage increase will wipe away the entire gains that have been received under that… monumental work (of a new funding formula). For what?”
[Illinois Petroleum Marketers Association Executive Vice President Bill Fleischli ] said there were other factors in Illinois that will make convenience stores in border communities less competitive than those in neighboring states.
“We forget to mention the minimum wage [increase],” Fleischli said. […]
“You have to pay more for your wholesale price, you have to raise it at retail, so your volume goes away and your inside sales go away and you have to pay more of your help,” Fleischli said. “It makes the border go from a five-mile border to a 50-mile border. I’ve said it before. We’ve put the small business petroleum worker under the endangered species anymore.”
A New York hedge fund and the CEO of a well-funded conservative think tank are suing the state of Illinois to cancel $14.3 billion in bond debt, arguing that it’s unconstitutional for state lawmakers to borrow money to pay down “unspecified” old bills.
In 2017, in a maneuver to escape the state’s historic budget impasse and to avoid from plunging into junk bond status, Illinois issued $6 billion in bonds and used the cash infusion to pay down late bills that were accruing late payment interest penalties at a rate of 12 percent. The interest on those bonds is scheduled to cost Illinois taxpayers 5 percent interest. […]
Comptroller Susana Mendoza, a Democrat whose office pays the state’s bills, defended the 2017 bond sale as “a great deal for taxpayers,” and criticized the plaintiffs for “essentially trying to bankrupt the state” in order “to make a killing off of killing the state’s finances.”
* John Tillman’s response…
“It is shameful that Comptroller Mendoza is lying to the public about my role in this lawsuit. I have nothing to gain financially from this lawsuit. I do not now, nor have I ever owned any Illinois debt or related securities.
“As I’ve made clear repeatedly, my motivation is to prevent the state of Illinois from bankrupting its citizens by taking on excessive debt, including that which is unconstitutional.
“Comptroller Mendoza is skirting the real issue: The state broke the law. That hurts everyone. Politicians continue to borrow money and drive the state deeper into debt, and they hit people with higher taxes year after year. Illinois’ failing credit rating has been long in the making. This is the result of decades worth of fiscal mismanagement enabled by issuances of unconstitutional debt, as I point out in my complaint. Someone has to do something. That’s why I sued: in an attempt to stop the madness.
“Comptroller Mendoza’s office is desperately trying to trick Illinoisans into thinking this immoral and unconstitutional borrowing is for their own good. She is confused as to both this lawsuit and the finances of the state. If successful, my lawsuit would take billions of dollars in debt off the balance sheet of the state of Illinois. It would improve the state’s financial position, not drive it into financial ruin.
“It’s obvious to every Illinoisan that you shouldn’t take out a home equity loan to pay off your credit card bill. The Illinois Constitution wisely includes protections against this kind of reckless behavior. This is why I am suing the state.”
Setting aside his odd claim that the lawsuit would “improve the state’s financial position,” and the very shaky legal foundation of his suit which we’ve discussed several times already, did Mendoza actually claim that Tillman would reap personal financial rewards from the legal action?
* Maxwell helpfully sent me the Mendoza interview transcript which you can read by clicking here. She didn’t explicitly say Tillman would profit, but she did imply it. For instance…
I kept saying [in 2017], I think there’s people who are connected to Governor Rauner who stand to make a killing off of killing the state’s finances.
This lawsuit just goes to show that exactly what I was saying was right.
The fact that you would have John Tillman, who pretends to be fiscally responsible, who leads this organization called the Illinois Policy Institute — which you’d like to believe is supposed to be a non-partisan organization or a think tank that provides good recommendations and fiscal policies to the stat — their director, John Tillman, whose entire administration almost went to work for the Rauner administration right after they had that massive purge of their employees, so they were essentially running the state during the time that bond deal finally got done.
MM: I have not yet asked Mr. Tillman about his suit. We hope to do that. We hope to speak with him about it. But if you take him or his allies in good faith about their intentions, they say that they want to re-train the state from its propensity to borrow money in the bond market, and restrain spending. That’s their argument.
SM: It’s 100% nonsense.
MM: How do you know that?
SM: Their only argument here is that the state should go bankrupt. And why? It’s because they stand to make a ton of money in the process.
Not this election. Erika Harold, the downstate republican who ran for AG will not be a candidate in 2020 per her spokesman. She was rumored to be a possible candidate for John Shimkus’ 15th Congressional seat after he announced he would not seek re-election @ABC7Chicago pic.twitter.com/RsugDCEEwm
GOP insiders expect @JasonPlummerUSA to launch a campaign soon. A primary contest in a deep red downstate district in a presidential election year would've likely been a loyalty contest to see which candidate was most aligned with @realDonaldTrump.
* After weeks of no public appearances because of his fractured leg, Gov. Pritzker appears to be slowly ramping up his schedule. Greg Hinz yesterday…
Mike Quigley probably has as safe a seat in Congress as any Illinois incumbent, but it pays to never assume anything in politics these days—not when you’re a relative moderate at a time when the political left is flexing its muscle.
The Chicago Democrat is holding a lunchtime fundraiser starring Gov. J.B. Pritzker today. Sources say the event is expected to bring in about $50,000 for Quigley’s re-election campaign. At the moment the congressman has only one re-election foe, progressive Brian Burns.
* Also yesterday…
I appreciate the faith leaders who met with @LtGovStratton and me today as we work to make our state a better place for all families to live and thrive. pic.twitter.com/j47I49Yj8W
What: Gov. Pritzker to attend the China General Chamber of Commerce – Midwest Chapter dinner.
Where: Hyatt Regency, 151 East Wacker Drive, Chicago
When: 6:30 p.m.
Note: No additional media availability.
We’ve had an exciting few weeks around here. I was honored to get Senator Elizabeth Warren’s endorsement last Monday, and today, I’m just as thrilled to receive an endorsement from Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Her support means a lot. She knows what it’s like to take on the establishment and D.C. insiders — and win. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez proved that you can win tough races by knocking on as many doors as possible and championing your district’s voices and values.
That’s exactly what we’re going to do right here in IL-03, and I couldn’t be more grateful that she’s on my side.
But take a step back for a second and ask yourself why these national progressive leaders are paying close attention to this race. They know, especially right now, we simply can’t afford to have Democrats in office who fail to stand up for our values.
If you agree that it’s time for the Third District to have a leader unbought by corporate special interests — someone who will take on the establishment and machine politics — then I need you with me. Will you chip in to my campaign today?
Lipinski, who opposes abortion rights, is among the more conservative Democrats in the House and defeated Newman in a primary last cycle. Lipinski’s 3rd Congressional District covers the southwest suburbs and a piece of the city of Chicago. […]
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders supported Newman in her 2018 primary bid. […]
By backing a primary opponent to a colleague, Ocasio-Cortez is mounting a campaign strategy that resembles her own political rise last year, when she toppled a House Democratic leader in a stunning primary challenge. It’s a flex of power for the freshman lawmaker but also one that makes colleagues wary.
Newman campaign manager Ben Hardin told the Sun-Times Tuesday that Ocasio-Cortez and Newman talked earlier this month about congressional priorities, Newman’s platform and the potential endorsement.
For a district anchored in Chicago and the southwest suburbs, Ocasio-Cortez decided to announce her backing in the New York Times on Tuesday morning, suggesting the lawmaker was trying to maximize the national fundraising potential of her first endorsement of the cycle.
She told the Times: “Marie Newman is a textbook example of one of the ways that we could be better as a party — to come from a deep blue seat and to be championing all the issues we need to be championing.
“The fact that a deep blue seat is advocating for many parts of the Republican agenda is extremely problematic. We’re not talking about a swing state that is being forced to take tough votes.”
High-profile Democratic primaries are becoming more common, thanks in part to the attention garnered by Ocasio-Cortez and others, although the New York lawmaker herself has not been as quick to support primary challenges as some expected she would.
“We are so proud that Marie Newman is the first Justice Democrat of this cycle to receive an endorsement from Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,” said Alexandra Rojas, the executive director of Justice Democrats, which has supported many of the anti-establishment primary bids. “The momentum is growing in our movement to make the Democratic Party fight for solutions as big as the problems we face and create a party of voters, not corporate donors.”
*** UPDATE *** Response…
Dan Lipinski responds to @AOC endorsing his primary opponent and it's a doozy.
"Ms. Newman is an extreme candidate who is completely out of step with the voters of Illinois’ Third District who do not want to be represented by a fifth member of the 'Squad.'" pic.twitter.com/zewNDe6CfP
“Since taking office, the Governor has worked to protect the health and safety of all Illinoisans, especially our young people. He supports the efforts of state lawmakers to outlaw flavored e-cigarettes and vaping products, and also supports those proposals moving forward during the fall veto session.”
Background
- So far, this administration has worked with the General Assembly to raise the smoking age to 21, including for vaping and e-cigarettes.
- He also imposed the first-ever tax on e-cigarettes and vaping products to make them more difficult for young people to get their hands on.
- The Governor also convened a working group of medical and legal experts to study the scientific evidence so they can develop long-term solutions to keep Illinoisans safe and healthy.
Not sure why it’s necessary to ban a product for adult consumption when it’s already illegal for people under 21, particularly since there is no real connection between these products and the recent reported vaping illnesses. But the public and the media are in a furor, so politicians gonna politic.
SHANE BOUVET, a Stonington man who volunteered on President DONALD TRUMP’s campaign, met Trump several times including the evening before the 2017 inauguration, and received $15,000 from Trump to help his ailing father, has taken to Facebook in what appeared to be an election challenge to U.S. Sen. DICK DURBIN, D-Illinois, of Springfield.
“Mr. Durbin Look me in the eyes,” it says in the post, titled “Bouvet vs. Durbin.” “It’s okay of you’re scared. So am I. … I know what is within me, Even if you can’t see it yet. … I have patience. I will become what I know I am. – Senator Shane Bouvet.”
So, I called Bouvet, who started work last week at a Decatur construction company, after losing a coal-mining job he said ended due to flooding in Hillsboro. He’s 27, he noted, and a person has to be 30 to serve in the Senate.
“I’m trying to let him know,” Bouvet said, “don’t get comfortable, because when I turn 30, he’s definitely in my sight.”
Assuming he wins next year, Sen. Durbin won’t be up for reelection again until 2026, when he will be 82 years old.
“Any challenger [to an incumbent] is challenged themselves,” typically through disputed signatures needed to make it on the ballot.
“There’s a reason we have many uncontested elections in Illinois. The ballot process requires money for election lawyers.”
The petition binding laws and surrounding court cases alone can easily knock candidates off the ballot.
Others, including the Tribune editorial board, say the big reason for so many uncontested races here is gerrymandering…
Often, the loaded dice mean there is no game at all. Of 39 state senators up for election, 20 had no opponent.
OK, but Wisconsin’s gerrymandering process is said to be much more political than Illinois’ and of 17 state Senate seats up for election last year, only four were uncontested.
* The Question: How responsible are Illinois’ ballot access laws for our large number of uncontested legislative races? Don’t forget to explain your answer. Thanks.
* This might possibly help the prospects of a trailer bill during veto. But lowering taxes on the Chicago operator will mean less money for the state and/or the city. The state needs that dough for vertical infrastructure projects and the city needs it for police and fire pensions. And as far as I can tell, there’s no agreement yet about how to do it or even if they will do it. Some folks in high places say Lightfoot should just put the casino license out to bid as-is to see if she gets any takers before fiddling with the tax structure. But the clock is ticking and veto session is approaching fast…
Illinois Gaming Board keeps its poker face, passing resolution asking lawmakers to modify gaming bill in response to Las Vegas feasibility report that portayed Chicago casino tax structure as a losing hand. Motion passed with no debate. @mitchtrout is there.
Mayors from various corners of Illinois agree with Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s comments: Illinois’ mandates on pensions are unsustainable.
In an August interview with the editorial board of Crain’s Chicago Business, the freshman Chicago mayor called Illinois’ state-mandated sweeteners to public worker pensions “unsustainable” and called on lawmakers to take action in the coming veto session.
She immediately faced criticism and was forced to clarify her statement, telling Crain’s that “We must secure the retirement of our working people by partnering with our allies from the state to identify progressive revenue streams. Mayor Lightfoot remains opposed to a constitutional amendment on pensions.”
In her initial interview, she said Chicago wasn’t alone in struggling to pay for pension promises mandated by state lawmakers, that cities like Rockford and Peoria are all under pressure.
“She absolutely is right and we’re not talking about a light coming through a tunnel a long ways away,” Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis said. “We’re talking about a freight train that’s just around the block. This isn’t unique to Chicago and Peoria. Literally every municipality in the state is under the same type of pressure.”
“I want to be careful about this obviously, because it raises lots of concerns amongs lots of quarters, not least of which is in organized labor. I think we have to put as many options as we possible can on the table. We know that the circumstances we find ourselves in with the COLA compounded annually is unsustainable, but I also really feel strongly that we cannot undercut the working men and women that are relying on their pensions, and that puts us in a very precarious position, limits the options, I am aware of that.”
Later in the interview (about 20:00), she is asked about her statement that the COLA is “unsustainable” and she backtracks:
“What I said is 3% compounded annually is a tough climb. It means that we have to consistently feed that beast.”
And upon being question on whether this position is fair to the taxpayers who will have to shoulder these burdens, she replies:
“Pensioners are taxpayers. The thing that gets lost in these conversations is that in the city of Chicago people who have public pensions make up the middle class of our neighborhoods. They are our teachers, our workers, and if they leave, if they are treated unfairly, it can have a potentially catastrophic effect on what happens in our neighborhoods.”
And, keep in mind, the 3 percent compounded increase doesn’t apply to police and firefighter pensions in her city, which make up over half the problem.
Either way, for a skilled lawyer, the mayor isn’t very precise in her word usage.
* As we’ve discussed before, Rep. Jaime Andrade has been trying to eliminate the horde of pigeons at the Irving Park Blue Line stop for over a year. This time the pigeons fought back. From CBS 2…
Talk about dumb luck during a Morning Insiders interview – near a very busy Chicago Transit Authority stop nicknamed the “pigeon poop station.”
While we were shooting a follow-up story about the problems at the station, the unthinkable happened. CBS 2’s Lauren Victory was talking with a lawmaker who was fighting to fix the problem, and he fell victim to it right when the cameras were rolling.
That’s right, a pigeon relieved itself on state Rep. Jaime Andrade (D-Chicago) right on cue as he spoke.
Andrade had just been badmouthing the pigeons.
“I’ll just have to go clean up,” he said. “That’s what happens to my constituents. They get s**t on all time.”
A bipartisan coalition of advocacy groups and lawmakers unveiled a bill Friday that would phase out emissions of a cancer-causing gas in densely populated areas and near schools or day care centers by 2022.
The measure, House Bill 3888, was announced at a Chicago news conference and is the latest step in a highly publicized series of legislative and advocacy efforts to regulate or ban the use of ethylene oxide in Illinois. Ethylene oxide is a gas used in sterilization and manufacturing processes that has been linked to higher cancer rates in communities surrounding the companies that use it.
Sponsored by state Rep. Rita Mayfield, D-Waukegan, the bill proposes that by 2021, no sterilization company can use ethylene oxide within 5 miles of a region with a population density of at least 10 residents per square mile, or within the same distance from a school or day care.
Needless to say, if a facility has to be more than 5 miles from a region with a population density of at least 10 people per square mile, the location options are going to be pretty darned limited in Illinois.
Dawn Rex lives a mile from Medline Industries and near Vantage Chemicals, two plants that utilize EtO, in Waukegan. She believes the ethylene oxide emissions from their plants are what caused her 3-year-old son Samuel to get sick with leukemia. […]
“I think these facilities need to be shut down immediately, shut down as they shut down Sterigenics,” she said. […]
State Rep. Rita Mayfield of Waukegan says she thinks legislators can get the bill passed next month in October’s veto session.
“I don’t see how any legislator or any senator can go up on the House or the Senate floor and say, ‘We’re OK with poisoning children; We’re OK with poisoning communities.’ I just don’t see that happening,” she said.
The EPA is no longer planning to propose toxic air pollution limits for carcinogenic ethylene oxide releases from medical sterilizer facilities this summer, as promised earlier.
Instead, the Environmental Protection Agency quietly announced Sept. 13 it would take a series of steps that will delay any action until later, including the release of an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking next month. This notice, on which the agency will take public comment, will “outline the potential approaches that EPA could take in its upcoming rule, along with the technologies available for controlling ethylene oxide emissions.”
The agency said it plans to issue the actual proposed rule “in the coming months,” according to a separate statement.
The FDA warned last week about the potential for more medical device shortages, this time due to the temporary shutdown of a Sterigenics ethylene oxide (EO) plant outside Atlanta, Ga. […]
The Illinois EPA shut down the Willowbrook plant in February, citing excess EO emissions. Last week, a DuPage County judge approved an agreement that the state attorney general and Sterigenics reached in July that would allow Sterigenics to reopen the Willowbrook plant if it complies with a stringent new state law on EO emissions.
The Willowbrook plant sterilized 594 types of devices, including sutures, clamps, knives, stents and needles. Its closure prompted the FDA to warn of possible device shortages and sent medtech companies large and small scrambling to find other sterilization facilities. Some larger companies were able to take the task in-house or farm it out to other contract sterilization plants. Others were not so lucky.
In April, officials from Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH), and Guerbet (EPA:GBT) advised customers that certain devices were already in short supply or may experience shortages. Teleflex Medical OEM, which had seven million devices sterilized per year at the Willowbrook plant, warned of shortages as well.
Ric Ocasek was one of the all-time great American songwriters: the spirit of Buddy Holly in the body and mind of Mr. Spock, a new wave eccentric who always wanted to brush your rock & roll hair. That’s why the world is in mourning at the news of his death yesterday, at the age of 75. With the Cars, the Boston legend scored hit after hit, yet he also wrote vulnerable ballads about teen angst with his own distinctive blend of compassion and humor, plus his authentic geek-gulp of a voice. Who else could sing the line “alienation is the craze” and still sound cool? Nobody.
* I will never forget the night that I arrived at a bonfire party just outside the Landstuhl military base where my family lived. This song was playing on somebody’s boom box…
I had heard the song before, but I hadn’t really “heard” it. You know what I mean? The song just seemed perfect that night in that setting with those people (my high school friends). There were so many great tracks on that album…
“It’s funny, but when I wasn’t a so-called star, I still used to get recognized a lot, although for other reasons. I’ve felt rather like an outcast for most of my life, and I became comfortable with it at a young age. But it’s not easy sometimes telling yourself that there’s hope for your future, there’s a reason to go on.” Ocasek sits quietly for several seconds, staring down at his long, bony hands. “I used to think about how it would be turned around someday.”
New research shows crime rates dropped substantially in areas with marijuana dispensaries, running counter to fears that pot shops drum up crime.
The study, published this month in the journal of Regional Science and Urban Economics, analyzed crime data from Denver between January 2013 and December 2016. Colorado, which legalized medical marijuana nearly two decades ago, kicked off sales of recreational pot in 2014.
”The results imply that an additional dispensary in a neighborhood leads to a reduction of 17 crimes per month per 10,000 residents, which corresponds to roughly a 19 percent decline relative to the average crime rate over the sample period,” the study states.
While those findings are highly localized, Illinois State University criminology professor Ralph Weisheit said the results could be “magnified in Illinois.” That’s because the state’s 610-page pot law prioritizes criminal justice and social equity and encourages the hiring of people from “economically-impoverished neighborhoods,” Weisheit said.
* New state-created industries should have new rules, including these…
When Illinois’ new law legalizing recreational marijuana takes effect Jan. 1, growers will face some of the strongest energy efficiency and reporting requirements in the country.
Marijuana can be an energy intensive crop. The new electricity load to power lighting, heating and ventilation for indoor grow facilities has strained the grid and even caused blackouts in other places after it was legalized.
The Illinois law seeks to avoid those problems by mandating efficiency standards and capping the amount of power used per square foot. Clean energy advocates said they were hopeful the law would lead other states to follow suit, though more work is needed between utilities and growers to manage power demand. […]
In Denver, public health officials in 2018 reported almost 4% of the city’s total electricity use was from cannabis, up from 1.5% in 2012. In the six months after recreational marijuana became legal in Oregon in 2015, Portland-based Pacific Power reported seven blackouts in its service territory from indoor growing operations.
As U.S health officials scramble to identify the root cause of hundreds of severe lung illnesses tied to vaping, one possible culprit identified so far is a line of illicit marijuana vape products sold under the brand names “Dank Vapes” and “Chronic Carts.”
A study published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine found that more than half of patients with the lung illness – 24 of 41 – who were extensively interviewed in Wisconsin and Illinois reported having used the “Dank Vapes” brand. […]
The “Dank Vapes” brand is an illicit product that uses diluted THC oil, Downs said.
Drug dealers, looking to make as much money as possible, cut THC oil with Vitamin E acetate to dilute it but make it still appear pure to consumers, Downs said. “It can cut THC oil while keeping it thick.”
[Wisconsin state Rep. Shelia Stubbs] grew up in Beloit and said she saw the impact of state policy on the border community. People would flitter between states depending on what was available in one state and not the other. She predicted the same will happen with cannabis, with Wisconsin money, tax revenue, and business flowing into Illinois.
“You’re going to see a boon in traffic, you’re going to see communities grow even faster, the economy is going to go there. If you ever go to South Beloit and Beloit … there’s more crime than there is employment. And so I know the state of Illinois, they need the economy. Do you think the state of Wisconsin doesn’t?”
Phil Armer said he sees the benefits of decriminalization as keeping businesses flowing between the two states, and one day that it might not even be an issue.
Armer said, “Illinois is reaping great financial benefits from the medical cannabis and soon to be recreational and I want to be part of the movement to get my city and state to start reaping those same financial benefits.”
Decriminalize Davenport said they working to have their idea considered by the beginning of the year.
* Planning for pot: Rock Falls working out where marijuana shops can be located
* ‘Budtenders’ wanting to sell adult-use cannabis in Illinois must get training by Nov. 30: “There’s going to be so many new consumers entering this industry, people that haven’t used cannabis before, people that haven’t used it in 20 years, and the first point of contact is going to be that budtender,” Cresco Labs Spokesman Jason Erkes said. “It’s important for them to know the rules and regulations and all those things but also really educate themselves on the different products and the industry as a whole to make sure that first consumer touchpoint experience is a positive one.”
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court disappointed Americans who yearn for an end to partisan gerrymandering — the drawing of legislative and congressional district lines to favor the party in power. The court admitted that these maps “are incompatible with democratic principles.” But it said it had no right to interfere.
The decision seemed to close off judicial remedies for a problem that politicians are not likely to solve — because they don’t see it as a problem. But a state court in North Carolina has given new hope that elections can be made to enhance the interests of voters rather than the self-serving priorities of the pols.
This decision has some relevance to Illinois, where Democrats in Springfield have gone to great lengths to keep themselves in power. In 2018, Democrats got 61% of the votes in U.S. House races but 72% of the seats. Often, the loaded dice mean there is no game at all. Of 39 state senators up for election, 20 had no opponent.
North Carolina had a similar map, but designed to bolster Republicans. They hold 10 of 13 congressional seats thanks to a map that a GOP lawmaker confessed was the best he could do — “because I don’t believe it’s possible to draw a map with 11 Republicans and two Democrats.”
North Carolina Republicans hold 77 percent of the congressional seats despite winning only about half the congressional votes cast statewide.
In fact, [North Carolina Democrats] didn’t stand a chance of picking up a fourth seat unless they could net 52.5 percent of the statewide vote, something they achieved only once since 2000, in the 2008 election.
And four seats would still leave the NC Dems in a 9-4 deficit.
* The Illinois Republicans lost two congressional seats last year that few thought they could possibly lose when the map was drawn in 2011. President Obama lost the 6th Congressional District by 8 points in 2012 and he lost the 14th by 10. Democratic congressional candidates lost the 6th and 14th by about 18 points in 2012 and then won them by 5 and 8 points, respectively, last year. That’s a huge turnaround and had way more to do with President Trump’s lack of suburban appeal (to say the least) and the poor campaigns the GOP incumbents ran than the way the maps were drawn.
Those two races last year were also relatively close. The equivalent to flipping about a half percentage point of the statewide congressional vote would’ve done the trick for the GOPs. And then the Democrats would’ve won 60.5 percent of the statewide vote for 61 percent of the seats.
* Look, there’s no doubt that the Illinois maps are gerrymandered. I wouldn’t argue otherwise and I am all for independent, non-partisan redistricting. But saying Illinois’ district maps are “similar” to North Carolina’s is just whataboutism.
Disgraced former Chicago Ald. Daniel Solis collects a nearly $95,000 annual city taxpayer-funded pension, despite his role as a central figure in an ongoing public corruption scandal at City Hall, records show. […]
Retired city workers can lose their pensions if they’re convicted of a felony crime connected to their municipal service. Solis’ retirement took effect on May 21, the day after he left office, records show.
Barring a criminal conviction, the former alderman could keep his taxpayer-funded pension for life. […]
The idea of Solis keeping his pension is “a painful pill for taxpayers to swallow,” said Alisa Kaplan, policy director of the Reform for Illinois watchdog group.
He hasn’t yet been charged with anything, let alone convicted, and he has been actively working with federal investigators. So, how, exactly, is the General Assembly supposed to write a viable bill that stops someone like Solis from receiving his constitutionally protected pension benefits? “No pensions for federal stool pigeons,” perhaps? Come to think of it, that might actually pass, so let’s not give them any ideas.
* WGLT has a long and very good story about the state’s new “red flag” law. You should read the whole thing, but here’s an excerpt…
Normal Police successfully asked a judge to take away a 74-year-old man’s guns in March after officers became concerned his hallucinations could pose a public safety risk, as WGLT first reported. The man “admitted that there (was) a possibility that the medication he (was) taking (for a hip injury) is causing him to hallucinate,” officers wrote in their request for the firearm restraining order. […]
“It turned out as well as you could hope for,” Normal Police Chief Rick Bleichner said. “It worked how it was intended to work.” […]
“He’s OK with it,” said [the man’s attorney Helen Ogar]. She said the episode “brought (the 74-year-old’s situation) to everyone’s attention” in his family.
“He’s lovely,” Ogar said. “He was just having some health issues. He went on some medications that maybe made him not as sound as he could be. We’re dealing with those as an underlying issue. And we treated it more like a social work issue than a quasi-criminal case.”
Mark Jones with [the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence] praised examples like that.
“It’s a public health tool. It’s not a criminal tool,” Jones said.
* Mark Brown interviewed House Majority Leader Greg Harris about his struggles with addiction and overcoming AIDS. It’s definitely a must-read column…
“And what started out as something fun and social got worse and darker as the years went by to the point that I wasn’t even able to stay permanently housed, went through a bunch of different treatment programs, psych hospitalizations, suicide attempts, in and out of recovery for years and years and years.”
Even now after 19 years being clean and sober, Harris, 63, seems as much aware of his fragility as his strength.
“I consider it something that every day is like a new start,” he said. “I’m still very involved every single week in a program of recovery.”
The governor’s top budget people sent a memo last week to agency directors giving them a heads up about what will be required in their annual budget request submissions. They are not easy-peasy asks.
This fiscal year’s budget was originally supposed to be austere, but then a $1.5 billion flood of unexpected revenue poured in during April and eliminated the need for drastic cuts. Even so, as the recent memo from Deputy Gov. Dan Hynes and Budget Director Alexis Sturm pointed out, billions of dollars in unpaid bills left over from Bruce Rauner’s administration still need to be addressed. Left unsaid was any mention of a possible national recession in the coming year - which some economists have been warning about for months and which could cause serious problems for a state budget that is so precariously “balanced.”
Anyway, the memo includes three directives. The first is that the agencies give the budget office an “actionable scenario” which includes a 6.5 percent cut in their operations during the upcoming fiscal year “across all appropriated funds.”
Gov. J.B. Pritzker ordered much the same thing earlier this year before the April revenue surprise. A bipartisan group of legislators was also working on cuts in the House, but the April cash bump made those cuts unpalatable to enough Democrats that the effort was abandoned.
Not all agencies will be able to come up with the full amount of cuts. The cash-strapped Department of Children and Family Services springs immediately to mind. Cutting that budget could endanger vulnerable kids at a time when Gov. Pritzker has been trying to hire new staff to prevent more tragedies.
But even if some or most of the cuts are never implemented, the exercise at least gets agency directors thinking about ways to save money. Despite that April revenue surprise, costs for next fiscal year will definitely go up and, barring another surprise gift from the revenue gods, will very likely outstrip the available cash to pay for them. It’s simply better management to have cost-cutting plans at the ready rather than leave it up to the General Assembly to find ways to reduce spending during a potential crisis.
Next fiscal year starts on July 1st. Pritzker is hoping voters will approve a constitutional amendment four months later in November that would allow for a graduated tax system. If that happens, tax hikes on upper-income earners would automatically take effect and generate over $3 billion a year in revenues. He cannot legally build that money into his proposed budget, but if voters reject the change, you can bet there will be serious budgetary stress.
The second directive in the memo is to reduce statutorily created boards and commissions under their purviews to allow the governor to reduce them overall by 10% in the upcoming budget. Some commissions haven’t met in years. But this is more about show business than actual savings. If a commission hasn’t met, it’s unlikely that shutting it down would save much money. Former Gov. Rauner, by the way, closed several boards and commissions.
And the third directive is to identify “at least two significant efficiency and savings ideas for consideration in the fiscal year 2021 budget.” Those could include things like eliminating or consolidating duplicative programs, reducing funding for underutilized or inefficient services and improvements in service delivery to streamline costs.
Pritzker was criticized last February for not proposing any significant cuts during his budget address. So, he’s apparently looking for some splashy savings that he can highlight next year. And lots of folks will want to see evidence that the governor is at least trying to save money before agreeing to give the government even more to spend.
And, as noted above, the state absolutely needs to finish paying down its bill backlog, particularly if the economy turns sour and revenues dry up. As of last Friday, the backlog stood at $6.61 billion. This needs to be fixed even if the economy continues to hum along. The state’s social service provider and private vendor systems were horribly damaged during the previous administration, and they are nowhere near back to normal.
Forcing providers and vendors to wait endless months to be paid hurts their operations and undermines the state’s ability to retain them and recruit new groups and companies. Paying down the backlog to get the state back to a 4-week payment cycle would also help the state’s much-maligned credit rating. But cutting their funding going forward won’t help providers and vendors, either. This process has to be a careful balancing act to work.
