* Heidi Dalenberg, Director of the Institutional Reform Project, ACLU of Illinois…
“A cursory examination of the capacity of DCFS reveals that the agency does not have adequate resources to fulfill their core mission - assuring the safety and permanency for youth in their care. Consider the reality: DCFS does not have enough workers to investigate allegations of abuse and neglect, does not have enough caseworkers to help children return to their families or find a permanent home with other loving adults, does not have enough community-based services to help children with significant mental or behavioral health problems, and does not have enough doctors or enough residential facilities to safely care for those same youth.
None of these problems are addressed in the budget adopted for the new fiscal year. Instead, the budget appears to believe that DCFS is about to enjoy a series of miracles, starting with a reversal of the years-long trend of adding thousands more children to the total youth in DCFS care. We would love to live in the world where miracles are possible. The children in DCFS care live in the real world. Every day, DCFS underserves children to such a gross degree that its mistreatment exceeds the ‘offenses’ that DCFS labeled as abuse or neglect when taking the children from their families.
DCFS cannot fulfill its obligation to the children in its care with the budget it requested. We can only hope that if the miracles DCFS is counting on do not materialize, the Department comes to the Legislature for supplemental funding.”
* I asked for some specifics…
Trend of system growth:
According to DCFS’ prepared numbers, the system has been growing as follows, measured at the end of the FY:
FY 2018 closed with 17,463 youth in care
FY 2019 closed with 18,568
FY 2020 closed with 21,099
FY 2021 ESTIMATE is that we will be at 23,238
FY 2022 PROJECTION is 23,544 – essentially flat growth, with no significant change in DCFS practices in place.
Inadequate care of youth in DCFS custody – most extreme example is youth with significant mental / behavioral health needs who are not getting the treatment they need. We have approximately 10 youth per month, since the YouthCare MCO rollout, who have had what we consider “unaddressed” mental health crises. What that looks like is that a call is made for a provider to come out and do an emergency assessment of a youth whose behavior is out of control. The youth either needs stabilization services – and does not get them – or needs a psych hospitalization – and does not get it. The result is that the youth is taken to a hospital emergency room and may sit there for 2 days, 3 days, 5 days, or even longer. The youth eventually gets sent home from the emergency room without receiving appropriate treatment, and has been re-traumatized by this latest experience.
Inadequate placement capacity - Illinois has made little, if any, progress in building community-based supports for youth so that they can be “placed” in family settings rather than in residential facilities. But at the same time, the residential facilities are bleeding staff – they are unable to recruit and retain. By the end of the year we expect that more than 70 congregate care beds will have closed, in large part because providers cannot responsibly keep them open due to staff shortages. Two agencies are shutting down their foster care programs. Provider capacity for Intact family services is shrinking as well in some areas of the state. I believe ICOY has issued a statement about the newly passed budget that contains these figures and has more detail.
What does that look like for children? When a youth is entering care or disrupting from an existing placement, and has significant behavioral or mental health issues, Illinois has nowhere for the child to go. The Department is resorting to use of “unoccupied” bed space at residential facilities – where there is no program in place for the child, no education, no counseling, and no services during the child’s stay – and has one-on-one supervision of the child that is provided by the child’s caseworker. This can go on for weeks.
Inadequate staff of workers to investigate abuse and neglect allegations.
The most recent report we have received regarding the personnel available to conduct investigations shows that the Department is more than 100 workers short of its estimated headcount need. The pattern of vacancies is not consistent across the state – some areas are sufficiently staffed, but other offices are facing critical shortages that push the workers’ caseloads far above BH limits. The worst of the offices are understaffed by 40% or more. DCFS is putting in place emergency measures to support the hardest hit offices, but the shortage of workers continues to be a serious and dangerous problem.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Governor’s office…
Since taking office, Governor Pritzker has increased DCFS’ budget by $340 million. Most of the year over year budget increases funded increased staffing, caseload growth, rate adjustments and IT improvements for the agency’s case management system. DCFS is also making tremendous strides in hiring staff after prior administrations oversaw the hollowing out of the agency.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Andrea Durbin at the Illinois Collaboration on Youth…
Hi Rich,
Thanks for sharing the information from the ACLU. It is true that current staffing shortages within the child welfare system have created potentially dangerous conditions for the children and youth in the system. One aspect of the child welfare system that is frequently misunderstood is that it is not DCFS alone. Illinois has given full case management responsibility for approximately 85% of children in care to community-based organizations, as well as the case management responsibility for most of the families served through intact family services. While DCFS itself has been making strides in addressing the workforce challenges in the public sector, the workforce shortages plaguing community-based organizations have been persistent and dramatic, placing children at risk.
For example, providers are reporting foster care caseload ratios at 21 or 22:1, which is significantly higher than the 15:1 maximum imposed by the Federal consent decree in BH v Smith. These ratios persist even when supervisors and other eligible staff, including program leadership, are forced to carry direct service cases to ensure the safety of children in their care.
Residential treatment programs report staffing at between 63%-68% of capacity, resulting in program closures and long waiting lists at a time when children are living in hospital emergency rooms for days at a time and stuck in psychiatric hospitals for months beyond medical necessity due to a lack of adequate care options for them.
Over the past five years the number of children and families in care has steadily grown. At a time when we should be expanding capacity within the child welfare system, instead we are seeing system contraction. A recent survey of child welfare providers revealed that:
57% of respondents had voluntarily put their agencies on intake hold during the past 18 months
More than 70 congregate care beds have been closed or are closing by the end of this year, on top of the more than 500 beds that were closed during the past 5 years
At least two agencies are shutting down their foster care programs – one in the Chicago/Cook County region and another in six counties in Central Illinois. Some intact family services are also being closed in those same counties.
This workforce crisis is built into the contracts that community-based providers get from DCFS. For example, community-based contracts are structured around paying an intact family caseworker $32,000/year, or just slightly above the $15/hr minimum wage. That same position advertised on the state’s CMS website starts above $55,000/year. Providers are forced to offer wages comparable to fast food and retail jobs for positions that require bachelor’s degrees in human services and special trainings and certifications. In this tight labor market, it is no surprise that they struggle to recruit qualified staff for these essential jobs.
This is not a problem that has happened overnight and it is not going to be fixed overnight. We were heartened to see the letter from Acting Director Smith today assuring providers that there will be a 3% rate increase in FY22 to community-based contracts as well as the establishment of a rate methodology workgroup to address long-term sustainability of these essential services. We look forward to working in partnership with Acting Director Smith and the Governor’s office to address these urgent concerns. The children and youth in our care are counting on us.
Thanks,
Andi
A letter from Director Smith is here.
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Reform groups slam ethics bill
Wednesday, Jun 2, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Let’s start with a proponent…
On May 31, the Senate and House approved a package of reforms that address some of Illinois’ most glaring ethical problems. State Senator John Curran (R-Downers Grove), a former Cook County Prosecutor, was the lead Senate Republican negotiator of the bill.
“With every new indictment or arrest of an elected official, the people of Illinois lose more faith in their government,” said Sen. Curran. “Through give-and-take bipartisan negotiations, today we took a large step forward in delivering real ethics reform. Through SB 539, we will hold elected officials to a higher ethical standard and we will empower our Legislative Inspector General (LIG) to independently investigate allegations of political corruption without first having to obtain permission to investigate from a panel of sitting lawmakers. This new level of autonomy is a crucial element of the reforms we passed today.”
SB 539 includes the following provisions:
· Allows the Legislative Inspector General to initiate a political corruption investigation without approval from the Legislative Ethics Commission;
· Reforms and strengthens the statement of economic interest disclosures by adding new disclosure requirements for legislators and their spouses, including disclosure of debts; and
· Prohibits legislators from leaving office and lobbying the General Assembly during the term they were sworn into for six months;
· Requires consultants to register and for lobbyists to disclose any contractual relationship with a consultant for the purpose of influencing the legislature;
· Prohibits fundraisers across Illinois on session days or the day before or after a session day;
“Through negotiations, Republican ideas were brought to the table, resulting in a more robust ethics package,” added Sen. Curran. “While there are still several components we would have liked to have seen in the final bill, the reforms we are sending to the Governor have teeth, and is a positive first step in restoring the public’s trust in state government.”
Sen. Curran said additional improvements in a future bill should include providing the LIG with subpoena powers, a provision that allows the Illinois Attorney General the ability to use a statewide grand jury to investigate, indict, and prosecute public corruption crimes, and an even stronger legislator-to-lobbyist revolving door.
“We must continue to build upon these bipartisan negotiations, in which we respected each other’s priorities, and continue to work to create a more ethical government that is free of corruption and which truly works for the people of Illinois,” Sen. Curran said. “While there is no denying there is a lot more we can do on ethics, I am pleased to know our spring session did not end without sending meaningful ethics reforms to the Governor.”
The two things I wanted most out of an ethics bill were the Monday fundraising ban and the consultant registration.
* On to the opposition. Reform for Illinois…
Yesterday, the General Assembly passed SB539, a long-awaited ethics omnibus bill. After endless scandals and indictments, we had hoped for comprehensive reform that would help restore Illinoisans’ confidence in their government. While SB539 takes some steps in the right direction, we are disappointed in the bill’s failure to make the hard choices necessary to uproot the culture of corruption that has harmed Illinoisans for years and earned our state government the lowest trust rating in the country.
Reform for Illinois has stood with its fellow good-government organizations—the Better Government Association, CHANGE Illinois, and Common Cause Illinois—and identified the ethics updates our state most sorely needs. The new bill makes some positive changes, including banning some legislator-lobbyists and requiring disclosure of lobbying consultants, which RFI proposed last year.
But SB539 falls short in key areas. For example, the bill:
—Bans former lawmakers from lobbying for just six months, a “bottom of the barrel” waiting period. A revolving door ban of just half a year will put Illinois behind 36 states that have a cooling-off period of at least one year, and well below the recommended prohibition of two years implemented in a dozen states. And there would be no waiting period at all for ex-legislators lobbying a new General Assembly–they could leave on the last day of session and be back on the first day of the next one to lobby their former colleagues.
—Fails to give the Legislative Inspector General’s office the tools it needs to exercise truly independent ethics oversight over lawmakers. SB539 takes a step in the right direction by enabling the Legislative Inspector General to launch investigations without the approval of the Legislative Ethics Commission.
But the Inspector General will still need to ask permission from the Commission–a body made up entirely of current and former legislators–to issue subpoenas or publish reports finding wrongdoing. This gives lawmakers ample opportunity to hamper or suppress investigations into their colleagues.
This bill will do nothing to solve the problem former Inspector General Julie Porter identified when she claimed legislators quashed her report finding “serious wrongdoing by a sitting legislator.”
SB539 also adds new and unnecessary limits on the Inspector General’s jurisdiction, and misses an opportunity to improve independence and transparency by requiring the appointment of members of the public to the Ethics Commission.
In short, we still don’t have truly independent oversight of the legislature–the fox is still guarding the henhouse.
—Aims to prohibit lobbying by elected officials but creates a loophole. As we learned from the Luis Arroyo case, sitting lawmakers shouldn’t be allowed to be lobbyists. Under the new law, members of the General Assembly will be prohibited from lobbying state or local governments, but only on behalf of entities registered to lobby the General Assembly. That opens the possibility that legislators may still be able to take some lobbying jobs that could conflict with their obligations to the public.
—Fails to provide essential information about legislators’ possible conflicts of interest. While the bill makes some improvements on the old economic disclosure forms (called “none sheets” for their lack of information), other states require lawmakers to disclose much more information about the value and sources of income that may cause conflicts with their legislative work. For example, an official who received a $100,000 consulting fee from ComEd could have a much more serious conflict than one who received $7,600, but their answers on the new forms would be the same. We can do better.
Lawmakers say this bill is just the beginning for ethics reform, and we hope to take them at their word. But how much longer will Illinoisans have to wait? After so many years of corruption and scandal, they deserve real change now.
* Change Illinois…
After years of ethical lapses resulting in lawmaker and political insider indictment-after-indictment, elected officials yet again fell short on delivering meaningful reforms to Illinoisans that would begin to restore their trust in government.
New House Speaker Chris Welch repeatedly promised a new day in Springfield and a meaningful ethics package and Gov. J.B. Pritzker also had called for reforms, but what was approved this session is a far cry from what’s needed and only serves to diminish voters’ hopes for stronger laws to guide officials’ actions.
After nearly two years of talk and work on ethics reforms, we’ve seen a do-nothing commission that did not even bother to publish a final report and an attempt to rush through ethics proposals in the middle of the night in a previous session. CHANGE Illinois, the Better Government Association, Common Cause Illinois and Reform Illinois have been unified in saying we need this serious package of reforms as a starting point:
Banning state lawmakers from lobbying local governments
Implementing a two-year revolving-door ban preventing former lawmakers from immediately lobbying colleagues
Strengthening the conflict of interest disclosure and recusal requirements
Fully empowering the Legislative Inspector General to operate independently
The ethics bill that will be sent to Pritzker falls short on all four issues. Only lawmakers lobbying local governments was addressed in a substantial way. Overall, this package is yet another example of the weak approaches we’ve seen in previous years that have done nothing to curb the continued cycle of corruption scandals that Illinois is infamous for across the nation. It reminds us of the campaign finance reform approved years ago after former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s impeachment that was supposed to have been a “first step” toward more substantive improvements. Those subsequent steps never materialized and we cannot allow that to happen again with this effort.
The revolving-door ban on lawmakers becoming lobbyists included in the package falls severely short. The six-month ban is the lowest in the nation, putting Illinois at the bottom of the list.
The proposal does include needed improvements to annual financial disclosures officials must file. However, it lacks teeth without a recusal requirement. Any lawmaker still can have a conflict of interest and continue to vote in favor or against legislation that affects them personally without any repercussions.
The bare minimum also was done to give the Legislative Inspector General’s (LIG) office more independence to truly act as a watchdog. The proposal only allows for the LIG to start investigations without lawmaker approval for incidents that happened within the previous year. And it still requires the LIG to seek permission from the very elected officials it is supposed to investigate to collect necessary information for its probes. The LIG also still must seek lawmaker approval to publish reports when the office finds wrongdoing has occurred, yet another example of lawmakers trying to protect themselves.
Given the state we’re in, this is not nearly enough. This ethics bill must not be the last attempt to curb bad actors from further damaging the people’s trust in our government. As federal prosecutors continue to probe corruption in state government and new indictments come to light, Illinoisans must renew their call for stronger reforms. The people know we need stronger improvements that truly will signal lawmakers are serious about charting a new path forward, rather than relying on the same old playbook from the past that allows too many bad actors to tarnish the reputation of all of Illinois’ elected officeholders.
* BGA…
The Better Government Association stands with Reform for Illinois, Common Cause Illinois and CHANGE Illinois in voicing deep disappointment with the feeble ethics bill passed May 31 by the General Assembly.
The bill, which cleared both houses and soon will be on its way to Gov. J.B. Pritzker, contains some incremental improvements that are long overdue. But this legislation has been 18 months in the making. It’s fair to ask: Is that all?
The work of the Joint Commission on Ethics and Lobbying Reform highlighted many deficiencies in the state’s ethics laws. This legislation barely scratches the surface.
This follows an unfortunate historic pattern: Elected officials promised to clean up Illinois government in response to the licenses-for-bribes scandal that sent Gov. George Ryan to prison, and again after the impeachment and conviction of Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Many of the reforms that didn’t happen then didn’t happen this time, either.
This moment calls for much more than our lawmakers have delivered.
The BGA and its allies have advocated for a package of reforms that collectively would ensure that public officials act in the public interest and not their own. The bill approved by the General Assembly comes up short in every category.
Thoughts?
* Related…
* State’s new ethics rules under fire from unlikely source
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* The Senate Executive Committee is deliberating this bill right now. Click here to watch it. This post will be updated…
State Rep. Delia C. Ramirez, D-Chicago, released the following statement on HB 2908 Senate Amendment 1, the Senate Elected School Board Compromise bill.
“My commitment has always been and continues to be to pass a fully elected and representative school board for Chicago Public Schools. This is why we took action on HB2908 in April, to honor the wishes of the overwhelming majority of CPS parents and stakeholders who have been demanding a fully elected board.
Senate Amendment 1 to HB2908 achieves the goal of finally securing a fully elected school board for CPS. This bill does not set a timeline that I would have wanted or that Chicagoans deserve. However, with key protections during the transition period including a moratorium on school closures and city council confirmation of temporarily appointed members, I believe it is time to finally legislate a path to a fully elected board. If the Senate passes HB 2908 SA1, I plan to call it for concurrence once the house reconvenes.”
…Adding… Senate Exec passed the bill with two Democrats voting “Present.”
…Adding… The full Senate is taking up the bill. Click here to watch it and/or click here to monitor it on the live coverage post.
*** UPDATE *** The bill passed 36-15-2. Sens. Lightford and Harris were both “Present,” the same as they were in committee earlier today.
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Harmon backs off, but no vote today
Tuesday, Jun 1, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Press release…
Senate President Don Harmon issued the following statement regarding positive steps in ongoing energy policy negotiations.
“I’m informed that an agreement has been reached between the governor and Exelon on a proposal that would save jobs, which has been our goal all along. That’s why we support the governor in these talks.
We also stand with the governor on de-carbonization targets that need to be in a final deal.
The Senate remained in session with the hope of voting on an agreement today. We stand ready to return to the Capitol when the governor’s plan is ready for action.”
…Adding… Click here to see a roundup of what’s known about the agreement.
…Adding… Forgot to tell you about this budget development…
Senate President Don Harmon has lifted his hold on the new state budget, clearing the $42 billion measure for Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s signature.
…Adding… More movement, but we’ll see. Lots of rumors about this plan’s viability, so stay tuned…
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The energy bill fiasco
Tuesday, Jun 1, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* WBEZ…
As Monday dragged on, the most dramatic feature was the fate of the Exelon bailout, which sought to extend a lease on life for the company’s financially struggling nuclear plants at Dresden, Braidwood and Byron as part of a broader green-energy push by the Pritzker administration. Exelon announced last August it would close Dresden and Byron without relief from Springfield.
Pritzker’s office and Exelon appeared to have settled on the broad framework of more than $600 million in ratepayer subsidies over five years, multiple sources confirmed to WBEZ. But a deal hit an 11th hour snag involving the future of a southern Illinois coal-burning plant.
Talks surrounding the nuclear package unfolded under the heavy cloud of an ongoing federal probe into Exelon’s subsidiary, ComEd. Last week, as part of that investigation, federal prosecutors announced perjury and obstruction of justice charges against Madigan’s one-time chief of staff, Tim Mapes.
* From last night…
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* Tribune…
An 11th-hour disagreement over whether to exempt the Prairie State Generating Station in southern Illinois and city-owned power plant in Springfield should be exempted from deadlines for shutting down coal-fired power plants had the potential to derail the deal.
Supporters were pushing the exemption because of outstanding bond debt on the facilities, but the governor’s office said Pritzker would not sign a bill that gives them special treatment.
* Greg Hinz…
But speculation centers on the role of Harmon’s chief of staff, Jake Butcher, who before he went to work for Harmon was a lobbyist for Prairie State Energy, which runs a “clean coal” generation plant and reportedly wants to be exempted from provisions of a deal that otherwise has the backing of both Pritzker and Harmon.
* Politico…
The energy bill appeared to be close. After reaching a compromise about how much to give Exelon to operate nuclear plants, there’s now a disagreement on coal plants. Senate President Don Harmon and his top aide, Jacob Butcher, a former coal lobbyist, want to exempt the Prairie State Energy coal plant from decarbonization rules that are in the bill.
…Adding… Prairie State…
“Coming online in 2012 during the Obama-Biden Administration, Prairie State is uniquely positioned to act as a bridge to support Illinois’ transition to a greater reliance on renewable energy. Our power plant was purpose-built with more than $1 billion in best available control technologies and we operate under very stringent environmental standards. Prairie State is vital to maintaining grid reliability, energy affordability, and economic prosperity as Illinois works to close the gap between today’s technologies and long-term carbon reduction goals. Prairie State is committed to partnering with policy leaders to further mitigate CO2 emissions in the future, including a partnership with the University of Illinois and U.S. Department of Energy to conduct a carbon capture study with the objective of identifying CO2 emission mitigation opportunities at a commercial scale,” said Alyssa Harre, Director of External Affairs and Organizational Strategy for Prairie State. “Prematurely shuttering Prairie State in 2035 would place new financial burdens on communities who own the plant by essentially forcing them to pay for two sources of power: the energy already owned through their partnerships with Prairie State Energy Campus, and replacement power to cover that loss. That is an additional cost our not-for-profit member communities and their ratepayers cannot afford.”
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*** UPDATED x1 *** Always check for motions
Tuesday, Jun 1, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune…
Illinois lawmakers went into overtime Tuesday, missing a midnight deadline to adjourn the spring session but approving a $42 billion state budget, a plan shifting next year’s primary to June and an ethics package requiring more financial disclosure of officeholders.
Strains between the Democratic-controlled House and Senate, under two new leaders, were evident when the House indicated its work for the spring session was largely finished and members headed home. The Senate, under President Don Harmon of Oak Park, planned to return to work later Tuesday and assess an unfinished legislative landscape.
Left unresolved were plans for future energy policy for the state, efforts to strengthen gun laws, an elected school board for Chicago and law-enforcement backed changes to a sweeping police reform law approved just months ago.
Despite the unfinished business, House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, who took over in January from embattled veteran Michael Madigan, said “this has probably been one of the most successful sessions around here in a long time.”
* But…
*** UPDATE *** John Patterson…
It’s a procedural move to protect our accomplishments from any political shenanigans.
We are tremendously proud of what this budget accomplishes and look forward to delivering it to the governor to sign.
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