Screaming at the wind
Monday, Apr 8, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* A member of the Eastern Bloc…
State Representative Darren Bailey (R-Louisville), announced today that he is drafting legislation to block the taxpayer funded sex-change operations in Illinois being pushed by Gov. JB Pritzker. The move to allow Medicaid funding of such operations will be taken up under new policies being established by the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS).
“This is yet another example of why people in our part of the state want to separate from Chicago,” declared Rep. Darren Bailey. “The Governor says that supporting the LGBTQ community by this publicly funded kind of operation is the right thing to do. Well, I disagree!” […]
“We do not need the government intruding on our private lives and at the same time we absolutely do not need government spending our tax dollars on programs that are morally offensive to most people,” Bailey added. “First it was the mandating of teaching LGBTQ history to our children and grandchildren and now it’s forcing taxpayers to pay for elective surgeries for sex changes. When will this stop?”
* From the governor’s press release…
“Expanding Medicaid to cover gender affirming surgeries is cost effective, helps avoid long term health consequences, and most importantly is the right thing to do. With continued attacks coming from Washington, this administration will always stand with our transgender community and their right to lead safe and healthy lives.” [said Gov. Pritzker]
The Department has begun developing administrative rules to offer this coverage. Input from stakeholders and the public will be considered during the public comment period. The Department anticipates coverage will become available to Medicaid members upon adoption of the administrative rule, which is likely to be this summer.
Under the proposed coverage rules, Medicaid members age 21 and older who are diagnosed with gender dysphoria will now be eligible for genital and breast-related surgeries.
In studying other state policies, the Department found that in addition to addressing the struggles associated with gender dysphoria, gender affirming surgery is also cost-effective. HFS determined that the policies of the State of Vermont particularly offer a comprehensive and appropriate approach and has been using these as a model.
Coverage for these procedures serve to prevent negative health impacts – such as depression and suicide. Seventeen states and the District of Columbia offer these services and have not reported significant cost increases. The most recent data available shows that 1,400 of the state’s 3.1 million Medicaid members are diagnosed with gender dysphoria, and last year around 2,500 prescriptions for hormone therapy were covered.
“For those facing gender dysphoria, every day can be a painful challenge,” said Theresa Eagleson, director of HFS. “Helping these individuals overcome their struggles through compassionate and comprehensive treatment is the right approach for them and for Illinois. They may not be a major portion of our total Medicaid membership, but the coverage can be so vital for everyone confronting this.”
The Department’s announcement comes during the week of International Transgender Day of Visibility, which is observed on March 31 every year.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2016 set rules to require access to gender transition services. However, the previous administration in Illinois did not create the policies and coverage requirements to accomplish this.
39 Comments  
|
Failing to learn from the past
Monday, Apr 8, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Gov. Pritzker is proposing a $52 million operating increase for higher education while cutting pension payments by $13 million. So, while Sen. Rose is being a bit hyberbolic here, in a system that’s already severely underfunded, that $13 million shortfall will grow exponentially in the coming years…
Even though the governor is proposing a decrease in how much the state contributes to the State Universities Retirement System, total higher education funding is up from $3.86 billion in fiscal year 2019. Pritzker and university officials said the additional state funding is an investment in stability for the institutions.
State Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, said a 5 percent increase that fails to address pension costs doesn’t make sense. Growing pension costs will eventually eat up that increase. Pritzker’s proposed budget earmarks $1.63 billion for SURS, that’s down from $1.65 billion in fiscal year 2019 and about even with $1.63 billion in fiscal year 2018.
“When you go back to ‘05, ‘06, that skipped pension payment was a third of our unfunded pension liability now,” Rose said. “Our pension payments in 2002 were $2.2 billion a year, now they’re like $9.5 billion a year. OK, that is coming from somewhere and it’s coming out of higher ed and K-12 and everything else and ultimately comes out of the taxpayers’ pockets.”
“I would caution all the folks back home who got excited about this 5 percent increase for higher ed and just let them know that you don’t get there without this pension, whatever it is,” Rose said. “The retired teachers are saying it’s a skip, the [Illinois Education Association] and the [Illinois Federation of Teachers] are a little leery about it. I want to know a lot about it.”
14 Comments
|
Question of the day
Monday, Apr 8, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Robert Feder asked some prominent Chicago political reporters to offer predictions about and advice to Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot. Here’s Mary Ann Ahern…
Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot’s transition will no doubt be different, since she is not coming from a top post at the White House. Mayor Emanuel’s initial months with the press were rough, as he seemed to think he was still in that White House bubble. Perhaps you recall those moments when we tangled after he walked away after taking only a few questions, or when I asked him if his children were going to go to the University of Chicago Lab School and he took off his microphone and walked out of the interview — then turned around the next day and called another TV reporter to tell him his children would go to U of C.
Over his eight years in office, he adjusted that style and to this day offers off the record sessions with reporters and is less combative.
Lightfoot has needed the media through the campaign to get out her message, but we’ll see if that access continues. Of course my hope is it will, but I also realize campaigning and governing are far different. I would think all of us who cover City Hall — print, radio, TV — will be quite competitive on wanting to know how she plans to carry out her mandate for change. Since there really are no deadlines any more, social media will drive the coverage — as reporters look to be the first to know the mayor-elect’s next moves.
* Derrick Blakley…
As for as City Hall’s operation, under Mayor Emanuel, reporters often got responses to questions from departmental spokesmen at the very last minute, just before deadline. It happened so often it seemed to be something of a strategy, but it actually hurt the administration because the responses couldn’t be thoughtfully considered or integrated into a story. What’s more, responses to FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] requests were painfully slow. Mayor-elect Lightfoot has promised openness and transparency. Changing these practices would be one way she could show it.
* The Question: Your own advice for the incoming mayor?
28 Comments
|
* Kankakee Daily Journal…
CSL Behring is in the early phases of a 1.8 million-square-foot expansion which will easily require an investment far north of $1 billion.
Although employment projections have not been publicized yet, there is speculation it could come close to doubling the existing 1,600-member workforce.
The Australian-based pharmaceutical company has not asked for a penny of financial assistance or tax breaks from any governmental body.
It has made one seemingly simple request. This request was made 16 months ago, and as of this week, it still has not been satisfied.
CSL wants a traffic light put at its pending new entrance at the intersection at the Lowe’s Hardware store. The company has told the Illinois Department of Transportation it will pay for the stoplight.
Incredibly, a state thirsting for manufacturing development has yet to OK what seems to be a simple request. […]
Abell said CSL is making the largest investment anywhere in the state and perhaps beyond and yet, their request cannot be resolved.
“We can’t get a three-way light to become a four-way light.” […]
Kankakee County Board Chairman Andy Wheeler said he’s been calling IDOT in Springfield, local state political leaders and anyone else he can think of to get the situation rectified.
I’d have to ban myself from my own blog if I wrote what I really think about this level of ineptitude.
*** UPDATE *** It should never have come to this, but I’m glad to see it’s finally being “expedited.” From Sen. Toi Hutchinson’s Facebook page...
This afternoon, I reached out to the Illinois Department of Transportation to receive an update on the situation with CSL Behring’s expansion plans in Bradley.
I was assured the stoplight project would be approved and the agency is currently working to expedite that approval.
53 Comments
|
Mark Brown on Andre Vasquez
Monday, Apr 8, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Leave it to the inimitable Mark Brown to write a thoughtful column which goes beyond the “ZOMG! Commies are taking over Chicago!” narrative…
There’s never been a Chicago politician who quite fits the profile of Andre Vasquez, the former battle rapper and current democratic socialist who just took down veteran 40th Ward Ald. Patrick O’Connor, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s city council floor leader.
That probably scares some people.
But those folks might want to nod to the wisdom of the 54 percent of voters in the North Side ward who waded through an onslaught of attack ads and concluded they have nothing to fear from the 39-year-old AT&T account manager, his music or his politics.
I stopped by Vasquez’s campaign office to satisfy my own curiosity about this new breed of aldermen. Vasquez will be part of a Chicago City Council bloc of at least five, probably six democratic socialists who, if nothing else, will alter the debate on a range of issues. […]
“I think even within democratic socialism there’s such a spectrum of different folks, right? I tend to be a counterbalance to some of the louder stuff, the louder hardcore, what some would view as extreme,” said Vasquez, noting that he sometimes takes flak within democratic socialist circles because he’s never read Marx and doesn’t “bleed rose red.”
“Everyone’s got their part to play,” he said. “Somebody’s going to be the loud one in the room because you need that kind of impetus to move things forward. And someone’s got to be the one who’s making deals on legislation. You can’t have ideological fights and think you’re going to come up with solutions.”
The thing that separates Brown from a lot of other political columnists is he is still a reporter at heart. He does the legwork you won’t see from some others. Anyway, go read the whole thing.
* Related…
* Rodriguez-Sanchez, Cappleman, Hairston lead in close races
* Luis Gutierrez Says Rahm Promised To Give Daughter 30th Ward Seat Last Summer — But When She Said No, Things Got Ugly
21 Comments
|
* AP…
Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza has suspended $5.7 million in payments on an online state-employee health insurance program, a project so botched it also prompted her to begin ordering performance reports for all large state technology contracts.
Mendoza told The Associated Press she will review the contract with Georgia-based Morneau Shepell before deciding on payment. She plans a Monday announcement on that and the new requirement that state agencies complete annual reports for the public on the progress of their information technology deals exceeding $5 million.
A state audit last week found that the previous administration’s contract with Morneau Shepell for a custom-benefit portal that was supposed to save the state $500 million a year was so sloppily executed that the program, which auditors determined could have been done in house, is costing taxpayers $10 million extra a year and still isn’t delivering the services promised. […]
The Democrat’s Monday announcement will detail her “IT Milestone Report” for contracts over $5 million, which will be made public. Not only will it require updates on the purchased work’s progress, but agencies will have to confirm that everyone involved in contract decision-making has completed required paperwork disclosing potential conflicts of interest. And if a contract doesn’t include a provision for ensuring minority- and women-owned business participation in the work, the agency must explain why.
* Press release excerpt…
MyBenefits shifted state program administration from CMS offices in Springfield to a Morneau Shepell call center in Atlanta where the Canadian company created between 100 and 115 new jobs.
Following its rollout, MyBenefits users soon reported wrongful termination of health insurance for new retirees; unexplained changes in life insurance policies; difficulty accessing flex spending accounts; difficulty receiving claims reimbursements; and payroll errors.
Mendoza’s office will now suspend over $5.7 million in payments to the vendor pending further review. Next steps regarding outstanding payments to the company are to be determined, Comptroller Mendoza said.
“What happens next is going to be a balancing act. Taxpayers must be represented and employees and retirees need continuity when it comes to their benefits, especially health care. Should the contract be renegotiated or invalidated? Do we bring these functions back in house? What’s clear is Morneau Shepell failed to meet performance standards, and they owe it to the State of Illinois and the nearly 500,000 MyBenefits users to make this situation right as soon as possible,” Comptroller Mendoza said.
Mendoza’s office will also implement new contract reporting standards for Information Technology vendor agreements over $5 million. State agencies will be required to provide certifications that all conflict of interest disclosures have been submitted by state employees. If minority contracting goals aren’t included in a contract, agencies will have to explain why they have been omitted.
Most significantly, the Comptroller will implement an Information Technology Milestone report that, for the first time, will require state agencies to publish progress and performance updates on ongoing IT initiatives.
Comptroller Mendoza said both state agencies and the IT vendor community need to work quickly to restore confidence and integrity to the contract procurement and performance process.
“Over the last four years, the state has expended hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on IT projects, like MyBenefits, with little or nothing to show for it. Its past time to bring more transparency and accountability to a function that ultimately costs the state over $1.5 billion each year,” Mendoza said.
28 Comments
|
Support House Bill 1613
Monday, Apr 8, 2019 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Comments Off
|
It’s just a bill
Monday, Apr 8, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* We talked last week about how Rep. Curtis Tarver (D-Chicago) denied writing a tweet during the 2018 campaign about the need for rent control. Tarver, who voted against Rep. Will Guzzardi’s bill in subcommittee to lift the state’s ban on rent control ordinances, claimed that a staffer had written the tweet and he was opposed to rent control. He then claimed in another tweet that he’d never been in favor of rent control.
Oops…
* Moving right along, this bill was vetoed last year by Gov. Rauner at the behest of local GOP honchos…
A revised plan to make it easier for McHenry County voters to abolish local townships is now headed to the Illinois Senate.
The plan, approved by the Illinois House this week, and also would require townships in Lake and McHenry counties to dissolve road districts that maintain less than 15 miles. The earlier version of the proposal was vetoed by then-Gov. Bruce Rauner in the last legislative session.
State Rep. David McSweeney, who introduced and championed the plan, said he is hopeful that this time the bill will become law.
“It has bipartisan support,” said McSweeney, a Barrington Hills Republican, noting that state Sen. Terry Link, a Vernon Hills Democrat, likely will be sponsoring the Senate version of the bill as he did last year. “I don’t want to be presumptuous but I hope the governor would sign it.”
* Interesting…
The state’s environmental regulatory body was prevented from taking measures to address greenhouse gases in Illinois for more than 20 years.
That might soon end after the Senate voted Thursday on a bill led by Sen. Laura Ellman, a Democrat from Naperville, to repeal a law enacted in 1998 that blocked the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and the Pollution Control Board from introducing or ratifying rules comparable to those adopted at an international conference in Kyoto, Japan, in the late 1990s. […]
“This (1998 law) is basically, you can consider it a gag rule for Illinois. This prevents us as a state from proposing or doing anything as far as greenhouse gases,” Ellman said. “It doesn’t change the way that we have to comply with federal law at all.” […]
“The state can eventually enact new regulations on our power industry, which right now is 40 percent fossil fuel-based, and we have serious concerns about the direction that could take for our consumers,” Plummer said. “Right now, the state of Illinois needs to explore every source (of energy) it can, but by allowing the IEPA to come and set new standards, it’s going to have a significant impact on our power supply for communities, especially in downstate Illinois.”
The state currently produces vastly more electricity than it consumes.
* This bill has been dead for years…
Rick Chignoli, owner of Chignoli Auto Sales in Joliet, said he does not like the idea of his business being open on Sundays at all.
Chignoli said it’s been his experience that customers use Sundays as an opportunity to shop on the lot on their own without salespeople bothering them. He also said it’s nice to have one guaranteed day off, especially since staff for the family owned and operated business, which has been open for 45 years, comprises nearly all of his family members.
“It would be really difficult for me to tell them that they have to work on a Sunday,” Chignoli said.
Chignoli’s comments come after State Sen. Jim Oberweis, R-Sugar Grove, proposed Senate Bill 22, which would repeal the 1982 prohibition of dealerships selling cars on Sundays. The bill, which has been proposed in the Illinois General Assembly for six years in a row so far, would allow for the sale of motor vehicles on any six days of the week chosen by the business owner.
* More bills…
* Proposed Illinois law would require sex education programs to focus more on consent
* Bill seeks to phase out subminimum wage pay in Illinois by 2024
* Illinois casinos, horse racetracks wager their financial futures on sports betting
4 Comments
|
What happened after the 2011 tax hike?
Monday, Apr 8, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Better Government Association took a deep dive into IRS tax data and found that this happened after Illinois raised its income tax at the beginning of 2011 and before it partially rolled back at the end of 2014…
Over that time frame, the total number of federal tax filers in the state grew by just 9,000, an almost imperceptible one-tenth of 1 percent. But the number of filers reporting adjusted gross income between $100,000 and $200,000 grew by 16 percent, while the number reporting income in excess of $200,000 rose by 29 percent.
The wealthiest got even wealthier, with 3,618 Illinoisans reporting $1 million-plus incomes in 2014, up 25 percent from four years earlier. Collectively, the adjusted gross income of those earning more than $1 million annually jumped 37.5 percent over the period.
* So, who left Illinois?…
The portrait of those who left the state during the four years of the income tax hike is dominated by the young and those with modest earnings. Records show about 55 percent of departees were under 35 years of age, and more than 60 percent reported incomes of less than $50,000. […]
The IRS data do show a leap in net out-migration from Illinois in most years after 2012. Yet the biggest jump occurred following the partial rollback of the tax hike, underscoring the difficulty in making cause-and-effect arguments about population loss and tax burdens. […]
The declining number of Illinois tax filings is most pronounced downstate, records show. Macon County recorded a 6 percent drop in tax filers between 2011 and 2014, a period during which food processing giant ADM moved its headquarters and top executives from Decatur to Chicago. Even so, Macon experienced a 17 percent jump during those years in tax filers reporting income higher than $100,000. The tally of those reporting income below $100,000 fell 9 percent.
A similar dynamic played out in rural counties along or near the Indiana and Kentucky borders. Total filings dropped by a range of 1 percent to 6 percent between 2011 and 2014, while the percentage of those reporting six-figure incomes grew.
People tend to leave when they can no longer afford to stay. Or, in the case of young people, when they find opportunities elsewhere (which is why a properly functioning higher education system is so important).
There’s a whole lot more, so click here to read the rest.
37 Comments
|
|
Comments Off
|
* Several newspapers editorialized over the weekend in favor of a Fair Maps constitutional amendment. Here’s the Dispatch-Argus…
A whopping 70 percent of Illinois residents support independent maps, according to the Paul Simon Public Policy institute. But poll numbers are no substitute for the combined voices of Illinoisans demanding action. It was, after all, a citizen call-in campaign that convinced state leaders to end the record budget impasse.
Many Quad-Citians who joined that effort are part of a cadre of volunteers who helped collect nearly 600,000 signatures to put independent maps on the ballot in 2014. Only the Illinois Supreme Court stood in the way of a vote.
Now reformers are back with a new amendment designed to survive a court challenge and put an end to politicians’ “incumbency-protection racket.” But time is running out to keep it alive. The deadline to get the measure on the Nov. 3, 2020 ballot, is May 3. If it doesn’t make it, voters could be condemned to contend for another decade under the old, unfair and broken system.
1) A “citizen call-in campaign” ended the impasse? Huh?
2) The Supreme Court was just following precedent and pretty clear constitutional language. Proponents had devised yet another Rube Goldberg machine that couldn’t pass muster.
3) The deadline to get the proposal on the 2020 ballot is next spring, not next month.
* SJ-R…
We’re disappointed that Cullerton, typically the grown-up in the room on important issues, hasn’t assigned the proposal to a committee, a step that would allow hearings to begin. It has overwhelming support in his chamber: 36 senators from both parties, including Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, and Steve McClure, R-Springfield, have signed on as co-sponsors. That’s the necessary three-fifths support it would need to pass. The House version so far is supported only by Republicans.
Cullerton loves almost nothing more than the remap process. He lives for it, even.
* Sun-Times…
Gerrymandering has not skewed fair representation in Illinois as much as it has in some other states. For example, Democratic candidates for the Illinois House got 58 percent of the vote in November, and the party wound up with 60 percent of the seats.
But as long as gerrymandering remains the political norm — red state or blue state — democracy is under attack.
Politicians shouldn’t choose their voters. Period. But convincing Cullerton and Madigan to pass a constitutional amendment is just not in the cards. They are who they are. Gov. Pritzker has pledged to veto a 2021 remap bill that isn’t drawn using Fair Map principles. That’s pretty much our only hope to get something done.
* Meanwhile, back to the SJ-R…
Pritzker wants approval this year of a proposed amendment to change the state’s income tax from a flat rate to graduated rates that would require wealthy Illinoisans to pay more. He argues that a graduated tax is needed to raise the billions necessary to solve the state’s many fiscal woes. His long-term plans for the state hinge on this change. But voters can’t weigh in on that until November 2020, either.
Illinois legislators historically have not been great stewards of taxpayer money, yet Pritzker is asking us to trust them with even more of it. How’s this for a deal? Pritzker wins legislative approval of the income tax amendment and throws his weight behind an amendment that would create an independent commission to redraw legislative maps. We call that a win-win.
* But David Greising, the president of the Better Government Association, has a different idea…
The rules governing the creation of electoral maps should be fixed. But the one that bears the most direct correlation to Pritzker’s progressive tax amendment is this: the clause that has protected pensions from any meaningful reforms for decades now.
The Illinois Constitution’s best-known codicil is the one that declares pensions are a contract that can never be “diminished or impaired.” Those words have stood in the way of several fair-minded reform plans, including one passed by the Democratic-led Legislature in 2013 that the Illinois Supreme Court later killed.
Adding a change to the pension clause, alongside the plan for reform of the tax system, would constitute a classic negotiating strategy: The progressive tax appeals to liberals and the pension fix to more fiscally conservative voters.
This is so easy to say from a tall ivory tower, but wake me when Mr. Griesling can identify the 71 House members and 36 Senators willing to do such a thing. I mean, they don’t yet even have enough votes for the progressive income tax proposal.
33 Comments
|
* We shouldn’t be so excited about stuff like this, but we live in Illinois, where higher education has been hit with funding cuts since Rod Blagojevich was governor and then everything was made worse by the impasse…
Representatives of the Illinois Community College Board told a Senate appropriations committee Thursday they were looking forward to a period of stability in higher education after weathering several years of state government dysfunction.
“I’m excited to come before you and not be talking about drastic budget cuts,” ICCB Executive Director Brian Durham told the committee, noting that community colleges have “continued a rich history of student success” despite “the challenges and uncertainty of a prolonged budget impasse, and declining state support.”
The ICCB’s total request is level with Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s budget proposal, which includes approximately $388.5 million from all funds. The total general revenue fund expenditures of $334 million represent an approximate 5 percent increase from a year ago for the community college system, which serves more than 675,000 students at 48 institutions.
Durham touted the governor’s proposal for adding $13.9 million into the system for community college operating grants and adult education programs.
“The governor’s investment in community colleges recognizes that we are the largest provider of public workforce training in the state,” Durham said.
Discuss.
7 Comments
|
Lightfoot heading to Springfield
Monday, Apr 8, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sun-Times…
Gov. J.B. Pritzker predicted Sunday he’ll have “a great relationship” with Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot — one that should certainly improve on the frosty four years endured by their predecessors.
Chicago’s incoming mayor dined with Illinois’ new governor late last week, days after Lightfoot’s landslide victory. Pritzker and First Lady M.K. Pritzker invited Lightfoot and her spouse, Amy Eshleman, to their Chicago home for dinner Friday, Lightfoot’s press secretary confirmed. […]
“The relationship is a good one,” Pritzker said Sunday at an unrelated news conference. “She, you know, is very much an advocate for so many things that I think we all care about for the city of Chicago. We’re going to have a great relationship.” […]
“We had four years where the mayor and the governor didn’t talk to one another,” Pritzker noted Sunday.
The governor also said Lightfoot is expected to visit Springfield on Wednesday. She’ll be staying until Thursday.
* From a Sun-Times article last week…
Illinois Senate President John Cullerton said fixing the funding of the Municipal and Laborers pension funds, as well as the city’s other financial problems, will remain a major issue. And he wants to talk to Lightfoot about whether there would be local taxation when it comes to legalizing marijuana or expanding gambling in Chicago.
As for the type of demeanor needed to work with Springfield’s leaders, Cullerton credited Emanuel’s ability to work behind-the-scenes with the four legislative leaders as well as rank-and-file lawmakers to push for legislation, including the school funding formula bill.
“He rarely came down here, but he had very good people, folks that represented him down here. The speaker and I would have frequent meetings at City Hall to kind of review legislation,” Cullerton said.
“When I meet with Lori I’ll urge her to do the same thing. The mayor is an important political figure in the state Legislature. … She has influence beyond the city borders,” Cullerton said. […]
“The speaker’s record of working with the mayors of Chicago who came over his tenure, at any shape or size, has been a good one and that will continue,” Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said.
* Amanda Vinicky asked her about Springfield leadership…
“I’m going to be mayor of the city, I’m not going to be part of the party apparatus. I’m obviously a Democrat. Been a lifelong Democrat. That’s where my political interests lie, in terms of the values and the issues that I hold dear. But I’m not going to be part of the broken machine. Ever. That’s not happening,” Lightfoot said.
In what would be another break from the past, Lightfoot also aims to distance herself from the state party, led by Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
She didn’t have a direct answer when asked whether Madigan should remain head of the Democratic Party of Illinois.
“I respect the speaker. But I believe in term limits,” Lightfoot said. “He is the leader and I’m going to do everything I can to have a good, productive working relationship with him. As with (Senate President John) Cullerton. But I’m sure there are going to be issues on which we disagree. But that too is part of the democratic process.”
* Related…
* Mayor Rahm Emanuel: “In our first meeting, as well as in subsequent conversations, I made it very clear to the Mayor-elect that I would not move forward on these projects if she wanted to delay the process. While I firmly believe in the value of these projects to the entire city, out of respect for her wishes and request, I will honor my commitment and delay the vote. I am hopeful that under the mayor-elect’s leadership of the new City Council these critical projects will move forward and bring the kind of investment and job creation that has been a hallmark of the past eight years.”
* Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot and Chicago aldermen beginning a beautiful friendship … or not
* Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot asks for talks by Finance Committee on Lincoln Yards, The 78
* Lightfoot calls for tapping the brakes on Lincoln Yards, 78—but will Emanuel comply?
* If Chicago is a black political mecca, why are African-Americans leaving the city in droves?
* Lightfoot ‘impressed’ with CPS’ Jackson; at CPD, Johnson ‘encouraged’ after chat
* Chicago mayor-elect pledges to strengthen ties with China
9 Comments
|
Separatist devises novel interpretation
Monday, Apr 8, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Rep. Brad Halbrook’s HR101, which would separate Chicago from Illinois…
WHEREAS, The City of Chicago is often bailed out by taxpayers in the rest of the State, such as the $221 million bailout for the CPS pension system that was signed into law last year;
* Politifact…
Halbrook’s resolution claims that “the City of Chicago is often bailed out by taxpayers in the rest of the State,” pointing to the funding CPS received in 2017 to help cover its pension costs.
We previously rated a similar claim False because the measure only provided CPS with financial support the state had long offered to all other districts in the state except Chicago.
Halbrook also upped the ante by contending the money for CPS wasn’t an isolated incident, with the state “often” throwing a lifeline to Chicago taxpayers at the expense of those Downstate. He offered no evidence, however, and academic research has found the opposite is true.
Experts we spoke with summed up the claim as a “myth,” “clearly not true” and “total nonsense.” We have a rating for claims that fit that description: Pants on Fire!
* But Rep. Halbrook has come up with a new explanation for why Downstate doesn’t get as much money as it appears…
It is, of course, true that downstate and central Illinois receive more direct state-level spending than income-tax dollars we pay. But this simple data point leaves out who actually benefits from that spending.
For example, tax dollars that flow to the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign are actually used to subsidize the education of students from throughout the state of Illinois.
A fair study would show that the benefit of higher-education spending is less to the county hosting the institution and far more to the residents of the counties sending students to those institutions.
*Sigh*
Using that logic, couldn’t you also point to the “free” room and board that Chicago-area residents are receiving from the state while locked up in Downstate prisons?
A “fair study” would show the benefits to the entire state of higher-education spending, but when you’re so focused on individual counties instead of the state as a whole, this is the silly “logic” you’re bound to come up with.
* Related…
* Davidsmeyer signs onto separation resolution for Chicago, sparks debate: “It’s more of a frustration of the policies than the true belief that Chicago and Illinois would be better off as separate states,” he said. “… I don’t believe that Chicago and the state of Illinois should be separated. Our relationship is mutually beneficial.”
41 Comments
|
* Illinois News Network…
Illinois will become the eight state to raise the legal age to 21 to buy or use tobacco products after Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed new legislation into law Sunday afternoon.
Flanked by lawmakers and public health advocates in Chicago, Pritzker signed the Tobacco 21 bill, which goes into effect July 1. The new law raises the legal age from 18 to purchase or use cigarettes or other tobacco products as well as vaping products. […]
Former Gov. Bruce Rauner vetoed similar legislation, saying people will just cross state lines to get tobacco products.
* Sun-Times…
Before signing the bill, Pritzker noted that 1.5 million more young people used e-cigarettes in 2018 than in 2016. “We’re dealing with an old problem in a new form,” he said.
* AP…
With Pritzker’s action, beginning on July 1, Illinois will join California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Oregon, Hawaii, Maine and Washington, D.C. in banning sales to those under 21. Included in the ban are cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco and nicotine-based products such as e-cigarettes and vaping materials.
The legislation also does away with penalties for underage possession. Businesses, however, will still face fines and other sanctions for selling to underage customers.
Supporters say the law will discourage teenagers from a deadly, lifelong habit. The legislation’s opponents contended if 18-year-olds can vote and serve in the military, they should be able to decide whether to smoke.
* Kevin Burns, JUUL Labs CEO…
Tobacco 21 laws fight one of the largest contributors to this problem – sharing by legal-age peers – and they have been shown to dramatically reduce youth-use rates.
* CBS 2…
“Often, we only think of the 18, 19 and 20-year olds being affected by this law, but actually the target age group is the 14-17-year olds. One of the points of this legislation is to remove the 18-year-old supplier from the high schools,” said Rep. Camille Lilly.
Ninety-five percent of smokers start before the age of 21, and in Illinois 5,700 teens become new daily smokers each year, according to a Cook County Health press release.
The City of Chicago raised the age to purchase tobacco products to 21 in 2016, becoming one of the first municipalities to tax e-cigarettes, ban tobacco discounts and require that clerks who ring up tobacco sales be at least 21-years-old. A similar Cook County law was set to go into effect in unincorporated areas June 1.
“As a result of the city’s robust policy agenda and enforcement actions, teen smoking in Chicago has reached a record low of six percent, dropping by more than half over the last six years,” Emanuel’s office stated in a press release.
18 Comments
|
* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…
Freshman Rep. Terra Costa Howard (D-Glen Ellyn) was reportedly none too pleased when Think Big Illinois began running TV ads in her district.
Think Big Illinois is the dark money group created to support Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s progressive income tax proposal. It started running ads in late March in four individual House districts a couple of days after an opposing dark money group called Ideas Illinois targeted the same Democratic House members: Costa Howard, Monica Bristow, Jonathan Carroll and Mary Edly-Allen.
One of the Ideas Illinois ads ended by telling viewers: “Tell Terra Costa Howard to vote ‘No’ on the jobs tax.” A pro-Pritzker Think Big Illinois ad told viewers: “Tell Terra Costa Howard to vote ‘Yes’ and put the middle class first.”
None of the four Democrats were given a heads-up about the pro-tax ads. And word got around that Rep. Costa Howard wasn’t happy, so a Think Big staffer reached out to her. I’m told she didn’t specifically demand that the ad be taken down, but the group pulled the spot off of cable TV almost right away.
Costa Howard scored a huge victory when she defeated Rep. Peter Breen last November. Breen (R-Lombard) is a nationally known pro-life attorney and by last year had become the House Republican floor leader. But Costa Howard beat him by a solid seven points.
Normally, legislators like Costa Howard are encouraged by staff to not stick out their necks on controversial legislation. Costa Howard voted against the $15 minimum wage bill, as did Reps. Bristow and Edly-Allen. The idea is to hold the seat for the party and let other, more politically secure members pick up the slack on the tough stuff.
But the Democrats have 74 seats and the governor needs 71 House votes to put his graduated income tax proposal on the ballot. Since the House Republicans are universally opposed, he can’t afford to lose more than three Democratic votes.
While the purpose behind the ads was to defend fellow Democrats against attacks from the other side, the spots can be perceived as Democrats being pressured in their own home districts by a billionaire governor to “put the middle class first” and vote for his tax plan. A vote against that plan, of course, would be perceived in that frame as a vote against “the middle class.”
Also, governors tend to inform legislators when they so much as travel to their districts. It’s seen as a common courtesy. Running TV ads without notice like this is simply unheard-of.
Even so, the other three Democrats said it was no big deal. Rep. Jonathan Carroll (D-Northbrook) said he has “no issues with the Think Big ads.” Carroll is the most liberal of the four. Rep. Carroll said he “appreciate(s) them engaging my constituents on an important issue.”
Rep. Mary Edly-Allen (D-Libertyville) said “I welcome the efforts to provide cover in my district on the issue.” The freshman claimed the local response to the ad “has been very positive and I look forward to continued discussions.”
Rep. Monica Bristow (D-Godfrey) echoed her colleagues, saying she “welcomed” the ads, and claiming “I think it’s important that my constituents hear the other side of the issue.”
And how are things going in the House? So far, House Speaker Michael Madigan hasn’t done much more than informally poll his members. He does that to see how many votes he (and the governor) will eventually need to find.
As of last week I was told, “We don’t have 60.” That’s far short of the 71 they need, but members aren’t really being pushed on it yet. Pritzker’s folks are having some informal chats with members.
To say that this is the governor’s top priority would be a huge understatement. Pritzker has staked his entire future on this proposal. His “bridge” budget proposal kicks the can in anticipation of eventual fiscal relief from his so-called $3.4 billion “Fair Tax.” It’s fully integrated into who and what he is.
If Pritzker fails, it will be the most spectacular flame-out since Republicans helped override Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of the 2017 tax hike. Come to think of it, this could be worse because that override saved Illinois from junk bond status and if this graduated tax thing goes down Pritzker could be the one tagged “Gov. Junk” unless they quickly switch their focus to a higher flat tax. And that’ll come with its own political nightmares.
Expect a hard, hard push.
39 Comments
|
|
Comments Off
|
|
Comments Off
|
|
Support CapitolFax.com
Visit our advertisers...
...............
...............
...............
...............
...............
...............
|
   
|
Hosted by MCS
SUBSCRIBE to Capitol Fax
Advertise Here
Mobile Version
Contact Rich Miller
|
