GOMB director: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Wednesday, Mar 15, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* No surprise here…
This is the same person, by the way, who insisted to the media last month that the governor’s proposed budget was balanced.
…Adding… Press release…
The Rauner Administration today released the below statement following the Senate Executive Committee voting down legislation to give Governor Rauner the authority to cut spending and balance the budget:
“Governor Rauner has said from the beginning that if the legislature is unwilling to fulfill its constitutional obligation to pass a balanced budget, he is prepared to balance the budget on his own. We are deeply disappointed that the Senate majority voted down a bill to give the governor the ability to make spending cuts and balance the budget. If Senate Democrats are unwilling to let the governor balance the budget on his own, they have no alternative but to work with him to achieve a bipartisan balanced budget that makes structural changes to our broken system.”
The Unbalanced Budget Response Act, introduced as part of the governor’s Fiscal Year 2018 budget, would provide the executive branch authority to reduce government spending in all areas except K-12 General State Aid, early childhood education and debt service. If the General Assembly enacted the governor’s introduced appropriations bills with the Unbalanced Budget Response Act, he would be able to balance the budget on his own. The governor’s preferred path remains working together with the General Assembly on a comprehensive approach to getting Illinois back on track.
…Adding More… SDems…
For more than a week, Senate committees asked Gov. Bruce Rauner’s agencies to identify potential budget cuts to help close a $5 billion gap in the governor’s state budget. So far, they’ve been unable to come up with any.
That experience is among the reasons Democrats on Wednesday voted down a plan to give the governor unilateral power to cut whatever he wants to fill the gap in his budget. Another reason would be the Senate’s own efforts to create a grand bargain budget deal to restore financial stability.
In response to the rejection of his blind budget cutting authority, Gov. Rauner issued a press release criticizing Democrats for not working with him.
Illinois Senate Democrats took issue with that:
“The governor had the chance to balance the budget on his own. We even set aside a day for him to unveil it to the public. He had that chance last month, last year and the year before that. He’s failed at every chance. So, I’m not sure who he’s talking to anymore when he demands that someone needs to balance his budget,” said Senate Assistant Majority Leader Kimberly A. Lightford, a Maywood Democrat.
“If this is working with us on the budget, let me know when he starts working against us,” said Senate Assistant Majority Leader Terry Link, a Vernon Hills Democrat.
“Maybe the governor missed a memo. His own budget director has told us time and again that the governor’s budget is balanced. I don’t know what the governor’s getting so worked up about. He should go talk to his own budget director to be reassured of just how balanced his budget is,” said Senate Majority Leader James F. Clayborne, a Belleville Democrat.
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Question of the day
Wednesday, Mar 15, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From the Pontiac Daily Leader…
Shell Gas Station employee Jenny Hamilton was up at 4 a.m. to help a handful of employees as the gas station in Pontiac prepared to welcome in its first customers in almost nine months.
The Shell Gas Station at 1910 W. Reynolds St. may not have been the most devastated of the nine businesses impacted by a tornado that touched down in Pontiac on June 23, but it served as a backdrop for the news media, who met at the location to hold press conferences with local authorities and Gov. Bruce Rauner.
I have only one superstition. Whenever I drive I-55 to Chicago and back, I always stop in Pontiac to fill up my gas tank. It’s pretty close to the half-way mark, but my mom was born there and my maternal grandparents are buried there.
I’ve been doing this for decades. And the only time I ever remember not stopping in Pontiac, I got into a car accident.
* The Question: What are your superstitions, if any?
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On poverty and violence
Wednesday, Mar 15, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* AP…
People living in poverty are more likely to become victims of violent crime than higher income earners whether they live in cities, suburbs or rural areas, but the rural poor experience crime at higher rates, according to a Wednesday report by a Chicago research group.
The Heartland Alliance, a nonprofit organization, analyzed the overlap between poverty and crime at state and national levels for the first time in the nearly two decades it has studied poverty in Illinois. The group’s 44-page report cites census data, federal statistics and studies featuring victim interviews.
Chicago’s alarming rise in murders has dominated headlines, with over 750 homicides in 2016. However, when murder is taken out of the equation, the rural poor overall experience violent crime at a rate 192 percent higher than those with higher incomes in the same areas, according to the report.
“A lot of people envision violence as an urban problem, but there are a lot of types of violence,” said Heartland’s research director Katie Buitrago. “Some of the isolation and lack of resources that are in rural communities might result in people not being as aware of rural violence.”
The organization’s data show that Alexander County, along Illinois’ southernmost border, had the highest rate of violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2015. The tally includes sexual assault and robbery, but excludes murder. The Mississippi River county, among the state’s poorest, has been hit hard by years of unemployment, a housing crisis and dwindling social services. Following behind Alexander for the rate of violent offenses are northern Illinois’ Winnebago County and Vermilion County in central Illinois. Cook County, which includes Chicago, ranks eighth.
* A few snippets from the full report…
Five neighborhoods—Austin, Englewood, New City, West Englewood, and Greater Grand Crossing—accounted for nearly half of the increase in murders between 2015 and 2016. A staggering 764 people were murdered in Chicago in 2016. A much higher percentage of homicides in Chicago are committed with a gun than in other major cities—and while Chicago’s non-gun-related homicide rate is similar to rates in other major cities, Chicago’s gun homicide rate is significantly higher. […]
Growth in number of poor people living in extreme poverty neighborhoods in Chicago between 2000 and 2008–2012: 384% […]
Several Chicago and national studies have found that common responses to violence exposure include stronger retaliatory beliefs, difficulty controlling aggressive behavior, and the use of physical aggression. Exposure to community violence can normalize the use of aggression as a way to solve problems among youth, who may come to see violence as an appropriate behavior, be hyperaware of threats, and become more likely to ascribe hostile intent to benign behavior. One study found that youth experiencing high trauma were two times more likely to be chronic weapons carriers than those who were not. The biological response to trauma lends insight into why it may lead to aggressive behavior: the stress response becomes overstimulated, while the brain struggles to extinguish fear responses and becomes increasingly sensitive to stress. These neurological processes interfere with memory processing and the ability to exhibit self-control, reasoning, problem-solving, and planning. […]
The prison population in Illinois has grown by 350 percent between 1980 and 2014. […]
Employment, jobs, and income intersect with the cycle of poverty, violence, and trauma at many points. Wage declines explain a significant portion of increases in violent crime rates, while increasing wages reduces the amount of time spent on criminal activity. Experiencing violence can lead to trauma that interferes with employment. Survivors of domestic violence, in particular, face employment challenges, both due to trauma as well as abuse. Domestic violence survivors have a decreased likelihood of escaping poverty, have high unemployment rates, and experience traumatic symptoms that make it hard to maintain employment.106 The inability to get and keep good-paying jobs is a major cause of poverty. In 2015, 48.5 percent of domestic violence survivors in Illinois reported a monthly income of $500 or less and 65.3 percent were either employed part-time or not employed. […]
Children who are victims of violent crime struggle to achieve in school, and the effect worsens as they are exposed to more violence. Experiencing violence has negative effects on children’s academic achievement, including lower reading levels, lower test performance, and IQ scores. […]
The Illinois school districts with the highest poverty rates receive 27% less in funding per student than districts with the lowest poverty rates. […]
One study estimates that reducing the average blood lead level in preschool children by one microgram would result in nearly 2,500 fewer robberies, almost 54,000 fewer aggravated assaults, over 4,100 fewer rapes, and over 700 fewer murders nationwide per year.
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It’s just a bill
Wednesday, Mar 15, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* But it’s long overdue…
Taxpayers bear the cost of hidden interest on Illinois’ enormous bill backlog with no real clarity about how deeply in debt the state is, how much interest is accruing on overdue bills and how long it will take to pay off the penalties.
Senator Andy Manar, a Bunker Hill Democrat, and Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza hope to change all of that with Senate Bill 1652, the Debt Transparency Act. The measure requires more accountability from state agencies regarding Illinois’ bill backlog, which today is more than $12.4 billion.
An estimated $4.9 billion worth of overdue bills is being held by agencies because of lack of appropriation or processing delays, and the comptroller’s office projects that Illinois will owe at least $700 million in interest and penalties on those overdue bills by the end of the current fiscal year.
“That’s $700 million of taxpayer money we are just throwing away – it’s not helping kids get day care or go to college. It’s not helping seniors get meals on wheels or keep their home health care,” Mendoza said. “Just think how many state employees could get timely health care if we had $700 million to pay our past-due medical bills. Think how many more Illinois students could get MAP grants to attend college with that money.”
But without accurate reporting on what the state owes, it’s impossible for the comptroller to precisely report interest charges. The Debt Transparency Act would require state agencies to report monthly to the comptroller the bills they are holding and estimate the amount of interest that will be paid on those bills.
The bill is here.
* AP…
State lawmakers are attempting to revive an effort that failed last year to bring automatic voter registration to Illinois.
Democratic Sen. Andy Manar of Bunker Hill plans to hold a news conference Wednesday on a proposal that would allow residents to automatically register to vote when they visit certain agencies. Lawmakers OK’d a similar measure last year but Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner vetoed it over concerns it lacked necessary safeguards.
The latest iteration of the plan requires residents to confirm their eligibility before their information is passed along to election authorities. Its predecessor would have sent applications regardless.
* For decades, the threshold was $150. It was raised to $300 about six years ago…
Officials representing retailers, sheriffs and municipalities Tuesday said they are opposed to raising the threshold value of a stolen item from the current $300 to $2,000 for shoplifting to be considered a felony in Illinois.
The higher dollar amount for a felony charge was among recommendations in a report issued in December by the Commission on Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform, which was named by Gov. Bruce Rauner in early 2015. The goal of the commission was to recommend changes in state law that could reduce the prison population by 25 percent by 2025.
Rob Karr, president and CEO of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, said at a Statehouse news conference that his group has backed legislation to avoid first-time nonviolent offenders from doing prison time. But he also said that the National Association for Shoplifting Prevention has found that retail thieves are caught “once out of 48 times they steal,” so they are “not someone typically just walking in and acting for the first time.”
He also said 80 percent or more of shoplifters detained in stores have money on them, showing that in those cases, they are “hardly stealing for need.” And he said the average retail thief in jail has several prior arrests.
* The Illinois Association of the Deaf’s crusade (background here) against the Illinois Deaf and Hard of Hearing Commission continues…
Illinois Senate committee members gave unanimous approval Tuesday to a bill designed to make the Illinois Deaf and Hard of Hearing Commission more accountable, professional and active in improving the lives of deaf people. […]
“This legislation will allow us to better position IDHHC for success,” Jason Altmann, 37, legislative chairman of the Illinois Association of the Deaf, said after the vote. […]
The bill would require that people appointed by the governor to the Springfield-based commission’s board be confirmed by the Senate. The bill also explicitly requires the commission to “advocate” for the deaf and provide a range of services. […]
The legislation would require the commission’s director to have earned at least a bachelor’s degree — something [IDHHC Director John Miller] lacks — but that requirement would apply only to future directors.
* Press release…
Senator Daniel Biss’ groundbreaking measure to protect Illinois college students from crushing education debt advanced out of a Senate committee on Wednesday.
Senate Bill 1351 establishes the Student Loan Bill of Rights in Illinois to provide as much protection as possible for student borrowers, a population that frequently is targeted by bad actors in the student loan industry.
“At a time when a quarter of student loan borrowers are behind in their payments, we need to make sure borrowers understand their rights and have access to resources that will prevent them from defaulting on their loans,” Biss said. “I am pleased to work with Attorney General Lisa Madigan on behalf of student borrowers, and I encourage each of my colleagues to support this measure.”
The Student Loan Bill of Rights would help to ensure students and their families receive clear information about the money they borrow for higher education and how their student loans are serviced. Among the protections offered in the legislation:
· Requires student loan services to provide specialized employees to assist borrowers with questions about loan payments, explain repayment options and evaluate a borrower’s financial situation to determine which payment plan is appropriate.
· Requires loan servicers to give borrowers accurate information on billing statements and properly process borrowers’ payments, and bars servicers from charging unreasonable fees.
· Requires loan servicers to tell borrowers when and how their federal loans may be discharged due to a borrower’s disability or a problem with the school the borrower attended.
· Requires loan servicers to provide information so cosigners know the conditions of being released from their obligations.
· Requires servicers to follow procedures when a loan is transferred to a new servicer to ensure continuity and ensure borrowers’ payments are properly handled.
· Ensures borrowers have the right to request information and file account disputes with their servicer and appeal any servicer determination.
· Creates a student loan ombudsman in the office of the attorney general to assist borrowers with student loans.
· Establishes a student loan servicing license with the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation to qualify, oversee and discipline services for violating the Student Loan Bill of Rights.
* Related…
* State rep seeks $25M anti-terrorism grant for Jewish groups: Illinois House Deputy Majority Leader Lou Lang introduced the legislation Monday. It would fund a grant program in the secretary of state’s office for “emergency” upgrades to prevent or respond to “acts of terrorism.”
* Kadner: Parents and older teens boozing it up together in Illinois?: Wheeler’s measure, House Bill 494, is stuck in committee and she admits it’s not likely to get out, at least not this session of the Illinois General Assembly.
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Birth certificate bill clears committee
Wednesday, Mar 15, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From the ACLU…
House Bill 1785, sponsored by Representative Greg Harris, this morning cleared the House Human Services Committee by a vote of 7 to 4. The bill would update and modernize a more than half-century old rule by eliminating an antiquated surgical requirement that prevents countless transgender and intersex Illinoisans from changing the gender marker on their birth certificate to match their gender and the gender marker on their other state and federal identification documents. The bill now goes to the full House for a vote.
The following can be attributed to John Knight, Director of the ACLU of Illinois’ LGBT and HIV Project:
The Committee today took an important step to protect people in Illinois who are transgender or intersex. No one should face the dilemma of being denied a birth certificate that conforms with their gender simply because they are unable – or cannot afford – to undergo surgery that the medical community agrees is not necessary for everyone who transitions.
Illinois should join the federal government, thirteen other states, and the District of Columbia in allowing people to change the gender marker on their birth certificate without surgery. People who are transgender and intersex should make their own medical decisions with the guidance of medical health professionals—not politicians. We thank Representative Greg Harris for his leadership, and we hope the House acts quickly to pass this bill and send it to the Senate.
The legislation is here.
* From the Illinois Family Institute’s David E. Smith…
This morning, the Illinois House Human Services Committee held a hearing on a highly controversial proposal that would legalize fraud through the alteration of birth certificates by gender-dysphoric persons who wish to have the government reinforce their deceit.
The bill passed on a party line vote, 7 Democrats voted yea, while 5 Republicans voted no.
State Representative Greg Harris (D-Chicago), who represents Chicago’s gay community known as Boys Town, is one of three openly homosexual members of the Illinois General Assembly and an LGBT activist, is once again pushing this deceit, as he did last session.
HB 1785 would amend the Vital Records Act to allow transgender Illinoisans to easily change their gender and name on their birth certificate. According to HB 1785, all that would be needed is for a licensed health care worker or mental health professional to issue a declaration that the gender dysphoric person has undergone “gender transition treatment,” which doesn’t necessarily include surgery.
Take ACTION: Click HERE to send an email message to your state representative to ask him/her to reject HB 1785 and uphold birth certificates as legal documents. The state of Illinois has no duty or right to make it easier for men and women who wish they were the opposite sex to falsify their birth certificates. Ask your lawmaker to vote NO to the Birth Certificate Designation Act, HB 1785.
I just don’t understand how people can get so worked up about a relatively small bill like this. I mean, how, exactly, does it hurt you if somebody else changes their own birth certificate?
But, as Rep. Kelly Cassidy said at a press conference today, “There’s a lengthy pattern of punching down, if you will, looking for people who you perceive to be beneath you and aiming your attacks there.” She called transgender folks the “target du jour.”
And as Rep. Greg Harris said today at the same press conference, in a high-security era where all your various documents need to match up and your documents need to match your appearance at, say, airport security checkpoints, the bill is actually needed.
* Related…
* End “panic defense” for attacks on gays in Illinois: Defendants in very recent trials have invoked panic defenses, including a 2011 California case involving the shooting death of a 15-year-old boy by a male classmate. Defense attorneys argued that the victim, Larry King, provoked his death because he asked his killer to be his Valentine. The jury was hung.
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SEIU loses JCAR OT fight
Wednesday, Mar 15, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Illinois Public Radio’s Tom Lisi…
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s new rules restricting overtime pay for home health aids passed a major test Tuesday. Starting August 1, caretakers will be limited to a 45-hour work-week. If people require more care, they’ll have to find an additional worker.
Some families affected by the rule showed up at a hearing to demonstrate their objections. K.L. Cleeton, 28, lives in Effingham with his parents. He says he made the choice with his parents that they would quit their day jobs and devote themselves to his full-time care.
“Because my disability is so severe, I require 24-hour assistance. If I have an itch, I can’t scratch it. So this is very much my choice,” Cleeton said.
When the new rules kick in, his parents will be limited to 45 hours of on-the-clock work in taking care of him. After that, they’ll have to find an outside worker to fill in the gaps — and figure out to how to replace the lost income.
* Finke…
The overtime rule has become an issue between Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration and SEIU Healthcare Illinois, which represents the home care workers. The union issued a statement Tuesday saying that any savings the administration expects from the new rule would be wiped out if 182 people now receiving home care assistance are forced instead into nursing homes. The administration thinks placing limits on overtime will save $8 million.
“That’s not the main purpose of the rule,” Flather said. “The main thrust of this rule is customer security.”
Democrats twice tried to pass motions that would have prevented the rule from being put into effect. Both times the motion failed on tie votes of 6-6.
Flather said the agency will send communications to clients in the next week or two that will tell then what to expect.
* Press release…
In a vote along party lines, republican members of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) voted to approve Governor Bruce Rauner’s DHS Overtime Policy. Over the last year, people with disabilities, their caregivers, and advocates have warned about the devastating affects this misguided policy would have on the lives of consumers and workers in the DHS Home Services Program (HSP). Despite the outcry from stakeholders, Bruce Rauner and DHS refused to meet with those impacted and instead stayed the course to implement their rules.
Following is statement on behalf of Access Living, the Illinois Network of Centers for Independent Living, and SEIU Healthcare Illinois in response to the JCAR vote:
“Today, thousands of people with disabilities and personal assistants in the DHS Home Services Program were abandoned by republican JCAR members. Hundreds of phone calls, emails, and personal letters were submitted to JCAR prior to their vote highlighting the problems with this policy. Instead of heeding the warnings, republican JCAR members voted to undermine the strength of the Home Services Program and the independence of people with disabilities.
“No one won today with this unfortunate vote – not people with disabilities, not personal assistants, and certainly not Illinois taxpayers. The minor cost-savings projected from this misguided policy will be completely negated if only 182 individuals with disabilities are forced into more costly nursing home care as a result, stripping them of their dignity and independence and leaving Illinois taxpayers to foot the bill.
“Our coalition vows to continue the fight against this terrible policy and our commitment to reaching a fair agreement that will protect the health and safety of people with disabilities remains.”
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Simon poll: Rauner disapproval at 58, Madigan 61
Wednesday, Mar 15, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
Nearly two years into Illinois’ historic budget impasse, a majority of Illinois residents disapprove of the jobs being done by Republican Governor Bruce Rauner and Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan, according to a new poll by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. The poll asked whether respondents approved or disapproved of the job being done by the Governor and the four legislative leaders.
The Simon Poll was conducted Saturday, March 4th to Saturday, March 11th. The sample included 1,000 registered voters and a margin for error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. Sixty percent of the interviews were conducted on cell phones.
Both political leaders are underwater with voters statewide. Roughly six in ten disapprove of the job being done by both Madigan (61 percent) and Rauner (58 percent). Last October’s Simon Poll showed Madigan’s disapproval rating at 63 percent and Rauner’s at 55 percent.
“Clearly, both political leaders are taking a beating with voters as the Statehouse stalemate nears the two-year mark, and the gap between the two is shrinking,” said Jak Tichenor, interim director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute. “It’s not good news at all for either man, both of whose political fortunes are at risk heading into next year’s elections.” Rauner is seeking his second term in 2018 and Madigan will defend his 67-seat Democratic majority in the 118-member House after losing a net four seats last November.
“We have tested Gov. Rauner’s job approval four times since he took office, and two findings jump out at us,” said Charlie Leonard, a former visiting professor at the Institute, and one of the designers of the poll. “First is that the governor’s approval rating, since Spring of 2015, right after he assumed office, has remained relatively steady in the high 30s to low 40s, though at 36 percent it’s the lowest we have seen. Second is that his disapproval rating has grown consistently, from 31 disapproving in March 2015 to 58 percent today—almost doubling.
Statewide, Rauner’s results show 36 percent somewhat approve or strongly approve of his performance, while 58 percent somewhat disapprove or strongly disapprove. That compares with a 40 percent approval rating and 55-percent disapproval rating last October.
Rauner fares worst with voters in the City of Chicago, where 64 percent disapprove of his performance while 31 percent approve. Rauner edges closer to positive territory in downstate Illinois, where 38 percent approve of the job he’s doing compared to 56 percent who disapprove. In the suburbs of Cook and the collar counties, he remains in negative territory with 58 percent disapproving and 37 approving.
Speaker Madigan’s disapproval ratings also remain in negative territory with 61 percent somewhat disapproving or strongly disapproving and 26 percent somewhat approving or strongly approving. Madigan scored 63 percent disapproving overall last year with 26 percent approving.
Madigan’s best job approval ratings came in the City of Chicago, where 28 percent approve and 60 percent disapprove. His suburban Cook and collar counties job approval ratings are 27 percent approve to 60 percent disapprove. Downstate voters were least generous in their assessment of Madigan’s tenure with 64 percent disapproving and 23 percent approving.
Voters do not appear to have picked heavy favorites or shown a strong dislike for the remaining three legislative leaders. In the case of Senate President John Cullerton, 39 percent somewhat disapprove or strongly disapprove of his performance while 25 percent approve and 32 percent are not sure. Last fall, 41 percent disapproved, 26 percent approved, and 29 percent weren’t sure.
Voters were also less conclusive about the job performances of Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno and House Republican Leader Jim Durkin. Leader Radogno’s job approval stands at 27 percent statewide, compared with a disapproval rating of 26 percent. An overwhelming 45 percent were not sure. In the case of Leader Durkin, 31 percent approved, 36 percent disapproved, and 29 percent were unsure. [Emphasis added.]
So, more Chicagoans approve of Rauner’s job performance than Madigan’s.
Let that sink in a bit.
* Either way, both of these guys are hugely unpopular. The toplines (click here) show that just 11 percent strongly approve of Gov. Rauner’s performance, while just 5 percent strongly approve of Madigan’s. Another 39 percent strongly disapprove of Rauner’s performance. Madigan’s strong disapprove number is 44 percent.
* Click here for the crosstabs. Only 27 percent of Republicans strongly approve of Rauner’s job performance (63 percent overall). But just 9 percent of Democrats strongly approve of Madigan’s performance (only 40 percent overall approve).
On the other hand, 14 percent of Republicans strongly disapprove of Rauner’s job performance and 31 percent overall disapprove, which is pretty high. But 27 percent of Democrats strongly disapprove of Madigan’s job performance while 47 percent overall disapprove, so he’s underwater with his own party.
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Support House Bill 40
Wednesday, Mar 15, 2017 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
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Caption contest!
Wednesday, Mar 15, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Tribune’s photo of JB Pritzker is, um, quite something…
Let’s welcome him to the race, shall we?
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* I told subscribers about this earlier today…
* The linked press release…
Senators Michael Connelly (R-Naperville) and Jil Tracy (R-Quincy) today announced they were filing a compromise statewide pension reform plan, which is modeled after a proposal agreed to on a bipartisan basis last summer. With Democrats refusing to meet Republican requests for property tax relief, jobs legislation and spending reductions, some have called on the legislature to try to move smaller agreements on other important state issues. Pension reform would be the ideal starting place, combining the Senate President’s own language for statewide pension reform along with the exact same language Democrats supported last year that provides Chicago Public Schools with a one-year pickup of its pension normal costs.
“The so-called ‘Grand Bargain’ is in a holding pattern while we wait for Democrats to agree to freeze property taxes, make Illinois more competitive and cut spending to balance the budget,” said Sen. Connelly. “But that shouldn’t prevent us from moving forward on areas where we agree, including pension reform. Republicans want pension reform that helps the whole state save money while the mayor of Chicago is asking for pension assistance to solve his own pension crisis. We have bills already filed and supported by Senate Democrats that we can move right now to solve both issues. We should honor the agreement reached last summer, and hopefully moving a pension deal now will spark momentum toward a larger budget deal as well.”
The Connelly-Tracy pension package consists of two bills: One which includes the consideration model portions of SB16, and one which includes the Tier 3 and budgetary items of SB16 along with the text of SB 2822 from the previous General Assembly (that bill provided $215 million for Chicago Public Schools pensions in Fiscal Year 2017).
As part of the stopgap passed last June, Governor Rauner and the four legislative leaders agreed the state would pay for one year of CPS’s teacher pensions as long as lawmakers passed statewide pension reform. President Cullerton broke that agreement in November, which led to Governor Rauner vetoing the bill that would have contributed $215 million from the state to CPS to pay its pensions. Now, however, President Cullerton has filed a statewide pension bill (SB 16) which could easily be paired with the previously vetoed legislation.
* The Tribune editorialized in favor of this concept the other day…
Is it possible to combine pension reform with CPS funding and get a bill on Rauner’s desk? Voting on this duo separate from, or instead of, the overall compromise is a risk. Take out the pension bill from the package of 12 bills and that broader effort could stumble even more.
But if the grand compromise is faltering, can something good come of it?
Don’t give up, senators. Keep talking. The condition of the state continues to worsen at an alarming rate. There is no time for grudges.
* Doug Finke…
“We can’t sit around and wait for a compilation of 15 or 16 bills to magically appear,” Connelly said. “This was agreed to last summer. In large measure, we are taking what was agreed to back then and bringing it forward.” […]
Tracy said the bills should not be taken as an indication that the “grand bargain” is dead.
Cullerton spokesman John Patterson said the components of Tracy and Connelly’s bills are contained in the pension reform legislation that’s part of the grand bargain. He said the focus is still on passing the bargain, not separating out the component issues.
“Right now we’ve left the proposals together because we remain interested in a comprehensive plan to solve the state’s problems,” he said.
Seems like Connelly and Tracy don’t totally agree about the grand bargain’s chances.
Either way, what do you think of separating this from the grand bargain and running it as a stand-alone?
*** UPDATE *** Press release…
Illinois Secretary of Education Beth Purvis today called on Chicago Public Schools (CPS) to support legislation being filed by Senators Michael Connelly and Jil Tracy, which would enact statewide pension reform while providing CPS with $215 million for its pension payment.
“At a time when cost-effective, logical solutions are scarce, it is imperative that our state’s leaders support any measures that can fill budget gaps and move the state forward in funding our schools,” Secretary Purvis said. “The Connelly-Tracy pension package offers a solution to achieving comprehensive statewide pension reform, and provides $215 million in funding for CPS. CEO Claypool, Mayor Emanuel and education leaders across the state should join together to support this bill as a way to provide statewide pension reform and support the children and teachers of Chicago.”
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Another cost of the impasse
Wednesday, Mar 15, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* When not paying vendors costs the state more money…
That makes plenty of sense. Stiff your plumber and he won’t come back. Stiff another plumber and word’s probably gonna get around that you’re a deadbeat. It’ll cost you more to hire the third one, if you can even find someone willing to do the work (and, as pointed out in comments, the willing plumber might not be a good one).
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* As we discussed yesterday, the Well’s Center in Jacksonville is on the verge of shutting down. The center has been providing drug treatment for almost 50 years and the Rauner administration says Comptroller Mendoza is to blame for the crisis because she hasn’t released state money owed to the organization.
Mendoza traveled to Jacksonville yesterday to meet with the center’s director and then spoke to the media. Here’s WCIA TV…
The financial feud between Governor Bruce Rauner and Comptroller Susana Mendoza continues to escalate, with the Comptroller making a grim prediction sure to raise the eyebrows of unpaid state vendors.
“There is going to be a point of like a bubble bursting where social service providers are going to have to close their doors,” she warned. “Not just one or two but hundreds or thousands of them.”
The comptroller drove to Jacksonville on Tuesday, along with an entourage from her office, to blame the governor for the budget crisis. She didn’t deny it was unorthodox for someone in her position to travel the state and hold public media availability events. Instead, she claimed this town-hall style of politics helps her to understand the plight of the unpaid vendors of Illinois. She says she has no plans to stop. […]
“Part of the idea today was to get the [Wells Center] to a point where we could hopefully still be able to provide services here in this area - here in this building - with the same staff,” Mendoza said. Although she clarified, “It may have to be under different management because the Wells Center has already made a decision that, I think, this was an inevitable conclusion of what the last two years has meant to them.”
The “last two years” reference was a not-so-subtle jab at Governor Rauner’s administration, during which time the state’s backlog of bills has ballooned to a historic $12.3 billion. Ms. Mendoza denied party politics fuels their rivalry, instead blaming Mr. Rauner personally.
“It’s his personality and his desire to hold onto his pet projects at all costs… At the cost of the [Wells Center] that has been a part of Illinois families for over 50 years.”
For a Downstate TV station, it’s actually a pretty darned good story, so go read the whole thing.
* The governor’s office released its own statement…
Comptroller Mendoza has half a billion dollars at her office to pay the Wells Center and avoid its closing. It’s disappointing that instead of simply doing her job, she used taxpayer resources to travel the state and grandstand in front of the center. The appearance is unseemly at best.
* One thing I didn’t see covered, however, is what the center’s leadership says. So, I called executive director Bruce Carter this morning.
Carter said quite a bit of money owed to him by the state has already been covered by the Vendor Assistance Program - which is basically a cash advance program of 90 percent of what the state owes a provider. Much of the $131,000 that the comptroller paid the center last week, in fact, was already received by the organization via the VAP. Carter said about $342,000 in invoices are still sitting at the comptroller’s office, but much of that may not yet be eligible for the VAP because the invoices may not yet be 3 months old. The governor’s office (this one and most past ones) often sits on vouchers to make the “official” bill backlog look lower than it really is.
* I told Carter that I hated to put him on the spot, but I wondered if he blamed Mendoza for the center’s current crisis.
“No, I don’t blame her,” Carter said. “The comptroller has twelve and a half billion dollars in outstanding bills she’s aware of and half a billion dollars to pay it.”
Carter said he’s hoping any money he can get from the comptroller’s office in the coming days will “allow us to buy enough time to partner with someone else” and keep the center open.
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IDOC says crime bill will save state money
Wednesday, Mar 15, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Press release…
The Illinois Department of Corrections estimates that a measure targeting repeat gun offenders cosponsored by Senator Anthony Munoz (D-Chicago 1st) and Senator Kwame Raoul (D-Chicago 13th) could save the department $62 million over 10 years.
“Many opponents of this legislation speculated that it would drive up costs and increase the prison population due to the recommendation of tougher penalties for repeat gun offenders,” Raoul said. “This estimate from the Department of Corrections shows that, because the recommended increase in sentencing ranges is coupled with other criminal justice reforms, it could actually decrease the population and save money.”
In addition to saving millions of dollars, the Department of Corrections said the reforms could result in a decrease of 1,471 incarcerated offenders over 10 years.
The legislation increases sentencing guidelines for repeat gun offenders while enacting a series of criminal justice reforms aimed at lowering the prison population and addressing the disproportionate sentencing of nonviolent offenders.
Reforms in the legislation include:
· Reduces certain drug possession offenses from Class 1 to Class 2 and 3 felonies based on amount.
· Increases access to educational, vocational and re-entry programming for individuals incarcerated for truth-in-sentencing offenses, allowing eligible individuals to reduce their sentence up to 15 percent.
· Reduces the protected area for drug crimes from 1,000 to 500 feet, removes public housing as a protected area, and requires prosecutors to prove a connection between the crime and the protected area before a felony can be enhanced.
· Expands the eligibility for the Offender Initiative Program, Second Chance Probation and all other drug probation programs
· Reduces the period of mandatory supervised release for certain offenses and allows the Prisoner Review Board to terminate a person’s mandatory supervised release if that person is determined to be low-risk.
SB 1722 advanced out of the Senate Criminal Law committee with a 6-5-0 vote last week and will move to the Senate for consideration.
* Meanwhile, on a semi-related note, this is from Diana Popa at WalletHub…
Hi Rich,
With gun sales declining since President Donald Trump took office, the personal-finance website WalletHub conducted an in-depth analysis of 2017’s States Most Dependent on the Gun Industry.
To determine the states that depend most heavily on the arms and ammunitions industry both directly for jobs and political contributions and indirectly through firearm ownership, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 13 key metrics. The data set ranges from firearms industry jobs per capita to gun sales per 1,000 residents to gun ownership rate.
Illinois’ Dependence on the Gun Industry (1=Most Dependent; 25=Avg.)
38th – Gun Ownership Rate
35th – Firearms-Industry Jobs per Capita
9th – Avg. Firearms-Industry Wages & Benefits
22nd – Total Firearms-Industry Output per Capita
43rd – Total Taxes Paid by Firearms Industry per Capita
3rd – NICS Background Checks per Capita
39th – Gun-Control Contributions to Congressional Members per Capita
42nd – Gun-Rights Contributions to Congressional Members per Capita
The full report is here.
* And this is from DNAInfo Chicago…
A spike in demand by city residents saw the state issue 63 percent more permits to Chicagoans to own a gun in 2016 than in 2015, according to data obtained by DNAinfo from State Police.
In 2016, some 38,712 Chicagoans got a state-issued Firearm Owners Identification card compared to 23,725 in 2015.
About 212,000 people are licensed to own a gun in Chicago, according to State Police.
The number of Chicagoans allowed to own a gun has been on the rise since 2015, when it jumped 21 percent from 2014, according to the State Police.
In addition, there has been a surge in the number of Chicagoans who obtained a permit to carry a concealed gun under a 3-year-old law, jumping 50 percent — from 13,948 in 2015 to 22,517 in 2016, according to State Police data.
* Related…
* Dart aide to testify for a law to withhold bond in gun cases: Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart is proposing a law making it clear that prosecutors can ask judges to deny bond for a range of gun cases — including possession by a felon, aggravated discharge of a weapon, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, being an armed habitual offender and gun possession by a gang member.
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Don’t Let Big Soda Sugarcoat the Facts
Wednesday, Mar 15, 2017 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Big Soda companies and their lobbyists want you to believe that a tax on sugary drinks would bring our economy crumbling to the ground. That assertion is extremely misleading, just like their downplaying of sugar’s negative impact on public health over the years.
Sugary drinks are the number one source of added sugar in the American diet and have been directly linked to heart disease and diabetes. In recent polling, 56% of voters said they support this choice tax as one way to balance the budget.
Despite Big Soda’s message, the tax will NOT include a number of everyday products. There are plenty of non-taxed, healthier items that people can still choose:
· Diet and low-cal drinks
· 100% fruit or vegetable juice
· Milk
· Infant formula
· Unsweetened, coffees, and sparkling waters
In short, a sugary drink tax is:
· Overwhelmingly supported by voters
· A choice tax that lets people opt out
· A benefit to Illinois’ public health
Don’t let Big Soda companies sugarcoat the facts: taxing sugary drinks is good for Illinois. The American Heart Association supports a sugary drink tax to balance the Illinois budget.
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*** LIVE *** Session coverage
Wednesday, Mar 15, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Today’s post is sponsored by the American Heart Association of Illinois. Follow everything in real time right here with ScribbleLive…
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Lipinski may face primary foe
Tuesday, Mar 14, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Conservative Southwest Side Congressman Dan Lipinski may be getting a Democratic primary challenger. Here’s Greg Hinz…
The challenge comes from Marie Newman, a La Grange marketing consultant who tells me she has decided to form a 3rd District exploratory committee, the last formal step before actually announcing, something Newman says she is very likely to do this spring. […]
She’s also working with some more conventional, connected folks, including consultant Tom Bowen, whose clients have included Mayor Rahm Emanuel and U.S. Reps. Bill Foster and Mike Quigley; former Barack Obama and David Axelrod associate John Kupper; and Jill Normington, the pollster to U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill. […]
“People need to have someone who represents their values,” says Newman, noting that Lipinski was the only Democratic congressman from Illinois to vote against the Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as Obamacare. “It’s clear they feel Mr. Lipinski is out of touch.”
Lipinski also has voted against family planning, women’s health care and reproductive rights, she says, “ignores” small business, and routinely accepts campaign donations from PACs and lobbyists. […]
Lipinski, in an interview, waved off the challenge, saying he’s focused on things such as “jobs for the middle class. That was the message of the past election.” While he did vote against Obamacare, he now wants to “fix, not repeal it.”
He has a very famous name, and that still counts for a lot in politics. He’s also been strongly backed by organized labor in the past, so that’ll help him as well.
But it goes without saying that his socially conservative voting record could work against him in a Democratic primary if Newman can raise real money and puts together a decent campaign. According to one analysis, he has the third most conservative record of any Democrat in Congress.
And while several Democratic blue-collar districts in the country went for Donald Trump last November, Hillary Clinton won Lipinksi’s district by 16 points. So the 3rd CD may not be as hardcore blue collar as some assume. Pat Quinn, however, won it by just a point in 2014.
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* Press release…
Please see statement below from J.B. Pritzker regarding today’s filing of a D-1 with the State Board of Elections establishing the “JB for Governor Exploratory Committee”:
“As I’ve traveled across Illinois I’ve listened to people express their deep concerns about the direction of our state. It is clear that having a Governor who’s unwilling to address our state’s challenges is having a real impact on people’s lives. Today, I will take the next step in this process by filing an exploratory committee. I look forward to continuing my conversations with people across Illinois who are currently being forced to pay the price of failed leadership from Governor Rauner.”
Pritzker will also contribute $200,000 to cover day to day operations associated with the exploratory committee.
Lee Rosenberg will serve as Chair and Treasurer. He currently serves as Chief of Staff to JB Pritzker at The Pritzker Group.
Megan Brengarth will provide compliance and serve as custodian of records for the committee.
Megan Brengarth appears to have extensive experience with handling campaign finance compliance.
Chris Kennedy has not yet reported any contributions, despite announcing his own bid a month ago. Ameya Pawar, who just sent out a press release demanding that Gov. Rauner denounce Iowa Congressman Steve King’s racists statements, has reported raising $31,010.15 since January 30th. Bob Daiber has reported raising $28K in the past month, including $20K from himself.
* People have been asking me for a while now if I thought Pritzker was serious about running. Barring any oppo issues, I believe he is. But it is a very long time to the December filing deadline. Lots can happen.
*** UPDATE *** The predictable ILGOP press release…
A Member of Mike Madigan’s Inner Circle Announces Exploratory Committee
J.B. Pritzker - Longtime Madigan Insider
Today, longtime Madigan insider J.B. Pritzker formed an exploratory committee for a run for Governor. The Illinois Republican Party issued the following response:
“Political insider J.B. Pritzker is a longtime member of Mike Madigan’s inner circle, having funneled over a million dollars to Madigan in the last year alone to help Madigan stop reforms. Pritzker was also one of Rod Blagojevich’s closest associates. He worked behind the scenes to bankroll his campaigns and was at the center of Blagojevich’s criminal scheme to sell Illinois’ Senate seat.”
“J.B. Pritzker is a tainted political insider who would only make Mike Madigan and the Chicago Political Machine stronger.” – Illinois Republican Party Spokesman Steven Yaffe
He was at “the center” of RRB’s criminal schemes? That’s a bit much even for them. Click here for their “evidence.”
*** UPDATE *** Pritzker campaign…
“This is just the same old tired playbook from a political party whose Governor isn’t getting the job done.”
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Question of the day
Tuesday, Mar 14, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune…
Illinois State coach Dan Muller may be taking the tack that if you can’t beat ‘em, troll ‘em.
The NCAA tournament selection committee snubbed the Redbirds from the field of 68 despite a 27-6 record, which signals the committee didn’t put much stock in the quality of their “quality wins,” a key factor in breaking ties between candidates.
Muller lamented Sunday that you can’t beat more “quality” teams if they refuse to schedule you, so he took to Twitter on Monday to appeal to the Power 5 conference schools to consider scheduling the Redbirds next season and also take a subtle dig at the selection process.
“ACC BIG 10 BIG 12 SEC PAC 12 BIG EAST. It’s me again. Looking 4 home & home next year. Pls call me 4 chance 4 QUALITY road win, top 33 RPI,” he tweeted with an emoji version of himself impatiently tapping its foot next to the words, “I’m waiting.”
A good friend of mine is an ISU graduate and a college basketball nut and, whoa, is she ever upset by that NCAA snub.
* The Question: Your thoughts on this year’s tournament?
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* Press release…
Speaker Michael J. Madigan has directed state Rep. Greg Harris, chair of the House Appropriations-Human Services Committee, to hold a hearing Thursday to determine how Medicaid cuts being pushed by the Trump Administration and congressional Republicans will affect children, families and other vulnerable residents in Illinois.
“Medicaid is one of the most significant segments of our state budget, and plays a critical role in the health and wellbeing of over 2 million children and families statewide,” Madigan said. “With so much at stake for our state and our families, it’s important for legislators and the governor to understand the real cost of the cuts being proposed by President Trump and congressional Republicans.”
Madigan and Harris have scheduled a hearing of the Appropriations-Human Services Committee on Thursday, March 16 at 8 a.m. in Room 114 of the Capitol. Representatives from the Illinois Hospital Association and Illinois’ safety net hospitals, as well as Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services Director Felicia Norwood will brief members about the proposed changes and their impact.
Changes to federal Medicaid funding could have a dramatic effect on the state budget, and to Illinois families. An estimated 1 in 4 Illinois families would be impacted by the plan backed by Trump and congressional Republicans to alter the Medicaid system by providing states with a set lump sum payment. These proposed changes could cause significant reductions to federal funding, which would force Illinois to cut critical care for struggling families and persons with disabilities, or put taxpayers on the hook for significantly higher payments in order to continue services.
Committee members will consider not only the immediate impact, but how these cuts, coupled with rising health care costs, could force deeper cuts for many years.
“The Trump administration is moving quickly to make sweeping changes that will have a deep effect on our state, our communities and our families for years to come,” Harris said. “These proposals need to be thoroughly evaluated, so lawmakers can understand how they will affect Illinois, and determine the best course of action for Illinois families.”
Gov. Rauner hasn’t commented on the US House proposal since the CBO scoring came out yesterday. He has tweeted about his new Instagram account, however.
* Related…
* Health Bill Would Add 24 Million Uninsured but Save $337 Billion, Report Says: The report foresees huge changes in Medicaid. By 2026, it said, federal Medicaid spending would be 25 percent lower under the House bill than is projected under current law, and the number of Medicaid beneficiaries would be 17 percent lower, with 14 million fewer people covered by Medicaid.
* Critics of GOP health bill get ammunition from budget score: The CBO report also undercuts a central argument that Trump and other Republicans have cited for swiftly rolling back Obama’s health care overhaul: that the health insurance markets created under the 2010 law are unstable and about to implode. The congressional experts said that largely would not be the case and the market for individual health insurance policies “would probably be stable in most areas either under current law or the (GOP) legislation.”
* No Magic in How G.O.P. Plan Lowers Premiums: It Pushes Out Older People: But the change in tax credits matters more. The combined difference in how much extra the older customer would have to pay for health insurance is enormous. The C.B.O. estimates that the price an average 64-year-old earning $26,500 would need to pay after using a subsidy would increase from $1,700 under Obamacare to $14,600 under the Republican plan.
* The GOP’s Obamacare replacement is a disaster for some of its most loyal voters: Among the counties where Trump won his biggest victories, nearly all would face deep cuts in tax credits under the Republican plan to replace Obamacare. And, in the parts of the country that would lose the most in tax credits, a majority of voters were Trump supporters… Now, take a look at the places with the highest support for Hillary Clinton in the last election. In these liberal enclaves, where Clinton won over 80 percent of the vote, many people would actually benefit from the new GOP plan. That’s because health care tends to be less expensive in urban areas, and the GOP’s tax credit would give residents in these low-cost areas more money.
* Shimkus: Men paying for prenatal care coverage like buying a cabin ‘you’re never going to use’: He compared forcing men to have a policy that includes female contraceptive and prenatal coverage to paying for a prime piece of real estate that one could never actually visit. “Why would you buy a cabin in Montana that you’re never going to use?” said Shimkus, whose expansive district covers much of Southern Illinois.
* Roskam backed Ryan health bill in committee, but now open to changes: “I want to learn more about the Medicaid piece, particularly in Illinois,” Roskam said. Asked twice later if that means he’s open to changes in the Medicaid provisions, Roskam replied “yes”… Roskam appeared less willing to make changes in response to another damaging finding in the CBO report: older Americans, particularly those over age 50 with relatively modest incomes, would be big losers under the Ryan plan.
* The GOP’s Obamacare replacement includes many Republican governors’ biggest fear — and it could doom the bill: Kasich’s main gripe with the AHCA: a radical rollback of Medicaid, the government-run health program that provides insurance primarily to pregnant women, single mothers, people with disabilities, and seniors with low incomes.
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Oberweis makes horrible analogy
Tuesday, Mar 14, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From the Windy City Times…
In a March 8 hearing on the Illinois Fighting Wage Theft Act in the Illinois State Senate Labor Committee, State Sen. Jim Oberweis ( R-Sugar Grove ) implied that both “wife beating” and wage theft were ultimately results of “differences of opinion.”
After hearing details of the bill, Oberweis asked a witness, workers’ rights advocate Don Chartier, whether he’d ever beaten his wife or any other woman, to which Chartier answered, “No.”
Oberweis then asked Chartier if he’d ever had a disagreement with a woman, to which Chartier answered, “Yes.” At that point, Oberweis made the point that both wife-beating and wage-theft accusations boiled down to differences of opinion and “he said, she said” scenarios.
In a statement released by HourVoice, an organization pushing for the passage of the wage theft law, Chartier said, “I was absolutely shocked to hear the crime of wage theft and the crime of domestic violence both compared to ‘differences of opinion’ and minimized by Senator Oberweis, particularly in a State Senate hearing on International Women’s Day. His comments have certainly strengthened my resolve to work hard to fight both of these crimes.”
The Illinois Fighting Wage Theft Act was passed by the committee.
* Edited audio…
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* Matt Hopf at the Quincy Herald-Whig…
Calling Illinois the transportation hub of America, Gov. Bruce Rauner said the state has underinvested in its infrastructure.
“It has also not expanded to keep up with the rest of the economic growth across America,” he said. “We need to do a big infrastructure bill. I’m going to be pushing to get a balanced budget and do a major infrastructure investment program, so we can be investing in the rail system, the roads and the locks and dams here in Western Illinois, but all across the state.” […]
While not citing specifics on how to pay for a statewide capital plan, Rauner said he could go along with some new revenue and tax options being proposed by legislators.
“There’s been many things that have been put on the table, and I’m flexible,” Rauner said. “We’ll work that out. We need to pay for it, and we can. We’ll find the money if we have a balanced budget, and if we have more job creation.”
He’s been promising a big infrastructure plan since the 2014 campaign, but has yet to propose a thing.
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*** LIVE *** Session coverage
Tuesday, Mar 14, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Today’s post is sponsored by the American Heart Association of Illinois. Follow everything in real time right here with ScribbleLive…
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* ABC 7…
The U.S. attorney in Chicago on Monday wrote two letters. First, Zachary Fardon penned a resignation letter. Then on the way out the door he handed out a five-page public letter that amounts to a roadmap of what’s wrong in Chicago and how to fix it.
In the “open letter,” that focuses on Chicago’s unrelenting street violence and seemingly out-of-control murders, Fardon states that “this is not war” and he discourages the call to use National Guard troopers in the city. He is calling for more law enforcement officers.
“We need to flood those neighborhoods with local and federal law enforcement officers” wrote Fardon. “Not just to arrest the bad guys but also to be standing on that corner where shots otherwise might get fired, to be breaking up those corner loiterers, and to be meeting and learning and knowing the kids, the people, and the truth of who are the good guys, who are the bad guys, and who isn’t yet formed and can be swayed.”
The full letter is here. You should read it all.
* Let’s take a quick look…
The long term is that Chicago has an entrenched gang problem in a limited number of neighborhoods on the south and west sides. For decades, those neighborhoods have been neglected. The reasons for that historic run of neglect are rooted in ugly truths about power, politics, race and racism that are a tragic part of our local and national history and heritage. And as a consequence of those ugly truths, and the neglect they brought, these neighborhoods stand wrought with poverty and inadequate schools, businesses, jobs and infrastructure. For many growing up in these neighborhoods, there is a sense of hopelessness, a belief cemented early in life that they’re not good enough for higher education and that they’ll never get good jobs. Gangs and guns are ubiquitous, and gangs fill the void created by that hopelessness; they teach kids crime and violence, and give kids protection, money, and a sense of belonging. That’s the long term reality, and long term challenge.
The short view is the surge in violence since January 2016. That surge started immediately on the heels of those 4 successive events I mentioned in late 2015: the release of the Laquan McDonald video; the initiation of the DOJ pattern and practice investigation; the firing of CPD’s Superintendent; and the beginning of that ACLU contract. Those things exploded a powder keg that didn’t change fundamentally the landscape of gun violence or law enforcement, but they poured gasoline on the tragic aspects of those realities and further polarized our officers and our community.
* Fardon said there should be more federal agents in the city, including from the FBI, DEA and ATF…
Each is noble, talented and passionate about fighting crime. But here’s a hard truth: federal law enforcement can yield an improved impact on gun violence in this city by either folding those key federal agencies together into one agency, or as an alternative, assigning all their agents working on violent crime to one special task force with one mission and one leadership chain. Do that so that DEA isn’t limited to working dope cases, and ATF isn’t thinking only about gun trafficking, and no one is competing for credit on cases.
* No National Guard…
Some people recently have said bring in the National Guard. If you care only about the short view, maybe there’s some attractiveness to that notion. But if you care about the long view – if you don’t want to be talking about “Chiraq” and “two Chicagos” ten and twenty years from now, then it’s an ill-conceived notion. What would a National Guard presence say to folks in those neighborhoods? This is war, and you are the enemy. The Chicago of bike paths and glistening lakefront, and economic opportunity – that’s not your Chicago, it’s ours and we will protect it.
This is not war. Wars are fought between enemies. There is only one enemy here, and it is us, all of us in Chicago. Every single one of us. We are the problem, and we are the solution. If we resort to wrongheaded measures, we might set ourselves back years, even decades in the long term fight.
* Do the consent decree…
You can’t stop our brand of violence without a top-flight police department. And you can’t have a top-flight police department on the cheap. For decades, CPD has been run on the cheap. Officers don’t have the training, the supervision, the equipment, or culture they need and deserve. Our DOJ findings report lays that out.
* Create new “youth pathway centers, in the handful of most afflicted neighborhoods”…
The vast majority of those kids will do the right thing if we help them find and figure out what that right thing looks like. So let’s find those kids, and let’s intervene, in a positive way, in their lives. Let’s engage them, and their parents, teachers, community leaders, and clergy. Let’s deter criminal behavior and incentive lawful behavior.
To do that, we should have a brick and mortar place, in each afflicted neighborhood, that is base, the home, the epicenter to that effort.
* And recognize that violent crime in these areas spreads like a virus…
Biological viruses are transmitted through body fluid or air. The virus of gun play moves through social media. We can stop or stem that. Don’t send in the National Guard, send in the tech geeks. If a gang member makes CPD’s Strategic Subject List, find a way to curb or real- time monitor that gang member’s social media accounts. If kids have convictions or overt gang affiliations, find a way to curb their social media. I recognize that First Amendment issues come into play, but let’s test those limits. Lives are at stake. Enlist parents, teachers and clergy. And work with social media service providers for options to limit access and to create safeguards against social media as the conduit for the gun virus.
And at the same time, launch a positive community-based social media exchange both deterring kids from gangs and enticing them with music, sports, jobs or other outlets.
* Related…
* Chicago police recruits rarely flunk out, raising concerns about training
* ADDED: Group launches effort to employ 10,000 at-risk young Chicagoans
* ADDED: ACLU blasts Fardon for ‘blindsided attack’ on curtailing stop-and-frisk
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Support House Bill 40
Tuesday, Mar 14, 2017 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
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* From the public finance/muni bonds reporter for Debtwire Municipals…
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Another hostage on death’s door
Tuesday, Mar 14, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* SJ-R on Friday…
A 49-year-old drug treatment center that has seen demand for services rise during the nationwide heroin epidemic plans to shut its doors by early April because of payment delays associated with the ongoing state budget crisis.
The Wells Center’s 32 adult inpatient beds and outpatient programs will close the first week of April, and all 33 employees at the Jacksonville site will be laid off, unless the 20-month budget crisis is resolved, executive director Bruce Carter said Friday.
“I’m very frustrated, like many citizens are,” said Carter, 65, who has led the agency for 37 years. “You see real people suffering.” […]
The decision to close, Carter said, was “directly related” to payment delays associated with the state’s lack of a permanent budget since July 2015. […]
Wells Center, serving 500 clients per year with an annual budget of about $4 million, is owed almost $1.4 million for services provided since July 2016, Carter said. The money owed includes funds held up by the lack of a permanent state budget and payments delayed by Medicaid managed-care companies, he said.
* SJ-R on Monday…
Aides to Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner are blaming Democratic Comptroller Susana Mendoza for failing to ease some of the financial stress on a Jacksonville drug-abuse treatment agency caught in the political crossfire of Illinois’ budget crisis. […]
“It’s outrageous that Comptroller Mendoza is currently sitting on” the money “that she has refused to release,” Demertzis said. “We urge the comptroller to release these funds immediately to ensure the Wells Center can continue providing critical services.”
Contacted by The State Journal-Register, aides to Mendoza wouldn’t commit to issuing $345,000 in payments right away to Wells Center but said they would try to help as much as possible.
OK, so the Rauner administration wants the comptroller to release millions of dollars for a computer system upgrade and dismisses the comptroller’s complaints that doing so would hurt social service groups, but the Rauner administration also complains that the comptroller isn’t sending money to a drug treatment agency even though the current bill payment backlog is currently $12.4 billion in the red.
There may very well be some games being played here. I can’t say one way or the other. But I do know that the comptroller can’t print money. Just because we have checks in the book doesn’t mean there’s money in the account.
* Also, scroll down…
If a check for $342,000 from the state arrived in the next few days, Wells Center’s board would meet and potentially postpone a closure, he said. But the problem of not knowing when the budget stalemate will be resolved remains, he said.
“What’s the prospects of them passing a budget in the next few weeks?” Carter asked. […]
Also included are payments being processed and evaluated by the Illinois Department of Corrections but not yet sent to the comptroller’s office for payment, he said.
The comptroller can’t process vouchers that haven’t even been submitted.
…Adding… This is, unfortunately, probably the best hot take on this topic I’ve seen…
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Uh-oh
Tuesday, Mar 14, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Illinois’ population in 2014 was 12.88 million, so we’re getting really close to one thousand dollars for every man, woman and child in this state…
We need a budget. Like yesterday.
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* From the BGA…
The Better Government Association has asked a judge to reopen its recently settled email lawsuit against Mayor Rahm Emanuel in a dispute over more than 300 communications that the watchdog group argues may have been improperly withheld by the city when it released the mayor’s personal emails related to public business.
The motion, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, also challenges the city’s selective use of redactions to hide some content in emails it did release.
As part of an agreement with the BGA, the city in December released more than 3,000 pages of emails that showed Emanuel routinely using his personal accounts to conduct city business. The mayor and city did not admit wrongdoing, but the lawsuit had alleged that Emanuel turned to personal email to evade open records law transparency requirements.
In its new legal challenge, the BGA is asking Cook County Judge Sophia Hall to scrutinize the validity of the city’s claim that exemptions in open records law allowed it to withhold or redact many of the mayor’s business related personal emails.
“We made it crystal clear, when we agreed to settle the case in December, that we would be back in court if we felt city lawyers were in violation of open records laws by improperly withholding some emails and redacting the content of others,” said BGA President and CEO Andy Shaw. “We believe the mayor’s lawyers are doing just that, so here we are, back in court, continuing our fight for transparency.” […]
According to the city’s own descriptions, many of those withheld emails involve discussions of so-called “talking points” and “press strategy,” in essence how to manage the administration’s messaging on a variety of subjects. Others involve conversations between Emanuel and people not on the city payroll, in particular Michael Sacks, the wealthy CEO of global investment firm Grosvenor Capital Management, who has emerged as both a sounding board and key political fundraiser for the mayor.
And still others, the BGA asserted in its motion, are described by the city index in such vague terms that it is difficult to assess whether the decision to withhold them could meet any legal test. Examples include emails described only as “discussion of strategy for day ahead.”
The BGA challenge also asks Hall to weigh the validity of the city’s decision to obscure portions of some Emanuel emails it did release. In several of those, the comments of aides to the mayor were made public but his own responses were blacked out and rendered unreadable. […]
In its motion, the BGA questions whether the city has overreached in applying such exemptions to block release of some or all of the withheld emails. “The Mayor’s Office must provide clear and convincing evidence that the withheld records, and the redacted portions of the records that were produced, are exempt,” the BGA motion asserts.
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The rest of the story
Tuesday, Mar 14, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Reuters…
Illinois’ state comptroller has suspended $27 million in payments for a computer technology initiative launched by Republican Governor Bruce Rauner, according to a letter seen by Reuters, opening a new front in an ongoing feud over finances.
The move by Democratic Comptroller Susana Mendoza targets one of the governor’s priorities and comes as Illinois faces a record $12.3 billion backlog of unpaid bills that has more than tripled in the 21 months the state has gone without a full operating budget.
In a letter to the Rauner administration, Mendoza’s office said halting payments, including $21.6 million owed to consultants working on Rauner’s $250 million technology upgrade, is warranted because of uncertainty over how the program will produce long-term savings for the state.
The letter asked why those consulting firms should be paid before services like senior centers, hospice care and universities.
“The comptroller wants assurances that resources are being allocated toward our most critical needs and not toward discretionary initiatives,” Mendoza’s senior policy adviser, Patrick Corcoran, wrote.
* The Rauner administration sent out a response at 5 this morning…
Following a report from Reuters, Illinois Deputy Governor Trey Childress today called on Comptroller Susana Mendoza to continue payments for critical technology upgrades supported by both political parties that facilitates transparency within government, protects sensitive data, and modernizes Illinois technology to a centralized system that will save taxpayer money.
“It is fiscally irresponsible to continue to operate government using our current financial reporting systems in the State of Illinois,” said Deputy Governor Trey Childress. “If Comptroller Mendoza disrupts this process, she will be putting our state, residents and sensitive data at risk by forcing us to function under the current outdated systems and the state will soon be unable to make necessary updates that operate key services.”
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) centralizes Illinois’ financial reporting and human resources functions and is one of the few initiatives in Illinois where both political parties recognize its value and importance. The Quinn and Topinka Administrations launched ERP in Illinois. The State of Illinois currently operates a patchwork of more than 260 individual financial reporting systems, most of which are not connected and are costly to operate. For example, buying something as simple as a paperclip in Illinois takes four different programs, including a manual input between the third and fourth step.
Most private sector organizations and states have already streamlined their financial reporting systems, but Illinois is one of the few states still operating in the technological Stone Age. Seventy percent of the state’s systems operate under an outdated technology platform, with the majority of the programmers reaching or past retirement age. An updated and integrated system will increase transparency, protect sensitive data, and provide more accountability in government.
“Illinois’ current financial systems pose a significant threat to our state and residents,” said Hardik Bhatt, Secretary-designate of the Department of Innovation and Technology. “After two failed attempts to implement ERP in the past 20 years, Illinois is finally making progress in record time. In the past 15 months, we developed the ERP plan, designed a statewide system, and launched it within three agencies, which is an unprecedented timeline compared to other states. We are now on target to implement ERP in 16 additional agencies within the next 10 months, bringing more than 60 percent of the state’s financial data into one system and retiring over 100 older systems.”
As Illinois modernizes and streamlines technology systems, the state’s cyber-security team has been able to identify and fix weaknesses. This has led the state to secure more than 5 billion records of sensitive information. As an integrated and modern platform, ERP will help the state establish state-of-the-art control mechanisms and improve the audit process, which currently does not exist in any of the existing financial reporting systems.
“Continued progress in the ERP program is crucial to allow Illinois to provide important services and improve its ability to provide transparency and required financial reporting requirements,” Deputy Governor Childress added.
* But that’s not the whole story. If you click here and read the comptroller’s original letter to DOIT, she points out that the comptroller’s office has been involved with the ERP program since the Judy Baar Topinka days. However, according to her letter, the governor’s people gave her the option of stopping her participation.
And then she wrote this…
In his proposed FY2018 budget, Governor Rauner requested appropriations of $900 million for your agency, including $94 million in additional ERP spending. Last year, the Governor’s staffers put the total rollout cost at $250 million. We would like a description of the evolution of program cost estimates. As an example, according to information shared with the ERP program oversight group, one consultant has requested an additional $5 million in fees per year through 2020, or an additional $20 million.
As you know, the fund designated to pay ERP consultant fees was placed under cash management in late-December. This determination was made after it was discovered that in the final days of her administration, the prior Comptroller expedited $71 million in accelerated fund transfers from the General Revenue Fund to various special funds including $31 million to the specific fund referenced. We have suspended payments from that fund, including over $27 million to five consulting firms, pending review of the ERP program.
The Comptroller wants assurances that resources are being allocated toward our most critical needs and not toward discretionary initiatives. She would like to see a complete justification of this investment in terms of future cost savings and benefits, and wants to know why these consulting firms appear to be prioritized for payment ahead of critical services like senior centers, hospice care facilities and educational institutions.
Our research on ERP initiatives indicates that these concerns may be warranted as the experience of other governmental entities engaging in similar initiatives faced chronic cost overruns, delays, significant audit findings and failure to meet program goals.
Accordingly, we would like to request from you a comprehensive progress report and update on the ERP program.
We are interested in a number of areas including the following: The breakdown of fees already paid and/or committed to consulting firms involved in the ERP; additional fees owed to consulting firms; program expenses to date; an updated program budget estimate; an itemized list of legacy accounting systems, if any, that have been decommissioned and replaced to date; a schedule for the replacement of additional legacy accounting systems; the number of staff (FTEs) and the name, title and salary of staff assigned to the ERP program; the names of the pilot agencies involved in the ERP and an updated timeline for the addition of other State agencies; and a program timeline including an estimated completion date. Importantly we would also request the most current program cost savings analysis.
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We didn’t get here by chance
Tuesday, Mar 14, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* My Crain’s Chicago Business column…
Chance the Rapper didn’t tell just Gov. Bruce Rauner to do his job the other day, when he wrote a $1 million check to fund cash-strapped Chicago Public Schools. He asked the same thing of journalists a few days earlier. “I want you all to do your jobs. Like, seriously, all your publications that you guys work for. . . .If you guys could give a comprehensive history on how we ended up here.”
I don’t have the space to write a comprehensive history, but Illinois’ troubles began over 100 years ago. A 1917 study concluded that state pension systems were essentially insolvent. Instead of fixing the problem, the government allowed it to fester.
More than 50 years later, delegates to the state’s constitutional convention were so alarmed that they borrowed a scare tactic from New York: Lock in promised pension benefits with an ironclad lifetime guarantee to force the state’s leaders to finally put a lid on costs and provide enough money to sustain the pension funds.
It didn’t work. Benefits kept being added, funding kept being shorted.
Meanwhile, our courts decided that another new constitutional provision declaring the state had the “primary responsibility” for funding education didn’t mean the state was actually required to provide over half of all funding. The state’s share plummeted while local property taxes rose, and rose, and rose, putting the squeeze on homeowners and businesses alike.
Around the same time, the big brains who ran the state decided to drastically narrow our revenue base by exempting retirement income, food and medicine from state taxation. They also refused to tax services when the service economy was kicking into high gear, while creating tons of tax exemptions for big businesses that were having trouble in a changing economy.
And just for good measure, they greatly increased long-term pension costs by giving retirees a 3 percent compounded annual cost-of-living raise. Albert Einstein may have never called compounded interest the most powerful force in the universe, but he would’ve been right if he had.
Click here to read the rest before commenting, please. Also, keep in mind that the point of all this is that the state has repeatedly narrowed its taxing base (or refused to expand it) while continually spending ever more money.
* Related…
* Illinois considers applying sales taxes to more services
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Huge power grab or major legal stretch?
Tuesday, Mar 14, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…
If Attorney General Lisa Madigan succeeds in convincing the Illinois Supreme Court to consider ordering the state to stop paying employees without an appropriation, and if Governor Bruce Rauner’s legal team uses the same arguments it did in St. Clair County, it will be important to understand the repercussions of his strategy.
First a little background. The Illinois Constitution and state laws are clear that no state money can be expended without a legal appropriation, which is legislative speak for a special kind of bill that lists how much government agencies, commissions, etc. can spend on various items.
As you probably know, the state hasn’t had a “real” budget in a couple of years. A budget is basically just a collection of appropriations. The last legal appropriation for state-employee payroll expired on June 30, 2015. Negotiations between the governor and legislative leaders stalled, and shortly thereafter a judge in St. Clair County ordered the state to pay its workers anyway. Everybody figured this would probably be a temporary situation, so nobody squawked too much. It’s been done before for a few weeks.
But the governmental stalemate has continued for more than 20 months. In January, Madigan got tired of waiting for the governor and the General Assembly to cut a deal and filed a legal motion in St. Clair County to vacate that 2015 order. She lost. We’re not sure exactly why because the judge didn’t issue a formal opinion, but the governor’s office was at that hearing and filed a brief opposing Madigan’s motion.
The governor doesn’t want Madigan to win because his bargaining position will be greatly weakened if the courts effectively shut down the state by ruling that money can’t be spent without appropriations. Rauner is demanding some business-related reforms, a property-tax freeze, and a few other things before he’ll agree to a tax hike to balance the state’s infamously out-of-whack budget. So the man who once bragged that he would use the crisis of the state not having a budget to force through his preferred legislative changes now wants to avoid a much-worse crisis that would compel him to abandon his demands to prevent the catastrophe of an actual government shutdown.
Got all that? Okay.
One of the arguments used by the governor’s lawyers when they won at the county level last month was that a bunch of state laws are in reality “continuing appropriations.” A continuing appropriation is a law mandating that certain state bills be paid in perpetuity. The General Assembly isn’t required to pass new appropriations every year, and the governor isn’t required to sign them into law. It’s automatic-pilot spending.
But the governor’s lawyers want to redefine what a continuing appropriation is. According to the governor’s legal brief, “there are many statutes that function as continuing appropriations by mandating the State to perform specific services. Employees who provide those services must continue to be paid.”
Examples the governor’s lawyers used included a state statute mandating that the Illinois Department on Aging “exercise, administer, and enforce all rights, powers, and duties vested in the Department on Aging by the Illinois Act on the Aging.” Complying with these and other mandates, they claimed, “necessitates paying personnel” – because compliance can’t be accomplished without employees.
The governor’s legal team then argued that it would take a lot of time to sift through all state laws to find these mandates, and that the task needed to be followed up by “evidentiary hearings to assess what employees are necessary to provide such services.” Such a process could take months, if not years. There are a ton of those mandates in the state-statute books.
Needless to say, if such an argument prevailed, it would give the executive branch almost limitless authority to spend taxpayer money as it pleased. And it wouldn’t end with employee salaries, either. If the Department on Aging determined that it needed a new Chicago office building to perform its mandated functions, or had to let millions of dollars in new contracts, or had to purchase a dozen new vehicles, then under the governor’s legal logic it could go right ahead and do so without any legislative approval whatsoever.
The governor’s team references what it considers to be favorable court rulings from 1953 and 1974, but this is either one of the most blatant executive-power grab I’ve seen or the biggest legal stretch ever.
* And while we’re on this topic, Doug Finke made some good points about the lawsuit…
Clearly, an adverse ruling from the court would force the governor and General Assembly to do something. You can’t expect people to come to work and not pay them. Nor can you expect the state to function without a workforce.
The solution could be approval, finally, of a permanent spending plan, or it could be just a narrowly focused thing to keep employees paid while everything else continues to languish.
Either way, it would be something.
Rauner also criticized Madigan for making the move just when things were coming together on the Senate’s “grand bargain.”
That worked better before Rauner peeled Republican support from the bargain.
Yep.
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