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*** UPDATED x1 *** Dems, Repubs push Pritzker on non-profit funding

Wednesday, Jun 24, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

It’s not often that Illinois Democrats and Republicans are on the same page, but that’s the case this week when it comes to money for nonprofits. Illinois’ GOP delegation in D.C. and state Democrats in the General Assembly are concerned about nonprofits being denied state funding because they accepted cash from the federal Paycheck Protection Program.

According to letters they sent to Gov. J.B. Pritzker, the Illinois Department of Human Services and Department of Children and Family Services are reducing or delaying state funding for nonprofits that received PPP funds.

These service organizations “serve thousands of Illinois residents,” the state Democrats say in their letter urging Pritzker not to reduce state funding for nonprofits. “While we recognize the state is facing budget constraints, the level of need for social services has exponentially increased” in wake of the pandemic due to unemployment, food insecurity, housing insecurity, and other economic challenges. […]

The GOP delegation’s letter is pointed: “Congress did not intend for the funds provided through the Paycheck Protection Program to supplement state budgets by offsetting the cost they pay for services through private nonprofit service providers,” the lawmakers wrote.

The governor isn’t likely to act on the lawmakers’ concerns. As Pritzker’s office explained to Playbook: The state kept paying social service providers during the pandemic, even when they couldn’t provide services. The goal was to keep those agencies whole. The money the state pays each month is for rent, utilities and personnel costs. The state says the agencies that take PPP funds to pay for rent, utilities and personnel costs, shouldn’t be paid for the same thing twice. Businesses and hospitals, on the other hand, don’t contract with the state for services.

Republican pushed back at the explanation, saying, “The state’s assertion that it may deduct an amount equivalent to any funds nonprofit organizations receive through PPP from what they are paid in their contracts is a clear overreach. Nonprofit service organizations should not be punished at the expense of the state during this difficult time.”

* From the GOP delegation’s letter…

As you are aware, the State of Illinois has consistently underfunded these nonprofit service providers.

Thoughts?

*** UPDATE *** The governor was asked about this today…

We have to marshal our resources, and when someone’s getting direct federal dollars to cover the very same expenses that would have been covered by the state, it seems logical to me at least for the time being to make to use those resources to cover other challenges that we have during this very difficult time.

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Wednesday, Jun 24, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

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*** UPDATED x1 *** Movie theater owners say Pritzker’s new guidelines will make it difficult to reopen

Tuesday, Jun 23, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Press release…

The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) of Illinois issued the following statement regarding Phase 4 reopening guidelines released by Gov. JB Pritzker’s office, which allows for movie theatres to reopen beginning June 26 with a maximum capacity of 50 people:

“While theatres across Illinois are excited to welcome customers back to the movies, the strict capacity limits announced by the governor’s office will make it difficult for many theatres to reopen. For some, it will simply not be feasible to rehire workers, purchase supplies and cover overhead costs if only 50 customers will be allowed in each auditorium. Many theatre auditoriums are quite large and can safely accommodate more viewers while maintaining proper physical distancing and sanitation measurers,” said Chris Johnson, president of the National Association of Theatre Owners of Illinois and CEO of Classic Cinemas. “We are disappointed the governor’s office declined to raise capacity limits after indicating a willingness to do so during recent conversations but remain hopeful that changes can be made sooner rather than later. We are eager to salvage what’s left of the summer blockbuster season and reclaim our role as a safe space to escape from life’s struggles.”

NATO of Illinois has proposed setting attendance limits at 50 percent of capacity – the same limits set for retail establishments and personal care businesses. Additional safety measures include:

• Requiring all employees to undergo training before returning to work on enhanced cleaning procedures, personal health and wellness, use of face masks and gloves, and maintaining social distancing.
• Taking employee temperatures before reporting to work for each shift.
• Mandating that cloth masks be worn at all times and disposable gloves be worn during customer interactions.
• Maintaining a minimum of six-foot distance between viewing parties, using empty seats and rows as necessary.
• Placing six-foot spacing markings in areas where guests may have to queue and assigning staff to ensure social distancing is respected.
• Encouraging customers to purchase tickets online to decrease contact opportunities.

I asked the group’s spokesperson Monique Garcia what the theaters were doing about the viral load issue. Dozens, or even hundreds of people sitting in the same room for a couple of hours could potentially shed a lot of virus into the air, after all…

“There are some who think we should just do nothing, have no restrictions, no capacity limits. But when you think of a gathering size of 100 and having a 30 percent chance of somebody in that 100 having a COVID virus — when you go up to 250 and that probability goes up to 60 percent — this is why we are being cautious and prudent.”

* Garcia’s response…

Among the safety precautions theatres have in place to limit risks include purchasing tickets online, staggered showtimes, maintaining a minimum six-foot distance between viewing parties, enhanced cleaning procedures including sanitation of seats between showings, and encouraging the use of face coverings even when seated in an auditorium.

Because we know that air flow is important in limiting risk, many theaters are placing special focus on improving air quality. This includes adjusting HVAC systems to increase the amount of fresh air being circulated and to remove stale air more quickly. New filters will also be put in place, including in vacuums and other devices.

Thoughts?

*** UPDATE *** The governor was asked today about the theater owners’ expectation that they’d be able to sell tickets for half of their available capacity…

I want to be clear to anybody that had expectations of something larger that there is the opportunity for us to do that at any moment, you know, going forward as we look and see. Remember when we change guidelines, when we move from one phase to another, what we’re looking to do is to measure how are we doing in hospitalizations, how are we doing in positivity rates. If we start to see things moving up, forget spiking, if we see things moving upward we want to watch them closely. And it’s over time that you see well if things are relatively stable, or even decreasing as we saw, interestingly during phase three even though we opened up quite a lot in phase three, the answer is, you can make adjustments along the way and we certainly will.