Postponement Of Care Leads To Public Health Risk
Thursday, Jun 3, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
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* Gov. Pritzker is doing interviews today. Mine is later this afternoon. Here’s Greg Hinz…
“More needs to be done,” Pritzker said about tighter [ethics] rules enacted by lawmakers that have already come under attack by some as being too weak.
“This is not everything I would have liked to see,” said Pritzker of the package, which includes a 6-month ban on retired lawmakers lobbying their former colleagues, more disclosure of the personal assets of election candidates and a partial ban on state lawmakers lobbying local governments for pay.
“I will say progress was made,” Pritzker said. But “they know, we know, everybody knows that more progress needs to be done.”
Pritzker said he won’t be issuing his own proposals but instead will work through lawmakers. “Why would I (submit my own package) when I have allies in the General Assembly?”
I’m not sure who those allies are and why they didn’t propose any legislation on this topic. But one power he does have is to issue an amendatory veto with his own ideas. Not saying that would go anywhere or that it would be politically wise, I’m just saying that a gratuitous slam on the General Assembly is just meaningless rhetoric.
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Fun with numbers
Thursday, Jun 3, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Illinois Policy Institute…
Illinois lawmakers on June 1 passed a $42.3 billion budget that leaders said was balanced and contained no tax hikes. They said those things, but that doesn’t make them true.
A closer examination shows at least a $482 million hole, which makes the 21st year in a row the state has failed to balance its budget. The budget also contains a $655 million tax hike. And it contains a nearly $1,200 raise for each lawmaker. […]
The fiscal forecasting arm of the General Assembly most recently estimated revenues for fiscal year 2022 would be $41.188 billion, while Pritzker’s office projected $41.055 billion. Combined with the $655 million in new revenue from tax increases, that would leave a deficit of between $482 million and $615 million.
It turns out, the budget negotiators used the greater of the two estimates from earlier this month in individual categories. COGFA had the larger personal income tax estimate, for instance, but GOMB had the larger corporate income tax estimate, etc. The negotiators then “fine-tuned estimates for other smaller sources based on up-to-date information (+55M) and federal sources based on final spending and cash flow assumptions (+$110M),” according to the governor’s office.
This supposedly balances the FY22 budget.
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Question of the day
Thursday, Jun 3, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* ILGOP fundraising email. No surprise, they’re mad…
Rich,
Last year, for the first time in our state’s history, a state Supreme Court justice was defeated due to their ties to the Madigan machine. We did it with your help.
Now, Springfield Democrats want to continue their political power grab with an entirely NEW Supreme Court map — the first since the 1960s. Without a new gerrymandered judicial map, Democrats have no chance at preventing Illinois Republicans from taking 4-3 control of the Illinois Supreme Court in 2022.
4-3 conservative control of the Illinois Supreme Court means the following reforms have a chance:
• Term Limits
• Pension Reform
• Fair Maps (no more gerrymandering)
• Restrict Governor’s Ability to Issue Indefinite Emergency Orders
Add your name to our petition to support taking the Illinois Supreme Court today >>>
The only reason Democrats are concerned about the state Supreme Court now is because they won’t have a majority on the bench to rubber stamp radical leftist policies for them.
Springfield Democrats aren’t concerned about the people of Illinois.
Springfield Democrats are concerned about their own selfish interests.
Sign the Petition Today
Standing up against these outrageous attacks on our democracy is a MUST-DO, Rich. And we can’t stand up without you. Sign the petition NOW >>>
Thank you,
Illinois Republican Party
CONTRIBUTE
Um, the big pension reform decision was unanimous and authored by a Republican.
* The Question: What are you mad about these days?
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Coal’s last stand
Thursday, Jun 3, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Senate President Don Harmon yesterday after the kerfuffle over the Exelon deal meltdown…
We also stand with the governor on de-carbonization targets that need to be in a final deal.
Those targets mean the closure of coal-fired plants in 2035, including two municipally owned plants (CWLP and Prairie State Energy Campus) - the reason the Senate President refused to sign off on the Exelon deal on May 31. Harmon has clearly backed off that position, however.
* Media advisory…
A bipartisan coalition of labor, lawmakers and municipal officials is united in opposition to a plan under consideration in the General Assembly to prematurely close not-for-profit coal-fired power plants before the end of their useful life, warning such a move would raise utility bills on consumers, eliminate jobs, place new financial burdens on communities forced to find replacement sources of power and threaten reliability.
WHO: Sen. Doris Turner, D-Springfield
Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield
Rep. Charles Meier, R-Okawville
Doug Brown, Chief Utility Engineer, City Water Light & Power
Aaron Gurnsey, Business Manager and Financial Secretary at Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 137
Totsie Bailey, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Southwestern Illinois Building Trades Council
Mayor Jim Langfelder, City of Springfield
WHAT: The coalition is asking not-for-profit plants operated by City Water, Light & Power in Springfield and the Prairie State Energy Campus in Marissa to be exempted from premature closures proposed in energy legislation being debated by the General Assembly. This will allow for a more responsible transition to a cleaner energy future that gives communities time to put in place new power sources, train and develop workers, keep utility costs stable and protect grid reliability.
WHEN: Friday, June 4
10 a.m.
WHERE: Steamfitters & Plumbers Local 137
2880 E Cook St
Springfield, IL 62704
* Related…
* My Hometown’s Coal Plant Remorse
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* Fran Spielman…
Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch said Thursday he believes in “more democracy — not less” and the state Senate delivered just that by passing a bill to create a 21-member elected school board in Chicago.
One day after Mayor Lori Lightfoot denounced the bill as having “nothing to do with democracy,” Welch argued just the opposite. He called the Senate bill “a pretty good compromise” and said the House is likely to pass it without the makeover the mayor has demanded.
If anything, Welch said he would have preferred a speedier timetable than waiting until November 2024 to seat half the new board members and November 2026 to elect the other half.
“The bill does not set the timeline that leader [Delia] Ramirez from my team advocated for. But there are key protections during the transition period. That includes a moratorium on school closures. City Council confirmation of temporarily appointed members,” Welch said.
“I like the bill because it’s a move towards a fully-elected school board. I believe in more democracy — not less. I’m a product of an elected school board and believe that elections work. … When… all sides are not happy, you’ve got a pretty good compromise on the table.”
Welch, you may recall, was a co-sponsor of Leader Ramirez’s original bill. The mayor is dreaming if she thinks she can stop this thing in the House.
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* Crain’s…
Two of Exelon’s Illinois nuclear plants were successful bidders in the auction held last month by the power-grid operator for the region, ensuring they will operate through at least mid-2023.
The LaSalle and Braidwood nukes bid low enough to receive $69 per megawatt-day in “capacity” payments from households and businesses throughout Commonwealth Edison’s service territory, Exelon disclosed today in a Securities & Exchange Commission filing. The price takes effect for the year beginning June 1, 2022.
PJM Interconnection, the multistate grid operator whose region includes northern Illinois, conducts an auction each year of power generators and other providers to ensure there’s enough juice available during the highest-demand periods of the year—usually heat waves or sharp cold snaps. Households and businesses pay the charge each month as a form of insurance to ensure those power plants deliver when needed, and they’re embedded in energy prices charged by ComEd and alternative power suppliers.
Unsuccessful were the Quad Cities, Byron and Dresden nukes. Quad Cities already is subsidized by Illinois ratepayers and is in no danger of early closure. But Exelon plans to shutter Byron and Dresden this coming fall without additional state support.
There’s more to this, so go read the rest.
* Quick market explainer from Bloomberg…
The market, which pays generators to be on standby in case extra power is needed, has long been a source of controversy. While it makes the grid more reliable, the system drives up costs for consumers. In the area around Chicago, for instance, these charges total more than $1.7 billion per year, accounting for 20% of customer bills, according to the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition.
* From Exelon’s SEC filing…
All of Generation’s other [non-Illinois] nuclear and fossil generation power plants located in the PJM market cleared in the auction
From the independent Synapse audit…
• Exelon’s bidding behaviors into PJM’s capacity market have changed in recent auctions. This includes higher capacity offer prices than were seen historically. Some units were bid into PJM’s capacity market at prices which were ultimately above the capacity market clearing price. Other prices came in just above or below the market clearing price, which results in the plants receiving capacity revenues for only a portion of their capacity offers.
• Exelon’s bidding behavior is causally related to its confidence that its units would ultimately be profitable. Exelon has elected as a strategy to submit lower bids for profitable units.
* Back to Bloomberg…
The lower [auction] prices could be especially painful for Exelon’s nuclear plants in Illinois, putting pressure on lawmakers to grant them bailouts.
Bloomberg Intelligence Analyst Kit Konolige said in a research note that Exelon could face a $900 million pretax hit. On Thursday, Exelon issued a statement saying it planned to close two more of its reactors in Illinois unless the state offers subsidies. […]
Nuclear plants did manage to win more contracts in the auction, clearing an additional 4,500 megawatts from the prior auction in 2018. Wind and solar power added about 1,300 megawatts, and natural gas added 3,400 megawatts. Coal slipped by about 8,200 megawatts.
So, it’s probably safe to say that it may turn out to be a good thing that Exelon got locked into a deal on May 31.
* Related…
* Here’s what’s in the big state energy bill still awaiting action
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Maybe just forget the games?
Thursday, Jun 3, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Republicans pitched this to me and I added it to yesterday’s subscriber edition. This, however is from Politico…
HOW THE GOP SAVED THE BUDGET
Republicans say you can thank GOP state Sen. Jason Barickman for steering the Democrats’ $42.3 billion state budget to the governor’s desk.
That unusual legislative twist came about after a 3 a.m. battle on the Senate floor that had Barickman, the Senate GOP’s floor leader, debating a surprise, out-of-the-blue amendment to a Democratic redistricting bill that shifted the circuit courts in St. Clair County and Lake County — the latter of which Minority Leader Dan McConchie represents.
Sources said Republicans hadn’t received any notice about the late-night amendment and were angry they couldn’t get answers from Democrats.
Later in the morning, GOP members were looking at the amendment online when they noticed a separate action: Harmon’s brick on the just-approved budget.
Putting a hold on the budget would have allowed Harmon to gain leverage on Pritzker in negotiating the controversial energy bill — not, as we mentioned yesterday, leverage with the House.
Republican senators realized they could force Harmon to release the budget by challenging his motion to hold it. That would have prompted an immediate vote. Harmon’s caucus would have to choose to either override his hold or send it back to the floor for another vote. Talk about a wild scenario given both Harmon and Pritzker support the budget — and Barickman doesn’t.
Before that occurred, Harmon approached Republicans.
Barickman repeated to Playbook what he told the Senate president: “I was just trying to free the budget from the political game by which it was being held hostage.”
Harmon then pulled the brick, and most members were none the wiser.
And it goes on.
* John Patterson…
“There was never any question that the budget was headed to the governor’s desk. We’re happy to have Senator Barickman’s belated support and will try to make sure the record reflects his intent.”
* This whole thing is weird. The Senate Democrats originally claimed that Harmon put a parliamentary hold on the budget to keep anyone else from doing it. But the Senate Democrats changed their own rules so that nobody but the sponsor and chief co-sponsors can make a motion to reconsider a vote after a bill passes. So, either they forgot what their own rules were in the middle of the night or something else was going on.
Either way, the rules also allow anyone in the last three days of a spring session to file a motion to force an immediate vote on a motion to reconsider. That’s what Barickman told Harmon he was going to do.
The Senate Dems played more than their share of games this spring. Maybe just play it straight from now on and save everybody the effort?
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It’s almost a law
Thursday, Jun 3, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Patch…
Social equity applicants for state licenses to sell cannabis gathered at a West Side restaurant Wednesday to urge Gov. J.B. Pritzker to quickly sign a recently passed bill authorizing a trio of new lotteries to divvy up pot shop permits.
The group of about two dozen hopeful marijuana merchants was joined by the sponsor of House Bill 1443, State Rep. LaShawn Ford (D-Chicago), and former state Sen. Toi Hutchinson, the governor’s top cannabis advisor.
The bill passed the Illinois House and Senate last week in bipartisan votes, and the governor said he was grateful to its sponsors and looked forward to signing it into law.
* Sun-Times…
When Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton’s mom, Velma Wiggins, began to forget things, Stratton didn’t know the signs of Alzheimer’s, so as her mom’s chief caregiver, had no gauge for the changes soon afoot.
It wasn’t until she sent her mom to visit her aunt in Florida that someone put language to it.
“She lived with my family about 13 years, and we didn’t know she was developing dementia. We didn’t know what the signs were, what to look for. We lost her in 2016 to Alzheimer’s, and it wasn’t until three years prior to her death that she was diagnosed,” said Stratton, whose experience triggered a mission to help others caring for Alzheimer’s patients.
That mission culminated with pioneering legislation to improve the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, passed in the final days of the legislative session, now on Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk.
* More…
* Illinois General Assembly spring session recap: Here’s a look at the legislation passed by state lawmakers
* Here’s a breakdown of 5 bills that are headed to Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker to be signed
* In latest twist, state lawmakers change election code to allow felon Roger Agpawa to serve as mayor of Markham
* What now with Route 53 extension land? State lawmakers create task force to decide
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* Sun-Times…
Allegations that Republican state Rep. Chris Miller helped incite the Jan. 6 insurrection were “unfounded,” the Legislature’s watchdog found after conducting an investigation.
Whether comments the downstate cattle farmer made in Washington, D.C., that day represented conduct unbecoming a legislator was “a closer question,” Legislative Inspector General Carol Pope conceded.
But while she found Miller’s remarks at a rally “intemperate,” “distasteful and not excusable,” Pope said she could not label them “conduct unbecoming” a legislator – given the tenor of remarks being made by other legislators across the nation at the time.
“While my office recognizes the importance of free speech, it also recognizes there are limits to the types of speech that benefit from protection,” Pope wrote in an email to Miller. “My hope is that you will not exceed those limits in the future.” […]
Calling Pope’s opinion on the U.S. Capitol insurrection “a complete exoneration,” Illinois Republicans are now calling on Democrats to remove from the record a resolution condemning Miller, dubbing it “false and slanderous.”
That won’t happen, however. Go read the rest.
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* Get your shots…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 674 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 24 additional deaths. In addition, more than 67% of Illinois adults have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and nearly 51% of Illinois adults are fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- Adams County: 1 male 80s
- Cook County: 1 male 30s, 1 female 50s, 2 males 50s, 1 male 60s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 90s
- DeWitt County: 1 male 60s
- Douglas County: 1 male 80s
- DuPage County: 1 female 90s
- Franklin County: 1 female 90s
- Jersey County: 1 female 70s
- Kane County: 1 male 30s
- Kendall County: 1 female 70s
- Lee County: 1 male 60s
- Livingston County: 1 male 70s
- McLean County: 1 female 90s
- Peoria County: 1 female 30s
- Rock Island County: 1 female 80s
- Tazewell County; 1 male 70s
- Vermilion County: 1 male 70s
- Will County: 1 male 80s
- Winnebago County: 1 female 70s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,383,739 cases, including 22,865 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 55,432 specimens for a total of 24,731,489. As of last night, 997 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 273 patients were in the ICU and 154 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from May 27-June 2, 2021 is 1.5%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from May 27-June 2, 2021 is 1.7%.
A total of 11,374,677 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 37,328 doses. Yesterday, 36,372 doses were reported administered in Illinois.
* Meanwhile…
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* CBS 2…
The U.S. Department of Labor estimates 23,111 new unemployment claims were filed during the week of May 24 in Illinois, according to the DOL’s weekly claims report released Thursday. […]
Illinois’ estimated claims are among 385,000 total claims filed across the country last week, the fewest claims so far during the pandemic.
There were 19,218 new unemployment claims were filed during the week of May 17 in Illinois.
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.
There were 15,134 new unemployment claims were filed during the week of April 26 in Illinois.
* Related…
* Back-aching work. Low pay. No health care: Here’s why Chicago restaurant workers aren’t coming back: “It hit me pretty quickly,” Roberts said. “My body started bouncing back. My back stopped hurting. My nails started growing because I wasn’t dipping them in buckets of bleach and sanitizer all the time. I felt like a person who could move through the world relatively well again.”
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* WIFR…
Legislators of both parties exploited a loophole in state law that allowed them to resign on the first day of the month and collect the whole month’s pay or get sworn in at month’s end but claim a whole month’s pay, according to Illinois State Comptroller Susana A. Mendoza.
That ends with this legislation. The new rules take effect Jan. 1, 2022.
The legislation takes effect in January, but that specific provision doesn’t kick in until the 103rd General Assembly. Why? Because, as countless court cases have confirmed over the years, it’s unconstitutional to raise, lower or otherwise alter legislators’ compensation during their terms in office.
* That history is missing from this story and likely in others that are yet to be written…
The new budget that Gov. JB Pritzker said he will sign into law gives a lot of money to a lot of groups and projects.
One group? The very people who wrote it: the elected lawmakers.
“Politicians are making enough money as it is,” resident Gary Nation said. […]
Last year, in the height of the pandemic, the budget did not appropriate the money for the raises, so the legislators’ wages remained the same.
But, this year, they decided to appropriate that money.
What they did this year was a far more honest way of doing things. If legislators don’t want pay raises, they either shouldn’t take them or pass a bill to permanently repeal the annual cost of living raises going forward.
* By the way, the main 2016 plaintiff in one of the many lawsuits over this particular topic was none other than House Speaker Chris Welch…
Half-a-dozen state representatives have sued the Illinois comptroller for holding up their paychecks during the state budget mess.
The Democratic lawmakers filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court on Friday demanding that Republican Comptroller Leslie Munger and Gov. Bruce Rauner “end unwarranted political pressure.”
In April, Munger began putting paychecks for the governor and lawmakers in line and pays them like other vendors’ overdue bills get paid.
The lawsuit was filed by Democratic representatives Emanuel “Chris” Welch of Hillside, Kate Cloonen of Kankakee, Lisa Hernandez of Cicero along with Chicagoans Mary Flowers, Sonya Harper and Silvan Tabares
The Senate passed a bill to take the pay raises out, and the House refused to take it up. So, good on Welch for staying consistent.
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* Republicans mad…
Illinois Democrats took a victory lap when the General Assembly’s regular spring session came to a close this week, holding press conferences touting the session as one of the most productive in memory: a $42 billion state budget without major cuts or an income tax increase; a bevy of progressive bills heading to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk; newly drawn legislative district boundaries, completed despite the complication of late-arriving census data.
But for the minority party, each victory smacks of partisanship and defeat.
* Republicans mad…
Less than five months after freshly sworn-in Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch promised a “new day” in state government, Democrats in his caucus say he’s delivered “on every responsibility.”
But Republicans say Welch is still following the “playbook of 65th and Pulaski,” written and perfected by Welch’s tainted Southwest Side predecessor.
* Republicans mad…
Illinois Republicans on Wednesday urged Gov. J.B. Pritzker to “uphold his promise” and veto a Democrat-proposed state legislative redistricting map.
“What we saw in Springfield these last two weeks was an absolute mockery of fair and transparent redistricting processes,” U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, said Wednesday afternoon during a press conference in uptown Normal.
* Republicans mad…
The finger pointing over the latest Illinois state budget and beyond is, if anything, intensifying now that the budget itself has passed and heading for the Governor’s desk.
A little more than 12 hours after Illinois lawmakers approved his latest budget, Governor Pritzker met with reporters to sing its praises.
“Ours is a budget that addresses the historical structural deficit, and makes responsible choices; paying off debt early, nearly eliminating our backlog of bills, and making critical investments,” Pritzker said.
House Republican Leader Jim Durkin argues the budget penalizes businesses. And as for ethics reform, he said lawmakers falls short when they should have been stepping up.
* Republicans mad…
If signed, the bill would move the 2022 primary from the third Tuesday in March to June 28, 2022. Lawmakers said that the change was necessary because of delays in census data that will be used to draw new maps. That new data will not be released until August, according to officials.
State Republicans blasted the move, saying that it was designed behind “closed doors” to aid Democrats in drawing a more favorable legislative map.
“They did it behind closed doors. This is how power and control are maintained in Springfield,” Illinois House Republican Leader Rep. Jim Durkin said.
* Thanks to the mayor, maybe now the press corps can shift its focus…
The day after the Illinois Senate passed a compromise bill that would phase in a fully elected, 21-member Chicago Board of Education, Mayor Lori Lightfoot emphasized that it’s not yet a done deal and drew attention to parts of the plan that she doesn’t agree with.
“There were obviously a lot of different agendas at work that led to the bill that passed,” Lightfoot said at an unrelated news conference Wednesday afternoon, describing the legislation as one step in a longer process on which there’s still work to do. […]
Lightfoot pledged to “keep our fight where it should be, which is making sure that our children are heard, that their educational futures are secure and that parents have seat at table.”
“Why that is so hard for people to understand, why that sense of urgency around those core values is something that some folks in Springfield don’t get, I don’t know. But there has to be accountability for ignoring the people,” Lightfoot said. “It’s interesting that this is supposed to be about democracy but what happened in Springfield had nothing to do with democracy. But democracy, mark my word, will prevail.”
* Sun-Times mad…
If test scores fall in Chicago’s public schools, blame Illinois Senate President Don Harmon.
If enrollment declines further in the city’s schools, blame state Sen. Bob Martwick.
If property taxes go up to pay for the schools, blame those in the state Senate who voted Tuesday to create an absurdly unwieldy 21-member elected Chicago school board. And blame, as well, anybody in the House who votes later this summer for this slapped-together mockery of supposedly grassroots democracy.
In the future, they will own the performance of Chicago’s schools, which we fear will not go well. It will be on them.
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