Sunday, May 30, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
With just one full day left in session, Gov. Pritzker indicated that decarbonizing our power sector is central to a comprehensive clean energy bill and he would not allow ratepayers to underwrite Exelon’s profits. He wrote:
“As we try to find an agreed solution, there is another part of the legislation that will not only make agreement with Exelon easier to reach but will provide essential overall benefits. Nearly 50 legislators highlighted in a recent letter the critical importance of decarbonizing our power sector, including an end to fossil fuels in the next two decades. I agree with them. A key step to reducing the effects of carbon and transitioning to a clean energy economy is to require polluting power plants to help pay for clean energy … This step will help Exelon’s zero emission fleet be more competitive in the market and help pay for clean energy jobs programs.”
Learn more about equity-centered climate legislation at ilcleanjobs.org.
* Jennifer Smith Richards at the Chicago Tribune and Jodi S. Cohen at ProPublica…
Illinois lawmakers took sweeping action Sunday to limit the use of seclusion and restraint in schools, following through on promises made after a 2019 ProPublica-Chicago Tribune investigation revealed that school workers had regularly misused the practices to punish students.
The House voted unanimously to pass legislation barring school workers from locking children alone in seclusion spaces and limiting the use of any type of isolated timeout or physical restraint to when there’s “imminent danger of physical harm.” The legislation requires schools that receive state funding to make a plan to reduce — and eventually eliminate — the practices over the next three years. Schools that develop plans more quickly can receive priority for new grant funding for staff training.
A main feature of the legislation — and the element that proved most contentious among lawmakers over the past 18 months — is an immediate ban on schools’ use of prone, or face-down, restraint for most students. Restraining a student that way would be permitted only for children whose special-education plans specifically allow it as an emergency measure and only until the end of the 2021-22 school year, granting schools more time to phase out the practice than some legislators and advocates sought.
* ACLU of Illinois…
The passage of House Bill 219 is a huge win for students across the State of Illinois. The measure was advanced after media reports indicated that schools regularly used restraint and seclusion practices. More alarming, these harmful practices were used most often against youth of color and youth with disabilities.
It is worth noting the cruelty of some of these practices. Many of the prone restraints authorized by schools were tantamount to the use of deadly force. And we know the devastating psychological impact on students from being secluded. These practices simply cannot be permitted in our schools, and this bill makes that clear. Thanks to passage of this measure, Illinois joins the majority of states across the country in banning these cruel, unnecessary measures.
We thank Senator Gillespie and Representative Carroll for their leadership and commitment to seeing this wrong righted.
We look forward to seeing this measure signed into law by the Governor, and to the future benefit that will flow to students all across our state.
“This legislation protects all students, particularly the most vulnerable, from these harmful practices,” Gillespie said. “I am grateful to all our partners that put in years-long work to keep students safe.”
Current law allows school staff to isolate a student if they pose a danger to themselves or others. However, a Chicago Tribune and ProPublica Illinois investigation revealed that isolation rooms are often used as a punishment for refusing to do classwork, swearing and other behavior that does not pose a threat to safety.
Senator Gillespie’s measure would prohibit a school employee or contractor from secluding children as disciplinary action and limits the use of restraint only to instances allowed by the Illinois State Board of Education. The legislation also establishes priority access to grant funding for schools that reduce or eliminate the use of prone restraint and isolated time out in less than three years.
* Rep. Carroll…
After reading the media stories and reliving the horrors of these practices from when I was a child, we’re now the Governor’s signature away from ending these horrible practices. This took 18 months, but everyone who was a part of this process should be very proud.
* From what I can tell from the live coverage post metrics, readership is still pretty strong, but comments are obviously slow today. It’s Sunday, so that’s understandable. Lots of people read this blog without ever commenting and a number of commenters are either busy at the Statehouse or are off doing holiday weekend things.
So, we’ll see how this post goes. The pic was taken yesterday during the Republican press conference outside the governor’s office demanding that Pritzker veto the remap bill…
* Just keep in mind that it’s a holiday weekend, so death reporting could be low and testing could be light. But those hospital numbers are extremely encouraging. Vax up!…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 602 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 18 additional deaths. In addition, 67% of Illinois adults have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and more than 50% of Illinois adults are fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Cook County: 1 male 40s, 2 males 60s, 2 females 80s, 3 males 80s
DuPage County: 1 female 90s
Kane County: 1 male 50s, 2 males 70s
McLean County: 1 male 70s
Tazewell County: 1 male 40s
Vermilion County: 1 male 70s
Will County: 1 female 60s, 1 male 60s
Winnebago County: 1 female 70s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,381,665 cases, including 22,794 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 38,607 specimens for a total of 24,590,395. As of last night, 1,078 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 298 patients were in the ICU and 163 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from May 23-29, 2021 is 1.7%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from May 23-29, 2021 is 2.1%.
A total of 11,269,651 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 52,177 doses. Yesterday, 39,222 doses were reported administered in Illinois.
*All data are provisional and will change. In order to rapidly report COVID-19 information to the public, data are being reported in-time. Information is constantly being entered into an electronic system and the number of cases and deaths can change as additional information is gathered. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.
The latest convicted felon released by the Prisoner Review Board is now a fugitive, leaving parole officers searching for the man that murdered a teenager, among other serious crimes. This news comes amid the growing concerns brought forth by Republican members of the Senate Executive Appointments Committee this week regarding a maneuver Governor Pritzker is using to allow his Prisoner Review Board appointees to serve on the board without ever being vetted by the Illinois Senate.
According to the Chicago Sun Times, Ray Larsen (Larson), who was released from prison earlier this month—a decision made by the Prisoner Review Board, showed up on state prison records as missing since Monday.
In a joint statement, State Senators Jason Plummer (R-Edwardsville), Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro), and Steve McClure (R-Springfield) released the following statement:
“Recent developments on Ray Larsen are exactly the reason why we can’t continue to allow individuals on the Prisoner Review Board to make these serious decisions without being properly vetted. We now have a potentially dangerous individual on the loose at the hands of unconfirmed Gov. Pritzker appointees. As members of the Senate Executive Appointments Committee, we again demand that these individuals come before the committee to testify so that they can undergo the proper and constitutionally-required process to ensure it is appropriate for them to continue serving on the Prisoner Review Board.”
* “Recaptured”…
'What is our state doing?' Fugitive paroled killer recaptured, but family of slain Chicago teen wants to know why he was ever let go, from @FrankMainNews: https://t.co/73BuGhN7k8
Early Friday, authorities found him at a Chicago-area hospital. Chicago police officers, state parole officers and deputy U.S. marshals had been on the lookout for him.
It’s unclear why Larsen was at a hospital or what he’d been doing the past week. A source said he might have been wandering around the city, riding the CTA.
Jason Sweat, an attorney for the prisoner review board, said Larsen was in Chicago police custody Friday night. He said the state will file papers saying he violated his parole, and the board will hold a hearing to decide whether to revoke his parole.
With two more days until the scheduled adjournment of the General Assembly’s spring legislative session, negotiations on a high-stakes deal to steer Illinois away from carbon-causing energy sources — as well as a host of other goals from ending controversial formula ratemaking and forcing ethics reforms as a utility-involved corruption investigation looms large — have reached impasse, according to multiple sources engaged in bargaining.
As of Saturday night, parties remain far apart on the linchpin of the deal: how much the state should provide in subsidies for nuclear giant Exelon to prevent the company from the threatened closures of at least two, if not three, of Exelon’s six nuclear power generating stations that are not profitable. Those six locations serve the northern half of Illinois, which contains the majority of the state’s 12.8 million people.
Exelon’s ask from the state has varied, but those close to negotiations say the company has asked for a 10-year plan for subsidies with a credit in the first year that nearly amounts to what Pritzker’s office is offering in total. Exelon on Sunday declined to comment on the parameters of its subsidy ask.
Gov. JB Pritzker’s lead energy negotiator, Deputy Gov. Christian Mitchell, told Exelon the state’s final offer is $540M in subsidies for three plants over five years. Lawmakers have been briefed on that offer. There are currently no other negotiations scheduled, though that could change.
But a coalition of labor unions, some of whom represent the more than 2,400 unionized workers at the plants is throwing down a final gauntlet in the waning days before lawmakers’ May 31st adjournment. On Saturday evening, that coalition organized under the Climate Jobs Illinois moniker sent Pritzker a letter after parties were informed negotiations over the nuclear subsidy were at impasse.
But a coalition of labor unions, some of whom represent the more than 2,400 unionized workers at the plants is throwing down a final gauntlet in the waning days before lawmakers’ May 31st adjournment. On Saturday evening, that coalition organized under the Climate Jobs Illinois moniker sent Pritzker a letter after parties were informed negotiations over the nuclear subsidy were at impasse. […]
“The governor’s not the problem,” [Rep. Marcus Evans (D-Chicago)] said. “The problem is Exelon. Exelon is used to getting everything they want. And we want them to get what they need.”
Evans is an Assistant House Majority Leader and began the talks on organized labor’s side, so that’s quite significant.
Legislation prohibiting law enforcement from conducting background checks on those attending public meetings unless they pose a security risk passed the Senate.
“For years, folks were showing up to Chicago Police Board meetings for their civic duty and every citizen who showed up experienced a background check,” said the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Robert Peters, D-Chicago. “That’s a violation of so many people’s rights.”
Peters referenced a 2019 Chicago Tribune report that found law enforcement officials have conducted background checks on those who attended Police Board meetings since at least 2013.
Republican Sen. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro, said law enforcement who’ve tried to keep people safe now “have to try and prove what their motivation was or what their intent was.”
“I truly do not understand how law enforcement could be prohibited from protecting us by doing simple background checks when someone comes into a meeting,” Bryant said.
Lawmakers are in the process of changing a recent tax credit program for the development of data centers, but some worry the proposed change hijacks the successful program to favor union interests and could drive jobs out of state.
The Data Center Tax Credit Act was enacted with bipartisan support two years ago. The credit has been touted by the governor, Democrats and Republicans alike for attracting billions of dollars of private investment in the state and thousands of construction jobs and hundreds of permanent jobs. […]
The House amendment that passed 65-42 with one voting present clarifies what is considered a data center, including opening it to facilities that operate within five miles from each other, and requires green building certificates for the entities seeking the credit, among other changes.
But another provision was recognized as controversial by amendment sponsor state Rep. Mark Walker, D-Arlington Heights. He said the proposed change requires entities seeking a credit or seeking renewal of a credit to have a “labor peace agreement” he said would have the employer agreeing to not hinder any attempts for workers to unionize.
“It is not a unionization mandate, but it could lead to that through a fair and open, normal election process,” Walker said. “Employees might well vote to be part of a union …”
But Republicans criticized Walker’s amendment to the Senate bill as changing rules on data centers looking to develop in Illinois mid-stream.
The Illinois House unanimously passed a bipartisan juvenile justice reform Saturday that outlaws the use of deceptive interrogation techniques on minors.
The measure, contained in amendments to Senate Bill 2122, makes confessions by minors in custody inadmissible if they were obtained by “a law enforcement officer or juvenile officer (that) knowingly engages in deception.”
The bill was introduced in the House by Chicago Democratic Rep. Justin Slaughter and was also sponsored by two Republican former prosecutors, Minority Leader Jim Durkin, of Western Springs, and Rep. Patrick Windhorst, of Metropolis.
“There have been a hundred wrongful convictions in Illinois predicated on false confessions, minors make up 31 of these cases. Research, experience and common sense tell us that minors are between two and three times more likely to falsely confess the crimes they didn’t commit,” Slaughter said.
A bill providing legal protections for a person who reports a drug overdose is headed to the governor’s desk.
The Illinois Senate Saturday passed “Alex’s Law” by a 40 to 16 vote. The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Laura Ellman, D-Naperville, said the legislation is about saving lives by ensuring that people who seek emergency assistance for an individual experiencing symptoms of an opioid overdose will not be arrested for any crime related to the use of drugs at the scene.
“If somebody seeks medical attention for someone who is overdosing, it won’t affect their pretrial release or furlough so long as evidence of a violation was acquired as a result,” Ellman said.
The bill was inspired by 25-year-old Alex Green of Naperville who died of a fentanyl overdose in 2018. Green was with others at the time of his overdose, but they dropped him off at a gas station and fled fearing persecution. Officers who arrived on the scene were not able to identify what had happened until it was too late.
Student athletes at colleges in Illinois could get sponsorship money under a bill advancing at the statehouse in the final days of session.
State Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Chicago, passed an amendment, 95-18, Saturday to Senate Bill 2338. It must now head to the Senate for concurrence before the end of session May 31.
“It creates the Illinois Student Athletes Endorsement Act,” Buckner said. “Generally, it allows student athletes in Illinois to earn market value competition for the use of their name, image or likeness, or voice, while enrolled in a post secondary education institution.”
The measure also allows them to hire counsel and an agent if they find it necessary.
Elementary school children in all public schools in Illinois would be entitled to at least 30 minutes of unstructured playtime each day under a bill that passed the state House on Saturday.
That’s only half the amount of playtime that the original bill would have required as it passed out of the Senate. The original bill also would have applied to students from kindergarten through eighth grade, but the bill was narrowed as a concession to opponents that included groups representing teachers, principals and administrators.
Even with those changes, Senate Bill 654, which some have dubbed the “right-to-play” bill, cleared the House by the smallest allowable vote total, 60-52.
The bill was sponsored by Sen. Robert Peters and Rep. Aaron Ortiz, both Chicago Democrats who recalled their own time in school without being allowed recess time.
House and Senate Republicans stood outside the governor’s office Saturday demanding Gov. JB Pritzker veto the maps Democrats passed Friday.
GOP members say Democrats drew their own districts and used flawed data instead of waiting for the 2020 Census data. Of course, Pritzker campaigned on a goal for independent redistricting and told voters he would veto any map made by lawmakers, lobbyists, or staff.
Many groups feel the map doesn’t reflect the diversity of Illinois. Still, the governor is expected to sign the maps anyway.
“It is a rejection really of those people, whether it’s minority groups, good government groups, any of those,” said Senate Republican Leader Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods). “It is a rejection of that in favor of one thing and one thing only. And that is partisan advantage for his own party.”
The Illinois House was unanimous on a resolution urging Gov. J.B. Pritzker to reopen the offices of the Illinois Department of Employment Security. Those offices around the state have been closed to the public for more than a year.
House Resolution 226 from state Rep. Joe Sosnowski, R-Rockford, calls on IDES to make an immediate public commitment to reopen their public-access public employment offices to provide face-to-face help to Illinois residents. […]
While he supported the measure, state Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago, urged Republicans to support the budget which could increase funding for IDES.
“Some representatives … think this state runs just on air, but it actually takes money, it actually takes revenue and I think that when we negotiate the budget and we have an opportunity to vote to make sure that our state agencies run, I urge you to support the budget and the revenue enhancements to make sure that we’re able to do that, or even closing some loopholes to make sure that it is possible to do exactly what this resolution calls for.”
* Rachel Hinton at the Sun-Times was the only reporter who wrote about this bill who noticed that a crucial motion had been filed…
In the House, lawmakers held a heated debate on House Bill 1091, one of two bills in the Legislature that’s aimed at making the state’s FOID card system more effective.
Rep. Maura Hirschauer, D-Batavia, sponsored the bill and introduced it in the House. Hirschauer said it would create an option for an electronic FOID card; allow for automatic renewal of the card when one’s concealed carry license is renewed and requires an applicant seeking to get, or renew, a Firearm Owner’s Identification (FOID) card to include a full set of their fingerprints to the Illinois State Police, unless the applicant has already done so.
Hirschauer said the bill will help to “keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people,” like the man who fatally shot five of his co-workers in 2019 at the Henry Pratt Company in Aurora. […]
That bill passed 60 to 50, largely along party lines. But, by Saturday night, Rep. Frances Hurley, D-Chicago, had filed a motion to reconsider. As a result, the bill would stay in the House unless, or until, the motion is taken up by members.
This is a House bill, so it needs three days of readings in the Senate. That can’t happen before midnight Monday even if the brick is lifted by Rep. Hurley today.
I’ve made this mistake before. It’s maddening and embarrassing. Thank goodness for reporters like Hinton.
…Adding… Literally seconds after this post went live, a story by NPR Illinois’ Hannah Meisel went online…
State Rep. Curtis Tarver (D-Chicago) recounted his Nov. 2019 arrest after a traffic stop, when Chicago Police detained the Democrat for seven hours for carrying a gun with an out-of-date FOID card.
In reality, Tarver renewed his FOID card two days prior but Chicago Police’s database had not yet ingested the renewal information. Tarver said electronic notifications for FOID card renewal deadlines may have prevented his arrest.
“I get a letter to my home address from 10 years ago, and it becomes an issue,” Tarver said. “I take care of it with the State Police, I still get pulled over because the system’s [are] not caught up with each other, and I’m screwed.”
Tarver asked Hirschauer to commit to getting that passed. […]
However, it’s unclear whether the legislation will make it to the Senate, as after the bill’s narrow approval, State Rep. Fran Hurley (D-Chicago), who voted for the bill and managed members of her own Moderate Caucus within the House, filed a motion to reconsider.
* Remember to keep an eye on our live coverage post for breaking news throughout the day and night. Also, this advice applied yesterday, and it applies today and every day…
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but today’s a good day to remember to watch the rollercoaster, don’t ride it. #twill
— Rep. Kelly Cassidy (@RepKellyCassidy) May 29, 2021
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 802 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 37 additional deaths. In addition, 66% of Illinois adults have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and more than 49% of Illinois adults are fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Bureau County: 1 male 50s
Carroll County: 1 female 90s
Clinton County: 1 male 70s
Cook County: 1 female 40s, 1 female 50s, 1 male 50s, 1 female 60s, 5 males 60s, 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s, 1 male 90s
DuPage County: 1 male 60s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s
Iroquois County: 1 female 50s
Johnson County: 1 female 80s
Kankakee County: 1 male 80s
Macon County: 1 male 50s, 1 male 80s
Madison County: 1 female 70s
Randolph county: 1 female 80s
Saline County: 1 male 60s
St. Clair County: 1 male 70s
Stephenson County: 1 male 70s
Warren County: 1 female 70s
Whiteside County: 1 female 50s
Will County: 1 female 50s
Williamson County: 1 male 50s
Winnebago County: 1 male 50s, 1 male 60s
Woodford County: 1 female 90s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,381,063 cases, including 22,776 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 61,125 specimens for a total of 24,551,788. As of last night, 1,164 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 313 patients were in the ICU and 164 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from May 22-28, 2021 is 1.8%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from May 22-28, 2021 is 2.2%.
A total of 11,230,429 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 55,252 doses. Yesterday, 54,773 doses were reported administered in Illinois.
*All data are provisional and will change. In order to rapidly report COVID-19 information to the public, data are being reported in-time. Information is constantly being entered into an electronic system and the number of cases and deaths can change as additional information is gathered. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.
* As usual, I’ve been posting press releases and other stuff on our live coverage post today, as well as retweeting things that then show up on the same post. You really should be following that post for all the latest updates throughout the day and into the evening. New blog posts are also announced on the live coverage post. So, click here.
When reading last week’s indictment of Tim Mapes, it’s important to remember that federal prosecutors have been trying to prove that his old boss, former House Speaker Michael Madigan, was directing the effort to allegedly “bribe” him with favors.
Madigan’s longtime chief of staff was indicted on May 26 for allegedly lying to a federal grand jury and attempting to obstruct the grand jury’s corruption investigation.
It says right there in the indictment that the grand jury is investigating “efforts by [Madigan], and efforts of [Madigan’s former consigliere Mike McClain] on [Madigan’s] behalf, to obtain for others private jobs, contracts and monetary payments, in order to influence and reward [Madigan] in connection with [Madigan’s] role as Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives.”
So, they asked Mapes questions about whether Madigan had directed Mike McClain “to perform sensitive tasks,” or whether Madigan had directed McClain to exercise Madigan’s “power and authority,” or whether Madigan or his staff had sought McClain’s advice, or whether McClain had performed work for Madigan or received assignments from him or served as his communications conduit, or whether McClain assisted Madigan “with matters concerning the Illinois House of Representatives, its members, its lobbyists, or with the entities or individuals having pending matters before the Illinois House of Representatives.”
While these are all central questions to the feds’ probe of Madigan, they are not necessarily questions that would criminally implicate Mapes. The government obtained an order from Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer in March to give Mapes immunity for his grand jury testimony. He could respond without incriminating himself.
Anyone with even basic knowledge of the case against Mike McClain would know that the feds had tapped and then seized his phone and his computer. It’s no surprise, therefore, that the FBI possessed numerous conversations between McClain and Mapes, and prosecutors asked Mapes about those convos during the grand jury proceeding.
Did McClain tell Mapes anything he’d discussed with Madigan or what he was doing on behalf of Madigan during 2017-2019? “No,” Mapes said, according to the indictment. Did Mapes know about any “tasks or assignments” for McClain from Madigan in 2017 and 2018 or any time after McClain officially retired from lobbying in 2016? “No.” Etc.
Mapes’ attorneys claim the questions were “vague and imprecise” and were about events that took place “many years ago.”
Maybe some of the questions could’ve been vague, but Tim Mapes was infamous for making it his business to know everything and never seemed to forget anything. He was a detail guy and had a voracious appetite for news and gossip. And the record shows that McClain never made it a secret to almost anyone that he was doing things for Madigan after he supposedly retired from lobbying at the end of 2016.
The feds’ tapes and emails of McClain’s conversations with Mapes himself may have proved just that. As an example, McClain “described to Mapes work and assignments from [Madigan] between 2017 and 2019,” the indictment claimed. Mapes also allegedly provided McClain messages communicated to Mapes from Madigan about tasks McClain was performing “on behalf” of Madigan.
That Mapes would allegedly lie to a grand jury when he most certainly knew what the government had on him is either profoundly stupid and careless or some real-life Hollywood stuff.
“I never knew no Godfather,” Frankie Pentangeli said during his congressional testimony in Godfather Part II. “I was in the olive oil business with his father, but that was a long time ago; that’s all.” Presumably, Mapes’ brother wasn’t sitting in the grand jury room at the time.
It’s natural to be paranoid about the timing of this indictment, coming just five days before the spring session’s adjournment and during a very difficult negotiation over ComEd parent company Exelon’s demand for yet another giant ratepayer subsidy for three more nuclear power plants. The feds have had a habit for a couple of years of announcing indictments at crucial points during Illinois legislative sessions, and this may have been no different. Part of the Madigan probe centers around the 2016 Exelon nuclear bailout, after all.
The indictment contains a single mention of ComEd’s current CEO, although it doesn’t even hint at even a tiny bit of scandal. Mapes was simply asked whether he had any knowledge of Madigan’s “impressions” of the guy. But the feds did throw in that name check, which could make people wonder what the heck is going on because the feds don’t generally toss around names without some sort of purpose — even if that purpose may be chaos.
“…business owners who planned to build a career on Illinois’ solar panels say they are waiting to see whether the state legislature will pass a new bill with additional funding so they can start work on the backlog of projects left in limbo.”
“We’ve been able to minimize laying off folks. We voluntarily took pay deductions. Some people took furlough just so we could maintain our work force …”
“If legislators don’t renew the subsidies by the end of the session on Monday, a number of owners said they will be forced to lay off staff, move to other states or shut down completely.”
To the bill. You know, I understand why my colleagues talk about independent maps. I really do. When we see lawmaker lobbyists we all scratch our heads when we run for for election we say there’s no way you can go the General Assembly vote on a bill and they get paid on the side. So we run for office and we say, yeah, we want an independent map, we want a fair process. I’ve seen members on the other side of the aisle scratch your head, if we had the face mask off it would be a lot better.
But they’re wondering, how the hell do we get tampons in male bathrooms? How does that happen? That’s because you don’t have an independent map.
Sex education today just passed with 60 votes. It’s like a mini HBO porno. How does that happen? It’s because you don’t have independent maps. You need a little balance. Voting booths in county jails. How does that happen? How does that happen? You need to have an independent map, you need to have a fair map. You can’t let politicians, this is what happens when you let politicians pick their voters. They get to vote in county jail. How about for illegal immigrants, the right to vote for their college trustees? That’s legal in Illinois as well.
Utilities providing water in Illinois would be required to replace all lead service lines, and schools across the state would need to follow new standards for sex education curriculums under bills that advanced in the General Assembly Friday.
The proposed Lead Service Line Replacement Notification Act would require “water utilities statewide to replace all lead service lines and creates a low-income water assistance program to help fund financial assistance and water projects that include lead pipe replacement,” according to a news release announcing the passage of the bill. […]
After a heated debate, House members passed legislation that would change the state’s sex education curriculum to “provide comprehensive personal health and safety education in kindergarten through the 5th grade and comprehensive sexual health education in the 6th through 12th grades in all public schools.”
Starting in second grade, students would learn to define consent, gender identity and different types of families, including co-habitating and same-sex couples. […]
The state Senate also took up a bill barring law enforcement agencies from stopping, arresting, searching or detaining someone “solely based on an individual’s citizenship or immigration status.”
Republicans objected, saying it would “tie the hands” of law enforcement.
The Illinois Senate passed a bill Friday which would strengthen legal protections for immigrants and require the closure of immigrant detention centers in the state.
Senate Bill 667, known as the Illinois Way Forward Act, would amend the Illinois Transparency and Responsibility Using State Tools, or TRUST, Act, which took effect in 2017.
The bill would prevent state and local law enforcement agencies from collaborating with federal agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or from otherwise inquiring about an individual’s immigration status unless presented with a federal warrant.
State legislators on Friday passed a long-sought bill aimed at ensuring better racial diversity in the state’s cannabis licensing process.
State senators passed the House bill in a 50 to 3 vote Friday afternoon, sending the measure to Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who later announced he planned to sign it.
The legislation, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford, D-Maywood, attempts to fix Illinois’ recreational cannabis law, creating two additional lotteries of 110 total adult-use license dispensaries “for people who are social equity applicants — i.e. from a Black or Brown community,” according to a news release announcing the passage of the bill. In addition, those applicants won’t be subject to rules requiring dispensaries be located at least 1,500 feet apart.
“Existing dispensary owners, all non-minorities, have already taken many of the prime locations in the state,” Lightford said in a statement. “Dispensary owners from disadvantaged communities deserve a fair chance to make a profit by having access to lucrative business locations and not being locked out by distance requirements.”
Those additional lotteries will be broken in two and consist of 55 licenses each round.
Despite strong pushback from business leaders and a series of high-level negotiation sessions, it looks a bill that critics say could endanger Illinois’ data-center boom is teed up for final passage.
As now written, the labor-backed bill would require data centers and their tenants to sign a “labor peace argreement” with a union representing those who work on “but not limited to, pumps, chillers and coolers, fire line safety equipment, backup power generators, building automation system controls and water treatment systems.”
In most cases, that means hiring not only union labor but specific job candidates sent to a company.
After meetings involving Deputy Gov. Dan Hynes and others, sponsors have agreed to delay the effective date of the legislation from shortly after passage until Jan 1. That, as one insider puts it, will give the industry time this summer to “make nice and work something out with” labor, particularly the politically powerful International Union of Operating Engineers.
That isn’t Local 150, by the way. It’s a smaller local.
*** UPDATE *** The amended data-center bill passed the House and heads back to the Senate.
A measure of business conditions in the Chicago region had another strong reading in May, reaching its highest level in 47 years, a trade group said Friday.
The Chicago Business Barometer, also known as the Chicago PMI, jumped to 75.2 in May from 72.1, which had been the highest reading since December 1983.
Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal forecast decline to a 68 reading.
Readings over 50 signal expansion.
The surveyed economists apparently read the Tribune editorial page.
Illinois Democrats pushed through their plans Friday night to redraw the district boundaries of the state legislature, state Supreme Court and the Cook County Board of Review – despite objections from Republicans and groups concerned with minority representation.
Movement on the politically-charged political remap, which could lock in Democratic majorities in the General Assembly and the state’s high court for the next decade, dominated a busy legislative day in Springfield as a planned Monday adjournment looms with a stack of still-unfinished business.
The state Senate and, later, the House both approved new legislative maps on partisan roll calls with the top Democrat in the Senate insisting the new political boundaries reflect the true demographic face of Illinois.
“These are fair maps that live up to our promise to reflect the diversity of this state,” said Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park.
The delay in the census, in part due to the pandemic and also due to unsuccessful efforts by the Trump administration to avoid counting noncitizens, is at the center of the debate over the Democratic efforts to redraw state and federal political districts.
“We would not be here if Donald Trump’s Commerce Department had even a passing interest — even a passing interest — in an accurate and a prompt census,” Senate President Don Harmon, an Oak Park Democrat, said over audible groans from Republicans on the Senate floor.
The admission that some districts were drawn for political reasons ignited a debate on the House floor about whether an independent commission should have been created. On the floor, Mazzochi called out Democrats who once supported an amendment to create an independent mapmaking panel: Conroy, Terra Costa Howard of Glen Ellyn, Kathleen Willis of Addison, Michelle Mussman of Schaumburg and Stephanie Kifowit of Oswego.
“Many in this room finally have a chance to put their vote where their mouth is and keep their promises to their districts,” Mazzochi said.
Kifowit called the Republicans’ argument “smoke and mirrors” in her floor statement, saying Democrats draw the map because they are the ones who win the votes in Illinois.
“Instead of putting up a smoke screen and talking about how this map is something, this map is just a snapshot in time,” Kifowit said. “The party is what connects with voters, represents the voters and therefore gets elected by the voters. That is the true essence of being an elected official.”
“Transparency is important in our government, and we have had ample time to alert the public about a variety of measures that will be undertaking today, and we have chosen, in every step of the process, to obfuscate the intentions to operate in secrecy and deprive the people of the state of Illinois, or in this case the people, the great people of Cook County, the opportunity to weigh in on to this subject and many more,” said state Rep. Ryan Spain, R-Peoria.
During their debate on the bills, Republicans questioned their colleagues across the aisle, but some of their questions — like who drew the maps — were met by Democrats who at times answered, “I don’t know.” […]
State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, said Republicans were “trying to run [out] the clock and gamble on a random drawing.”
“Let’s not pretend that the folks on the other side of the aisle — if the roles were reversed —would be doing anything differently,” Cassidy said.
Lawmakers also approved new maps for the Supreme Court districts outside of Cook County.
The Illinois Constitution requires that those districts have “substantially equal” populations, but the district maps have not been redrawn since the early 1960s.
Voters in those districts also elect judges for the appellate courts. Each of those districts also elects a justice for the Illinois Supreme Court.
Democrats currently have a 4-3 majority on the Supreme Court. But last year, Justice Thomas Kilbride, a Democrat from the 3rd District covering north-central Illinois, lost his bid for retention, setting up an open race in 2022.
Representative Jay Hoffman said it was the Legislature’s constitutional duty to draw the map. He cited house republican spending on the redistricting political battle while questioning where their version of the map is.
“I have a 4 year old grandson,” Hoffman said. “He draws with Crayons. He’s drawn a better map than you guys have. You didn’t even put one together.”
Several Democrats characterized Republicans as not working on changes to help disadvantaged communities, but Republicans countered Democrats are ignoring the voices of a broad array of ethic and religious minority groups who want the maps based on accurate data.
State Rep. Blaine Wilhour, R-Beecher City, criticized the origins of the bill hinting at the poor economic performance and gerrymandering under Democratic control.
“I too found the (original) title of this bill very peculiar,” Wilhour said. “Cemetery oversight … I don’t know if it was a hat tip to your voting block or a premonition of Illinois’ future under your leadership.”
Illinois lawmakers are likely to push back next year’s March primary election until June because of delays in receiving U.S. Census data they will use to draw new state congressional districts, three sources familiar the plan confirmed Friday.
Under the timeline for the currently scheduled March 15, 2022 primary, candidates could begin circulating their nominating petitions to appear on the ballot at the end of August, with filing set to begin on Nov. 22. If lawmakers don’t approve a congressional map until sometime in the fall, as expected, that would leave little time to qualify for the ballot under the current timetable.
The detailed census data that is usually used for the every-decade process of redrawing political boundaries is not expected until at least mid-August, delays due in large part to the pandemic as well as efforts by former President Donald Trump’s administration to eliminate noncitizens from the count.
While the state constitution sets a June 30 date for state legislative mapmaking, no such deadline exists for drawing up a congressional map. Challenges in federal court to new congressional map lines over issues like federal voting rights violations and one-person, one-vote requirements, are much more likely if the boundaries are drawn with estimated survey data rather than actual specific census figures.
* I don’t expect a huge number of comments today, so blogging will be condensed and light, but I hope to keep it timely. Anyway, I really thought Leader Hoffman was going to launch into another Willie story yesterday, but no such luck…
.@JayHoffmanIL's "where's your map?" line of questioning to Republicans during this redistricting debate right now is reminiscent of "where's your budget plan?" when he said he asked his dog Willie if he ate it in 2014. https://t.co/B8mMVUClLk
Hey @DarrenBaileyIL! @GovPritzker has been in Springfield all week meeting & working with legislators in the Capitol. Probably hard for you to know that though when you are zooming into votes from helicopters while you campaign during session. Hope to see you soon! #twillpic.twitter.com/dvoiy1wRD0
McConchie: Governor must come out of hiding and veto politician-drawn map
“Once again, the politicians running Illinois reminded us all why we cannot trust anything they say or do,” said Illinois Senate Republican Leader Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods). “Today, less than 24 hours after it was introduced, the Senate Democratic Majority voted to pass a politician-drawn, gerrymandered legislative map.”
“This kind of backroom, power-at-all-costs dealing is exactly why the people of Illinois don’t – and shouldn’t – trust the Democratic Majority running our state government.
“As a candidate, Gov. Pritzker made a promise to the people of Illinois to veto any map like the one they passed today, that was drawn by politicians and their allies.
“We are in the final days of session and Gov. Pritzker hasn’t held a media availability since May 19.
“It is not too late for the governor to come out of hiding and keep his promise that he made to the people of Illinois.
“If he doesn’t, he will have broken the people’s trust once and for all.”
Pretty sure there was at least one leaders meeting this week.
I’ve asked the governor’s office for a response.
*** UPDATE *** Jordan Abudayyeh…
Gov. Pritzker has held more consecutive press conferences than any other Governor in Illinois history, and he will be available to answer questions from the press after he finishes critical negotiations—just as he has every other session.
* Background is here if you need it. Late Friday afternoon before a holiday weekend while the rest of the news media is focused on the remap. Not buried at all /s…
Today, Governor JB Pritzker took the following bill action:
Bill Number: SB 72
Description: Allows plaintiffs to collect pre-judgment interest on personal injury and wrongful death claims, aligning Illinois with 46 other states. Pre-judgment interest would not apply to state, local governments, school districts, community colleges, any other government entity or consumer debt, nor would it apply to settlements.
Action: Signed
Effective: July 1, 2021
…Adding… Illinois State Medical Society…
When the residents of Illinois have trouble finding a doctor to attend to their medical needs, one of the things they can point to is Senate Bill 72, which was just signed into law.
The new law will inflict deep harm on the state’s already challenged medical liability climate by adding a prejudgment interest penalty at the rate of 6% that starts to accrue on the date an action is filed. This is a system designed to badger defendants and line the pockets of the plaintiffs’ bar, instead of seeking fair resolution to medical liability claims.
The consequences of this new law will be felt when physicians decide Illinois is too expensive of a state to practice medicine. Prejudgment interest will drive up medical liability payouts, force doctors away from our borders and increase the cost of health care. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: The bottom line is that patients will suffer.
…Adding… IMA…
“This measure will dramatically increase litigation costs on manufacturers, hospitals, and doctors that have been on the front lines throughout the pandemic. Across Illinois, manufacturers have developed life-saving vaccines and treatments, produced personal protective equipment for first responders and health care professionals and have kept grocery stores stocked with safe and nutritious foods. Instead of being supported, these essential facilities will now be hit with tens of millions of dollars in additional costs,” said Mark Denzler, president & CEO of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association. “Policy makers should be focused on supporting manufacturers to spur economic recovery from the pandemic, not making it harder for businesses to hire workers and invest in our communities.”
…Adding… Background from the governor’s office on negotiated changes to the bill…
• Interest reduced to 6% from 9%
• Pre-judgement interest no longer begins to accrue upon notice to defendant, it now begins when a case is filed.
• Pre-judgement interest would no longer accrue on punitive damage, sanctions, statutory attorney’s fees, or statutory costs.
• Removed the State from pre-judgement interest.
• If a plaintiff voluntarily dismisses a case then the interest will be tolled during the time it’s dismissed.
• Caps the accrual period for interest at five years.
• Effective date moved to 7/1/21 (was immediate in previous version).
• Within the first 12 months if a defendant makes an offer for settlement and it is not accepted or rejected in a timely manner by the plaintiff then the interest amount will be determined by the difference between the offered amount and the ultimate amount of the judgement.
I think Speaker Welch hit the nail on the head when he said a fair map is one that reflects the diversity of our state.
* So, I asked the spokespersons for the House Speaker and Senate President if they would reconvene their chambers after the detailed Census numbers finally come out in August/September if the data shows that the Democrats could’ve drawn even more favorable maps for protected racial and ethnic minorities.
This is from Jaclyn Driscoll of the House Democrats..
“We feel very confident in the data we used to draft this proposed map, but we intend on taking a close look at the census data as well. Our goal from the beginning has been to ensure we have the best product that adheres to state and federal laws while reflecting the diversity of Illinois.”
John Patterson with the Senate Dems…
“We’ll review future information at a future time”
* The Question: Should the General Assembly reconvene and then reconfigure the state legislative district maps if the Census data shows that the maps do not fully reflect the diversity of Illinois? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please…
*** UPDATE 1 *** The House has passed the Cook County Board of Review remap 72-45. The chamber is now debating the Illinois Supreme Court remap bill.
*** UPDATE 2 *** The House just passed the Supreme Court map 72-45. Keep an eye on the live coverage post for moment-by-moment updates and debate coverage.
*** UPDATE 3 *** The House is debating the resolution describing the intent of the remap. Within that resolution, the Democrats claim that changes were made to the district to unpack House Republicans from districts with fellow House Republicans “Following the request of Republicans.” The Republicans say they made no request (see below) and Rep. Keicher specifically asked that his name be removed from the resolution.
*** UPDATE 5 *** The Senate has passed the redistricting bill, HB2777, which now heads to the House.
*** UPDATE 6 *** The House has passed the legislative redistricting resolution.
*** UPDATE 7 *** The Senate has approved the new Supreme Court maps on a partisan roll call. It will be sent to the governor.
*** UPDATE 8 *** The Senate has passed the Board of Review remap. It will be sent to the governor.
*** UPDATE 9 *** ILGOP Chair…
“Illinois Democrat legislators conducted an embarrassing and nontransparent process to create the exact type of map Governor JB Pritzker pledged to veto. The Governor now has a choice. He can either keep his word to veto a partisan map drawn by politicians or turn his back on the people of Illinois. Pritzker can do the right thing or outright break his promise.”
*** UPDATE 10 *** The House has passed the legislative redistricting bill 71-45. And that’s it. Both chambers have passed their resolutions, and both chambers have now passed all the remap bills.
After a week of absolutely tone-deaf public relations, Illinois Democrats finally got a little smarter last night, rolling out slightly revised proposed new maps for Illinois House and Senate districts.
But the changes, which are expected to start moving through the House later today and make it to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk by the time you’re back at work next week, effectively only tweak around the margins of maps that leave Democrats solidly in control of the General Assembly. […]
“It was a ploy to get us to go along, and we didn’t bite,” says one ranking Republican. “They tried the exact same thing 10 years ago. It’s the same playbook.”
This was a power move, and those aren’t popular with reporters and pundits. You just put your head down and listen to your lawyers. The second map is part of the whole process and, as noted above, was used before…
The once-in-a-decade event is always acrimonious, but partisan bickering and even tiffs between members of the redistricting committees and witnesses weighing in on the mapmaking process have dominated conversations surrounding the new district boundaries.
The chief complaint from advocacy organizations is Democrats’ insistence on using non-Census data to draw the maps, as the COVID pandemic delayed the 2020 Census data until August — more than two months after a constitutional trigger that takes the redistricting process out of lawmakers’ hands and punts it to an eight-member bipartisan appointed commission, which has ended in deadlock three of four times it’s ever been used.
As a deadlocked commission is a forgone conclusion, Democrats don’t want to risk giving Republicans a 50/50 chance to control the mapmaking process with the random selection of an additional partisan member of the panel, who would cast the deciding vote in one of the party’s favors.
Democrats late Tuesday also acknowledged the use of “public election data” in drawing the maps. The party preference of Illinois voters who cast primary ballots is public record.
In addition the Democrats said 15 of the new districts are at or above 50% Black population and 14 districts are at or above 50% Latinx.
The state’s Latinx population has supplanted the Black population behind the state’s white population.
Those are not Citizen Voting Age Population numbers, however. There are 12 Black and 5 Latinx-majority districts when accounting for CVAP.
Republicans on Wednesday tried to tie an indictment of a longtime lieutenant of former House Speaker Michael Madigan to the Democrats’ effort to redraw legislative district lines ahead of the General Assembly’s May 31 adjournment.
The latest indictment came Wednesday with just six days remaining in the legislative session, as former Madigan chief of staff Tim Mapes faced charges of lying to a grand jury about his knowledge of Madigan’s involvement with a prominent lobbyist who has also been indicted. Madigan has not been charged.
Republicans on a redistricting committee used the indictment as a new line of attack, complementing their claims that Democrats are trying to forge ahead with inadequate population data and a complete lack of transparency as to how the maps were drawn.
Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield, pointed out that Mapes was heavily involved in Madigan’s redistricting efforts, the most recent of which took place in 2011 after the previous decennial census.
“The new boss has the old boss’s ways. It came home to roost today in the indictment of the man who used to run this entire operation, and whose shadow was cast across these proceedings,” Butler said. “Let’s get transparent, let’s get the data out.”
* The new boss may have “improved” on the old boss’ ways…
Republicans say even though Speaker @RepChrisWelch promised a "new day," he's used the same, Madigan playbook.
Spoke with a maps consultant last night who says from his POV, Democrats are more aggressively partisan with these maps than Madign was with the last set. https://t.co/1RLcobLEga
* House Republican Leader Jim Durkin earlier this week…
“Today’s indictment of former chief of staff Tim Mapes underscores the criminal enterprise operated under the dome by former Speaker Michael Madigan, also known as Public Official A.”
Much of that criminal enterprise involved ComEd. And now ComEd’s parent company Exelon is trying to strong-arm the General Assembly into forking over hundreds of millions of dollars in ratepayer subsidies to keep three nuclear power plants open, even though an independent audit showed it only needs a fraction of that cash mountain.
* Today, the labor front group for Exelon hosted a Statehouse rally and Leader Durkin spoke. While saying he wanted a “fair” result for consumers, he also said this to the gathered Exelon workers and other political dignitaries…
Your voices have been heard. Our caucus, the House Republicans, standing with each and every one of you to ensure that our nuclear fleet will continue to operate and serve the better of Illinois. So with that, I thank you, keep up the work. Make sure your voices are loud. We are behind you. Have a great day.
This is the 2016 playbook all over again. I don’t think it’ll work this time around, but as I told you Wednesday, firming up Republican support is crucial for Exelon as the session enters its final days.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 982 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 21 additional deaths. In addition, more than 66% of Illinois adults have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and more than 49% of Illinois adults are fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,380,261 cases, including 22,739 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 56,438 specimens for a total of 24,490,663. As of last night, 1,216 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 314 patients were in the ICU and 172 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from May 21-27, 2021 is 1.9%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from May 21-27, 2021 is 2.3%.
A total of 11,175,656 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 58,378 doses. Yesterday, 62,274 doses were reported administered in Illinois.
*All data are provisional and will change. In order to rapidly report COVID-19 information to the public, data are being reported in-time. Information is constantly being entered into an electronic system and the number of cases and deaths can change as additional information is gathered. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.
* Apparently, one of these facilities was using some non-union labor and a small union beefed and a business group has its hair all on fire while others are actually trying to work out a more acceptable compromise…
A little-noticed clause that’s starting to pick up steam in Springfield threatens to kneecap what has been a rare Illinois economic development success story of late: the growth of data centers here.
Under terms of a measure awaiting action by the Illinois House, operators of all new and prospective data centers would be required to sign a “labor peace agreement” with a union representing those who work on “but not limited to, pumps, chillers and coolers, fire line safety equipment, backup power generators, building automation system controls and water treatment systems.”
Data centers typically employ such workers, and industry officials say many such agreements in effect elsewhere in Illinois, usually construction jobs, require employers to fill all vacancies from a list of applicants supplied by the union. While it’s not explicit in the legislation, as a practical matter it would mean data centers almost certainly would need to use union-supplied labor.
So what’s got us worked up about data centers? Legislation with an amendment sponsored in the House by state Rep. Mark Walker, an Arlington Heights Democrat, that would require new and prospective data centers to sign so-called peace labor agreements with unions representing workers who maintain typical data center infrastructure, such as cooling and fire safety equipment, backup generators and water treatment systems. The measure is part of an amendment to the state’s 2-year-old tax credit program for data centers, which Republicans pushed, that so far has brought in $5 billion in private investment to Illinois’ data center industry. […]
What was Walker thinking? No clue.
Um, maybe pick up the phone and ask?
Either way, this provision would cover a teeny-tiny number of workers, so the Democrats really need to figure this out and move the heck on.
A bill that would make Juneteenth National Freedom Day the 13th official state holiday was approved without opposition by the Illinois House on Thursday.
The bill would make June 19 a school holiday and a paid day off for all state employees. If June 19 falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the holiday would be on the following Monday.
The Senate previously passed the bill, and it will now head to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk. If signed, it would take effect immediately.
* BFC…
May 27, 2021
Dear friends and former colleagues,
This year, you face a challenge unlike any I ever faced in my decades in state government. COVID-19 has strained state and local budgets, and put huge pressure on all our institutions. This pandemic has also strained families who were already struggling to pay the bills. The virus has hit low-income families and communities of color especially hard. And the economic effects of the virus have been devastating.
For those who need help the most, I urge you to expand the state’s Earned Income Credit (EIC). The EIC, the state’s companion to the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), is a targeted and effective tool in the battle against poverty embraced across the partisan divide. It means low-income working families can keep more of the money they earn. At the end of tax season, families receive the EIC in the form of an income tax refund. For most families, this is the largest check they’ll get all year; many build their budgets around it.
Many low-income Illinoisans who pay taxes aren’t currently eligible for the credit. Illinois follows the federal eligibility guidelines. This means workers under age 24 and over 65 are excluded, as are some taxpaying immigrants and family caregivers. This, when many families have had to cut their hours or step away from work to care for others during the pandemic. Other states, like California and Maine, have expanded their state EITC to include these hard-working residents. We should, too.
It’s time to limit the tax burden on our neighbors in need. Let’s take a step toward tax equity and economic security. HB2792/ SB2184 would expand Earned Income Credit eligibility so more hard-working families can get a refund. I respectfully urge you to turn these bills into law.
Sincerely,
Hon. Barbara Flynn Currie
Former House Majority Leader
* The national Democrats should probably send some observers to Illinois campaigns because nobody has ever once written a story complaining that Illinois Democrats (or Republicans) were being too nice and bipartisan in their advertising…
As Democrats face a 2022 midterm landscape that could cost them the House, they are grappling with hard strategic challenges. Democrats in tough districts with many Republican voters in them feel twin pressures: one is to emphasize their bipartisan outreach. The other is to refrain from prosecuting the case against GOP radicalization too forcefully.
A new analysis of House Democratic losses in 2020 done by a progressive donor and strategy group — which is circulating among Democratic strategists — suggests some counterintuitive answers for Democrats navigating these pressures.
The analysis — which was done by the group Way to Win and was provided to me — suggests large TV-ad expenditures on emphasizing bipartisan outreach do not appear to have paid dividends for House Democrats in the 2020 elections. […]
As it happens, the DCCC’s own internal analysis, reported on by Paul Kane, has similarly concluded that Democrats were caught off guard by the potency of GOP attacks.
Hilarious. And the chair of the DCCC last year was an Illinoisan, albeit one without any state-level campaign experience.
It has never been more important to FIRE PRITZKER than it is now. 2022 is rapidly approaching, and it’s past time Illinois had a change in leadership.
With Pritzker in the Governor’s Mansion (no, not the mansion he pulled all of the toilets out of to avoid paying taxes), here’s how Illinois has fared:
🚫 NO protection for our police officers
🚫 An economy in SHAMBLES
🚫 Government CORRUPTION
🚫 RADICAL LEFTWING policies
Is this the kind of state we want to live in? Is this the kind of leadership we want representing us? NO.
The ILGOP is fighting back. But we need YOUR help to do so. Big change starts with small donations, so chip in and become part of the change!
* The Cook County Board of Review’s 1st District had been represented by Republican Dan Patlak until Democrat Tammy Wendt won last November. The remap solidifies the 1st District as Democratic, but also makes it a Latinx influenced district. Wendt is an attorney who was on the defense team for former Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke…
Yesterday, IL Dems unveiled their district map for Cook County's Board of Review, a three-member board that oversees property assessment complaints. Dems flipped the 1st district in 2020 and hold all three seats. This map makes the 1st safe for Dems going forward. (1/5) #twillpic.twitter.com/6ZZi25Zo5G
Under the old boundaries, the 1st district was a 62% white district, but under the new boundaries, it has gone from 20.7% Latino to 43% Latino, creating a possible minority opportunity district. Incumbent Tammy Wendt may face difficulty against a Latino primary challenger. (3/5)
The new 3rd district unites the Chicago Southland into a single district, going from a 87-8 Clinton, 86-10 Duckworth district to a 83-13 Clinton, 81-15 Duckworth district. The district is 59.7% Black CVAP, and incumbent Larry Rogers should have no problem with reelection. (5/5)
Numerous Republican lawmakers say Pritzker should abandon his proposed tax changes, or “corporate loopholes,” in the midst of a pandemic economy, especially with revenues up due to stronger-than-expected revenues. They also oppose limiting a discount for retailers who collect state sales taxes, which may be a tough sell to Democrats, especially as small businesses have suffered as a result of the pandemic and the governor’s COVID-19 restrictions.
A request for comment from the Democratic Party of Illinois was not answered.
Not sure why the media outlet would contact DPI, which is run by a US Rep., about why the governor should reduce his state revenue options and increase his state spending plans to placate the GOP.
Also, subscribers know more about the budget talks. I didn’t ask DPI for a comment or insight, however.
The Illinois House on Thursday approved a bill that would prohibit schools from issuing policies on hairstyles traditionally associated with race and ethnicity, including braids, dreadlocks and cornrows.
The bill passed the Senate last week. Before going to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk for his signature, however, the legislation is headed back to the Senate for approval of an amendment that would refer to the act as “the Jett Hawkins Law,” after a 4-year-old Chicago boy who was ordered to take his braids out due to his school’s dress code earlier this year. […]
“(A school) would no longer be able to maintain their dress code and hair code moving forward if this passes, in a private school that for years and years and years has maintained a certain look of their students, regardless of race?” Rep. Anthony DeLuca, a Chicago Heights Democrat, asked on the House floor Thursday.
“I think a lot of things have been done in the country for years and years and years … and that doesn’t always make them right or good,” Harris said. “If we need to make this accommodation to treat people with respect, I think that’s a worthwhile goal.”
“I hope that everyone understands that this isn’t a hair bill, it’s about treating people right, respecting people, allowing people to be who they want to be,” said state Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago.
Harris clarified the bill does not stop schools from having a dress code, but that was not satisfactory for state Rep. Tom Morrison, R-Palatine.
“I encourage other members to vote no,” Morrison said. “This does affect private schools, and I think this is an issue that is best left up to that individual school administration and the parents that choose to send their children there.”
“I think this is an issue that’s just best left up to that individual’s school administration along with the parents that choose to send their children there, so I would encourage a no vote,” state Rep. Thomas Morrison, R-Palatine, said.
Harris, who sponsored the House version, stood with the bill’s lead Senate sponsor, state Sen. Mike Simmons, D-Chicago, during the debate.
Harris said the goal was to address past wrongs.
“I think a lot of things have been done in the country for years and years and years and years because that’s the way they’ve been done for years and years and years and years,” the North Side Democrat said. “That doesn’t always make them right or good, and if we need to make this accommodation to treat people with respect, I think that’s a worthwhile goal.”
Illinois school workers physically restrained or secluded nearly 2,400 students more than 15,000 times this school year, a period when many schools were closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, new state data shows.
The data, obtained Thursday by the Chicago Tribune and ProPublica, shows that even with new rules put in place early last year, schools continued to use physical restraints and isolated timeout thousands of times. The data includes public schools, private schools and regional cooperatives that exclusively serve students with disabilities.
The release of the information comes as Illinois lawmakers weigh whether to more strictly limit when school workers can put students in seclusion and physically restrain them. The Senate voted early this week to ban locked seclusion and to prohibit schools from using other types of isolation unless students or staff are in “imminent danger” of harm. The bill, which also would end the use of prone, or face-down, restraint by the end of the next school year, awaits a vote in the House, where similar legislation stalled this year.
“This magnifies even more why we must absolutely pass this legislation and the governor must sign it into law,” said Rep. Jonathan Carroll, D-Northbrook, who has championed a seclusion ban in the House. “We have to have legislation because it has to stop.”
Opposition has stemmed mainly from a few suburban private schools that have argued prone restraint should be allowed for students in crisis. The current legislative session ends Monday. […]
More than 90% of the students subjected to the interventions since July 2020 were students with disabilities, according to a Tribune-ProPublica analysis of the data. More than 8 in 10 were boys, and a quarter were Black. Less than 17% of students in the state’s schools are Black.
More than 60% of students whom schools physically restrained or placed in timeout were in kindergarten through fifth grade. Two of every 10 students were in prekindergarten, kindergarten or first grade. This is the first time ISBE has tracked the age of students affected by seclusion and restraint.
Enough, already. Just… enough.
…Adding… Rep. Jonathan Carroll…
This morning, we were able to move HB219 out of committee and hopefully it will pass the house this weekend getting us closer to ending these practices. Despite my optimism with our legislation, I’m very disappointed that these practices are still happening in our schools. I’d like to know how during a pandemic we’re still seeing kids being treated like criminals?
Allow us to suggest another 415 million reasons for the state Legislature to reject a bill to create a fully elected school board for Chicago.
That’s $415.4 million, to be exact — the amount of money the City of Chicago kicked into the Chicago Public Schools’ budget for fiscal year 2021.
Good luck collecting that kind of cash in the future, no matter how pressing the need, if Chicago’s chief executive — the mayor — no longer has authority over the public schools.
The city as a whole has its own financial problems, as any mayor would be sure to point out, and other priorities, such as not raising property taxes, would come first. Let the 21 members of an elected school board solve their own problems.
Yeah. The mayor is just gonna walk away from the school system and let it collapse if s/he doesn’t fully control it. Right. Well, OK, maybe this mayor might try, but she can’t do it.
From reading the pension code and CPS financial reports, my understanding is that the City of Chicago is responsible for the cost of pension benefits for all members of the [Municipal Employees’ Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago], which would include the non-teaching CPS staff. In other words, even though CPS is the employer for all CPS staff, the City of Chicago is legally responsible for the employer contribution for CPS staff that are part of the MEABF.
Both CPS and the CTU have said the pension cost of CPS staff in the MEABF is the City’s responsibility. CPS has explicitly stated this in past financial reports […]
As a means of relieving some of that fiscal pressure the City, under Mayor Lightfoot’s leadership, is looking to have CPS pay the pension cost for the CPS employees that are in MEABF. The way this has been structured is that the City pays the money to MEABF, and CPS makes a payment to the City (rather than CPS just paying into MEABF). This began with the City’s 2020 budget and is outlined in this intergovernmental agreement between the City and CPS. City leadership is referring to this as a “pension reimbursement”, but I think of it more as a cost shift since the City has historically paid for the CPS-MEABF member pensions.
In 2020, CPS paid $60 million, and from the IGA it looks like CPS will pay $100 million in 2021. To sum, the context for why this is happening now is that the City is looking to have CPS pay for CPS staffs’ pensions that the City has historically paid for as the City’s required contributions increase over time.
Bringing it back to the topic of the Sun-Times editorial, their argument (and the Civic Federation who they link to) seem to be arguing that without Mayoral control, the City can’t (or won’t) make the pension payments for the CPS-MEABF members. But, again, CPS’ legal interpretation is that the payments are the City’s, not CPS’, obligation. In other words, this isn’t something the Mayor has discretion and is choosing to do. As such, the implications of an elected school board may be the reverse: that without Mayoral control, the City can’t get CPS to pay for the CPS-MEABF pensions. [Emphasis added.]
So, the city is already trying to get out of its commitment, but it is ultimately responsible for paying the tab. And if mayoral control evaporates, the city could be even more on the hook.
* The Strategy Group recently won a Bronze Pollie Award for this mailer for Sen. Meg Loughran Cappel’s 2020 campaign called “Blago’s Buddy.” We’ve talked about this Tom McCullagh guy a few times (but I missed this one), so I thought you’d like to see it…
Passing through the senate today is a bill (HB 1879) that honors the discovery of the mold in Illinois that was the precursor of the one used to make the penicillin antibiotic for WW2 is used even today. The bill is to designate Penicillium rubens as Illinois state Microbe. This mold was discovered on a cantaloupe found in a down town Peoria, IL market during the early part of WW2. Earlier, a mold brought from Britain to Peoria wasn’t productive enough so mold samples were collected from around the world to screen them for greater production of penicillin. Of those the Peoria mold was selected to produce the life saving drug that saved thousands of military lives during WW2 and millions since. A recent program on Public TV (Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer: Medicine) mentioned that penicillin was equal to the atomic bomb in importance. We are past due to have this mold as our state microbe.
Other states, such as Oregon and New Jersey already have named theirs. New Jersey’s mold is of particular interest because it was the second mold (Streptomyces griseus) to produce the important antibiotic, streptomycin. The initial mass production work to make this antibiotic and other antibiotics was done in Illinois at Peoria. Streptomycin is considered as the second most important antibiotic discovered. Penicillin is considered as number one. All the discoveries found to mass produce penicillin allowed other antibiotics to be produced likewise. It’s time that penicillin is recognized for its importance.
The current bill in the statehouse to name an Illinois state microbe has some history. It was first SB 1857 an introduced in the 2019 Spring Session of the Illinois Senate. A recent analysis DNA done found that the species (chrysogenum) was incorrect. Initial classification had been done as to the physical structure of the mold. It was now to be Penicillium rubens. So a correction was done to the bill’s wording. That slowed the bill’s passing through each state house and it didn’t pass in the 2019 Spring Session. In November of 2019, the bill was on the docket during the Fall Veto Session. It didn’t make it to the floor. The 2020 Pandemic Spring Session also saw no progress. Dual new bills were introduced in the 2021 Spring Sessions of the IL Senate and IL House. They were SB 2004 and HB 1879. The House bill is currently the official bill. As previously said, it is now in the Senate for a second reading. Time is short for it to get passed through the House and on to the Governor’s desk sometime this summer.
The historical work done here in the great state of Illinois on penicillin has impacted the health of all people in the world. It’s past time for a state microbe.
Gary Kuzniar
Co-Chair
Illinois State Microbe Designation Project
The bill designates Penicillium rubens NRRL 1951 as Illinois’ official state microbe.
That’s quite a mouthful. Can we give it a nickname?
*** UPDATE *** Passed the Senate…
The Senate votes 58-0 to pass House Bill 1879, which designates Penicillium rubens the official state microbe of Illinois. There really is a bill for everything, isn't there? #twill
Friday, May 28, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Telehealth has become a way of life for many Illinoisans, a reliable option to seek needed healthcare that eliminates access barriers such as transportation, childcare and time off work. The Coalition to Protect Telehealth urges the General Assembly to pass House Bill 3308/Senate Committee Amendment 1 so Illinoisans can enjoy the same access to telehealth after the pandemic.
Why is passing HB3308/SCA 1 so important?
• It will allow for access to innovative telehealth services, reduce access barriers and improve patient outcomes.
• It will continue to drive a reduction in missed appointments, increase care plan adherence and improve chronic disease management.
• It will empower patients to address healthcare needs swiftly, preventing conditions from worsening and avoiding unnecessary visits to urgent care or a hospital.
• It will give healthcare professionals the certainty needed to continue investing in and utilizing new care delivery tools.
I have deduced which IL legislative incumbents are no longer drawn together in tonight's revised State House map. There are now 14 paired House incumbents, with eight previously-paired incumbents now in their own seats. Read this thread to see which incumbents were saved.
The following IL State House incumbents remain paired:
46 (D-R): Conroy and Mazzochi 47 (R): Grant and Lewis 50 (R): Wheeler and Ugaste 51 (R): Bos and Morrison 90 (R): McCombie and Chesney 99 (R): Frese and Davidsmeyer 107 (R): Caulkins and Halbrook 108 (R): Bourne and Murphy
* Rep. Lisa Hernandez, Chair of the House Redistricting Committee last night…
Following the release of the proposed legislative map, Republicans in the legislature made public comments criticizing the number of incumbent Republicans who would be located in the same district. A number of those districts have been reconfigured to accommodate the concerns of Republicans.
Chairwoman Hernandez’s claims of accommodating Republican concerns are deceptive and downright untrue. The only concerns Republicans voiced were the use of inadequate data, and politicians drawing their own maps to pick their voters.
The HGOPs have pushed back hard on this claim that they asked for changes based on GOP packing.
[Rep. Tony McCombie, R-Savanna] called the new maps “politically driven.”
“If you don’t think that in my district, you can certainly see it across the state when you have two or four (Republican) House seats drawn in together and then empty seats right next to them,” she said. “I think the courts will tear them apart for two reasons: not using the U.S. Census, and for how blatantly politically they are drawn.”
Um, ma’am, your public complaint might have given them a legal justification for using home addresses to draw the maps.
* Rep. McCombie does her own thing, so that was probably to be expected. But Rep. Ryan Spain (R-Peoria) is on the Redistricting Committee and should know better…
“The only thing that seems to matter are the home addresses of incumbent politicians, so the Democrats can be protected and Republicans can be punished,” said Spain.
The Second Amendment Foundation has filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Illinois, challenging the state’s ban on concealed carry by young adults between the ages of 18 and 21, alleging the ban violates the Second and 14th Amendment rights of those citizens.
Joining SAF are the Illinois State Rifle Association, Firearms Policy Coalition, Inc., and three private citizens in the 18-21-year age group, David Meyer, Eva Davis and Mitchell Nalley. They are represented by attorneys David G. Sigale of David G. Sigale, P.C. in Wheaton, Ill., Christian D. Ambler of Stone & Johnson in Chicago and David H. Thompson, Peter A. Patterson and William V. Bergstrom, all with Cooper & Kirk PLLC in Washington, D.C. The case is known as Meyer v. Raoul.
Named as defendants are Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly, State’s Attorney of Fayette County Joshua C. Morrison, State’s Attorney of St. Clair County James Gomric, State’s Attorney for Kendall County Eric Weis, Fayette County Sheriff Christopher Palmer, St. Clair County Sheriff Richard Watson and Kendall County Sheriff Dwight A. Baird, in their official and individual capacities.
“All law-abiding citizens of this country are considered adults at the age of 18 for nearly all purposes,” noted SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “They can vote, enter into contracts, start businesses, get married and join the military. But the state prohibits them from exercising the fundamental right to bear arms, that is, to carry a handgun outside the home or in an automobile, even though the state allows other adults to obtain a license to carry firearms in public.
“This is not our first legal encounter in Illinois,” he noted. “First we had the landmark McDonald v. City of Chicago Supreme Court victory that nullified Chicago’s handgun ban and incorporated the Second Amendment to the states via the 14th Amendment. That opened the doors for other cases around the country. We successfully litigated Ezell v. City of Chicago when the city tried to get creative with its handgun law. We won again with Moore v. Madigan, forcing the Illinois Legislature to adopt a concealed carry statute, which we’re very proud of. And we’ve had other successful legal battles, so Illinois is familiar ground to us.
The lawsuit notes, “Moreover, young adults between eighteen and twenty-one were fully protected by the Second Amendment at the time of its ratification. Hundreds of statutes from the colonial and founding eras required 18-to-20-year-olds to keep and bear arms.”
“We’re asking the court to remedy this situation by issuing an injunction against further enforcement of the ban on our individual plaintiffs and other young adults facing the same situation,” Gottlieb said. “Citizens in this age group enjoy nearly all of the rights guaranteed by the Constitution except when it comes to the Second Amendment. This cannot be allowed to stand.”
The Senate and House Redistricting Committees today released an updated version of the proposed legislative map that includes changes suggested by community groups, advocacy organizations and individuals during hours of testimony at four public hearings held this week.
“After 50 public hearings across the state and listening to hours of testimony, the House and Senate Democrats have put together a product our state can be proud of,” said Rep. Lisa Hernandez, Chair of the House Redistricting Committee. “What should stand out about this proposed map is how similar districts look compared to our current map. This is the same map a renowned expert says is a model for the nation for minority representation. The changes we made not only reflect testimony provided the last couple of days from members of the public, but also include revisions to address concerns raised by Republicans.”
“This proposed map is the product of countless hours of testimony from advocacy, community, and grassroots organizations, as well as individuals who care deeply about their communities. Their passion and dedication were vital to this process, which has resulted in a fair map that will not only ensure that broad racial and geographic diversity is reflected in the General Assembly, but also maintain our status as a leader in the nation for minority representation in the state legislature,” said Sen. Omar Aquino, Chair of the Senate Redistricting Committee.
Among the changes made in the revised version of the proposed legislative map is a request from the Orthodox Jewish community. While maintaining the integrity of surrounding districts, as well as requests from other members of the public, the revisions will keep more of the Orthodox Jewish community united. The revised legislative map also restores the southern part of the North Lawndale neighborhood in Chicago to its current legislative district following feedback from community members asking for that change.
Following the release of the proposed legislative map, Republicans in the legislature made public comments criticizing the number of incumbent Republicans who would be located in the same district. A number of those districts have been reconfigured to accommodate the concerns of Republicans.
In addition to these updates, House and Senate Democrats also released new boundaries for the Cook County Board of Review. The Board is a vital asset that assists taxpayers in calculating tax obligations for Cook County property owners. Currently, there are three Commissioners elected in three separate districts in Cook County. This proposed map reflects population shifts in the past decade and allows for more equal representation across the districts.
Consistent with the proposed legislative and Supreme Court maps, this proposed map was drafted using population information from the American Community Survey’s (ACS) 5-year estimate for 2019. The ACS estimate varies by just 0.3 percent from the state’s official population count released by the U.S. Census Bureau in April.
Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) released the following statement on the release of new legislative maps by the Illinois Democrats this evening:
“Round two of the House Democratic legislative maps are as dishonest as the ones released last Friday. The House Democrats turned their back on Illinoisans and every advocacy group who has an interest in honest government. Despite the flowery rhetoric about these changes, the Illinois House Democrats allowed their members to draw their own legislative districts with phony data. It is now on Governor Pritzker to live up to his pledge in 2019 and veto this poor excuse for democracy.”
Senate GOP…
State Senator Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington), lead Republican on the Senate Redistricting Committee, released the following statement in response to the Democrat’s most recently released map.
“Tonight’s disclosure demonstrates everything wrong with the current broken system of politicians creating their own legislative districts. During numerous hearings, Democrats in charge claimed that they wanted the public’s input, but what they’ve done this year is no better than the same crooked paths of the past.
“They drew a map behind closed doors that is not representative of the people they are supposed to be serving. Their updated map maintains the broken status quo, because it was clearly created to prioritize the protection of incumbent politicians and maintain their power over everything else. No one could watch this gerrymandering process unfold and maintain any level of respect or faith in their state legislature.
“Illinois has to change the way districts are drawn. We desperately need a system where the public actively participates in an open, transparent, and independent process. We need an independent commission to draw the districts based on Illinoisans’ diverse communities and shared interests, to make districts more competitive, which will result in a much more responsive legislature.
“The people of Illinois should be empowered to carry out this process to choose their representatives, instead of allowing the politicians in power to choose their voters.
“We are once again calling on the Governor to live up to his promise and veto this and any other politician-drawn map.”
House GOP…
Illinois House Republican Redistricting Committee Members Avery Bourne (R-Morrisonville), Tim Butler (R-Springfield), Dave Severin (R-Benton) and Ryan Spain (R-Peoria):
“Once again, behind closed doors in a locked room, the Illinois Democrats re-drafted legislative maps to maintain their political power across Illinois by choosing their voters. Chairwoman Hernandez’s claims of accommodating Republican concerns are deceptive and downright untrue. The only concerns Republicans voiced were the use of inadequate data, and politicians drawing their own maps to pick their voters.
We join the countless advocates who testified in four public hearings over the last two days who urged the Majority Party to wait for the official Census data coming in just two months before making final decisions on this very important process in our democracy. We call on Governor Pritzker to veto these maps just as he promised millions of Illinoisans he would while on the campaign trail.”
*** UPDATE *** Rep. Tarver has introduced an amendment containing the Supreme Court redistricting language. Click here.
…Adding… Yep…
The following IL State House incumbents remain paired:
46 (D-R): Conroy and Mazzochi 47 (R): Grant and Lewis 50 (R): Wheeler and Ugaste 51 (R): Bos and Morrison 90 (R): McCombie and Chesney 99 (R): Frese and Davidsmeyer 107 (R): Caulkins and Halbrook 108 (R): Bourne and Murphy
A conservative media outlet filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against Mayor Lori Lightfoot over her decision this month to grant interviews only to reporters of color to mark her two-year anniversary in office.
Judicial Watch, another conservative organization, filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Daily Caller News Foundation and reporter Thomas Catenacci, who covers labor, the economy and politics.
Lightfoot announced last week that she would only grant interview requests from reporters of color “on the occasion of the two-year anniversary” of her inauguration. The Daily Caller’s lawsuit wrongly suggests Lightfoot had announced an ongoing policy.
The complaint alleges that Lightfoot has since granted at least one interview request from a self-identified Latino reporter but denied or failed to respond to interview requests from white reporters, including Catenacci.
Catenacci sought an interview with Lightfoot on May 20 to ask how her administration would encourage more people to take the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the complaint. It alleges that Catenacci sent follow-up emails May 21 and again last Monday, but Lightfoot’s office did not respond.
I’d have to ban myself from my own blog if I told you what I think of this.
Attorneys for the Geneva-based restaurant suing the governor over his COVID-19 orders barring indoor dining last year say their case is very much alive despite the Illinois Supreme Court rejecting a direct appeal motion.
“FoxFire is disappointed, but not surprised, by the [Illinois] Supreme Court’s denial of Leave of Appeal,” FoxFire attorney Kevin Nelson of the firm Myers, Earl, Nelson said Thursday morning.
The Illinois Supreme Court rejected the leave of appeal request Wednesday.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration responded to the Illinois Supreme Court’s appeal denial through a political blog saying “the Governor is pleased the court rejected this request and sided with upholding Governor Pritzker’s ability to follow the science and protect the citizens of Illinois.”
Nelson said their case against the governor saying his orders were arbitrary and capricious is “still very much alive at the Trial Court level, and furthermore, we fully expect the Supreme Court take up the case of such importance – however, it turns out – once it is ultimately decided on the merits.”
As reported in September of 2020, Illinois lawmakers are considering permanently closing two nuclear energy facilities in the state, one of which is a short drive from Rockford.
Um, Exelon is the one threatening to close three nuclear power plants if it doesn’t get hundreds of millions of dollars in ratepayer subsidies, despite an independent audit showing it doesn’t need nearly that much.
Nursing homes accounted for nearly half of Illinois’ COVID-19 deaths. But, as their owners said they were doing all they could about that suffering, they kept showering lawmakers with campaign contributions.
Now the main lobbying group for profit-driven facilities is asking those lawmakers for a big infusion of state dollars in the name of “recovery and stabilization” while fighting proposed accountability measures.
The group, the Health Care Council of Illinois, is pushing state lawmakers for $486 million without strings requiring the money to be spent on staffing and infection control. The council, meanwhile, is opposing legislation drafted by Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration that would focus a Medicaid boost on facilities that eliminate ward-style rooming and improve nurse-to-patient ratios.
“Now is not the time to introduce dramatic policy changes that would significantly disrupt the delivery of care while the pandemic is still active,” HCCI Executive Director Matt Pickering said in a written statement about the Medicaid bill. […]
A WBEZ investigation last year found that the for-profit facilities tended to have lower staffing coverage, which correlated with higher COVID-19 infection and death rates. The investigation also found that nursing home owners routinely hide their profits by paying themselves huge fees through vendors and real-estate firms they control. The complicated ownership structures allow them to cry poor while asking lawmakers to approve increases in state funding.
The most profitable facilities last year had staffing below federal guidelines, according to IDHFS.
Opponents of a bill that would require the sale of dogs and cats only from animal control facilities or shelters say they have polling that shows Illinois residents don’t like the idea. The poll by National Research Inc. and commissioned by Furry Babies, a majority woman-owned pet store, says 53 percent of residents oppose HB 1711.
In your opinion, do you think the state government should dictate where and how families can purchase a dog, or should they be free to choose from a variety of options and price points?
Sheesh.
* Press release…
Stand for Children Illinois today released poll results it commissioned among Chicago and Illinois voters to gauge support for a fully elected Chicago school board, a hybrid board split evenly between elected and appointed members, or a plan proposed by the Mayor with more appointed than elected members.
Methodology…
The following findings are based on the results of three surveys:
• An online survey from May 11-13, 2021 in Illinois among N=500 likely 2022 general election voters, with an n=200 Chicago oversample (margin of error of +4.4%)
• A phone and text survey from April 28 – May 6, 2021 in Illinois among N=600 likely 2022 general election voters, with an n=400 Chicago oversample (margin of error of +3.5%)
• A phone and text survey from February 23 – March 1, 2021 in Illinois among N=600 likely 2022 general election voters, with an n=400 Chicago oversample (margin of error of +3.5%)
Sponsor/Rep. Gonzalez presents SB225: a bill that says the @ILSecOfState can not share facial recognition data in local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies passes in the Illinois House 65-47. This bill will proceed to the governor's desk. pic.twitter.com/pjXwtP7Yic
Today, State Representative Bob Morgan (D-Deerfield) passed SB 512, the Prevent Youth Vaping Act out of the Illinois House. This bill is a critical piece of public health legislation that will help keep Illinois youth safe from addictive vaping and other tobacco products.
“The Federal Tobacco Control Act grants states the ability to legislate tobacco products in several key areas, including tobacco advertising and sales requirements,” said State Representative Bob Morgan. “This bill will help ensure that vaping manufacturers are not targeting youth when they advertise their products for sale.”
Additionally, the Prevent Youth Vaping Act prevents the sale of altered e-cigarettes and the use of certain additives that are believed to contribute to respiratory illnesses. It will also empower the Illinois Office of the Attorney General to create more stringent requirements for online orders, including requiring packages to be clearly marked as containing electronic cigarettes.
“Especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, I believe we must do everything we can to protect the lung health of our young people. The Prevent Youth Vaping Act is a critical first step in helping the next generation live smoke and vape-free,” said Rep. Morgan.
The bill will now go back to the Senate, where State Senator Julie Morrison will work to get it agreed to in the Senate and sent to the Governor. The bill is supported by the Attorney General’s Office and the American Cancer Society.
The Illinois Senate passed a bill Wednesday which would create a new housing program for individuals living with mental illness or substance use disorders.
House Bill 449 creates the “Housing is Recovery Pilot Program Act,” a new program which would offer bridge rental subsidies to individuals at high risk for “unnecessary institutionalization” due to mental illness, or those at high risk of overdose or death due to substance abuse.
The bill, which is subject to appropriations, has already passed the House and needs only a signature from the governor to become law.
The Senate passed a bill that could allow terminally ill prisoners to be freed more quickly by the Prisoner Review Board. Under current law, terminally ill or mentally incapacitated prisoners who wish to be released to the care of family in their final days must rely on a commutation from the governor.
But there’s “no mechanism in Illinois to permit us to do that,” said the bill’s sponsor, state Sen. John Connor, D-Lockport.
The bill “provides reasonable timeframes and deadlines for the Prisoner Review Board to review cases involving medical incapacity or terminal illness, and to determine if those inmates — with victim input — would basically … have a quality-of-life improvement if they’re moved out of prison,” Connor said. […]
But state Sen. Terri Bryant pointed to cases in the state’s Department of Corrections where physicians said someone would imminently die “over and over and over again.”
“There were physicians that would tell us that a particular incarcerated individual was going to pass very soon and then, two, three years later the person is still living,” said the Murphysboro Republican.
The Illinois Department of Transportation announced today that multiple improvement projects in Chicago are underway or starting soon and extending into 2022. The seven projects represent a total investment of more than $849 million for the region, made possible by Gov. JB Pritzker’s historic, bipartisan Rebuild Illinois capital program.
“With the Rebuild Illinois capital plan, we are restoring and transforming Illinois’s aging infrastructure,” said Gov. Pritzker. “Rebuild Illinois is not only about investing in infrastructure but about investing in people and communities as well. In the coming months, IDOT will undertake projects that will ultimately create safer roads and bridges and provide jobs in Chicago and across the entire state.”
* Around the same time that release went out, Mayor Lori Lightfoot talked to reporters about infrastructure…
We also need to make sure that we get funding from the state, from the plan that was passed by the [legislature] in 2019. We’ve seen very little of those dollars, and it’s critically important that those dollars come to cities like Chicago so we can continue to magnify the efforts around rebuilding our aging infrastructure.
The city also gets a sizable chunk of the Motor Fuel Tax, which was doubled in 2019 and is now tied to CPI. Not to mention that getting the Chicago casino up and running would go a long way to providing dollars for vertical construction projects.
…Adding… I asked the governor’s office for dollars distributed to the city so far under Rebuild Illinois…
Thursday, May 27, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Early in the pandemic, greater risks of COVID-19 for older adults forced people 50+ across Illinois to stay home—away from family, friends and even the necessary care of healthcare professionals for other medical issues. Thankfully, Governor Pritzker lifted longstanding barriers to healthcare via telehealth. In response, healthcare providers rapidly invested in new technology, adjusted clinical workflows and educated staff, patients and clinicians on telehealth delivery – resulting in dramatic increases in the use of telehealth services.
It was a much-needed option for older adults in Illinois, who suddenly did not have to worry about finding rides to a clinic, being exposed to COVID-19 or difficult scheduling issues.
Telehealth has helped reduce missed appointments, increase care plan adherence, and improve chronic disease management.
Telehealth has also helped empower patients to address care needs swiftly, preventing conditions from worsening and requiring unnecessary visits to urgent care or a hospital. To ensure that accessible, safe and reliable telehealth continues to be a choice after the pandemic, we urge the General Assembly to pass House Bill 3308/SCA 1.
Over the last year and a half, we’ve all seen first-hand the many benefits of telehealth. Protecting access to telehealth can help improve healthcare for all Illinois patients. The Coalition to Protect Telehealth urges the General Assembly to pass House Bill 3308/SCA 1. Learn more at https://protectillinoistelehealth.org/.
* An astonishing number of younger people are dying. Get your shots, people. Press release…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 891 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 42 additional deaths. In addition, 66% of Illinois adults have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and more than 49% of Illinois adults are fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- Cook County: 1 female 40s, 1 male 40s, 1 female 50s, 3 males 50s, 1 female 60s, 1 male 60s, 1 female 70s, 3 males 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s, 2 males 90s
- DeWitt County: 1 male 50s
- DuPage County: 1 male 100+
- Henry County: 1 male 70s
- Jefferson County: 1 female 70s
- Kane County: 1 male 80s, 1 female 90s
- Kankakee County: 1 female 80s
- Knox County: 1 male 80s
- Lake County: 1 female 70s, 2 males 80s
- LaSalle County: 1 female 70s
- McHenry County: 1 male 50s, 1 female 100+
- Mercer County: 1 female 70s
- Montgomery County: 1 female 60s
- Randolph County: 1 female 40s, 1 female 50s
- Richland County: 1 male 50s
- Tazewell County: 1 male 50s
- Vermilion County: 1 female 60s
- Will County: 1 male 60s, 1 male 80s
- Winnebago County: 1 male 30s, 1 female 60s
- Woodford County: 1 female 90s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,379,279 cases, including 22,718 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 67,705 specimens for a total of 24,434,225. As of last night, 1,316 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 339 patients were in the ICU and 186 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from May 20-26, 2021 is 1.9%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from May 20-26, 2021 is 2.5%.
A total of 11,113,382 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 67,485 doses. Yesterday, 63,717 doses were reported administered in Illinois.
*All data are provisional and will change. In order to rapidly report COVID-19 information to the public, data are being reported in-time. Information is constantly being entered into an electronic system and the number of cases and deaths can change as additional information is gathered. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.
The U.S. Department of Labor estimates 18,920 new unemployment claims were filed during the week of May 17 in Illinois, according to the DOL’s weekly claims report released Thursday. […]
Illinois’ estimated claims are among 406,000 total claims filed across the country last week, the lowest so far during the pandemic.
There were 17,530 new unemployment claims were filed during the week of May 10 in Illinois.
There were 18,355 new unemployment claims filed during the week of May 3 in Illinois.
According to Fitch, total employment through March was still down 6.7 percent in Illinois compared to January 2020, just before the pandemic really hit. That’s more than in Texas, where the total number of jobs was off 3.6 percent, or Florida, down 5.7 percent.
But it’s better than Pennsylvania, down 6.7 percent; California, off 8.6 percent, and definitely New York, with total employment down 10 percent.
Fitch suggests the reason isn’t tax policy but the nature of the economies in specific states and how they reacted to the pandemic. Job losses in California and New York were much more concentrated than in Illinois in the leisure and transportation sectors, and those two states had tighter and longer lockdowns than Illinois did.
That concentration will slow their recovery going forward, since California and New York have “a much higher share of business and international travel” than Illinois does, Fitch notes.
Unemployment will not fall back to 4.3%, which is Fitch Ratings’ estimate of the natural rate, until the 4th quarter of next year.
Olu Sonola, senior director with Fitch Ratings, said the huge shock to the labor-intensive leisure and transport industries hit labor demand hard and the recovery will be slow.
“The outsized effect that the pandemic had on the leisure and hospitality and transportation sector and our expectation is that sector will be a drag and we won’t see a full recovery there until 2024,” Sonola said.
* A bill that included the “shot and a beer” promotion passed the House today 108-6 with 1 voting “Present”…
Provides that, from June 10, 2021 through July 10, 2021, a retail licensee may offer a single drink of alcoholic liquor at no cost to a customer as part of a publicly advertised promotion to encourage participation in any COVID-19 vaccination program if the customer provides proof of COVID-19 vaccination received at any time.
“No” votes were Republican Reps. Caulkins, Chesney, Halbrook, Miller (no relation), Severin and Windhorst. In other words, much of the Eastern Bloc.
Illinois currently ranks 47th out of 50 in funding for two-year colleges and 46th out of 50 in funding for public four-year colleges. As the 2021 Illinois Board of Higher Education’s budget points out, as funding for higher education has remained stagnant—and declined by half when accounting for inflation— universities have largely shifted the costs to students: In 2002, 72 percent of state revenues came from state funding and 28 percent from tuition and fees; in 2020, those figures were 36 percent and 64 percent respectively. With Monetary Award Program grants, which provide financial support for low-income students, underfunded over the same period of time, students have had to take out more and more debt to attend college.
* Self-selected responses from non-experts quoted in a story written by a local sports reporter, but sure…
The Illinois High School Association plan to deal with COVID proved to be a successful one, based on a survey that drew over 1,400 responses from membership after its winter sports season was finished.
The survey, which examined data gathered from 1,483 respondents in 10 different sports, indicated coaches and athletes from Illinois high school sports programs successfully mitigated pandemic risks while playing.
That was an important contention the IHSA made while battling with state health officials to allow sports to be played last fall.
“Early on in the process, we tried to communicate to Illinois Department of Public Health our confidence in the protocols we were going to put into place,” IHSA executive director Craig Anderson said. “We had no doubt our mitigations would be followed by our schools.”
The survey reported only 3% of athlete positive COVID cases were traced to a sports practice or competition. The rest were from an outside close contact.
* Governor’s office…
Throughout this pandemic the most effective mitigation has been physical distancing and masking. Unfortunately this non-scientific survey is in direct contrast to the multiple scientific studies on coronavirus and youth sports. More than a year after the start of this pandemic the science is clear and youth sports have been studied and proven to contribute to spread, along with a long list of other activities that are done in close proximity indoors. Thanks to effective mitigation strategies and effective vaccines, Illinois is well on its way back to normalcy and we look forward to vaccinating more youth and safely allowing a return to regular sports competition.
Background…
Here is a sampling of some of the sports related outbreaks reported in Illinois after March 9th, 2021:
College/University sports
• 3 sports related outbreaks across the state
o Involving 16 cases
o 2 volleyball and one basketball
High school sports
• 5 sports related outbreaks across the state involving 31 persons
o 2 volleyball, 2 basketball, one pending Investigation
Youth sports (non-school)-but students from school(s) go to an outside rink
o 3 sports related outbreaks across the state involving 24 people (all hockey teams)
A coalition of 40 organizations, consisting of academics, activists, engineers, environmentalists, entrepreneurs, and concerned citizens underscored the high stakes of the last few days of the legislative session. In a letter just sent Governor J.B. Pritzker and members of the Illinois General Assembly urging them to do whatever is needed to keep all of the Illinois plants open.
Whatever is needed, eh? Hmm.
* The press release was sent to me by an organization called Generation Atomic. From its GuideStar page…
We’re working to build the capacity and skills of nuclear advocates around the world by offering monthly trainings on the fundamentals of grassroots organizing. These trainings include how to write letters to the editor, how to have productive meetings with decision makers, and how to shift perceptions of nuclear energy in your own communities.
* A small group of nuke fankids dressed up and gave away free Mel-O-Cream donuts outside the Statehehouse the other day…
ANS at UIUC is out with some amazing #nuclear advocates today talking with our legislators about #savedresden and #savebyron. If you can, call your state representatives and tell them you support keeping our nuclear fleet in Illinois online!! pic.twitter.com/DZzwC3ah8d
Back when I was in high school, a nuclear industry representative asked our drama teacher to help recruit a mascot who would make appearances at local schools dressed up in some ridiculous costume. She asked me if I was interested. The money was good, but I politely turned her down.
* The organization also sells nifty t-shirts like this one…
* They also have a character named “Melty,” which is supposed to be about preventing the polar caps from melting, but unfortunately reminded me of the phrase “nuclear meltdown”…
A nuclear meltdown is the worst case scenario for a nuclear power plant, causing widespread releases of deadly radiation into the environment that can spread hundreds of miles away impacting wildlife as well as humans.
Thursday, May 27, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
We can’t have fair maps if those maps aren’t drawn using the full set of detailed Census data. But, due to census delays, Illinois politicians are planning to use outdated, estimated numbers to draw election maps that will last for a decade.
We know those estimates missed tens of thousands of us. We need the next set of election district maps to fully reflect our communities, and the only way that can happen is if those maps are drawn with current, complete Census data to give all our communities accurate and fair representation.
Call Governor Pritzker’s office today to ask that he push lawmakers to seek court permission to delay the process so that the next set of election maps are drawn with COMPLETE Census data, NOT old estimates.
The association representing horse owners and trainers at Arlington Park has called on the Illinois attorney general to launch an antitrust investigation into track owner Churchill Downs Inc.
The request stems from the Louisville, Kentucky-based corporation’s August 2019 decision to forgo slots and table games at Arlington Park, five months after it acquired a majority stake in nearby Rivers Casino in Des Plaines.
In a letter to the Antitrust Bureau of Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office, Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association President Mike Campbell urged the state’s top legal officer to investigate whether Churchill violated state or federal antitrust laws by quashing the potential for casino gambling — or even continued pari-mutuel wagering on horse races — at Arlington in order to prevent competition with Rivers just 12 miles away.
“Churchill executives evidently engaged in a campaign to block current and future gaming scenarios at Arlington while telegraphing messages to deflect public attention from its actual intent: shielding Rivers from a major gaming competitor in close proximity,” Campbell wrote in his April 29 letter to Antitrust Bureau Chief Blake Harrop. “Whether Churchill’s steps rose to the level of illegal anticompetitive behavior, we respectfully submit, is worthy of your review.”
The Illinois House gave final approval Wednesday to a proposal asking voters to enshrine a “fundamental right” to unionism and collective bargaining in the state constitution, a Democratic slap at departed anti-union GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner and a move that could boost labor turnout for the party in next year’s midterm elections.
The proposed constitutional amendment, to be placed on the Nov. 8, 2022, ballot, was approved in the House on an 80-30 vote, with nine Republicans joining Democrats in supporting the change. […]
Under the proposal, employees would have a “fundamental right to organize and bargain collectively” over wages, hours, working and safety conditions, and their economic welfare. It would ban any law or local ordinance that interferes with or diminishes the right to collectively bargain.
It also would effectively ban “right-to-work” laws or ordinances that prohibit employer-labor union agreements that require union membership as a condition of employment.
The amendment would also ensure the right to bargain will not be “diminished” by any future law, proponents said.
State Rep. Marcus Evans, the sponsor of the amendment, said it would not change existing Illinois law but “make permanent” the rights workers already have.
“The message to everyone across this country and across the state is that their workers want to be prioritized,” the Chicago Democrat said. […]
But state Rep. Deanne Mazzochi, R-Elmhurst, called the language of the amendment “problematic,” saying that the actual meaning of the provision might be left up to the Illinois Supreme Court.
“Once you enshrine this at the constitutional level, any change is going to be very difficult to reverse,’’ Mazzochi said. “This on its face seems like a really nice idea … but we’ll be dealing with the negative fallout of an ill thought-out constitutional provision.”
Rep. Marcus Evans, D-Chicago, the lead sponsor of the measure in the House, framed the vote as a choice between standing up for the rights of workers or the interests of business.
“Where do you stand when you look that working mother in your community in the eye, and do you want her to have collective bargaining,” he said. “Do you want her to have representation, or do you want to follow many other states as they continue a concerted effort to take away the rights of working men and women? You’ve got to make a decision.” […]
Rep. Blaine Wilhour, R-Beecher City, answered Evans’ challenge by touting his own working-class roots.
“I literally climbed off a pole barn into the General Assembly,” he said. “I represent a working class district. I support unions and non-unions. But let’s recognize, unions don’t create jobs. Special interest pandering may create campaign donations, but it doesn’t create jobs.”
The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, an influential giant of organized labor in Illinois, has been pushing the constitutional amendment for more than a year. But Gov. JB Pritzker’s fears about the proposed amendment’s effect on his signature graduated income tax campaign promise and the COVID-19 pandemic’s halt on the General Assembly’s spring session last year prevented it from getting on the November ballot.
A majority of House Republicans voted against the proposed amendment Wednesday, warning it’s an unnecessary addition to the state’s constitution and could drive job creators away from the state.
State Rep. Andrew Chesney (R-Freeport) alleged Democrats pushed the amendment for no other reason than to appease organized labor, a major financial donor behind most of the party’s legislative races.
“This isn’t about men and women in hats slamming hammers and building stuff,” Chesney said. “These are the people right outside this door ready to send contribution checks to your campaign to get you re-elected.”
The House rollcall is here. Republicans voting in favor were Haas, Hammond, Keicher, Lewis, Luft, Marron, McCombie, Severin and Welter.
Thursday, May 27, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
As negotiations continue on a comprehensive clean energy bill, nearly 50 legislators issued a resolute letter to leadership, making it clear that the days of utility companies dictating public policy are over.
There’s time to do right by our communities, but not without firm action on climate and bold leadership on equity. Learn more at ilcleanjobs.org.
As we approach the end of the session and conversations around an energy package continue in earnest, it is critical we pass a strong and comprehensive climate bill built on a foundation of equity.
For too long, utilities have dictated energy policy in Illinois. It is imperative that this time around, any energy package is driven by climate, communities and consumers. The final energy bill must:
● Eliminate carbon emissions from the electric sector by a date certain and prioritize closures in environmental justice communities.
● Ensure equity opportunities across all components of the bill, from workforce diversity to contractor equity to just transition.
We will not support a bill which is simply a handout for utilities and does not prioritize climate and equity – we must be forward thinking and lead with these issues. Our constituents and communities will support nothing less.
Thursday, May 27, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Employers in Illinois provide prescription drug coverage for nearly 6.7 million Illinoisans. In order to help keep care more affordable, employers work with pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), who deploy a variety of tools to reduce prescription drug costs and help improve health outcomes. In addition to helping employers, PBMs also work with the Illinois Medicaid program in the same way to help control costs. Over the last five years, PBMs have saved the state and taxpayers nearly $340 million.
Today, Illinois faces a multibillion budget shortfall as more Illinoisans are relying on Medicaid to help meet their health care coverage needs. As legislators work to address these challenges, one way to help ensure continued cost savings is by strengthening the PBM tools that the State and employers use, which are poised to save employers, consumers and the State $39 billion over the next 10 years. These are meaningful savings that will help continue to contain costs, ensure consumer access to medicines and drive savings in public health programs.
Amid a pandemic and economic challenges, now is the time to strengthen, not limit, the tools that employers, consumers and the State rely on to manage costs and ensure consumers can access the medicines they need.
