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* Corrupt? Hmm…
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner on Sunday vetoed legislation to expand benefit rights for paramedics and emergency medical technicians by defining them as firefighters in municipal collective bargaining agreements.
Rauner’s veto of the two measures, which were passed with overwhelming, veto-proof bipartisan majorities, was in line with his previous pronouncements that Springfield shouldn’t dictate “unfunded state mandates on local governments.”
But Rauner went further, castigating the legislation as perpetuating “the decades of political corruption that has plagued the state of Illinois for too long.”
“Time and again, elected officials have granted sweeping benefits and power to the unions in exchange for campaign contributions and political support, creating a system of entrenchment, waste and bad government,” Rauner wrote in his veto message of one of the measures.
* Meanwhile…
Gov. Bruce Rauner on Sunday vetoed three education bills, including one that would have required students to learn about work ethic and another that would have created an “emotional intelligence” task force.
The work ethic bill called for the teaching of such concepts as the importance of trustworthiness, integrity, initiative, respecting authority, arriving on time, and being ready for work and dressing appropriately. […]
Rauner also vetoed a bill that would have mandated the creation of the Emotional Intelligence and Social and Emotional Learning Task Force. The nine-member task force would have been charged with developing curriculum and guidelines for elementary and high school students to learn things like how to recognize, direct and positively express emotions. Members of the task force would have been unpaid but eligible for expense reimbursements.
* Press release…
[Last week] Governor Bruce Rauner used an amendatory veto on House Bill 4469, a measure that had passed both chambers with bi-partisan support. The bill would have allowed an opportunity for eligible persons detained pre-trial to vote, and provide those leaving Illinois jails and prisons with information on voting rights for individuals living with records, including the basic knowledge that in Illinois, eligible citizens have their voting rights restored upon release. Unfortunately, the Governor eliminated the provision that would have provided basic information to those leaving jails and the Department of Corrections. The following can be attributed to Khadine Bennett, Advocacy and Intergovernmental Affairs Director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois:
The Governor’s action today stands in stark contrast to our State’s commitment to protecting voting rights. It is also a sharp departure from his SB 2273 (Crosscheck) veto message, where he stated that his “administration has demonstrated a commitment to increasing access to the vote.” Proclamations like these are hollow, especially where the provision of the bill that he vetoed would’ve provide crucial information to men and women leaving Illinois jails and prison – information that would make clear that individuals with records, including those leaving prisons and jails, have a right to vote in Illinois post release.
It is especially disappointing that a governor, who has publically stated that individuals who have served time in jails and prisons deserve an opportunity for redemption, rehabilitation and a second chance to be productive citizens, would use his veto to take away an opportunity for individuals leaving prisons and jails to know about their voting rights. Especially when this bill, and the provision he vetoed, was the result of negotiations with many entities, including IDOC and the Illinois Sheriffs Association.
In the months that we have spent working on this bill, we have heard from many citizens living with records throughout the state who didn’t realize that they still had a right to vote post release. They were very hopeful that they governor would sign HB 4469, as were the many organizations, churches, community groups, and individuals who worked on this bill.
The legislature should override this veto and enact House Bill 4469 in its original form.
* Other bills…
* New law aims to keep at-risk families together, out of welfare system: The law, House Bill 4885, provides child care for children younger than 5 who are part of an Illinois Department of Children and Family Services intact family case. After the DCFS case is closed, the families get an additional six months of child care.
* Martinez measure expanding protections for trafficking victims now law: The law amends the Predator Accountability Act by expanding the protections available to sex trafficking victims to victims of involuntary servitude and labor trafficking.
* Morrison law will study chemicals in wastewater, offer suggestions for remediation
* Illinois Just Stepped Up for Wildlife with a Ban on Elephant Ivory and Rhino Horns
* New Sims law to help protect mothers’ rights in courts: State Senator Elgie R. Sims, Jr. (D-Chicago) sponsored Senate Bill 3503 that will require circuit courts to have a room for mothers to breastfeed or pump.
* Stadelman proposal to crack down on mugshot websites signed into law: “These are private websites forcing individuals to pay thousands of dollars to remove incorrect information about their past,” Stadelman said. “In many cases, these people had their records sealed or expunged, or even had the case dismissed. It’s time to put an end to this unethical practice.”
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 12:47 pm
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Anti-first responder, anti-education, anti-democracy, what a weekend for the governor.
Comment by Precinct Captain Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 12:50 pm
When you’re in a jam, those corrupt paramedics and EMTs will come running and move heaven and earth to save your life.
This guy lives in an alternative universe.
Comment by wordslinger Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 12:51 pm
== anti-education==
Just checked my property tax bill. I can assure you this state is very pro-education.
Comment by City Zen Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 1:05 pm
It would seem to make more sense for paramedics to bargain as part of the firefighters, than to unionize on their own and require local governments to bargain with them separately.
But Rauner’s vendetta against unions tends to blind him to logic.
Comment by A Jack Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 1:06 pm
I think the Governor has been pretty consistent in saying that unions negotiating benefits, enhancements, and sweeteners with legislators (from both parties) that they then support in elections - with money and with people - is corrupt. I think that is what he’s talking about here and I understand that the AFFI (firefighters union) was the big pusher behind HB 126 and 127.
Comment by Anon Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 1:15 pm
But yet Rauner has accepted tens of millions of dollars from one man, a guy said to be the wealthiest man in the state, Ken Griffin. I wonder if Griffin is on board with Rauner’s obsession with making Illinois a cheap labor state?
Comment by The Dude Abides Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 1:16 pm
Well Bruce just lost the post-incarceration vote. Who’s left?
Comment by PublicServant Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 1:17 pm
Yeah, the IAFF wants more firefighters in general to strengthen their ranks. There’s an indirect benefit to actual firefighters because of last in first out provisions and minimum manning language (which is now a mandatory subject of bargaining, again, thanks IAFF).
Local governments can barely afford the current cost of public safety. Why would the State encourage more stress to be unnecessarily placed on already overburdened local pension funds? Many of these funds are in worse shape than the State pension funds.
The legislature in Illinois is the last entity that should be dictating pension rules to anyone else.
Comment by California Guy Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 1:27 pm
The Morrison bill to study wastewater, HB 5741, doesn’t seem to contain any funding. How is UI’s Prairie Research Institute supposed to do such a thing without any? Unfunded mandates are not just for local governments, I guess.
Comment by Jibba Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 1:33 pm
When unions back candidates and advocate for legislation that’s corruption, but when a wealthy individual or group of wealthy people do it’s democracy in action… the fact that so many people buy into Rauner’s logic is frieghtening.
Comment by Concerned Dem Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 1:51 pm
$11.88 hourly average as an EMT Basic and $16.11 hourly average as a paramedic. But clearly keeping them from being in the union is the most important thing regarding that bill.
Comment by Fixer Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 2:03 pm
“Time and again, elected officials have granted sweeping benefits and power to the unions in exchange for campaign contributions and political support”
But not Mr. Magnanimous. He gives millions to the ILGOP to ensure that it doesn’t do his bidding. He gives so the ILGOP can be independent of the corrupting influence of money, unlike those he calls corrupt insiders.
Comment by Grandson of Man Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 2:21 pm
==When unions back candidates and advocate for legislation that’s corruption, but when a wealthy individual or group of wealthy people do it’s democracy in action==
And the reverse is true?
Comment by City Zen Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 2:51 pm
==And the reverse is true?==
It’s all corrupt or it’s not. You can’t have it both ways.
Comment by Demoralized Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 3:18 pm
So now he’s anti-firefighter? What, they wouldn’t lend him a costume?
Comment by Cheryl44 Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 3:24 pm
I don’t know the particulars of the EMT bill but it sounds like it would sweeten their pension. In the long run, that may be justifiable. But I’m against any pension sweeteners until we take some more concrete steps to address our current pension deficit. Any. So if that is the case, I actually support the governor’s veto.
Comment by Original Rambler Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 3:43 pm
The crack team over there at Team Rauner. Democrats tried this with Walker in the early days of Act 10 and he was smart enough to exempt. Kaisch got his collective bargaining (issue 2) measures recalled after he included first responders. Dems ran advertising saying your grandmother wasn’t going to get the services she needed in an emergency. Rauner team falling for another easy to avoid trap, clownish.
Comment by Taco the Bull Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 4:20 pm
Sure, but you shouldn’t have to have an active protective service case (and, probably, a record on the state’s child maltreatment registry) to access free or affordable day care. For example, only the wealthiest parenting couples can afford for one of them to stay home and care for the kids these days. I’ve given up on Rauner but what are the chances that Pritzker can use the money from those presumed tax increases to provide universal, affordable child care for Illinois’ working parents, indeed, for all parents of preschoolers. It’s coming someday in the US, but how long.
Comment by Cassandra Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 6:27 pm