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* Rep. Sam Yingling press release…
Despite hearing testimony from dozens of local property taxpayers and receiving hundreds of phone calls in support of SB2544, today the Lake County Board approved a resolution recommending that the governor issue an amendatory veto on the bill.
SB2544 increases fairness and accountability in the office of the Lake County Assessor by putting a question on the ballot in November to let the people decide whether the position of Lake County Chief County Assessment Office, the Lake County Assessor, should be popularly elected by the people.
“An amendatory veto by the governor would deny taxpayers the right to vote on the measure in November, and that’s unacceptable,” said Yingling. “It’s appalling that some members of the Lake County Board are so eager to ignore the will of the people.”
A strong grassroots campaign has been built to support SB2544. Yingling has been airing TV ads in Lake County that have been reaching thousands of taxpayers at home every day. The campaign’s digital ad has been viewed over to 20,000 times on social media. Thousands of Lake County taxpayers have made phone calls to the governor to urge him to sign the bill. Hundreds more have called Lake County Board Chairman Aaron Lawlor to urge him to stop playing games and support the measure.
“Last week, I sent Governor Rauner over 1,000 signatures from my constituents urging him to sign SB2544 because the property tax status quo is not working,” concluded Yingling. “I remain hopeful that Governor Rauner will sign SB2544 instead of interfering with the will of the people as the Lake County Board has chosen to do. Anything short of a signed bill from the governor will deny the taxpayers of Lake County their right to vote this November to make the property tax system accountable to them.”
Yingling is a former Avon Township Supervisor.
* Daily Herald yesterday…
Lake County officials are weighing asking Rauner to use his amendatory veto power to expand the legislation so the same question appears on ballots for the roughly 60 Illinois counties that have board-appointed assessment officers and board-chosen chairmen, just as Lake does. The board will debate forwarding the veto request to Rauner Tuesday.
“We support the right of voters to make this decision,” said Chairman Aaron Lawlor, a Vernon Hills Republican. “But if it’s such a good idea, why not make it applicable (elsewhere)?”
Clever.
* Other stuff…
* How Illinois retirement program works (and is it a good idea?): An estimated 1.2 million workers will be eligible for automatic enrollment in Secure Choice, with 5 percent of gross pay being deducted and placed in a default target-date retirement fund. Employees will be able to switch savings rates and retirement funds or may opt out of the program.
* Editorial: The merits of Illinois’ retirement savings option: Perhaps you work for a company with no retirement program and you’re disciplined enough to contribute on your own to a money-market, IRA or other retirement savings account. If so, good for you and feel free to bypass Illinois Secure Choice. But if you’re like most people, you’ll benefit greatly from this program.
* Effort to consolidate local governments is finally making headway: The bill to encourage streamlining was sponsored by state Sen. Tom Cullerton, a Villa Park Democrat, and state Rep. David Olsen, a Downers Grove Republican. It would allow a majority of mosquito abatement district trustees to vote to fold its functions into a neighboring township, municipality or county.
* Rauner: Wage hike could bankrupt school districts: “We’ve got to be careful that we don’t crush small communities that have very limited resources,” Rauner warned last week when asked if he would sign the bill. “To be told they have to pay ‘X’ may bankrupt some small school districts.” Lawmakers sent the plan to the governor’s desk last month in a bipartisan vote. Four Senate Republicans and two others in the House joined Democrats to pass the measure which would require districts to immediately pay teachers at least $32,076 per school year. The proposed increases would peak at a minimum of $40,000 in the 2022-23 school year pending review by the General Assembly.
* Two Bills On Governor’s Desk Could Help Address Illinois’ Addiction Treatment Gap: According to federal data, only one in ten people with a drug addiction receive treatment. Behavioral health advocates say two bills awaiting action from Governor Bruce Rauner would help bridge the treatment gap in Illinois. One of the bills - SB 682 - would keep providers from sending patients home if they don’t get immediate authorization from their insurance company for treatment, said Sara Howe, CEO of the Illinois Association for Behavioral Health. … Another bill - SB 1707 - would provide stricter enforcement of the state’s existing mental health parity laws, which Howe said should help patients stay engaged in treatment for as long as they need.
* Physician assistant hirings could rise under legislation sent to governor: “That would allow me so much more latitude,” Dowell said of Senate Bill 2904, which passed the Illinois House and Senate this year without opposition. “What this legislation really does for me is that it gives me the ability to hire more physician assistants in markets where it’s hard to hire physicians to work.”
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Jul 10, 18 @ 11:28 am
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I fail to see how politicizing a technical job benefits taxpayers.
Comment by Shemp Tuesday, Jul 10, 18 @ 11:40 am
An amendatory veto means it won’t be on the.ballot for November because the GA will not be around to accept or override.
It could also be deemed as too large of a change in the underlying bill.
Rauner veto’s Yingling will have a field day.
Btw if Aaron Lawlor wants to set statute for other counties maybe he should run for state office?
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Jul 10, 18 @ 11:55 am
So paying teachers wages equal to what the State pays RC14 Office Assistants will bankrupt a school district. So much hyperbole. If that’s true then some districts better consolidate. No wonder there is a teacher shortage.
Comment by LTSW Tuesday, Jul 10, 18 @ 12:01 pm
The Physician Assistant bill is a good move. Much more needs to be done.
Illinois has turned the Nurse Practitioner degree into a doctorate instead of a masters. We would be better served by a masters program.
25% of physicians in the USA were born oversees. Our system discourages Americans from becoming doctors. That is poor policy.
Comment by Last Bull Moose Tuesday, Jul 10, 18 @ 12:09 pm
Pretty dishonest of Lawlor to call for an AV when he clearly just wants the bill killed. He must be really scared of the cable ads in his district.
Comment by vern Tuesday, Jul 10, 18 @ 12:13 pm
Lawlor’s argument is bunk. If it is good to have an elected assessor, why deny it for Lake County regardless of what other Counties do. Lake has highest property taxes in the state and people want an assessor who is accountable to them.
Comment by Lakeview lawyer Tuesday, Jul 10, 18 @ 12:21 pm
Interesting, SB2544. A bill introduced to allow a county to do what it can already do, that is, change from an appointed county assessor to an elected one. 35 ILCS 200/3-5 I believe.
Comment by siualum Tuesday, Jul 10, 18 @ 12:23 pm
Wonder why the Lake County Board picked this hill to die on?
Comment by Lake County Voter Tuesday, Jul 10, 18 @ 12:30 pm
==So paying teachers wages ==
The Governor has never been in favor of any sort of wage increases - for anyone. Any bill that’s come across his desk to increase wages he’s vetoed. Heckuva guy our Governor. Looking out for the common man.
Comment by Demoralized Tuesday, Jul 10, 18 @ 12:33 pm
Same Governor whowould veto wage increases for those who provide service for the disabled. keep helping those working class
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Jul 10, 18 @ 12:52 pm
Half the Lake County Board is up for election. Interesting they chose to follow Lawlor off the property tax cliff. I can’t imagine that the average voter in Lake County is against a referendum question and supports the position that the county board took today. If Rauner vetos this bill, the Lake County voters will eat him alive.
Comment by Candiland Tuesday, Jul 10, 18 @ 3:54 pm
Yingling is personally paying less in property taxes today than he was 4 years ago. How many of his constituents can make that claim? The county with one of the highest property taxes in the nation has a state representative that is paying less than he was 4 years ago - while all of us are paying more - now wants to push a bill to politicize the assessor position because he says it’s in our best interest. Well, when he successfully lowers property taxes beside his own, then I think we should consider it. Until then, I think we are being scammed.
Comment by Scam Yingling Tuesday, Jul 10, 18 @ 7:01 pm
Weird how Yingling is being attacked on here but not one person I’ve heard from is opposed to this, other than the Republicans on the board and….Melinda Bush. Why is she siding with Republicans???
Comment by Enough Tuesday, Jul 10, 18 @ 7:49 pm
Interesting that so many Lake County Board members are “Not against allowing voters to decide”, yet voted to ask Rauner to kill the referendum because they didn’t like the legislative process.
Rauner made the bill to popularly elect the Chairman go away for Lawlor, he just may make this go away also. Apparently, Lake County is afraid to let voters decide anything more than what’s required.
I hope Rauner looks at the thousands who support this and signs the bill. Otherwise, he may lose it all. Lake County may be trending purple, but there are still a lot of red votes here with many already reluctant to support him. Not sure he can lose any more votes, unless he is actually trying to insure a JB victory.
Comment by Seriously Tuesday, Jul 10, 18 @ 10:17 pm
“It would allow a majority of mosquito abatement district trustees to vote to fold its functions into a neighboring township, municipality or county.”
Expecting township officials to voluntarily dissolve their functions is a scam. What needs to happen is a provision for referendums so township voters can dissolve their townships or township functions, starting with the road districts. Case in point, highway commissioner Arnold Vegter in Whiteside county, who has done more to destroy local farms than the plague. The highway district purchasing of road equipment is where the big waste and corruption is at the township level of government.
Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Jul 11, 18 @ 9:27 am