*** UPDATE *** I just talked to Sen. Oberweis. He says the person who filed the paperwork for him accidentally checked the wrong box. He’s running for US Congress, not US Senate.
* The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150’s “Fight Back” PAC is running two new TV ads…
* Script…
Look up, Illinois, because the sky is literally falling. Illinois has thousands of structurally deficient bridges. Concrete falling. Steel cracking.
Now, even Lake Shore Drive had to be shut down for dangerous deterioration.
Look up! If you see damaged roads and bridges, post a pic and tag it with #lookup and go to Fightbackwithus.com to tell your state legislator to fix our roads and bridges.
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Acting Director John J. Kim has issued a Seal Order to the Sterigenics U.S., LLC, facility located at 7775 South Quincy Street, in Willowbrook, DuPage County, to prevent the commencement of any new sterilization cycles using ethylene oxide to prevent emissions which present an imminent and substantial endangerment to residents and off-site workers in the Willowbrook community.
The Seal Order restricts access to the ethylene oxide storage vessels so as to preclude introduction of ethylene oxide into a sterilization chamber. Only persons authorized, in writing, by the Director of the Illinois EPA may access the sealed vessels to conduct activities within the scope of their specified authorization.
Following ambient air sampling by U.S. EPA in the spring of 2018, one of the conclusions of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) noted “if measured and modeled data represent typical ethylene oxide ambient concentrations in ambient air, an elevated cancer risk exists for residents and off-site workers in the Willowbrook community surrounding the Sterigenics facility. These elevated cancer risks present a public health hazard to these populations.”
The ATSDR used the highest residential area and commercial air sampling results (2.1 micrograms per meter3 and 9.1 micrograms per meter3, respectively) to reach its conclusion. Since that time, ambient air sampling conducted by U.S. EPA and the Village of Willowbrook has consistently found outdoor ambient levels of ethylene oxide in commercial and residential areas as high or higher than the levels used by the ATSDR.
The Illinois EPA and Illinois Attorney General’s Office have been in numerous discussions with Sterigenics to discuss how to further reduce ethylene oxide emissions. Recent elevated sampling results, along with Sterigenics’ refusal to voluntarily suspend operations, have resulted in the issuance of the Seal Order.
The Seal Order will remain in effect until it is rescinded by Acting Director Kim.
The controversial Sterigenics facility in Willowbrook “will be shut down” Friday evening following new test results showing emissions of “the highest levels of [ethylene oxide] recorded in the area,” the mayor of the suburban Chicago town said.
“As a result of Willowbrook’s new testing, I have been notified by the Illinois EPA that Sterigenics will be shut down this evening,” Mayor Frank Trilla said in a statement.
* House Republican Leader Jim Durkin…
Today’s Seal Order to the Sterigenics facility in Willowbrook is welcome news. I appreciate the efforts of everyone who has worked together over the past year to finally bring safety and peace of mind back to our community. Sterigenics has failed our residents, and today’s action should put any other entity that threatens the health and safety of residents in Illinois on notice.
…Adding… Congressman Dan Lipinski…
After months of hard work calling on US and Illinois EPA to hold Sterigenics accountable and protect public health in the surrounding communities, the Illinois EPA has stepped in to stop the use of Ethylene Oxide at Sterigenics, effectively shutting it down. Five months ago I called on the EPA to shut Sterigenics down unless it could show it was not a public health threat. US EPA finally began conducting air tests in Willowbrook in November and the results have shown dangerously high levels of EtO, especially next to Sterigenics’ facilities. Based on these clear results, last week I led a bipartisan group of state and local officials, along with local residents, to the US EPA Region 5 headquarters to once again call for Stergenics to be shut down. I thank the Chicago Tribune for shining light on this issue including its editorial today calling on the EPA to heed my call to act. While the US EPA has continued to fail to act, I thank the Illinois EPA, Attorney General Raoul, and Governor Pritzker for acting today to protect the public. There is still work to be done to figure out long-term solutions, but Sterigenics needed to be shut down. The health, safety, and overall quality of life of the large population of people that live, work, and go to school near Sterigenics must always come first.
* More…
On Sterigenics seal order from IL EPA, Pritzker spokeswoman says gov's office worked with state EPA "because the U.S. EPA and the company have refused to take immediate action" on ethylene oxide emissions.
On behalf of our community, I want to thank the Illinois EPA, Governor Pritzker, Attorney General Kwame Rauol and DuPage County State Bob Berlin for the issuance of a Seal Order from the IEPA, which has shut the Sterigenics facility down tonight. And I want to thank the residents for their tireless efforts throughout this entire process.
A comprehensive legislative package of Medicaid managed care reform bills strongly backed by the Illinois Health and Hospital Association (IHA) and the hospital community has been introduced in the General Assembly to hold managed care organizations (MCOs) accountable to preserve and assure access to timely, quality healthcare for all Medicaid beneficiaries.
Since the introduction of mandatory managed care in Illinois in 2015, hospitals across the state have faced an overwhelming series of unnecessary administrative burdens, claim denials and long payment delays that jeopardize access to care for low-income and vulnerable communities in urban and rural areas of the state and that undermine the financial stability of hospitals, especially Safety Net and Critical Access Hospitals. Initial claim denial rates by MCOs are still unacceptably high – 26 percent – resulting in delayed payments to hospitals in the hundreds of millions of dollars for medically necessary services that were authorized and provided to Medicaid beneficiaries. Most of the denials are based on process and paperwork, not medical necessity.
* WBEZ looks at some higher education bills. Here are two of the seven…
SB 1167: This bill would create an adult vocational community college scholarship program starting in the 2020-2021 academic year. The scholarships would be for students over 30 years old who have been unemployed and are looking to earn a specific certificate or associate’s degree. The maximum scholarship would be $2,000 per year. Rep. David McSweeney, R-Barrington Hills, filed similar legislation in the House, HB 302.
SB 1342: This bill, filed by Rep. Martin Sandoval, D-Chicago, would create a state-run student loan refinancing program. College graduates who are Illinois residents can refinance their student loans with the state to receive the lowest possible interest rate. As long as the graduate remained a resident of Illinois, the lower interest rate would apply.
One Illinois lawmaker is again seeking a tax on each mile vehicle owners drive instead of a gas tax.
State Rep. Marcus Evans, D-Chicago, introduced House Bill 2864, which would create the per-mile road usage charge pilot program. Voluntary participants would pay a per-mile road usage charge is $0.021 per mile for metered use. This per-mile tax would replace the user’s 19-cent per gallon motor fuel tax. Illinois still applies its sales tax to motor fuel, something only a handful of other states do.
The plan has been introduced in previous years, but former Gov. Bruce Rauner had declared his opposition to it early on. Gov. J.B. Pritzker, however, has been warmer on the topic, saying on the campaign trail that it should be looked into as a way to pay for badly-needed infrastructure spending. […]
Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, filed a similar proposal in 2016 that would have taxed drivers $0.0015 per mile using a metered device in passenger vehicles. The measure never progressed after opposition mounted.
…Adding… Forgot about this coverage of a subcommittee hearing…
A bill intended to rein in House Speaker Michael Madigan’s outsized role in state politics was rejected by Democrats in a House subcommittee Thursday.
The measure, sponsored by state Rep. Margo McDermed, R-Mokena, would have prohibited anyone who is the leader of a legislative chamber from serving simultaneously as a state party chairman.
* Part of the synopsis for Rep. Dave McSweeney’s (R-Barrington Hills) HB348…
Provides that the board of trustees of any township located in McHenry County may submit a proposition to dissolve the township to the township electors or township electors may petition for a referendum to dissolve a township.
* If you listened to some members of the McHenry County Board, you’d think he was the worst person in the world…
District 6 representative Jim Kearns also weighed in.
“Mr. McSweeney doesn’t give a [expletive] about McHenry County. I’m sorry, he doesn’t. … I have to be honest with you. I hate this with a passion. I hate this kind of government. This government that we have in Illinois has bankrupted every single citizen of this state. We are broke. And do we want to bring that to McHenry County with more poor legislation? No, we don’t. … Mr. McSweeney, I’m calling you out. It’s a bunch of garbage what you’ve been doing in Springfield,” Kearns said.
Um, the commissioner hates the sort of government that would allow voters to dissolve a township?
A new Tulchin Research poll conducted February 6-10, 2019 finds Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle continues to lead a crowded field of candidates for Mayor of Chicago. Preckwinkle is well positioned to make the runoff election, as she currently runs ten points ahead of her closest challenger, and she leads both Bill Daley and Susana Mendoza in hypothetical head-to-head match-ups. […]
Toni Preckwinkle currently runs first among the field of mayoral candidates, attracting support from 21 percent of voters. Clustered together and statistically tied for second place are Willie Wilson (11%), Bill Daley (10%), Susana Mendoza (10%), Lori Lightfoot (9%), and Amara Enyia (8%) and 13 percent of voters remain undecided.
The largest number of undecideds are black voters (24 percent) and Hispanic voters (22 percent). The margin of error is plus-or-minus 4 percent. […]
Crime and drugs were listed by 21 percent of voters [as an issue important in determining their vote]; economy and jobs were listed by 19 percent; public corruption was listed by 11 percent, as was schools; and high taxes came in at 10 percent. […]
Nearly six out of 10 voters said the city is on the wrong track, again with more women than men disenchanted.
* Meanwhile, from last night…
The union and fund are not supporting any of the other 13 candidates in the race, just making clear that they support "anybody but Daley." The engineers backed Gery Chico in 2011 and Rahm Emanuel in 2015.
* So, despite the following article being labeled as a “scoop” this morning, it’s not. However, it does have some good info…
The attack ad focuses on Daley’s career as a banker. A voice says: “As president of SBC, Daley took a million-dollar bonus and then laid off 5,000 workers. Then as the chairman of a Wall Street bank, Daley took more than $15 million—the same year his bank admitted to illegally overcharging thousands of active duty troops and driving military families into foreclosure, forcing them out of their homes. Bill Daley—a Wall Street banker who got rich off working people.”
Fight Back Fund is connected to the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150—they share the same address and James Sweeney, the head of Local 150, is an officer with the PAC. The ad buy was made through Left Hook Communications, a left-leaning political strategy firm.
During the 2018 midterms, Fight Back played a huge role in funding conservative former state Sen. Sam McCann’s campaign for governor. McCann ultimately pulled votes away from Republican incumbent Gov. Bruce Rauner. Before that, the same independent expenditure PAC spent big money to oppose attorney general candidates Pat Quinn and Scott Drury (both Democrats) and Erika Harold (a Republican).
Other trade unions are helping fund the PAC, according to a source familiar with the organization. It appears Local 150 isn’t supporting any one candidate for mayor, but it knows which one it doesn’t want to win—that would be Daley.
Let me offer some ideas and solutions to dig out of our mess.
First, when the fair tax becomes law, we will create a new revenue source dedicated specifically to pensions. The state will commit to using $200 million a year directly to pensions, over and above our legally required payments. This will not only help pay down the unfunded liability but will likely also lower the cost of our debt.
Second, we must infuse cash and assets into the system now to improve the health of the funds. We will be evaluating some of the assets that are owned by the State – they could be worth tens of billions of dollars – for potential transfer into the pension funds. I am pleased that experts like Jackie Avitia-Guzman and Jamie Star have signed on to help with these evaluations. These assets could be used in a way that is far more financially responsible for the state, to increase assets in the pension systems to offset liabilities and reduce the unfunded liability overall.
Third, let’s listen to experts and exercise good financial management. We can lower the cost of our pension debt and inject cash immediately into the system by issuing a small-scale pension bond of about $2 billion. The bond proceeds would be used for no purpose other than to be deposited directly into the funds — and would be used only for paying down our more expensive pension liabilities. No skimming off the top to pay this year’s pension payment. No using bond proceeds to pay for operating costs.
This protects taxpayers from the way these bonds were misused in the past, and it brings our pension funds closer to a healthy level. We would look to move forward with this bond only if the calculation makes sense for taxpayers — and if the interest rates are lower for the bond than what we are currently paying for the pension debt. It’s simply good financial management.
Fourth, the optional pension buyout programs passed in last year’s budget were short term in nature — which limits their effectiveness at reducing our future pension liabilities. We intend to extend these programs to provide certainty to retiring employees who may choose the option to receive more retirement income upfront. By doing so, we can expand the savings to the state overall. This is a responsible way to reduce liabilities without going back on the state’s promised retirement benefits.
Finally, during last year’s campaign Governor Pritzker proposed smoothing and flattening payments into the pension system in the context of contributing more cash and assets to the system. We propose a modest extension of our pension amortization schedule by seven years. We will still reach the target goal of 90% funding, but we will do so without massively crowding out investments our state needs to grow its economy. After almost a quarter century of losing ground, a seven-year extension is reasonable in the context of currently contributing billions more to our pensions systems.
Collectively, these five actions will expand our tax revenue base, invest in priorities that will grow our economy, and we’ll be able to put our pensions on a sustainable path that keeps our promises to retirees.
Now, no discussion of pensions would be complete without recognition that we have a pension crisis brewing among our local and county governments. We must explore smart ways to consolidate those pension funds. The state is home to 671 separate public pension funds. This results in a fractured system that often duplicates functions across funds, limits the smaller funds to a narrow range of lower return investments, and impedes their ability to negotiate lower fees.
Deputy Gov. Dan Hynes suggested the key to the plan is to extend the period of time the state has to reach full funding of its pension plays by seven years, to 2052. “Full funding” currently is defined has having 90 percent of the assets needed to pay promised benefits. […]
Hynes told me the deferral will buy the state time to examine asset sales and other matters—and give Pritzker some a bit of leeway in dealing with a projected deficit of $3.2 billion in the new fiscal 2020 budget he’s set to unveil next week, on Feb. 20. Specifically, extending the full-payment ramp to 2020 will reduce the amount the state has to contribute next year by about $800 million. The state “still will have to contribute $8 billion,” Hynes noted. But by deferring the payment owed, the state will run up increased interest costs on debt it legally will have to pay, Hynes conceded, declining to give a cost figure. […]
Hynes specifically refused to take a possible sale of the Illinois Tollway off the table. “That’s the kind of issue” that a new commission Pritzker appointed last week is considering, and “I don’t want to prejudge anything,” Hynes said.
….Adding… Senate President Cullerton’s spokesperson on the pension bond…
It’s an interesting concept. The Senate President looks forward to learning more about the idea and its specific safeguards.
After a bill to raise Illinois’ minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025 passed the Illinois Senate last week on a party-line vote, Gov. JB Pritzker — who has been pushing Democratic leaders to get the measure passed before his Budget Address next week — boasted that SB 1 is endorsed by a key business group in Illinois.
“This bill has the support of the Illinois Restaurant Association and will allow restaurant workers and restaurant owners to succeed,” Pritzker told reporters at the Capitol last week, before ticking off the other merits of the bill.
Sam Toia, president and CEO of the Illinois Restaurant Association, had indeed signed off on the bill ahead of Wednesday’s committee vote to send SB 1 to the Senate floor.
But in Springfield Monday, downstate members of the Illinois Restaurant Association told The Daily Line that they weren’t asked, and that Toia doesn’t speak for them.
Across from the Illinois Governor’s mansion, you’ll find Loukinens’ on Fourth.
The restaurant opened in October 2017, but owners Kevin and Laurie Loukinen are concerned a $15 minimum wage hike could force them to close their doors.
“If I increase minimum wage at $15 an hour, then I have to increase supervisor pay, then I have to increase manager pay, then I have to match all the payroll taxes that go with that and all the property taxes that go with that,” Laurie Loukinen said.
Laurie Loukinen said she once asked Gov. JB Pritzker to not harm her business while he was eating at her restaurant with his wife.
“He was in this very dining room and I said, ‘Just tell me you’re going to do a good job and that you’re not going to kill me as a business for the sake of Chicago,’ and he stood right here in my dining room and he said, ‘I will not do that to you,’” Laurie Loukinen said. “And I take Governor Pritzker at his word.”
You gotta wonder how the governor’s next visit to that restaurant is gonna go.
Meanwhile, the owner of Obed and Isaac’s compared her stand against the minimum wage hike to Winston Churchill during World War II. I kid you not.
* This is not to make light of their arguments. The governor has said that he would listen to all sides and points to the Illinois Restaurant Association as supporters even though some restaurant owners are up in arms about this bill. They do have a right to be upset. And a regionalized system does make some sense…
The news conference was organized by the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, which is pressing lawmakers to enact a tiered minimum wage. Its proposal would have a $15 wage in Chicago, while the suburbs surrounding Chicago would have a $13 wage and the rest of the state would have an $11 minimum wage by 2025.
The differences are meant to reflect that it’s cheaper to live outside of Chicago and that other areas of the state do not have the same economic activity as Chicago. The states of Oregon and New York use a tiered approach, paying a higher minimum wage in a major urban area and lower wages in less-populated areas.
Frankly, though, if I was a Downstate worker making minimum wage, I’d be awfully upset that Chicagoans were paid more by law to do the exact same job for the exact same employer. A regionalized minimum wage would literally codify the alleged Chicago advantage that Downstaters so often complain about.
…Adding… ILGOP…
“Governor Pritzker is misleading the people of Illinois about his minimum wage plan by falsely claiming it’s the product of compromise and Republican input, even though no Republicans support it. If Pritzker thinks it’s a ‘Republican idea’ to phase in the wage hike over six years as opposed to three or enact insufficient tax credits for small business, he’s wrong. Pritzker pledged to listen to Republicans and compromise, but it turns out those were just empty, meaningless words.” - Illinois Republican Party Spokesman Aaron DeGroot
*** UPDATE *** It’s on a rail…
After a Democratic House caucus, Speaker Madigan says he expects minimum wage bill to pass House as is. Specifically stated regional wage will not be in bill.
* They can say whatever they want. Unless and until they can locate some legislators willing to actually sponsor legislation to impose a state tax on retirement income, it ain’t even gonna be discussed except in news reporting and columns…
A second public policy organization is calling for Illinois to tax retirement income and expand the sales tax to some consumer services as part of a sweeping plan to fix the state’s fiscal woes.
The recommendations from nonpartisan budget watchdog Civic Federation come one week before new Gov. J.B. Pritzker is scheduled to present his first budget proposal to lawmakers. The Democratic governor backs legalizing and taxing recreational marijuana and sports gambling, as well as overhauling the state income tax system in two years. But he hasn’t endorsed taxing retirement income or gotten specific on taxing services.
In its annual “budget roadmap,” the Civic Federation’s Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability says new taxes should only be considered as part of a multiyear plan that also limits state spending. It proposes limiting spending growth to 2.4 percent per year for five years.
The call to tax retirement income echoes a similar proposal last week from the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, which is made up of the city’s business elite. The Civic Federation has been pushing the idea for several years, though its recommendation hasn’t gained traction in Springfield.
Pritzker has said that sales taxes on services are regressive and he therefore doesn’t like them. Maybe we could see movement on that, but he defeated two Democratic primary opponents with the retirement income tax issue and I cannot see him ever flipping on that one.
Fiscally, it’s a good idea. Sound, even. Politically, it’s deader than a rock on a stump.
Billionaire hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin, who has given tens of millions to former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and supported Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, is donating $1 million to Bill Daley’s mayoral campaign.
In a statement about the contribution, Griffin called Daley “a proven leader who understands the critical importance of working for all Chicagoans regardless of politics, race or background.”
“He will bring together a diversity of views across the city on our most pressing challenges of creating jobs, reducing violent crime, and improving our schools so we all can be proud to live and work in this world-class city that we call our home,” Griffin said. […]
“His investments in Chicago, in its cultural institutions, in its healthcare organizations, and in improvements that benefit all residents are a model of giving back to the community,” Daley said in a statement. “While we may not agree on every political issue, Ken’s commitment to Chicago is unquestionable and unwavering.”
* Susana Mendoza…
As co-chair of Bruce Rauner’s transition team, Bill Daley wrote the blueprint for the failed governor’s four years of crisis and destruction. It’s no surprise he’s earned the endorsement of Rauner’s biggest funder and enabler too. Chicago’s families can’t afford four years of a mayor who stood by silently while his friend Bruce Rauner launched attack after attack on our workers, cut critical social services, and assaulted women’s reproductive healthcare rights. I wasn’t afraid to take on Bruce Rauner on behalf of Illinoisans, and I’m not afraid to take on Bill Daley on behalf of Chicagoans. The last thing Chicago needs is Bruce Rauner’s mayor.
* Meanwhile…
Hardworking Chicago window washers are once again in the spotlight after NBC Chicago and Telemundo Chicago ran in-depth stories last night on the dangerous work they do every single day. Now, in the closing weeks of the mayoral election, SEIU Local 1 is running an ad on Spanish-language television detailing how mayoral candidate Susana Mendoza sold out our city’s brave window washers, their families and their communities when they went on strike in July of 2018.
“When we were on strike for a better future, Susana Mendoza sold us out,” said SEIU Local 1 window washer Francisco Guzman. “Voters need to know that Mendoza sides with her business owner donors over hardworking Chicago families and our communities.”
Instead of standing with our city’s brave window washers, who put their lives on the line every day to support their families, Mendoza sided with her buddy and major campaign donor Neal Zucker, CEO of window washing company Corporate Cleaning Services and employer of window washers. Zucker is a major Mendoza campaign donor who has contributed more than $30,000 to her political fund since 2014, including $10,000 immediately following the strike and $3,000 on Christmas Eve. CBS Chicago rated the claims in the ad, which ran for weeks on digital platforms, to be true.
The ad represents a significant five-figure buy on Univision Chicago and Telemundo Chicago and will run from Thursday until the runoff election on February 26. In the closing weeks of the mayor’s race, Local 1 window washers are letting voters know that Susana Mendoza cannot be trusted to stand with Chicago’s working families.
