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* AP…
Gov. Bruce Rauner has said that he wants to reduce Amtrak train service in the state starting July 1, but the Illinois Department of Transportation hasn’t informed the national rail line about any cuts to its state aid, according to an Amtrak spokesman.
Company spokesman Marc Magliari said Tuesday that Amtrak still is accepting bookings for current levels of service. Rauner announced a new round of cuts to state programs Friday as he continues to negotiate with Democratic leaders in the Illinois Legislature, namely Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton, over the state budget. […]
Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman Guy Tridgell said in an emailed statement Wednesday that the agency was waiting for Amtrak to provide “detailed cost and revenue projections for each route in order to make decisions about the frequency and level of service that the state can afford in anticipation of the Madigan-Cullerton budget.”
Amtrak plans to continue operating under its current schedule until it hears otherwise.
Seems odd.
* Meanwhile, from the Capital Development Board…
From: “Golden, Jodi”
Date: June 17, 2015 at 10:40:36 AM CDT
To: CDB.Executive.BoardMembers
Subject: FW: Stop work LetterBoard Members – I hope this note finds you all well. I wanted to inform you that the attached letter was mailed on Monday evening to contract holders with CDB. At this time we have no appropriations to continue with projects, therefore, unless this changes by June 30th, all work must be stopped by June 30th. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me at any time.
Thanks for your service to CDB!
Best,
Jodi
* The letter, with emphasis added…
To Whom it May Concern:
In accordance with Section 20-60 of the Illinois Procurement Code (30 ILCS 500/20-60) and the Capital Development Board’s (CDB) Standard Documents for Construction, the CDB directs you to stop all work you are performing under the above-referenced contract by June 30, 2015. You are further directed to do nothing after that date that would incur any additional cost to the State. This action is necessary because no appropriation bill was passed by the General Assembly this spring that would allow payments from the CDB to continue.
You should submit a payment request for work performed up to June 30, 2015, to the CDB project manager for the project. The CDB project manager will assist you in addressing any issues with the payment request and will answer any questions you might have regarding this stop work order, including design services of any kind, construction services of any kind, storage of all construction materials and equipment, and securing the job site.
Please note that the funds were available when you entered the contract with the CDB, but the General Assembly has failed to appropriate monies for the upcoming fiscal year starting July 1, 2015. The CDB is working diligently to correct this situation, but it requires legislative action.
If it is determined that the funding problem cannot be fixed in a reasonable time, then the CDB will formally advise you that the contract is suspended. The project manager will advise you about any developments.
The CDB sincerely regrets the need for this action and greatly appreciates your cooperative response.
Sincerely
Jodi Golden
Acting Executive Director
* A top legislative Democrat responds via e-mail…
We sent them the capital re approp bill [yesterday]. If they are saying there are ongoing projects that were not re appropriated, that would be OMB’s failure to notify the legislative budget folks of what projects were completed and what ones needed continued approp authority. I know our staff sought suggestions from OMB on all parts of the budget. And of course the capital bill and all budget House bills with the exception of the k-12 bill were on file for three days in the Senate and we never heard there was any problem with the capital re approp bill.
*** UPDATE *** A Rauner administration official just called to point me to two bills: HBs 2913 and 2914.
They’re about a thousand pages of approps and re-approps for capital projects. The Democratic bill, the Rauner official said, is only about 75 pages - or 925 pages short.
“They knew what they were doing,” the Rauner official said, and added some unprintable stuff.
posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 11:22 am
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Once again the manipulation of fact by the Rauner Administration is breath-taking.
–This action is necessary because no appropriation bill was passed by the General Assembly this spring that would allow payments from the CDB to continue.–
All media outlets, that have a mission of pursuing truth, should reveal this inaccuracy and purposeful mislead of an important group.
Comment by cdog Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 11:33 am
There is such a disconnect to;
optics/governing/leverage/ownership
The politics, of the mix, of four things I listed above is dictating an image of Rauner, and his Crew, having a poor understanding of being the Executive in Illinois Government.
I shake my head and raise my eyes up to the sky and close them, thinking, “Do they even have an end game that makes any sense?”
I just don’t know…
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 11:33 am
===If it is determined that the funding problem cannot be fixed in a reasonable time, then the CDB will formally advise you that the contract is suspended. The project manager will advise you about any developments.===
P.S. Have a nice day
Comment by 47th Ward Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 11:36 am
Just the kind of things a crew seeking “chaos and upheaval” would be doing to keep the pot stirred, eh?
Comment by Arthur Andersen Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 11:37 am
It definitely would be nice if Rauner spelled out the Amtrak cuts. Will they affect the high speed rail construction or just involve cancellation of some routes?
And when will these cuts be taking effect? Immediately as of July 1? Business people and tourists could kind of use that info to plan ahead, Bruce.
Comment by hisgirlfriday Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 11:38 am
Lot of “odd” things in the “plan” to date.
Comment by Wordslinger Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 11:42 am
A bit eager to grab anything in sight in this snowball fight.
Comment by walker Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 11:51 am
Possible Headlines —
“Rauner Team Continues to Omit Details”
“Rauner Team Continues to Deny Responsibility for Fiscal Fiasco”
Comment by cdog Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 11:54 am
When did the Governor say that he wanted to reduce Amtrak service?
Comment by Keyser Soze Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 11:54 am
I wonder how the state’s contract with Amtrak reads. The state might be on the hook for cancellation cost of reservations, etc. due to untimely notice of subsidy reduction resulting in route reduction.
Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 11:58 am
When you want chaos, you create chaos, even when it doesn’t have to exist.
Comment by AlabamaShake Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:04 pm
Keyser Soze: Google “Illinois Amtrak Cuts”
Comment by Skeptic Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:06 pm
Sorry, wrong post.
Comment by Anon221 Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:13 pm
===They’re about a thousand pages of approps and re-approps for capital projects. The Democratic bill, the Rauner official said, is only about 75 pages - or 925 pages short.===
Too bad the Rauner Administration doesn’t have a real good relationship to fall back on with the Democratic Leaders.
The Rauner Cuts. Now, Gramma in Springfield can’t take Amtrak to see her family in Chicago. Bruce Rauner chose.
“Boy, this governin’ stuff is hard!”
I wouldn’t worry, Rauner will produce more Ads trying to deflect blame.
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:14 pm
To the update:
Did the administration supply the needed information regarding projects/statuses to the Dems? Their response doesn’t speak to that, it only speaks to the a bill without enough pages.
Comment by out of touch Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:15 pm
So, if the state funds for Capitol Development Projects are cut off, and people in the private sector are laid off, wouldn’t that be an indicator that austerity is contractionary in nature, instead of the confidence-building expansionary nature of austerity that Arduin and her supply-siders would have us believe?
Comment by PublicServant Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:23 pm
to the update.
Does anybody know if there was the predictable Rauner poison pill included?
Comment by cdog Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:25 pm
Governor Rauner can shut down the government without acting on the bills before him. As all of us on this blog know ARTICLE IV SECTION 9 of the constitution gives the Governor 60 calendar days to act on these bills. In fact the Governor could shut down the government for well over a month without acting on the appropriation bills if he chose to do so. The Democrats should have passed their bills by the last week of April. At least they could have forced a veto before the full shut down date.
Comment by Rod Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:32 pm
I’m confused.
Jodi Golden says no monies were appropriated.
Democrats say moneys were re-appropriated.
The Rauner administrations seems to be admitting under their breath that Democrats reappropriated money for old projects but just didn’t appropriate money for any new projects.
So, was Jodi Golden being truthful or not?
Comment by Juvenal Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:41 pm
Re: IDOT/Amtrak. The Rauner method, blame everything on everybody else. You’re telling me IDOT doesn’t have access to ridership data already?
Comment by Precinct Captain Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:43 pm
@Rod:
Disagree.
Vehemently.
You don’t want to send the bills to the governor so that he can veto them and demand you come back with a month to go.
You work the clock just like you would in basketball. Tie game, you hold the ball until the last four seconds so that, in case you miss, the other team doesn’t have time to score.
Comment by Juvenal Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:44 pm
“ARTICLE IV SECTION 9 of the constitution gives the Governor 60 calendar days to act on these bills.”
I’ve always thought this was problematic. The President of these United States only gets 10 days.
Comment by Kevin Highland Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:44 pm
Would Rauner have signed the Dem bill if it did contain the administration’s reappro language? Doubtful!
Comment by Norseman Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:49 pm
The CDB business ain’t that simple. Sites under construction have to be brought to a state where they can be secured and preserved without being liable to weather damage or vandalism, which is probably not in the construction and design contracts. You don’t just abandon a partially dug foundation or building that isn’t weather-tight.
They need to be directing their contractors and consultants, pronto, and that’ll involve change orders.
Either they aren’t serious, or they are really ignorant.
Comment by Harry Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:49 pm
Did Mr./Ms. Unprintable Stuff point us to his/her 1000 pages online anywhere that they delivered to the GA?
Comment by sal-says Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:55 pm
sal, are you blind? Both the bill numbers are posted above, as well as links to those bills.
Sheesh.
Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:56 pm
My college received a “stop order” today.
Comment by G'Kar Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 1:06 pm
Many agencies and non-profits are receiving stop orders. This means counseling services, help for DCFS children, housing services all could end with stop orders. These are not able to continue and be billed later….a stop order is very different.
Comment by illlinifan Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 1:11 pm
Juvenal - was money for capital projects appropriated in the budget the dems passed - yes. But that is not the entire story. The correct question should be - was money appropriated to cover ALL capital projects currently under way in 2015? The answer is no, there wasn’t. Bottom line - not all projects currently funded are funded in next year’s budget (about 900+ pages worth of projects or so it seems).
It seems that CDB is taking action to stop projects that aren’t funded.
Comment by what the? Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 1:53 pm
“which is probably not in the construction and design contracts.” You’re probably right. And then restarting those project later will also add to the cost. So here’s a case where it’s costing us taxpayers even more to finish a project than it should just because of political wrangling.
Comment by Skeptic Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 2:10 pm
Rauner staff response provided to Rich appears to be appropriate in its entirety.
The devil is in the details and processes. MJM is master there, and his moves are often hard to see.
Comment by walker Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 2:11 pm
illinifan, you have a copy of the stop orders for the counseling and housing services you listed? I assume this is not the CMS memo to vendors to expect longer payment cycles.
Comment by zatoichi Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 2:23 pm
I think “could end” is the operational word re the stop orders.
We went through similar types of doomsday threats with Quinn, right? Didn’t we learn anything? It’s a dance.
Keep saying to yourself: Rauner and the Democrats both want to raise my income taxes. Repeat until, say July 14. But it won’t last that long.
Comment by Cassandra Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 2:31 pm
@ Skeptic - And CDB is not the type of agency that can turn on a dime. Currently working on one where they need to start construction in May of next year.
Comment by Bogey Golfer Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 2:37 pm
Cassandra, you may think this is a normal dance but it isn’t. These guys don’t know each other well enough and the new guys truly have convinced themselves that they can make the General Assembly blink first. Guess what…?!
Comment by Commonsense in Illinois Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 2:42 pm
I wonder if Madigan is playing chicken just assuming Rauner will be like all the others before and blink first. I find that hard to believe, but it sure looks like that’s where we’re headed. Or all this is a big to do about very little, with the Administration just following through on what would have to happen if no progress is made, possibly knowing full well it won’t get that far. This all reminds me of speculating - even coming to a full determination - on hot news stories without having any facts. It’s all mildly good theater, but I’m not close to seeing the sky falling just yet.
Comment by Anon Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 3:39 pm
Someone remind me - who was it who said one shouldn’t let a crisis go to waste? For each side, they have their crisis talking points. So, Rauner is stretching his crisis chops - time will tell if this is a strategy that works with Madigan and the majorities.
Comment by dupage dan Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 3:40 pm
This is the kind of thing that would have made Quinn weak in the knees. Rauner seems to relish it.
Comment by Miami Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 3:51 pm
Juvenal we have had this discussion before about when to forward appropriation bills to the Governor to try to force a veto vote on this blog. We did not agree then and do not now. If I recall correctly you were opposed to the Democrats passing any appropriation bills by themselves to force a veto situation. Well that effectively has now occurred, except the Governor has the option of doing nothing to shut down the government.
The Democrat members of the Assembly I talked to about this issue months ago said it was a leadership issue and effectively beyond their pay grade. I assume the Speaker and Senate President wanted to create a situation where Republican votes were required to pass any new budget bills pursuant to article IV, section 10 of the Constitution if there were a Rauner veto of their bill. But the presumption here i think is that the Democrat leadership believed a Government shut down was leverage against the Governor not themselves. We shall see that transpires very shortly.
Comment by Rod Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 4:57 pm
Is there an expiration date on the “crisis go to waste” line? It’s repeated like Rainman, “two minutes to Wapner” in some circles.
Wnat is it supposed to communicate in this context, anyway? The governor’s and Dems proposed budgets are both short $3 billion plus. Without new revenue, the ax falls on K-12. Tne arithmetic is unforgiving.
If tnat wasnt obvious on Jan. 1, it certainly was after rhe governor proposed his phony, never-to-be-mentioned-again budget in February.
Where’s the “crisis” leverage in that reality? They both need the same thing.
Comment by Wordslinger Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 5:07 pm
Rod: Juvie is right on this one. It’s hold for the last shot, limiting your opponent’s options. Done by both parties, regardless of which party is in Gov’s seat. That’s how the game has been played for years. All real solutions are painful this cycle, and the entire political goal for both is to credibly assign blame to the other side.
Still would argue that Madigan is focusing on budget dynamics while Rauner’s overriding objective is Turnaround Agenda. That makes any analysis of respective moves very tricky.
Comment by walker Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 5:41 pm
If only both sides invested the thought, planning, and resolve into the budget and pension issues that they do fighting each other to score political points that are meaningless to frustrated residents of the state.
Comment by Tourés Latte Friday, Jun 19, 15 @ 10:16 am