Open thread
Friday, Mar 10, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* When my brother and my nephew invited me to come along with them to the World Baseball Classic in Miami this weekend I naturally jumped at the chance.
I’m about to head to the airport, so blogging is going to be light to non-existent until late afternoon. You’re on your own, so be nice to each other. Share thoughts on Illinois-related stuff and any breaking news in comments.
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Better late than never, I suppose
Friday, Mar 10, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Politifact rates this claim as “Pants on Fire”…
In his annual budget speech, Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner said he was presenting a balanced budget.
“Today we present you with a balanced budget that shows what is possible if we all come together on a comprehensive approach to state finances and job creation” the governor said.
The next morning, his campaign sent an email underscoring that he had offered a balanced budget proposal for the next fiscal year.
“Governor Bruce Rauner yesterday outlined a plan to balance the budget that reforms Illinois and builds a new economy,” the email read. It included a link to a new, Rauner-funded website, www.budgetandreform.com. The website features a campaign ad that repeats the claim that the governor, who is embroiled in an unprecedented budget stalemate with majority Democrats, has proposed a balanced budget.
The governor’s budget address was almost a month ago.
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Big December job loss turns into job gain
Friday, Mar 10, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune…
What state officials described as a “troubling” loss of 16,700 jobs in December turns out not to have been so bad after all.
In fact, Illinois gained 2,000 jobs in December, according to revised figures released Thursday with the state’s January unemployment report. The state added another 1,700 jobs in January.
“We acknowledge it’s a big revision, but the revisions don’t change the fact that Illinois continues to lag behind many other states and is still playing catch up to jobs numbers from 17 years ago,” said Bob Gough, spokesman for the Illinois Department of Employment Security.
Illinois is about 31,600 jobs short of its peak employment level in September 2000, according to the department.
* From IDES…
Illinois’s unemployment rate held at 5.7 percent in January and nonfarm payrolls increased by +1,700 jobs over-the-month, based on preliminary data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and distributed today by the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES). December job growth was revised up to show an increase of +2,000 jobs rather than the preliminary estimate of -16,700 jobs. The modest monthly gain in January payrolls kept job growth well below the national average, with Illinois -31,900 jobs short of its peak employment level reached in September 2000.
Today’s report incorporates annual benchmark revisions for nonfarm payrolls as well as labor force statistics. Nonfarm payrolls were revised higher for 2015 (+28,200 jobs in December) and 2016 (+18,700 jobs in December). Labor force statistics were revised down in 2016 (-60,900 fewer people in December). The average monthly downward revision was -69,400 for the labor force in 2016; and -11,200 for unemployed individuals.
“The BLS revised up the jobs figures for both 2015 and 2016, as we expected due to the additional information based on our wage and employment filings,” said IDES Director Jeff Mays. “Clearly, we’re disappointed that job growth hasn’t been more robust as we are still far behind the peak employment level of nearly 17 years ago.”
“If Illinois had grown at the same rate as the nation since the beginning of the recovery in 2010, we would have an additional 222,700 jobs,” said Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity Director Sean McCarthy. “With a balanced budget and structural changes that will create jobs, our economy will be better able to provide opportunities for Illinois families.”
In January, the three industry sectors with the largest gains in employment were: Construction (+6,800); Financial Activities (+3,800); and Trade, Transportation and Utilities (+2,700). The largest payroll declines were in the following sectors: Government (-4,000); Leisure and Hospitality (-3,500); and Professional and Business Services (-3,600).
Over the year, nonfarm payroll employment increased by +15,900 jobs with the largest gains in: Professional and Business Services (+11,700); and Education and Health Services (+9,400). Industry sectors with the largest over-the-year declines in January include: Manufacturing (-10,100); Other Services (-3,300); and Information (-1,700). The +0.3 percent over-the-year gain in Illinois is less than the +1.6 percent gain posted by the nation in January.
The state’s unemployment rate is higher than the national unemployment rate reported for January 2017, which increased to 4.8 percent. The Illinois unemployment rate is down -0.4 percentage points from a year ago when it was 6.1 percent.
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WBEZ hosts Rauner again
Friday, Mar 10, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From earlier this morning…
Gov. Bruce Rauner is set to appear again on public radio Friday morning to take questions from listeners, part of his monthslong push to take his message directly to Illinois voters.
The 9 a.m. broadcast on WBEZ-FM 91.5’s “Morning Shift” comes two days after Rauner took to Facebook Live to interview Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts about the team, turning to a social media outlet he started using regularly last year. Facebook listed the video as garnering nearly 23,000 views as of Thursday afternoon.
During the record budget impasse, the first-term governor often has appealed to reporters to help him “spread the message” and at times blamed the news media for what he sees as a lack of public awareness about his various positions.
Last summer, Rauner, who’s up for re-election next year, started publicly lamenting his struggles with the press and began a new push to take his message straight to voters.
* I wasn’t able to listen this morning because of other things I needed to do, but from talking to folks who did listen it seems like your typical Rauner event with your typical Chicagoan who doesn’t know much about state government. From the expectedly harsh twitterverse…
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Gridlock spreads to crime bill
Friday, Mar 10, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sigh…
The latest attempt to crack down on gun crimes amid a persistent surge of Chicago street violence stalled at the Capitol on Thursday, caught in the vortex of the historic gridlock that’s sowed deep distrust between Democrats who control the General Assembly and Republicans loyal to Gov. Bruce Rauner.
Passing a gun bill is often difficult due to differing regional attitudes toward firearms, but the complex one under consideration also drew complaints that it was too soft on drug criminals or too hard on minorities.
Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson told lawmakers the measure would give officers an extra tool in the fight against gun crimes. The city’s top cop was able to dodge political embarrassment when the bill cleared a committee by a single vote, but any hope backers had for quick passage out of the Illinois Senate was dashed amid an overall lack of support.
Democrats quickly pointed the finger at Republicans, accusing them of acting at the behest of Rauner, who they continue to blame for last week’s squelching of a so-called grand bargain designed to end the budget impasse.
* Sun-Times…
Rauner’s administration, however, would only say the bill is under review.
Raoul said he was confused about the opposition – noting it was Rauner’s executive order that prompted the creation of the commission in order to reduce the state’s prison population. Figures from December show the prison population has dropped by 9.1 percent since Rauner took office.
“If you’re going to hold some people in prison longer, you’ve got to do something to decrease the population of the people who really shouldn’t be there as long as they are. Some of them shouldn’t be there at all,” Raoul said. […]
Republicans voted no on the bill, saying they support increased sentencing for repeat gun offenders but wanted a “clean bill” — without the other reforms attached, despite them coming from Rauner’s created commission.
* CBS 2…
The proposed reforms scare Eric Wilkins. He is a paraplegic who was shot in 1999, and fears tougher gun penalties could trap black men carrying guns for protection.
“My father was cab driver, and he had been robbed and shot multiple times. He always told us, ‘it’s better to be caught with it than without it,’” he said.
State Senator Kwame Raoul, who’s a state sponsor of the bill, flatly rejected the point of view Wilkins expressed. He said as a father of a 19-year-old, citizens must do everything they can to confront the city’s gun problem.
“And for those who say, ‘these are people who are just illegally carrying weapons, they haven’t shot anybody yet,’ I’d prefer not to wait until they shoot somebody,” he said.
* ABC 7…
Valerie Weaver is a mother in mourning, who said her 20-year-old daughter Wilteeah Jones and her unborn granddaughter, who was to be named Maleah, would probably still be alive if there were stricter gun laws for repeat offenders. She believes that when the person who killed her family pulled the trigger, it was not the first time.
“I don’t think that’s the first killing he did, and it might not be the last. Until these laws are enforced there are going to be killings in Chicago,” Weaver said.
Jones and her 20-year-old boyfriend Malek Bingham were among the seven people killed in Chicago in February on the deadliest day of 2017.
“They chased my baby down, a 9-month pregnant woman, and chased her down and killed her like nobody loved her. We loved her and miss her so much,” Weaver said.
* Tribune editorial…
While gun violence is chaotic by nature, there are recognizable patterns. When the University of Chicago Crime Lab looked at 2016’s increase in bloodshed, it found that about 80 percent of homicide victims had a prior arrest, and almost 30 percent had a prior gun arrest. Yes, the victims. The Chicago Police Department used an algorithm to create a strategic subject list of about 1,400 gang members most at risk to shoot someone or become a victim. It’s this world of endemic criminal activity that lawmakers have the opportunity to disrupt.
The point of the legislation is to focus on some of the predictable circumstances in which shootings occur — gang rivalries, drug dealing, arguments — and try to make it less likely guns are involved by raising the cost of being arrested while armed. The most tragic scenarios put a gun in the hands of gang members who recklessly sprays bullets at rivals and hit innocent people: On one Saturday evening last month, 11-year-old Takiya Holmes and 12-year-old Kanari Gentry Bowers were shot in the head by random gunfire during separate incidents. Both girls died. […]
A 2013 gun violence bill foundered in Springfield because opponents worried that long sentences would hurt crime-ridden communities by warehousing young men in prison instead of rehabilitating them. This bill deals with that issue by giving judges flexibility and includes other components to attract broader lawmaker support. Sometimes, though, larding up the bill also puts it at risk of toppling.
As lawmakers move forward, we hope they keep their focus on combating Chicago’s crisis of gun violence. Passing this bill will help.
Sounds like we need a new editorial on the GOP’s objections.
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* The Senate Democrats held a press conference yesterday after numerous Rauner administration agency directors refused to specify in committee hearings where they’d cut their budgets. Some even warned that cuts would be harmful. Press release…
After a week of testimonies from Gov. Bruce Rauner’s cabinet members on potential cuts they could make in their departments, it’s clear that Rauner has no plan to balance his proposed budget.
“Governor Rauner has once again proved that he is all talk and no action,” Senator Patricia Van Pelt (D-Chicago) said. “He has spent the past two years harping on the need to reduce spending, but when given the opportunity to offer cuts, his cabinet members were silent.”
Senate Public Health Committee Chairwoman Van Pelt is one of several Senate committee chairs who spent the week asking state agency directors what programs they intend to cut to help balance the nearly $5 billion in deficits Gov. Rauner proposed.
“Every state agency across the board would need to cut spending by 20 percent to achieve the balanced budget the governor wants,” Van Pelt said. “I am absolutely stunned that Gov. Rauner hasn’t even asked agency directors to provide a list of cuts they could make in their departments. Every day without a budget costs the state $11 million. The governor should be offering solutions, but instead he is creating chaos and destruction.”
* From Doug Finke’s story…
“Time and again, agency director after agency director told us in very certain terms that they cannot cut their budgets any deeper than they already have been,” said Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, chairman of one of the two Senate Appropriations committees.
Manar said the message from Gov. Bruce Rauner is “the state is in crisis, that we have to have budget cuts.”
“His own agency directors came before us and said that cannot happen,” Manar said.
Sen. Heather Steans, D-Chicago, who chairs the other Senate Appropriations committee, said Rauner has asked lawmakers to give him authority to balance the budget if they can’t agree on a spending plan with parts of his reform agenda.
“I would suggest he may be ill-prepared … when not a single one of his agency directors can even suggest a single cut,” Steans said.
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* Oh, man did this ever appear to be a bad thing at first blush…
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s new deputy governor is scheduled to receive half of her pay out of an employee health care account that is more than $4 billion behind on its bills due to the state’s budget crisis, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. […]
Munger, Rauner’s hand-picked choice to fill a vacancy in the comptroller’s office in 2015, landed the position with her political ally after losing a special election. Premiums from state employees feed the group health insurance account. The other fund, administered by the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, is money collected from overpayments due to fraud or error. It’s used to pay costs under the federal-state Medicaid program.
Munger did not return a message left by the AP at her office. Catherine Kelly, spokeswoman for Rauner, noted that Munger has not yet received a paycheck in her new job.
“When she is paid, it will not impact state employee health insurance payments or service providers,” Kelly said but declined to elaborate.
* And then came this update…
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration had arranged to pay a new deputy governor out of an employee health care account that is more than $4 billion behind on its bills due to the state’s budget crisis, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
After the AP reported Thursday that half of Leslie Munger’s $138,000 salary was scheduled to come from a pool of insurance premiums, a spokeswoman for the governor said an agency “mistakenly” designated the wrong fund and that Munger’s pay would come from elsewhere.
* Except the governor’s office flatly denies that they made the change on Thursday after the AP’s report came out. From the administration…
The AP on Thursday published an inaccurate story after altering a long-standing journalistic practice of accepting information on background - background information that directly contradicted the story presented to the administration on Wednesday.
This resulted in the AP rewriting their original story in order to give a somewhat accurate version to readers.
We discovered an error in the contract of Deputy Governor Munger that would have paid her out of an incorrect fund. This was told to the Associated Press - including the specific name of the fund - on Wednesday. They were also told on Wednesday that the other fund is strictly administrative and not used for paying providers.
What’s curious is that despite knowing the facts (be it on background or whatever) they still chose to first write an incorrect story.
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Supt. Johnson gets his day in Springfield
Thursday, Mar 9, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune…
A plan to impose stiffer sentences for felons convicted of gun crimes narrowly cleared an early hurdle Thursday after Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson asked state lawmakers for help in cracking down on repeat offenders.
Johnson appeared before an Illinois Senate committee to back the proposal, which would increase the sentencing guidelines for judges deciding punishment for repeat gun felons. Instead of a range of three to 14 years, judges would hand out sentences of seven to 14 years. A judge could depart from that guideline under certain circumstances.
Johnson has for months has been calling for lawmakers to take action as the Chicago Police Department continues to face a surge of street violence.
“This is about creating a culture of accountability,” he said.
* Sun-Times…
“They make the decision to pull the trigger because they don’t fear our judicial system,” Johnson said. “If they fear the judicial system, then it is a deterrent.”
He said passage of the bill would show repeat gun offenders “we’re serious about holding them accountable.”
Johnson, however, noted he’s “uneasy” with some provisions of the bill, including reducing the sentencing for those charged with possession of 100 grams or more of cocaine, heroin or fentanyl.
“To be clear, the drug trade is what drives the gang violence in Chicago and lessening the consequence for high level narcotic dealing and possession makes me very uncomfortable,” Johnson said.
Republicans voted against the bill because of the sentencing reduction aspects.
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Question of the day
Thursday, Mar 9, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* How do you think the Senate’s grand bargain can be revived? Or can it be revived? Explain.
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*** UPDATED x1 *** Up your game, Chris
Thursday, Mar 9, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I’m old enough to remember the days when saying “B.S.” to a group of pastors in a church was considered disrespectful and very bad form…
Businessman and Democratic candidate for governor Chris Kennedy called Illinois’ current chief executive’s pro-business agenda “B.S,” while speaking to a group of South Side pastors Thursday.
“What we need is certainty. What we need is predictability,” Kennedy said, speaking at Bethlehem Star Church on South Cottage Grove. “What we need is a budget. Gov. Rauner, do your job. Get us a state budget.”
Kennedy formerly managed the Merchandise Mart, and he said he dealt with 5,000 companies during his 25 years there.
“Not one in 25 years ever said to me that they were worried about coming to Illinois because of the way we draw our state rep. districts,” Kennedy said. “None of them said they were worried about tort reform or workers’ comp or term limits. That agenda is B.S. when it comes to attracting companies to our state.”
As I’ve said many times before, Democrats should be pushing for remap reform. Right now, they’re counting on Gov. Rauner to lose in 2018. And if he wins and vetoes their map, they’re counting on winning the hat draw, which is a 50-50 proposition. Get the General Assembly out of drawing the maps or Rauner may draw the next one.
And no companies at the Mart were concerned with being sued? Or worried about the state’s high costs when their workers were injured? C’mon. I find that a little difficult to believe. And, even if it’s true, then maybe he should go talk to some Downstate manufacturers before the last one leaves Illinois. COGFA’s executive director Dan Long told me yesterday he believes one reason the state’s revenues are tanking so hard is due to the heavy loss of manufacturing jobs. The Merchandise Mart is important to Illinois, but it doesn’t reflect reality everywhere else.
*** UPDATE *** From the ILGOP…
“Chris Kennedy keeps repeating Mike Madigan’s talking points because he wants to be the Speaker’s chosen candidate. Only a Madigan machine politician would call term limits, fair maps and job-creating economic reforms ‘B.S.’”
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Unclear on the concept
Thursday, Mar 9, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Governor, you’re no longer just a candidate. You can actually do something about administrative regulations now…
So, if it’s time to do something, then let’s see the plan.
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It just gets worse by the day
Thursday, Mar 9, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Vinicky on the grand bargain…
Cullerton’s spokesman says, “We are in a holding pattern until we get an indication from Republicans that there is Republican support for proposals they helped put together.”
The governor says he wants evidence of deeper spending cuts before he’ll sign off on the “grand bargain” and its income tax increase, but Democrats say Rauner’s own budget proposal is seriously out of balance – even more than originally thought, given new estimates from the state’s nonpartisan Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, which show next year’s revenues coming $329 million weaker than Rauner’s estimates of $32.7 billion.
Rauner’s proposed budget had a $4.6 billion dollar deficit, so the new revenue estimates mean that hole is now about $4.9 billion.
* From the Senate Democrats…
A state financial report released this week by the General Assembly’s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (COGFA) projects that state FY18 revenues are $329 million less than Governor Rauner’s estimates of $32.7 billion. The drop means that Rauner’s budget blueprint is unbalanced by nearly $5 billion.
The Senate’s budget and revenue committee heads say the new estimates aren’t impossible to overcome, so long as the governor ends his behind-the-scenes antics that have derailed the Senate’s bipartisan compromises.
Senator Toi Hutchinson (Chair of Senate Revenue Committee)
“We know today that the governor’s budget is wildly out of balance - by $5 billion. That’s an alarming figure. What is abundantly clear is that not telling the truth about Illinois’ revenue crisis is disingenuous at best. The simple fact is part of the solution requires straightforward honesty with the public about the need for revenue.”
Senator Heather Steans (Chair of the Senate Appropriations I Committee)
“There remains a determination to strike a compromise to provide what Illinois needs more than anything else right now: stability. Fiscal stability, stability for countless service providers and stability for our business community. Taking another few hundred million dollars out of the formula is a hurdle, but I’m confident we can complete the task to address Bruce Rauner’s $5 billion out-of-balance budget design. To make that task easier, it’s helpful if the governor ends his ideological meddling.”
Senator Andy Manar (Chair of the Senate Appropriations II Committee)
“The drop in revenue makes Bruce Rauner’s phony budget $5 billion out of whack and counting. Every day Bruce Rauner interferes, it adds $11 million dollars onto the growing pile of debt and makes his budget even more out of balance. The Senate remains committed to doing the job to fix the chaos the governor’s created.”
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Et tu, Tillman?
Thursday, Mar 9, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Umm…
* But the Tribune editorial board has a different take…
We applaud Chance for his activism. The more pressure to help Chicago kids, to improve results at CPS, to close the gap in funding statewide between wealthy and poor school districts, the better.
But that inequity — built into a school funding model that relies on property taxes — has been worsening for 20 years, not just the two since Rauner’s inauguration. Illinois legislators have had the power to change the formula in the dozen years after 2002 when Democrats won the governorship plus majorities in the House and Senate.
Instead, Democrats let the gap in funding widen. They’ve had task forces and news conferences and recommendations and hearings and white papers. But no results. The last school funding proposal to gain some steam got out of the Senate but never even got a hearing in the Democratic-controlled House.
That history never seems to make its way into news conferences when schools CEO Forrest Claypool blames Rauner for a “racist” school funding formula.
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* Speaker Madigan press release…
Following Gov. Bruce Rauner’s proposal to make the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum into a freestanding institution in his proposed state budget, Speaker Michael J. Madigan is introducing legislation to improve the administration of the library, advancing an effort prioritized by both Rauner and House Democrats.
“The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is a monument to one of Illinois’ greatest sons, and a symbol of our state’s place in American history, but the structure of its administration does not provide the museum with the clear leadership or flexibility the museum needs to fill its role as a world-class institution,” Madigan said. “This legislation puts the museum under the direct leadership of a board whose only responsibility is to the museum and this crucial piece of our history.”
Currently, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield is under the direction of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. While the library is widely recognized as one of the preeminent presidential museums in the country, it has been hampered by bureaucracy and mismanagement. Three different boards currently play a role in overseeing the museum. Madigan’s House Bill 136 separates the museum from the Historic Preservation Agency, placing it under the direction of an independent board appointed by the governor.
Streamlining the administration of the museum has been a priority for both Rauner and House Democrats. Rauner’s Fiscal Year 2016 budget proposal called for the museum to be separated from the Historic Preservation Agency. Rauner also told legislators in 2015: “To ensure the museum and library to be the world-class institutions they deserve to be, our administration is working in partnership with Speaker Madigan on a reorganization plan.”
As I write this, an amendment has not yet been filed to the vehicle bill.
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* From the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability…
Every year, the Tax Foundation publishes its “business tax climate” report, which scores states based on their tax policies. The report always gets a lot of press; in Illinois, which ranked 23rd with a score of 5.21 in the 2017 report, the press is usually accompanied by quotes from politicians and business leaders about how the state needs to improve its tax climate to be competitive with other states like Indiana or Wisconsin.
But should we listen?
Of course, even the Tax Foundation would probably agree that having a good “business tax climate” isn’t a goal in itself. Instead, a good climate is supposed to improve the state’s economy, and lead to more growth, more income, and more jobs.
You might think, then, that states with better “business tax climates” do better on those outcomes — the things we really care about.
Except they don’t.
What CTBA found (click here for charts) is that the Tax Foundation’s business climate scores “have only very marginal relationships to GDP per capita; growth in GDP per capita; median household income; growth in median household income; and growth in jobs.”
* And then there’s this…
Of course, there’s another policy indicator that does track with a better economy. It’s per student spending on education.
But it will be hard to keep up spending on students if Illinois doesn’t have revenue because we cut taxes to have a better “tax climate” according to the Tax Foundation.
* The last chart…
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The big squeeze on higher education
Thursday, Mar 9, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* News-Gazette…
Leaders of Illinois’ public colleges and universities said Tuesday that their institutions can’t withstand further budget cuts and painted a picture of a system already badly damaged.
One president said the state’s higher-education system is approaching the equivalent of “junk-bond status.”
In a two-hour session, the university officials said they had eliminated thousands of positions, instituted furlough days, cut programs and now were assessing whether to undertake extraordinary measures, including eliminating instructional days and perhaps an entire college. […]
Southern Illinois President Randy Dunn said the university is reviewing whether to eliminate academic departments and possibly an entire college.
“If we have to go there, it will be significant and send a tectonic shock through southern Illinois,” he said. “… If you get away from the fiscal analysis, we have a public university system here in Illinois that in the higher education marketplace is just about to go to junk bond status.”
* Daily Egyptian…
SIU President Randy Dunn on Wednesday said SIU cannot operate for another 20 months without state support “short of hollowing out” its core programs. […]
If Illinois does not pass a budget for another 20 months, Dunn said SIU would be forced to gouge the core of its campus programs, services, facilities and regional support projects through another round of budget cuts. He said “the lion’s share” of those reductions would be felt by the Carbondale campus and would go into effect before July 1.
This would come after a “pounding our regular operations have taken,” Dunn wrote in the column.
* Moody’s…
Moody’s has issued a short report (attached) noting the 21-month long budget impasse in the State of Illinois (rated Baa2/negative outlook) is continuing to have negative credit implications for the state’s public universities and community colleges through interrupted state funding for operations. The ongoing budget deadlock is increasingly forcing the state’s public universities to take considerable steps to continue operations and stem the tide of eroding unrestricted liquidity. The state’s community colleges have experienced similar, though less severe, operational and credit pressure.
In the past week, both Northeastern Illinois University (Ba2/negative) and Governors State University (Ba1/negative) announced significant steps to combat the continued absence of state funding for operations. Northeastern Illinois University announced it will eliminate 300 student employee positions and roughly 1,100 university employees will take an unpaid week off during the university’s spring break. The university has also continued hiring and spending freezes from the prior fiscal year. Governors State University announced steps that include the elimination of 22 academic programs and a 15% tuition increase for all undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs to take effect during the next academic year. In the last two years, the university has eliminated a total of 35 programs and it has cut 62 staff positions in 2016. Material programming reductions and staffing cuts, while necessary to keep the state’s public universities operational in the short-term, will further impair the universities’ abilities to sustain their strategic competitiveness and attract students for the upcoming fall 2017 class.
We believe the state’s public universities will likely take additional steps to mitigate budgetary and liquidity stress while continuing operations. While universities can pull a number of operational levers including academic program elimination, mandatory employee furloughs and reductions in force, these actions will further weaken the universities’ strategic positions. Illinois’ public universities are already coping with continued pressures on enrollment, operations and liquidity. Moreover the budget impasse has also left Illinois universities and colleges with far less MAP (Monetary Award Program) grants than anticipated for the state’s low income students.
The budget impasse has also taken a lesser toll on Illinois community colleges because property taxes are typically the largest revenue source for these schools, followed by tuition and state appropriations. Community college reserves have declined, but remain healthy for the community colleges that we rate. Illinois community colleges can also issue both short-term cash flow notes and long-term working cash bonds to boost liquidity. Despite advantages, many community colleges have made substantial cuts to expenditures or increased tuition to offset reduced state aid distributions that could hurt enrollment and long-term competitiveness. Community colleges also rely on the state for pension contributions, which is a longer term risk for the sector.
Finally, Illinois universities and community colleges remain exposed to demographic challenges that will suppress long-term demand for higher education in the state. Illinois will fare worse than its regional and national peers with decreasing numbers of high school students over the next 15 years, with high school graduates expected to be 14% lower in 2031-32 than 2016-17, compared to 3% lower nationally and 7% lower regionally. Illinois is already a net exporter of high school graduates with net out migration of nearly 17,000 students in fall 2014, the second highest of any state in the country. These demographic challenges add further pressure to the state’s universities, limiting their ability to grow student related revenues to mitigate the impact of state-level issues.
* Related…
* Bernard Schoenburg: Rauner talks up higher ed, but has cut funding
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Rauner appeals Mendoza court win
Thursday, Mar 9, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Sun-Times has some news about Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s court win earlier this week on whether she had discretion over which accounts to use to pay some state workers …
The governor said he didn’t agree with the ruling but would “honor” it. But later Wednesday afternoon, his administration appealed the court order. Mendoza’s office, however, says the state’s Department of Central Management Services re-submitted vouchers for 578 employees affected by the dispute, and they’d get paychecks on Friday. The comptroller’s office says the vouchers were submitted during a “brief window” between the governor saying he’d abide by the ruling and the appeal.
“We submitted the payroll per her request but are appealing because we are going to continue fighting Comptroller Mendoza’s push to cripple state government operations — part of the coordinated effort to shut down state government,” Rauner spokeswoman Eleni Demertzis said in a statement.
The governor said Mendoza is working to “deplete those funds” to create a crisis by forcing a shutdown to get a “stopgap budget” or to get a tax hike without structural changes.
* Meanwhile, Kristen McQueary has a beef with Mendoza’s claim to be an independent voice…
It takes a certain level of audacity to kick political opponents in the teeth the night they lose an election.
But that’s what Democratic Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza did on Nov. 8, 2016, and her aggressive, in-your-face approach hasn’t calmed in the months since. She ran promising to be an independent comptroller. But in less than four months, she has become in Springfield the most intensely partisan critic of Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. She demands no such accountability of her fellow Democrats who have held majorities in the General Assembly for 15 years.
Mendoza beat Republican Leslie Munger, who was appointed to complete the term of the late Judy Baar Topinka. Traditionally a low-profile office, the comptroller is the state’s bookkeeper. The Illinois Constitution assigns the comptroller two primary duties: take in the bills and pay them.
Mendoza is no circumspect bookkeeper.
Since election night, she has blamed Rauner for all of state government’s dysfunction.
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More horrific pension news
Thursday, Mar 9, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sun-Times…
Standard & Poor’s surveyed pension obligations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, San Diego, San Jose, San Antonio, Phoenix, Jacksonville, Dallas, Houston, Columbus, Indianapolis and Austin.
Chicago performed the worst across the board — registering the highest annual debt, pension post-employment benefits costs as a percentage of governmental expenditures and the highest debt and pension liability per capita.
The burden in Chicago is $12,427-per-person, double New York city’s $6,115-per-person.
Chicago also had the lowest weighted pension fund ratio, the worst pension contribution vs. required level and the lowest funded return for a single fund.
That dubious distinction went to the Chicago Police Annuity and Benefit Fund, which had assets to cover just 25 percent of its liabilities in fiscal 2015, down from 26 percent the year before.
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Rauner announces new hate crimes initiatives
Thursday, Mar 9, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune last night…
In response to recent local acts of anti-Semitism and reports of increased hate crimes nationwide, Gov. Bruce Rauner on Wednesday will announce a multipronged effort to boost the investigation and prosecution of hate crimes through stronger laws and better education.
Rauner will detail his four-point plan at a downtown dinner benefiting the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, according to his office. He tapped the state director of public safety and the secretary of education to help carry out the proposal.
* Press release last night…
Governor Bruce Rauner announced today at the Illinois Holocaust Museum Humanitarian Awards dinner a number of steps the administration is taking to combat hate crimes and growing anti-Semitism in Illinois.
“We cannot stay silent on hate. We cannot stay silent when families in our community are in danger. The promise of ‘Never Again’ requires us to take action,” Governor Rauner said. “Illinois is a leader in standing up to hate crimes and anti-Semitism, but we can and must do more.
In a memo to Illinois Director of Public Safety Rodger Heaton and Secretary of Education Beth Purvis, the Governor outlined a number of objectives to protect minority communities from hate and violence. Those objectives are:
· Strengthening Illinois’ Hate Crime Law
The Illinois Holocaust and Genocide has proposed legislation to increase penalties for acts of vandalism against houses of worship and religious centers. The administration is working with the bill’s sponsors on HB 2390, and the governor will sign the agreed bill when it reaches his desk.
· Improve Law Enforcement Training and Response on Hate Crimes
In conjunction with the Anti-Defamation League, the Illinois State Police (ISP) and the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board, the administration will develop a statewide standardized training plan for state troopers and local police departments. Illinois will also strengthen its partnerships with the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Bureau of Investigation to protect religious minority institutions across the state.
· Expand Anti-Hate Education in Schools
Illinois was the first state in the country to require students learn about the Holocaust as part of their curriculum. The administration will work with Illinois State Board of Education to create a dedicated portal to anti-hate education in support the state’s requirement to educate our students about the Holocaust.
· Strengthen Illinois’ Landmark anti-BDS Law
Illinois was also the first state in the country to pass legislation to fight the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement by restricting state pension funds from investing in countries that boycott Israel. Other states followed Illinois’ lead, but went a step farther in prohibiting state contracts with companies that boycott Israel. The administration will work with the General Assembly to strengthen Illinois’ landmark by prohibiting state contracts for companies that boycott Israel.
“In a time of rising hate crimes and anti-Semitism, we need to remember that America is the flagbearer for freedom of religion,” Governor Rauner added. “We should do everything we can to prosecute those who look to incite hate and violence against others because of their religion.”
* Another press release last night…
Attorney General Lisa Madigan today sent a letter to Governor Rauner calling on him to restore the state’s Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes to combat a troubling increase in hate crimes.
In her letter, Madigan urged the governor to immediately appoint a diverse group of individuals to fill the 20 vacant positions on the Commission due to the pressing need to have a fully functioning commission to combat increasing reports of hate crimes, that include recent bomb threats, against people in Illinois.
“Appointing members to this commission is a critical responsibility that the governor has ignored for too long,” Madigan said. “We must bring Illinois’ vibrant and diverse community of leaders and advocates together to help combat growing hate and discrimination in our communities.”
Madigan sent her letter after convening a recent summit with Illinois civil rights leaders for communities of color, women, people with disabilities, immigrants, LGBTQ individuals, Muslims, Jews and Christians on hate crimes. Leaders at the summit detailed increasing experiences of hate and discrimination and voiced their need to have an active and engaged Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes fulfill its mandate to coordinate statewide efforts to combat these unlawful acts.
Data from the Chicago Police Department shows that hate crimes reached a five-year high in 2016 and are outpacing that level in 2017, according to reports. In addition, the Southern Law Poverty Center reported over nearly 1,100 hate incidents nationally in the month after last fall’s election. Just this week, a new wave of bomb threats was made against Jewish Community Centers in Illinois and across the county.
…Adding… The hate crimes commission has been plagued for years with division. Remember this from 2006?…
Five Jewish members of Illinois’ hate-crimes commission have resigned in protest over another commissioner who is an official with the Nation of Islam. Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, rails against Jewish and gay people this week in front of commissioners. Chicago Public Radio’s Catrin Einhorn reports.
And from a pal…
I’m trying to find Lisa Madigan’s letters to Pat Quinn asking him to fill the hate crimes commission for the six years it sat empty under him.
Can’t seem to locate them. Curious.
* Related…
* Sneed: Rauner opens up on religion in launching hate-crimes plan
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*** LIVE *** Session coverage
Thursday, Mar 9, 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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