Today, Gov. JB Pritzker took the following bill action:
Bill Number: SB 886
Description: Provides for the sale of the James R. Thompson Center by competitive sealed proposal process within two years. The purchaser must enter into an agreement with the City of Chicago and CTA to maintain operations of the Clark & Lake station.
Action: Signed
Effective: Immediately
The timeline of the JRTC sale is as follows:
Phase 1 (Present to Months 3-6) — The state will draft a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to interested purchasers within the next four to six weeks and will re-engage negotiations with the City of Chicago regarding zoning and transit station within three to six months;
Phase 2 (Months 7-12) — The state will issue an RFQ and begin discussions with interested purchasers in four to six months’ time and draft and publish a Request for Proposal (RFP) to acquire and develop the property in four months’ time;
Phase 3 (Months 12-17) — The state will allow four to five months for interested purchasers to develop their proposals and respond to the RFP;
Phase 4 (Months 15-20) — The state will evaluate proposals, which includes discussions with proposers to clarify responses, within three months;
Phase 5 (Months 17-22) — The state will negotiate and award the contract within two months, which will conclude before the 24-month deadline.
Simultaneous with the sale of Thompson Center, the state will implement a planned relocation of current Thompson Center employees to the Michael A. Bilandic Building and other under-utilized, state-owned or rented facilities, consistent with recommendations made by the newly-created Pension Asset Value and Transfer Taskforce.
* The Question: Think it’ll happen? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please…
…Adding… Lori Lightfoot on the sale of the Thompson Center back in February…
As a lover of Chicago’s architectural history, in general, my first instinct will always be to protect historical treasures. The Thompson Center has had a checkered history and there are valid concerns about maintenance. The fight between outgoing Governor Rauner and Mayor Emanuel should be in the rearview mirror. I would welcome dialogue with the Pritzker administration to devise a plan for the building’s future.
* Why Illinois should reform the hotel-motel tax - For municipalities, a vibrant local economy equals more business for local hotels. In the end, a town’s size should not prevent it from investing tax revenues in projects that will strengthen the entire community.
Q: You ran on getting rid of aldermanic privilege (the practice of aldermen having veto power over all permitting and zoning decisions in their wards). That’s probably easier to talk about than the mechanics of actually withdrawing that practice. It’s not like it’s a line in the city code. It’s deeper than that. How do you go about addressing that?
A: I’m going to consult with some of the alderman who have been supportive of the campaign. I’m very clear on it. Some of them have a very different view, but I’m very clear that it’s got to go. I want to do it in a way that doesn’t do further harm, the quintessential throwing the baby out with the bathwater. But it’s got to go. How do you do it? My thoughts are that because it’s not written into law and it’s just a very dominant culture … I’m thinking about an executive order from day one that says in more legalese than this, “This is not a thing. We will no longer honor this.”
Because the way that aldermanic prerogative works is there’s got to be compliance with the executive branch, because otherwise it doesn’t work. So, you’ve got to eliminate that compliance, and you make it a mandate. And then you do training, particularly in the city licensing departments whether it’s zoning, buildings, housing, planning, and you pick the people who run those agencies and the deputies that are pledging allegiance to the new world order and good governance. And then I think you have the inspector general do some spot audits to make sure that there is real compliance.
You obviously have to engage in a dialogue with the City Council. It’s not that alderman no longer are able to have notice and an opportunity to be heard. If aldermen are doing their job right, they should be the people who are closest to the vibe and the beat in their neighborhood and have a very important role to play on a number of different issues, but not a unilateral, unchecked right. That’s gone as soon as I take office, because it prevents us from engaging in citywide initiatives, it prevents us from moving ahead on important issues like affordable housing and it is fundamentally corrosive and there is no way to monitor it in a way you can bring transparency and accountability to it.
If I’ve got to go and kiss the ring of the alderman for everything, for a license to have a block club party or whatever it is and there is a catalog of all the things that are run through the aldermanic offices, that is fundamentally a problem. And it’s the tens of thousands of touches that an alderman has on a regular basis with constituents who think that they have to give some additional thing to get access to basic city services, that is the corrosive effect. And it’s obviously worse when an alderman takes that power and then tries to monetize it for him or herself.
Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot on Friday accused Ald. Edward Burke (14th) of attempting to organize the City Council against her and threatened to expose aldermen who dare to conspire with him.
“Any alderman who’s gonna try to align themselves with Ed Burke at this time — we’re gonna make sure that gets very public and exposed . . . I’m going to do everything I can to shine a light on that,” Lighfoot told the Sun-Times.
“They’re gonna have to explain to the public why they’re aligning with him against the voters of this city.” […]
“We’re not gonna resurrect the Vrdolyak 29 in the form of Ed Burke. That’s not going to happen. He can try all he wants. He’s not going to be successful,” Lightfoot said. […]
“He’s been very successful in accumulating power despite the odds and he’s not gonna give up on that easily. But beware.”
* Lightfoot urged to back off proposal to raise hotel tax: Michael Jacobson, president of the Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association, noted the total tax on a Chicago hotel room already stands at 17.5 percent. That’s the highest of any of Chicago’s leading competitors for conventions and tourism. … During Emanuel’s tenure, the number of tourists visiting Chicago grew by 40 percent—from 39 million to 55 million-a-year.
At the Barbara Sizemore Academy, a charter school in the Englewood neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side, only 62 percent of students are protected against measles. The rest, 98 students, either have exemptions, aren’t vaccinated or didn’t bring their shot records.
Jocelyn Mills, the school principal, says the number is concerning but her hands are tied.
“Each child’s individual circumstance in their family is different,” she said, adding there are economic and social barriers that keep students from getting the shots or bringing in the paperwork.
Low-income families often move frequently, and it gets harder to keep track of important documents. Some families, she said, don’t have access to medical centers where they can get free care and some students don’t live with their parents or legal guardians. […]
But excluding students is extremely difficult for school administrators to do, Mills said. “How do you close the door to 40 percent of the population, especially when you are also on the hook for attendance?”
I’m not sure what the answer is, but the state might start with putting resources on the ground in low-income areas and telling upper-income private schools to increase their vaccination rates or face a shut-down.
* Thankfully, the Senate will try to work something out with the incoming mayor instead of just blindly zooming a bill through the chamber like the House did yesterday…
The Illinois House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to make Chicago’s school board elected rather than appointed by the mayor, approving a bill that Chicago Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot told WBEZ would be a “recipe for disaster and chaos.” […]
The vote comes just two days after Lightfoot won the election to be Chicago’s new mayor. Lightfoot campaigned in support of moving to an elected school board, but told WBEZ last week that the bill, which calls for 20 board members plus a board president, would create a school board that’s far too big.
“Having a school board of 21 people is completely unwieldy,” Lightfoot said in an interview. “That will be a recipe for disaster and chaos. It’s way too large.”
Q: A bill allowing a Chicago elected school board passed the House today (Thursday). Under that version, I think there’s 20 members and the legislature gets to draw the districts. Do you have thoughts on who should draw the boundaries, how many members there should be?
A: Well, I think there are some fundamentals that still haven’t been addressed, and I’m not fond of the bill in its current iteration at all. I don’t think you can have a number of people on a board that’s completely unwieldy and are not going to be able to do their business. We haven’t answered the questions of, “OK, if we have an elected school board, what’s the selection process?” And it can’t just be this is like aldermanic races. That’s not going to work.
I want actual parents to be able to sit on that board, and if we treat it like another political body, that’s not going to happen and that to me is absolutely untenable and a nonstarter. What the level of experience is that people have to bring, and the kinds of experiences also make a difference to me. I favor a situation where we have people who have come through the (Local School Council) process, because they have skin in the game. That means they’re probably a parent. They’ve been able to make and meet budgets. They have some expertise in doing hiring. I think all those things are very valuable skills that will help inform a school board. So obviously, Mr. (state Rep. Robert) Martwick did not confer with me about the content of his legislation. That to me is a nonstarter.
Q: So, maybe you’ve had to serve for a certain number of years on a Local School Council before you can run for school board?
A: Yeah. I want to spend a little more time with it, but that makes more sense to me than just throwing it open, because then it just becomes another political monster. We’re going to replace one broken system with another broken system, and that’s not going to build confidence in anyone. I don’t favor this bill at all. I don’t favor it.
Lots of interesting stuff in that interview, by the way. Click here to read the whole thing.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker has staked his future budgets on convincing lawmakers and voters to change the state’s constitution to allow for a progressive income tax with higher rates for those who earn more, but not enough members of his own party in House are prepared to put the question to voters.
Fewer than 60 lawmakers in the House are in favor of asking voters to change the state’s flat income tax to a graduated one, according to a report from Politico. That means Pritzker could have to look to other sources to come up with the more than $3 billion he said the state needs to stabilize its finances.
Pritzker ran on changing the flat income tax to a progressive one. For that, there would need to be a constitutional amendment approved by voters. The House would need 71 votes to pass it to voters. Multiple roll call votes on the progressive tax proposal registered support “in the 50s,” Politico reported. To pass just the rates, if there were ever a constitutional change from the flat tax to the progressive tax, it would require a simple majority of 60 votes in the House.
“Leaders are having difficulty getting to 60 votes because some Democrats are pushing back on the measure. So the vote may be moved to April 30,” Politico reported.
Pritzker remained optimistic about his graduated tax plan on Thursday.
“I wouldn’t believe everything you read, but I would say, especially a few of you out here,” Pritzker said in Springfield Thursday.
State Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago, confirmed Democrats don’t have the supermajority needed to get the constitutional amendment question on the ballot for voters.
“What we have now is a roll call that is short of the 71 votes, but we’ll see how the governor convinces the public and legislators and see things the way that many people do,” Ford said.
Ford said it’s important the governor doesn’t attempt to force his will on the legislature and voters. The governor needs to hear their concerns.
I went over this with subscribers yesterday and earlier today, but suffice it to say there were no hard roll calls taken and there was never a set, scheduled early April House vote to “move.” That’s just nonsense.
But a Democrat in the House said there’s been “grumbling” and “a fair degree of hesitation” in the caucus, particularly over the details of the rates.
Another Democrat, state Rep. Mike Zalewski of Chicago, said it should be relatively easy for lawmakers to put a graduated income tax on the ballot. But he says there’s more resistance on the question of what the tax rates should be.
Pritzker is proposing a modest tax cut for every income bracket below $250,000 dollars a year. In some cases, that tax cut could be $100 dollars.
State Rep. Kathleen Willis, a member of the House Democratic leadership team, said there was some concern that trumpeting such a small amount as a tax cut could be perceived as “almost insulting” by some constituents.
Still, another Democrat involved in negotiations on the tax, Rep. Robert Martwick of Chicago, says he’s not worried yet.
In this case, I’m gonna agree with Martwick. They are definitely short in the House right now. But aren’t they always short before a big vote? Yes. They keep those House Democrats afraid of their own shadows, so they have never started with a comfortable surplus of income tax votes in that chamber as long as I’ve been around. Remember marriage equality? Same sort of thing.
Also, is it common for legislators to grumble before a big and important vote like this? Always. Heck, it’s common for them to grumble on good days. That’s just what they do.
Pritzker needs lawmakers to pass a constitutional amendment eliminating the state’s flat income tax protection, which would then head to voters on the 2020 ballot. But scheduling in the General Assembly indicates Pritzker will fail to get his amendment before a key deadline: April 12, when lawmakers leave Springfield for a two-week spring break.
April 12 is not a “key deadline” for anything but moving substantive bills to the other chamber.
The time to worry is if Speaker Madigan ever takes a walk. I don’t yet see any evidence of that on this particular topic.
* I have an appointment this morning that I can’t get out of and then I think I may try to get a haircut because, man, it’s getting long. I might also run some much-needed errands after that. I just have no idea when I’ll be back today.
So, keep it Illinois-centric, use this thread to discuss any breaking news and, above all, be kind to each other.
…Adding… Appointment is over, hair is cut, errand was accomplished. I’ll be back after I finish my lunch.
Megadeth will open the Illinois State Fair by playing on Friday, August 9 on the Illinois Lottery Grandstand Stage. They have long been one of the most influential and respected acts of heavy metal music with 38 million albums sold (6 consecutive platinum) and 12 GRAMMY nominations.
Staying true to their signature style with incisive vocal styles and penetrating lyrics, Megadeth has released their 15th studio effort, Dystopia, much to the delight of fans. Dystopia debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard Top 200, No. 1 on the Hard Music/Top Rock Chart, No. 2 on the Top Album Sales chart, No. 2 on iTunes’ Top Albums chart and No 1. on iTunes’ Metal chart. Dystopia also won a 2017 GRAMMY® Award for “Best Metal Performance” for the title track. […]
Friday, August 9: Megadeth
Saturday, August 10: Bad Company with Foghat
Sunday, August 11: Dan + Shay
Monday, August 12: The Traveling Salvation Show – A Tribute to Neil Diamond
Tuesday, August 13: Why Don’t We
Wednesday, August 14: Pentatonix with Special Guest Rachel Platten
Thursday, August 15: Old Dominion
Friday, August 16: Snoop Dogg w/ Dogg Pound, Warren G, DJ Quik, Twista, and Do or Die
Saturday, August 17: Shinedown
Sunday, August 18: Reba McEntire with Rachel Wammack
* The Question: Your suggested 2019 Illinois Lottery Grandstand Stage advertising slogans?
Illinois has 102 counties, so that patchwork of regulations is bad enough. But imagine the potential problems if 1,432 townships step in with their own rules.
Illinois lawmakers have pushed through legislation that would keep townships from holding up wind farm construction in the midst of a court case over that issue in central Illinois.
The legislation would restrict regulation of wind farm establishment to the county or a municipality if the windmills are close enough. It would effectively remove townships from having any objection to wind farm construction.
Senator Chapin Rose, R-Mohamet, said that a township is fighting against a wind farm in his Champaign-area district and the bill was simply meant to squash that legal challenge.
“Instead of allowing those folks to have their day in court, we’re going to statutorily legislate an outcome for that court case,” he said Wednesday.
In an unusual move, Senators held a hearing on the bill when it was still in the House of Representatives, saying that they would discuss it, but not vote on it under the assumption that it would be sent straight to the Senate floor.
In a previous hearing, a representative with EDP Renewables, the company that is fighting the wind farm case in a Douglas County Court, said the suit was holding up the company’s progress on building a wind farm there, costing money and endangering the process in its entirety.
This is not a perfect solution and it is unusual that the General Assembly is stepping in during a court case and the process was unnecessarily rushed in the Senate. Also, some folks have serious gripes about what they view as lax county rules. Sen. Rose says the issue has sharply divided people in his district, and I do not doubt that.
But we need some semblance of uniformity and predictability here. State law already says counties should be in charge. Townships were given no explicit statutory role. If this is allowed to continue, other townships could very well jump in with their own rules.
A super PAC affiliated with the Illinois Network of Charter Schools is celebrating some of the winners it backed in Chicago’s aldermanic runoff elections on Tuesday.
The Action Independent Committee of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools dramatically boosted its spending in the 2019 election. It spent less than $30,000 on materials supporting only two aldermanic campaigns in 2015. This year, that spending jumped to more than $800,000.
INCS endorsed 13 aldermanic candidates this year. Between February and Tuesday’s elections, 10 of those candidates won. […]
But INCS took a major loss in the 40th Ward on the city’s Far Northwest Side. The group endorsed longtime Ald. Pat O’Connor and spent more than $80,000 on his re-election campaign, the largest amount it spent on any runoff race. O’Connor was defeated by political newcomer Andre Vasquez.
This is quite surprising because it really seemed that the tide had completely turned on charter schools, particularly in Chicago.
The group reported raising $1.7 million since mid-November, much of it from Walmart heirs. It spent about half that on independent expenditures.
* These include races in both rounds. INCS winners…
O’Connor and Joe Moore probably couldn’t be helped. Their time had passed. Acevedo had his own issues.
…Adding… Very good points by Dri. They didn’t mail on their issues and weren’t necessarily the only candidates in their races…
Interesting that the charter group that didn’t actually mail on their issues us claiming wins, by candidates all except one also endorsed by the Chicago Federation of Labor, somehow represents some big gains for their issues. https://t.co/ozOjxwP5jY
* Now, let’s take a look at candidates reporting contributions from the Chicago Teachers Union. As above, these include results from both the first and second rounds. Winners…
Sawyer (6)
Sadlowski Garza (10)
Taylor (20)
Rodriguez (22)
Sigcho-Lopez (25)
Martin (47)
Maldonado (26)
Ramirez-Rosa (35)
Hadden (49) ADDED: Vasquez (40)
* Losers…
Murphy (39)
Yanez (15)
Dalieden (40)
Wozniak Francis (46)
* To be determined…
Hairston (5)
So, the final tally is 10-3 vs. 10-4-1. [Corrected because I put one contest in the wrong spot.]
* Looks like we have an official Senate vehicle bill and a hearing target date for recreational cannabis…
There are no details filed yet for a bill to legalize recreational adult-use marijuana in Illinois, but that did not stop the state Senate Executive Committee from voting on the measure Wednesday.
As it stands now, Senate Bill 7 is what is referred to as a “shell bill,” which can be amended with substantial language in the future. The shell bill passed committee by a 12-4 vote, with all four Republicans present voting against.
“We’re going to be coming back to the committee with the full amendment,” said state Sen. Heather Steans, the bill’s sponsor. “Hopefully we’re going to file it by the end of April and we’re going to have plenty of time to hear it and debate it.”
The actual details of the bill are being negotiated privately by lawmakers, the governor’s office and cannabis industry advocates who say the existing medicinal growing market has the capacity to meet the initial demand of adult-use marijuana legalization.
Steans said she and other stakeholders are looking to allow people 21 and older to have a little more than an ounce at a time. They are also considering proposals to add three new licenses to the state’s existing medical marijuana program’s cultivation and dispensary licenses.
“So keeping the cultivation centers in place, but adding a craft grow license for a smaller footprint that could be loaded more flexible and have smaller capital entry requirements, a processing license, a transportation license and then the dispensary license,” Steans said. […]
Lawmakers have also talked about making sure there’s diversity among those who have legal pot industry licenses, including efforts to get communities and groups that have been most affected by the prohibition of the drug involved in the legal industry. […]
Lawmakers are still discussing whether the bill will allow adults to grow their own cannabis at home, Steans said. Law enforcement groups have raised concerns about a possible provision to allow five plants per household.
“There is discussion about maybe limiting that to just medical patients, which certainly may be an easier way of enforcing it,” Steans said.
Two days after Chicago elected a mayor who supports an elected school board, the Illinois House on Thursday approved a measure that would make that change.
By a vote of 110-2, the House passed a bill that would replace the current seven-member Chicago Board of Education, whose members are appointed by the mayor, with a 20-member board elected from districts across the city beginning with the 2023 election. The board would also have a president, elected citywide. The General Assembly would draw the initial district boundaries, and the setup would be phased out after the 2027 election unless lawmakers in Springfield vote to extend it. […]
Martwick, a Preckwinkle ally, publicly clashed with Lightfoot during the campaign when he crashed a news conference during which she criticized a bill that he filed that would change the Cook County assessor from an elected position to an appointed one. He later apologized, and he said Thursday that he’d “be happy to work with her” but hasn’t yet spoken to her about the issue.
“It hasn’t fallen on my radar because this is something I’ve been working on for four years, before she even mused about the idea of running for the mayor of the city of Chicago,” Martwick said.
Illinois’ state treasurer could soon become the lien holder of your student loan debt.
An initiative of Treasurer Michael Frerichs’ office would allow him to refinance an Illinois resident’s college loans at low-interest rates in hopes that it will help them better afford their payments. The office could extend up to 5 percent of the $31 billion it manages to help with student loans. That’s about $620 million.
State Rep. Carol Ammons said the program would help reduce the number of local student loan defaults.
“The goal is to get the interest rate low enough so that people can really afford to make their payments,” she said.
Ammons said the interest rate would be set by the treasurer once the bill passes.
The treasurer’s office said there would be an upfront cost of $150,000, but the interest on payments from students should then cover the administrative costs thereafter.
State Rep. Mark Batinick, R-Plainfield, told Ammons that while helping those with student loan debt is laudable, he said the state shouldn’t put taxpayer dollars at risk given the high rate of defaults on student loans.
The average student loan interest rate was 5.8 percent in 2017, which is almost a couple points higher than a 15-year mortgage, so it’s an issue. But the bigger problem here is the price of tuition, fees and books.
* More bills…
* Lawmakers Look To Keep 10-Year-Olds Out Of Jail: “There’s an implication here that these children are just horrible, horrible people and have done horrible crimes,” Gabel said. “But … in 2016, there were nine children who were detained based on probation violations. Those are not heinous crimes. There were no children detained based on charges of homicide.” That year, the majority of kids ages 10 to 13 were detained in four counties: Cook, Peoria, Sangamon and Winnebago.
* Illinois House votes to lower age of ‘Home Alone’ law: Under current state law, parents can be charged with neglect for leaving children younger than 14 unsupervised “for an unreasonable period of time.” Parents can be charged with child abandonment if they leave children under the age of 13 alone for 24 hours or more without supervision by someone over the age of 14. The bill that passed Wednesday by a vote of 111-1 would lower the threshold, applying to children younger than 12 The bill’s sponsor, Republican state Rep. Joe Sosnowski of Rockford, said lowering the age to 12 would correct the legislature’s “overreaction to a terrible situation that happened in which a couple left young children at home on their own for well over a week while they traveled out of the country.”
* Plan would allow shoplifters to pay rather than go to jail: State Sen. Jason Plummer, R-Edwardsville, is pushing the idea to let some shoplifters and thieves pay their way out of jail. Plummer, a freshman lawmaker, got Senate President John Cullerton to co-sponsor the legislation. Plummer said he worked closely with the Democrat leader’s office to craft the bill. … “Essentially, what it would do is allow that person to avoid a misdemeanor or felony offense,” Plummer said. “If they go through the process with the state’s attorney, if they reimbursed the retailer, then their record would be wiped clean.” The legislation includes a number of other rules. For example, the program is only open to first-time offenders and only for retail theft. Anyone who pays back the store then would be on probation for three years.
* Yesterday, we discussed a story about how 35 DCFS workers and contractors had falsified reports or falsely testified in court over the past five years. Gov. Pritzker was asked about the report today. He called their behavior “unacceptable” and added this…
These folks not only should not be there any more, there are cases in which we ought to consider prosecution if there’s a law that allows us to do that. And if there isn’t, we ought to be looking at those enhancements.
There may not be a criminal penalty for falsifying some of these agency reports, so a new law may be required.
* The ACLU also sent this over yesterday…
The public reporting that 35 investigators working for or on behalf of DCFS have been disciplined in recent years for falsifying reports and testimony is appalling. How could the Department fail to address its chronic failure to retain a sufficient workforce of investigators, and its inadequate supervisory practices, after uncovering such wrongdoing? The answer is that leadership has careened from one crisis to another rather than doing the hard work to fix its fundamentally broken practices.
The dishonest behavior of these 35 workers is but a symptom of a wider problem – an agency which has lost its focus on its core mission. The new director and new leadership have an opportunity to refocus the work of DCFS on providing safety, care, and desperately needed services for children. That cannot be accomplished with slogans, wishes, or good intentions.
There is a great need for re-establishing basic honesty and providing critical services for children in Illinois throughout DCFS. That hard work must begin as soon as possible. The lives of children who are the future of our state literally depend on DCFS succeeding at its core mission of caring for youth and families. We stand ready to work with the new leadership team to accomplish this goal.
The Illinois Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday from a man who earned a state teacher pension after substitute teaching — for one day.
David Piccioli is a retired lobbyist for the Illinois Federation of Teachers. The one day he spent in the classroom back in 2007 nearly doubled his pension. Piccioli was able to do this by using newly-enacted legislation to purchase retroactive credit for his time as a union official.
That legislation, which was sent to then Gov. Rod Blagojevich in late December of 2006, only allowed a small portion of union employees to become certified and complete teaching service before the 2007 law took effect and become eligible to receive these benefits. While other union leaders were theoretically eligible, Piccioli is the only one who cashed in. […]
Years later, after the matter received attention in the press, legislators passed another law to strip Piccioli of most of the benefits. Piccioli was refunded the money he paid into TRS for the past credits. However, he says the Illinois Constitution does not allow the diminishment of state pensions.
Since the 2007 amendment is not special legislation and the circuit court did not invalidate the law on any other constitutional grounds, we hold that it confers a pension benefit protected by our state constitution. See Ill. Const. 1970, art. XIII, § 5 (“Membership in any pension or retirement system of the State, any unit of local government or school district, or any agency or instrumentality thereof, shall be an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired.”).
Plaintiff followed everything the law required in order to establish his eligibility to purchase TRS credit for his past union service. While nothing prevented the legislature from eliminating this benefit for future employees, there is no legal justification for reducing or eliminating the pension benefits plaintiff was awarded pursuant to the 2007 amendment. See Carmichael v. Laborers’ & Retirement Board Employees’ Annuity & Benefit Fund of Chicago, 2018 IL 122793 ¶ 26 (pursuant to the pension clause, “once a person commences to work and becomes a member of a public retirement system, any subsequent changes to the Pension Code that would diminish the benefits conferred by membership in the retirement system cannot be applied to that person”). We hold that the provision in the 2012 Act (Pub. Act 97-651 (eff. Jan. 5, 2012)) that repealed the 2007 amendment violates the pension protection clause in the Illinois Constitution and, therefore, that plaintiff is entitled to summary judgment.
* Three justices dissented, claiming the original law allowing the pension was itself unconstitutional…
The trial court correctly held that the 2007 amendment violated the special legislation clause. Because I would hold that the 2007 amendment was unconstitutional, I would also hold that it conferred no rights for the pension protection clause to protect.
We’d also recommend a cooperative approach with aldermen, at least publicly and initially. One of the most insurmountable mistakes by former Gov. Bruce Rauner, also elected as a reformer, was his dismissive attitude toward legislators in the General Assembly. He lost leverage by shooing them off, by not engaging sincerely with them, and by publicly blasting them. Rauner’s agenda foundered.
That’s really good advice, except for the fact that the Tribsters cheered Rauner on at just about every turn.
Remember the editorial that proclaimed Jim Edgar wanted Rauner to “surrender” because the former governor merely suggested Rauner focused on whatever was “doable”?
I could go on, but why bother? We all know the history, except, apparently, for the people who wrote it.
Today, legislation known as the ‘Guilty by Association bill’ advanced out of the State House Judiciary Criminal Committee. Citizens across Illinois are raising concerns about HB 1633, sponsored by Rep. Jay Hoffman (D - Belleville), citing concerns that the bill is heavily influenced by out-of-state special interests, will intimidate citizens from expressing opposition to new sources of pollution, and creates vague parameters that will be difficult for both individuals and law enforcement to interpret.
Opponents of the bill have dubbed HB 1633 the ‘Guilty by Association bill’ because it would allow industrial polluters to suppress opposition to proposed projects by threatening excessively harsh penalties on Illinoisans and nonprofit groups for legally exercising their right to free speech and assembly, and by unfairly tying them to the illegal actions of other independent actors.
“This bill places an extreme burden on nonprofit organizations of all sizes,” said Jen Walling, executive director, Illinois Environmental Council. “Any nonprofit could be found guilty by association, receiving a million dollar fine and jail time, if an independent actor identified by law enforcement as associated with their organization–in any way–is accused of intentionally or unintentionally committing one of the ambiguous crimes outlined in the bill.”
Walling continued, “Over 1,000 Illinoisans have already contacted their lawmakers in opposition to this bill and I expect this number to greatly increase as this bill begins to receive the negative attention it deserves. You will not see that kind of mobilization on the other side of this issue because this bill originated at the request of out-of-state, extreme right-wing special interests, not out of a need identified by everyday Illinoisans.”
HB 1633 mirrors legislation proposed in other state legislatures across the country by the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, a national right-wing, corporate-backed organization that recruits state legislators to run model conservative legislation.
“This bill is not about protecting private property or public safety; Illinois already has criminal laws against trespassing, property damage and similar offenses,” said Advocacy and Intergovernmental Affairs Director Khadine Bennett of the Illinois ACLU. “This bill is about one thing: imposing excessive criminal penalties in order to chill environmental protests at the very sites where many of the urgent threats to our environment arise. We have seen the power of such protest at the Dakota Access pipeline and the Keystone pipeline. The full House should reject this measure and demonstrate its commitment to free speech and protest in Illinois.”
The bill will be debated next on the House Floor.
ALEC’s “model bill” is here. The introduced version of Rep. Hoffman’s bill is here. Notice the similarities? The measure has since been amended twice.
* Letter to House members…
Dear Representative,
On behalf of the Illinois AFL-CIO and the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, we strongly encourage your support of HB 1633 (Hoffman).
This legislation will protect critical infrastructure in Illinois from criminal trespass and intentional damage. In 2013, President Barack Obama designated critical infrastructure sectors including water and wastewater plants, dams, telecommunication facilities, military bases, nuclear reactors, pipelines, manufacturing facilities, electric generation, refineries, and railroads.
These sectors are considered so vital to the United States that “their incapacitation or destruction would have a debilitating effect on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any combination thereof.”
HB 1633 protects an individual’s rights under the First Amendment and will not impede or diminish their right to protest or demonstrate. Protections are included to make sure that members of labor unions can picket or organize at the workplace.
Unfortunately, we have seen increased occurrences across the United States where organizations and individuals are intentionally damaging, destroying, or tampering with equipment in order to impede or inhibit operations of the facility. This risks the health and safety of the protestors, employees, and communities.
This will not penalize individuals that may simply vandalize or deface property. For example, this law would not impact a person that trespasses and spray paints a facility or piece of equipment.
Nearly twenty states across the country have taken similar legislative steps in light of growing incidents where real damage is incurred resulting in health and safety threats.
We respectfully ask for your support. Sincerely,
Michael T. Carrigan
President
Illinois AFL-CIO
Mark Denzler
President & CEO
Illinois Manufacturer’s Association
I asked the proponents if they know of any significant problems here in Illinois that prompted this legislation and they couldn’t name one. Apparently, the pipeline companies are worried about another North Dakota-style protest. The refineries are also pushing hard. But this bill covers a lot more than those industries.
A letter outlining a series of unauthorized expenses made by Ricardo Munoz — including travel, restaurants and money spent at a suburban lingerie and sex-toy shop — using funds from the City Council’s Progressive Reform Caucus was hand delivered to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office Wednesday.
“I think using the funds the way he did, it’s possible there was criminal wrongdoing there,” said Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd), who replaced Munoz as head of the caucus in January, explaining the decision to inform State’s Attorney Kim Foxx.
Munoz (22nd) spent a total of $36,849 on “unauthorized expenditures” drawn from an account held by the caucus’ political action committee, said attorney Ed Mullen, who represents the caucus.
Reached via text, Munoz said, “I’m paying it back.”
The accusation of rogue spending was laid out in amended expense reports along with a letter from Mullen that were filed Monday with the Illinois State Board of Elections.
An Illinois state representative charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and impeding traffic said he fell asleep at a traffic light Friday in Springfield because of exhaustion.
State Rep. Kambium Buckner, D-Chicago, said it was “simply a result of exhaustion.” He said he looks forward to addressing the citation of driving under the influence of alcohol in court.
Secretary of State Police noticed Buckner asleep in a running 2017 Land Rover at 3 a.m. March 29 at a stop light at 2nd and Adams Street in Springfield, just a block north of the Illinois State Capitol building. […]
Buckner, 33, of Chicago “was found by Secretary of State Police asleep in his running vehicle,” according to a police report.
“He slept [through] four cycles” of a traffic light, according to the report. “During contact strong odor of alcoholic beverage on breath. Eyes glassy. Pupils nonreactive to light.”
Buckner either refused to submit to or failed to complete field sobriety testing, the report said. As a result, his driving privileges will be suspended for a minimum of 12 months. He was served immediate notice of summary suspension/revocation of driving privileges, records show.
Buckner was released after paying a $100 cash bond, according to Sangamon County Circuit Court records.
He is next due in court for the DUI charge on at 9 a.m. April 30.
Hopefully, Rep. Buckner learned a valuable lesson here. Glad nobody got hurt. That may not be the case next time, however.
* Retired judge John Donald O’Shea’s op-ed in the Dispatch-Argus arguing against the proposed constitutional amendment for a graduated income tax…
Once on the ballot, it will require approval of a majority of those voting in the election, or 60 percent of those voting on the question. What they will be approving is a Trojan Horse.
Once the Legislature is given power to enact a graduated state income tax, all of Pritzker’s promises — his proposed rates — mean absolutely nothing. The following, day, the General Assembly will have unfettered power to enact a truly progressive graduated income tax with whatever rates it pleases.
If you want to see how the old shell game is played, just stand back and watch. You’ll get a lesson from professionals in the art of bait and switch.
Our Democratic Legislature will have power, for example, to exempt the first $50,000 of income from the new Illinois income tax while, at the same time, taxing incomes over $50,000 at 10 percent, incomes over $100,000 at 20 percent, and incomes over $1 million at any rate it chooses (to the extent it is not already taxed by the feds). The Democrats will be able to create a whole new class of voters who pay no tax, but have power to vote to tax their neighbors without taxing themselves.
The judge apparently thinks it would be easy-peasy to double or even quadruple state income tax rates on the majority of Illinoisans.
We’ve been through this before, but let’s try it again.
The state’s individual income tax rate bounced around between 2.5 and 3 percent from 1969 to the end of 2010 - 41 years.
The legislature passed a temporary 2-point tax hike in 2011, but only after years of piling up crushing debt. The tax rate rolled back to 3.75 percent in 2015 because there was nothing close to consensus on making it permanent. And it was raised back up to 4.95 percent in 2017 after a massive and terribly damaging political war over the state’s future.
To think that the same body would quickly jack up taxes to 10 percent on people making $50,000 is beyond hyperbole.
Illinois Senate President John Cullerton said fixing the funding of the Municipal and Laborers pension funds, as well as the city’s other financial problems, will remain a major issue. And he wants to talk to Lightfoot about whether there would be local taxation when it comes to legalizing marijuana or expanding gambling in Chicago.
As for the type of demeanor needed to work with Springfield’s leaders, Cullerton credited Emanuel’s ability to work behind-the-scenes with the four legislative leaders as well as rank-and-file lawmakers to push for legislation, including the school funding formula bill.
“He rarely came down here, but he had very good people, folks that represented him down here. The speaker and I would have frequent meetings at City Hall to kind of review legislation,” Cullerton said.
“When I meet with Lori I’ll urge her to do the same thing. The mayor is an important political figure in the state Legislature. … She has influence beyond the city borders,” Cullerton said. […]
Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan and Cullerton maintained close relationships with Emanuel, and were among the strongest advocates for key issues, such as funding for CPS and gun legislation. They also worked hard to defend Chicago from a city versus Downstate storyline.
“The speaker’s record of working with the mayors of Chicago who came over his tenure, at any shape or size, has been a good one and that will continue,” Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said. […]
Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, is a family friend of the newly elected mayor. Lightfoot worked for Durkin’s brother in the U.S. attorney’s office and at the law firm, Mayer Brown. The Republican leader heaped high praise on Lightfoot, saying she “understands how to win by addition not subtraction.”
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