Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Friday, Dec 5, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller

The Illinois Senate [yesterday] overwhelmingly passed a two-year extension of the smart grid law that permits Commonwealth Edison and Ameren Illinois to hike electricity delivery rates annually via a formula.

The 40-4 vote sends the bill, which authorizes formula rates through 2019, to Gov. Pat Quinn. Though the utility-backed legislation passed by veto-proof majorities, it may die anyway.

If Quinn, who vetoed the original smart-grid bill in 2011 and has vetoed changes to benefit the utilities since then, rejects this two-year extension, it may not get an override vote before the next General Assembly convenes in January. That would start the legislative process all over again.

* There is one minor twist, however…

Before leaving, the Senate voted overwhelmingly to approve a bill that extends by two years the state’s smart grid law. The law allows Commonwealth Edison and Ameren Illinois to raise delivery rates for electricity each year under a formula for making upgrades to their infrastructure.

The smart grid law was set to expire at the end of 2017. The bill extends that to 2019. […]

Immediately after the bill was approved, Cullerton filed a motion to reconsider the vote, a maneuver that for now prevents the bill from being sent to Gov. Pat Quinn. Quinn has previously vetoed bills allowing utilities to raise rates.

* More…

Quinn’s office said the outgoing governor would “carefully study” the proposal. He vetoed the original smart grid law, but that move was overridden by the Legislature.

If Quinn nixes the latest plan, it likely will die because House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, sent members of the House home Wednesday and doesn’t plan to call them back to town before the new General Assembly begins its work. […]

“The sponsor chose to keep the bill in the Senate until he has a chance to speak with Gov. Quinn about his intentions,” said Cullerton spokeswoman Rikeesha Phelon.

Among the groups opposing the legislation is the Citizens Utility Board, which said the 2011 law should be allowed to work as planned without the changes sought by Ameren.

So, it’s all up to Quinn now.

…Adding… From comments…

You are missing the strategy. Cullerton looks to be holding the bill until Jan 13th one day into the new gov’s term and one day before the 98th dies.

He’s bypassing Quinn.

17 Comments

Unclear on the concept

Friday, Dec 5, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Bruce Rauner earlier this week…

“Our problems have not been created by the tax hike expiring,” he said. “That’s not what is creating our problems. What’s creating our problems is years and years of financial mismanagement.”

* So far, as we’ve already discussed, Rauner has said he’s found $1.4 billion in the budget which is “fundamentally dishonest” spending. It’s essentially money being moved around to keep things afloat, while creating problems down the road.

And as we’ve also discussed before, Voices for Illinois Children estimates revenue lost from the partial income tax rollback in January will blow a $2.3 billion hole in this year’s budget and $5.4 billion in next fiscal year’s budget.

And, as we’ve also discussed before, just about every dollar of the 2011 income tax hike has gone to pension payments, which had been skipped or skimped in years previous.

In other words, despite what Rauner is saying, the expiration of the tax hike is gonna cause severe problems. Fix all the mismanagement you want, but it ain’t gonna total $7-8 billion a year for pension payments.

…Adding… That’s not to say there weren’t “years and years of mismanagement,” but good management now won’t make that hole suddenly disappear.

…Adding More… From YDD…

Every time he says this, another Democrat steps off the roll call for phasing the tax increase back in and back out again.

And two Republicans.

According to him, all he has to do is manage the state’s current budget better.

60 Comments

C’mon, man

Friday, Dec 5, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner was in Washington, DC yesterday meeting with the congressional delegation and stopped to talk to the media…

“To be clear, Illinois is in dire condition,” Rauner said. “Our financial condition is far worse than has ever been discussed publicly before.” [Emphasis added.]

* Um, no. I’ve already pointed to the column I wrote in June that found even more budgetary gimmicks and pressures than Rauner has talked about so far. The Senate Democrats also released this informative PowerPoint presentation in July…

Also in July, the CTBA released a detailed budget analysis that you can read by clicking here. And the Civic Federation released a report in October discussing the same stuff.

* Zorn…

Rauner, on the last day of May, ripped the spending plan as “phony” and “the same type of broken, dishonest budget that career politicians in Illinois have been passing for years.”

And adds…

The “If only I’d known how bad it really was!” pose from newly elected pols trying to lower the expectations of those who actually believed their commercials is always galling. But it’s especially galling here, given that Rauner spent much of the last year refusing to answer with any specificity questions about how he plans to address Illinois’ deep financial problems.

Rauner spent decades buying up companies. He has loads of experience doing “due diligence.” As some commenters have noted here, did he not do any due diligence or is this all just an act?

I’m betting on the latter.

It would be nice if the rest of the news media would start pointing out this stuff.

…Adding… Mike Flannery did a good job of rebutting Rauner’s claims this week…

“The voters have been misled intentionally by the politicians,” Rauner said.

Those politicians include Democrats, Republicans and Mr. Rauner himself. Among his campaign promises: billions of dollars in tax cuts, as well as increased spending on education, not to mention the re-opening of a Downstate facility closed to save money. He seemed to ignore six months of watchdog warnings about the current state budget.

“You would think the whole General Assembly was on medical marijuana when they were passing this thing. It’s grotesquely out of balance. It doesn’t have nearly the revenue that they claim. And they emptied their whole dirty bag of tricks to make it look balanced,” [said Mike Flannery] in early June.

In early October, the budget watchdog Civic Federation issued a detailed report on Illinois’ budget crisis. Their conclusion is one no politician wants to hear.

“There is no easy way, there is no politically attractive way to get through this. It’s gonna require sacrifice from all parties. The taxpayers are gonna end up having to pay more money. They’re gonna get less service. The employees are gonna have to take less benefits,” President of the Civic Federation Laurence Msall said.

90 Comments

« NEWER POSTS