Amends the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act. Removes language concerning impasse procedures involving an educational employer whose territorial boundaries are coterminous with those of a city having a population in excess of 500,000. Repeals provisions concerning subjects of collective bargaining with that educational employer.
The Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act is amended by repealing Section 4.5.
What would happen with the repeal of that section? The mayor’s office says these items would be put back into the collective bargaining process…
· Class size;
· Class staffing and assignment;
· Class schedules;
· Academic calendar;
· Length of the work and school day;
· Length of the work and school year;
· Hours and places of instruction; and
· Pupil assessment policies.
Section 4.5 (Subjects of Collective Bargaining) is here.
Quietly approved by the House late last week was a bill that would repeal 1995 reforms passed early in the tenure of former Mayor Richard M. Daley that took certain topics, including class size and the school calendar, off the collective bargaining table, making them discretionary to management rather than mandatory subjects for bargaining.
Daley implemented some changes under the law, most notably beginning to appoint members of the Chicago Board of Education, a change under attack in other pending legislation. But Emanuel went much further, often bragging he changed a Chicago Public Schools system that had had what he said was among the shortest school days and years in the country.
The shift always has rankled the Chicago Teachers Union, in part because it applied only to Chicago and no other districts in the suburbs or downstate. A similar CTU bill stalled last year in Springfield, but it breezed out of the House largely on a party-line 73-35 vote last week, and according to the union, there is good reason to believe the measure has the support of Senate President John Cullerton and will be signed into law if it reaches Gov. J.B. Pritzker. […]
“The bill would take away CPS’ bargaining leverage,” said one top schools insider who asked not to be named. “It will sharply increase the likelihood of a strike” next fall, when a new CTU contract is supposed to go into effect.
Last week, the Illinois House passed a bill lifting these bargaining restrictions with 73 members voting yes and 35 voting no. The “no” votes came from Republicans. In the Senate, Democrats hold a bigger majority. Similar bills have passed in the House previously but have stalled in the Senate.
But now, Senate President John Cullerton tells WBEZ it might be time to revisit these provisions, according to his spokesman John Patterson.
In addition, both candidates for Chicago’s mayor and Governor J.B. Pritzker are considered more CTU-friendly than Mayor Rahm Emanuel and former Gov. Bruce Rauner, which could increase the chances of the bill making it to the governor’s desk.
A bill in the Senate could help more seniors qualify for a property tax freeze.
With the existing Senior Citizens Assessment Freeze Exemption, seniors can take a property tax exemption if their income rests just above $65,000. To help seniors stay within the $65,000 income limit, Senate Bill 1346 would allow seniors to deduct their monthly Medicare expenses, allowing more seniors to take advantage of the property tax exemption.
While the exemption would give seniors a break, the bill may not be all that Illinois residents are hoping for when it comes to the state’s property taxes, said Carol Portman, president of the Taxpayers’ Federation of Illinois.
“This is not going to reduce the amount of property taxes collected in total, so when you increase an exemption on one property that means you are increasing the taxes on all other properties,” she said.
Portman said this could mean higher taxes for other Illinois residents, which is not something that the Taxpayers’ Federation of Illinois supports.
Lottie O’Neill was accompanied by more than 1,000 women when she walked down a flag-draped aisle in the legislative chamber and took a seat in the fifth row on the third day of January in 1923. The gallery was packed with suffragists who, like O’Neill’s escorts that day, had come to Springfield to witness a historic event: the swearing-in of Illinois’ first female state legislator. […]
She would, in fact, serve for four decades as a legislator in the Illinois General Assembly. That was a remarkable achievement considering the tough time O’Neill’s colleagues gave her in 1923 after the hoopla ended and the legislature got down to horse-trading as usual.
At the swearing-in, O’Neill gestured toward her supporters and addressed the assembly:
“These women have already told you what I stand for — legislation for humanity,” she said. “And I earnestly request you men to work with me for these people in this legislation. The care of mothers and babies, better teachers and schools, aid for the delinquent girl; improved industrial conditions for women.”
In accord with that program, O’Neill sponsored 13 bills that year, but only three passed. She took that hard.
From the most recent House Bulletin…
Beginning Tuesday, April 2, the Order of Call for House Bills on 3rd Reading will be done alphabetically, based on members’ priorities. Members are advised to submit their priority lists, in the prescribed format, to their respective staffs […]
Through April 12 (3rd Reading Deadline for House Bills), floor amendments for House Bills will only be processed if and when the bill has been designated as a Top 3 priority by the member.
Don’t take it too hard when only three of your bills make it to the Senate - if that.
On March 26, 2019, Illinois State Representative Luis Arroyo filed an amendment to House Bill 2713, the Coal to Solar and Energy Storage Act. The legislation aims to create a financial structure to keep at-risk coal plants online through 2024, while funding a build-out of solar+storage, energy efficiency, and transmission to replace the lost capacity.
Just last year, a study sponsored by NRDC and Sierra Club finds that old coal plants can be retired and safely replaced by solar and other resources. The study was written specifically to counter a push by Vistra Energy to gain subsidies for its old plants.
Vistra Energy and its subsidiaries own 5.5 GW of coal resources within the region noted in the legislation (MISO Zone 4), which represents 40% of the summer capacity within that region. The company is seemingly a (the?) major backer, as noted by their website and press releases supporting the document.
The power company is also a developer of some of the largest solar+storage projects in various markets – for instance, a 300 MW / 1,200 MWh energy storage facility for California, and first Texas’ largest solar facility, then its largest battery – at said solar facility.
That bill, as amended, flew out of the House Public Utilities Committee 18-0 last Thursday.
* Related…
* House approves bill to improve care for youth in DCFS facilities: Specifically, House Bill 3153 requires DCFS to place a locked suggestion box in each group home, shelter and transitional living arrangement that accepts youth in care for placement by DCFS. If enacted into law, DCFS would be required to issue an annual report to the General Assembly outlining the concerns submitted to the boxes and the solutions for each concern.
* From Illinois State Police Acting Director Brendan Kelly…
On this day in 1922, eight officers on motorcycles under the direction of John Stack, began patrolling the highways of Illinois as the official Illinois State Police. Initially, their mission was to protect Illinois roadways by enforcing weight laws. Today the mission and services of the Department have grown, as well as the number of people employed to accomplish them. The ISP is comprised of over 2,600 sworn and civilian employees. The Agency’s primary mission is to provide safety and improve the quality of life for the citizens of Illinois by offering a multitude of services represented in each of the various divisions within the Department. These services include, but are not limited to, patrol enforcement and public assistance, drug interdiction, criminal investigations, forensic analysis, tactical operations, polygraph services, law enforcement training and recruitment, and administrative support for all entities within the Department. Many of these services are also provided to municipal, county and federal law enforcement agencies.
As a way to honor the dedicated men and woman of the ISP, April 1 of each year is designated Illinois State Trooper Day. This day shall be observed annually throughout the state to pay tribute to those who serve and protect our citizens and especially to those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
“It is imperative that of all years, today we stop to extend our gratitude and honor the dedication, commitment, and sacrifices of the great men and women of the ISP. While our department is in mourning over the recent, untimely tragedies that have occurred in 2019, we are also united in our devotion to always remember our fallen brothers and sisters and the ultimate price they paid to protect others. In 97 years, 69 men and women of the ISP bravely put on their uniform to serve the citizens of this state and never returned home. I am asking the public to consider these men and women today and all those who bravely wear their badge or shield so they may protect others. Through our struggle, we find strength. Through our sadness, we find hope. Through our darkness, we find a bright light from those courageous souls shining down.”
* From current state statutes (Scott’s Law) regarding the failure to move over and slow down for emergency vehicles on the roadside…
If a violation of subsection (c) of this Section results in injury to another person. In addition to any other penalty imposed, the person’s driving privileges shall be suspended for a fixed period of not less than 180 days and not more than 2 years.
House Amendment 1 to HB1875 crosses out that language and replaces it with a Class 3 felony and a mandatory 5-year license suspension.
A violation resulting in death would be a Class 2 felony and permanent revocation of the drivers’ license, instead of a 2-year suspension (plus, of course, anything else prosecutors charge).
A simple violation would be a Class 4 felony instead of a business offense.
The amendment was introduced today by Rep. John Cabello (R-Machesney Park).
“I don’t care what the polls say, we cannot leave a stone unturned,” U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly said in South Shore, with her endorsed candidate Lightfoot by her side. “We have to do everything we can do. We have to run like we are behind. Don’t take anything for granted.”
Meanwhile, Preckwinkle’s top allies kept encouraging voters to ignore talk of endorsements and polls, of which there have been few, and focus on turning out in big numbers for the Cook County Board president.
When one camp is warning about complacency due to poll numbers and the other side is urging voters to ignore the poll numbers, that means both sides agree on the poll numbers.
Preckwinkle also spent a chunk of the day visiting various South Side grocery stores, though her campaign didn’t publicize them. It did, however, tweet photos of her visiting shoppers at Jewel stores in Brainerd and Grand Crossing, a Food-4-Less in Chatham and the sprawling Walmart in Pullman.
A campaign that doesn’t want publicity on the weekend before Election Day is a campaign that is either incompetent, is afraid that their campaign stops will draw embarrassingly little enthusiasm, or doesn’t want to face the questions that come with media attention. I’d say the Preckwinkle campaign checks all three boxes.
Later in the day, White and Preckwinkle joined U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, Ald. Walter Burnett, Ald. Jason Ervin, city treasurer candidate and state Rep. Melissa Conyears-Ervin and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson for what the County Board president’s campaign advertised as the weekend’s closing get-out-the-vote rally, but a crowd of just 60 people was scattered throughout the sanctuary.
Tuesday is Mandate Day. After 22 years of Mayor Richard M. Daley from a family political dynasty, and after eight years of Emanuel who brought an insider, Washington, D.C. portfolio, voters have the opportunity to turn the keys over to outsider Lori Lightfoot. Chicagoans, do that forcefully.
Bear in mind that for the last three decades, the Tribune editorial board has been, forcefully, in the corners of Daley and Emanuel, issuing no less than eight endorsements over that time - all of them!
Now the Trib wants to shame you into fixing their (unacknowledged) mistakes. If editorial board members thought about it, they’d realize that we’d all be better off if readers following their advice the last 30 years would’ve been better off sitting at home on Election Day! Stupid citizens, look what you did listening to us! Now we need a mayor to get us out of this mess! Get out there and vote or you have no right to complain about how wrong we’ve been!
Our very own Tim Willette adds: “It wasn’t long ago that the Tribune endorsed Bill Daley for mayor! If you endorsed Bill Daley for mayor, you have no right to complain!”
This analysis is based on interpretation of the proposed plan, and relies on briefing materials, news reports, and administration comments {not actual legislation}. As such, this analysis is considered unofficial in nature, and is subject to change as emerging details warrant.
COGFA estimates the governor’s graduated income tax would net $3.331 billion. That’s about $69 million less than the governor’s $3.4 billion forecast, which is only 2 percent off.
The analysis was given to legislative leaders and approp people the other day.
After a heated debate, calls of racism, and shouting, the Illinois state House of Representatives voted to require all publicly held companies in the state to have at least one woman and one African-American on the company’s corporate board.
State Rep. Chris Welch’s bill, which passed Friday, would require any publicly-traded company headquartered in the state to have at least one woman and at least one African-American on its corporate boards starting in 2021.
Maybe I missed something, but I heard no explicit “calls of racism.”
Rep. Tony McCombie (R-Savanna): No disrespect, Representative, but is this a real bill?
Rep. Chris Welch (D-Hillside): This is a real bill.
McCombie: Who writes this stuff? I mean this is, this is getting crazy here. Just because you have the super majority, the super-duper-duper majority doesn’t mean you have to keep continuing to pass bills that haven’t passed over the last three or four different years. This is blowing my mind. You guys are gonna put your governor, our governor on the books for being the biggest business busting person in the nation.
Welch: No, I think Rauner has that title already.
McCombie: You are putting him on a spot here that is not going to help him, I’m telling you. I strongly urge, this bill is really quite offensive. I agree with Davidsmeyer, why are we not talking about seniors, why are we not talking about different religions, why are we not talking about people that are disabled? Why are we getting in, why are we continuing to get in the private businesses? Destroying our ability for this state to grow. And we all agree in this room, every single person we agree that we have to grow our way out of this mess. I strongly, strongly urge a No vote and, you know, Representative, you have always been one that comes forth with a bill that sometimes I disagree with and then you come back and you change a mandate to a ‘may’ and it’s a better bill. This is a bad bill. This is a horrible bill. I don’t even, you guys gotta get it together here. No offense, but this is, this is something else. I urge a No vote.
Rep. Will Davis (D-Homewood): The previous speaker said ‘No offense.’ I’ll just say ‘Offense taken’ in that respect. Offense is already taken. I often say when I sponsor diversity bills that I wouldn’t have to do them if people would act right. We wouldn’t have to do these kind of things if all of us act right.
* Leader Davis went on like that for a while and Rep. Steven Reick (R-Woodstock) decided to add his own “contribution”…
I don’t care whether you are offended or not by the fact that we are against this bill. The fact remains that you’re not gonna get anything in this country in the way of being treated equally if you’re gonna take offense at every damned thing that comes up.
Whew.
* The response from Rep. Margo McDermed (R-Mokena), who sits down the row from Rep. Reick…
Rep. Deanne Mazzochi (R-Elmhurst): Just out of curiosity, if we set a precedent with this bill, could we then pass a bill saying that we mandate Christian men be represented on a corporate board?
Rep. Welch: You have the right just like I did to file your bill. If you like that, file the bill.
Mazzochi: Can we mandate that conservative Republicans have to have a seat at the table on corporate boards?
Welch: You can certainly file that bill.
Mazzochi: Well, I’m asking, if that bill gets filed would you then support it?
Welch: Listen, Representative, I’m not gonna stand here as a black man with a five-year-old daughter and be ashamed that I’m fighting for her to have a seat at the table… If you believe corporate Republicans and conservative Republicans have a right [to be] at the table, file the bill! We can debate it, just like we’re doing here today. But I’m not going to be ashamed to stand here and fight for the people that sent me here! Let’s stand up for our people! You should be ashamed of the arguments coming out of the other side today.
And that’s when Mazzochi asked if Rachel Dolezal, the woman who claimed she was black and wasn’t, and whether a white woman from South Africa would also qualify.
McCombie eventually rose to defend herself, saying people who know her understand she wasn’t trying to make this about race, and Welch said he wanted to make a change to the bill and pulled it out of the record. Several minutes later, Welch said he had changed his mind and asked for a “Yes” vote.
* House Republican Leader Jim Durkin rose to clarify…
Durkin: Rep. Welch, let’s make this perfectly clear that this doesn’t apply to any privately held corporation, correct?
Welch: It applies to publicly held corporations. […]
Durkin: I’ve been down here many years when sometimes the debate on this floor gets heated. And I think sometimes our emotions carry over. And I just witnessed it and I think it’s best for us to take a deep breath and I want to talk about my caucus. This is a bill that is important to us because we believe in the free market system. And we traditionally have. We disagree about how we are to manage corporate America. We take the position that we think government should take a step back, let those entities make decisions on their own. We believe that the more that government micromanages the private businesses and corporations in Illinois and in this country is not the best way for us to move forward and to grow our economy. So I speak on behalf of the caucus that our objections are nothing more than we just have a difference of agreement of how our free market, our private markets should work. And I hope that we do not turn this matter into something that I’ve gathered through this last hour of how this debate went because that doesn’t reflect my caucus.
Durkin went on to say “There clearly are places and times when there has to be some oversight,” of business but, on the whole, Republicans are for free markets. He called Rep. Welch a “gentleman” and said “Let’s just take a vote.” It passed with 61 votes.
* But it wasn’t over yet. Rep. Rita Mayfield (D-Waukegan) rose at the end of Friday’s session to give this speech…
I’m extremely disappointed that two women, two founding women of our House Democratic Women’s Caucus chose to vote ‘No.’ These are individuals who stood before the Women’s Caucus and said they would stand up for women, they would stand up for our rights, they would stand up for us across the board. But yet they chose to vote ‘No’ on a bill that would’ve empowered women. I’m extremely disappointed with their vote.
The bill passed 61 to 27 with a few Democrats opposed, including Kelly Burke (Evergreen Park), Anna Moeller (Elgin) and Deb Conroy (Villa Park). Conroy is co-chair of the House Dem Women’s House Caucus. Dem Rep. Rita Mayfield (Waukegan) called out the women who opposed the measure in a point of personal privilege after the vote.
A check of the roll call shows that Burke, Moeller and Conroy did not vote either way on the motion. No Democrat explicitly voted against the bill.
In the end, taking a walk or voting “Present” have the same impact as voting “No.” They do not necessarily have the same intent, however.
…Adding… As Rep. McDermed points out in comments, she voted “Yes” on the bill.
On Wednesday, [Shelbyville Republican Rep. Brad Halbrook] stood in front of Abraham Lincoln’s statue and rallied hundreds of gun owners, saying, “Let’s build a wall around Cook County and get Chicago to pay for it. Let’s make Illinois Great Again.”
Later, Halbrook acknowledged in a Capitol Connection interview that his language “may be” divisive, but he feels the movement is warranted.
“The case for it is the continued onslaught of attacks on our traditional family values, the right to protect ourselves, the right to the way we want to educate our kids, the ability to mine coal and draw oil out of the ground,” Halbrook said. “Things that we think are very important are constantly under attack.”
Mark Maxwell pointed out to Halbrook that he made his comments Wednesday in front of a statue of Abraham Lincoln, who famously said “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
Halbrook also told Maxwell “The US Constitution guarantees us a republican form of government and that’s not happening.”
Maxwell pointed out it is happening because more people live in and around Chicago than live Downstate. “Yeah, but the issue is it’s not happening,” Halbrook insisted.
Perhaps he is confusing “republican” with “Republican.”
* Saturday during a “Rally for Your Rights” event in Decatur attended by about 500 people…
[Rep. Halbrook] is pushing legislation aimed at creating a whole new state that would carve off the rest of the Land of Lincoln from Chicagoland.
“Yes, a new state, a new Illinois, and it’s a separation from Chicago,” said Halbrook, to thunderous applause and cheers.
At a separatism-themed rally at the Effingham Performance Center earlier this month, Halbrook shared his views with a crowd of more than 1,500, many of whom rose to their feet in applause when he asked “Who wants to separate from Chicago and Cook County?”
Halbrook now says the rally was only the beginning.
“Momentum for House Resolution 101 is building every day now,” he said. “I officially filed the legislation back in early February and we’re still hearing talk about it every week. Going forward, we plan to talk about it in town hall meetings this spring, summer and fall as we educate more and more people. Over the long haul, we’re convinced only more people will join in with us as they become more educated about what this could truly mean.”
The peer-reviewed exam by the Project for Middle Class Renewal and the Illinois Economic Policy Institute constructed eight scenarios based partly on progressive income tax structures among Illinois’ neighbors. The Associated Press obtained the study in advance of its release.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker has proposed changing the state’s flat-rate income tax system, in which everyone pays 4.95 percent, to a progressive structure in which wealthier residents pay a higher percentage. It would start at 4.75 percent for the lowest wage earners, remain at 4.95 percent for those earning $100,000 to $250,000, and top out at 7.95 percent for incomes over $1 million.
Authors Robert Bruno and Frank Manzo constructed eight scenarios, drawn in part from graduated tax structures in nearby states such as Iowa and Minnesota, and tested each against five public policy goals: Cutting taxes for at least two-thirds of taxpayers, reducing property taxes by 10 percent, protecting small businesses, wiping out Illinois’ built-in $1.2 billion “structural” deficit, and boosting education and brick-and-mortar funding by hundreds of millions of dollars. […]
Pritzker’s measure is among the scenarios evaluated by Manzo and Bruno, director of the University of Illinois’ Labor Education Program and head of the Project for Middle Class Renewal. The study determined that the Democrat’s plan would mean a tax cut for 85.3 percent of tax filers , no change in the current liability for 12 percent of taxpayers, and an increase for 2.8 percent — those making more than $250,000 a year.
It would generate $3.12 billion extra per year, less than Pritzker’s estimate of $3.4 billion
According to the AP and to one of the study’s authors, the study figured Pritzker’s corporate tax hike into its projection.
Business interests have been saying for weeks that the Pritzker proposal wouldn’t raise as much as advertised, but this is the first group on the left saying the same thing.
Overall, the report had good news for the Pritzker camp. But it’s not good at all if the governor’s revenue projection is off by 8 percent.
I’ve asked the governor’s office for a response.
*** UPDATE *** The governor’s office points out that the study didn’t run Pritzker’s actual plan. The study “implemented” the plan using Fiscal Year 2018 numbers, instead of the higher incomes during Fiscal Year 2021, when the plan would first be implemented.
That explains a lot of the discrepancy. They also went back a year earlier to calculate their estimates than Pritzker (2015 vs. 2016).
About a year ago, I attended a hearing of the Illinois House Judiciary-Criminal Law Committee and watched the Democratic majority vote down one Republican-sponsored criminal penalty enhancement bill after another.
One would’ve made recruiting street gang members a Class 4 felony instead of the current Class 3. A bill to prevent child sex offenders from moving within a mile of their victims went down. The Democrats even killed a bill to enhance criminal penalties for anyone who knowingly harmed a police dog.
The legislative massacre was staged after Rep. Tony McCombie (R-Savanna) rose on the House floor to complain that she couldn’t get a hearing for one of her bills because the Democrats had bottled it up in subcommittee along with other Republican-backed penalty enhancement proposals.
McCombie’s measure would’ve enhanced the criminal penalty for assaulting DCFS workers to bring it into line with the already enhanced penalty for knowingly assaulting police, firefighters, corrections workers and some Department of Human Service workers.
It seemed like a no-brainer bill, especially since one of Rep. McCombie’s DCFS worker constituents was literally beaten to death while attempting to take a child into protective custody. In years past, that AFSCME-backed bill would’ve sailed through the General Assembly and been signed into law.
Judiciary-Criminal has for years been a bulwark against penalty enhancement bills. The Black Caucus and former committee chair Rep. Elaine Nekritz derailed most of them by sending them to subcommittee to quietly die.
Lawmakers slowly increased the penalties on countless crimes over the decades. And their pace increased after Illinois passed a so-called “Truth in Sentencing” law in the 1990s, which drastically limited the amount of time that inmates could earn to reduce their sentences while in prison.
Eventually, people started waking up and realizing the very real damage this was doing. It wasn’t just expensive to pay for prisons; the laws were contributing to the cycle of crime and violence and were locking up a whole lot of people of color. Republicans actually took the lead on criminal justice reform in other states and former Gov. Bruce Rauner signed quite a large number of reform bills during his term in office.
But reforming existing laws was only part of the process. Preventing the passage of “press release” bills to enhance penalties after high-profile crimes was also important.
After Nekritz retired, Rep. Art Turner, a member of House Democratic leadership, eventually took the panel’s helm and the hammer came down even harder, culminating in that hearing last spring. Rep. Turner (D-Chicago) is probably one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, but not when it comes to this topic.
House Speaker Michael Madigan decreed at the beginning of this year that members of his leadership team could no longer chair committees, so Turner was replaced by Rep. Justin Slaughter (D-Chicago).
Chairman Slaughter has taken a different approach and four penalty enhancement bills have been approved by his committee this year.
After her stinging defeat last year, Rep. McCombie started working her bill hard, and even managed to get herself appointed to Judiciary-Criminal. She refiled her bill and added enhanced penalties for knowingly physically attacking Adult Protective Service employees at the Illinois Department on Aging.
Last week, Judiciary-Criminal unanimously approved Rep. McCombie’s new bill. Rep. Turner even co-sponsored the bill this time, as did Chairman Slaughter.
Slaughter told me he’s willing to consider “sensible” penalty enhancement bills like McCombie’s.
“We decided this year to consider, respectfully, those penalty enhancements that were sensible that didn’t have anything to do with some of the ‘Truth in Sentencing” punitive policies,” Slaughter said.
Last year’s hearing clearly got out of hand. Democratic leadership wanted to punish McCombie and other Republicans for speaking out, so they staged that dramatic hearing to kill their bills. A new Madigan chief of staff who isn’t constantly looking for drama-filled confrontation in a new post-Rauner era also likely contributed to the currently changed atmosphere. They can disagree without being so disagreeable.
And keep an eye on a new topic that is almost sure to surface. As I write this, 15 Illinois State Police troopers have been struck by motorists since the beginning of January. Two troopers have been killed.
The penalty for drivers who don’t move over or slow down for emergency vehicles is just a fine and possible loss of license. Somebody in the Legislature will surely try to pass an enhancement bill, and this one will be tough to stop — and, frankly, shouldn’t be stopped if properly drafted.
Two years ago, an Illinois state trooper pulled me over for not changing lanes while passing a traffic stop. He asked me if I had heard of Scott’s Law. He explained it was enacted because a firefighter had been hit on the road during a traffic accident.
Having never heard of the law, I questioned why. It seems it is my responsibility to keep up with changes in the driving laws. I question how many Illinoisans take the time to do this. (I had not.) In reading about it, I was surprised to find that the law had been expanded in 2017 to include any vehicle with flashing lights.
The current approach of spreading the word by pulling drivers over individually to inform/ticket them into compliance seems like a giant Whac-A-Mole-type effort to accomplish what should be handled by the department that oversees motor vehicles. If the changes in driving laws were required reading during license renewal, Illinois could reach every driver in the state within four years.
* Brilliant idea, except it’s already in the official Rules of the Road manual three separate times…
Emergency/Maintenance Vehicles
When approaching a stationary (non-moving) emergency/maintenance vehicle using visual signals, Illinois law requires motorists to yield, change to a lane away from the emergency workers when possible and proceed with caution. If a lane change is not possible, a driver should reduce speed and proceed with caution. […]
Right of Way
A driver must yield the right of way to other drivers, bicyclists or pedestrians… When approaching emergency vehicles using audible and visual signals. […]
Lane Usage
Drivers must drive on the right half of the roadway except… When approaching a stationary emergency vehicle.
When I was growing up, every adult driver told me about slowing down and moving over when a car or truck was sitting on the side of the road, particularly when it was a police car or a tow truck. It’s just basic courtesy and common sense.
And physics.
I cannot comprehend why people can’t figure out this extremely simple thing.
* Related…
* Highway Officials Warn of Spike in Motorists Hitting, Killing State Troopers: Federal and state highway officials are warning drivers to be more cautious amid a troubling and unexplained rise this year in the number of state troopers struck and killed while going about their duties outside their vehicles. Nationwide, 14 troopers have been killed in this manner so far in 2019, compared with nine for all of 2017, the latest year available, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Despite high hopes fueled by the election of a supportive governor and Democratic supermajorities in the Illinois House and Senate, supporters of the push to lift the ban on rent control in Illinois are regrouping after a significant setback. […]
Activists will gather at 10 a.m. Monday at the Thompson Center to urge Gov. JB Pritzker to step in and lift the ban with an executive order.
“The governor campaigned on this issue, and he hasn’t stepped in yet, and we want him to get involved,” said coalition spokesperson H Kapp-Klote.
However, since the ban on rent control was imposed by a law approved by the legislature, it would take an act of the General Assembly to reverse it
A community group will turn its attention to passing state legislation now that Edwardsville and Glen Carbon aren’t going to require local stores to charge a 10-cent fee for single-use paper and plastic shopping bags.
Last week, the village of Glen Carbon announced that it wouldn’t be approving an ordinance proposed by Bring Your Own Glen-Ed. The group had made a presentation to the village’s Public Safety Committee last year and planned to address the entire Glen Carbon Village Board this spring.
“Our attorney has advised us that we have no statutory authority to to adopt an ordinance to take such action,” said Village Administrator Jamie Bowden. “We are not home rule.” […]
The village’s announcement essentially halted Bring Your Own’s effort to get the same ordinance passed in Edwardsville. The group had agreed that a bag fee should be charged at stores in both municipalities or neither because of their shared border and interconnected economies.
They’ve been working on this idea since at least September and they’re just now figuring out Glen Carbon has no home rule powers?
Representative Chris Miller, a freshman Republican from Oakland, warned gun owners at the statehouse on Wednesday that “Illinois is under attack from the Chicago socialists who continue to work out of the playbook of [Saul] Alinsky and all those other evil dictators that the first thing they try to do is seize our guns.”
When asked how he intended to negotiate with lawmakers he described as being in league with “evil dictators,” Miller said reaching across the aisle was essentially already a lost cause because the House Democrats in the supermajority did not adopt the Republican rules to govern the legislative process. Such a concession of power would be unprecedented in Illinois.
“That’s one of the problems is that there is no negotiation,” Miller said. “I know that from November to January, every article I read in the paper was about how we are going to be bipartisan and work across the aisle and everything is going to be great. I sincerely believed that. We tried to do that,” he said.
But after learning that the supermajority would not accept the Republican rules suggestions, Miller says he concluded, “Well, there goes bipartisanship.”
Bipartisanship and total surrender are different things.
Illinois State Representative 109th District Darren Bailey reported that one of the biggest issues with DCFS seems to be communication. However, he believes that agency workers in southern Illinois do a good job.
Bailey said, “My office receives several calls a month regarding lack of knowledge of cases and children. Just last week, a 2 year old was beaten to death under the care of DCFS. As with many things, the state of Illinois is simply not the best manager as has been proven in the past. Southern Illinois usually gets the leftovers of any program.“ […]
Bailey suggests outsourcing could be a possible solution.
He said, “I believe DCFS will need to find other organizations like church groups to outsource their workload. By outsourcing, I believe we can do a better job of helping children because the help will come from local groups who can be held more accountable and will know the situations more intimately.”
Um, the caseworker for 2-year-old Ja’hir Gibbons worked for a private agency, so the job was already outsourced…
DCFS released a statement saying that as part of initial review of Ja’hir’s case, “DCFS learned that two separate and contradictory reports were submitted regarding this home visit” and have ordered an investigation into the caseworker responsible for it.
DCFS said they found two reports submitted in the case; one from the morning of March 17 that said both children were in the home on March 16 at 12:30 p.m., and the second from the morning of March 19, that said only one child, Josiah, was home on March 16 at 12:45 p.m.
DCFS said the caseworker was employed by a private agency called Omni.
DCFS outsources 85 percent of its cases to community-based agencies around the state
Also, as far as “church groups” go, do Lutheran Social Services and Catholic Charities ring a bell? Illinois outsources a whole lot of social services work to those organizations.
* This is a different circumstance than the Scott’s Law violations, but Trooper Ellis was the 16th Illinois State Police trooper hit by a motorist this year and the third to be killed. From the ISP…
Illinois State Police (ISP) Acting Director Brendan F. Kelly regretfully announces the line-of-duty death of ISP District 15 (Downers Grove) Trooper Gerald Ellis.
This morning, March 30th, 2019, at approximately 3:25 a.m., Trooper Gerald Ellis, #6038, was on-duty in his squad car traveling home on I-94 westbound near milepost 16.75 in Green Oaks, when a wrong-way driver, who was traveling eastbound in the westbound lanes, struck Trooper Ellis head on. Trooper Ellis was transported to a local area hospital with life threatening injuries. At approximately 4:04 a.m. Trooper Ellis succumbed to his injuries.
“While the men and women of the Illinois State Police are still grieving our recent loss, it is with profound heartache and unfathomable sadness that we inform you of the death of another fallen trooper, Trooper Gerald Ellis. Trooper Ellis laid down his life while protecting the citizens of this state. We are asking the public to respectfully give consideration to the family of Trooper Ellis and the ISP while we continue to process and work through this tragedy,” stated Acting Director Brendan Kelly.
Trooper Ellis was 36 years old and an 11-year veteran of the Illinois State Police District 15 in Downers Grove.
Additional information will be released once it becomes available.
Sec. 147. Illinois State Trooper Day. April 1st of each year is designated as Illinois State Trooper Day, a day to honor the dedicated men and women of the Illinois State Police. Illinois State Trooper Day shall be observed throughout the State by the citizens of Illinois with civic remembrances of the sacrifices made on their behalf by Illinois’ finest, the Illinois State Troopers, especially the ultimate sacrifice given by those State Police Officers who lost their lives in the line of duty.
…Adding… Secretary of State Jesse White…
I am issuing a call to action to motorists throughout Illinois: Stop driving while distracted. Stop texting while driving. Stop driving while impaired.
Please protect those who protect us by moving over when approaching a stopped emergency vehicle.
I grieve for those officers who lost their lives while protecting us, and I grieve for their family members.
Today, Think Big Illinois released new ads in several districts urging state legislators to support Governor Pritzker’s fair tax. The ads push back on false attacks from opponents who currently benefit from our current unfair tax system and want to avoid finally having to pay their share.
The ads also highlight why a fair tax is right for Illinois, including that 97% of Illinoisans will not see a state income tax increase, with only those making above $250,000 paying more. A fair tax will also solve the $3.2 billion budget crisis Illinois is currently facing, which otherwise would have to be addressed by raising income taxes on everyone by 20% or by drastically gutting critical social service programs.
The ads urge Representatives Monica Bristow, Jonathan Carroll, Terra Costa Howard, and Mary Edly-Allen. Think Big Illinois’ previous ad, Hole, will continue to air across the state.
If two members of the Illinois House get their way, you may not be able to call those frozen chunks of water made by your freezer “ice” anymore.
Well, that’s not exactly what Rep. Mike Murphy and Rep. Tim Butler, both Republicans from Springfield, want to do, but it’s what they might have proposed had they been in office in the 19th century.
Their newly introduced bill — HB2556 — would prohibit meat grown from animal cells rather than animal slaughter from being called exactly what it is: meat.
For background on this meaty matter, many food sustainability experts are expressing serious concerns about the connection between meat production and food insecurity, climate change, antibiotic resistance, food safety problems and more. To address these concerns, a new crop of startups, financed by investors such as Bill Gates, Richard Branson and even meat companies like Tyson and Cargill, has been growing real animal meat in cultivators rather than in animals’ bodies.
It may sound like science fiction, but it’s actually quite similar to other technologies we’ve been using in food and medicine for decades. Simply by taking a sesame seed-sized biopsy from an animal’s muscle (their meat), these entrepreneurs are culturing animal cells in conditions where they grow into muscle just like they would inside the body. And from that minuscule piece of muscle, they can grow literally tons of meat.
State lawmakers are one step closer to removing a line from property tax bills in a number of cities in Illinois.
State Sen. Dan McConchie’s legislation allows for water drainage districts, responsible for keeping small waterways cleared of debris, to be absorbed into the municipality they’re at least 75 percent inside of through a court filing process.
“Drainage districts served to keep ditches clear of debris and improve farmland, but now, their services could easily be merged with another unit of government,” he said.
McConchie, R-Hawthorn Woods, told lawmakers on the Senate floor Wednesday that the measure is needed in more suburban areas where the cities have largely taken over drainage responsibilities already.
It wasn’t just opening day for baseball Thursday, it was also opening day for a bill to legalize sports betting in Illinois.
The Illinois House Revenue and Finance Committee heard about various aspects of expanding gambling during an hourslong hearing Thursday, that included testimony from NBA Senior Vice President Dan Spillane. Afterward, he said the NBA supports legalizing sports betting in Illinois, but the association wants to make sure it protects the integrity of the game and protects the fans who would be placing bets.
“If sports betting is going to be successful it crowds out illegal markets, encourages people to bet in legal markets, and that’s going to create jobs and revenue for the state,” Spillane said.
Illinois’ professional sports teams support the concept. One proposal would give teams 25 cents for every $100 wagered. The teams also support online sports betting.
* Twitters…
We were just debating a bill about minority inclusion on corporate boards and one of my colleagues just asked if Rachel Dolezal would be included. Lord help me.
Friday, Mar 29, 2019 - Posted by Advertising Department
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* From the Chicago Catholic, which is the newspaper of the Chicago Archdiocese…
The bishops of Illinois’ six Catholic dioceses gathered in Springfield March 28 to speak against proposed legislation that would define abortion as a fundamental right and do away with a law requiring that the parents of minors seeking abortions be notified.
“This is not about the right to an abortion, although we would question that,” said Cardinal Cupich. “This is a radical departure from the status quo that goes far beyond Roe v Wade.”
One of the two bills would define abortion as a fundamental right and states that embryos and fetuses would have no independent rights. It also would remove protections for doctors and other health care providers who refuse to participate in abortions because it violates their consciences and would require that private health insurance in Illinois fully cover the costs of abortions. […]
“As physicians, we take an oath to do no harm,” said Stallings, who is Illinois director of the Catholic Medical Association and a member of the Illinois Catholic Healthcare Association. “We offer patients an objective treatment plan based upon medical training and scientific testing. It has been a longstanding practice, however, to respect doctors’ rights of conscience when they are asked to perform a morally objectionable procedure. … I love taking care of women and delivering babies. If this legislation passes, I am not going to leave the medical profession and abandon women who need good health care. But I will refuse to participate in an abortion.”
Further, the legislation removes the right of health care workers to refuse to participate in a procedure that violates their right of conscience. Does the State of Illinois really want to become a place where people are forced to do things in their workplace that are against their most deeply held beliefs?
* Colleen Connell, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois…
When we proposed the Reproductive Health Act, we expected a vigorous debate – but one based on facts. The Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act – which is unaffected by this legislation – continues to protect health care providers from participating in any care that inconsistent with their religious and moral beliefs. Period. Full stop. Suggesting otherwise is simply not true.
“Conscience” means a sincerely held set of moral convictions arising from belief in and relation to God, or which, though not so derived, arises from a place in the life of its possessor parallel to that filled by God among adherents to religious faiths. […]
No physician or health care personnel shall be civilly or criminally liable to any person, estate, public or private entity or public official by reason of his or her refusal to perform, assist, counsel, suggest, recommend, refer or participate in any way in any particular form of health care service which is contrary to the conscience of such physician or health care personnel. […]
This Act shall supersede all other Acts or parts of Acts to the extent that any Acts or parts of Acts are inconsistent with the terms or operation of this Act.
The legislation exists in both chambers of the General Assembly. Both House bills are seemingly stuck in a subcommittee, as is the Senate version of the Reproductive Health Act.
Only the Senate version of the effort to repeal the Parental Notification of Abortion Act has moved to the chamber floor for a possible vote.
Robert Gilligan, executive director of Catholic Conference of Illinois, said Thursday that could change “at any point in time, so we’re here to just express our opposition to (them), and we hope they stay where they are.”
The parental notice bill made it out of a Senate committee, but the Reproductive Health Act is stuck in Senate Assignments after missing the committee passage deadline last week when the Executive Committee didn’t take action. Exec is tightly controlled by Democratic leadership.
And, yes, as subscribers have known for a while now, the House bills are stuck in a subcommittee.
“This morning I come to question the unlimited right of one human being to end the life of another,” Cupich said, while calling the measures “the latest attack on human dignity.”
Cupich said a Roe v. Wade protection was already granted in the signing of House Bill 40, the controversial measure former Gov. Bruce Rauner signed into law. The law ensures abortion remains legal in Illinois even if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, while also allowing women with Medicaid and state-employee health insurance to use their coverage for abortions.
“This is a fundamental question that should be well considered before such important legislation is voted on,” Cupich said. “Who lives? Who dies? who decides?”
Questions from reporters quickly turned to the church’s child sex abuse scandal. Earlier this month, a Minnesota law firm released a 182-page report with details about 395 Catholic clergy members and church staff in Illinois who have been accused of sexual misconduct.
One reporter asked what standing the church had to lecture about the issue given the widespread, decades-long practice of priests abusing children.
“Those are all very important questions … but this issue, no matter who speaks for it, is so compelling that it needs to be heard and the focus needs to stay on [abortion] today,” Cupich said. “Those other questions – and others you may have about other topics – are important and they surely should be responded to in their own venue.”
Bishops from across Illinois joined together in Springfield Thursday to voice their concerns about potential changes to state abortion laws. The Catholic bishops held a press conference about the issue, which marks the first media event Peoria Bishop Daniel Jenky was present since new allegations of priest sex abuse came to light in the Peoria Diocese.
After numerous requests for interviews via phone, e-mail, and in person about sexual abuse allegations in the Catholic Church. Again, this is the first time there has been a press event where Bishop Daniel Jenky was present, and available for questioning. […]
“Cardinal, since you are speaking about it, since you are speaking for Bishop Jenky then what is the catholic church doing to prevent these things from continuing to happen within the Catholic Church when it comes to priest sex abuse?”
“Yes again we will be happy to discuss that issue and any other issue you have but we want to put the focus on these two bills today. said Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago ”
The bishop was then wheeled away. Reporter Kyle Beachy tried to speak with him in the hallway mentioning the numerous times we have tried to go through proper channels to offer the diocese a chance to speak on camera.
The Archbishop and bishops would not answer questions about sexual abuse allegations during the press conference. When Pearson tried to ask Jenky some questions following the event, he said, “You’re clearly trying to do one of those ‘gotcha’ things.We are here to express our opinions on these two bills…” Jenky then directed us to their website for information on their response to this issue.
After that our other reporter, Kyle Beachy, approached Bishop Jenky before he left the Capitol.
Kyle Beachy, Heart of Illinois ABC: “Do you think you’ve been transparent about the issue of sexual abuse?”
Bishop Daniel Jenky: “Yes, go on the internet and you can see everything we know going back to the 1870’s.”
* So, lemme get this straight. You’re way behind and decide to run a nasty campaign TV ad that uses the fiery death of three children to score a political point and you don’t even bother to check in with the family before forcing them to relive this horrific tragedy? That’s not only gross political malpractice, it’s grotesquely inhumane. This election cannot end soon enough…
A new TV ad released by Chicago mayoral candidate Toni Preckwinkle’s campaign is drawing ire from the family whose tragedy is at the center of it.
The ad, Preckwinkle’s first in more than a week, attacks her opponent, Lori Lightfoot, over a 2004 fire on the West Side that killed three children in the Funches family. The family says they were never contacted or consulted about the ad. […]
Lovera Funches, the oldest daughter in the family, agrees that Preckwinkle is trying to take advantage of her family’s tragedy.
“Now y’all using this as a weapon and it’s hurting us. It’s hurting my family,” she said. “Take it down, just take it off the TV. We don’t want nothing else but to take it off. Please, we’re asking, we don’t want to see it no more.” […]
“Lightfoot, if you know that those four beautiful babies died in that fire and you destroyed that evidence, I pray that God have mercy on you,” she said. “Preckwinkle, I really appreciate you for doing what you’ve done, for bringing everything out to the light, but I don’t appreciate the way you did it.” […]
“If you have no regrets for using my family as a political weapon, then you’re not the choice for the city of Chicago!” Funches said.
* Crain’s Chicago Business posted my column early, so we get to talk about it on Friday instead of our usual Monday. It’s about legalizing cannabis and historical polling by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University which showed a marked switch in public opinion since its spring of 2017 poll, when support jumped from 45 percent to 66 percent, where it has stayed ever since. There’s also this aspect…
I used to say it about marriage equality. Now it’s cannabis reform where people have evolved more quickly than politicians. This column by @capitolfax spells it out well. , Cannabis legalization shouldn't be in the slow lane https://t.co/PyUYjfwuHR
Despite this, a majority of Illinois House members have sponsored a resolution asking that the General Assembly slow down the legalization process.
We don’t have poll numbers for all these legislators’ districts, but we do have results from a March 2018 nonbinding referendum when 63 percent of Chicago and suburban Cook County voters said they favored legalizing cannabis.
I asked my pal Scott Kennedy at Illinois Election Data to crunch the numbers for a few districts represented by “go slow” legislators, and he graciously agreed.
The chief sponsor of that resolution is Rep. Marty Moylan, a Des Plaines Democrat. The referendum passed with 62 percent in Moylan’s district. In fact, about a thousand more people voted “yes” than voted for Moylan, who ran unopposed.
About 63 percent voted to legalize cannabis in the 38th House District, which is represented by freshman Rep. Debbie Meyers-Martin, an Olympia Fields Democrat. Meyers-Martin is a co-sponsor of Moylan’s resolution. (Six of her district’s 112 precincts are in Will County, so the Cook County referendum wasn’t held in her entire district.)
And almost 63 percent voted for the referendum in Rep. Bob Rita’s district. Rita, D-Blue Island, is a “go slow” co-sponsor, but he’s also a key legislator involved with expanding legalized gambling, which is somewhat ironic.
A deliberative legislative process is fine by me. But cannabis legalization needs to get done this year, and when the time comes to vote, these legislators and others should listen to the vast majority of their constituents and legalize it already.
With an infusion of new capital from prominent Chicago investors Michael Sacks and Rocky Wirtz, the Chicago Sun-Times is getting a change of control at the top — and what may be a new lease on life.
The deal announced today will shift control of the company from a consortium of organized labor groups to Sacks, Wirtz and Jorge Ramirez, who continues as board chairman. A majority of seats on the board will be held by the new entity, Sun-Times Investment Holdings LLC. The announcement did not disclose financial details.
Sacks is CEO of Grosvenor Capital Management and a longtime adviser and confidant to Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Wirtz is president of Wirtz Corp. and principal owner and chairman of the Chicago Blackhawks. Chicago magazine ranked Wirtz No. 7 and Sacks No. 10 on its most recent list of the 50 most powerful people in the city.
Ramirez, former president of the Chicago Federation of Labor, works for Sacks as a managing director of his GCM Grosvenor investment and advisory firm. […]
Sacks and Wirtz previously were among investors in Wrapports Holdings LLC, which sold the Sun-Times to the current ownership group in 2017.
Jorge Ramirez will continue as the company’s chairman of the board, but the newspaper said in a press release that no decision had been made by Ramirez on whether Sacks and Wirtz will join him on the board.
“We are pleased to welcome Michael Sacks and Rocky Wirtz,” Ramirez was quoted as saying in a press release. “It is nice to bring representatives of the business community into the ownership group as we strengthen Sun-Times Media and drive the business forward.”
The newspaper has been owned since summer 2017 by several organized labor groups and businesspeople brought together by businessman Edwin Eisendrath, a former alderman, and the Chicago Federation of Labor. Those entities and individuals, which succeeded in blocking an effort by the Chicago Tribune’s parent company to take over the Sun-Times, will continue to hold ownership in the company.
* As promised, Rep. Michael McAuliffe (R-Chicago) has introduced a bill to take film tax credits away from any company that employs our new Public Enemy Number One Jussie Smullet. It’s entitled the Just Usage of State Subsidies In Entertainment Act…
Amends the Film Production Services Tax Credit Act of 2008. Provides that, for accredited productions certified or renewed on or after the effective date of the amendatory Act, the applicant shall verify that no person hired on the applicant’s production has, prior to the date of the application or renewal: (i) been convicted of or pled guilty to a hate crime; (ii) been convicted of or pled guilty to disorderly conduct for falsifying a police report of a hate crime; or (iii) participated in a deferred prosecution program for disorderly conduct or for falsifying a police report of a hate crime. Makes conforming changes prohibiting the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity from issuing a tax credit certificate to a production that fails to verify that information. Effective immediately.
Clever.
So far, Rep. McAuliffe has appeared on TMZ and CNN and been featured in a story by the Daily Mail, among other outlets.
