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* Gov. Pat Quinn was quite proud of his executive order to consolidate these two agencies, but the GA thought otherwise and slipped a bill through that has gone unnoticed until now…

In one of their last pieces of businesses before leaving town early June 1, legislators sent the governor a bill that would cancel his directive to transfer the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency’s functions to DNR.

Under Quinn’s executive order, issued in April, the transfer would take effect July 1. […]

“We believe that executive order exceeded his authority to reorganize the executive branch,” said Sen. Don Harmon, an Oak Park Democrat who sponsored House Bill 88, the measure that would reverse Quinn’s executive order. […]

His bill passed in the Senate, 52-1, on May 29. Two days later, the House voted for it, 107-11. It’s now on the governor’s desk.

Can’t believe I missed that one. Oh, well. Good pickup by the SJ-R.

* I did catch this one, though, telling subscribers the headline would write itself…

Video poker and other video gambling machines would be allowed to locate as close as 100 feet from a school or a church under a late-night, last-minute change included in the nearly $29 billion construction program state lawmakers approved last week.

The original video gambling proposal required the machines to be more than 1,000 feet - about two city blocks - away from schools, churches, riverboat casinos and horse tracks.

The bill was then changed to allow video gaming establishments to be licensed within 100 feet of schools and houses of worship. The 1000-foot restriction remained in place for riverboats, tracks and OTBs.

The explanation makes sense, however…

“If you have a church in a town square in a small town, then everything is within 1,000 feet,” said Mautino, a Spring Valley Democrat. “I looked around my town and there would only be one place that wouldn’t be within 1,000 feet.

“Whatever the law is for a liquor license, that’s what it should be.”

Mautino also admitted that if the line was moved closer to schools and churches, it should’ve also been moved closer to the other establishments.

* But nobody here noticed this one until now…

In one of his final acts as a top prison administrator in Ohio, Michael Randle helped implement a plan to release medically ailing prison inmates to nursing homes. It’s not clear whether he might bring that same proposal to Illinois. […]

In Ohio, Randle’s plan to move terminally ill and incapacitated inmates into nursing homes was aimed at shifting the cost of medical care from general state funds to federal health care dollars.

Randle, who was a top deputy in the Ohio system, said the affected prisoners – about 20 to 40 low-level, non-violent offenders – would be essentially bedridden. Prosecutors, judges and victims would be notified before a prisoner is moved.

Randle has yet to be confirmed. And I have no idea why this story hasn’t gained any real traction in the Illinois media as of yet.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Jun 11, 09 @ 10:17 am

Comments

Yeah the general assembly is real serious about making cuts and saving taxpayer money. Combining these to agencys to get rid of some overlap and reduce costis what is needed throughout goverment. But, no the general assembly only knows how to tax and spend spend spend. Or is this part of Madigan playing chess.

Comment by fed up Thursday, Jun 11, 09 @ 10:22 am
Mautino’s explanation is reasonable. But my spider-sense tells me there were some particular businesses or clubs that saw the 1,000 feet restriction, realized they would be left out and whispered in some ears.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Jun 11, 09 @ 10:22 am
Having grown up in Rep. Mautino’s district you can’t spit without hitting a church (sorry for the analogy). They have bars beside or across the street from just about every one of them. The Priests will go and have a drink with the parishioners on most Saturdays and Sundays.

Comment by WOW Thursday, Jun 11, 09 @ 10:31 am
The IHPA bill should be on the front page of every newspaper in the state. Not because IHPA and the IDNR are that important to every taxpayer’s life but because it is the poster child for the attitude of the GA. There is no reason why the IHPA should not be part of IDNR. It wasn’t that long ago that they were together under IDNR. Many of their sites overlap. Mowers from one agency pass within inches of mowers from the other agency as they maintain their respective sites. The merger would eliminate some administrative positions and would be a cost savings and would streamline operations. So this last minute sneaky bill was not passed to save money, or to help in the lowering of the state deficit. It was simply passed because the GA, MJM, is on an ego power trip and wants the Governor to be sure to know that he, MJM, is in charge and no one else. So King MJM ought to just come out and tell the truth, that he is NOT concerned about the guy who is jobless and working less and can’t afford a tax increase. He is concerned about maintaining his kingdom and beating down all comers who would try to save the state without asking him.

Comment by Irish Thursday, Jun 11, 09 @ 10:32 am
Why don’t we just get it over with and crown Madigan King and he mushrooms his knights. They complain and say they want to see cuts and changes in state govt. before they can vote for a tax increase. Then the Gov. proposes a cost saving move and they throw a fit.

The House really has become a joke. They care nothing about anything other than their own elections. And King Madigan and Prince Cross encourge them.

Mr. Speaker, if YOU want to be governor run for the job, but for now, stop your BS.

Comment by Give Me A Break Thursday, Jun 11, 09 @ 10:45 am
Don Harmon is my state senator, and I’m not a fan…he has done little for Oak Park and he is yet another prisoner of the wealthy liberals who think my taxes should be raised for my own good.

However, he is smart and ambitious, and I don’t believe he would introduce frivolous legislation. There must be another side of the story.

Anyway, this is yet another whack at the hapless Quinn, who seems not to have the savvy to accomplish even minor operational changes and budget reductions. That’s why so many people doubt his Doomsday rantings. I’m supposed to support giving him and his squad of Blago holdovers billions more to mismanage via his regressive income tax increase? I don’t think so. Let’s see some cuts first.

Comment by Cassandra Thursday, Jun 11, 09 @ 10:47 am
Moving inmates to nursing homes? Shall we arm the seniors? This has catastrophe written all over it.

Comment by Belle Thursday, Jun 11, 09 @ 10:49 am
So, our change-adverse General Assembly can’t even tolerate a feasible consolidation between two bureaucracies with nearly identical missions? How can these people even think they are presenting themselves as serious about government inefficiencies during these difficult budgetary times, when they can’t even accept a simple move like this?

Their actions speak louder than their whining. Our General Assembly has no interest in doing anything differently from the way things were done years ago. No reform. No changes. Just hand over the money!

We need a revolution in Illinois because our legislature can’t legislate what we need them to.

Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, Jun 11, 09 @ 10:54 am
Another reason that the mindset of the GA is defective.

They could not save nickel if it was welded to a handrail.

Too bad it will have to get far worse before it gets better.

Comment by Plutocrat03 Thursday, Jun 11, 09 @ 10:58 am
I am sick and tired of the whole lot of ‘em in Spfld. they should all lose their jobs and we should start all over with a new crop of legislators. sure, we would miss the good ones, but they are ineffective in the system as it is set up right now anyway.

sadly, the system is set up so revolution is near impossible.

Comment by susie Thursday, Jun 11, 09 @ 11:01 am
Way to go Sen Harmon and GA…put a stop to the merging of two agencies whose missions are similar, and a merger that would save the State and taxpayers revenue…yep, that power hungry Quinn must be put in his place!!

Comment by Loop Lady Thursday, Jun 11, 09 @ 11:06 am
It was simply passed because the GA, MJM, is on an ego power trip and wants the Governor to be sure to know that he, MJM, is in charge and no one else.

Wasn’t it past in the Senate first?

Comment by dave Thursday, Jun 11, 09 @ 11:10 am
===
I am sick and tired of the whole lot of ‘em in Spfld. they should all lose their jobs and we should start all over with a new crop of legislators.
===

What, and you think the “new” batch wouldn’t fall into the same pattern?

Comment by Macbeth Thursday, Jun 11, 09 @ 11:15 am
So where blago combined agencies to save costs, Quinn unwound them increasing costs, but then he wants to combine two different agencies to reduce costs.

I doubt I would be accused of being a Blago supporter, but Quinn wants to combine agencies that were previously seperate while unwinding agencies which were previously combined?

This looks more like re-decorating.

Comment by Ghost Thursday, Jun 11, 09 @ 11:27 am
Ghost, most of these consolidation proposals are, as you say, re-decorating. I’ve never been sold on massive cost savings on most of these consolidation proposals.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Jun 11, 09 @ 11:36 am
Next we just need to rename a few agencies to complete the makeover.

Comment by Ghost Thursday, Jun 11, 09 @ 12:31 pm
thanks for the deletion

Comment by Leave a light on George Thursday, Jun 11, 09 @ 12:37 pm
In my humble opinion, I think the GA could have pointed out they would have a problem with the DNR/HPA merge under the way of it’s origin of occuring before they allowed lots of time and effort to be spent on the plans to implement it.

Comment by Princess Thursday, Jun 11, 09 @ 1:06 pm
Rich it doesnt have to be massive cost savings. Even moderate cost savings help. But In Ill the G.A. only believes in raising taxes and spending. This is just the latest example of being out of touch and wasting money.

Comment by fed up Thursday, Jun 11, 09 @ 1:13 pm
The only problem with not combining IHPA and DNR is that Jan Grimes may have a chance of retaining her job.

Comment by preservationist Thursday, Jun 11, 09 @ 5:16 pm
I would venture to say that from the perspective of those who have been around IHPA for a number of years, having the potential of Jan Grimes retaining her job is a big, big problem! Anyway, nice as it sounds, IHPA has always been flawed by being too political (The Board) and by lacking any base of support among Chicagoland legislators. Both political parties in turn routinely cut its budget well past the tipping point for properly fulfilling its mission. Old-timers in the agency who I have talked to (and who formerly worked under Dept. of Conservation, now IDNR)seem to have been generally optimistic that historic sites would likely have more stable funding and care under IDNR than under a continued, limp-legged IHPA, especially under its current management.

Comment by Skirmisher Thursday, Jun 11, 09 @ 7:08 pm
Re-decorating? More like re-arranging the deck chairs!

Comment by Taxpayer Friday, Jun 12, 09 @ 7:38 am
Skirmisher–When the state historic sites were with Conservation, they got little consideration from the park-oriented administration of the agency. Historic sites were considered poor step-children to the parks, allowed to deteriorate, and jobs at sites were given to the most incompetent political hires (as opposed to the somewhat more competent political hires at parks). IHPA was a creation of Governor Thompson that has been corrupted by an arrogant, shallow, anti-intellectual, and politically driven Board of Trustees. But then again, that’s no different than the rest of Illinois government or, for that matter, the University of Illinois and probably the entire university system. I wish I had an answer or two, but I don’t.

Comment by preservationist Friday, Jun 12, 09 @ 8:11 am