*** UPDATED x1 *** What the… ?
Wednesday, Sep 9, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I think perhaps the Department might wanna answer the question posed in the third graf..
Ten people in western Illinois now have died from Legionnaires’ disease after a state veterans home in Quincy reported two new fatalities among its residents.
An outbreak first identified in late August has sickened 53 residents at the home, nine of whom died. State and local public health officials have not disclosed how the 10th victim contracted the disease, a severe form of pneumonia.
The Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs said Wednesday that it planned to treat the home’s water systems with a chemical disinfectant. An agency spokesman could not immediately answer why that step had not been taken sooner.
Oy.
*** UPDATE *** OK, so I just got off the phone with Illinois Department of Public Health Director Nirav Shah and Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs Director Erica Jeffries.
I think the AP took a needless cheap shot in its above story.
Back on July 31st, a veterans home resident went to the hospital with pneumonia-like symptons. He was treated and then returned to the home. On August 7th, it was discovered that the resident had Legionnaire’s Disease. The “vast majority” of cases every year in the US are isolated and do not spread, said Director Shah, but they went on alert.
Two weeks later, on August 21st, another patient exhibited the same symptoms. That day, the state shut down the water system and began cleaning the ice machines, water tanks, cooling tower, etc.
Residents were given bottled water and sponge baths until some new shower filters could be delivered from Europe. The filter openings are so small that Legionnaire’s Disease can’t get through. Two filters have been installed in each residential building, which has greatly boosted resident morale, according to Director Jeffries.
With all of that done, they turned to finishing the cleanup. This has been no small, or easy task. The home encompasses 48 buildings on 200 acres with just one plumbing system.
It’s actually more complicated than this, but I don’t have all day to write about it and it appears that the residents weren’t being exposed to tainted water after the home shut down its water system in August, so there you have it.
Move along.
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* With a hat tip to an alert commenter, you had to figure this would happen sooner or later…
A pair of lottery winners have filed a federal lawsuit against the Illinois Lottery, which still is selling tickets despite its inability to pay prizes greater than $25,000 until state lawmakers pass a budget.
“How the heck can they do this, and they’re still selling tickets?” said Homer Glen resident Rhonda Rasche, 48, who is still waiting for the $50,000 she won in July from a $3 scratch-off ticket. “If I was the one selling raffle tickets and I didn’t pay, I would be sued or in jail or both. I feel like it’s fraud.” […]
The suit claims the lottery has continued to pay wages — including the $142,000 salary of acting lottery director B.R. Lane — and money owed to the agency’s troubled private management company, Northstar Lottery Group. […]
“The plaintiffs … are seeking to compel the state to pay the prize money to Lottery winners,” Chicago-based attorney Thomas Zimmerman Jr., who is representing the plaintiffs, said in a written statement Wednesday. “The lawsuit also seeks a court order to halt the sale of lottery tickets with potential winnings in excess of $25,000, and to stop the payment of operational and administrative expenses of the lottery, until all lottery winners are paid.”
*** UPDATE 1 *** Monique…
*** UPDATE 2 *** Nope…
From: Richard Goldberg, Deputy Chief of Staff for Legislative Affairs To: Members of the Illinois Senate
Date: September 9, 2015
Re: Opposition to Floor Amendment 1 to SB 2046
After consulting with Director Tim Nuding of the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget, I am writing to express the administration’s opposition to Floor Amendment 1 to SB 2046.
Several months ago, Senators Biss, Bush, Morrison, Landek and Noland voted against HB 4165, a bill making appropriations at unbalanced funding levels for the Department of Human Services, the Department of Healthcare and Family Services and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. In addition to their votes in opposition (joining all Republican members), Senator Tom Cullerton opted not to vote on the bill either.
Floor Amendment 1 to SB 2046 makes billions of dollars in appropriations at unbalanced funding levels – no different than the legislation these Senators previously opposed. Nearly four months after they first opposed this unbalanced budget, nothing has changed. Floor Amendment 1 to SB 2046 merely represents the latest multi-billion dollar piecemeal attempt to pass the very same unbalanced budget Senators Biss, Bush, Morrison, Landek and Noland opposed four months ago – the same cynical attempt to stick the taxpayers of Illinois with a massive tax hike without reform.
Let me be clear: a vote in favor of Floor Amendment 1 to SB 2046 is a vote for an unbalanced budget, a vote for a massive tax hike without reform and a blatant disregard of the legislature’s constitutional duty to pass a full, balanced budget. Should SB 2046 as amended reach the Governor’s desk, he would veto it.
Rather than pursuing this failed Groundhog Day strategy of putting unbalanced budgets up for a vote every few weeks, we urge Senate Democrats to come back to the negotiating table to pursue compromise, reform and a balanced budget.
*** UPDATE 3 *** From Rikeesha Phelon…
Rather than jumping at every opportunity to send snarky letters from the second floor to the third, the administration should consider holding legitimate budget meetings with the leaders to resolve fiscal issues. Cullerton will show up. Until then, pardon us while we try to advance solutions that meet basic human services responsibilities for the people of this state.
Bye.
She then added…
And what is this “negotiating table” that they speak of?
*** UPDATE 4 *** And it passes…
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Well, at least they’re doing something today
Wednesday, Sep 9, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* An interesting press release on a subject about which I was completely unaware…
WHO: Rob Karr, Illinois Retail Merchants Association president and CEO
Jeff Pape, president of WrestlingGear.Com, Ltd. based in Elmhurst
Bob Jones, president of American Sale based in Tinley Park
WHAT: IRMA members will testify before the Illinois Senate Revenue Committee about issues retailers unfairly face with qui tam lawsuits in this state, specifically related to application of sales taxes on shipping and handling charges.
For example, one retailer who will testify was sued by a Chicago attorney (who has filed hundreds of these lawsuits as a plaintiff to collect unpaid Illinois Use Tax) over an online purchase that brought about $0.80 sales tax into question. The Illinois-based retailer was abiding by Illinois law and interpretation of the Illinois Department of Revenue, but ending up spending about $25,000 fighting this lawsuit, plus an undetermined amount lost in sales and profits while spending time fighting this lawsuit. Interpretation of state tax law and regulations issued by IDOR should be the exclusive purview of the Illinois Department of Revenue.
*Qui tam lawsuits are civil suits filed against a person or company who is believed to have committed fraud against the government. Qui tam lawsuits are filed by whistleblowers under the False Claims Act, which gives whistleblowers a reward or a percentage of what’s recovered if the qui tam lawsuit he/she files recovers money for the government.
WHEN: 2:30 p.m., Wednesday, September 9, 2015
WHERE: Illinois Senate Revenue Committee Hearing
Room 212
Illinois Capitol, 301 S. 2nd Street
…Adding… Background here.
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*** UPDATED x1 *** Today’s number: $8.5 billion
Wednesday, Sep 9, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Keep in mind that January 1st is merely the half-way point of Fiscal Year 2016…
*** UPDATE *** Press release with emphasis added…
Comptroller Leslie Geissler Munger announced Wednesday that if the state continues its current rate of spending without a balanced budget, Illinois’ backlog of unpaid bills to schools, hospitals, businesses, social services and other vendors will exceed $8.5 billion by the end of the calendar year.
Munger said court orders, consent decrees, and statutory continuing appropriations (including debt service, pension payments, tax refunds and lawmaker salaries) are funding 90 percent of the state’s bills even though the General Assembly and Governor have been deadlocked on a budget since July 1. The problem is, the spending is based on FY 15 levels while revenue is based on FY 16 levels, which is running considerably lower due to the sunset of the temporary tax increase in January.
The unpaid bill estimate does not include payments for higher education, employee-retiree health insurance, student MAP grants, some Lottery winners, commercial spending, and other bills that will not be processed until a budget in place. Those expenses could account for an additional $4.3 billion in spending annually.
“Just over two months ago, I stood before you to warn that if the General Assembly and Governor were unable to pass a balanced budget, there would be severe consequences for the state,” Munger said. “Today I’m here to say that those consequences have come to pass and the situation will become more dire the longer we try to fund state services without a budget.”
At the end of August, the state’s unpaid bills to schools, hospitals, businesses, social service agencies and others totaled about $5.5 billion. That number has grown to $6 billion today. If there is no budget in place and the state’s spending trajectory continues, it will enter the New Year on January 1, 2016 owing an estimated $8.5 billion in unpaid bills. As the backlog grows, the state’s cash flow gets tighter and payments to nonprofits and other state vendors for provided services face further delays, Munger said.
Munger will continue to prioritize payments to nonprofits that serve children, the elderly, people with developmental or intellectual disabilities, and other vulnerable residents. They depend heavily on state funding and provide critical services at a lower cost than it would cost the state, she said.
“We will continue to do everything in our power to keep the state and our human service organizations afloat, but to be clear – our office performs triage every day simply to ensure the State of Illinois lives up to its core commitments,” Munger said. “For the sake of our families, businesses and organizations, it is time for members of the General Assembly to sit down with the Governor to find common ground and pass a balanced budget so we can fund our critical priorities.”
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* Speaker Madigan isn’t the only one calling out Reps. Dunkin and Drury on the AFSCME bill…
It’s not typical for Madigan to rebuke House Democrats in such a public fashion. To buttress his contention that the votes to override Rauner would have been there if Dunkin had shown up, Madigan said unions had received the same assurances he had from rank-and-file House Democrats.
Earlier, Michael Carrigan, head of the state AFL-CIO, said in a statement he received assurances from Dunkin and Drury that they would vote for the override.
“In the days before the override vote, both Rep. Dunkin and Rep. Drury told representatives of AFL-CIO-affiliated unions that they supported the fair arbitration bill, and Rep. Dunkin indicated he would be returning from his New York City vacation and taking the train to Springfield to attend the legislative session. We are very disappointed that neither did so,” Carrigan said in the statement.
* And Dunkin responds…
“I’m trying not to be confrontational with any of my members. The speaker, in the last six-seven years, we’ve had issues, talked as men in private, as professionals. I don’t really want to be fighting him or any other colleague. That seems where this has headed,” Dunkin said.
Madigan is clearly more upset than usual, but Dunkin’s colleagues are far more angry at him for blowing off session last week than has been generally portrayed in the media. Many are demanding punishment. And I think that may be why MJM has taken this thing so far.
Plus, everybody probably needs a vacation, man. I know I do.
…Adding… Oops. I forgot to post an important link. Rep. Dunkin on WVON yesterday. Click here.
…Adding More… Reps. Dunkin and Drury were also on Chicago Tonight yesterday. Click here.
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Madigan doubles down on Dunkin, Drury
Wednesday, Sep 9, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
[Bumped up to Wednesday morning from Tuesday night for visibility.]
* Press release…
Good evening. Please find below a statement from House Speaker Michael Madigan regarding the outcome of the House’s override vote of the governor’s veto of Senate Bill 1229. For more information, please contact Steve Brown…
Madigan: House Overrides Governor’s Veto of Arbitration Bill if All 71 Democrats are Present
CHICAGO - House Speaker Michael J. Madigan on Tuesday released the following statement regarding the House override vote of the governor’s veto of Senate Bill 1229:
“It was my expectation that all 71 House Democrats would be in attendance for legislative session last Wednesday. Instead, 70 were present. Had all 71 Democrats been present, as was expected, the House would have voted to override the governor’s veto of Senate Bill 1229.
“Over the last several weeks, I worked with various interested stakeholders to gather support in the House to override the governor’s veto. During that time, every Democratic member of the House gave a commitment either to me or to these various groups that they would vote in favor of the override. Leading up to the vote, Representatives Dunkin and Drury, who had both previously voted for the bill, told members and representatives of labor that they would support the override motion. Even with Representative Dunkin’s absence, we called the bill for a vote at the request of the bill’s sponsor and AFSCME Council 31.
“I believe the failure to override the governor’s veto of Senate Bill 1229 will be used by the governor as part of his ongoing effort to bring down wages and the standard of living for middle-class families.”
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* A recent piece in Illinois Issues is getting some attention…
Charlie Wheeler III, a longtime observer of Illinois politics and head of the Public Affairs Reporting program at the University of Illinois at Springfield, has a plan that could at least get the two sides talking. In a column in the Illinois Times, Wheeler rolled out how Rauner, House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton could actually accomplish some things together. Wheeler recommends the two sides use an “agreed bill” process, in which all parties compromise and write the legislation together. This process has been used in the past, often with success and acceptable results for both sides of a dispute.
Wheeler’s explanation is lengthy, but here are the highlights of his compromise ideas.
Workers compensation: In a true compromise, tighten the definition of workplace injuries, which Rauner wants, and place more scrutiny on insurance companies, which would please Democrats.
Tort reform: Give Democrats a choice between stricter rules on where to file personal injury lawsuits, restricting “pain and suffering” awards, or sponsoring a constitutional amendment to determine if voters wanted to limit certain damages.
Property tax freeze: Enact a freeze, but only if Rauner drops demands that would severely restrict collective bargaining and eliminate a prevailing wage requirement. Wheeler didn’t mention this one, but we’d add, pave the way for voters to decide a way to reduce the number of local governments.
Redistricting and term limits: On both issues, turn to citizen groups to get the amendments on the ballot through the petition process. Rauner, who supports both issues, could use his bully pulpit to support the issues, but would remove them from his legislative agenda.
Andy Shaw also pointed to Wheeler’s piece as a possible model. Charlie’s piece can be read in full by clicking here.
I’ve supported most of these ideas in the past, particularly an agreed bill process on workers’ comp and dropping the anti-union stuff from the property tax freeze. And as we found out yet again last year, Illinoisans can’t legally put a term limits constitutional amendment on the ballot.
The problem isn’t with the ideas, the problem is the complete lack of will to talk about the ideas.
Once Speaker Madigan decides he’s willing to talk about workers’ comp reforms that don’t include “causation,” then the talks can bear some fruit, but not until he’s willing. Same goes for everything else, on both sides. There just is no will right now to move anything forward.
* The only thing that ever dependably moves these guys to act is a crisis, and despite the long impasse we just haven’t seen one yet that’s urgent enough to generate some will. And instead of talking about the budget for the last few weeks, all the leaders and members did was griped about the AFSCME bill. Speaker Madigan has long chastised the governor for focusing too much on non-budget issues, but what did he do for weeks? I mean, you’d never know there was a budget problem to listen to Madigan et al.
So, Rep. Dunkin wasn’t wrong when he said…
Meantime, on Wednesday eight people were killed in Chicago. The schools are $480 million short. And this is the most salient thing we can talk about in Springfield?
*** UPDATE *** Like I said. No will…
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[Comments are now open on this post.]
* As usual, it’s Erickson with the scoop…
State Rep. Reggie Phillips, a Republican from Charleston, said he has taken out options on real estate in [Florida] and made other preparations in anticipation of a possible move.
“We’re very actively looking at it,” Phillips told the Quad-City Times Springfield bureau. “I’m a practical businessman. I can’t stay here and allow myself to be strangled by incompetence.”
Phillips, who owns a homebuilding and real estate company in Charleston, took office in January and was hopeful Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner could move quickly to implement his plans to make Illinois a more business-friendly state.
But, he said, “The fight is a lot harder than what I anticipated.” […]
Phillips did not offer a timeline for when he might make a decision, but records show he has taken steps to open a business in Florida.
* You’ll remember Rep. Phillips…
* Rep. Phillips is a sponsor of a “right to work” bill, and now we know why…
State Rep. Reggie Phillips made his feelings on the proposed right-to-work resolution clear Thursday, saying AFSCME members are “like ants” and asking his members to lock arms and support towns that pass the resolution.
Phillips, R-Charleston, along with State Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon, spoke at the Charleston Chamber of Commerce’s legislative update lunch at the Unique Suites hotel. Phillips pointed to right-to-work and pension reform as two of the biggest topics state legislators are dealing with.
Phillips said he will ask Charleston city officials to resurrect the right-to-work resolution, rescinded by council members after union supporters packed council meetings to speak against it, and wants his constituents to support it.
Phillips noted he attended one of the council meetings in support of the resolution.
“There’s only 38,000 members in AFSCME (represented by the contract in Illinois),” he said. “You’d think there’s 38 million. They’re mobilized, like ants.”
Phillips said he wished Gov. Bruce Rauner and Phillips’ own supporters would have stood firm on the issue. The process of change may be painful but is necessary for the state, he said.
“Trust me, it’s like spanking a child sometimes,” he said. “The child doesn’t want to be spanked, but in the end it’s going to make them a better person.”
*** UPDATE *** Press release…
Rep. Reggie Phillips announces he is running for a second term
Charleston, IL – State Representative Reggie Phillips today announced he will seek a second term as State Representative in the 110th District.
“I went to Springfield because I was tired of seeing bad policies drive jobs and opportunities away from our state,” Phillips said. “I looked at my grandchildren and I wondered what kind of future will they have? The decision to run was based on my desire to turn our state around. I think it is important to have representation in Springfield that is not beholden to campaign contributors or party leaders. I am an independent voice and I serve the people of the 110th District and I would be honored to continuing serving in Springfield for another term.”
Rep. Phillips is working with local farmers in opposition to the Green Belt Express Clean Line. He also sponsored a measure (House Resolution 173) to support the nation of Israel. Additionally, he is working with several of his colleagues to pass a measure (House Resolution 671) which calls for an investigation of Planned Parenthood in light of the recent videos exposing some horrific practices involving the sale of human body parts.
One of Rep. Phillips’ top priorities is to change the economic climate in Illinois and enact meaningful business reforms. Illinois ranked dead last in the Midwest per capita for new payroll jobs added to the economy in 2014 while Iowa ranked 14th and Wisconsin 20th, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“One of things I find so frustrating is that there are a few simple changes we can make to really get our economy going but we continue to ignore these simple reforms,” Phillips said. “Enacting real workers’ compensation reform, reducing excessive business regulations, and unleashing the full potential of Illinois’ natural resources would put us back on a course to economic growth and prosperity. The current policies are not working. Illinois also needs term limits and we need to take the legislative remap process out of the hands of politicians. We can turn this state around but it starts with real, meaningful reform.”
Rep. Reggie Phillips grew up in Arthur, Illinois. He and his wife Martha have four adult children and 10 grandchildren. In 1986, Reggie and Martha started a residential and commercial building business in Charleston, Illinois which now employs approximately 400 people. He was elected State Representative in the 110th District in 2014. The 110th District encompasses parts or all of Coles, Crawford, Lawrence, Cumberland, and Edgar Counties.
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Dunkin speaks
Friday, Sep 4, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
[Comments are now open on this post.]
* Paris Schutz caught up to Rep. Ken Dunkin by phone…
“For [Speaker Madigan] to throw me under the bus like that is foul,” Dunkin told Chicago Tonight over the phone. “I guess they took for granted that I was going to be there. I told them emphatically that I was going out of town. They knew damn well I was going to be gone.”
Dunkin confirms that he was in New York for both work and personal reasons: he first attended a work conference and then a funeral for the friend of his wife. He says he told the speaker and his staff that he was upset the bill wasn’t called a week earlier, and he sacrificed personal and family time to be at the statehouse then, and that he supported the bill at that time. But Dunkin says that his support for the bill eroded when he started asking more questions.
“This is such an unprecedented move by any union under any governor in this state’s history. I wanted to see what they were talking about,” Dunkin says. “I wanted to see the union’s position and where they were in negotiations in writing. I asked AFSCME for information on what specifically they were negotiating and they said, ‘We don’t typically share that information.’ I also asked the governor’s office and had to squeeze information out of them.” […]
When asked if Gov. Rauner did anything to persuade Dunkin to miss the vote or if he offered any sort of benefit in return, Dunkin said, “Hell no.” But Dunkin admits that the governor made the case that AFSCME had a poor record on hiring and protecting the jobs of minorities in state agencies. He says AFSCME flatly rejected that claim but offered him no evidence to the contrary. […]
“The speaker made this a super issue,” Dunkin said. “I don’t want to be a part of his political manipulations. I don’t know what he was thinking when he called the bill knowing he didn’t have 71 votes. He knew I wasn’t 100 percent on board anyway. I’m not in the pocket of Mike Madigan. I don’t work for Mike Madigan, I work with him. I don’t work for the governor. You can print that.”
“There are 47 other bodies that [Madigan] has worked with equally if not longer,” Dunkin said. “But I’m the cause of his self-manufactured defeat? Meantime, on Wednesday eight people were killed in Chicago. The schools are $480 million short. And this is the most salient thing we can talk about in Springfield? This bill meant nothing to the average person.”
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* We can debate all day whether the absent Rep. Ken Dunkin was the solely responsible Democrat for the defeat of AFSCME’s “no strike” bill yesterday.
But he most surely was that person when it came to the bill which would’ve rolled back the governor’s administrative rule to dramatically slash the state’s child care assistance program. Gov. Rauner’s rule will block 90 percent of new program intakes by, among other things, lowering the maximum allowable income to just half of the federal poverty level.
All House Republicans stuck with Gov. Rauner yesterday and the bill received just 70 votes. So, if Dunkin had been doing the job he was elected to do, the bill would’ve passed, and it also probably would’ve been pretty tough to keep all the HGOPs off of that roll call when they saw it had enough support.
* From Sen. Toi Hutchinson’s Facebook page…
SB570 failed in the House today by 1 vote. 90% of previously eligible families are now without childcare subsidies. A parent who works full time at minimum wage now makes too much to qualify for childcare help. Keep in mind that the only way you qualify is if you work or are going to school. It failed today by 1 vote. My heart is breaking. I have no words. Thank you Representative Jehan Gordon Booth for being my partner in this. We have to live to fight another day.
As she pointed out, the bill is now on Postponed Consideration, so they can vote on it again. However, considering how difficult it was to get 70 Democrats to town yesterday (subscribers know more), without some GOP support this thing is probably going to remain in limbo for a while.
* I asked Emily Miller of Voices for Illinois Children and folks at some other groups why they didn’t put out a statement on the bill’s defeat yesterday and to please send me something I could use today. Here’s Emily’s response…
Hi Rich-
Sorry I didn’t get anything out earlier. I think that I was totally blown away by what happened, and I really did not see the failure of the child care bill coming. I never expected that child care would become such a partisan issue, and I needed to take a beat to figure out where we go from here.
The child care assistance program is a linchpin of the welfare to work program. It’s something that Republicans and Democrats have agreed on for decades. It’s common sense- If people to go to work and move off of welfare, you have to give them the tools they need to be able to do that. That means they have access to safe, quality child care.
Now we are left with the governor’s cuts intact. 90% of new applicants to the child care program will continue to be denied.
We are going to keep up the fight to get the governor’s office to roll back the devastating child care cuts on their own. We are going to continue to show lawmakers and members of the public that the cuts are ruining lives.
Child care is a necessary tool to keep low and middle income families out of poverty. We hope that lawmakers will come to their senses and pass a bill that saves child care in Illinois.
Emily Miller
Voices for Illinois Children
* And here’s the response from Illinois Action for Children…
Illinois Action for Children is disappointed and frustrated that SB 570, Amendment #1 fell one vote short of the required 71 votes yesterday in the House. The bill was introduced in response to Governor Rauner using his executive powers to enact emergency rules to significantly restrict access to the state’s IDHS CCAP; a program designed to support working parents’ access to quality care for their young children. The changes that went into effect on July 1st eliminate access for an estimated 90% of families otherwise eligible - families who are in desperate need for assistance to pay for child care when they are working or in an education or training program.
While we hope to work with Rep. Gordon-Booth to bring this bill back to the House for another vote, its failure yesterday means that parents who finally receive a long-sought job opportunity will be forced to turn it down, school-age children will likely go home alone instead of to a quality Afterschool program, and child care programs who are losing on average 25% of their enrollment to children aging out of the program (and going to school) will continue to close classrooms and programs. The infrastructure to deliver care that Illinois has invested millions of state dollars - in combination with federal funds - and which employs thousands of people will continue to crumble as a result of this failed vote.
It is a sad day when low-income children and working families are being held hostage in the Governor’s quest for his ‘turnaround agenda’ that has resulted in the worst budget impasse this state has seen in many decades. Child care has always been a program with bipartisan support because legislators know, regardless of party affiliation, that investing in our state’s youngest learners has an immediate return on investment for their working parents, and has a lifelong impact on a child’s success in school and in life. Investing in our children is vitally important to this state’s economy and its future.
I also asked Mrs. Rauner’s Ounce of Prevention Fund for comment, but haven’t heard back.
*** UPDATE 1 *** From Ireta Gasner, assistant director of Illinois Policy at Ounce of Prevention…
We are disappointed that the House of Representatives failed to pass SB570, legislation that would have reversed harmful changes to the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) put into place through emergency rulemaking by the governor’s administration. Vulnerable children and families were once again held hostage by the budget impasse and political stalemate in Springfield. We commend Senator Hutchinson and Representative Gordon-Booth for their leadership on this issue vital to children’s healthy development and our state’s economic future. Fortunately there are still several opportunities for our elected officials to do the right thing for working families:
1. First and foremost, we encourage Governor Rauner to rescind the eligibility changes that are locking 90% of previously eligible families out of the system.
2. We ask the legislature to seek another opportunity to legislatively rescind the eligibility changes.
3. We call upon the General Assembly and governor to work together to approve a fair, fully-funded budget that adequately funds vital programs like CCAP.
4. We urge the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules to vote against making the emergency rules permanent.
Every day this continues, families are being forced to choose between providing for or caring for their children, children are not receiving the quality early experiences they need to thrive, centers are unfilled or closing, and employees are losing their jobs. This must stop. We call upon all our elected officials, from the Governor to the General Assembly, to ensure the viability of families, communities and our state
*** UPDATE 2 *** Rep. Jehan Gordon…
What was often viewed as neutral ground in the budget making process, the Childcare Assistance Program, has unfortunately become a political football. It is incredibly disheartening to know that we could not get the requisite votes to allow thousands of poor, working families across the state access to childcare. Denying access to 90% of those previously eligible is just not the Illinois that I know. Falling one vote short is just unacceptable. We can do better. For that reason, Senator Hutchinson and I will continue to fight for working families, primarily women head of household, for their opportunity at one day having the American Dream.
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