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Your move, Mr. Speaker
Wednesday, Jun 14, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller * Click here for the background if you need to catch up. I’m told that the Senate will not file its budget plan until tomorrow morning, so we won’t know the real details until then. I’m still waiting on the reform bills from the House, but they may be delayed too. …Adding… The Senate is going ahead with its appropriations bill filing today. Stand by. * This is a good point from Greg Hinz…
That’s true. It’s a major first for the governor, who has played coy for well over two years. Give him credit for that. But it means Gov. Rauner is now on record supporting the Senate Democrats’ tax hike plan with a couple of alterations: 1) Four years instead of permanent; 2) It won’t be retroactive to January 1st, so they’ll lose a bunch of revenues that will have to be made up in however they deal with the mountain of overdue bills (borrowing is most likely). I’m told the Republicans won’t introduce their own tax hike bill, but will instead insist that SB 9 be amended or a new version filed. * From the Illinois Policy Institute’s news service…
* Sun-Times…
Also, note that the Senate Democrats aren’t as negative about the plan this afternoon as they were earlier in the day…
* The bottom line here is that the Senate Democrats, the governor and both Republican caucuses have all unveiled their own plans. The odd man out here is Speaker Madigan. It’s now his move.
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*** LIVE COVERAGE *** Human service provider hearing
Wednesday, Jun 14, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller * Brian Mackey is in St. Clair County today covering a court hearing about a case involving human service providers who want to be paid without an appropriation, just like state workers, who also have a contract with the state…
* Follow along with ScribbleLive…
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*** UPDATED x3 - Harris, Brown respond - Cullerton office responds - Biss responds *** A quick look at the GOP’s new plan, which Rauner supports
Wednesday, Jun 14, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller * An analysis of the new Republican budget/reform plan can be read by clicking here. No legislation has been filed as I write this. I’ll update with bill numbers when I get them. You can hear the entire GOP press conference by clicking here. The GOP press release is here. * As expected, there was lots of hyperpartisanship on display at today’s Republican press conference to unveil their new budget and reform plan, which they said would be signed by Gov. Rauner if it was passed. House GOP Leader Jim Durkin, for instance, said Speaker Madigan’s members should “no longer put up with Madigan’s my way or the highway” approach. He said if an agreement could not be reached by the end of June, it would all be on Madigan’s head. Leader Durkin insisted that the Republicans would not settle for “reform light” and that the final plan must be in “substantial compliance” with the proposals set forth today. If the Democrats counter with something that is “significantly diluted,” he said he and the governor wouldn’t accept it. Sen. Karen McConnaughay said that the two sides were “very close” on an agreement in the Senate, but that the bills the Senate actually passed “didn’t reflect what we had been negotiating.” McConnaughay said it was the Democrats who “walked away” from the talks. Sen. Dale Righter insisted that the package presented today “are compromises,” claiming “We’re putting on paper what the Democratic majority said they needed in the meetings… So, we are already there.” * But is this really a compromise? The Senate Democrats ultimately rejected a four-year property tax freeze, but the Republicans say their four-year freeze is a compromise from Rauner’s permanent freeze - except the governor has been saying for weeks that he wants a four-year freeze. A local government consolidation bill has already passed, but the Republicans now say they want to allow voters to initiate referendums on their own to consolidate government. This is another demand from the governor’s office, which had quietly threatened to veto the previous consolidation bill. Rank and file Republicans promised they’d push for a trailer bill if he agreed to sign it, and this proposal is apparently that plan. The education funding reform bill “compromise” seems mainly targeted at Chicago, reducing many of the gains CPS made with the Democrats’ bill. And the term limits proposal expands the concept from the originally agreed (in the Senate) limit on legislative leaders to include all constitutional officers. * The Republicans also want a “hard” spending cap of $36 billion over four years. The Senate Democrats’ bill spent over $37 billion. The budget proposal would also cut revenue sharing to local governments (which would, remember, have their property taxes capped) and transit agencies. Again, we don’t have a detailed analysis, so I can’t tell you much more besides what’s in the GOP analysis. *** UPDATE 1 *** Sen. Daniel Biss…
*** UPDATE 2 *** From Senate President Cullerton’s spokesman John Patterson via text…
* From the Senate Republicans…
*** UPDATE 3 *** Greg Hinz…
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*** UPDATED x1 *** Report: Congressional shooter is from Belleville
Wednesday, Jun 14, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
You’ll know more when I know more. *** UPDATE *** WaPo…
His apparent Twitter feed is here. * Belleville News-Democrat…
* Rodney Davis was there, but not hurt…
* I’m moving on to other things. I’d suggest you monitor the Washington Post’s live coverage feed and check in with the Belleville News-Democrat. Also, stay rational in comments or you’ll be banned for life. I’ve already banned one commenter.
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