Thousands in Illinois Urge State Reps To Oppose SB 1715 on Statewide Day of Action Against Fracking
MoveOn Members in Illinois Launch Campaigns Urging State Legislators and Governor Pat Quinn to Support A Ban on Fracking
ILLINOIS - On Thursday, May 30th, MoveOn members from Illinois will be mobilizing as part of a statewide day of action against hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking. Activists are urging their state legislators and Gov. Quinn to oppose SB 1715, unless a one-year moratorium and the creation of a task force to study the effects of fracking in the Illinois are added into the bill.
As of this writing, the statewide petition has a mere 1,436 signatures. The other online petitions listed in the full press release have a total of 485 signatures. So, they’ll probably break 2,000 by tomorrow. “Thousands” will be accurate, I suppose, but not truly descriptive.
*** UPDATE *** From MoveOn.org…
Hi Rich —
I just saw your piece referring to all the MoveOn members in Illinois who are starting and signing petitions on fracking.
Thanks for covering their activism. Just wanted to clarify one thing — there are currently 46 different petitions on the subject of fracking started by MoveOn members in Illinois, for a total number of 10,955 unique signatures on all of those petitions. As we noted in the advisory, 32 distinct House districts are targeted by these petitions.
* Meanwhile, large-scale fracking has apparently begun in southern Illinois before the regulations have kicked in…
(AP) — State records indicate that high-volume oil drilling already has begun in Illinois, where lawmakers and others are scrambling to pass a bill to establish regulations for a practice that has generated intense national debate as energy companies push into new territory.
Carmi-based Campbell Energy LLC submitted a well-completion report last year to the Department of Natural Resources voluntarily disclosing that it used 640,000 gallons of water during hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” of a well in White County. A regulatory bill awaiting a vote by state lawmakers — but not yet written at the time the well was drilled — defines “high-volume” as the use of 300,000 gallons or more of fluid during all stages of fracking. […]
Brad Richards, vice president of the Illinois Oil and Gas Association, said he wasn’t surprised to learn of the Campbell well but stressed that the company did nothing wrong. And although the volume of fluid it used was a lot compared with what has traditionally been used in Illinois — the typical “frack” has been 100,000 gallons or less — it pales in comparison to states like North Dakota and Pennsylvania, where it’s not unusual for drillers to use 2 million to 8 million gallons of fluid in a well, he said.
* Illinois Gaming Board Chairman Aaron Jaffe is a former state legislator. He surely knows from his experience that the best way to pass a bill which benefits Chicago is to also insert stuff for Downstate and suburban areas, and vice versa.
While it was unlikely that Illinois Gaming Board Chairman Aaron Jaffe’s idea would take shape before Friday’s end-of-session deadline, similar ethical concerns have been echoed in the governor’s office and came as final negotiations were in the works. The bill calls for casinos in Chicago, Danville, Rockford, Chicago’s south suburbs and Lake County, as well as numerous slot machines. It also sets aside revenues for certain groups.
Jaffe has publicly blasted the proposal - which remained in a House committee Tuesday - because it establishes a separate board to oversee a Chicago casino. He said giving that control to a board of mayoral appointees leaves the door open for corruption. He told The Associated Press that the bill is trying to do too much.
“It’s a Christmas tree bill,” Jaffe told the AP. “You have one political party that is in the governor’s mansion, controlling the Senate, controlling the House. You’re telling me they can’t pass one bill that will give the city of Chicago a casino? That blows my mind.”
* Rep. Bob Rita, the sponsor of the House gaming bill, held a press conference this morning to say basically the same thing I did at the top of this post. From BlueRoomStream.com’s Twitter feed…
Rep Rita says Gaming Board Chairman apparently wants Chicago out of the bill. Rita says that will kill the bill & won’t likely happen.
* I’m also told that one of the things Gov. Quinn and Chairman Jaffe are fighting for behind the scenes is giving the board approval power in case Chicago decides to sell its license. Right now, that approval power rests with the General Assembly.
* And this is from Rep. Rita’s spokesperson…
There is a dispute between the City of Chicago and the Cook County Board over whether some revenues from a Chicago casino should go to Cook County, or whether county revenues should only come from a south suburban casino. Rep. Rita wants that issue worked out in a compromise.
Notwithstanding these and many other steps and their major fiscal, economic, and human impact, the fiscal situation in Illinois continues to deteriorate. […]
The General Assembly finds that the fiscal crisis in the State of Illinois jeopardizes the health, safety, and welfare of the people and compromises the ability to maintain a representative and orderly government.
It’s difficult to see evidence of that in this particular budget.
Both higher education and K-12 will be funded at essentially flat levels, compared to the current fiscal year. Human services would see cuts under the plan, but the outlook is not nearly as gloomy as it seemed just a few weeks ago. Sponsors of the various budget bills say that the situation would have been much bleaker if a windfall of $1.5 billion in unexpected revenues had not come in. “In April, there was a large surge because people sold a bunch of assets at the end of [Fiscal Year] ‘12 in anticipation of capital gains rate changes,” said Rep. Greg Harris, who sponsored the human services budget bill. […]
While Republicans blasted the spending in the proposal, Harris, who took over the human services budgeting committee this year, said this is the first budget in recent years that will fully fund human services. “We’ve made cuts across the board but we’ve retained funding in core community services such as mental health, substance abuse, homelessness programs,” he said. This year and several other times in recent history, human services agencies have had to come back to the General Assembly midway through the fiscal year and ask for more money to avoid the shutdown of programs. “In other years, they’ve not appropriated for a full year, and they’ve always come back for [supplemental spending bills]. … We wanted to pass something that was fully reflective of the realities of each department’s need,” he said. “I would say woe betide the department that comes back to us with a supplemental [request] this year.”
The budget does not explicitly include the raises promised to state union workers in a new contract. But personnel costs are provided in lump sums, and each agency is left to figure out how to work in the raises. “What we accounted for was their FY 14 raises, and they way we did that was to give our departments maximum flexibility.” […]
Some of the unexpected revenue would be used to immediately pay down nearly $600 million in old human services bills. Harris said many of those payments would be eligible for federal matching funds under Medicaid. Some of the additional revenues were incorporated to the revenue estimate for next fiscal year and will be used to defer cuts to education and corrections.
Quinn’s budget office said it does not believe the spending plan approved by House Democrats will result in layoffs at state agencies. However, several agency directors said they will not be able to fill vacancies. […]
Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, chairman of the House Human Services Appropriations Committee, said larger human services agencies will see about a 2.5 percent reduction in the amount allocated for their operations. Richard Calica, director of the Department of Children and Family Services, said his agency is looking at about a $7 million cut in staffing expenses, which will result in the department not filling vacancies. […]
Harris, though, said the budgets for human services agencies will maintain funding for mental health, substance abuse, community child care and homelessness-prevention services. Money for rape-victim assistance lost because of the federal sequester will be restored. Funding is also provided to the Department of Public Health to implement the medical marijuana program.
The Department of Corrections budget was also given a lump sum that agency officials could use as they see fit. Republicans argued that was giving Quinn and his agency directors too much leeway.
Republicans wanted to hold the line on spending and use some of the additional April revenue to help pay down the state’s mountain of old bills. They said Democrats should not count on the one-time April money to build the budget, especially when a temporary income tax is set to expire next year.
“We’re on the brink of financial collapse,” said Rep. David Reis, R-Willow Hill.
One major issue that appears headed toward resolution between lawmakers and Quinn was the issue of back pay for members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees for the current and previous budget years. The $140 million was part of the union’s lengthy and often confrontational bargaining with the Quinn administration over a new contract.
But if union workers are to get contractually mandated raises in the upcoming budget year, state agencies will have to carefully manage the money they get.
In other budget developments, House Democrats approved an $844 million supplemental spending measure, largely to cover bills through the June 30 end of the budget year. Supporters said the measure would fund the payroll of state prison workers and allow the state to capture federal money and pay down past-due bills.
Harris is quick to point out the state will spend a little less of its own money next year, but will spend “hundreds of millions more” in federal dollars.
Bellock’s arithmetic differs. She said Illinois will spend anywhere between $45 million and $85 million more on human services this year. Much of that new spending will go to state workers.
To be clear on the AFSMCE contract issue- Gov’s guy said they will need $140 million over and above the dem’s proposed budget to fund this and that they would have to come back and ask for more $ to pay it before they would.
* The federal government will pick up 100 percent of this program for the first three years and then 90 percent after that…
After nearly three hours of debate, the House approved a key part of President Barack Obama’s health care law. The proposed Medicaid expansion would cover low-income adults who don’t have children at home, and up to 500,000 uninsured Illinoisans would be newly eligible for coverage. Under the multifaceted measure, 342,000 people are expected to enroll by 2017.
“This is the cornerstone of our president’s agenda. Many of us have been waiting for this moment,” said Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, a Chicago Democrat and bill sponsor. She tamped down questions from Republicans over timing by saying those who need care can’t wait another day.
The Republicans have been arguing for delay for a very long time. Last year, House GOP Leader Tom Cross urged the House to wait until after the presidential election, to see if Obamacare would survive. Obama won, but yesterday they came up with more reasons, including waiting until after the debt ceiling talks in September - as if Obama would negotiate away his signature achievement.
House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago), who voted for the plan, said it would result in a financial windfall for Illinois because of an influx of $5.7 billion in federally-reimbursed Medicaid expenditures in Illinois, including for 48,000 veterans who would be newly covered under Monday’s expansion.
“The real point of this bill isn’t dollars and cents, although we make out like bandits if we pass Senate Bill 26,” Currie said. “The real point of Senate Bill 26 is to make for healthier Illinoisans.”
Sponsoring Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, D-Chicago, argued the plan would allow 342,000 poor adults to be eligible for the state-federal Medicaid health care plan who have long been denied coverage because they had no children.
Monday’s roll call included seven Democratic “no” votes. They included Reps. Jack Franks (D-Marengo), Stephanie Kifowit (D-Aurora) Martin Moylan (D-Des Plaines), Natalie Manley (D-Joliet), Sam Yingling (D-Round Lake Beach), Katherine Cloonen (D-Kankakee) and Sue Scherer (D-Decatur).
All targets, or, at least, people who believe they’re targets. And I cannot see how Rep. Franks thinks he can run in a Democratic statewide primary after voting against Obamacare.
As Illinois’ Legislature heads into the final weeks of the spring session, the business community is acutely aware of the serious decisions lawmakers must make to restore security to the state’s economic future. While it may seem counterintuitive to argue in favor of expanding Illinois’ Medicaid program to serve single, childless adults at or below 138 percent of the federal poverty level, our organizations believe expansion is an important part of a very complex equation in alleviating overall costs on employers in the short and long term (”Not enough doctors in Medicaid, state director says,” ChicagoBusiness.com, April 10). That’s why we urge the General Assembly to approve Senate Bill 26.
Illinois stands to gain more than $12 billion in federal funding under the expansion over the next seven years, but not without incurring some additional costs—albeit a fraction of the funding gained.
Beginning in 2014, all employers with 50 or more employees must offer full-time employees and their dependents coverage that meets minimum criteria outlined under the federal health reform law. Failure to do so will result in a penalty if an employee obtains subsidized coverage on the insurance marketplace-exchange, but no penalty is assessed if the employee enrolls in Medicaid. According to a recent Jackson Hewitt study, without Medicaid expansion, Illinois employers would face up to $106 million more in penalties assessed annually. For employers in the nonprofit sector—many of which serve the Medicaid population and support low-wage staff—the added financial penalties could mean drastic cuts in services or even shuttered doors.
We ask lawmakers to support SB 26 to expand Medicaid in Illinois to protect employers from even higher short-term costs and employees from missed coverage opportunities, and to provide additional certainty in planning for 2014.
* Other important stuff…
* Illinois House committee approves $9B human services budget: Rep. Greg Harris is chairman of the committee. The Chicago Democrat says the state is able to use unanticipated revenues to make payments that qualify for federal matching dollars. Those federal funds will lead to an overall increase in the state’s human services budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1. Larger agencies still will face cuts of about 2.5 percent in their operations budgets.
* Recommended Illinois education budget $6.6B: Democratic Rep. Will Davis of Homewood is the chairman of the committee. He says the budget will fund schools at 89 percent of the amount recommended by a state commission. The proposed funding level averts schools from cuts in general state aid for the first time in at least four years. Davis says the funding for school transportation, early childhood education and bilingual education will remain the same as the current fiscal year.
* Tax hangup stalls bill to expand gambling: Rita said negotiations are centered around both the rates that are paid and when they will go into effect. He acknowledged that in some cases, the negotiations could lead to lower taxes for some casinos. Rita also said discussions are taking place about earmarking some of the gambling revenue for specific purposes. The expansion bill, which was previously approved by the Senate, calls for some money to be allocated to economic development programs in black and Latino areas and for specific agriculture programs like extension services and to repair the Illinois State Fairgrounds. The amounts of those various earmarks are under discussion.
