The policy also allows adults 21 years and older to grow up to five plants in their home, as long as they are in a locked room and not in plain sight. This has been a contentious issue in negotiations and Deputy Gov. Christian Mitchell said he anticipates substantial changes.
State Sen. Dale Righter (R-Mattoon) is one of many legislators that have questions about the home grow component. Righter said he is concerned that people choosing to grow plants at home will not be regulated on the potency of their plants, and could go beyond what the law allows.
Steans said this is not a real concern: “There’s only so much potency you can get in your plant,” she said. “The higher potency can come when you infuse and make other products. It can only go to about 35 percent in a plant. The plant just can’t get more potent than that.”
Mitchell Davis, police chief of Hazel Crest and second vice president of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, said marijuana-related driving arrests present challenges for officers, as does the allowance of five home grown plants.
“It’s impossible for us to regulate that,” he said. “Home grows take away any controls that you are putting in place for the legal purchase of cannabis.”
Davis said this “opens the door for cartels” and makes it more accessible to minors, even with the specified safety measures in the bill.
Nevertheless, Steans said she plans to file an amendment to the measure next week to address other concerns, specifically over expungements and home grow.
Currently, the proposed legislation would allow for five plants within a household. Steans’ legislation may change those provisions to apply to just medical marijuana, amid opponents’ concerns over whether those homegrown plants would wind up for sale on the illegal black market.
Before we begin, just a warning that if I see evidence of a coordinated social media campaign to freep this poll I will delete it.
Also, to clarify, this question only applies to your personal preference, not what you would be willing to accept in order to pass a bill.
* The Question: Should home grow be allowed for everyone, limited to medical users or banned altogether? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please…
Senator Patricia Van Pelt, a Chicago Democrat, has been removed as a co-sponsor of the bill to legalize recreational cannabis after a report revealed she was selling tickets to her get-rich-quick seminars where she offered investment tips on hot cannabis stocks.
Van Pelt is also listed as the President and co-founder of Wakanna, a company that currently sells essential oils but that has plans to sell cannabis products once the product is legal in Illinois. Van Pelt’s company is selling ownership stake to investors and offering them assurances that their license will be approved, although that licensing process has not yet been established, let alone completed.
Lawmakers addressed Van Pelt’s scheme during a debate in the Senate Executive Committee on Wednesday.
Senator Dale Righter, a Mattoon Republican, asked, “Is there anything in the bill that would give the public security that okay we don’t have insiders maneuvering this and that’s who’s winding up with the licenses?”
“I think you know that I’m committed to ethical safeguards as much as anyone here in the room,” Senator Heather Steans, a Chicago Democrat and lead sponsor of the plan to legalize cannabis answered. “To the extent that we don’t have this in here right now in the way we should, I very much look forward to working with you on the best ways of accomplishing that.” […]
“The public is watching us,” [Senator Righter] said. “The public has to have confidence in the people here, in the process here. When you see one of the members of the chamber clearly looking to cash in on a policy that she believes is going to happen, and then she is an insider in that policy, that is completely inappropriate.” […]
[Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford] also cautioned against Van Pelt’s decision to sell tickets for admission to private events where she offers investment advice about an industry where lawmakers are sifting through sensitive, private information.
“I don’t think that’s a wise decision,” Lightford said, distancing herself from Van Pelt. “I don’t know that I support any of that, and I will look forward to having a conversation with her and learning about what it is that’s going on because I really don’t know. So I don’t have an opinion personally about her, I just think none of us should be engaged with any type of conversations such as that. We are here as lawmakers to pass the best law that we can that can have the best impact on our community, on our budget, and everything moving forward.
“We’re just trying to do our jobs. If there is a bad apple in the bunch, then that would be addressed.”
According to state records, youth-on-staff assaults within the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice increased from 34 in 2015 to 92 in 2018. The assaults, which include punching, stabbing and spitting, are going up even as the number of locked-up teens goes down.
The state currently houses about 260 youth in its IDJJ facilities and there are 580 youth in communities. The state appropriated approximately $120 million to the IDJJ for fiscal year 2019.
“It’s an unsafe environment every day not just for staff and administration, but also for youth,” said former IDJJ teacher Maria Johnston-Becker.
Johnston-Becker said she was sexually assaulted by a youth in 2017 and six months later she was knocked unconscious by another youth in the hall outside of her classroom.
Juvenile Justice Staff employees told NBC 5 Investigates some youth routinely hurl urine, feces, and other bodily fluids toward them.
* AFSCME recently prevailed in a class action grievance about the same basic issue…
AFSCME members in the Department of Corrections and the Department of Juvenile Justice successfully used their union contract to enforce health and safety standards.
To address the growing incidence of assaults on employees in DOC and DJJ facilities, AFSCME Council 31 filed a class-action grievance against both departments that detailed the scope and extent of assaults on employees. The union argued that the employers’ responses have been inadequate according to both the union contract and state OSHA law.
On March 25, Arbitrator Terry Bethel issued a ruling granting the union’s grievance and affirming the gravity of the situation.
In his decision, Arbitrator Bethel indicated that both DOC and DJJ have failed in meeting the state’s responsibility to “provide a safe environment in its corrections facilities and youth centers.” He said his finding was based on “the evidence and testimony presented at the hearing, including the large number of assaults, the lack of thorough training, the failure to address certain conditions, and the testimony of the employees who were assaulted.”
“My decision,” he said, “is simply that the departments have not acted to the extent feasible to prevent injury to their security staffs.”
The arbitrator remanded the case to the parties to shape a remedy within the next 120 days that improves safety in DOC and DJJ facilities, and he retained jurisdiction over the case to ensure that a satisfactory plan of action is developed.
Thursday, May 16, 2019 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
More than 800 solar energy projects are on hold because Illinois’ renewable energy program isn’t adequately funded to meet either current demand or the statutory renewable portfolio standard requirement of 25% by 2025.
The waitlisted, shovel-ready projects could create thousands of jobs, lower consumer electric bills and generate $220 million in property tax revenue for local governments. Funding for new commercial and community solar projects and wind farms will be depleted after 2019.
As lawmakers consider another plan to bring casinos to Chicago and other communities, Mayor RAHM EMANUEL told Playbook he has a suggestion: “Tread carefully.”
The mayor reflected on past attempts to bring a casino to Chicago. In 2011, a newly elected Emanuel was aggressive in supporting casino legislation —only to see it held back when Gov. Pat Quinn indicated he wouldn’t sign it because it didn’t offer enough regulation to protect taxpayers.
In 2013, lawmakers hoping to generate revenue agreed on a new bill with more robust regulations. But Emanuel remembers Quinn calling and asking if Chicago wanted to be part of the legislation. Emanuel said no and Quinn ultimately vetoed the bill.
Why Emanuel pulled back: He says other programs in the city “were starting to work,” he said in a one-on-one interview. Tourism numbers and conventions were on the rise. The economy was growing and the city was having success in attracting digital businesses. “So we walked away from the table,” Emanuel said. “We had it right there and we walked away.”
Now that a Chicago casino has popped up again, Emanuel hopes lawmakers put thought into where it might be located. “If we could put it miles from Indiana,” so people could stop there before heading to an Indiana casino, “I can see value in that,” Emanuel said. “But people [in previous years] were talking about the Loop and Michael Reese Hospital. Those locations have social implications.”
Oh, for crying out loud. Emanuel was asking for a city-owned casino in 2015…
Mayor Rahm Emanuel is trying to solve his police and fire pension problem by paying less upfront, taking longer to pay off the debt and getting some of the money to cover what the city owes from a Chicago casino.
* Since Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot will actually be in office when a gaming bill either passes or flames out, I asked her spokesperson for a response…
As Mayor-elect Lightfoot has stated in the past, in thinking about a Chicago casino, it is imperative that the construction of a new casino be used as an economic development tool.
* And this is what Lightfoot told the Sun-Times in January…
For more than two decades Chicagoans have routinely traveled to neighboring cities like Rosemont, Elgin, Joliet, Gary and Hammond to gamble. If people in Chicago want to gamble, then they should be able to gamble in Chicago at a city-owned, land-based casino. Casino gambling has now been a reality in Illinois for decades. I know from my work as a lawyer that the Illinois Gaming Board has created a robust regulatory system to combat many of the problems that could arise from casino gambling.
In thinking about a Chicago casino, it is imperative that the construction of a new casino be used as an economic development tool to benefit people and neighborhoods that have been neglected by city government for far too long, including minority and women owned businesses and individuals on the west and south sides. As mayor, I will ensure these groups are involved at every stage of the process, from the design, planning and construction of the casino to its daily operations. Moreover, I will insist that the casino work with Chicago businesses to create a localized supply-chain for goods and services.
Tim Miller appeared in what arguably was Democrat JB Pritzker’s single, most-devastating commercial last year from his campaign to unseat Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.
Just a month before the November election, Miller got emotional in the political ad as he chided Rauner for his mishandling of a deadly Legionnaires’ disease outbreak at a state-run veterans’ home. The outbreak killed Miller’s Army veteran father.
But now, Miller is calling out the Democratic governor he helped get elected.
The topic: the state’s lack of movement toward resolving lawsuits from Miller and 11 other families of Legionnaires’ victims who died in repeated outbreaks at Illinois’ largest state-run veterans’ home between 2015 and 2017.
“He’s been governor for five months now,” Miller said. “Certainly, as time goes on, that is going to become more and more of a question. It kind of becomes a question for us. Was this really about the stories, and the loss and the heroes? Or was this about an election campaign?” […]
But almost half way into Pritzker’s first year in office, the families’ lawsuits appear no closer to being settled than they were under Rauner. And now Miller and some of the other victims’ families are beginning to wonder whether they were no more than political props in a bareknuckle campaign.
“Was his promise to settle these lawsuits — his admittance that there were mistakes made — was that out of genuine concern for the families to get justice and closure?” Miller said of Pritzker during an interview with WBEZ. […]
If the state ultimately settles all 12 of the pending Quincy Legionnaires’ cases for the maximum allowable award, taxpayers will be on the hook for as much as $24 million. Because there have not been specific settlements, the governor did not include any funds to resolve the lawsuits in his proposed 2020 state budget, and there are no signs it’s part of ongoing budget talks between the governor and state lawmakers.
* From the governor’s office…
Governor Pritzker has been very clear that he believes that these cases should be settled, and that the state’s mishandling of the Legionnaire’s outbreak at the Quincy Veterans Home failed these families. The governor is confident that Attorney General Raoul and the families who suffered as a result of the Legionnaire’s outbreak at Quincy will reach a fair resolution in these cases.
1) The governor has no formal role in negotiating Court of Claims settlements. That’s up to the attorney general as the state’s chief legal officer. I suspected last year that the plaintiffs didn’t want to negotiate a settlement with the state until after a bill was passed and enacted in November (over Gov. Rauner’s eventual veto) to increase the payout limit from $100,000 to $2 million.
2) Once all parties agree to a settlement, the payout then has to be appropriated by the General Assembly and signed into law. I suppose they could put a ballpark placeholder figure into an approp bill, but I don’t think that’s ever been done before and I also don’t think they should ever attempt it. Bad precedent.
I know emotions are probably still raw, but there’s a process here and it should be followed. The governor shouldn’t try to interfere with a duly elected AG and if the plaintiffs have a beef, it’s with Raoul.
* As this post’s headline notes, there was some other news in that piece…
Meanwhile, a criminal investigation into the state’s handling of multiple Legionnaires’ outbreaks — announced during the height of the gubernatorial campaign — remains active, according to the attorney general’s office.
Before he took the oath of office in January, Gov. J.B. Pritzker was paying out of his own pocket for a national search to find the next head of the long-troubled Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
Pritzker’s transition team signed a $50,000 contract in early January with Massachusetts-based Koya Leadership Partners to conduct a nationwide search for a new leader for the child welfare agency, which has churned through 14 previous directors since 2003. “The governor wanted to get the search for key positions in his Cabinet underway as soon as possible so he covered the cost of the search as part of his transition,” spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh said.
The move is another example of the first-term Democrat and billionaire heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune using his vast personal wealth to help fund functions of state government. Pritzker has also boosted salaries of some members of his administration with his own money. Because those payments aren’t coming from state coffers, they’re not subject to open records laws, raising potential transparency issues.
While the transition committee is not subject to the state Freedom of Information Act, the Pritzker administration provided a copy of the search contract to the Tribune. […]
“The blurring of the public and private spheres and public and private funds for government functions is problematic,” [Alisa Kaplan, policy director for Reform for Illinois, formerly the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform] said. “And the extent to which the governor — this governor — can engage in it is raising all kinds of questions policymakers will have to address at some point.”
The election of J.B. Pritzker as governor in November ushered in a sense of euphoria for Democrats after four years of Republican Bruce Rauner, resulting in an ambitious first-year legislative agenda.
But with the first spring session under Pritzker’s watch nearing its scheduled adjournment at the end of May, many rank-and-file Democrats are concerned that the new administration’s big ideas have largely remained just that, rather than passable legislation. Republicans also have noticed the Democratic discontent.
“I can’t say what’s going on in the second floor (governor’s office), but there’s a common theme among the rank-and-file members and people who work in the building, and that is how are we going to land this ship?” said House Republican leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs.
To be certain, Republicans were unlikely to go along with many of the Democratic governor’s proposals, which include changing the state income tax system, legalizing marijuana, instituting sports betting and enacting a host of smaller-bore tax increases on such items as cigarettes, plastic bags and successful video-gaming businesses. There’s also the need for a tax-supported public works plan, which GOP leaders support — but not in its current form.
But it is the consternation among Democrats that is the chief challenge to Pritzker’s agenda. Midterm dissatisfaction with Republican leadership at the state, congressional and national levels resulted in Democratic supermajorities in the Illinois House and Senate that were expected to easily carry the governor’s agenda.
Yet the political lift this spring is proving to be a heavy one, and the outcome could set the tone for Pritzker’s term.
It has sometimes been painful to watch. And a whole lot of work remains to be done in the next 15 days.
I often tell newbies in January that while May 31st seems like a long way away, one day before you know it you’re gonna wake up and it’s May 15th and you’d better be prepared to go into those last two weeks. May 15th was yesterday.
“There’s a lot of conversation that’s going on right now” about the issues, Gov. J.B. PRITZKER told reporters Wednesday when asked about the looming deadline.
“Actually, I feel quite good about our prospects for getting everything passed this month,” Pritzker said. “There’s some negotiation that needs to take place. … My door is open to those folks that want to come in and talk about a particular provision.” […]
State Sen. TERRY LINK, D-Vernon Hills, has been in the Senate for more than two decades, and thinks things are on track to be completed this month.
“I’ve been here long enough to realize that on May 31, we’ve passed things that people didn’t believe we could pass, that they thought were dead,” Link said. “And I learned that nothing dies in Springfield. Things are on life support, but nothing ever dies.
“We’re having a lot of meetings, a lot of discussions,” he said, and he thinks Pritzker’s agenda will get done. He said it’s helpful that for the budget year starting July 1, Pritzker doesn’t want a general tax increase — like on income or sales — and some potential money generators are “sin taxes” on things like gambling or cigarettes. He also said an infrastructure program can be passed, with talks about funding involving “a lot of other things” besides a gas tax increase. He said he’d be surprised if the gas tax increase ends up being as high as 25 cents a gallon.
The clock is running out, but there’s still enough time to pull it all together. I wouldn’t want to be the person responsible for doing all this heavy lifting right now, though.
Thursday, May 16, 2019 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Illinoisans already pay the nation’s 10th-highest gas tax burden. A look at the hidden layers of taxes and fees in the typical Chicago gas tax receipt shows why. Under a proposal to hike the state motor fuel tax to 44 cents per gallon, Chicagoans would pay a whopping $15.30 in total taxes and fees on 15 gallons of gas.
Unfortunately, discussions in Springfield surrounding a new capital bill have centered around making this receipt even uglier for drivers statewide.
The Illinois House and Senate chief sponsors of the Reproductive Health Act (RHA) were joined [yesterday] afternoon by a number of other legislators and advocates to call on the Illinois House to advance critical legislation that protects access to reproductive health care in our state. The RHA – introduced in February – repeals long-blocked abortion laws in Illinois and assures that all reproductive care (including abortion care) is treated as health care. The two chief sponsors will be joined by Handmaids representing characters from Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel. The Handmaids have been standing vigil in the Capitol for weeks to support the legislation.
“As we saw last week in Georgia and this week in Alabama, powerful forces are coordinating around the country in a full-scale attack on women’s health care – especially reproductive health care,” said State Representative Kelly Cassidy, the lead sponsor of the RHA in the Illinois House. “These anti-abortion activists are pushing hard to get a case to the Supreme Court to overturn Roe. We must act in Illinois – with urgency – to pass the RHA and protect women’s access to health care.”
The Reproductive Health Act was introduced in February by Representative Cassidy and Senator Melinda Bush in the Illinois Senate. The measure has been stalled in the House since that time. The legislators expressed concern today that women’s health care is not being prioritized in the legislative session that ends on May 31.
“Women in Illinois cannot wait to see what the Supreme Court does with our basic rights – including the ability to decide when (and if) to become a parent,” added Senator Bush. “Fearing this moment, women came out in large numbers in November 2018 to vote. We need to represent these voices here in Springfield and pass the RHA. I look forward to the debate in the Senate.”
Also addressing the event was State Representative Emanuel “Chris” Welch, chief co-sponsor of the RHA and Chair of the Executive Committee of the House. Representative Welch joined the sponsors in calling for the bill to be moved to the Executive Committee so that it can move to the floor of the House for a final vote.
“The RHA should be in the House Executive Committee where it will get a full hearing and a vote to go to the floor,” said Representative Welch. “With cases headed to the Supreme Court that could reverse Roe, it is time for us to act.”
One person wasn’t mentioned in all of this: House Speaker Michael Madigan. MJM could move that bill to House Exec because it’s now in Rules after languishing in subcommittee for months.
“Since that day, each week has brought a new horror, a new reason why this is so much more important,” Cassidy said. “I woke up this morning to yet more news of how close we are to losing our right to self-determination, our right to access true reproductive health care.”
She was referencing a law signed Wednesday by Alabama’s governor effectively banning abortion in the state. Other states, including Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi and Ohio, have passed restrictive abortion laws this year.
Some of those states aim to get their laws before the U.S. Supreme Court in hopes of overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case that legalized abortion nationwide.
Sara Hutchinson Ratcliffe, vice president of Catholics for Choice, called those bills “onerous and cruel.” The group supports the Reproductive Health Act.
Pro-pot legislators are still hoping to pass a bill legalizing recreational marijuana by the end of the month, but they are heading back to the negotiating table in hopes of stubbing out a flurry of objections.
Opponents of the wide-ranging bill had free rein to voice their displeasure at a lengthy Senate committee hearing in Springfield on Wednesday — and they aired concerns about everything from how law enforcement will measure impairment in drivers to which marijuana offenses should be expunged to whether or not weed causes erectile dysfunction.
* Dr. Albert Mensah said more than that about ED. Check out this testimony…
What also isn’t brought up, the American Academy of Family Practice, the actual pamphlet that was brought out last month, showed that individuals have erectile dysfunction, impotency, immotile sperm and a lack of capacity to enjoy sexual intercourse, to achieve orgasm. And these erectile dysfunctions are not reversible with treatments like Viagra or any of these other remedies.
Um, OK. I couldn’t find that pamphlet online. Maybe one of you commenters can continue the search.
* Dr. Mensah told the committee he looks at the “underlying cause” of various ailments and has several patients with schizophrenia. His website says he’s “board certified in integrative pediatrics by the American Association of Integrative Medicine.” That association is listed on QuackWatch.org under “Non-Recognized Accrediting/Credentialing/Licensing Agencies.”
Mensah runs Mensah Medical, a clinic that uses “targeted Advanced Nutrient Therapy, an effective and natural alternative to prescription medication” to treat a variety of things…
They also conveniently sell their products online.
It’s very possible he could be a genius and way ahead of his time. But I can tell you that if smoking weed commonly caused irreversible and untreatable ED, few men would ever so much as touch it.
In a report released today, the Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability at the Civic Federation announced its support for Governor Pritzker’s recommended FY2020 budget, because it represents a workable short-term plan to move Illinois forward. The Federation is encouraged by the Governor’s decision to not take a partial pension holiday in FY2020. However, significant concerns persist regarding aggressive revenue assumptions at the core of the proposal and the adequacy of the Governor’s long-term plan to deal with the bill backlog and pension obligations.
The Governor has described his proposed budget as a bridge to financial stability, based on expected implementation of a graduated income tax structure in 2021 and resulting infusion of new revenues. The Civic Federation has continued to express concerns that state and local fiscal conditions are deteriorating at a pace that requires more immediate attention.
“As proposed, the budget represents a relatively rickety financial bridge—though it has been significantly strengthened in recent days,” said Civic Federation President Laurence Msall. “The General Assembly is approaching the deadline to pass several components upon which this budget and the Governor’s long-term plan rely, and revenue projections attached to many of the proposals remain uncertain. Accordingly, we encourage the Governor and General Assembly to develop a comprehensive Plan B that does not involve shorting the State’s pensions or running up the backlog of bills.”
Governor Pritzker presented his first budget, for FY2020, in February 2019. In order to close a projected $3.2 billion deficit, that version relied heavily on a seven-year extension of the State’s statutory pension funding plan. The Civic Federation would have been unable to support that proposal, because it would have further jeopardized the financial condition of Illinois’ severely underfunded retirement systems.
In early May 2019, the Governor announced that his office would no longer pursue the partial pension holiday following a surge in revenues in April 2019 that led to higher revenue projections for the current and upcoming fiscal years. While supporting that decision, the Federation is concerned that April’s strong revenue performance might not be sustainable and therefore continues to recommend a series of steps to further stabilize the State’s operating budget and establish a balanced financial path out of its ongoing fiscal crisis.
The report reinforces many previous Civic Federation recommendations, including limiting net agency spending, consolidating and streamlining units of local government (including pension funds) and restructuring Illinois’ public university system, among others. Further, the Federation cautions against many past bad practices such as relying on accounting gimmicks, reducing or extending the pension funding target and ignoring the financial condition of Illinois’ local governments.
“The State of Illinois is not alone in its financial challenges,” said Msall. “Communities across the State are struggling under the weight of their pension and debt obligations. The Civic Federation calls on the Governor and General Assembly to build on the proposed budget to move more directly and effectively in its assistance to and consolidation of local governments throughout Illinois.”
After accounting for $800 million of unexpected revenue announced in May 2019[2] and the Governor’s cancelation of a plan to extend the pension funding target, the FY2020 budget has an expected surplus of approximately $92 million.
The $39.7 billion revised revenue estimate for FY2020 represents an increase of $858 million, or 2.2%, from $38.8 billion in FY2019.[3] The increase is composed of four factors:
A forecast of strong economic growth leading to a $366 million increase in existing revenues;
Policy changes expected to bring in an additional $350 million from existing sources;
New revenues of $401 million; and
A shift of $259 million in cigarette tax revenues out of the General Funds.
The total one-time revenue included in the FY2020 budget is $525 million. Of this, $350 million derives from sources new to Illinois: legalized sports wagering and recreational cannabis.
Under the revised proposal General Funds expenditures increase by $287 million, or 0.7%, to $39.6 billion from $39.3 billion in FY2019.
Net agency expenditures increase by $211 million, or 0.8% from FY2019, but this increase excludes Medicaid spending that is shifted to a special account outside of General Funds.
The shift of Medicaid spending includes the cigarette taxes, $65 million from new tobacco-related taxes and $390 million from a new assessment on managed care organizations that goes directly to the other fund, relieving pressure on General Funds.
If the portion of shifted expenditures traditionally associated with General Funds is included, net agency expenditures grow by 2.0% over FY2019.
Thursday, May 16, 2019 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Three Georgia legislators send a message of support to Illinois lawmakers urging passage of the Reproductive Health Act to protect access to health care for women in Illinois and across the nation.
Learn more about the Reproductive Health Act here.
* They declared themselves a gun sanctuary, put a question on the ballot about kicking Chicago out of Illinois and now they’re formally weighing in on a bill that was signed into law three months ago…
The Effingham County Board Legislative Committee on Monday moved to the full board a resolution opposing the Illinois minimum wage increase.
The resolution was proposed by the committee’s vice chairman, Jim Niemann. He said the purpose of the resolution was to let Illinois legislators and Gov. J.B. Pritzker know the law will have a negative effect on Effingham County.
“This is something that’s going to not only draw businesses out of Illinois, but make it difficult for us to do our jobs,” Niemann said. “As I said earlier, too, it’s just a hidden tax. From my perspective, all it is is to raise money for the state.” […]
When it came time to vote on whether to pass the resolution on to the full board, there was some hesitation on committee member Joe Thoele’s part. Thoele voted to pass it on to the full board, but said the wage hike is already in place.
“It’s already law. That’s just my opinion,” Thoele said. “The reason I would support it would be if it had something to do with the county and how it affects the county.”
* Meanwhile, here is Rep. Allen Skillicorn’s HJRCA35…
Proposes to amend the Legislature Article of the Illinois Constitution. Provides that the legislative power is vested in a General Assembly consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives, elected by the electors from 102 counties (currently, 59 Legislative Districts) and 118 Representative Districts. Provides that one Senator shall be elected from each county in this State. Provides that the General Assembly shall divide the counties as equally as possible into three groups for electoral purposes. Establishes 118 Representative Districts independent of the number of Legislative Districts (currently, each Legislative District consists of 2 Representative Districts). Provides that no Legislative Districts shall be established following the 2020 decennial census, or any decennial census thereafter, for the purpose of selecting State Senators.
Not unconstitutional at all. Nope. Not in the least.
Illinois News Network, which provides coverage of state and regional issues to media outlets across Illinois, has changed its name to The Center Square. The rebranding is intended to stake out a nonpartisan centrist position. But it also can be seen as a break from the organization’s controversial past ties to the Illinois Policy Institute. Since 2017 INN has been owned by the nonprofit Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity. “For each of us associated with this project, our name serves as a reminder that we’re working with the highest journalistic ethics and precision in mind,” said Chris Krug, president of the Franklin News Foundation. Krug previously served as publisher of the Pioneer Press suburban newspaper chain and as vice president of Shaw Media and editor of the Northwest Herald.
Confusion, Squared. The Illinois News Network, a once-reliable state government watchdog whose recent past has been spotty (2016 link)—including funding from the conservative Koch Brothers (2018 link)—is taking a new name: The Center Square – Illinois.
■ Please don’t mistake it for Chicago Public Square, which comes to you courtesy of four-star supporters including Lora Engdahl, Frank Heitzman, Joseph Sjostrom and Teresa Powell—whom you can join here for a few cents a day.
Our company has been renamed Franklin News Foundation, which is about as straightforward as it gets. With a nod to Benjamin Franklin, our nation’s best-known publisher, we’re a non-profit, non-partisan, non-political, no-nonsense organization whose mission is to connect content and audience with news from state capitals and across the states that simply isn’t reported elsewhere.
Our journalism platform is TheCenterSquare.com. When a reporter is on target within their beat, they’re said “to be hitting the center square.” I’ve always liked that saying, because rather than writing “a story,” I’ve always preferred that our reporters write “the story.” For each of us associated with this project, our name serves as a reminder that we’re working with the highest journalistic ethics and precision in mind.
Over the past two years, we’ve watched as partisanship has permeated reporting from Washington. And, state by state, as we’ve increased our staff and dialed into state-level issues across the country, reading thousands of competitive stories, we’ve seen how this same bias creeps into capitol-level news coverage – pushing readers and journalistic reputations out to the right and the left.
Commentary has overwhelmed straight-news content, and caused significant distortion for time-pressed readers disinterested in becoming professional fact-checkers. Too many people are reading someone’s take on a story before they’ve read the story.
Millions of Americans seek news from the vacated middle ground – from that center square – and simply want to understand what is happening in their state capitol, and how it affects their lives.
Our reporters are keenly interested in economics and finance, how tax dollars are generated and how they’re spent. We talk to our readers in terms that they understand rather than through the wonky, inside baseball that so often stands for statehouse reporting.
Legislative mechanics already are complicated. Reporters should be educating the reader and simplifying the news, rather than showing off and making the activity or inactivity of the statehouse more confusing. We commit to write in plain English.
I Googled “‘hitting the center square’ reporter” and came up with one result, the column excerpted above. Not quite a Googlewhack, but still unique.
Lawmakers appeared poised to vote on a bill that would more than double the state’s motor fuel tax to pay for statewide transportation projects, but the plan stalled late Tuesday as negotiations continued.
Under state Sen. Martin Sandoval’s proposed legislation, the motor fuel tax would be more than doubled from 19 cents to 44 cents per gallon and indexed to inflation. That would mean the tax would increase each year with inflation, but that annual increase would be capped at a penny per year.
With the sales tax included, the proposal would give Illinois the highest gas tax in the nation at more than 60 cents. Pennsylvania’s tax on a gallon of fuel is 58 cents. In addition, the bill would add a $1,000 annual registration fee for electric vehicles. The existing registration fee for electric vehicles is $17.50. Those registration fees would also increase with the rate of inflation every year, with caps set at 102.5 percent of the previous year’s total.
Lawmakers had until earlier this month to call legislation and amendments in committee to get them to the Senate floor, but the chamber suspended those rules Tuesday afternoon so Sandoval could get the legislation out of committee.
However, Sandoval convened and then adjourned the Senate Transportation Committee in a matter of minutes without calling the legislation.
“Leader [Don] DeWitte is working with me very arduously to try and fashion another amendment,” Sandoval said after the hearing.
He said he expects the bill to be changed to scale back some tax hikes, notably the annual registration fee for electric vehicles.
Rumor mill has it at a 19-cents increase in the Motor Fuel Tax (doubled) and maybe $400-500 for the annual EV regisration fee. But everything is fluid right now.
* Love him or hate him, more Chicago politicos talk about Maze Jackson’s morning show than just about anyone else. Press release…
Midway Broadcasting Corporation announced that former president of the Cook County Board, Todd Stroger has signed on as the co-host of the Maze Jackson Morning Show effective immediately. The show airs weekdays from 6am-9am on WVON 1690AM, Chicago’s premier Urban Talk radio station.
Stroger is a life-long Chicagoan with a name that is synonymous with local politics. He has served as a state representative, alderman and as president of the Cook County Board, which is the second largest county in the nation, a seat previously held by Todd’s father, John Stroger, who was a stalwart in the Democratic Party.
He joins an elite list of former politicians-turned- talk- show hosts, who’ve built second careers in the media industry including former Alderman Edward Vrdolyak, Congressman Joe Walsh, and WVON’s Cliff Kelley, who retired in March from the station. Stroger has sat in regularly as a guest host with Jackson.
Midway Broadcasting’s Chairwoman, Melody Spann Cooper says, “Todd joining the team is a no- brainer in a town where politics is a second sport. I’m excited about what we are doing with talk radio in this town right now, and Maze and Todd are so much a part of it.” In addition to politics, The Maze Jackson Morning Show with Todd Stroger will continue to deliver special features, and local and national newsmakers and celebrities.
The Talk of Chicago has established itself as Chicago’s premier content provider. For more than 56 years, the station has been considered one of the most credible and highly-respected media institutions in the nation providing an interactive forum for its vast listening audience to discuss social, economic and political issues that impact the African-American community. - MG Media
The last time WVON appeared in a Nielsen Audio survey, its morning show tied for 39th place with a 0.3 percent share and cumulative weekly audience of 33,600.
Another former Chicago alderman, Cliff Kelley, stepped down in March after 25 years as a talk show host at WVON. His interim replacement from 3 to 6 p.m. weekdays is the team of Matt McGill and Kimberley Egonmwan.
I was on that show the other day and they were a delight…
Kimberley: When I was on staff we were told never to speak to you.
Dozens of social media posts and promotional videos posted online reveal State Senator Patricia Van Pelt, a Chicago Democrat, is looking to cash in on cannabis and go “riding the wave with the rich” in the final days leading up to a highly anticipated vote that could legalize recreational marijuana for adult use in the state.
Since her re-election victory in November 2018, Van Pelt has launched an aggressive social media campaign recruiting potential investors to attend her seminars. Tickets for her upcoming events are listed on Eventbrite at a non-refundable rate of $99.95.
“You’re going to learn how to invest in the stock market and what cannabis companies are viable,” Van Pelt said in a video she posted online to promote Wakanna, a company she co-founded last month along with three other women.
In one post, Van Pelt says you can purchase cannabis stock at $0.72 cents per share. In another post, she urges potential investors to “move expeditiously” and “imagine going from $0.02 cents a share to $60 a share in three years,” which would be a 3,000 percent return on investment.
She also claimed she nearly doubled her money in a matter of roughly three weeks. […]
Van Pelt’s insinuation was “totally inappropriate,” a top ranking member of the Legislative Black Caucus told WCIA. Speaking on a condition of anonymity, the lawmaker said it was “just wrong” for “someone in [Van Pelt’s] position of power and influence to try and make money for herself.”
After reviewing several Facebook posts, the source felt Van Pelt was intentionally misleading the people in her district or in her church congregation.
“Because she’s a senator, they must think, ‘Oh, she must know something!’”
I told subscribers about this months ago. It’s really a bad look.
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Without mentioning her name, Sen. Dale Righter (R-Mattoon) asked during a committee hearing today whether something could be done to address this issue. Sen. Heather Steans (D-Chicago), the legalization bill’s sponsor, said she would definitely work with Righter on language.
Wednesday, May 15, 2019 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
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Rockford business leaders are using a new strategy to reach lawmakers in Springfield about bringing a casino to Rockford.
“I would say this is the deepest dive we’ve ever done,” Einar Forsman, the President and CEO of the Rockford Chamber of Commerce says.
Part of the new strategy includes targeted social media advertisements. The Chamber says those ads are designed to pop up on your social media feed if you in your 20s to 40s and are in the Rockford or Springfield area.
Click here to track how the Facebook ads are doing. They’ve been seen by several hundred thousand people, so kudos to them.
Now is the time for a Rockford casino. We’re done being held hostage by wealthy Illinois casino owners afraid of competition. Do we have your support? #timeforrockford
.@GovPritzker Now is the time for a Rockford casino. We’re done being held hostage by wealthy Illinois casino owners afraid of competition. Do we have your support? #timeforrockford
* Maybe the mayor should start paying closer attention. This proposal, which has resulted from two years of work, is not about a GRF revenue grab. If it was, then a whole lot more than 35 percent of the proceeds would be going to GRF. Politico…
Mayor Rahm Emanuel told Playbook that legalizing recreational marijuana can’t just be about cold hard cash and says that state should lawmakers slow down their legislative efforts on the drug… for now. “Don’t go head first into this just because we’re thirsty and hungry for revenue,” he said during an interview in his office.
The announcement this spring that Illinois had collected some $1.5 billion more in tax revenue than the state projected, creates a “lack of urgency,” and gives lawmakers a chance to carefully deliberate the marijuana bill, the mayor said. Balancing the concerns voiced by law enforcement, as well as some in the Legislative Black Caucus who are pressing on social justice issues, are crucial to success, Emanuel said. “We should tread carefully here.”
It sounds like the mayor is spending too much time reading erroneous Daily Herald editorials. That $1.5 billion in unexpected revenue is for this fiscal year, not next. No cannabis revenue will be collected this fiscal year. The $800 million in additional projected revenue for next fiscal year will all be gobbled up by pension payments. So, cannabis revenue will still be needed next fiscal year.
* The problem with law enforcement’s role in the talks is their lobbyists and supporters are trying to kill the bill while demanding more money. From what used to be the Illinois Policy Institute’s news service and then became the Franklin Center’s Illinois news outlet and is now something called The Center Square Illinois…
Proponents of a plan to tax and regulate recreational marijuana use for adults in Illinois plan to address a growing list of concerns, including how the tax money will be spent and how the state should treat people who were convicted of marijuana-related crimes in the past. […]
[Sen. Jason Barickman, R-Bloomington] said law enforcement should get more.
“They’re going to have to retrain dogs, they’re going to have to put new processes in place, they’re going to have to buy some equipment,” Barickman said. “All of these things suggest that for our [law enforcement], they’re going to need some money … so they don’t have to dip into their own pockets just to comply with this new law.”
Law enforcement is also attempting to undermine the Black and Latino Caucus’ attempts to expunge arrest and conviction records. So… maybe the outgoing mayor could pick up a phone and talk to his police superintendent?
* May 6th statement from the person who will be Chicago’s mayor before any legalization bill is signed into law…
Mayor-Elect Lori E. Lightfoot releases statement on legislation to legalize recreational marijuana
“The recent legislation introduced is an important step forward in creating a fair process for legalizing recreational marijuana. More importantly, it allows Illinois the opportunity to put an end to a long overdue and unjust drug policy that has disproportionately affected Chicago’s black and brown neighborhoods for decades. I look forward to working with Gov. Pritzker, Rep. Cassidy, other members of the General Assembly, and other important stakeholders in Chicago to ensure safe and equitable legislation becomes law in Illinois.”
…Adding… Again, not a money grab…
New revenue estimates are in for cannabis program. @HeatherSteans says next year (FY 2020) it will bring in an estimated $56 million. In FY2021, the program is expected to bring in ~$140 million
Wednesday, May 15, 2019 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Three Georgia legislators send a message of support to Illinois lawmakers urging passage of the Reproductive Health Act to protect access to health care for women in Illinois and across the nation.
Learn more about the Reproductive Health Act here.
Today, Think Big Illinois released a new television ad urging state legislators to give Illinoisans the opportunity to vote on the fair tax. By supporting the fair tax amendment in Springfield, legislators will ensure Illinoisans have the chance in November 2020 to decide what kind of tax system they want – one that works for everyone, or one that just works for the wealthy few.
“Deserve” will run in markets across the state. Watch the ad here.
“Illinoisans deserve to decide if they want to keep our current unfair tax system in place, or want a system that levels the playing field for all our families. It’s not often that voters have the chance to have a direct say on such important issues for them and their families, and legislators should not deny them of that opportunity,” said Quentin Fulks, Executive Director of Think Big Illinois. “Think Big Illinois hopes legislators will do what’s best for our state and give Illinoisans the chance to vote on the fair tax.”
Illinois’ child welfare agency is so intent on keeping children with their parents even when they have strong evidence of abuse that it has sometimes left those children in grave danger, a study released Wednesday found.
Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker ordered the study of the Department of Children and Family Services’ Intact Family Services unit after the recent deaths of three children. That unit is responsible for overseeing households in which children are left at home after allegations of abuse or neglect.
Illinois has been lauded for having one of the lowest foster care entry rates of any state in the U.S. Yet researchers found a profound failure to communicate within the department; overburdened staffers; staffers so convinced that prosecutors wouldn’t agree with requests to remove children from homes that they didn’t bother to ask; and cases in which evidence and suspicions of abuse or neglect were brushed aside.
Keeping children with their families is “a laudable goal,” said Michael Cull, one of the study’s authors. “But over time for a variety of reasons it becomes an overriding priority that leads to decisions that (the agency) may not even know they are making.” […]
Illinois is not the only state with a child welfare system under fire. In fact, according to the study, the rate of death due to child maltreatment in Illinois in 2016 - 2.16 per 100,000 children - was actually a bit lower than the national figure of 2.36 per 100,000 children.
Yet the organizations who provide these [intact family services] told researchers they sometimes feel like their hands are tied. They raised the concern that some of the cases they receive are “too complex, too severe or too longstanding” for them to handle but that it’s difficult to decline a case or question the appropriateness of such referrals, said Dana Weiner, a lead researcher of the six-week study. The caseworkers also reported that they didn’t believe judges, prosecutors or department investigators would support more intensive interventions if they petitioned for it.
Families are also not required to accept the services, which can range from mental health counseling to parenting classes. Supporters of intact services note that removing a child from relatives and finding a foster care placement is a traumatic experience that should be avoided when a child’s well-being is not compromised.
“The intact providers do their best to serve the families that they are assigned with the resources that they have available to them,” said Weiner of Chapin Hall, a child welfare think tank based at the University of Chicago that put out the study. “But I think that the expectation that removals will be avoided sometimes discourages them from applying critical thinking to the current safety concerns and the best course of intervention for a family.” […]
Nearly all intact family services — or about 85 percent — are provided by community-based organizations that have contracts with DCFS. The caseworkers are only supposed to have 10 open cases at a time, the report said. When possible, the department retains the highest-risk cases to address in-house.
The Chapin Hall report identified 41 child deaths due to mistreatment that were investigated by the agency’s inspector general between 2014 and 2018. In six of those cases, the fatality occurred while there was an open intact family services case.
Some of the most serious problems highlighted in the report include the lack of historical information in critical cases that prompt Intact supervisors to be “reluctant” about elevating cases to supervisory review. The report also found a lack of communication between investigators, who identified with law enforcement, and Intact supervisors, who identified as mental health and social workers.
The report also found some structural issues, such as lack of information because a case was expunged or purged. Under current law, cases are expunged after five years, so the record would only reflect an event happened. If the allegation was unfounded, there are no details on record.
[DCFS Acting Director Marc Smith] said that change could come through the legislative process, but said it would be more helpful to see a “pattern of need and support” and not just the details of an unfounded allegation.
“Assessment of a family’s safety sometimes evolves over time,” the report says. “The unavailability of so much historical information may contribute to critical case details being lost and influences child welfare staff to rely on family’s accurate self-reporting on their history.”
“It’s basically a bureaucratic mess,” says Charles Golbert, the Illinois Public Guardian. “And we’ve known that for a long time.”
Golbert said private providers have no incentive to keep cases open until problems are resolved.
“They actually get paid less money if the case is still open after six months,” he said. “It makes no sense—it puts bureaucracy and artificial timelines ahead of child safety.”
The study recommended nine ways to address the issues; which include refining protocol for closing cases, working with courts and state’s attorneys to refine criteria for removal, redesigning assessment and child intake processes, and giving direct attention to cases at greatest risk of severe harm.
Action: Review of Open Investigations. DCFS is prioritizing the highest risk cases by taking a close look at investigations where young children are involved and certain allegations of abuse and neglect are present. This urgent review by some of DCFS’ most senior staff will cover more than 1,100 open investigations and focuses on reviewing compliance with key safety measures. Investigations found to be out of compliance will be rectified immediately and receive an additional qualitative review. DCFS expects to have findings from this internal investigation in coming weeks. These findings will help determine the scope of future reviews of investigation work.
Action: Crisis Intervention Team. In the tragic event of a child death, this 8-member team will initiate an immediate review when the death occurs during an open investigation or involves a child with an extensive history of contact with DCFS. The team will examine the family’s full history of involvement with DCFS and all relevant investigations and casework, including other current and previous cases that staff involved are handling. Their scope includes both human and systemic failures that may exist. The Crisis Intervention Team is tasked with quickly developing recommendations following their investigation and when appropriate, implementing changes in training or protocols that will rapidly lead to improving our work of protecting children.
Action: Expanding Training Programs and Retraining Caseworkers. Starting in June, veteran investigations staff will have access to the department’s newest and most advanced simulated (SIM) lab training facility in Englewood. This initiative will give key veteran front-line workers access to the latest tools and techniques being used in training. DCFS is also introducing a re-training program for all child welfare workers across the state. All staff licensed with DCFS, whether they work for the department or for a private agency, will be required to participate in ongoing training. The first re-training will be launched this summer and will focus on safety training, including identifying risks and warning signs.
DCFS Responses to Chapin Hall’s Recommendations
1) Recommendation: Develop and refine protocol for closing Intact cases. When caseworkers are properly supported and they have the right tools, they make good decisions. DCFS will address this problem immediately and develop new standard protocols for closing Intact cases in the next 60 days.
2) Recommendation: Clarify goals and expectations across staff roles. DCFS will clearly articulate expectations for every actor and agency involved in the work of promoting child safety. Defining roles for DCFS investigators, supervisors, Intact providers and staff will be addressed over the next 60 days through training, changes in policy and through communications with staff.
3) Recommendation: Utilize evidence-based approaches to preventive case work. DCFS will examine models that have been piloted and tested in Illinois and other states. We will work closely with Chapin Hall to address this recommendation over the next six months.
4) Recommendation: Improve the quality of supervision. DCFS will develop a new structure for supervision within the agency that provides more clear lines of authority and accountability. DCFS will also work with supervisors to ensure that their teams are openly communicating. Following this report, we will prioritize Intact teams to receive training on the new practice model within the next 30 days.
5) Recommendation: Adjust the preventive service array to meet the needs of the population. We will continue to work with Chapin Hall to identify the services to best support the populations Intact is serving. This process will take 12 months to implement.
6) Recommendation: Restructure preventive services (generally) and Intact (specifically). DCFS has convened a working group to develop a restructuring plan so that there is better collaboration between Intact services (which provides services) and the Investigations division (which is responsible for case investigations). DCFS will develop this plan over the next 30 days, followed by a 30-day rollout across the department.
7) Recommendation: Work with courts and State’s Attorneys to refine the criteria for child removal in complex and chronic family cases. DCFS will work to build consensus among courts and State’s attorneys concerning removal of children who have experienced multiple incidents of abuse. The department will work with partners like Casey Foundation and Chapin Hall to help us implement this system change over the next 12 months.
8) Recommendation: Redesign the assessment and intake process based on systemic review to: a) reduce redundant information collection and data input; b) support decision making with youth and families; and c) improve effective communication across child serving systems. DCFS has introduced several recent changes that eliminate some redundancy in information collection and data input. Over the next 60 days, the department is putting into place a re-training of staff to improve the efficiency, reliability, and accuracy of assessments across screening, intake, service planning, and care transitions.
9) Recommendation: Direct attention to cases at greatest risk for severe harm. DCFS, in consultation with Chapin Hall, will revisit predictive models for help identifying cases with a high risk for maltreatment. Chapin Hall has identified that other child welfare systems are increasingly making use of administrative data to speed the detection of cases that may require additional attention or intervention. This process will take 12 months to complete.
…Adding… Illinois Collaboration on Youth Chief Executive Officer Andrea Durbin…
We appreciate the thorough and thoughtful analysis by Chapin Hall focused on Intact Family Services and agree with many of its findings and recommendations. Supporting and strengthening the Intact system is a goal we all share. It is important to remember that taking children from their families can have lasting negative effects and is a very serious step that should be considered when a child’s safety is paramount. We should also remember that while Intact is an important piece of the child welfare system, it is not the only piece. The system needs focused attention across all levels of care in order to achieve long term stability. We look forward to continuing this critically important discussion and finding solutions to stabilize Illinois’ child welfare system in the days ahead.
