The policy also allows adults 21 years and older to grow up to five plants in their home, as long as they are in a locked room and not in plain sight. This has been a contentious issue in negotiations and Deputy Gov. Christian Mitchell said he anticipates substantial changes.
State Sen. Dale Righter (R-Mattoon) is one of many legislators that have questions about the home grow component. Righter said he is concerned that people choosing to grow plants at home will not be regulated on the potency of their plants, and could go beyond what the law allows.
Steans said this is not a real concern: “There’s only so much potency you can get in your plant,” she said. “The higher potency can come when you infuse and make other products. It can only go to about 35 percent in a plant. The plant just can’t get more potent than that.”
Mitchell Davis, police chief of Hazel Crest and second vice president of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, said marijuana-related driving arrests present challenges for officers, as does the allowance of five home grown plants.
“It’s impossible for us to regulate that,” he said. “Home grows take away any controls that you are putting in place for the legal purchase of cannabis.”
Davis said this “opens the door for cartels” and makes it more accessible to minors, even with the specified safety measures in the bill.
Nevertheless, Steans said she plans to file an amendment to the measure next week to address other concerns, specifically over expungements and home grow.
Currently, the proposed legislation would allow for five plants within a household. Steans’ legislation may change those provisions to apply to just medical marijuana, amid opponents’ concerns over whether those homegrown plants would wind up for sale on the illegal black market.
Before we begin, just a warning that if I see evidence of a coordinated social media campaign to freep this poll I will delete it.
Also, to clarify, this question only applies to your personal preference, not what you would be willing to accept in order to pass a bill.
* The Question: Should home grow be allowed for everyone, limited to medical users or banned altogether? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please…
Senator Patricia Van Pelt, a Chicago Democrat, has been removed as a co-sponsor of the bill to legalize recreational cannabis after a report revealed she was selling tickets to her get-rich-quick seminars where she offered investment tips on hot cannabis stocks.
Van Pelt is also listed as the President and co-founder of Wakanna, a company that currently sells essential oils but that has plans to sell cannabis products once the product is legal in Illinois. Van Pelt’s company is selling ownership stake to investors and offering them assurances that their license will be approved, although that licensing process has not yet been established, let alone completed.
Lawmakers addressed Van Pelt’s scheme during a debate in the Senate Executive Committee on Wednesday.
Senator Dale Righter, a Mattoon Republican, asked, “Is there anything in the bill that would give the public security that okay we don’t have insiders maneuvering this and that’s who’s winding up with the licenses?”
“I think you know that I’m committed to ethical safeguards as much as anyone here in the room,” Senator Heather Steans, a Chicago Democrat and lead sponsor of the plan to legalize cannabis answered. “To the extent that we don’t have this in here right now in the way we should, I very much look forward to working with you on the best ways of accomplishing that.” […]
“The public is watching us,” [Senator Righter] said. “The public has to have confidence in the people here, in the process here. When you see one of the members of the chamber clearly looking to cash in on a policy that she believes is going to happen, and then she is an insider in that policy, that is completely inappropriate.” […]
[Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford] also cautioned against Van Pelt’s decision to sell tickets for admission to private events where she offers investment advice about an industry where lawmakers are sifting through sensitive, private information.
“I don’t think that’s a wise decision,” Lightford said, distancing herself from Van Pelt. “I don’t know that I support any of that, and I will look forward to having a conversation with her and learning about what it is that’s going on because I really don’t know. So I don’t have an opinion personally about her, I just think none of us should be engaged with any type of conversations such as that. We are here as lawmakers to pass the best law that we can that can have the best impact on our community, on our budget, and everything moving forward.
“We’re just trying to do our jobs. If there is a bad apple in the bunch, then that would be addressed.”
According to state records, youth-on-staff assaults within the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice increased from 34 in 2015 to 92 in 2018. The assaults, which include punching, stabbing and spitting, are going up even as the number of locked-up teens goes down.
The state currently houses about 260 youth in its IDJJ facilities and there are 580 youth in communities. The state appropriated approximately $120 million to the IDJJ for fiscal year 2019.
“It’s an unsafe environment every day not just for staff and administration, but also for youth,” said former IDJJ teacher Maria Johnston-Becker.
Johnston-Becker said she was sexually assaulted by a youth in 2017 and six months later she was knocked unconscious by another youth in the hall outside of her classroom.
Juvenile Justice Staff employees told NBC 5 Investigates some youth routinely hurl urine, feces, and other bodily fluids toward them.
* AFSCME recently prevailed in a class action grievance about the same basic issue…
AFSCME members in the Department of Corrections and the Department of Juvenile Justice successfully used their union contract to enforce health and safety standards.
To address the growing incidence of assaults on employees in DOC and DJJ facilities, AFSCME Council 31 filed a class-action grievance against both departments that detailed the scope and extent of assaults on employees. The union argued that the employers’ responses have been inadequate according to both the union contract and state OSHA law.
On March 25, Arbitrator Terry Bethel issued a ruling granting the union’s grievance and affirming the gravity of the situation.
In his decision, Arbitrator Bethel indicated that both DOC and DJJ have failed in meeting the state’s responsibility to “provide a safe environment in its corrections facilities and youth centers.” He said his finding was based on “the evidence and testimony presented at the hearing, including the large number of assaults, the lack of thorough training, the failure to address certain conditions, and the testimony of the employees who were assaulted.”
“My decision,” he said, “is simply that the departments have not acted to the extent feasible to prevent injury to their security staffs.”
The arbitrator remanded the case to the parties to shape a remedy within the next 120 days that improves safety in DOC and DJJ facilities, and he retained jurisdiction over the case to ensure that a satisfactory plan of action is developed.
Thursday, May 16, 2019 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
More than 800 solar energy projects are on hold because Illinois’ renewable energy program isn’t adequately funded to meet either current demand or the statutory renewable portfolio standard requirement of 25% by 2025.
The waitlisted, shovel-ready projects could create thousands of jobs, lower consumer electric bills and generate $220 million in property tax revenue for local governments. Funding for new commercial and community solar projects and wind farms will be depleted after 2019.
As lawmakers consider another plan to bring casinos to Chicago and other communities, Mayor RAHM EMANUEL told Playbook he has a suggestion: “Tread carefully.”
The mayor reflected on past attempts to bring a casino to Chicago. In 2011, a newly elected Emanuel was aggressive in supporting casino legislation —only to see it held back when Gov. Pat Quinn indicated he wouldn’t sign it because it didn’t offer enough regulation to protect taxpayers.
In 2013, lawmakers hoping to generate revenue agreed on a new bill with more robust regulations. But Emanuel remembers Quinn calling and asking if Chicago wanted to be part of the legislation. Emanuel said no and Quinn ultimately vetoed the bill.
Why Emanuel pulled back: He says other programs in the city “were starting to work,” he said in a one-on-one interview. Tourism numbers and conventions were on the rise. The economy was growing and the city was having success in attracting digital businesses. “So we walked away from the table,” Emanuel said. “We had it right there and we walked away.”
Now that a Chicago casino has popped up again, Emanuel hopes lawmakers put thought into where it might be located. “If we could put it miles from Indiana,” so people could stop there before heading to an Indiana casino, “I can see value in that,” Emanuel said. “But people [in previous years] were talking about the Loop and Michael Reese Hospital. Those locations have social implications.”
Oh, for crying out loud. Emanuel was asking for a city-owned casino in 2015…
Mayor Rahm Emanuel is trying to solve his police and fire pension problem by paying less upfront, taking longer to pay off the debt and getting some of the money to cover what the city owes from a Chicago casino.
* Since Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot will actually be in office when a gaming bill either passes or flames out, I asked her spokesperson for a response…
As Mayor-elect Lightfoot has stated in the past, in thinking about a Chicago casino, it is imperative that the construction of a new casino be used as an economic development tool.
* And this is what Lightfoot told the Sun-Times in January…
For more than two decades Chicagoans have routinely traveled to neighboring cities like Rosemont, Elgin, Joliet, Gary and Hammond to gamble. If people in Chicago want to gamble, then they should be able to gamble in Chicago at a city-owned, land-based casino. Casino gambling has now been a reality in Illinois for decades. I know from my work as a lawyer that the Illinois Gaming Board has created a robust regulatory system to combat many of the problems that could arise from casino gambling.
In thinking about a Chicago casino, it is imperative that the construction of a new casino be used as an economic development tool to benefit people and neighborhoods that have been neglected by city government for far too long, including minority and women owned businesses and individuals on the west and south sides. As mayor, I will ensure these groups are involved at every stage of the process, from the design, planning and construction of the casino to its daily operations. Moreover, I will insist that the casino work with Chicago businesses to create a localized supply-chain for goods and services.
Tim Miller appeared in what arguably was Democrat JB Pritzker’s single, most-devastating commercial last year from his campaign to unseat Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.
Just a month before the November election, Miller got emotional in the political ad as he chided Rauner for his mishandling of a deadly Legionnaires’ disease outbreak at a state-run veterans’ home. The outbreak killed Miller’s Army veteran father.
But now, Miller is calling out the Democratic governor he helped get elected.
The topic: the state’s lack of movement toward resolving lawsuits from Miller and 11 other families of Legionnaires’ victims who died in repeated outbreaks at Illinois’ largest state-run veterans’ home between 2015 and 2017.
“He’s been governor for five months now,” Miller said. “Certainly, as time goes on, that is going to become more and more of a question. It kind of becomes a question for us. Was this really about the stories, and the loss and the heroes? Or was this about an election campaign?” […]
But almost half way into Pritzker’s first year in office, the families’ lawsuits appear no closer to being settled than they were under Rauner. And now Miller and some of the other victims’ families are beginning to wonder whether they were no more than political props in a bareknuckle campaign.
“Was his promise to settle these lawsuits — his admittance that there were mistakes made — was that out of genuine concern for the families to get justice and closure?” Miller said of Pritzker during an interview with WBEZ. […]
If the state ultimately settles all 12 of the pending Quincy Legionnaires’ cases for the maximum allowable award, taxpayers will be on the hook for as much as $24 million. Because there have not been specific settlements, the governor did not include any funds to resolve the lawsuits in his proposed 2020 state budget, and there are no signs it’s part of ongoing budget talks between the governor and state lawmakers.
* From the governor’s office…
Governor Pritzker has been very clear that he believes that these cases should be settled, and that the state’s mishandling of the Legionnaire’s outbreak at the Quincy Veterans Home failed these families. The governor is confident that Attorney General Raoul and the families who suffered as a result of the Legionnaire’s outbreak at Quincy will reach a fair resolution in these cases.
1) The governor has no formal role in negotiating Court of Claims settlements. That’s up to the attorney general as the state’s chief legal officer. I suspected last year that the plaintiffs didn’t want to negotiate a settlement with the state until after a bill was passed and enacted in November (over Gov. Rauner’s eventual veto) to increase the payout limit from $100,000 to $2 million.
2) Once all parties agree to a settlement, the payout then has to be appropriated by the General Assembly and signed into law. I suppose they could put a ballpark placeholder figure into an approp bill, but I don’t think that’s ever been done before and I also don’t think they should ever attempt it. Bad precedent.
I know emotions are probably still raw, but there’s a process here and it should be followed. The governor shouldn’t try to interfere with a duly elected AG and if the plaintiffs have a beef, it’s with Raoul.
* As this post’s headline notes, there was some other news in that piece…
Meanwhile, a criminal investigation into the state’s handling of multiple Legionnaires’ outbreaks — announced during the height of the gubernatorial campaign — remains active, according to the attorney general’s office.
Before he took the oath of office in January, Gov. J.B. Pritzker was paying out of his own pocket for a national search to find the next head of the long-troubled Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
Pritzker’s transition team signed a $50,000 contract in early January with Massachusetts-based Koya Leadership Partners to conduct a nationwide search for a new leader for the child welfare agency, which has churned through 14 previous directors since 2003. “The governor wanted to get the search for key positions in his Cabinet underway as soon as possible so he covered the cost of the search as part of his transition,” spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh said.
The move is another example of the first-term Democrat and billionaire heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune using his vast personal wealth to help fund functions of state government. Pritzker has also boosted salaries of some members of his administration with his own money. Because those payments aren’t coming from state coffers, they’re not subject to open records laws, raising potential transparency issues.
While the transition committee is not subject to the state Freedom of Information Act, the Pritzker administration provided a copy of the search contract to the Tribune. […]
“The blurring of the public and private spheres and public and private funds for government functions is problematic,” [Alisa Kaplan, policy director for Reform for Illinois, formerly the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform] said. “And the extent to which the governor — this governor — can engage in it is raising all kinds of questions policymakers will have to address at some point.”
The election of J.B. Pritzker as governor in November ushered in a sense of euphoria for Democrats after four years of Republican Bruce Rauner, resulting in an ambitious first-year legislative agenda.
But with the first spring session under Pritzker’s watch nearing its scheduled adjournment at the end of May, many rank-and-file Democrats are concerned that the new administration’s big ideas have largely remained just that, rather than passable legislation. Republicans also have noticed the Democratic discontent.
“I can’t say what’s going on in the second floor (governor’s office), but there’s a common theme among the rank-and-file members and people who work in the building, and that is how are we going to land this ship?” said House Republican leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs.
To be certain, Republicans were unlikely to go along with many of the Democratic governor’s proposals, which include changing the state income tax system, legalizing marijuana, instituting sports betting and enacting a host of smaller-bore tax increases on such items as cigarettes, plastic bags and successful video-gaming businesses. There’s also the need for a tax-supported public works plan, which GOP leaders support — but not in its current form.
But it is the consternation among Democrats that is the chief challenge to Pritzker’s agenda. Midterm dissatisfaction with Republican leadership at the state, congressional and national levels resulted in Democratic supermajorities in the Illinois House and Senate that were expected to easily carry the governor’s agenda.
Yet the political lift this spring is proving to be a heavy one, and the outcome could set the tone for Pritzker’s term.
It has sometimes been painful to watch. And a whole lot of work remains to be done in the next 15 days.
I often tell newbies in January that while May 31st seems like a long way away, one day before you know it you’re gonna wake up and it’s May 15th and you’d better be prepared to go into those last two weeks. May 15th was yesterday.
“There’s a lot of conversation that’s going on right now” about the issues, Gov. J.B. PRITZKER told reporters Wednesday when asked about the looming deadline.
“Actually, I feel quite good about our prospects for getting everything passed this month,” Pritzker said. “There’s some negotiation that needs to take place. … My door is open to those folks that want to come in and talk about a particular provision.” […]
State Sen. TERRY LINK, D-Vernon Hills, has been in the Senate for more than two decades, and thinks things are on track to be completed this month.
“I’ve been here long enough to realize that on May 31, we’ve passed things that people didn’t believe we could pass, that they thought were dead,” Link said. “And I learned that nothing dies in Springfield. Things are on life support, but nothing ever dies.
“We’re having a lot of meetings, a lot of discussions,” he said, and he thinks Pritzker’s agenda will get done. He said it’s helpful that for the budget year starting July 1, Pritzker doesn’t want a general tax increase — like on income or sales — and some potential money generators are “sin taxes” on things like gambling or cigarettes. He also said an infrastructure program can be passed, with talks about funding involving “a lot of other things” besides a gas tax increase. He said he’d be surprised if the gas tax increase ends up being as high as 25 cents a gallon.
The clock is running out, but there’s still enough time to pull it all together. I wouldn’t want to be the person responsible for doing all this heavy lifting right now, though.
Thursday, May 16, 2019 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Illinoisans already pay the nation’s 10th-highest gas tax burden. A look at the hidden layers of taxes and fees in the typical Chicago gas tax receipt shows why. Under a proposal to hike the state motor fuel tax to 44 cents per gallon, Chicagoans would pay a whopping $15.30 in total taxes and fees on 15 gallons of gas.
Unfortunately, discussions in Springfield surrounding a new capital bill have centered around making this receipt even uglier for drivers statewide.
The Illinois House and Senate chief sponsors of the Reproductive Health Act (RHA) were joined [yesterday] afternoon by a number of other legislators and advocates to call on the Illinois House to advance critical legislation that protects access to reproductive health care in our state. The RHA – introduced in February – repeals long-blocked abortion laws in Illinois and assures that all reproductive care (including abortion care) is treated as health care. The two chief sponsors will be joined by Handmaids representing characters from Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel. The Handmaids have been standing vigil in the Capitol for weeks to support the legislation.
“As we saw last week in Georgia and this week in Alabama, powerful forces are coordinating around the country in a full-scale attack on women’s health care – especially reproductive health care,” said State Representative Kelly Cassidy, the lead sponsor of the RHA in the Illinois House. “These anti-abortion activists are pushing hard to get a case to the Supreme Court to overturn Roe. We must act in Illinois – with urgency – to pass the RHA and protect women’s access to health care.”
The Reproductive Health Act was introduced in February by Representative Cassidy and Senator Melinda Bush in the Illinois Senate. The measure has been stalled in the House since that time. The legislators expressed concern today that women’s health care is not being prioritized in the legislative session that ends on May 31.
“Women in Illinois cannot wait to see what the Supreme Court does with our basic rights – including the ability to decide when (and if) to become a parent,” added Senator Bush. “Fearing this moment, women came out in large numbers in November 2018 to vote. We need to represent these voices here in Springfield and pass the RHA. I look forward to the debate in the Senate.”
Also addressing the event was State Representative Emanuel “Chris” Welch, chief co-sponsor of the RHA and Chair of the Executive Committee of the House. Representative Welch joined the sponsors in calling for the bill to be moved to the Executive Committee so that it can move to the floor of the House for a final vote.
“The RHA should be in the House Executive Committee where it will get a full hearing and a vote to go to the floor,” said Representative Welch. “With cases headed to the Supreme Court that could reverse Roe, it is time for us to act.”
One person wasn’t mentioned in all of this: House Speaker Michael Madigan. MJM could move that bill to House Exec because it’s now in Rules after languishing in subcommittee for months.
“Since that day, each week has brought a new horror, a new reason why this is so much more important,” Cassidy said. “I woke up this morning to yet more news of how close we are to losing our right to self-determination, our right to access true reproductive health care.”
She was referencing a law signed Wednesday by Alabama’s governor effectively banning abortion in the state. Other states, including Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi and Ohio, have passed restrictive abortion laws this year.
Some of those states aim to get their laws before the U.S. Supreme Court in hopes of overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case that legalized abortion nationwide.
Sara Hutchinson Ratcliffe, vice president of Catholics for Choice, called those bills “onerous and cruel.” The group supports the Reproductive Health Act.
Pro-pot legislators are still hoping to pass a bill legalizing recreational marijuana by the end of the month, but they are heading back to the negotiating table in hopes of stubbing out a flurry of objections.
Opponents of the wide-ranging bill had free rein to voice their displeasure at a lengthy Senate committee hearing in Springfield on Wednesday — and they aired concerns about everything from how law enforcement will measure impairment in drivers to which marijuana offenses should be expunged to whether or not weed causes erectile dysfunction.
* Dr. Albert Mensah said more than that about ED. Check out this testimony…
What also isn’t brought up, the American Academy of Family Practice, the actual pamphlet that was brought out last month, showed that individuals have erectile dysfunction, impotency, immotile sperm and a lack of capacity to enjoy sexual intercourse, to achieve orgasm. And these erectile dysfunctions are not reversible with treatments like Viagra or any of these other remedies.
Um, OK. I couldn’t find that pamphlet online. Maybe one of you commenters can continue the search.
* Dr. Mensah told the committee he looks at the “underlying cause” of various ailments and has several patients with schizophrenia. His website says he’s “board certified in integrative pediatrics by the American Association of Integrative Medicine.” That association is listed on QuackWatch.org under “Non-Recognized Accrediting/Credentialing/Licensing Agencies.”
Mensah runs Mensah Medical, a clinic that uses “targeted Advanced Nutrient Therapy, an effective and natural alternative to prescription medication” to treat a variety of things…
They also conveniently sell their products online.
It’s very possible he could be a genius and way ahead of his time. But I can tell you that if smoking weed commonly caused irreversible and untreatable ED, few men would ever so much as touch it.
In a report released today, the Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability at the Civic Federation announced its support for Governor Pritzker’s recommended FY2020 budget, because it represents a workable short-term plan to move Illinois forward. The Federation is encouraged by the Governor’s decision to not take a partial pension holiday in FY2020. However, significant concerns persist regarding aggressive revenue assumptions at the core of the proposal and the adequacy of the Governor’s long-term plan to deal with the bill backlog and pension obligations.
The Governor has described his proposed budget as a bridge to financial stability, based on expected implementation of a graduated income tax structure in 2021 and resulting infusion of new revenues. The Civic Federation has continued to express concerns that state and local fiscal conditions are deteriorating at a pace that requires more immediate attention.
“As proposed, the budget represents a relatively rickety financial bridge—though it has been significantly strengthened in recent days,” said Civic Federation President Laurence Msall. “The General Assembly is approaching the deadline to pass several components upon which this budget and the Governor’s long-term plan rely, and revenue projections attached to many of the proposals remain uncertain. Accordingly, we encourage the Governor and General Assembly to develop a comprehensive Plan B that does not involve shorting the State’s pensions or running up the backlog of bills.”
Governor Pritzker presented his first budget, for FY2020, in February 2019. In order to close a projected $3.2 billion deficit, that version relied heavily on a seven-year extension of the State’s statutory pension funding plan. The Civic Federation would have been unable to support that proposal, because it would have further jeopardized the financial condition of Illinois’ severely underfunded retirement systems.
In early May 2019, the Governor announced that his office would no longer pursue the partial pension holiday following a surge in revenues in April 2019 that led to higher revenue projections for the current and upcoming fiscal years. While supporting that decision, the Federation is concerned that April’s strong revenue performance might not be sustainable and therefore continues to recommend a series of steps to further stabilize the State’s operating budget and establish a balanced financial path out of its ongoing fiscal crisis.
The report reinforces many previous Civic Federation recommendations, including limiting net agency spending, consolidating and streamlining units of local government (including pension funds) and restructuring Illinois’ public university system, among others. Further, the Federation cautions against many past bad practices such as relying on accounting gimmicks, reducing or extending the pension funding target and ignoring the financial condition of Illinois’ local governments.
“The State of Illinois is not alone in its financial challenges,” said Msall. “Communities across the State are struggling under the weight of their pension and debt obligations. The Civic Federation calls on the Governor and General Assembly to build on the proposed budget to move more directly and effectively in its assistance to and consolidation of local governments throughout Illinois.”
After accounting for $800 million of unexpected revenue announced in May 2019[2] and the Governor’s cancelation of a plan to extend the pension funding target, the FY2020 budget has an expected surplus of approximately $92 million.
The $39.7 billion revised revenue estimate for FY2020 represents an increase of $858 million, or 2.2%, from $38.8 billion in FY2019.[3] The increase is composed of four factors:
A forecast of strong economic growth leading to a $366 million increase in existing revenues;
Policy changes expected to bring in an additional $350 million from existing sources;
New revenues of $401 million; and
A shift of $259 million in cigarette tax revenues out of the General Funds.
The total one-time revenue included in the FY2020 budget is $525 million. Of this, $350 million derives from sources new to Illinois: legalized sports wagering and recreational cannabis.
Under the revised proposal General Funds expenditures increase by $287 million, or 0.7%, to $39.6 billion from $39.3 billion in FY2019.
Net agency expenditures increase by $211 million, or 0.8% from FY2019, but this increase excludes Medicaid spending that is shifted to a special account outside of General Funds.
The shift of Medicaid spending includes the cigarette taxes, $65 million from new tobacco-related taxes and $390 million from a new assessment on managed care organizations that goes directly to the other fund, relieving pressure on General Funds.
If the portion of shifted expenditures traditionally associated with General Funds is included, net agency expenditures grow by 2.0% over FY2019.
Thursday, May 16, 2019 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Three Georgia legislators send a message of support to Illinois lawmakers urging passage of the Reproductive Health Act to protect access to health care for women in Illinois and across the nation.
Learn more about the Reproductive Health Act here.
