Thursday, Mar 31, 2011 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Myth: HB14 allows Illinois utilities to automatically raise rates every year.
Fact: That is not the case. Under HB14, utilities are required to submit to more frequent oversight (annual) and still are subject to stakeholder challenge and ICC prudence reviews over 8 ½ months.
Myth: HB14 eliminates much of the oversight currently provided by the ICC.
Fact: HB14 actually strengthens oversight because it makes the regulatory process a more frequent annual process that is transparent, allows discovery, holds utilities accountable for every dollar they invest and jobs they create. The ICC retains responsibility for reviewing utilities’ costs and setting rates.
Myth: HB14 provides utilities with higher-than-needed profits.
Fact: Under the Public Utilities Act, utilities are allowed to earn a reasonable rate of return. This is done through determining a return on the equity invested (ROE) for the utility. This rate has varied from rate case to rate case. This proposal only changes the way the ROE is set and is consistent with past ICC approved ROEs. Utilities still must establish that they managed work prudently at reasonable cost and stakeholder challenge and ICC prudence reviews remain.
Hallucinogenic powders with names like “Ivory Wave,” “White Lightning” and “Zoom” may soon be illegal in Illinois.
The Illinois House Wednesday passed House Bill 2089, which would make the substance MDPV – the key psychoactive ingredient in those powders – illegal.
“These substances are legal in many states, although they have effects similar to cocaine and methamphetamine,” said the sponsor, Rep. Wayne Rosenthal, R-Morrisonville. “They’re sold in convenience stores as ‘bath salts,’ ‘plant food,’ but a 1-ounce package … is sold for $60, and it’s just below the street value of cocaine.”
According to Ivory Wave’s website, the powders sell for $36.31 for 500 milligrams, which is less than 2 percent of one ounce. Bath salts for foot baths typically sell for between $2 and $5 an ounce.
The street value of a comparable amount of cocaine is $80 to $100, according to Montgomery County Sheriff Jim Vazzi, who brought the proposal to Rosenthal.
* The Question: Should this substance be banned? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please. Thanks.
* It blows my mind that almost nobody is considering a recount of Chicago’s miserable census results. The city is down 200,000 people, but when you drill down, the numbers just don’t look right to me and to others I’ve consulted. Yet, the media is meekly accepting the figures as carved in stone or something. From a Sun-Times editorial…
Admit it.
The news that Chicago was the only top 10 big city in the nation to see its population shrink over the last decade had you asking yourself:
What am I still doing there?
Or is it just us?
Detroit appealed its count 10 years ago and added 50,000 people. It’s planning yet another recount. New York City is likely to ask for a recount as well.
Yet, Mayor Daley is silent and the media just accepts the figures as gospel.
* For crying out loud, even Murphysboro is doing a recount. Suburban Westmont is also considering an appeal. It’s a pretty common thing. The city would have to pick up the cost, but the state might be convinced to kick in since Illinois narrowly missed out on keeping its 19 congressional seats intact.
Here are just a handful of stories from around the country about recounts…
* I told subscribers weeks ago that we might expect the General Assembly to use the long-dormant conference committee process to iron out differences between the House and Senate budget proposals. Senate President John Cullerton was the one who brought it up to me, but yesterday House Speaker Michael Madigan broached the topic as well, and in a way that appeared to be a shot at Cullerton…
Reconciling those, and therefore the different chamber’s budget bills, could be troublesome.
Madigan laid out one possibility Wednesday during the Elementary and Secondary Education Appropriations Committee. When the Senate and the House can’t come to some kind of agreement on a specific bill, five members from each chamber meet and try to hammer out the details in a conference committee.
Because the House’s $33.2 billion revenue projection is more conservative than the Senate’s $34.3 billion projection, Madigan said Senate Republicans might be inclined to side with the House in such a meeting.
“In the Senate, I think the people that want to raise the numbers would be the Democrats, and they would have three appointments on that conference committee, and they ought to be out voted,” Madigan said. “The report coming out of the conference committee should be for the numbers contained in the House bill(s).”
Actually, conference committees were used during the early 1990s. But the system got out of hand as lobbyists and members started inserting major legislative changes into long conference committee reports. So, it was stopped.
* But the scenario might not work as Madigan envisions. The Senate Republicans aren’t yet willing to completely abandon their Democratic colleagues and throw in their lot with the Speaker…
State Sen. Matt Murphy, R-Palatine, the Senate GOP’s budgeteer, said he’s not sure how a conference committee on budget legislation would play out.
His Republican colleagues in the Senate generally lean toward more conservative budget numbers and didn’t agree with the Senate’s adopted $34.3 billion projection, he said, with a caveat.
“We also felt like a number a little bit higher than what the House came up with is reasonable as well,” he said. “I think it’s a little premature for us to start to weigh in, and choose sides, in a conference committee that I don’t know is even going to happen.”
A truce broke out in the Illinois House Wednesday as Democrats and Republicans embraced the outline of a budget plan that is more conservative than the one proposed by Gov. Pat Quinn and would cut money for schools.
In a rare side-by-side appearance, House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, and House Minority Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego, acted like old chums rather than political warlords out to crush each other. They led the House in allocating billions of dollars for debt and pension payments and setting out spending plans for areas including education.
As Madigan and Cross faced reporters, shoulder to shoulder, after a committee hearing, both brushed off the idea that there was ever bad blood between them.
“I don’t think there ever was a problem. Was there, Tom?” said Madigan, who routinely has bottled up Republican bills in the Rules Committee and repeatedly referred to Cross’ caucus as “nonparticipating dropouts.”
“I don’t remember a problem,” said Cross, whose political organization put up billboards throughout northeast Illinois blaming the state’s fiscal problems on Madigan.
“Maybe some journalists thought there was a problem,” Madigan said.
Yeah. OK.
Madigan teamed up with Cross and the Senate Republicans the last time he went up against a free-spending governor and Senate President. Cross eventually broke with Madigan over the capital bill (with Cross siding with Rod Blagojevich and Emil Jones) and the two have not cooperated since then. Until now, that is.
The latest projection from Springfield is that schools can expect at least $600 million less than last year. […]
Rep. Will Davis, D-Homewood, said there will be $200 million fewer state dollars, and nearly $400 million fewer federal dollars this year. Davis, who will craft the education budget in the House, said he’s been told he can spend no more than $6.8 billion. […]
Although school districts have received less money and delayed payments from the state, ISBE is still advocating for more education funding. The agency recommends $7.6 billion in state funding for fiscal year 2012 budget, more than 5 percent more than the governor’s proposed $7.2 billion.
ISBE is going to be sorely disappointed, and this story about schools hoarding cash reserves won’t help their cause…
The statewide total of $8.9 billion unspent at the close of the 2010 budget year is enough to cover the entire state portion of public school budgets across Illinois next academic year, though districts stress that the money isn’t just sitting around for no reason — some of it is meant for future school expenses, building projects and other uses.
They say that while these balances can help stave off staff or program cuts, they cannot eliminate the need for them. Many districts that lay off teachers or cut programs have already spent down their reserves, and school officials say it’s irresponsible to use fund balances, which the state likens to checking or savings account balances, for ongoing expenses.
Fund balances are widely considered prudent by school officials weathering Illinois’ fiscal crisis, but they rile taxpayers who say districts are hoarding their money and should give some of it back by lowering tax bills.
The balances have grown by $3.6 billion since 2004-05 and now average about 40 percent of districts’ main operating revenue, up from 30 percent five years ago. The Illinois State Board of Education’s barometer for healthy fund balances is at least 25 percent — enough to cover three months of expenses.
The Tribune found that 8 of 10 school districts had fund balances exceeding that amount when the books closed on June 30, 2010. Nearly half of districts reported fund balances of 50 percent or higher, and 70 school districts — many in the Chicago area — had balances equaling 100 percent or more, enough to cover a whole year of expenses.
Madigan and Cross have settled on a revenue projection about $600 million lower than Quinn’s. After covering various fixed costs, such as pensions, they’re allocating that money to five different broad categories: $6.9 billion for education, $1.2 billion for general services, $2.1 billion for higher education, $12 billion for human services and $1.7 billion for public safety.
Now House appropriations committees are supposed to decide which particular programs get money and which ones don’t. The demand far exceeds the amount of money available.
“We’re going to try to figure out how to stick a 10-inch foot in a 5-inch shoe,” said Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, D-Chicago.
Meantime, dozens of lobbying groups circulated through the Capitol Wednesday calling on lawmakers to reverse cuts proposed by Quinn.
In a letter distributed to members of the legislature, Southern Illinois Healthcare President Rex Budde, said Quinn’s proposal to reduce Medicaid spending by $552 million could result in delays to bricks and mortar improvements at its hospitals and other facilities as well as cuts in services and physician re-cruitment.
“We urge the General Assembly to reject the proposed Medicaid cut,” Budde noted in the letter.
Quinn spokesman Kelly Kraft responds that paying interest costs on another $2 billion in debt might still leave Illinois with a good chunk of the $175 million Medicaid reimbursement. She notes that the Republican proposals couldn’t be enacted soon enough to produce $2 billion in the current fiscal year. And, she says, the higher income tax isn’t producing new money fast enough to meet the other demands on that revenue and also pay these Medicaid bills. We won’t argue. [Emphasis added.]
Um, so the state shouldn’t borrow, but it might be a good idea? I don’t get it.
* Related…
* Press release: Senate Democrats Respond to GOP Budget Suggestions
* Perhaps now all the Nervous Nellies will stop claiming that the sky is falling…
News reports that Peoria-based Caterpillar Inc. was thinking of exiting Illinois were misleading, Doug Oberhelman, chairman and chief executive of the construction and mining machine maker, said Wednesday.
The media read too much into his recent letter to Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, he said.
“The headlines were sensational — they said things like ‘Cat leaving Illinois,’ and lots of other things, which isn’t what the letter said,” Oberhelman said in an address to a U.S. Chamber of Commerce gathering in Washington, D.C.
“I actually said, I’m looking forward to finding ways to invest more in Illinois and to change the business climate,” he said at a summit hosted by the chamber’s Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness.
The business climate in this state is in definite need of improvement. If nothing else, the shock from those nutty headlines might hopefully spur Springfield to act.
* Much of the reporting and commentary on this story has been crazily sensationalistic and just downright horrible. Here’s just one goofy example…
Joliet became part of TV news coverage of the Caterpillar story Sunday when Andrew Mihelich, one of the city’s mayoral candidates in Tuesday’s election, held a quickly staged rally in support of the company and invited coverage of the event. Four Chicago TV news crews came to town, and at least two stations aired footage of the event attended by about 40 of the candidate’s supporters, many of whom held up “Mihelich for Mayor” signs and wore Mihelich T-shirts.
About an hour into the rally at Mihelich campaign headquarters, no Caterpillar workers could be found. But Keith Godsey of Joliet, who said his father is a Caterpillar retiree, was there and said he supported Mihelich’s efforts.
Joliet City Councilman Warren Dorris, another Joliet mayoral candidate and a former manager at the Joliet plant, said Sunday that he thought the news coverage of Oberhelman’s letter was overblown.
“I worked for that company for 36 years,” Dorris said Wednesday. “Caterpillar has always challenged the state of Illinois and the governor to improve the business climate of the state.”
Dorris said he was “not surprised at all” by Oberhelman’s comments Wednesday. “His letter was intended to open dialogue. It did that. Unfortunately, some people took it and made political hay.”
Dorris has been critical of Mihelich’s rally, saying it was an attempt by a candidate to gain attention for his campaign.
Low levels of radiation from Japan have been discovered in test samples taken in unincorporated DuPage and Will counties, officials said Tuesday.
Warrenville-based Exelon Nuclear said small amounts of radioiodine 131, a type of radioactive isotope associated with the troubled Japanese plants, were discovered March 22 during testing at Dresden, its nuclear plant near Morris in Will County.
Also, Argonne National Laboratory, near Darien, found a small amount of the isotope in its regular air test samples last week.
“You wouldn’t find that kind of evidence in normal operations here,” said Marshall Murphy, a spokesman for Exelon Nuclear.
Bed bugs invaded campus over the weekend, but apparently kept their invasion to one room, and were immediately crushed by the defenses of the University of Illinois.
Just one dormitory room in Evans Hall was affected Sunday night, said Erin Ciciora, a resident communications coordinator in University Housing.
The student’s room was closed off and pesticide work began within an hour of the complaint, she said.
Stink bugs — long a scourge of the mid-Atlantic states — have made it to the Chicago area.
The aptly named pests have been spotted in recent months in Geneva and Western Springs. Homeowners reported an infestation in Geneva last fall and in a yard in Western Springs in January, according to Kelly Estes, state survey coordinator for the Illinois Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey program. […]
The brown marmorated stink bug emits a foul stench when frightened, disturbed or squashed.
Cutting the city’s rat baiting crews in half, as Laborers Local 1001 claims Streets and San is planning to do, won’t cause the rat population to explode to 6 million again. But it may increase the rat problem in poor neighborhoods, where overcrowded buildings generate more garbage than carts can hold.
Jennifer and David Hausch have quite a story to tell from their Florida vacation after a huge ray jumped into their tour boat, striking Jennifer.
The Crystal Lake couple was on an eco-tour boat ride Friday in Florida when a 200 pound spotted eagle ray struck her in the chest. She was not injured, according to wildlife officials.
On Saturday, the Chuck E. Cheese in Matteson was a place where several men had to be subdued with pepper spray after fighting and flipping over an arcade machine, police said.
Five men and a teenage boy were charged with mob action and disorderly conduct for their roles in the incident, police said.
Chicago’s premier craft brewery, Goose Island, is selling itself to distribution partner and minority owner Anheuser-Busch InBev N.V. for $38.8 million and replacing its brewmaster.
* Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago) wants future Census-takers to count prison inmates as residents of their home towns, not where they are currently residing, as has been common practice in Illinois…
For example, in 2010, when U.S. Census workers tallied the population of Randolph County in southwestern Illinois, they included in their total the 3,552 inmates locked up in Menard Correctional Center, the state’s largest maximum-security prison.
Though the men serving time there can’t vote, they account for more than 10 percent of the county’s population.
The higher head count makes counties such as Randolph eligible for a bigger share of the pie when state and federal money is distributed. The population count affects everything from funding for the sewer system that carries waste from Menard and the nearby town of Chester, to financing for the county courthouse, which handles disciplinary cases stemming from prison yard fights.
State Sen. John O. Jones, R-Mount Vernon, whose district encompasses Big Muddy and Centralia correctional centers and nearly 3,500 prisoners, is among lawmakers who say the local benefit is only fair because those counties are the ones dealing with the inmate issues. […]
On current legislative maps, prisoners who serve even a two-year prison sentence are recorded as residents of the correctional center for the next 10 years.
* The Question: Should the Census count prisoners who are serving less than 10-year sentences in their home towns or in their prisons? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments…
* Gov. Pat Quinn has complained repeatedly over the past several months about how the General Assembly punted by sending him lump sum budgets the past two years. But, today, House Speaker Michael Madigan told reporters that Quinn asked him to pass yet another lump sum budget this year. Watch…
Sheesh.
* Madigan also said that Quinn’s borrowing plan is “not being real well received by the Legislature,” which is kinda obvious. And Madigan said that he has “no plans to pursue” some of Quinn’s other ideas like school consolidation.
* This story is more than a little behind the curve since the actual House resolution divvying up the cash to appropriations committees passed the chamber 117-0 way back on March 17th…
Illinois House leaders are pushing forward with a budget plan that would ignore many of the governor’s spending proposals.
The top Democrat and top Republican in the House said Wednesday they have settled on the amount of money available for major categories of state government. Now, House committees will decide which services get a piece of that money and which don’t.
Education, for instance, would get about $6.8 billion — a cut of $200 million.
* The reason it’s “news” today is because Speaker Madigan and Leader Cross testified in committee about some approp bills. Watch…
You can peruse the budgetary work sheet distributed to approp committee members by clicking here.
One of the center’s conclusions was that despite all of the complaints about the state spending too much, it would be a good deal more if spending had kept up with inflation and population growth over the last decade. If you take those factors into account, the analysis determined, spending is less now than it was in 2000. Not a little less, but nearly 16 percent less. Overall. Higher education, it said, is down 35 percent, and the often vilified outgo for health care is down 13.4 percent.
It’s hard to argue that state government is somehow immune from inflation. But it’s also going to be hard convincing taxpayers - whose own paychecks probably haven’t kept up with inflation - that the state needs to spend more. […]
The analysis determined that about $5.45 billion of [the governor’s proposed $8.75 billion borrowing plan] is for old bills. Another $1 billion is to pay for current bills. That’s a no-no, in the same sense you don’t mortgage your home to buy this month’s groceries. The groceries will soon be gone, but the debt will last for years.
The center also said repaying the money over 14 years, as Quinn wants, is too long and the whole thing is backloaded, which is not a good idea.
The chief executive of Caterpillar Inc. again criticized the business climate in the heavy equipment maker’s home state of Illinois on Wednesday, but downplayed reports that it might leave.
“Legislators in Illinois have created an environment that is unfriendly to business and investment. At Caterpillar we want to help and lead a change in that climate,” said Douglas Oberhelman at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event. […]
At the chamber event, Oberhelman said headlines suggesting Caterpillar might leave the state were misleading.
“That’s not really what I said,” he told the chamber. “I actually said I was looking forward to finding a way to invest more in Illinois and change the business climate. Illinois is our home.”
Notice that Oberhelman once again blames legislators, not the governor, for the problems. Also take note that he repeated his claim that he wants to find a way to invest more here, not less.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* I haven’t seen the now infamous letter from Caterpillar CEO Doug Oberhelman to Gov. Pat Quinn actually posted in its entirety So, here it is. Pay close attention to the third paragraph, which has received the least amount of media coverage…
Dear Governor Quinn:
Caterpillar has been proud to call Illinois home for over 75 years. Personally I grew up in Woodstock, Illinois, and aside from a few years out of the country for my work at Caterpillar, I have lived here my whole life. Before, I never really considered living anywhere else, and certainly never considered the possibility of Caterpillar relocating. But I have to admit, the policymakers in Springfield seem to make it harder by the day.
I’ve included just three of the several letters from Governors across the country that I have been receiving. They are welcoming Caterpillar to their states with open arms, and they make compelling arguments. I have been called, “cornered” in meetings and “wined and dined” - the heat is on.
You’ve always been honest with me, and that’s why I want you to know about these letters. I’m not sending them to you as a threat that Caterpillar is leaving Illinois. I want to stay here. And as our business grows, I’d like to invest more here - Illinois has always been the heart of Caterpillar. But as the leader of this business, I have to do what’s right for Caterpillar when making decisions about where to invest. The direction that this state is headed in is not favorable to business, and I’d like to work with you to change that. Frankly, we need to re-structure this State’s business from top to bottom. I think you know that.
This is a firm letter, no doubt, but it’s also quite respectful and even complimentary of the governor. What it clearly isn’t is a dire threat to move the company out of state anytime soon, or a blatant diss of Gov. Quinn.
Oberhelman seems to genuinely want to work with Quinn to find solutions to the state’s problems. The Cat CEO has taken some heat from the Left for grubbing for money or whatever other advantage he could get here, but that doesn’t appear justified when reading the complete letter.
* Also, if you’ve been wondering how the letter became public, it was cc’d to several politicians, including Congressman Aaron Schock, Senate GOP Leader Christine Radogno, House Republican Leader Tom Cross, Speaker Madigan, Senate President John Cullerton and Quinn’s chief of staff Jack Lavin. I’d bet any money that one of them leaked it. Caterpillar’s spokesman has said the letter was meant to be private.
For governors cutting education and health care and going after public-sector employees to balance budgets, here’s a message from Illinois Governor Pat Quinn: You’re wrong. Not mistaken, not misinformed.
“Just plain wrong,” said Quinn, 62, during a March 22 interview in his Chicago office. “I don’t buy into all these radical cuts in government as a way to make life better for ordinary, everyday people.” […]
Quinn says he has made plenty of unpleasant decisions, including raising the retirement age for public employees, putting new hires into a 401(k) retirement plan and altering the Medicaid system.
“I’m not going to get our state out of the hole that it’s in in terms of the economy by just severe cuts in education,” Quinn said. “Lay off teachers? What’s that all about? Is that going to help us?
“No.”
* Related…
* Lawmakers defend tax hike, express concern for CAT
* Editorial: Cat not leaving today, tomorrow, hopefully not ever, but Illinois should take nothing for granted
* Gov. Pat Quinn has nominated Terry Cosgrove for a spot on the Illinois Human Rights Commission. Cosgrove runs Personal PAC, which spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to make sure Quinn got elected last year. Indeed, one of Bill Brady’s top campaign operatives blamed Personal PAC’s efforts for his candidate’s narrow loss last November.
Brady’s spokesman responded to the appointment…
Brady spokesman Dan Egler said the governor “reached out to reward one of his big-time political supporters. The citizens of Illinois deserve fair and open-minded people on state’s boards and commissions—not pay-to-play political appointees.”
Pay-to-play?
Gimme a break.
* If anyone thinks that Terry Cosgrove supported Pat Quinn because he wanted a part-time state job, then you really need to get your head examined. Brady is 100 percent pro-life. Cosgrove despised the man and was very worried that Brady would be elected, so he went all out. “Pay-to-play” is by very definition a mercenary act. Say what you want about Cosgrove, but he ain’t no mercenary. He fully believes in what he does.
Rewarding political allies with sweet little plums is as old as government. Brady wouldn’t have given any of his pals state jobs? Please. Get real.
Also, Cosgrove is qualified for the post. He helped pass human rights ordinances in Champaign and Urbana back in the day and has long been a quiet force behind the scenes for gay rights. He’s probably not the most unbiased person on the planet, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt to have a gay voice on the Human Rights Commission.
Brady lost. Not by much, but he lost. Time to move on and stop over-reaching for non-controversies like this one.
* But this may rankle the state Senator as well. I received an e-mail from Rebecca Sanchez this week…
Hey Rich,
I wanted to keep you in the loop and let you know that the gov appointed me as his senior advisor on Hispanic issues. I’ll also act as a liaison between the Hispanic Caucus and the governor.
Friday is my start date.
Sanchez is a reporter for the Spanish-language newspaper Extra. She’s the one who asked Brady during an ABC7 gubernatorial debate last year why he attended a fundraiser thrown by Rod Blagojevich cronies Juan Ochoa and Dean Martinez. Brady was tripped up by the question and then called the two men “good people,” which resulted in a firestorm.
That appointment ought to make Brady’s head explode again.
Illinois’ top insurance regulator said Tuesday he’s committed to working with Gov. Pat Quinn and lawmakers on pressing state issues during his last two months on the job.
Insurance Department Director Michael McRaith is leaving in June to take a post in the President Barack Obama’s administration. Until then, McRaith said, he’s dedicated to working with Illinois lawmakers this session on reforms to workers compensation, health insurance and financial regulations.
“My first objective is to work hard every day and be a constructive leader on insurance-related issues,” McRaith said in an interview with The Associated Press.
McRaith is Quinn’s point man on workers’ comp reform. There’s real worry out there that he won’t be as focused as he should be while preparing for the DC gig. Let’s hope the worriers are wrong.
* Another Quinn appointee has to step aside on a contentious issue. Hiram Grau has been nominated to run the Illinois State Police. He used to work for the Cook County State’s Attorney, who has refused to file any charges in the death of David Koschman. Koschman died after allegedly being punched or shoved several years ago by Mayor Daley’s nephew…
Responding to the Sun-Times’ reports, Alvarez called Thursday on the State Police to examine the handling of the Koschman investigation, saying an outside, “independent” police agency needed to step in.
The next day, the State Police agreed to do that, even as Gov. Quinn announced he was appointing Alvarez’s chief investigator, Hiram Grau, to head the State Police. At the time of Koschman’s death, Grau was a deputy police superintendent with the Chicago Police Department, overseeing the department’s detectives. According to the State Police, Grau had no role in investigating the Koschman case but, “out of an abundance of caution, Mr. Grau will be recusing himself from the State Police’s review of the matter.”
* On Sunday, Senate President John Cullerton dusted off his plan to use Chicago’s amusement tax growth to help finance upgrades outside Wrigley Field…
The multi-million dollar proposal would upgrade Wrigley’s creaky creature comforts for both fans and players. The Ricketts family, owners of the Cubs, said they would not alter the fundamental appearance of the historic ballpark.
The idea fell flat in Springfield this past winter. The Ricketts family and their lobbyists tried to push it through in the same lame duck session that approved a 67 percent increase in the Illinois income tax.
In a Fox Chicago Sunday taping, Cullerton said that he thinks the measure has better prospects in the current spring session. He hopes the General Assembly would vote to approve it by Memorial Day.
“There should be some conditions,” Cullerton said. “First of all, Mr. Ricketts has to come up with half the money himself. He should make sure that he comes up with that first. If there’s money to be spent inside the park, that’s where he should spend his money.”
Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel said Tuesday he wants to find a way to save 97-year-old Wrigley Field, but the taxpayer-financed plan being floated anew by Cubs’ chairman Tom Ricketts is a “non-starter.” […]
After striking out with Mayor Daley and Gov. Quinn, Ricketts had hoped for a different outcome with Emanuel.
But during a post-election meeting with Ricketts, Emanuel said he reiterated the “healthy skepticism” he expressed during the campaign about using taxpayer dollars to renovate Wrigley.
In other words, it’s back to the drawing board for Ricketts.
“They know my position from the past. It was an informational meeting. It was a short meeting. … And I let them know that, if all we did was re-package old ideas, that was a non-starter,” he said.
* Meanwhile, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle stated the obvious yesterday. Rahm Emanuel’s “luxury tax” is dead in the water…
With Emanuel at her side, Preckwinkle said she likes the concept, but believes the Illinois General Assembly is unlikely to act.
“My understanding from my conversations with the people in Springfield is that the legislature there is sort of done on the tax issue,” Preckwinkle said. “And having raised taxes on individuals and businesses at the beginning of this year, that’s all that anyone can expect coming out of Springfield.”
* Emanuel said to be making own list for top cop - Mayor-elect says he won’t just sit and wait for search panel’s report
* Alexi Giannoulias being considered for two top education posts?: Word is Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel has spoken with Giannoulias about chairmanship of the Chicago City Colleges board and Gov. Quinn has chatted with Giannoulias about heading the Illinois Community College board.
The proposal, which passed 62-52 and now moves to the state Senate, represents a significant softening of the state’s 2008 anti-smoking law that banned tobacco use in virtually all indoor public areas.
“Ladies and gentleman, if we’re serious about our budget crisis in Illinois, let’s be real. This is not about the smoking issue. This is about the money,” said Rep. Dan Burke (D-Chicago), the bill’s House sponsor.
Burke said the smoking prohibition has cost the state $800 million in lost casino-tax revenues since the imposition of the ban and would put Illinois’ casinos on par with casinos in neighboring states that allow bettors to smoke.
Opponents argued that other states have added casinos, which partly accounts for Illinois’ sliding casino tax revenues, and that carving out an exemption for casinos will embolden other businesses, like bars and restaurants, to try legislatively sidestepping the smoking ban. […]
A report by the General Assembly’s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability characterized the indoor smoking ban as “the biggest contributor” behind a 28 percent decline in casino revenues since January 2008.
* Gov. Pat Quinn, however, has said he opposes the idea. Listen…
Even if the bill makes it through the Senate, supporters have a long way to go to find the votes to override a Quinn veto. Then again, Quinn has changed his mind before.
* I’ve seen more than a little misinformation about the leaked letter by Caterpillar’s CEO and chairman revealing that he’s being intensely wooed out of state. I told subscribers about it this morning, but figured I should probably post some of that here since things got kinda outta hand in comments while I was gone.
First, this stuff about how the recent tax hike will cost Caterpillar $40 million comes from an ABC7 story linked in my absence…
Caterpillar also says the tax hike will cost them $40 million.
The Illinois tax increase will cost Caterpillar’s 23,000 employees in the state about $40 million this year, said Jim Dugan, the company’s chief spokesman. Higher taxes make it harder for Caterpillar to attract and retain engineers, accountants and other employees, Mr. Dugan said. He added that Caterpillar’s corporate taxes in the state also will increase but provided no estimate on the added cost.
The Citizens for Tax Justice study found Boeing did not pay income taxes to any state during two of the three years studied, 2001 to 2003. During the two years in which Boeing did not pay state corporate income taxes, the company turned a combined profit of $3.1 billion, McIntyre said.
Other profitable Illinois-based corporations such as Caterpillar, Tribune Co., Sears and Sara Lee successfully avoided paying any state’s corporate income taxes during at least one year of the period studied by Citizens for Tax Justice.
Although tax returns for companies, as well as individuals, are private, the institute was able to determine whether companies were able to avoid state taxes by analyzing documents publicly traded companies must file with the Securities Exchange Commission.
“You’ve always been honest with me, and that’s why I want you to know about these letters,” [Cat CEO Doug Oberhelman] says to Quinn. “I’m not sending them to you as a threat that Caterpillar is leaving Illinois…I’d like to invest more here…but as the leader of this business, I have to do what’s right for Caterpillar.”
Oberhelman goes on to say that “the direction that this state is headed in is not favorable for business, and I’d like to work with you to change that.”
Caterpillar executives are chiefly concerned about lawmakers’ ability to balance the state budget, reduce state spending, create new workers’ compensation reform and renew a research-and-development tax credit. But so far, Cat has no plans to move.
“Again, we have not said we are looking to relocate,” Jim Dugan, Caterpillar spokesman, told ENR in an e-mail exchange. “We are looking to help Illinois to become more competitive for all businesses.” [Emphasis added.]
There are serious problems here, for sure. Workers’ comp reform talks are proceeding, but things aren’t going well, as subscribers know. The R&D tax credit Cat has will undoubtedly be renewed, as will others, especially now that the letter has been sent.
* All that being said, Cat is definitely looking elsewhere to build new plants. Here are just a few stories…
* Dec 18, 2008: Cat announces new plant in Texas - Company spokesman says plan is not related to decision to lay off Mossville workers
* January 5, 2009: Caterpillar plant, 600 jobs bound for North Little Rock
* Jul 30, 2010: Cat announces new North Carolina plant - 850,000-square-foot facility will be used for axle assemblies
* October, 2010: Caterpillar Selects Victoria, TX, For New Hydraulic Excavator Facility
It’s more than obvious that we’re losing out to other states.
* But the hyperventilating from politicians about this letter is getting to be a bit much. For instance…
Illinois Congressman Aaron Schock denounced Gov. Pat Quinn on Tuesday after Quinn dimissed the possibility of Peoria’s Caterpillar Tractor leaving the state because of high taxes.
The Peoria congressman told Don Wade and Roma that Quinn is “out of touch” and his “idiotic policies” could cost the state a Fortune 15 company.
“For the governor of the state of Illinois to scoff and laugh, that is very, very dangerous and it shows a level of naivety, that is indicative of a governor that is out of touch,” Schock said.
Quinn didn’t “scoff and laugh.” Listen for yourself…
In fact, Quinn is being presented with an award by the Caterpillar CEO next month in Peoria. The two obviously have a decent relationship, as evidenced by the “You’ve always been honest with me” comment in Oberhelman’s letter.
“I like to work with all the executives but the notion of leaving Illinois is not a good idea. We’ve had great companies like Ford, Chrysler, Navistar, and Boeing all come here with more manufacturing. They understand we have a good workforce, and if you have a government who wants to work with you, you’ll go pretty far.”
Again, no scoffing and laughing there.
* The first thing that came to my mind during my break, once the shock of seeing the blaring headlines wore off a bit, was that Gov. Quinn really needs to tone down the rhetoric and get to work on our problems and forget about everybody else’s. He’s upset about what happened in Wisconsin. Fine. We get it. But he’s running around the country like Mother Jones singing “Solidarity Forever” at the drop of a red hat. That sort of defiant, pro-union attitude won’t go over well with corporate types.
This is a centrist state, something that Quinn may not fully comprehend. He didn’t squeak by Bill Brady because he was so liberal. Quinn beat Brady because Brady was far more Right than Quinn was Left. The governor would do well to move to the center.
And while I don’t agree with Congressman Schock about the tone of Quinn’s response to the Cat letter, the governor should’ve sounded far more concerned. At least for appearance’s sake, for crying out loud. Show that you’re on it, man. Get busy. Lead.
Modern Drop Forge Co. of southwest suburban Blue Island said Monday it expects to ship one of its two Illinois plants to Indiana, taking 250 Chicago area jobs with it. The 97-year-old company makes automotive, truck and recreational equipment parts.
“Illinois is becoming very, very unfriendly to manufacturers,” company CEO Pat Thompson told CBS 2.
Thompson cites not only the corporate income tax hike approved last year, but other state tax laws, workmen’s comp rules and prevailing wages.
“We now have just about the highest state income tax in the United States, and the overall income taxes for corporations in Illinois are amongst the highest in the free world,” he said.
Illinois has lost hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs in the last decade. We can’t do a whole lot about China and Mexico, but we can and should attempt to compete far better with neighboring states. Workers’ comp absolutely must be reformed, for instance.
Less than four months after losing nearly all of an $810 million grant, Wisconsin is again seeking federal high-speed rail money - this time to upgrade the existing Milwaukee-to-Chicago passenger line.
Gov. Scott Walker’s administration announced Tuesday that the state will seek at least $150 million to add equipment and facilities for Amtrak’s Hiawatha line. […]
In a bizarre twist, some of the money that Walker is now seeking originally was allocated for the Milwaukee-to-Madison route he previously turned down. That money is available because a fellow Republican governor rejected it, as well. […]
The state’s share of the cost of the maintenance building will be $12 million.
Walker earlier rejected a much larger rail project which would’ve cost the state about $4.7 million a year.
* Related…
* Caterpillar letter may trigger workers’ comp overhaul
* What is Caterpillar trying to tell Illinois?: One is that the company wasn’t threatening as much as trying to send a message: Big segments of the business community think Illinois has become a terrible place to start or run a business. Two: Though we can disagree on details and solutions, we ought to listen to the message, because it contains much truth.
Tuesday, Mar 29, 2011 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Myth: HB14 allows Illinois utilities to automatically raise rates every year.
Fact: That is not the case. Under HB14, utilities are required to submit to more frequent oversight (annual) and still are subject to stakeholder challenge and ICC prudence reviews over 8 ½ months.
Myth: HB14 eliminates much of the oversight currently provided by the ICC.
Fact: HB14 actually strengthens oversight because it makes the regulatory process a more frequent annual process that is transparent, allows discovery, holds utilities accountable for every dollar they invest and jobs they create. The ICC retains responsibility for reviewing utilities’ costs and setting rates.
Myth: HB14 provides utilities with higher-than-needed profits.
Fact: Under the Public Utilities Act, utilities are allowed to earn a reasonable rate of return. This is done through determining a return on the equity invested (ROE) for the utility. This rate has varied from rate case to rate case. This proposal only changes the way the ROE is set and is consistent with past ICC approved ROEs. Utilities still must establish that they managed work prudently at reasonable cost and stakeholder challenge and ICC prudence reviews remain.
Secretary of State Jesse White has been saying for at least the past two years that this fourth term would be his last. By the end of this term he’ll be the longest-serving secretary of state in the history of Illinois. It seemed like a good way to go out.
“This is my last run for public office,” White told the Chicago Defender just before the November election.
“I think I am going to spend time working with the Jesse White Foundation,” he said. The Chicago City Council recently voted to spend $10 million on a training facility for the Jesse White Tumblers, his signature group for inner-city youth. White’s foundation is supposed to kick in $5 million.
The new facility would be part of White’s significant legacy. Most people wouldn’t even drive near Chicago’s old Cabrini Green public housing complex. White went in there and recruited those kids, trained them to do superhuman feats and not only kept them out of trouble, but showed them how to make a life for themselves and their community.
Young boys who were looking at a miserable existence at the bottom of society’s ladder were given a chance to make it in the world. Only a tiny few have disappointed. The overwhelming majority have gone on to be productive, decent citizens. The impact White has had on those kids is truly one of the miracles of our time.
But I’d been hearing for a couple of months that White was thinking about running yet again when this term is up in 2014. I made some calls and was told by a few trusted insiders to just let it go for now. White and his top people simply were experiencing the rush of yet another big victory and eventually would calm down and White would retire.
So, I decided to bide my time and wait him out. But the rumors persisted and I eventually decided that holding off until March was long enough. It had been, after all, more than five months since his latest landslide victory. Surely that was enough time for White to put things into perspective.
I put in a call and asked to speak to the man himself. He called me back and confirmed the rumors I’d been hearing. White said he was “leaning toward” another run in 2014.
White told me he was “encouraged to rethink” his decision after being “inundated” with pleas to run again. White claimed people have telephoned, e-mailed, “stopped me in the street, stopped me in meetings” and asked him to reconsider his decision because, White said, the office is running well and they don’t want it to deteriorate again.
Some insiders say, however, that a few of White’s top staff members also have been quietly urging him on for their own personal reasons.
Whatever the case, if White does decide to run again, a whole lot of people in both parties are going to be pretty darned depressed. White has proved to be unbeatable in the office. He won all 102 counties in 2002, and his lowest vote share was the solid 55 percent he received the first time he ran in 1998. He has been the top statewide vote-getter in the last three election cycles.
But a line has formed around the block for 2014 as most folks in both parties expected that White would keep his word and leave office.
“I feel good,” White said, joking that, at 76, he was still a “youthful, young person.” He will be 84 at the end of a fifth term in 2019. But the man literally still can do handstands. He’s no spring chicken, but he’s in better shape than most of the people who want to replace him — and most of the rest of us, for that matter.
White said he hasn’t set a time frame for making a final decision.
“I’m leaning toward it right now primarily because of the wishes and desires of the people of the state of Illinois,” he said. “Plus, I enjoy public service. I love public service.”
Asked about all those potential candidates who’ve been queuing up to run for the office for the past several years, White quipped, “I expect when the time comes, there will be about 25 Democrats and 25 Republicans vying for the job.”
That may be an understatement.
* The Question: Do you think Secretary White should run for another term? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments…
High earners, it turns out, have especially volatile incomes—their earnings fell by more than twice as much as the rest of the population’s during the recession. […]
New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Illinois—states that are the most heavily reliant on the taxes of the wealthy—are now among those with the biggest budget holes. A large population of rich residents was a blessing during the boom, showering states with billions in tax revenue. But it became a curse as their incomes collapsed with financial markets. […]
In New York before the recession, the top 1% of earners, who made more than $580,000 a year, paid 41% of the state’s income taxes in 2007, up from 25% in 1994, according to state tax data. The top 1% of taxpayers paid 40% or more of state income taxes in New Jersey and Connecticut. In Illinois, which has a flat income-tax rate of 5%, the top 15% paid more than half the state’s income taxes.
For everybody else, the WSJ piece uses top 1 percent. For Illinois, it’s the top 15 percent. Why? Because Illinois is among 25 states where the richest one percent account for 20-30 percent of personal income tax receipts. In other words, we’re about average. So, why include us? You’d have to ask the Wall Street Journal.
Also, all five of the states most heavily reliant on taxes from the wealthy (California, New Jersey, Connecticut, New York and Vermont) have graduated income taxes. Illinois has a flat tax.
The piece may explain why Illinois tax revenues shot up in the late 1990s. But it only partially explains the recent revenue crash.
Tax money coming into state and local governments in Illinois fell sharply — by $2.2 billion dollars between 2009 and 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The decline in tax revenue from $32 billion to $29.8 billion is on par with a pattern that has emerged during the past several years. Areas that measure a state’s economic health — income, sales and property taxes — all have weakened. […]
While income dropped for Illinois, general fund spending increased from $27.9 billion to $29.7 billion between 2009 and 2010.
According to the budget office, General Fund revenues fell from $29.1 billion in FY09 to $27.9 billion in FY10. Actual General Fund spending, according to GOMB, was $29.8 billion in FY09 and $25.5 billion in FY10. I’m not sure why there’s such a huge discrepancy here, but maybe somebody can enlighten me.
If budget cuts aren’t made now, Radogno said Illinois will face a $22.7 billion deficit by 2016.
The Senate Republicans have repeated this stat for weeks now. What they’ve done is projected spending at the top of the statutory spending cap and used lowballed revenue forecasts. Since state law now requires the General Assembly to match up revenues with spending, it’s not exactly a trustworthy number.
However, the General Assembly really ought to lower those spending caps, which are too high. It wouldn’t mean much in the “real” world, but it would take this oft-repeated argument off the table.
* Related…
* Senate President Cullerton discusses state budget on Chicago Fox News
* IllinoisIsBroke.com launches statewide radio ad campaign
* Senator Radogno discusses Amazon Internet law: Remember, it was not a tax increase. It was simply a means to force places like Amazon to collect the same sales taxes brick and mortar stores must collect.
* At school for blind, travel budget cuts have impact beyond sports
* VIDEO: State Senator Kimberly Lightford On The GOP’s Proposed Budget Cuts
* Schilling amends tax philosophy: It was revealed last week that General Electric paid no taxes on $5.1 billion of profits made in the U.S. and actually claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 billion. “That’s not fair,” Schilling said.
* After about a month in self-imposed exile, Indiana House Democrats have finally left Urbana and headed home to Indianapolis. Here’s what they got…
So-called “right to work” legislation, which bars companies and unions from negotiating a contract that requires non-union members to pay fees for representation, is off the table, at least for now. House committee passage of this bill on Feb. 21 triggered the walkout. The measure is headed to a study committee.
Also dormant are 22 other bills that were approved in committee but did not clear the legislative process because of the walkout. Those include one that bars a future governor from signing an executive order allowing collective bargaining for state employees; another that would allow private companies to take over failing public schools; and one that bars funding to Planned Parenthood. However, the Senate still could deal with some of those issues.
House Bill 1003, which would allow some public school students to use state dollars to pay private school tuition, will be changed. Republicans have agreed to limit the number of vouchers to 7,500 in the first year and 15,000 the second.
House Bill 1216, which affects project labor agreements and wages paid on public construction projects. Current law requires the agreements, which guarantee a certain number of union jobs in exchange for no-strike pledges, on all projects that cost more than $150,000. As introduced, that threshold shot up to $1 million, with all school and university projects exempt. Republicans agreed to a series of changes during the walkout, lowering the threshold last week to $350,000 and including schools and universities. The final proposed amendment — put on the table late Thursday and filed in the House on Monday — phases that in over two years.
* We talked about a nightmarish group home for developmentally disabled people last week. A refresher…
A multimillion-dollar operation under state contract was supposed to be taking care of people with special needs. Instead, its employees are accused of fatally beating two residents and several incidents of abuse. […]
Forty-two-year-old Paul McCann suffered a brutal beating in January. The man called a gentle giant, who functioned at the level of a 6-year-old, was punched, kicked, and struck with a frying pan inside his group home for reportedly taking a cookie. […]
State records obtained by CBS 2, which date back to 2003, reveal 33 cases of Graywood staff abusing residents. Those cases included sexual abuse, physical battery and alleged coercion of residents to attack each other.
Even worse, in 2008, a resident named Dustin Higgins was murdered by staff. That death prompted an internal memo from the Illinois Department of Human Services Inspector General. The memo warned that Graywood residents were at risk amid an increase of serious allegations of abuse and neglect.
* Well, it turns out that the state’s Department of Human Services has known about the problems at that group home for quite a while…
Conditions at the group homes run by the nonprofit Graywood Foundation were “totally unacceptable,” according to a 2009 memo an Illinois investigator wrote to his bosses and the AP obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.
The memo was written almost a year after murder charges were filed against two employees in the 2008 death of Dustin Higgins, another resident who lived in a Graywood group home. The homes were under intense state scrutiny, and the state eventually stopped them from admitting new residents.
But residents’ families weren’t told about the problems then – or even after state investigators substantiated 18 new allegations of staff abuse and neglect, according to an attorney representing McCann’s family and a state lawmaker working to improve the system.
You just wanna tear your hair out when you read stuff like that.
* Another problem…
While nursing home inspection reports are posted online in Illinois, there’s no similar information on group homes, an alternative to institutional care likely to be used more widely in Illinois after a preliminary settlement was reached this year a class action lawsuit over the civil rights of adults with disabilities.
Emails flew between the Menard Correctional Center workers’ compensation coordinator and a Central Management Services claims processor, using words like “pandemic” and “flood” to describe hundreds of repetitive trauma claims filed by guards at the Chester prison.
But despite the written concerns of two state workers whose job it was to deal with the rising number of workers’ compensation claims at the state’s largest prison, an investigation only began following newspaper stories a year later.
Those stories by the Belleville News-Democrat detailed $10 million for 500 workers’ comp claims filed by Menard prison employees.
The emails also brought to light that some Menard employees on temporary total disability leave recuperating from surgery to correct a repetitive trauma injury were also getting elective surgery while off work for such things as hernia repair or lap-band surgeries to lose weight.
“Can we do anything about these people, while they are out on work comp, getting nonrelated surgeries?” Zellers asked in an email to Barry H. Wesley, an assistant attorney general who handles workers’ compensation cases.
“This would impede their recovery on the work comp claim and the taxpayers are paying for their time off for nonwork-related medical issues. … What can we do to stop this? Just ridiculous!” Zellers wrote to Wesley, whose job is to handle workers’ compensation claims that either are challenged and/or go to arbitration.
State hearing officer Kathleen A. Hagan, who recently filed her fourth worker’s compensation claim three days before the deadline, is seeking a settlement for an undisclosed injury.
But the public will not learn — either before or after the claim is settled — how Hagan was injured. The only public reference about her accident on Feb. 13, 2008, is on a state website that simply reads, “knee and leg right.”
That’s because Central Management Services, the large state agency that handles much of Illinois’ state government paperwork, has taken the position that because it is self-insured, virtually all information it receives regarding a claim made under the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act can be withheld because it is “proprietary.”
On a summer day in 2008, an Illinois Department of Corrections worker secretly watched as Calvin Landis, who had been receiving weekly total disability payments for five years for a back injury, moved furniture from his front porch, climbed a ladder and power washed his house.
Using a telephoto lens, the observer snapped photos as Landis, 45, a lieutenant on disability leave from a Du Quoin prison boot camp, performed about an hour of work at his home on Birch Road, a few miles from the camp. The photos showed Landis lifting an 8-foot step ladder by a rung with one arm, wielding the power wash spray head and scrubbing aluminum gutters by hand. […]
The photos were submitted to Landis’ supervisors at the Department of Corrections. Internal state agency e-mails obtained by the Belleville News-Democrat showed that corrections department administrators requested an investigation for possible violation of Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission rules.
But no investigation resulted, according to copies of the department e-mails. For the past two years, Landis’ checks kept arriving, according to comptroller’s office documents.
