By Jamey Dunn
As lawmakers in Washington, D.C., struggle to find a compromise over raising the federal debt ceiling, concerns are brewing in Illinois about the state’s investments, credit rating and programs funded by federal dollars.
Republicans in Congress have called for budget reforms and cuts before they will vote to raise the amount the federal government can borrow. The U.S. Treasury Department warned that if Congress does not vote to raise the ceiling, America would default on its debts. President Barack Obama is now looking to the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate to create a plan that can pass in the Republican-controlled U.S. House. “Today I urge Democrats and Republicans in the Senate to find common ground on a plan that can get support from both parties in the House — a plan that I can sign by Tuesday,” Obama said in televised statement today. “There are plenty of ways out of this mess, but we are almost out of time. We need to reach a compromise by Tuesday, so that our country will have the abilities to pay its bills on time as we always have -- bills that include monthly Social Security checks, veterans benefits and the government contracts we’ve signed with thousands of businesses.”
Obama warned today that too much foot dragging could cause bond rating agencies to lower the country’s credit score, “not because we didn’t have the capacity to pay our bills — we do — but because we didn’t have a AAA [political] system to match our AAA credit rating.”
If the country’s credit rating drops, it could spell trouble for states, where ratings might quickly follow suit. “If for some reason the United States government bond rating is lowered from AAA down, that will absolutely have a splash back on other units of government,” Illinois Treasurer Dan Rutherford said at a Chicago news conference today. “If for some reason the American government’s bond rating is lowered, there is no question in this treasurer’s mind that that will affect Illinois’ bond rating. … So when Illinois looks to go into the marketplace and borrow money, it will be more expensive.”
In recent years, Illinois has struggled to keep its rating from dropping to “junk” status. After lawmakers approved an income tax increase in January, one agency improved the state’s fiscal outlook to “stable”, but two others gave the state a “negative” outlook for the future. “Illinois does not have any immediate plans to issue debt, and the current rates we have are fixed. However, if a compromise is unable to be met, the U.S. could lose its AAA rating for the first time in history. This would likely lead ratings agencies to downgrade every state, which would add hundreds of millions of dollars in interest costs to bonds sold in the future. In Illinois, that would mean money we desperately need to educate our students, ensure public safety and protect our seniors would now be used to pay interest costs,” Kelly Kraft, spokesperson for Gov. Pat Quinn’s budget office, said in a prepared statement.
Experts predict a default could create serious economic upheaval nationwide, which could stall or even turn around any economic recovery made in the state. “All the gurus suggest — and it makes sense — that this is going to put a drag on the economy, this sort of delicate recovery that we’re in,” said Christopher Mooney, a political studies professor with the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois. Such a decline could also be bad news to a state government, such as Illinois, struggling to find its way out of a record deficit. “You’ve got the two things that happen when the economy goes bad: Revenues go down and service costs go up,” Mooney said.
Rutherford said he is working to ensure that the state’s investments are protected, but safety may come at the expense of potential interest that could be earned. Rutherford said the state earned about $5 million in interest in June. “Risk is not an option. I’m prepared to put the state portfolio that becomes liquid into zero interest accounts,” Rutherford said. He said the money would go into accounts where it would not earn interest but would be protected by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Quinn said he is confident that a solution will be reached. However, he is concerned about areas of government that rely heavily on federal support. “We have to worry about public safety first and foremost. … We have 11 nuclear power plants in Illinois — reactors — we have to have inspections of them by the federal government all the time for public safety. So that’s a concern. Our military — we want to make sure our soldiers are paid. They’re on the front line for our democracy in far away places. Here in Illinois, we have our National Guard that we have to deploy from time to time to deal with natural disasters,” Quinn said at a Chicago news conference.
Kraft said the state is working on contingency plans. “We are working with agencies to evaluate the potential impacts in our state that could affect job creation, Medicaid and our infrastructure.” Illinois receives a high rate of matching funds for both the Medicaid program as well as capital construction projects.
Mooney said state officials are probably perplexed about how to handle the situation because no one knows exactly what the ripple effect of a federal default would be on the states. “It’s going to be awful for everybody. This isn’t just Illinois-specific. … It’s totally uncharted territory.”
Friday, July 29, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Illinois' new legislative maps face legal challenges
By Jamey Dunn Republicans and a Republican-backed organization filed a lawsuit today claiming Illinois’ new congressional map violates the U.S. Constitution as well as the Federal Voting Rights Act. This new lawsuit means that both of the state’s Democratic-drawn maps will face a challenge in court.
The suit alleges that the map dilutes the voting rights of the state’s growing Hispanic population. The lawsuit, which names 11 current Republican Illinois House members as plaintiffs, says the map “blatantly discriminates against Republican and Latino voters.” The complaint says the new map effectively reverses the results of the 2010 congressional election, which gave Republicans control of the state’s congressional delegation.
Those opposed to the map say Democrats are seeking to achieve such political goals at the expense of Latino voters. “Despite explosive growth in the state's Hispanic population, the Democrats' map intentionally discriminates against Hispanic voters by providing for only one Hispanic-majority congressional district — the same number the state of Illinois has had since the 1992 election cycle — and further weakens their voting strength by apportioning the rest of the community's population among a number of other districts drawn to specifically protect non-Hispanic white Democratic incumbents,” said a prepared statement from The Committee for a Fair and Balanced Map, which includes Dennis Hastert, former Republican speaker of the U.S. House.
“We’ve listened to advocacy groups from various Latino communities,” Chicago Democratic state Sen. Kwame Raoul, sponsor of the map, said as it was debated earlier this year in the Illinois Senate. He said no group called for two Latino congressional districts. “We have followed traditional redistricting principles in coming up with this map.”
The suit also alleges that Democrats used their control of the state legislature and governor’s office to draw irregularly shaped districts with an eye toward winning elections. “The map as a whole and several individual districts in particular represent a flexing of Democratic political muscle in Springfield aimed at creating a Democratic majority in the Illinois congressional delegation, regardless of the actual preferences of the electorate demonstrated only nine months ago,” the lawsuit says.
Illinois Senate President John Cullerton said that the districts are more compact than the previous map, which was drawn to protect incumbents. “If there’s any odd shaped districts, it’s because of the Voting Rights Act,” Cullerton said. “It’s politically fair, and you’ll see that bear out in the next 10 years.” Some experts agree with this take. “They did use the map to their advantage in some creative ways. But it’s actually less gerrymandered than the last one,” said Chris Mooney, a political studies professor with the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois.
State Republican leaders filed a separate suit on similar grounds against the state legislative map last week. They claim the map violates the rights of minority voters, who they say would not be allowed fair opportunity to participate in the political process under the map. “The Democrats passed a map this session that we believe is in direct violation of the Federal Voting Rights Act and some of our most basic rights under the constitution,” House Minority Leader Tom Cross, said in a prepared statement. “They should be ashamed of themselves. We are optimistic that the court will agree with us and will help give our residents a fair map that accurately reflects our population, especially our growing Latino population.”
While both lawsuits include individual Latino residents, no Latino advocacy group — many of which were vocal during the remap process — has yet signed on to either complaint.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Legislature could be back in session soon
By Jamey Dunn
Gov. Pat Quinn wants the General Assembly back in session to address legal questions around a big economic driver for the state.
Quinn said lawmakers should return on September 13 to address changes to work rules at McCormick Place, a convention facility in Chicago that draws almost 3 million people each year. A federal court ruled that some of the changes the legislature approved in May 2010 violate collective bargaining rights. Quinn said he wants to bring stakeholders to the table and sort out a compromise.
“We’re talking to everybody. We’re not just talking only to the unions. We’re going to talk to the contractors who are involved in these conventions, as well,” Quinn said at a Chicago news conference today. “We’re not going to have a cloud of uncertainty fall over our convention, tourism, hospitality business in Illinois. I think it important that we not just have the hope of conventions dissipate because of uncertainty about the law.”
He said two things he would like to see included in new legislation are strong auditing of costs charged by the facility as well as an “exhibitors’ bill of rights” to protect customers.
Quinn urged legislators to return voluntarily — as they did for one day last month to approve construction spending — to take up the issue so the state can avoid a costlier special session. He said if lawmakers do return next month, budget issues would not be a priority. “I think [veto legislative session] is a likely time for a review of where the budget stands and where it can be improved. … I see the budget matters coming up more in late October early November.”
The next step in the ongoing fight over pay raises between Quinn and the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 31 comes tomorrow when both sides meet in circuit court to hash out a schedule for moving forward. AFSCME asked the circuit court to toss out the case because it filed a lawsuit in federal court, and a judge could consider the motion tomorrow. “AFSCME members do the real work of state government, such as caring for the disabled, preventing child abuse, guarding state prisons and much more,” Henry Bayer, executive director of AFSCME Council 31 said in a written statement. “These hard-working men and women deserve to know that their employer, the governor, will keep his word and honor his commitments under the law.” According to AFSCME, almost 30,000 employees are due a pay increase.
Quinn says he cannot give state workers the scheduled pay increase, which would cost the sate approximately $75 million, because the state legislature did not include the money in its approved budget. “The legislators decided they did not want to fund pay raises for state employees in these agencies. They made that conscious decision. This is not a surprise. ... A number of the legislative members made it clear that they did not favor pay raises,” Quinn said. Union officials argue that state workers have already agreed to defer pay increases to help the state during its budget crisis, taken voluntary furlough days and sought other cost savings.
Quinn said he signed a budget that he knew was “flawed” to keep Republicans out of the budgeting process. After May 31, a three-fifths majority would have been needed to pass the budget, and Republicans could have had more leverage to push for bigger cuts. “I did not want that crowd to have an opportunity to enact that kind of budget that would have been hurtful to our state,” he said.
Quinn added that if the state were to give the pay increase, vital state operations would suffer. “We have to have the core services of government maintained throughout the year. We can’t run short of money and have four or five months where there’s no money to pay anybody their whole salary, let alone a raise. And these are important services that the people need, and so we’ll have to monitor it as we go through the year.”
An arbitrator ruled that Quinn must honor the collective bargaining contract negotiated with the union, but a judge granted the state a stay until the matter can be sorted out it court.
Meanwhile, the state is $700 million behind on payments to local school districts, according a report from the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) released today. Mary Fergus, an ISBE spokesperson, said the number is an improvement from a high point of nearly $1 billion dollars in late payments. However, Fergus said, “the $1 billion [backlog] was a little bit on the extreme end.”
Gov. Pat Quinn wants the General Assembly back in session to address legal questions around a big economic driver for the state.
Quinn said lawmakers should return on September 13 to address changes to work rules at McCormick Place, a convention facility in Chicago that draws almost 3 million people each year. A federal court ruled that some of the changes the legislature approved in May 2010 violate collective bargaining rights. Quinn said he wants to bring stakeholders to the table and sort out a compromise.
“We’re talking to everybody. We’re not just talking only to the unions. We’re going to talk to the contractors who are involved in these conventions, as well,” Quinn said at a Chicago news conference today. “We’re not going to have a cloud of uncertainty fall over our convention, tourism, hospitality business in Illinois. I think it important that we not just have the hope of conventions dissipate because of uncertainty about the law.”
He said two things he would like to see included in new legislation are strong auditing of costs charged by the facility as well as an “exhibitors’ bill of rights” to protect customers.
Quinn urged legislators to return voluntarily — as they did for one day last month to approve construction spending — to take up the issue so the state can avoid a costlier special session. He said if lawmakers do return next month, budget issues would not be a priority. “I think [veto legislative session] is a likely time for a review of where the budget stands and where it can be improved. … I see the budget matters coming up more in late October early November.”
The next step in the ongoing fight over pay raises between Quinn and the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 31 comes tomorrow when both sides meet in circuit court to hash out a schedule for moving forward. AFSCME asked the circuit court to toss out the case because it filed a lawsuit in federal court, and a judge could consider the motion tomorrow. “AFSCME members do the real work of state government, such as caring for the disabled, preventing child abuse, guarding state prisons and much more,” Henry Bayer, executive director of AFSCME Council 31 said in a written statement. “These hard-working men and women deserve to know that their employer, the governor, will keep his word and honor his commitments under the law.” According to AFSCME, almost 30,000 employees are due a pay increase.
Quinn says he cannot give state workers the scheduled pay increase, which would cost the sate approximately $75 million, because the state legislature did not include the money in its approved budget. “The legislators decided they did not want to fund pay raises for state employees in these agencies. They made that conscious decision. This is not a surprise. ... A number of the legislative members made it clear that they did not favor pay raises,” Quinn said. Union officials argue that state workers have already agreed to defer pay increases to help the state during its budget crisis, taken voluntary furlough days and sought other cost savings.
Quinn said he signed a budget that he knew was “flawed” to keep Republicans out of the budgeting process. After May 31, a three-fifths majority would have been needed to pass the budget, and Republicans could have had more leverage to push for bigger cuts. “I did not want that crowd to have an opportunity to enact that kind of budget that would have been hurtful to our state,” he said.
Quinn added that if the state were to give the pay increase, vital state operations would suffer. “We have to have the core services of government maintained throughout the year. We can’t run short of money and have four or five months where there’s no money to pay anybody their whole salary, let alone a raise. And these are important services that the people need, and so we’ll have to monitor it as we go through the year.”
An arbitrator ruled that Quinn must honor the collective bargaining contract negotiated with the union, but a judge granted the state a stay until the matter can be sorted out it court.
Meanwhile, the state is $700 million behind on payments to local school districts, according a report from the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) released today. Mary Fergus, an ISBE spokesperson, said the number is an improvement from a high point of nearly $1 billion dollars in late payments. However, Fergus said, “the $1 billion [backlog] was a little bit on the extreme end.”
Monday, July 11, 2011
State Supreme Court upholds capital construction plan
The Illinois Supreme Court on Monday unanimously upheld the constitutionality of a $31 million state construction bill that was to be funded through taxes and the legalization of video poker.
An appellate court in January validated a circuit court decision in favor of Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz. He had claimed that the legislature’s backing of a multi-faceted plan to fund construction of roads, schools and transit systems violated state Constitution’s limit of legislation to a single subject.
The construction legislation, approved in 2009, funds the package with increases in taxes on liquor, soft drinks and beauty products, as well as the legalization of video poker. Gov. Pat Quinn touted the program as Illinois Jobs Now!
Supreme Court justices wrote: “The appellate court held that the single subject of Public Act 96–34 was revenue, based on its official title, 'An Act concerning revenue.' However, defendants assert before this court that the single subject of Public Act 96–34 is capital projects. Defendants are not limited solely to the contents of the title of an act in offering a single subject rationale. ... Moreover, capital projects is a legitimate single subject, one which is not “so broad that the rule is evaded as ‘a meaningful constitutional check on the legislature’s actions."
The decision was lauded by Gov. Pat Quinn and state Senate President John Cullerton, who wrote in a prepared statement: "The Supreme Court’s endorsement of the construction program affirms the bipartisan work done by the General Assembly. This ruling serves as a reminder of just how important the 2009 jobs program was and what the General Assembly can accomplish when politics is set aside and people participate."
Meanwhile, Quinn, calling the decision “gratifying,” told reporters at a press conference: “This means our job recovery program can go forward full speed ahead.”
An appellate court in January validated a circuit court decision in favor of Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz. He had claimed that the legislature’s backing of a multi-faceted plan to fund construction of roads, schools and transit systems violated state Constitution’s limit of legislation to a single subject.
The construction legislation, approved in 2009, funds the package with increases in taxes on liquor, soft drinks and beauty products, as well as the legalization of video poker. Gov. Pat Quinn touted the program as Illinois Jobs Now!
Supreme Court justices wrote: “The appellate court held that the single subject of Public Act 96–34 was revenue, based on its official title, 'An Act concerning revenue.' However, defendants assert before this court that the single subject of Public Act 96–34 is capital projects. Defendants are not limited solely to the contents of the title of an act in offering a single subject rationale. ... Moreover, capital projects is a legitimate single subject, one which is not “so broad that the rule is evaded as ‘a meaningful constitutional check on the legislature’s actions."
The decision was lauded by Gov. Pat Quinn and state Senate President John Cullerton, who wrote in a prepared statement: "The Supreme Court’s endorsement of the construction program affirms the bipartisan work done by the General Assembly. This ruling serves as a reminder of just how important the 2009 jobs program was and what the General Assembly can accomplish when politics is set aside and people participate."
Meanwhile, Quinn, calling the decision “gratifying,” told reporters at a press conference: “This means our job recovery program can go forward full speed ahead.”
Friday, July 01, 2011
Budget was a chamber vs. chamber battle
By Jamey Dunn
After Democratic and Republican leaders in the House aligned early on, the budgeting process for the new fiscal year that begins today became a chamber-versus-chamber showdown that was less about party allegiance and more about spending.
House Speaker Michael Madigan and House Minority Leader Tom Cross came together in March to offer testimony on a fairly simple budget plan. First, pay all the bills the state has to pay, such as the annual payment to the employee pensions system. Then, dole out the rest of the money for operations and hope that basing the plan on a conservative revenue estimate will mean that there is some extra cash on hand to pay down the state’s billions of dollars in overdue bills to schools, vendors and service providers. The House’s projection for how much the state could spend this fiscal year undercut the legislature’s own bipartisan Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability’s numbers and was about $1 billion less than the Senate’s projection. “This setting up of really very different spending plans and revenue estimates was essentially House versus Senate,” said Kent Redfield, an emeritus political science professor at the University of Illinois Springfield.
Madigan fired the first shot in the battle of the chambers the day he and Cross publicly joined forces, saying that if Senate Democrats wanted to spend more, House Democrats and Republicans from both chambers could prevail on lower spending numbers by holding the majority in a conference committee. “My expectation in this scenario would be that the House members would vote for the number that [was] approved by the House. And the Senate, I think that the people that would raise the [revenue] numbers would be the Democrats. … They ought to be outvoted,” he said. In response, President John Cullerton said the two chambers could work out their differences, and a conference committee would not be needed.
The House then set to work. Budgeting committees that plan for different areas of state government, such as education and human services, were given dollar limits and asked to make spending plans. Meanwhile, the Senate worked in its traditional fashion with only two budgeting committees tackling seemingly endless hours of testimony from agency heads, associations, interest groups and experts. The days when the majority of the budget was hammered out during long closed-door meetings among the legislative leaders and the governor seemed all but gone. “It was much more a legislative-driven than executive-driven budget. That’s unusual for Illinois. That’s very unusual for Illinois,” Redfield said.
As the House begin creating its budget based on “conservative numbers,” the potential for deep cuts loomed in the higher chamber, and Senate Democrats passed their budget proposal in a just few days without taking committee votes on their bills. Sen. Heather Steans, who chaired one of the Senate budget committees, warned during floor debate on one of the bills that her colleagues might not like the House plan. After Senate Democrats passed a number of their budget bills, Steans said: “I am certainly hopeful that these bills look very reasonable over there to our House colleagues when they are comparing them to what they’re trying to pass. … I think it might help, in fact, put some pressure on House members to think about how they’re voting if they have an alternative that is out there.”
The two chambers ended up approving plans that were about $1 billion apart. The Senate plan called for about $63 million more spending on education, $885 million more on human services and $21 million more on public safety, along with more spending on economic development and other government services. Cullerton and Madigan continued to play nice in the press. “We’re not sending any ultimatums by the adoption of this budget today. We recognize it’s a two-chamber legislature,” Madigan said when the House approved its plan.
However, in the end the House plan prevailed. Senate Democrats tried to tack on a measly — when compared with the $33.2 billion overall spending plan — $430 million in additional spending for education and human services and were shot down when Quinn, Senate Republicans and the House all roundly rejected the move. “One chamber ended up, because of [Democratic] alliances with Republicans, dominating the other,” Redfield said.
Cullerton warned that he believes the House plan is not sustainable. “There’s a number of problems with the House budget that the House is aware of, that we’re aware of, where there are under-appropriations of things that need to be appropriated,” Cullerton said. He said because cuts were made but other necessary changes were not — such as a change to Medicaid reimbursement rates and the school funding formula —some funding will be used up before the end of the fiscal year. “What will happen is, they’ll get paid the same amount of money that they would normally get paid because the formula didn’t get changed. And then sometime late in the fiscal year … they would then run out of money,” Cullerton said.
Cullerton predicted that the legislature will approve more spending in January, and other Statehouse observes agree that such a move is likely.
So why the showdown? Redfield thinks it is because Democratic leaders from both chambers had different goals for the budgeting process.
“I think Madigan believes and he’s selling to his members that they need to run [as] ‘new Democrats’—post-Blagojevich, balance-the-budget, we-can-govern new Democrats,’” he said. Redfield speculated that House leadership was trying to send a political message, while the Senate Democrats were more focused on policy. “In terms of what Madigan wanted to accomplish, both in terms of the budget itself and the process—promoting the idea that Democrats can govern—partnering with Cross made sense,” he said. “The speaker was setting up a set of numbers and an approach that [he] wasn’t going to get attacked from the right. … Ultimately, the people that want more spending didn’t have anywhere to go.”
Redfield said because the House got their work off the ground quickly and the members fell in line with the idea of a lower revenue estimate right out of the gate, the chamber was able to keep a generally unified front and push their agenda. “They had both a plan and an implementation that they got up and running more quickly, and they seemed to have more of a buy in [from members.]”
He added: “The Republicans could have tried to blow up the process, but I don’t think that was going to happen.”
Since the budget has typically been driven by legislative leadership and governors in the past, the abrupt departure of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich — not to mention his refusal to work well with others before he left — forced a change. “Blagojevich kind of blew that up, but there was nothing to replace it,” Redfield said.
The first two fiscal years after Blagojevich’s impeachment and removal from office, the legislature passed lump-sum budgets and let Quinn deal with the difficult choices that came after a national financial crisis. But this year, lawmakers wanted that responsibility — and power — back. Quinn played a marginal role in the budget process, and his plan to borrow billions of dollars to pay down the state’s growing bill backlog went all but ignored. Redfield predicts a budgeting process similar to the one that occurred this year will play out next year as well. However, he said the House Democrats’ truce with Republicans might not last once they can gauge how they fared in elections under the new legislative map. “I think it’s going to look very similar next year. The question is what does it look like for 2013?”
After Democratic and Republican leaders in the House aligned early on, the budgeting process for the new fiscal year that begins today became a chamber-versus-chamber showdown that was less about party allegiance and more about spending.
House Speaker Michael Madigan and House Minority Leader Tom Cross came together in March to offer testimony on a fairly simple budget plan. First, pay all the bills the state has to pay, such as the annual payment to the employee pensions system. Then, dole out the rest of the money for operations and hope that basing the plan on a conservative revenue estimate will mean that there is some extra cash on hand to pay down the state’s billions of dollars in overdue bills to schools, vendors and service providers. The House’s projection for how much the state could spend this fiscal year undercut the legislature’s own bipartisan Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability’s numbers and was about $1 billion less than the Senate’s projection. “This setting up of really very different spending plans and revenue estimates was essentially House versus Senate,” said Kent Redfield, an emeritus political science professor at the University of Illinois Springfield.
Madigan fired the first shot in the battle of the chambers the day he and Cross publicly joined forces, saying that if Senate Democrats wanted to spend more, House Democrats and Republicans from both chambers could prevail on lower spending numbers by holding the majority in a conference committee. “My expectation in this scenario would be that the House members would vote for the number that [was] approved by the House. And the Senate, I think that the people that would raise the [revenue] numbers would be the Democrats. … They ought to be outvoted,” he said. In response, President John Cullerton said the two chambers could work out their differences, and a conference committee would not be needed.
The House then set to work. Budgeting committees that plan for different areas of state government, such as education and human services, were given dollar limits and asked to make spending plans. Meanwhile, the Senate worked in its traditional fashion with only two budgeting committees tackling seemingly endless hours of testimony from agency heads, associations, interest groups and experts. The days when the majority of the budget was hammered out during long closed-door meetings among the legislative leaders and the governor seemed all but gone. “It was much more a legislative-driven than executive-driven budget. That’s unusual for Illinois. That’s very unusual for Illinois,” Redfield said.
As the House begin creating its budget based on “conservative numbers,” the potential for deep cuts loomed in the higher chamber, and Senate Democrats passed their budget proposal in a just few days without taking committee votes on their bills. Sen. Heather Steans, who chaired one of the Senate budget committees, warned during floor debate on one of the bills that her colleagues might not like the House plan. After Senate Democrats passed a number of their budget bills, Steans said: “I am certainly hopeful that these bills look very reasonable over there to our House colleagues when they are comparing them to what they’re trying to pass. … I think it might help, in fact, put some pressure on House members to think about how they’re voting if they have an alternative that is out there.”
The two chambers ended up approving plans that were about $1 billion apart. The Senate plan called for about $63 million more spending on education, $885 million more on human services and $21 million more on public safety, along with more spending on economic development and other government services. Cullerton and Madigan continued to play nice in the press. “We’re not sending any ultimatums by the adoption of this budget today. We recognize it’s a two-chamber legislature,” Madigan said when the House approved its plan.
However, in the end the House plan prevailed. Senate Democrats tried to tack on a measly — when compared with the $33.2 billion overall spending plan — $430 million in additional spending for education and human services and were shot down when Quinn, Senate Republicans and the House all roundly rejected the move. “One chamber ended up, because of [Democratic] alliances with Republicans, dominating the other,” Redfield said.
Cullerton warned that he believes the House plan is not sustainable. “There’s a number of problems with the House budget that the House is aware of, that we’re aware of, where there are under-appropriations of things that need to be appropriated,” Cullerton said. He said because cuts were made but other necessary changes were not — such as a change to Medicaid reimbursement rates and the school funding formula —some funding will be used up before the end of the fiscal year. “What will happen is, they’ll get paid the same amount of money that they would normally get paid because the formula didn’t get changed. And then sometime late in the fiscal year … they would then run out of money,” Cullerton said.
Cullerton predicted that the legislature will approve more spending in January, and other Statehouse observes agree that such a move is likely.
So why the showdown? Redfield thinks it is because Democratic leaders from both chambers had different goals for the budgeting process.
“I think Madigan believes and he’s selling to his members that they need to run [as] ‘new Democrats’—post-Blagojevich, balance-the-budget, we-can-govern new Democrats,’” he said. Redfield speculated that House leadership was trying to send a political message, while the Senate Democrats were more focused on policy. “In terms of what Madigan wanted to accomplish, both in terms of the budget itself and the process—promoting the idea that Democrats can govern—partnering with Cross made sense,” he said. “The speaker was setting up a set of numbers and an approach that [he] wasn’t going to get attacked from the right. … Ultimately, the people that want more spending didn’t have anywhere to go.”
Redfield said because the House got their work off the ground quickly and the members fell in line with the idea of a lower revenue estimate right out of the gate, the chamber was able to keep a generally unified front and push their agenda. “They had both a plan and an implementation that they got up and running more quickly, and they seemed to have more of a buy in [from members.]”
He added: “The Republicans could have tried to blow up the process, but I don’t think that was going to happen.”
Since the budget has typically been driven by legislative leadership and governors in the past, the abrupt departure of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich — not to mention his refusal to work well with others before he left — forced a change. “Blagojevich kind of blew that up, but there was nothing to replace it,” Redfield said.
The first two fiscal years after Blagojevich’s impeachment and removal from office, the legislature passed lump-sum budgets and let Quinn deal with the difficult choices that came after a national financial crisis. But this year, lawmakers wanted that responsibility — and power — back. Quinn played a marginal role in the budget process, and his plan to borrow billions of dollars to pay down the state’s growing bill backlog went all but ignored. Redfield predicts a budgeting process similar to the one that occurred this year will play out next year as well. However, he said the House Democrats’ truce with Republicans might not last once they can gauge how they fared in elections under the new legislative map. “I think it’s going to look very similar next year. The question is what does it look like for 2013?”
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Quinn uses veto pen to revisit his budget plan
By Jamey Dunn
Gov. Pat Quinn released his changes to the state budget late this evening. His reductions reiterate components of his original budget plan that lawmakers did not approve.
Quinn proposes to reduce the general revenue budget approved by the legislature by $376 million. The largest reduction is a $276 million cut to Medicaid funding for hospitals. The legislature approved about $2.3 billion in such funding. Quinn Budget Director David Vaught said that the reduction is meant to bring hospitals to the table to negotiate cutting their rates. In his original proposal, Quinn called for cuts to Medicaid rates that he said would save the state an estimated $550 million in the first fiscal year.
Without a change to the rates, hospitals will continue to be paid the same amount, and Quinn’s reduction would mean that the money would run out before the end of the fiscal year. “We hope that it helps convince the interested parties on this, which would be hospitals, to come to the table,” Vaught said. “We have a rate system in Illinois that’s been in effect for many years. It’s not been changed for many years. …We’re dealing with a very fast-growing industry that is growing more quickly than we can afford.” He acknowledged that some hospitals and nursing homes felt they got the short end of the stick in recently approved nursing home legislation and a workers’ compensation reform package, and that may complicate negotiations.
During the budgeting process, hospital representatives said the industry would prefer waiting longer for payments than see a drastic reduction in the rates they are paid. “They kind of like getting 1 percent interest a month on their money, too,” Vaught said. In prepared explanations that Quinn released with his reductions, he said he was concerned about the approved budget pushing $1.2 billion of Medicaid bills from Fiscal Year 2012 into FY 2013. “Neglecting our bills today only creates a bigger problem for tomorrow — an ill-advised strategy that, together with the poor fiscal discipline exercised by previous administrations, has created and will exacerbate the staggering backlog of unpaid bills we face today.”
Quinn also eliminated the funding for the salaries of regional superintendents. He proposed eliminating regional offices of education in his budget plan but met objections from school districts and legislators. Vaught reiterated the administration’s position that local school districts can cough up the money if they want their own regional superintendent. “This is not a proposal to say get rid of their regional superintendents,” he said.
Quinn also wants to reduce transportation funding back to FY 2011 levels, which would mean an $89 million reduction. Transportation funding was cut drastically in FY 2011 and Quinn proposed another big cut for FY 2012, but the legislature did not go along.
Vaught said Quinn would prefer to see such cuts so the state could increase general state aid to schools. He said that since general aid can be spent on anything, it would allow schools to use money at their own discretion. He called it “the best fairest way to distribute state aid for schools.” Since Quinn cannot restore any funding to the legislature’s budget, Vaught said he will be lobbying lawmakers to put money back into general state aid for schools, among other areas of spending. He said Quinn’s reduction and line item vetoes are just part of the governor’s long-term vision for the state budget. “Today is the reduction part.”
Quinn made other cuts that he said reduced bureaucratic costs and eliminated redundancies in the budget.
The legislature must approve all of Quinn’s budget reductions. Quinn has been scarcely involved in the budgeting process this year, and he is pushing some of the original pieces of his proposal that did not go over well with the legislature the first time around. “In spite of the fact that he’s going to be governor for four years that he was elected, he certainly has not been able to assert the power within the office and his role in the process,” said Kent Redfield, an emeritus political science professor at the University of Illinois Springfield. Time will tell if legislators will warm to budget policy they have already rejected and welcome a governor into the process who has been a less than active player so far.
Gov. Pat Quinn released his changes to the state budget late this evening. His reductions reiterate components of his original budget plan that lawmakers did not approve.
Quinn proposes to reduce the general revenue budget approved by the legislature by $376 million. The largest reduction is a $276 million cut to Medicaid funding for hospitals. The legislature approved about $2.3 billion in such funding. Quinn Budget Director David Vaught said that the reduction is meant to bring hospitals to the table to negotiate cutting their rates. In his original proposal, Quinn called for cuts to Medicaid rates that he said would save the state an estimated $550 million in the first fiscal year.
Without a change to the rates, hospitals will continue to be paid the same amount, and Quinn’s reduction would mean that the money would run out before the end of the fiscal year. “We hope that it helps convince the interested parties on this, which would be hospitals, to come to the table,” Vaught said. “We have a rate system in Illinois that’s been in effect for many years. It’s not been changed for many years. …We’re dealing with a very fast-growing industry that is growing more quickly than we can afford.” He acknowledged that some hospitals and nursing homes felt they got the short end of the stick in recently approved nursing home legislation and a workers’ compensation reform package, and that may complicate negotiations.
During the budgeting process, hospital representatives said the industry would prefer waiting longer for payments than see a drastic reduction in the rates they are paid. “They kind of like getting 1 percent interest a month on their money, too,” Vaught said. In prepared explanations that Quinn released with his reductions, he said he was concerned about the approved budget pushing $1.2 billion of Medicaid bills from Fiscal Year 2012 into FY 2013. “Neglecting our bills today only creates a bigger problem for tomorrow — an ill-advised strategy that, together with the poor fiscal discipline exercised by previous administrations, has created and will exacerbate the staggering backlog of unpaid bills we face today.”
Quinn also eliminated the funding for the salaries of regional superintendents. He proposed eliminating regional offices of education in his budget plan but met objections from school districts and legislators. Vaught reiterated the administration’s position that local school districts can cough up the money if they want their own regional superintendent. “This is not a proposal to say get rid of their regional superintendents,” he said.
Quinn also wants to reduce transportation funding back to FY 2011 levels, which would mean an $89 million reduction. Transportation funding was cut drastically in FY 2011 and Quinn proposed another big cut for FY 2012, but the legislature did not go along.
Vaught said Quinn would prefer to see such cuts so the state could increase general state aid to schools. He said that since general aid can be spent on anything, it would allow schools to use money at their own discretion. He called it “the best fairest way to distribute state aid for schools.” Since Quinn cannot restore any funding to the legislature’s budget, Vaught said he will be lobbying lawmakers to put money back into general state aid for schools, among other areas of spending. He said Quinn’s reduction and line item vetoes are just part of the governor’s long-term vision for the state budget. “Today is the reduction part.”
Quinn made other cuts that he said reduced bureaucratic costs and eliminated redundancies in the budget.
The legislature must approve all of Quinn’s budget reductions. Quinn has been scarcely involved in the budgeting process this year, and he is pushing some of the original pieces of his proposal that did not go over well with the legislature the first time around. “In spite of the fact that he’s going to be governor for four years that he was elected, he certainly has not been able to assert the power within the office and his role in the process,” said Kent Redfield, an emeritus political science professor at the University of Illinois Springfield. Time will tell if legislators will warm to budget policy they have already rejected and welcome a governor into the process who has been a less than active player so far.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Audit: DCFS falls short on response times but shows improvement
By Jamey Dunn
A recent audit found that investigations of reported child abuse and reviews of death cases by the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services are not living up to state law, although the agency has made improvements in recent years.
Child Death Review Teams that fall under the department’s purview face a backlog of cases, Illinois Auditor General Bill Holland's office found. The teams are required to review the deaths of children who were wards of DCFS, subjects of open cases, subjects of abuse or neglect investigations in the year before their deaths, and children whose deaths are reported to the department as the result of abuse or neglect. Those reviews come after DCFS has conducted an initial investigation, and they are geared toward preventing future fatalities.
The teams were assigned 161 mandated cases in Fiscal Year 2009 and 164 mandated cases in FY 2010. The teams can also take on cases at their discretion. Teams are required to complete their reviews within 90 days after a DCFS investigation or, if there is no investigation, 90 days after they receive the necessary information. For FY 2010, the department did not complete 70 out of 95 death reviews within 90 days of the DCFS investigation. For cases that DCFS did not investigate, the teams fell short of the 90-day deadline on 51 out of 63 cases. According to DCFS documentation, six deaths from FY 2010 had not been reviewed at the time of the audit.
Kendall Marlowe, spokesperson for DCFS, said part of the holdup is the amount of time it takes county governments to send the death certificates to teams “because we live in a state with 102 counties, and those counties have different resources and different processes.” DCFS has set the goal of having all FY 2010 cases reviewed by July 30.
Besides working to help determine the cause of deaths, the team also makes recommendations for ways to prevent child deaths. Marlowe points to the example of childhood drowning, which is the leading cause for accidental death for children and the second leading cause of accidental death among teenagers. The panels made recommendations that led to May becoming childhood drowning prevention month in the state and a time when DCFS works to educate children and parents.
Auditors said the teams’ inability to meet requirements makes them less effective at such prevention efforts.
The department is also required to begin investigating all potential cases of abuse or neglect within 24 hours of a report. In FY 2010, the department did not begin an investigation within the required time frame for 97 of 67, 377 reports. This number is down from its highest point in the decade, which was 517 cases out of 59,241 in FY 2002. However it has increased from the lowest point in the decade, which was last year, when the department failed to start investigating 83 reports within 24 hours out of 68,732 total reports.
“Failure to respond to a report of abuse or neglect within 24 hours could result in further endangerment to the child and is a violation of the [ Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act,]” the audit said. However auditors noted that the department has shown continual improvement when it comes to responding to reports.
While the department has not reached the 100 percent compliance required by law, Marlowe said great strides have been made in recent years to ensure that it is responding appropriately to reports of abuse. “Reports that come in do not fit any pattern … so it will always be struggle to get to 100 percent compliance.” He noted that reports of abuse are prioritized base on the potential danger to children. “On the more serious cases, we do not hesitate at all. … An investigator is heading out immediately.”
Auditors spot-checked 57 foster care and family case files. Of those files, 37 were missing checklists for initial child placement as well as for long term planning. Ten were missing medical and dental consent forms, seven were missing pictures of children and 13 were missing children’s’ fingerprints. Administrators had failed to review five of the cases.
Auditors noted that DCFS needs more bilingual staff to comply with law and a court order. DCFS is required to have 194 bilingual front line staff members but only had 148 as of March 2010. Marlowe said budget constraints are a factor but the state’s growing Hispanic population has also put bilingual social workers in high demand.
“Spanish speaking populations are growing in parts of the state where they have not before,” Marlowe said. “It’s not a challenge that we will achieve in the very near future. … It has more to do with supply and demand in the social services work force.”
While auditors found 13 problem areas at the agency, the number is down from 15 in the previous audit, and auditors did cite progress in a number of areas. Marlow said federal requirements have pushed DCFS to track its performance on a regular basis. “This is an agency that over the last 10 years has become performance-driven. We measure and analyze our own performance on a continual basis and are not satisfied until we are serving every child and family in the most effective way possible.”
A recent audit found that investigations of reported child abuse and reviews of death cases by the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services are not living up to state law, although the agency has made improvements in recent years.
Child Death Review Teams that fall under the department’s purview face a backlog of cases, Illinois Auditor General Bill Holland's office found. The teams are required to review the deaths of children who were wards of DCFS, subjects of open cases, subjects of abuse or neglect investigations in the year before their deaths, and children whose deaths are reported to the department as the result of abuse or neglect. Those reviews come after DCFS has conducted an initial investigation, and they are geared toward preventing future fatalities.
The teams were assigned 161 mandated cases in Fiscal Year 2009 and 164 mandated cases in FY 2010. The teams can also take on cases at their discretion. Teams are required to complete their reviews within 90 days after a DCFS investigation or, if there is no investigation, 90 days after they receive the necessary information. For FY 2010, the department did not complete 70 out of 95 death reviews within 90 days of the DCFS investigation. For cases that DCFS did not investigate, the teams fell short of the 90-day deadline on 51 out of 63 cases. According to DCFS documentation, six deaths from FY 2010 had not been reviewed at the time of the audit.
Kendall Marlowe, spokesperson for DCFS, said part of the holdup is the amount of time it takes county governments to send the death certificates to teams “because we live in a state with 102 counties, and those counties have different resources and different processes.” DCFS has set the goal of having all FY 2010 cases reviewed by July 30.
Besides working to help determine the cause of deaths, the team also makes recommendations for ways to prevent child deaths. Marlowe points to the example of childhood drowning, which is the leading cause for accidental death for children and the second leading cause of accidental death among teenagers. The panels made recommendations that led to May becoming childhood drowning prevention month in the state and a time when DCFS works to educate children and parents.
Auditors said the teams’ inability to meet requirements makes them less effective at such prevention efforts.
The department is also required to begin investigating all potential cases of abuse or neglect within 24 hours of a report. In FY 2010, the department did not begin an investigation within the required time frame for 97 of 67, 377 reports. This number is down from its highest point in the decade, which was 517 cases out of 59,241 in FY 2002. However it has increased from the lowest point in the decade, which was last year, when the department failed to start investigating 83 reports within 24 hours out of 68,732 total reports.
“Failure to respond to a report of abuse or neglect within 24 hours could result in further endangerment to the child and is a violation of the [ Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act,]” the audit said. However auditors noted that the department has shown continual improvement when it comes to responding to reports.
While the department has not reached the 100 percent compliance required by law, Marlowe said great strides have been made in recent years to ensure that it is responding appropriately to reports of abuse. “Reports that come in do not fit any pattern … so it will always be struggle to get to 100 percent compliance.” He noted that reports of abuse are prioritized base on the potential danger to children. “On the more serious cases, we do not hesitate at all. … An investigator is heading out immediately.”
Auditors spot-checked 57 foster care and family case files. Of those files, 37 were missing checklists for initial child placement as well as for long term planning. Ten were missing medical and dental consent forms, seven were missing pictures of children and 13 were missing children’s’ fingerprints. Administrators had failed to review five of the cases.
Auditors noted that DCFS needs more bilingual staff to comply with law and a court order. DCFS is required to have 194 bilingual front line staff members but only had 148 as of March 2010. Marlowe said budget constraints are a factor but the state’s growing Hispanic population has also put bilingual social workers in high demand.
“Spanish speaking populations are growing in parts of the state where they have not before,” Marlowe said. “It’s not a challenge that we will achieve in the very near future. … It has more to do with supply and demand in the social services work force.”
While auditors found 13 problem areas at the agency, the number is down from 15 in the previous audit, and auditors did cite progress in a number of areas. Marlow said federal requirements have pushed DCFS to track its performance on a regular basis. “This is an agency that over the last 10 years has become performance-driven. We measure and analyze our own performance on a continual basis and are not satisfied until we are serving every child and family in the most effective way possible.”
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Quinn signs workers' compensation reform,
but the issue isn't put to rest
By Jamey Dunn
Gov. Pat Quinn signed workers’ compensation reform legislation today that supporters say will save the business community hundreds of millions of dollars, but it may not save him from facing workers' compensation as a campaign issue if he decides to run for governor again.
Quinn toured the state on a victory lap today, stopping at businesses in Melrose Park, Rockford, Champaign and Marion.
“Today is such an important day. We’re going to be helping the employers of Illinois, the workers of Illinois — all of those who are committed to economic growth — by signing a law that will help our employers in Illinois reduce their premiums for workers’ compensation insurance by a huge amount,” Quinn said in Melrose Park.
Backers of the plan estimate that it will save businesses $500 million to $750 million. The bulk of that savings will come from a 30 percent cut to the rates doctors are paid for treating injured employees. Arbitrators, who decide cases will all be out of a job on July 1. They can reapply but will have to be appointed by Quinn and confirmed by the Senate for three-year terms. Arbitrators can only spend two years of their term working in the same location to prevent them from forming “cozy” relationships with workers. These provisions were spurred in part by an investigation by the Belleville News-Democrat that found Menard Correctional Center employees have been awarded more than $10 million in workers’ compensation benefits. The claims are being investigated by the state. The new law will also:
House Speaker Michael Madigan shed some light on the behind the scenes process, saying that Quinn was “intimately involved” in negotiations. “Mayor [Rahm] Emanuel of the city of Chicago played a very active and important role on this piece of legislation. It’s not usual for a mayor of a city to get involved with legislation like workers’ compensation before the General Assembly, but Mayor Emanuel chose to do that. He did it. He was very helpful,” Madigan said in Melrose Park.
“At any moment over the last six months this legislation could have been derailed. We could be talking about another missed opportunity for workers’ compensation. Instead bipartisanship showed up. Business and labor worked together. Lawmakers rolled up their sleeves and worked with committed business leaders for reform in our workers’ compensation laws,” said David Vite, president and chief operating officer of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association.
However, Republicans — both in support of and opposed to the plan — said that it did not spread sacrifice evenly. They complained when the bill passed that asking doctors to reduce their rates by 30 percent was an unfair hit to the medical community.
Others have called the savings estimates into question. “I think the actual cost savings are suspect, in part because the range is so great,” said Doug Whitley, president of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce. “I don’t think anybody genuinely knows what the cost savings are going to work out to be.”
He said insurance companies will not start to drop employers’ workers’ compensation insurance premiums until they see that the plan cuts costs. “Realistically, those rate reductions probably will not begin to appear for the next two or three years. … That’s going to take some time to show up.”
Whitley said the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, which remained neutral on the new law, plans to push the issue in the 2012 and 2014 elections. “We should not have to wait another five [or] six years to go back.” He said Illinois must continue to reform its system to be competitive with other states. “The political leadership has to appreciate, understand, recognize that workers’ compensation is not a static action. … Even if we make progress in Illinois, that doesn’t mean that other states didn’t do things similarly. There’s a keeping-up-with-the-Joneses aspect to this.”
Gov. Pat Quinn signed workers’ compensation reform legislation today that supporters say will save the business community hundreds of millions of dollars, but it may not save him from facing workers' compensation as a campaign issue if he decides to run for governor again.
Quinn toured the state on a victory lap today, stopping at businesses in Melrose Park, Rockford, Champaign and Marion.
“Today is such an important day. We’re going to be helping the employers of Illinois, the workers of Illinois — all of those who are committed to economic growth — by signing a law that will help our employers in Illinois reduce their premiums for workers’ compensation insurance by a huge amount,” Quinn said in Melrose Park.
Backers of the plan estimate that it will save businesses $500 million to $750 million. The bulk of that savings will come from a 30 percent cut to the rates doctors are paid for treating injured employees. Arbitrators, who decide cases will all be out of a job on July 1. They can reapply but will have to be appointed by Quinn and confirmed by the Senate for three-year terms. Arbitrators can only spend two years of their term working in the same location to prevent them from forming “cozy” relationships with workers. These provisions were spurred in part by an investigation by the Belleville News-Democrat that found Menard Correctional Center employees have been awarded more than $10 million in workers’ compensation benefits. The claims are being investigated by the state. The new law will also:
- Require the use of American Medical Association standards when determining workers’ level of impairment from injuries.
- Apply standards of judicial conduct to arbitrators that are the same as those used for as for the Illinois Supreme Court justices and require them to take additional training
- Allow creation of a provider network of doctors. Injured employees could pick their doctors, but only from this predetermined pool. An injured worker would still be able to visit a doctor outside of the network but could not get a second opinion from a doctor of his or her choice.
House Speaker Michael Madigan shed some light on the behind the scenes process, saying that Quinn was “intimately involved” in negotiations. “Mayor [Rahm] Emanuel of the city of Chicago played a very active and important role on this piece of legislation. It’s not usual for a mayor of a city to get involved with legislation like workers’ compensation before the General Assembly, but Mayor Emanuel chose to do that. He did it. He was very helpful,” Madigan said in Melrose Park.
“At any moment over the last six months this legislation could have been derailed. We could be talking about another missed opportunity for workers’ compensation. Instead bipartisanship showed up. Business and labor worked together. Lawmakers rolled up their sleeves and worked with committed business leaders for reform in our workers’ compensation laws,” said David Vite, president and chief operating officer of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association.
However, Republicans — both in support of and opposed to the plan — said that it did not spread sacrifice evenly. They complained when the bill passed that asking doctors to reduce their rates by 30 percent was an unfair hit to the medical community.
Others have called the savings estimates into question. “I think the actual cost savings are suspect, in part because the range is so great,” said Doug Whitley, president of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce. “I don’t think anybody genuinely knows what the cost savings are going to work out to be.”
He said insurance companies will not start to drop employers’ workers’ compensation insurance premiums until they see that the plan cuts costs. “Realistically, those rate reductions probably will not begin to appear for the next two or three years. … That’s going to take some time to show up.”
Whitley said the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, which remained neutral on the new law, plans to push the issue in the 2012 and 2014 elections. “We should not have to wait another five [or] six years to go back.” He said Illinois must continue to reform its system to be competitive with other states. “The political leadership has to appreciate, understand, recognize that workers’ compensation is not a static action. … Even if we make progress in Illinois, that doesn’t mean that other states didn’t do things similarly. There’s a keeping-up-with-the-Joneses aspect to this.”
Audits find mistakes in awarding lottery and video poker contracts
By Jamey Dunn
Two audits released today found problems with the way state government awarded contracts associated with two pivotal funding sources for the state's embattled capital construction plan.
An audit of the Illinois Department of Revenue took issue with the process used to choose Northstar Group as the new manager of the Illinois lottery. Northstar Group represents gaming vendors that have previously contracted with Illinois — Rhode-Island-based GTECH Corp. and New-York-based Scientific Games Inc., along with marketing partner Chicago-based Energy BBDO. Lawmakers approved a turnover of lottery management to a private firm as part of the capital bill with the hopes that a company could bring in greater profits for the state. The two other bidding finalists, Intralot S.A. and The Camelot Group, protested the state’s choice of Northstar, claiming the process was unfair. The state denied both protests.
Auditor General William Holland’s report found that some of the scores from members of the evaluation team were not certified by the department and some were not officially submitted until after the state had publicly announced its choice of Northstar as the manager.
However, Sue Hofer, spokesperson for the Department of Revenue, said the department had electronic copies of the evaluation team’s scores before a choice was made, and these copies were used to make a decision. “They provided their assessment twice, once electronically and once in a signed affidavit that said they had no conflict of interest,” she said. Hofer said the scores were valid whether submitted electronically or on paper, and the department provided Holland with the electronic copies of the scores.
But the auditor disagreed that the scores came in on time, whatever the delivery method. “The department’s response appears to want it both ways. They say auditors relied on the hard-copy evaluations, which we note were not timely. This is factual. Then the department wants us to utilize emails, which we also considered. However, as we note in the finding, these too showed the electronic submissions were not timely. The only constant was that all the discrepancies noted in the finding are from department documentation, whether hard copy or electronic,” the report said.
The audit also found that Oliver Wyman, a contracted consulting firm that helped the department with the bidding process, started work before it signed a contract with the state. Wyman sought and collected the names of firms interested on managing the lottery before the firm had a state contract. The audit also found that once Wyman was under contract, the firm failed to meet some of its deadlines, potentially shorting those considering bids time for a review process. “Failure to meet deliverable deadlines may have contributed to state evaluators having less than one week to evaluate the Request For Proposal responses in Step 1 of the process, a process that eventually would turn over a $2 billion state asset for private management,” the audit said.
“Those people were on a contract where they would get paid for product delivered. They were not getting paid by the hour,” Hofer said. “They started several days before the contract was officially signed, and that was at their own risk.”
Holland found that Kroll, a subcontractor hired by Wyman to provide investigative and consulting services as well as ensure that the bidding process was fair and open, had previous connections with Northstar. The report said two members of Scientific Games’ board of directors were previously Kroll board members and that a former incarnation of Scientific Games retained Kroll’s services in 2002. However the audit notes that the relationships ended three years prior to the work Kroll did on the lottery contract, so Wyman was not required to disclose them. The report also said Kroll was “very qualified” to do the work it was contracted for, and the auditor general’s office found no problems with reports submitted by Wyman and Kroll.
Overall, Holland’s report said: “The department should protect state interests and not allow vendors to work without an executed contract in place. Additionally, the department should enforce contract milestones or amend the contract to reflect updated priorities and time frames. Further, the department should ensure that all subcontractors disclose any relationships that may, even if only in appearance, impair the integrity of the procurement process.”
An audit of the Illinois Gaming Board also shed light on what went wrong with the bidding process for a central computer system needed to implement legalized video poker in bars and restaurants throughout the state. The revenue from video gaming is supposed to pay off borrowing for the state’s construction plan.
The board awarded the contract to Scientific Games, one of the companies in the Northstar Group, only to rescind the deal after it was found that the board had done its math wrong. “Lack of review for the scoring of pricing in the evaluation process of the Central Communications System (CCS) procurement resulted in the award to a vendor that was not the highest ranked,” the audit said. The report says only “one set of eyes” reviewed the pricing information that companies submitted with their bids. The audit also found that the board got different information from bidders, so it was not comparing apples to apples when it came to cost estimates, and it never followed up with the bidders to get like information. The board employee whose one set of eyes reviewed the cost estimates told auditors that the board was under pressure to make a choice, and any holdups would be “‘frowned upon.’”
Gene O’Shea, spokesperson for the gaming board, said that any pressure felt by the board or its employees is self-imposed. “There is no person or outside agency that is exerting any kind of pressure on the gaming board to get things done before they should be done.”
He added: “There’s just a lot of work to be done and few people to do it. … There’s people that are on the staff here that are working a tremendous amount of overtime to get the job done.”
The board has scrapped the original bid for the computer system and is in the process of a new bid.
The implementation of legal video poker in some bars and restaurants in the state has been put on hold until the Illinois Supreme Court rules on a constitutional challenge to the capital plan. However, state agencies are continuing work on the issue in anticipation of a positive verdict or the approval of a new plan by the legislature.
Two audits released today found problems with the way state government awarded contracts associated with two pivotal funding sources for the state's embattled capital construction plan.
An audit of the Illinois Department of Revenue took issue with the process used to choose Northstar Group as the new manager of the Illinois lottery. Northstar Group represents gaming vendors that have previously contracted with Illinois — Rhode-Island-based GTECH Corp. and New-York-based Scientific Games Inc., along with marketing partner Chicago-based Energy BBDO. Lawmakers approved a turnover of lottery management to a private firm as part of the capital bill with the hopes that a company could bring in greater profits for the state. The two other bidding finalists, Intralot S.A. and The Camelot Group, protested the state’s choice of Northstar, claiming the process was unfair. The state denied both protests.
Auditor General William Holland’s report found that some of the scores from members of the evaluation team were not certified by the department and some were not officially submitted until after the state had publicly announced its choice of Northstar as the manager.
However, Sue Hofer, spokesperson for the Department of Revenue, said the department had electronic copies of the evaluation team’s scores before a choice was made, and these copies were used to make a decision. “They provided their assessment twice, once electronically and once in a signed affidavit that said they had no conflict of interest,” she said. Hofer said the scores were valid whether submitted electronically or on paper, and the department provided Holland with the electronic copies of the scores.
But the auditor disagreed that the scores came in on time, whatever the delivery method. “The department’s response appears to want it both ways. They say auditors relied on the hard-copy evaluations, which we note were not timely. This is factual. Then the department wants us to utilize emails, which we also considered. However, as we note in the finding, these too showed the electronic submissions were not timely. The only constant was that all the discrepancies noted in the finding are from department documentation, whether hard copy or electronic,” the report said.
The audit also found that Oliver Wyman, a contracted consulting firm that helped the department with the bidding process, started work before it signed a contract with the state. Wyman sought and collected the names of firms interested on managing the lottery before the firm had a state contract. The audit also found that once Wyman was under contract, the firm failed to meet some of its deadlines, potentially shorting those considering bids time for a review process. “Failure to meet deliverable deadlines may have contributed to state evaluators having less than one week to evaluate the Request For Proposal responses in Step 1 of the process, a process that eventually would turn over a $2 billion state asset for private management,” the audit said.
“Those people were on a contract where they would get paid for product delivered. They were not getting paid by the hour,” Hofer said. “They started several days before the contract was officially signed, and that was at their own risk.”
Holland found that Kroll, a subcontractor hired by Wyman to provide investigative and consulting services as well as ensure that the bidding process was fair and open, had previous connections with Northstar. The report said two members of Scientific Games’ board of directors were previously Kroll board members and that a former incarnation of Scientific Games retained Kroll’s services in 2002. However the audit notes that the relationships ended three years prior to the work Kroll did on the lottery contract, so Wyman was not required to disclose them. The report also said Kroll was “very qualified” to do the work it was contracted for, and the auditor general’s office found no problems with reports submitted by Wyman and Kroll.
Overall, Holland’s report said: “The department should protect state interests and not allow vendors to work without an executed contract in place. Additionally, the department should enforce contract milestones or amend the contract to reflect updated priorities and time frames. Further, the department should ensure that all subcontractors disclose any relationships that may, even if only in appearance, impair the integrity of the procurement process.”
An audit of the Illinois Gaming Board also shed light on what went wrong with the bidding process for a central computer system needed to implement legalized video poker in bars and restaurants throughout the state. The revenue from video gaming is supposed to pay off borrowing for the state’s construction plan.
The board awarded the contract to Scientific Games, one of the companies in the Northstar Group, only to rescind the deal after it was found that the board had done its math wrong. “Lack of review for the scoring of pricing in the evaluation process of the Central Communications System (CCS) procurement resulted in the award to a vendor that was not the highest ranked,” the audit said. The report says only “one set of eyes” reviewed the pricing information that companies submitted with their bids. The audit also found that the board got different information from bidders, so it was not comparing apples to apples when it came to cost estimates, and it never followed up with the bidders to get like information. The board employee whose one set of eyes reviewed the cost estimates told auditors that the board was under pressure to make a choice, and any holdups would be “‘frowned upon.’”
Gene O’Shea, spokesperson for the gaming board, said that any pressure felt by the board or its employees is self-imposed. “There is no person or outside agency that is exerting any kind of pressure on the gaming board to get things done before they should be done.”
He added: “There’s just a lot of work to be done and few people to do it. … There’s people that are on the staff here that are working a tremendous amount of overtime to get the job done.”
The board has scrapped the original bid for the computer system and is in the process of a new bid.
The implementation of legal video poker in some bars and restaurants in the state has been put on hold until the Illinois Supreme Court rules on a constitutional challenge to the capital plan. However, state agencies are continuing work on the issue in anticipation of a positive verdict or the approval of a new plan by the legislature.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Back-seat passengers will have to buckle up
By Jamey Dunn
Beginning January 1, passengers riding in the backseat of a vehicles in Illinois will be required to wear their safety belts.
Gov. Pat Quinn today signed House Bill 219, which makes Illinois the 26th state to require all passengers in a vehicle to buckle up. Illinois has previously required that front-sent passengers and any passengers under the age of 18 wear their seat belts.
The measure was sponsored by Senate President John Cullerton and former Barrington Republican Rep. Mark Beaubian, who died before seeing the bill signed into law. Quinn said today of Beaubian, “[He] believed in the public interest and helping other people and saving lives.”
According to the Illinois State Police, passengers who fail to wear their seat belts could be fined up to $60, which does not include any court costs that might be associated with the charge. Passengers in taxis and emergency vehicles will be exempt from the requirement.
“By the governor signing this bill today, I would anticipate we’ll save at least 25 to 30 lives next year,” Cullerton said. “This is the most important thing that we can do. … This one affects people’s lives. It’s literally going to save lives. There’s nothing more important than that."
Beginning January 1, passengers riding in the backseat of a vehicles in Illinois will be required to wear their safety belts.
Gov. Pat Quinn today signed House Bill 219, which makes Illinois the 26th state to require all passengers in a vehicle to buckle up. Illinois has previously required that front-sent passengers and any passengers under the age of 18 wear their seat belts.
The measure was sponsored by Senate President John Cullerton and former Barrington Republican Rep. Mark Beaubian, who died before seeing the bill signed into law. Quinn said today of Beaubian, “[He] believed in the public interest and helping other people and saving lives.”
According to the Illinois State Police, passengers who fail to wear their seat belts could be fined up to $60, which does not include any court costs that might be associated with the charge. Passengers in taxis and emergency vehicles will be exempt from the requirement.
“By the governor signing this bill today, I would anticipate we’ll save at least 25 to 30 lives next year,” Cullerton said. “This is the most important thing that we can do. … This one affects people’s lives. It’s literally going to save lives. There’s nothing more important than that."
Blagojevich verdicts may spark more reforms
By Jamey Dunn
Another of Illinois’ past governors faces potential years behind bars after being convicted on the majority of the corruption charges he was facing. But some Illinois officials warn it is not yet time to close the book on the state’s history of corruption.
A jury today convicted former Gov. Rod Blagojevich on 17 out of 20 counts. The jury found him not guilty on one count connected to an alleged plot to squeeze campaign money from road construction firms before he would sign a tollway plan that would benefit some builders. The jury did not come to a verdict on another charge related to that scheme and one tied to an alleged attempt to strong-arm U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, now mayor of Chicago, into arranging a Blagojevich fundraiser before the governor would release a grant to the Chicago Academy. The defense called Emanuel to testify in the former governor’s retrial. Prosecutors reportedly do not plan to retry Blagojevich on the two charges that they jury could not agree on.
The jury found Blagojevich guilty on charges related to his most well-known scheme, attempting to sell Barack Obama’s former Senate seat for personal or political gain. He was also convicted on charges relating to him trying to get representatives of the horse racing industry to trade campaign contributions for his signature on a bill that would benefit them, as well as holding up legislation related to funding in an attempt to extort campaign contributions from the chief operating officer of Children’s Memorial Hospital.
“There’s not much left to say other than we want to get home to our little girls,” Blagojevich told reporters as he left the federal courthouse today. He said he was “stunned” and wanted to go home to explain what happened to his two daughters and decide what to do next.
“I’m sure we’ll be seeing you guys again,” he quipped, alluding to a potential appeal. Blagojevich was allowed to go home today, but he is not allowed to travel out of the federal Northern District of Illinois without permission from Judge James Zagel, who has presided over both of Blagojevich’s trials.
In his first criminal trial, Blagojevich was convicted of one charge of lying to federal officers. That jury could not reach an agreement on 23 other counts. Blagojevich decided not to testify at that trial, but he spent days on the stand in his retrial. Sam Adam Jr., who represented Blagojevich in his first trial but not in the most recent one, said that he thinks the jury didn’t believe what the former governor said in his own defense. “It’s obvious that the jury wanted to make a statement, and they made a statement,” Adam told WLS-TV Chicago. “It just seems the jury in this particular case didn’t buy what he had to say.”
Adam said he thinks Blagojevich has grounds for an appeal based on the courts refusal to allow the defense to present some of the pieces of his recorded phone conservations. He added that Blagojevich was unable to “corroborate” his testimony with this barred evidence. “I think he’ll end up vindicated,’ Adam said. He said he would work on an appeal if tapped to do so.
Adam predicted that if an appeal is not successful, Blagojevich could be sentenced to between five and nine years for his convictions. “He’s looking at some serious time here.” Adam added that if Zagel determines that Blagojevich lied during his testimony, the sentence could be longer.
“I'm glad that the verdict is finally in on Rod Blagojevich. However, this closes only one chapter of Democrat corruption in Illinois. Illinois Democratic politicians who now try everything they can to hide their past support of Rod Blagojevich should look themselves in the mirror and remind themselves that little has changed since the day Blagojevich was arrested,” Illinois Republican Party Chair Pat Brady said in a prepared statement. Republicans will likely try to make Illinois Democrats, including President Barack Obama and anyone else who said something positive in the past about the now-convicted felon, live down the legacy of Blagojevich in the next few election cycles.
However, many Democrats have been distancing themselves from the former governor for years, so time will tell whetherf Blagojevich’s conviction will become effective campaign fodder.
"Once again, the former governor's pattern of dishonesty has been confirmed. I thank the jury for its public service. Just as it was sad but necessary for the Senate to remove him from office, today is another sad event for Illinois. I would hope that this verdict would further allow us as a state to move on and ahead,” Senate President John Cullerton said in a written response to the verdict.
Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno called on Illinois lawmakers to approve more reforms. In the wake of Blagojevich’s arrest, the General Assembly approved a campaign finance reform law that for the first time in Illinois caps the contributions politicians can accept. Lawmakers also enacted new ethics rules for state employees, as well as a new process for the way the state enters into contracts with vendors. However, Republicans have pushed for laws to lower campaign contribution caps and limit party contributions, with no gains over the last few years.
“It was clear that Rod Blagojevich conspired to use the governor's office for personal gain. He inflicted real, permanent damage on the state during his six years in office. Unfortunately, future generations will be paying for his administration for years to come,” Radogno said in a prepared statement. “I am as anxious as everyone to now put this sordid chapter in our state’s history behind us. But some will want to use this verdict to close the door on reform. Instead, it is our job as elected officials to make sure the public has confidence in the integrity of their government. We all have a responsibility to send a clear signal that Illinoisans do not need to tolerate even the appearance of conflicts of interest by elected officials.”
Gov. Pat Quinn agreed. “This is a serious day for our state,” Quinn said at a Chicago news conference. He said Blagojevich’s conviction, along with the previous conviction of former Gov. George Ryan on corruption charges, “underlines … for every person in Illinois the importance of reforming our government on a daily basis from top to bottom.”
He called for lawmakers to revisit several additional ethics provisions. Quinn said legislators should consider allowing open primaries in the state, imposing a mandatory “conflict of interest” requirement on themselves and extending the recall power to all elected offices. Quinn pushed a constitutional amendment approved last November, which allows Illinois voters to recall governors. “I also think that looking at campaign finance again is something worth trying,” he said.
Quinn renewed a call to allow citizens to present ethics laws through a voter initiative system. He tried to tack such a provision onto a bill through an amendatory veto last year, but lawmakers did not take up the veto for a vote. Experts said that the plan would likely not fit into the narrow voter initiative requirements in the state’s Constitution. This time, Quinn is calling for a constitutional amendment. “There’s a lot to be done. I’m sure there are many people with many ideas,” he said.
Quinn said he did not feel the need to apologize for supporting his former running mate in the past, saying Blagojevich had “deceived” him and others. “I have nothing to apologize for because I know I do things in an honest way.”
He said it is regrettable that two of his predecessors, Blagojevich and Ryan, may soon be behind bars. “I’m very sorry that happened to [the Blagojevich] family, but you have to be accountable for your deeds.”
Another of Illinois’ past governors faces potential years behind bars after being convicted on the majority of the corruption charges he was facing. But some Illinois officials warn it is not yet time to close the book on the state’s history of corruption.
A jury today convicted former Gov. Rod Blagojevich on 17 out of 20 counts. The jury found him not guilty on one count connected to an alleged plot to squeeze campaign money from road construction firms before he would sign a tollway plan that would benefit some builders. The jury did not come to a verdict on another charge related to that scheme and one tied to an alleged attempt to strong-arm U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, now mayor of Chicago, into arranging a Blagojevich fundraiser before the governor would release a grant to the Chicago Academy. The defense called Emanuel to testify in the former governor’s retrial. Prosecutors reportedly do not plan to retry Blagojevich on the two charges that they jury could not agree on.
The jury found Blagojevich guilty on charges related to his most well-known scheme, attempting to sell Barack Obama’s former Senate seat for personal or political gain. He was also convicted on charges relating to him trying to get representatives of the horse racing industry to trade campaign contributions for his signature on a bill that would benefit them, as well as holding up legislation related to funding in an attempt to extort campaign contributions from the chief operating officer of Children’s Memorial Hospital.
“There’s not much left to say other than we want to get home to our little girls,” Blagojevich told reporters as he left the federal courthouse today. He said he was “stunned” and wanted to go home to explain what happened to his two daughters and decide what to do next.
“I’m sure we’ll be seeing you guys again,” he quipped, alluding to a potential appeal. Blagojevich was allowed to go home today, but he is not allowed to travel out of the federal Northern District of Illinois without permission from Judge James Zagel, who has presided over both of Blagojevich’s trials.
In his first criminal trial, Blagojevich was convicted of one charge of lying to federal officers. That jury could not reach an agreement on 23 other counts. Blagojevich decided not to testify at that trial, but he spent days on the stand in his retrial. Sam Adam Jr., who represented Blagojevich in his first trial but not in the most recent one, said that he thinks the jury didn’t believe what the former governor said in his own defense. “It’s obvious that the jury wanted to make a statement, and they made a statement,” Adam told WLS-TV Chicago. “It just seems the jury in this particular case didn’t buy what he had to say.”
Adam said he thinks Blagojevich has grounds for an appeal based on the courts refusal to allow the defense to present some of the pieces of his recorded phone conservations. He added that Blagojevich was unable to “corroborate” his testimony with this barred evidence. “I think he’ll end up vindicated,’ Adam said. He said he would work on an appeal if tapped to do so.
Adam predicted that if an appeal is not successful, Blagojevich could be sentenced to between five and nine years for his convictions. “He’s looking at some serious time here.” Adam added that if Zagel determines that Blagojevich lied during his testimony, the sentence could be longer.
“I'm glad that the verdict is finally in on Rod Blagojevich. However, this closes only one chapter of Democrat corruption in Illinois. Illinois Democratic politicians who now try everything they can to hide their past support of Rod Blagojevich should look themselves in the mirror and remind themselves that little has changed since the day Blagojevich was arrested,” Illinois Republican Party Chair Pat Brady said in a prepared statement. Republicans will likely try to make Illinois Democrats, including President Barack Obama and anyone else who said something positive in the past about the now-convicted felon, live down the legacy of Blagojevich in the next few election cycles.
However, many Democrats have been distancing themselves from the former governor for years, so time will tell whetherf Blagojevich’s conviction will become effective campaign fodder.
"Once again, the former governor's pattern of dishonesty has been confirmed. I thank the jury for its public service. Just as it was sad but necessary for the Senate to remove him from office, today is another sad event for Illinois. I would hope that this verdict would further allow us as a state to move on and ahead,” Senate President John Cullerton said in a written response to the verdict.
Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno called on Illinois lawmakers to approve more reforms. In the wake of Blagojevich’s arrest, the General Assembly approved a campaign finance reform law that for the first time in Illinois caps the contributions politicians can accept. Lawmakers also enacted new ethics rules for state employees, as well as a new process for the way the state enters into contracts with vendors. However, Republicans have pushed for laws to lower campaign contribution caps and limit party contributions, with no gains over the last few years.
“It was clear that Rod Blagojevich conspired to use the governor's office for personal gain. He inflicted real, permanent damage on the state during his six years in office. Unfortunately, future generations will be paying for his administration for years to come,” Radogno said in a prepared statement. “I am as anxious as everyone to now put this sordid chapter in our state’s history behind us. But some will want to use this verdict to close the door on reform. Instead, it is our job as elected officials to make sure the public has confidence in the integrity of their government. We all have a responsibility to send a clear signal that Illinoisans do not need to tolerate even the appearance of conflicts of interest by elected officials.”
Gov. Pat Quinn agreed. “This is a serious day for our state,” Quinn said at a Chicago news conference. He said Blagojevich’s conviction, along with the previous conviction of former Gov. George Ryan on corruption charges, “underlines … for every person in Illinois the importance of reforming our government on a daily basis from top to bottom.”
He called for lawmakers to revisit several additional ethics provisions. Quinn said legislators should consider allowing open primaries in the state, imposing a mandatory “conflict of interest” requirement on themselves and extending the recall power to all elected offices. Quinn pushed a constitutional amendment approved last November, which allows Illinois voters to recall governors. “I also think that looking at campaign finance again is something worth trying,” he said.
Quinn renewed a call to allow citizens to present ethics laws through a voter initiative system. He tried to tack such a provision onto a bill through an amendatory veto last year, but lawmakers did not take up the veto for a vote. Experts said that the plan would likely not fit into the narrow voter initiative requirements in the state’s Constitution. This time, Quinn is calling for a constitutional amendment. “There’s a lot to be done. I’m sure there are many people with many ideas,” he said.
Quinn said he did not feel the need to apologize for supporting his former running mate in the past, saying Blagojevich had “deceived” him and others. “I have nothing to apologize for because I know I do things in an honest way.”
He said it is regrettable that two of his predecessors, Blagojevich and Ryan, may soon be behind bars. “I’m very sorry that happened to [the Blagojevich] family, but you have to be accountable for your deeds.”
Friday, June 24, 2011
Quinn signs congressional map
By Jamey Dunn
Gov. Pat Quinn signed the Democratic drawn map of congressional districts today as Republicans decried the process as a blatant attempt to erase the gains they made in last year’s election.
“The people of Illinois provided input at public hearings for both the congressional and state legislative maps. I have carefully reviewed the congressional redistricting map. This map is fair, maintains competitiveness within congressional districts, and protects the voting rights of minority communities,” Quinn said in a prepared statement.
Republicans gained control over the state’s congressional delegation last November. But some of the newly elected Republican U.S. representatives may not keep their jobs for long. “Governor Quinn has lost all claims to the label reformer. This bill is a crass, partisan political move to silence the voices of Illinoisans, who last November made it very clear that they wanted to fire [former House Majority Leader] Nancy Pelosi by electing a majority Republican congressional delegation from the home state of President Obama,” Illinois Republican Party Chair Pat Brady said in a prepared statement.
John Jackson, visiting professor with the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University, said it comes as no surprise that Republicans on the state and national level are loudly complaining about Illinois’ map because state Democrats were able to draw it with no input from the minority party. “Illinois’ one of the few states where the Democrats are totally in charge,” Jackson said. “As far as aim toward brand new Republicans [in Congress,] it is certainly that, and that is fairly clear and expected.”
Jackson said that despite the results of the last Illinois congressional elections, the state’s demographics lean Democratic. “It was driven by a very, very low turnout. A very, very different electorate [came to the polls last year than those] that voted in 2008 in an election with a much larger turnout.”
He added: “Illinois ought to be competitive but leaning somewhat toward the Democrats. … I don’t see a lot of grounds in getting bent out of shape that the Democrats might come out with a slight advantage when it’s all said and done.”
Chris Mooney, a political studies professor with the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois, said Democrats used their power to draw the districts in a way that will benefit their party. However, both Jackson and Mooney agreed that the previous map, which was drawn to protect incumbents of both parties, had more sprawling and oddly shaped districts. “They did use the map to their advantage in some creative ways. But it’s actually less gerrymandered than the last one,” Mooney said.
Mooney said the redistricting process is highly partisan, and if one party is left out of the process because of the power balance of state government, it can be assumed that its members will complain and likely sue in an attempt to have the map tossed out by a court. “Yes, it is gerrymandered, but that’s just the way the game is played. … [Republicans are] basically just saying that in preparation for a lawsuit,” Mooney said. “They’ll sue, and that’s always what happens.”
And Republicans seem to have every intention of fighting the maps in court. “I hope that the courts will overturn these maps as an unfair representation of the citizens of Illinois,” Brady said.
Jackson and Mooney disagree over whether or not Illinois’ map could help turn the tide for Democrats in the U.S. House. Jackson said Republicans will likely hold onto the control they gained last year, in part because so many other state governments that have also recently drafted new congressional maps came under Republican control last year. The shifts of seats because of populations changes from the Midwest and Northeast to the West and South will also likely help Republicans. Illinois lost one of the 12 seats that will be reassigned based on new census data. “The Republicans have the clear advantage nationwide because they control so much more of the total process.” Jackson called elections that come before the once-every-10-years remap process “the one election that then echoes for a decade.”
Mooney said the House has bounced back and forth between parties in recent years, and the election is too far away to predict. “Because the balance has been so close … if they can win a couple more [seats] — boom.” Mooney added that the state of the economy next spring will probably be the biggest factor in the outcomes of the 2012 election.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
State says couples in civil unions
can't file joint Illinois tax returns
By Jamey Dunn
Less than a month after civil unions became available in Illinois, one state agency says it cannot allow for a benefit that lawmakers promised would come along with the partnerships.
The Illinois Department of Revenue says it will not allow couples in civil unions to file joint state income tax returns because Illinois residents must file the state return the same way they file their federal one, and the federal government does not recognize civil unions. Married couples who file separate federal returns must file their state taxes separately. However, married couples not required to file a federal return can file a joint Illinois return. An explanation of the policy on the department’s website cites the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which President Barack Obama’s administration has said it will no longer defend against legal challenges.
Chicago Democratic state Rep. Greg Harris, who sponsored legislation that legalized civil unions in the state, said the Department of Revenue’s decision came as a surprise. He says lawmakers intended for couples entering into civil unions to be afforded all the same rights and obligations that the state gives to married people, including filing a tax return together. “On the face of it, it seems to contradict the intentions of the legislature. … The lawmakers in debates in discussion of this bill explicitly said it [would allow couples to file joint state tax returns,]” said Bernard Cherkasov, chief executive officer of the advocacy group Equality Illinois.
“I think they’re taking the easy way out,” said Jill Metz, president of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois' board of directors. “Other states have disagreed with their position that they have to stay in line with the federal tax policy.” Other states that have civil unions or domestic partnerships, such as California and New Jersey, do allow couples to file joint state returns. Metz said in such states, couples create a joint federal return that they do not file, but they use the joint income number calculation to plug into their state returns. The Illinois Department of Revenue maintains that there isn’t a monetary benefit to filing as a couple on the state level. “Illinois has flat tax, and so whether you are single or married, you will pay the same amount of tax,” said Sue Hofer, a department spokeswoman.
“I don’t know how the state of Illinois could possible know all the circumstances of people’s lives to know whether there is or isn’t a benefit to filing a joint state tax return,”Metz said. Anthony Madonia, an adjunct professor at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago, said there are some potential benefits to filing state taxes as a couple. “There’s no ladder to climb as far as rates go. … I guess the difference is, if one of the members of the civil union is not working, then their exemption is wasted.” He said if someone did not have income, they could apply their personal tax exemption, as well as other potential exemptions, to their partner’s income.
“Prior to this, we were planning on filing joint returns for clients who are in civil unions,” said Madonia, His Chicago-based firm, Anthony J. Madonia & Associates, focuses on tax and business law. “We thought that there would be a joint return. We just did.”
Metz said many people are willing to take an extra step to calculate their combined income as if they were filing a federal return, so they can put the number on their state forms and file as a couple, regardless of the benefits. “It’s about the recognition. It’s about the inclusiveness. It’s about the respect,” she said.
Harris said that the department’s argument illustrates the need to overturn the federal Defense of Marriage Act. He said until the federal government recognizes the unions of same-sex couples, legal disputes such as this one will continue to pop up across the country. “This just shows why we still have such a long way to go in terms of marriage equality in this country.”
Harris said he hopes the issue can be resolved, but he said it might take a lawsuit against the state from a couple in a civil union. “I look forward to somebody filing it.”
Cherkasov and Metz both say their organizations are looking into ways the department could allow couples to file together. Metz called on the department to rethink its policy to avoid lawsuits. “They could make the right decision and keep the promise that is in that civil unions bill. … I think somebody in the Illinois Department of Revenue needs to take a second look.”
Cherkasov said there is still time to ensure that couples in civil unions can file their first joint state tax returns next year. “It’s alarming that this is their opinion. … But at the same time, the 2011 tax returns for the state of Illinois have not been printed yet.”
An analysis of the department's decision from John Marshall Law School assistant professor Anthony Niedwiecki is available here.
Less than a month after civil unions became available in Illinois, one state agency says it cannot allow for a benefit that lawmakers promised would come along with the partnerships.
The Illinois Department of Revenue says it will not allow couples in civil unions to file joint state income tax returns because Illinois residents must file the state return the same way they file their federal one, and the federal government does not recognize civil unions. Married couples who file separate federal returns must file their state taxes separately. However, married couples not required to file a federal return can file a joint Illinois return. An explanation of the policy on the department’s website cites the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which President Barack Obama’s administration has said it will no longer defend against legal challenges.
Chicago Democratic state Rep. Greg Harris, who sponsored legislation that legalized civil unions in the state, said the Department of Revenue’s decision came as a surprise. He says lawmakers intended for couples entering into civil unions to be afforded all the same rights and obligations that the state gives to married people, including filing a tax return together. “On the face of it, it seems to contradict the intentions of the legislature. … The lawmakers in debates in discussion of this bill explicitly said it [would allow couples to file joint state tax returns,]” said Bernard Cherkasov, chief executive officer of the advocacy group Equality Illinois.
“I think they’re taking the easy way out,” said Jill Metz, president of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois' board of directors. “Other states have disagreed with their position that they have to stay in line with the federal tax policy.” Other states that have civil unions or domestic partnerships, such as California and New Jersey, do allow couples to file joint state returns. Metz said in such states, couples create a joint federal return that they do not file, but they use the joint income number calculation to plug into their state returns. The Illinois Department of Revenue maintains that there isn’t a monetary benefit to filing as a couple on the state level. “Illinois has flat tax, and so whether you are single or married, you will pay the same amount of tax,” said Sue Hofer, a department spokeswoman.
“I don’t know how the state of Illinois could possible know all the circumstances of people’s lives to know whether there is or isn’t a benefit to filing a joint state tax return,”Metz said. Anthony Madonia, an adjunct professor at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago, said there are some potential benefits to filing state taxes as a couple. “There’s no ladder to climb as far as rates go. … I guess the difference is, if one of the members of the civil union is not working, then their exemption is wasted.” He said if someone did not have income, they could apply their personal tax exemption, as well as other potential exemptions, to their partner’s income.
“Prior to this, we were planning on filing joint returns for clients who are in civil unions,” said Madonia, His Chicago-based firm, Anthony J. Madonia & Associates, focuses on tax and business law. “We thought that there would be a joint return. We just did.”
Metz said many people are willing to take an extra step to calculate their combined income as if they were filing a federal return, so they can put the number on their state forms and file as a couple, regardless of the benefits. “It’s about the recognition. It’s about the inclusiveness. It’s about the respect,” she said.
Harris said that the department’s argument illustrates the need to overturn the federal Defense of Marriage Act. He said until the federal government recognizes the unions of same-sex couples, legal disputes such as this one will continue to pop up across the country. “This just shows why we still have such a long way to go in terms of marriage equality in this country.”
Harris said he hopes the issue can be resolved, but he said it might take a lawsuit against the state from a couple in a civil union. “I look forward to somebody filing it.”
Cherkasov and Metz both say their organizations are looking into ways the department could allow couples to file together. Metz called on the department to rethink its policy to avoid lawsuits. “They could make the right decision and keep the promise that is in that civil unions bill. … I think somebody in the Illinois Department of Revenue needs to take a second look.”
Cherkasov said there is still time to ensure that couples in civil unions can file their first joint state tax returns next year. “It’s alarming that this is their opinion. … But at the same time, the 2011 tax returns for the state of Illinois have not been printed yet.”
An analysis of the department's decision from John Marshall Law School assistant professor Anthony Niedwiecki is available here.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Construction funds approved as lawmakers end one-day session
By Jamey Dunn
Illinois lawmakers voted today to ensure that construction projects continue as planned throughout the state, but one legislative leader says budget work is not complete.
Senate Bill 2414, (House Amendment 2), which contains the construction spending, passed through both chambers in a matter of hours and was clearly the priority of the one-day summer session. Senate Democrats agreed to back off the $430 million of spending for education and human services that they tacked on to the capital funding, causing gridlock over its approval. But Senate President John Cullerton said that debate on the budget isn’t over.
“There’s a number of problems with the House budget that the House is aware of, that we’re aware of, where there are under-appropriations of things that need to be appropriated,” Cullerton said. He said the House approved less money in areas such as state aid for schools and Medicaid without making other needed tweaks such as rate changes. So the state will keep doling out the money as if the cuts have not been made, and the funds will not last all fiscal year, he believes. “What will happen is, they’ll get paid the same amount of money that they would normally get paid because the formula didn’t get changed. And then sometime late in the fiscal year … they would then run out of money,” Cullerton said.
He said the Senate would likely consider additional funding in the fall veto session, or more likely in January, when Democrats could approve it with a simple majority and no Republican votes. “We’ll have half a year of income, and we’ll see what the income is. And see how much of the old bills we’ve paid down to make an evaluation then as to what we should do.”
Gov. Pat Quinn called on lawmakers to approve the spending for construction without any additional operational funding. Quinn has said he supports more spending on education and human services but said that he did not want to jeopardize the job-creating capital construction bill. “The General Assembly took action today to keep the state’s biggest economic recovery program going, ensuring that thousands of workers stay on the job. Today’s session was about jobs and capital, and I thank the legislative leaders and members of the General Assembly for passing a 12-month capital appropriations bill, as I had asked of them,” Quinn said in a prepared statement. “A capital construction program was one of the first priorities of my administration, and it is a key component of my plan to bring jobs and economic recovery to Illinois. The plan is Illinois’ first capital program in more than a decade, and it is expected to create more than 439,000 jobs over six years.”
House Minority Leader Tom Cross said the House budget does not need fixing. “What I’ve heard about over the last few weeks is — from a variety of angles — that our budget in the House either didn’t spend enough, didn’t cut enough, cut too much [and] was not a good budget.”
He said a bipartisan effort in his chamber produced a budget that accounts for making the state’s pension payments, does not spend more than the state will bring in next fiscal year and will probably result in extra revenue that can be used to pay some of the state’s overdue bills. “It’s a pretty good budget. Is it a perfect budget? No. Is it a budget that could have had more reforms? Yes. Perhaps more cuts? Yes. But it’s a very good starting point,” Cross said on the House floor. “If we continue down this road in the years to come, we can climb out of this hole. It’s not going to happen overnight, but it’s going to continue to require us to work together.”
Cross took a swipe at his Republican counterparts in the Senate, many of whom have said the approved budget does not have enough cuts. He joined the chorus of Senate Democrats who have chided the Republicans in that chamber for refusing to draft their proposed cuts into legislation. “I would invite them to belly up to the bar and in real bill form put their cuts on the table. You can talk in theory all you want. You can make suggestions, you can have menus, but when it comes down to the real deal and sitting at the table and making cuts, this chamber did it. And it wasn’t easy.” He called on House members not to back away from their budget plan.
However, Palatine Republican Sen. Matt Murphy, a budget point man for his party in the Senate, disagrees. “The budget that they voted for and passed has issues. It isn’t a good budget. We had an alternative that we thought was a better budget, but that’s the budget that the majority chose to pass.”
Murphy said the House budget did not cut enough and that changes to areas such as the school funding formula needed to be made to avoid trouble down the road.
“If you’re serious about this tax increase being temporary, if you want to pay your bills without borrowing, you’re going to have to cut spending significantly. You’re going to have to reform programs like the Senate president’s talking about — from pensions to Medicaid, educational formulas all down the line — no sacred cows. There has been an insufficient willingness and appetite to do that. And until we do, you’re going to have budget problems,” Murphy said. He said one good that came of today’s session was a plan to divert money from the state’s “rainy day” fund to be used to make Medicaid payments and capture up to $100 million in federal matching funds. Once the money comes in from the feds, the “rainy day” dollars will go back into the fund.
“It didn’t involve the selling of any bonds or taking on more state and taxpayer debt,” Murphy said. “It confirms once again that we didn’t need to borrow nearly $9 billion to get the federal match.” Quinn had pitched several borrowing plans that would help the state get federal matching dollars. Murphy is referring to what Quinn calls a debt-restructuring plan to pay down all of the state’s backlog of overdue bills, not just Medicaid bills.
Then Senate also approved a plan today to extend reductions to the per diem payments lawmakers get for session days, as well as a cut to their travel reimbursement rates. If Quinn signs the bill, lawmakers would have to take 12 furlough days next fiscal year and forgo a cost-of-living salary increase.
The Senate did not take a vote on Senate Bill 1556, which would exclude from union membership state workers who are managers or who do work that primarily deals with policy issues. Cullerton said there was not enough support to pass the bill and that some members think that certain parts of it may need rewriting. The Senate also failed to act on the appointments of Gary Chico, former head of Chicago Public Schools and Quinn’s choice to chair the Illinois State Board of Education, and former Canton Democratic Rep. Michael Smith’s appointment to the Educational Labor Relations Board. Senate Republicans said they want Chico to appear before the appointments committee, and they voiced concern over whether Smith met all the legal requirements for the job.
Illinois lawmakers voted today to ensure that construction projects continue as planned throughout the state, but one legislative leader says budget work is not complete.
Senate Bill 2414, (House Amendment 2), which contains the construction spending, passed through both chambers in a matter of hours and was clearly the priority of the one-day summer session. Senate Democrats agreed to back off the $430 million of spending for education and human services that they tacked on to the capital funding, causing gridlock over its approval. But Senate President John Cullerton said that debate on the budget isn’t over.
“There’s a number of problems with the House budget that the House is aware of, that we’re aware of, where there are under-appropriations of things that need to be appropriated,” Cullerton said. He said the House approved less money in areas such as state aid for schools and Medicaid without making other needed tweaks such as rate changes. So the state will keep doling out the money as if the cuts have not been made, and the funds will not last all fiscal year, he believes. “What will happen is, they’ll get paid the same amount of money that they would normally get paid because the formula didn’t get changed. And then sometime late in the fiscal year … they would then run out of money,” Cullerton said.
He said the Senate would likely consider additional funding in the fall veto session, or more likely in January, when Democrats could approve it with a simple majority and no Republican votes. “We’ll have half a year of income, and we’ll see what the income is. And see how much of the old bills we’ve paid down to make an evaluation then as to what we should do.”
Gov. Pat Quinn called on lawmakers to approve the spending for construction without any additional operational funding. Quinn has said he supports more spending on education and human services but said that he did not want to jeopardize the job-creating capital construction bill. “The General Assembly took action today to keep the state’s biggest economic recovery program going, ensuring that thousands of workers stay on the job. Today’s session was about jobs and capital, and I thank the legislative leaders and members of the General Assembly for passing a 12-month capital appropriations bill, as I had asked of them,” Quinn said in a prepared statement. “A capital construction program was one of the first priorities of my administration, and it is a key component of my plan to bring jobs and economic recovery to Illinois. The plan is Illinois’ first capital program in more than a decade, and it is expected to create more than 439,000 jobs over six years.”
House Minority Leader Tom Cross said the House budget does not need fixing. “What I’ve heard about over the last few weeks is — from a variety of angles — that our budget in the House either didn’t spend enough, didn’t cut enough, cut too much [and] was not a good budget.”
He said a bipartisan effort in his chamber produced a budget that accounts for making the state’s pension payments, does not spend more than the state will bring in next fiscal year and will probably result in extra revenue that can be used to pay some of the state’s overdue bills. “It’s a pretty good budget. Is it a perfect budget? No. Is it a budget that could have had more reforms? Yes. Perhaps more cuts? Yes. But it’s a very good starting point,” Cross said on the House floor. “If we continue down this road in the years to come, we can climb out of this hole. It’s not going to happen overnight, but it’s going to continue to require us to work together.”
Cross took a swipe at his Republican counterparts in the Senate, many of whom have said the approved budget does not have enough cuts. He joined the chorus of Senate Democrats who have chided the Republicans in that chamber for refusing to draft their proposed cuts into legislation. “I would invite them to belly up to the bar and in real bill form put their cuts on the table. You can talk in theory all you want. You can make suggestions, you can have menus, but when it comes down to the real deal and sitting at the table and making cuts, this chamber did it. And it wasn’t easy.” He called on House members not to back away from their budget plan.
However, Palatine Republican Sen. Matt Murphy, a budget point man for his party in the Senate, disagrees. “The budget that they voted for and passed has issues. It isn’t a good budget. We had an alternative that we thought was a better budget, but that’s the budget that the majority chose to pass.”
Murphy said the House budget did not cut enough and that changes to areas such as the school funding formula needed to be made to avoid trouble down the road.
“If you’re serious about this tax increase being temporary, if you want to pay your bills without borrowing, you’re going to have to cut spending significantly. You’re going to have to reform programs like the Senate president’s talking about — from pensions to Medicaid, educational formulas all down the line — no sacred cows. There has been an insufficient willingness and appetite to do that. And until we do, you’re going to have budget problems,” Murphy said. He said one good that came of today’s session was a plan to divert money from the state’s “rainy day” fund to be used to make Medicaid payments and capture up to $100 million in federal matching funds. Once the money comes in from the feds, the “rainy day” dollars will go back into the fund.
“It didn’t involve the selling of any bonds or taking on more state and taxpayer debt,” Murphy said. “It confirms once again that we didn’t need to borrow nearly $9 billion to get the federal match.” Quinn had pitched several borrowing plans that would help the state get federal matching dollars. Murphy is referring to what Quinn calls a debt-restructuring plan to pay down all of the state’s backlog of overdue bills, not just Medicaid bills.
Then Senate also approved a plan today to extend reductions to the per diem payments lawmakers get for session days, as well as a cut to their travel reimbursement rates. If Quinn signs the bill, lawmakers would have to take 12 furlough days next fiscal year and forgo a cost-of-living salary increase.
The Senate did not take a vote on Senate Bill 1556, which would exclude from union membership state workers who are managers or who do work that primarily deals with policy issues. Cullerton said there was not enough support to pass the bill and that some members think that certain parts of it may need rewriting. The Senate also failed to act on the appointments of Gary Chico, former head of Chicago Public Schools and Quinn’s choice to chair the Illinois State Board of Education, and former Canton Democratic Rep. Michael Smith’s appointment to the Educational Labor Relations Board. Senate Republicans said they want Chico to appear before the appointments committee, and they voiced concern over whether Smith met all the legal requirements for the job.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Lawmakers likely won't be back for long
By Jamey Dunn
As lawmakers return to the Statehouse tomorrow, approving funding for capital construction is the top priority but not the only issue up for consideration.
“The No. 1 thing that we have to do on Wednesday is make sure our building program in Illinois continues,” Gov. Pat Quinn told reporters this week.
Fiscal Year 2012 funding for the state’s capital construction plan became a bargaining chip after Senate Democrats attached about $430 million in spending to the bill in the closing days of the regular spring session in an attempt to push the House to tack more funding onto its approved budget. Once Senate Democrats realized they stood alone — after Quinn sided with Republicans in calling for a 12-month “clean” capital bill with no added appropriations — Senate President John Cullerton backed away from the added spending last week.
“We laid out what the realities are. We have to continue to build and construct important buildings and roads and bridges and water systems and rail systems in Illinois. … We can’t have any delays, and I think all the members of the legislature agree with that,” Quinn said at a Chicago news conference. “I look forward to being there on Wednesday in Springfield, and we’ll get the final reauthorization of this public works plan that puts people to work.”
Cullerton warned that the budget has “structural deficiencies” that will become evident as the fiscal year, which begins July 1, unfolds. Quinn said that while lawmakers are back in session, they will review budget options that could be revisited in the fall veto session. But after calling for about $1 billion more in spending than the House’s budget plan, Quinn now says that spending cannot exceed the chamber’s self-imposed cap. “I think that the amount of money, $33.2 billion, which [is] lot of money, that’s the limit. That’s all that the budget’s going to permit in this fiscal year. What we can do within that limit though, is make sure that we invest in education and health care, public safety, these are the core priorities.”
However, he has not said that he will sign off on the approved budget plan itself. He said that shifts in the budget might be needed to direct money toward priorities such as early childhood education and violence prevention programs.Quinn said he could use his line item or reduction veto to alter the budge,t but he would need the backing of three-fifths of the legislature to approve increased funding in any area. He added that any potential spending must be “within the limit.”
Quinn says all four legislative leaders have agreed to put votes on the construction spending tomorrow. Leadership in both chambers tentatively plan to hold session for one day. “We are confident that a capital bill will pass both chambers that will allow our state to continue with the historic construction bill we passed a couple of years ago. This action, with the governor’s signature, will keep tens of thousands of people working and at the same time improving our infrastructure,” Sara Wojcicki, spokesperson for House Minority Leader Tom Cross, said in a prepared statement.
“The capital bill’s the big issue [for Wednesday,]” said John Patterson, a spokesperson for Cullerton. Patterson said the Senate also plans to vote on a plan to forgo cost-of-living wage increases for legislators, as well continuing a previous reduction in the per diem costs they are paid for session days and travel costs. The House has already approved the bill, which also calls for lawmakers to take 12 furlough days next fiscal year.
The Senate Executive Appointments Committee is scheduled to meet tomorrow morning, and Quinn’s choice to chair the Illinois State Board of Education, Gary Chico, former head of Chicago Public Schools, is on the docket. Former Canton Democratic Rep. Michael Smith’s appointment to the Educational Labor Relations Board is also on the schedule.
Patterson said Senate Democrats would discuss Senate Bill 1556, which the House approved on the last day of regular scheduled session in May. The measure would bar state workers who primarily handle policy decisions or work as managers from joining a union.
Quinn’s administration is backing the controversial bill— a version of which passed in the House in January. The Senate did not vote on the legislation. “Our state has more [workers] belonging to a union than any other state in the union. I believe in the right to collectively bargain, but you also have to have some people in management,” Quinn said.
As lawmakers return to the Statehouse tomorrow, approving funding for capital construction is the top priority but not the only issue up for consideration.
“The No. 1 thing that we have to do on Wednesday is make sure our building program in Illinois continues,” Gov. Pat Quinn told reporters this week.
Fiscal Year 2012 funding for the state’s capital construction plan became a bargaining chip after Senate Democrats attached about $430 million in spending to the bill in the closing days of the regular spring session in an attempt to push the House to tack more funding onto its approved budget. Once Senate Democrats realized they stood alone — after Quinn sided with Republicans in calling for a 12-month “clean” capital bill with no added appropriations — Senate President John Cullerton backed away from the added spending last week.
“We laid out what the realities are. We have to continue to build and construct important buildings and roads and bridges and water systems and rail systems in Illinois. … We can’t have any delays, and I think all the members of the legislature agree with that,” Quinn said at a Chicago news conference. “I look forward to being there on Wednesday in Springfield, and we’ll get the final reauthorization of this public works plan that puts people to work.”
Cullerton warned that the budget has “structural deficiencies” that will become evident as the fiscal year, which begins July 1, unfolds. Quinn said that while lawmakers are back in session, they will review budget options that could be revisited in the fall veto session. But after calling for about $1 billion more in spending than the House’s budget plan, Quinn now says that spending cannot exceed the chamber’s self-imposed cap. “I think that the amount of money, $33.2 billion, which [is] lot of money, that’s the limit. That’s all that the budget’s going to permit in this fiscal year. What we can do within that limit though, is make sure that we invest in education and health care, public safety, these are the core priorities.”
However, he has not said that he will sign off on the approved budget plan itself. He said that shifts in the budget might be needed to direct money toward priorities such as early childhood education and violence prevention programs.Quinn said he could use his line item or reduction veto to alter the budge,t but he would need the backing of three-fifths of the legislature to approve increased funding in any area. He added that any potential spending must be “within the limit.”
Quinn says all four legislative leaders have agreed to put votes on the construction spending tomorrow. Leadership in both chambers tentatively plan to hold session for one day. “We are confident that a capital bill will pass both chambers that will allow our state to continue with the historic construction bill we passed a couple of years ago. This action, with the governor’s signature, will keep tens of thousands of people working and at the same time improving our infrastructure,” Sara Wojcicki, spokesperson for House Minority Leader Tom Cross, said in a prepared statement.
“The capital bill’s the big issue [for Wednesday,]” said John Patterson, a spokesperson for Cullerton. Patterson said the Senate also plans to vote on a plan to forgo cost-of-living wage increases for legislators, as well continuing a previous reduction in the per diem costs they are paid for session days and travel costs. The House has already approved the bill, which also calls for lawmakers to take 12 furlough days next fiscal year.
The Senate Executive Appointments Committee is scheduled to meet tomorrow morning, and Quinn’s choice to chair the Illinois State Board of Education, Gary Chico, former head of Chicago Public Schools, is on the docket. Former Canton Democratic Rep. Michael Smith’s appointment to the Educational Labor Relations Board is also on the schedule.
Patterson said Senate Democrats would discuss Senate Bill 1556, which the House approved on the last day of regular scheduled session in May. The measure would bar state workers who primarily handle policy decisions or work as managers from joining a union.
Quinn’s administration is backing the controversial bill— a version of which passed in the House in January. The Senate did not vote on the legislation. “Our state has more [workers] belonging to a union than any other state in the union. I believe in the right to collectively bargain, but you also have to have some people in management,” Quinn said.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Budget deal reached to keep construction going
By Jamey Dunn
Lawmakers have reached a deal in an impasse over spending that threatened to stall construction projects throughout Illinois.
Last month, in the closing days of the legislative session, the Senate approved the House’s budget proposal, which was based on a revenue estimate for Fiscal Year 2012 that was about $1 billion less than the Senate’s projection. However, Senate Democrats tacked on additional spending, primarily for human services and education, to the FY 2012 spending bill for the capital plan. The House did not vote on the bill, and Gov. Pat Quinn warned that lawmakers must approve the construction spending or projects could begin to shut down as early as tomorrow. Lawmakers are scheduled to hold legislative session to take up the issue next Wednesday. FY 2012 begins July 1.
Senate Democrats have backed off the extra funding for now. "The state's construction program should continue uninterrupted. The Senate intends to return to the Capitol on Wednesday to fully fund the construction program for the full 12-month period,” Senate President John Cullerton said in a prepared statement.
However, they maintain that the budget is incomplete and say something will have to be done down the road, presumable during the fall veto session. “There are still major structural deficiencies in the House budget that will become clear in the months ahead. I look forward to having the opportunity to address issues such as the underfunding of education and social service commitments,” Cullerton said.
While the $430 million in spending that some Senate Democrats want is not much when put up against the House’s overall $33.2 billion plan, those in human services and education say it would have gone a long way. Meanwhile, Republicans say no amount of money is worth tying up job-creating construction projects in a political battle and any more spending is irresponsible. “It’s unconscionable to put thousands of jobs and projects in jeopardy over a political issue,” said Patty Schuh, spokesperson for Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno. Quinn also called for lawmakers to approve a “clean” capital spending bill with no additional appropriations.
“It’s a very delicate balance I think that we have to achieve. Just like people do at home and at work, when you make a decision about what are the most priority items to fund when you are looking at difficult times,” said Park Ridge Democratic Sen. Dan Kotowski, who sponsored the additional spending. Kotowski said the spending would have restored aid to some of the most vulnerable residents of the state. He said that some of the cuts in the House budget could open the state up for legal challenges because it is required by law to fund certain programs. Adding that some of the House cuts “not only present us with legal problems federally, [they’re] also morally unconscionable.”
Don Moss, coordinator for the Illinois Human Services Coalition, broke down what was at stake for human services:
The bulk of the restoration, $212 million, would have gone to fully fund general state aid to K-12 schools, which is paid on a per pupil basis. “[The cut in the House budget] will have the greatest impact on the least wealthy districts as far as property tax base and districts that have the highest concentration on low-income students,” Larry Joseph, director of budget and tax policy initiative for Voices for Illinois Children, said of the potential cut. “It won’t be an impact that is spread evenly across school districts and among students.” He said if the House's cut is approved by Quinn as is, general state aid would be the lowest it has been since 2007. Joseph said the general state aid reduction has gotten the most attention. “But it’s not the only thing, and it’s important to understand that.”
He said if Quinn signs the approved budget, grants for early childhood education will be slashed by $17 million, leaving 4,000 children without preschool. He added that the grants have been cut in recent years, leaving an estimated 8,000 children without preschool. He cited a recent study commissioned by child advocacy groups Voices for Illinois Children and The Ounce of Prevention Fund, from the research arm of the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation, a nonprofit health and human services organization. The report concluded that investments in early childhood education are cost-effective and save the state spending in other areas, such as corrections and social services. “At the very time that this comes out that the investment is well worth it … we’re making these cuts in preschool. It doesn’t make sense," he said. The day after regular session adjourned, Quinn chastised lawmakers for cutting early childhood programs as well as MAP grants.
Joseph said some smaller programs, such as a new teacher mentoring program that would be eliminated, will join other less costly programs, such as summer offerings for struggling students, that have been eliminated in recent years. “These are relative small programs, but obviously, it has a big impact if you eliminate it because whatever it is it was doing it is not doing at all anymore.”
Joseph said while the additional spending may not seem like much compared with the entire budget, “for education and human services both, there’s a lot at stake.”
Schuh said when it comes to the budget, Republicans are willing to negotiate, but the capital bill should not come into play. Republicans backed a $5 billion to $6 billion spending cut from Gov. Pat Quinn’s budget plan to ensure that the recent income tax increase remains temporary, as it is written. The House budget represents a less than $3 billion reduction from the governor’s proposal. Senate Democrats have argued that shifts could be made to accommodate their requests without increasing the total spending for FY 2012.
However, Schuh called such plans “smokescreen” and said any additional funds that are found should go to pay down the state’s billions of dollars in late bills. Republican votes will be needed to approve any new legislation for the rest of this calendar year. It appears that on this issue, Republicans used their newfound leverage to get what they wanted. Before the Senate Democrats conceded today, Schuh said: “It’s simply not in the cards. It’s irresponsible. … We are absolutely dug in. It’s not going to happen.”
Lawmakers have reached a deal in an impasse over spending that threatened to stall construction projects throughout Illinois.
Last month, in the closing days of the legislative session, the Senate approved the House’s budget proposal, which was based on a revenue estimate for Fiscal Year 2012 that was about $1 billion less than the Senate’s projection. However, Senate Democrats tacked on additional spending, primarily for human services and education, to the FY 2012 spending bill for the capital plan. The House did not vote on the bill, and Gov. Pat Quinn warned that lawmakers must approve the construction spending or projects could begin to shut down as early as tomorrow. Lawmakers are scheduled to hold legislative session to take up the issue next Wednesday. FY 2012 begins July 1.
Senate Democrats have backed off the extra funding for now. "The state's construction program should continue uninterrupted. The Senate intends to return to the Capitol on Wednesday to fully fund the construction program for the full 12-month period,” Senate President John Cullerton said in a prepared statement.
However, they maintain that the budget is incomplete and say something will have to be done down the road, presumable during the fall veto session. “There are still major structural deficiencies in the House budget that will become clear in the months ahead. I look forward to having the opportunity to address issues such as the underfunding of education and social service commitments,” Cullerton said.
While the $430 million in spending that some Senate Democrats want is not much when put up against the House’s overall $33.2 billion plan, those in human services and education say it would have gone a long way. Meanwhile, Republicans say no amount of money is worth tying up job-creating construction projects in a political battle and any more spending is irresponsible. “It’s unconscionable to put thousands of jobs and projects in jeopardy over a political issue,” said Patty Schuh, spokesperson for Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno. Quinn also called for lawmakers to approve a “clean” capital spending bill with no additional appropriations.
“It’s a very delicate balance I think that we have to achieve. Just like people do at home and at work, when you make a decision about what are the most priority items to fund when you are looking at difficult times,” said Park Ridge Democratic Sen. Dan Kotowski, who sponsored the additional spending. Kotowski said the spending would have restored aid to some of the most vulnerable residents of the state. He said that some of the cuts in the House budget could open the state up for legal challenges because it is required by law to fund certain programs. Adding that some of the House cuts “not only present us with legal problems federally, [they’re] also morally unconscionable.”
Don Moss, coordinator for the Illinois Human Services Coalition, broke down what was at stake for human services:
- $1.2 million for epilepsy programs.
- $19.9 for state operated mental health facilities.
- $2.9 in grants for community care for mental health patients.
- $4.2 million for children’s mental health in-home care.
- $1.5 for addiction treatment.
The bulk of the restoration, $212 million, would have gone to fully fund general state aid to K-12 schools, which is paid on a per pupil basis. “[The cut in the House budget] will have the greatest impact on the least wealthy districts as far as property tax base and districts that have the highest concentration on low-income students,” Larry Joseph, director of budget and tax policy initiative for Voices for Illinois Children, said of the potential cut. “It won’t be an impact that is spread evenly across school districts and among students.” He said if the House's cut is approved by Quinn as is, general state aid would be the lowest it has been since 2007. Joseph said the general state aid reduction has gotten the most attention. “But it’s not the only thing, and it’s important to understand that.”
He said if Quinn signs the approved budget, grants for early childhood education will be slashed by $17 million, leaving 4,000 children without preschool. He added that the grants have been cut in recent years, leaving an estimated 8,000 children without preschool. He cited a recent study commissioned by child advocacy groups Voices for Illinois Children and The Ounce of Prevention Fund, from the research arm of the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation, a nonprofit health and human services organization. The report concluded that investments in early childhood education are cost-effective and save the state spending in other areas, such as corrections and social services. “At the very time that this comes out that the investment is well worth it … we’re making these cuts in preschool. It doesn’t make sense," he said. The day after regular session adjourned, Quinn chastised lawmakers for cutting early childhood programs as well as MAP grants.
Joseph said some smaller programs, such as a new teacher mentoring program that would be eliminated, will join other less costly programs, such as summer offerings for struggling students, that have been eliminated in recent years. “These are relative small programs, but obviously, it has a big impact if you eliminate it because whatever it is it was doing it is not doing at all anymore.”
Joseph said while the additional spending may not seem like much compared with the entire budget, “for education and human services both, there’s a lot at stake.”
Schuh said when it comes to the budget, Republicans are willing to negotiate, but the capital bill should not come into play. Republicans backed a $5 billion to $6 billion spending cut from Gov. Pat Quinn’s budget plan to ensure that the recent income tax increase remains temporary, as it is written. The House budget represents a less than $3 billion reduction from the governor’s proposal. Senate Democrats have argued that shifts could be made to accommodate their requests without increasing the total spending for FY 2012.
However, Schuh called such plans “smokescreen” and said any additional funds that are found should go to pay down the state’s billions of dollars in late bills. Republican votes will be needed to approve any new legislation for the rest of this calendar year. It appears that on this issue, Republicans used their newfound leverage to get what they wanted. Before the Senate Democrats conceded today, Schuh said: “It’s simply not in the cards. It’s irresponsible. … We are absolutely dug in. It’s not going to happen.”
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Plans for session, but no agreement
By Jamey Dunn
Illinois lawmakers will return to the Statehouse next week in hopes of hashing out a plan to keep the state’s capital construction projects rolling. However, some Democrats still want to see additional spending added to the budget approved last month.
Senate Democrats tacked on to the House's budget $430 million in spending, which would go primarily to fund social services and education, by tying it to the funding for construction projects for the next fiscal year. The House did not take up the Senate’s changes to the bill, and Gov. Pat Quinn warned that projects could start grinding to a halt as early as Friday if the funding is not approved.
Leaders of both legislative chambers agreed to call members back next Wednesday, so they say there will be no need to call a costlier special session. Lawmakers could also take up other legislation and would not be restricted by the special session requirement that they stick to the topic they were called back to address.
However, after a meeting today among the four legislative leaders and the governor, a compromise to address budget issues does not appear close at hand. “At this point [House] Speaker [Michael Madigan] remains willing and anxious to work cooperatively with the governor and the Senate,” said Steve Brown, Madigan's spokesman. “I don’t think there are any specifics from our side that have come out as a result of the meeting today.”
Park Ridge Democratic Sen. Dan Kotowski, who led one of the Senate’s two budgeting committees, said before today’s meeting that the leaders would discuss approving construction spending for six months with the understanding that other budget issues would be up for consideration when the capital spending ran out. Don Moss, coordinator for the Illinois Human Services Coalition, said he would support such a plan because he believes lawmakers will likely discover as they begin to see revenue come in next fiscal year that the House estimate the budget was based on was low. “My feeling is that the House underestimated the potential revenue for the new fiscal year,” Moss said. “Once these cuts go into place, it’s difficult to get them back, so whatever works.”
It appears that Senate President John Cullerton floated the idea, only to have it shot down. “The Senate president went into today's meeting with an alternative to address all the leaders' concerns and ensure that the construction program continues for the next six months. That option was rejected. He intends to consult with his members to find consensus on how Senate Democrats plan to proceed,” said John Patterson, a spokesman for Cullerton.
A Quinn spokeswoman told reporters after the meeting in Chicago that the governor wants lawmakers to approve a “clean” capital bill with no additonal spending. She said Quinn wants to address the budget again when lawmakers return for veto session in the fall. Quinn called the budget “incomplete” the day after lawmakers adjourned the spring session, saying education was not properly funded. A written statement issued by the governor’s office said: “In a meeting today with the legislative leaders, the governor pushed for a 12-month capital appropriations bill with no conditions. He emphasized that without agreement on a capital bill, we will lose 52,000 jobs and irreparably damage our economic recovery. The governor proposed to have a sincere conversation with the legislative leaders in the fall to discuss reallocation of funding within the $33.2 billion state budget, based on the Senate Democrats' priorities. The legislative leaders will present these proposals to their respective caucuses, and the governor has asked them to come to agreement before Friday.”
Kotowski said there are options to add in the $430 million in spending without breaking the House’s revenue estimates. One example he gave was Senate proposals, not yet approved by the House, that would cut government operations, such as the budgets for constitutional officers. He says the cuts would represent $74 million that could be spent elsewhere. “We could hit that number. … We could get the money that we need without increasing spending whatsoever,” Kotowski said. “I would hope to see more willingness on the House side to see more cuts … in order to fund these people who don’t have a voice in government.”
According to Larry Joseph, director of budget and tax policy initiative for Voices for Illinois Children, the budget implementation bill did not include $297 million in transfers from the General Revenue fund to other state funds that the House originally planned for. “That constitutes a spending cut,” he said.
Joseph added that the process of automatically transferring money to funds needs more transparency because some funds, such as the Local Government Distributive Fund — which will not see a reduction in the approved budget — do not have other revenue sources, but other funds get money elsewhere and may not need as much from the operating budget. “The whole area of statutory transfers is very murky,” Joseph said. “A lot of them are just never scrutinized. They’re on automatic pilot.”
Whatever lawmakers decide to do in the end, be it passing capital spending for six month or a year with no additional General Revenue Fund spending, restoring some amount of the proposed spending from Senate Democrats possibly by shifting around money to fund some of the costs, or another as-of yet-unforeseen solution, Republicans will have a seat at the table because the General Assembly has exceeded the May 31 deadline to pass the budget with a simple majority. Anything passed now will require a three-fifths majority and Republican votes in both chambers. Inquiries to both Republican leaders’ spokespersons for comment were not returned.
Illinois lawmakers will return to the Statehouse next week in hopes of hashing out a plan to keep the state’s capital construction projects rolling. However, some Democrats still want to see additional spending added to the budget approved last month.
Senate Democrats tacked on to the House's budget $430 million in spending, which would go primarily to fund social services and education, by tying it to the funding for construction projects for the next fiscal year. The House did not take up the Senate’s changes to the bill, and Gov. Pat Quinn warned that projects could start grinding to a halt as early as Friday if the funding is not approved.
Leaders of both legislative chambers agreed to call members back next Wednesday, so they say there will be no need to call a costlier special session. Lawmakers could also take up other legislation and would not be restricted by the special session requirement that they stick to the topic they were called back to address.
However, after a meeting today among the four legislative leaders and the governor, a compromise to address budget issues does not appear close at hand. “At this point [House] Speaker [Michael Madigan] remains willing and anxious to work cooperatively with the governor and the Senate,” said Steve Brown, Madigan's spokesman. “I don’t think there are any specifics from our side that have come out as a result of the meeting today.”
Park Ridge Democratic Sen. Dan Kotowski, who led one of the Senate’s two budgeting committees, said before today’s meeting that the leaders would discuss approving construction spending for six months with the understanding that other budget issues would be up for consideration when the capital spending ran out. Don Moss, coordinator for the Illinois Human Services Coalition, said he would support such a plan because he believes lawmakers will likely discover as they begin to see revenue come in next fiscal year that the House estimate the budget was based on was low. “My feeling is that the House underestimated the potential revenue for the new fiscal year,” Moss said. “Once these cuts go into place, it’s difficult to get them back, so whatever works.”
It appears that Senate President John Cullerton floated the idea, only to have it shot down. “The Senate president went into today's meeting with an alternative to address all the leaders' concerns and ensure that the construction program continues for the next six months. That option was rejected. He intends to consult with his members to find consensus on how Senate Democrats plan to proceed,” said John Patterson, a spokesman for Cullerton.
A Quinn spokeswoman told reporters after the meeting in Chicago that the governor wants lawmakers to approve a “clean” capital bill with no additonal spending. She said Quinn wants to address the budget again when lawmakers return for veto session in the fall. Quinn called the budget “incomplete” the day after lawmakers adjourned the spring session, saying education was not properly funded. A written statement issued by the governor’s office said: “In a meeting today with the legislative leaders, the governor pushed for a 12-month capital appropriations bill with no conditions. He emphasized that without agreement on a capital bill, we will lose 52,000 jobs and irreparably damage our economic recovery. The governor proposed to have a sincere conversation with the legislative leaders in the fall to discuss reallocation of funding within the $33.2 billion state budget, based on the Senate Democrats' priorities. The legislative leaders will present these proposals to their respective caucuses, and the governor has asked them to come to agreement before Friday.”
Kotowski said there are options to add in the $430 million in spending without breaking the House’s revenue estimates. One example he gave was Senate proposals, not yet approved by the House, that would cut government operations, such as the budgets for constitutional officers. He says the cuts would represent $74 million that could be spent elsewhere. “We could hit that number. … We could get the money that we need without increasing spending whatsoever,” Kotowski said. “I would hope to see more willingness on the House side to see more cuts … in order to fund these people who don’t have a voice in government.”
According to Larry Joseph, director of budget and tax policy initiative for Voices for Illinois Children, the budget implementation bill did not include $297 million in transfers from the General Revenue fund to other state funds that the House originally planned for. “That constitutes a spending cut,” he said.
Joseph added that the process of automatically transferring money to funds needs more transparency because some funds, such as the Local Government Distributive Fund — which will not see a reduction in the approved budget — do not have other revenue sources, but other funds get money elsewhere and may not need as much from the operating budget. “The whole area of statutory transfers is very murky,” Joseph said. “A lot of them are just never scrutinized. They’re on automatic pilot.”
Whatever lawmakers decide to do in the end, be it passing capital spending for six month or a year with no additional General Revenue Fund spending, restoring some amount of the proposed spending from Senate Democrats possibly by shifting around money to fund some of the costs, or another as-of yet-unforeseen solution, Republicans will have a seat at the table because the General Assembly has exceeded the May 31 deadline to pass the budget with a simple majority. Anything passed now will require a three-fifths majority and Republican votes in both chambers. Inquiries to both Republican leaders’ spokespersons for comment were not returned.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Ag industry pushes for Quinn to sign gaming bill
By Jamey Dunn
Illinois agricultural groups are calling on Gov. Pat Quinn to sign the massive gaming expansion plan approved by the General Assembly, but Quinn does not have the option to do anything with the bill yet.
“The provisions in Senate Bill 744 are going to go a long way in the future of agriculture in Illinois,” said Margaret Vaughn, government affairs director for the Illinois Association of Agricultural Fairs.
The measure calls for five new casinos in the state, including one owned by the city of Chicago. It would also allow horse-racing tracks, including the state fairgrounds in Springfield, to install slot machines and existing casinos to expand the number of gambling positions at their facilities. Opposition to the bill includes owners of existing casinos who say that gaming market is oversaturated in Illinois and, that expansion will take away their existing revenues, as well as groups who say that expansion will only drive up gambling addiction and social services costs to the state associated with gambling.
Vaughn said the plan would mean about $25 million in annual funding for agricultural, historic and conservation programs in the state, including:
The Extension program, which in the 1980s had an office in all of Illinois’ 102 counties, recently went through a cost-saving consolidation that closed down over half of it’s 76 offices. The program is best known for administering the 4-H youth agricultural club but also offers conservation, nutrition, gardening and life-skills education programs. Soil and water conservation districts saw more than a 40 percent cut in state funds for the current fiscal year.
Sheryl King, director of the Equine Sciences program at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, said that the horse racing industry in Illinois has suffered as other states have allowed slots at horse racing tracks. She said the money brought in by the slots has allowed races in other states to offer larger purses to winners, and Illinois just cannot compete.
“Part of this bill is going to reinvigorate the horse industry in the sate of Illinois,” King said referring to the provision that would allow slot machines at horse racing tacks. “Some of you may not know that Illinois used to be a pre-eminent racing state. It has lost that pre-eminence over the past decade.”
These representatives of the state’s agriculture community trying to encourage Quinn to approve the gaming bill as is, but the governor can’t do anything with the legislation yet. After the bill passed in his chamber, Senate President John Cullerton pulled a procedural move to stall sending the bill to Quinn’s desk.
John Patterson, a Cullerton spokesman, said that the Senate president made the move so that he can continue negations with Quinn about the bill, as well as better understand the governor’s intentions.
Quinn has not given a clear indication about what he will do once he gets the bill. He supports a casino in Chicago. But after SB 744 passed, he said, “I think any person with common sense looking at that bill would say it’s excessive.”
Quinn has also said he does not approve of allowing slots at the state fairgrounds, calling the fairgrounds a “family place.” Quinn could veto the bill outright, sign it as is or use an amendatory veto to try and cut out the parts he does not like.
Vaughn said of the fairgrounds: “It’s a big beautiful facility. And they’re not really utilized the other 50 weeks of the year. There are events going on but [not] compared to what they are capable of.”
Chris Boyster, Sangamon County Board member from Springfield, said slots at the fairgrounds would give the Springfield area an economic boost. He added that the fairgrounds need the money the slots could bring in for improvements. “We shouldn’t have to wait to a catastrophic electrical failure at the fairgrounds to fix the fairgrounds.”
Illinois agricultural groups are calling on Gov. Pat Quinn to sign the massive gaming expansion plan approved by the General Assembly, but Quinn does not have the option to do anything with the bill yet.
“The provisions in Senate Bill 744 are going to go a long way in the future of agriculture in Illinois,” said Margaret Vaughn, government affairs director for the Illinois Association of Agricultural Fairs.
The measure calls for five new casinos in the state, including one owned by the city of Chicago. It would also allow horse-racing tracks, including the state fairgrounds in Springfield, to install slot machines and existing casinos to expand the number of gambling positions at their facilities. Opposition to the bill includes owners of existing casinos who say that gaming market is oversaturated in Illinois and, that expansion will take away their existing revenues, as well as groups who say that expansion will only drive up gambling addiction and social services costs to the state associated with gambling.
Vaughn said the plan would mean about $25 million in annual funding for agricultural, historic and conservation programs in the state, including:
- $5 million for county fairs.
- $10 million in dedicated funds for soil and water conservation districts. The money would replace general revenue funding for the districts.
- $4 million for the University of Illinois Extension program.
- $1 million for a forestry assistance program.
- $2.5 million for historic sites.
- $2.5 for the Parks and Conservation Fund.
- $100,000 for equine research at state universities.
The Extension program, which in the 1980s had an office in all of Illinois’ 102 counties, recently went through a cost-saving consolidation that closed down over half of it’s 76 offices. The program is best known for administering the 4-H youth agricultural club but also offers conservation, nutrition, gardening and life-skills education programs. Soil and water conservation districts saw more than a 40 percent cut in state funds for the current fiscal year.
Sheryl King, director of the Equine Sciences program at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, said that the horse racing industry in Illinois has suffered as other states have allowed slots at horse racing tracks. She said the money brought in by the slots has allowed races in other states to offer larger purses to winners, and Illinois just cannot compete.
“Part of this bill is going to reinvigorate the horse industry in the sate of Illinois,” King said referring to the provision that would allow slot machines at horse racing tacks. “Some of you may not know that Illinois used to be a pre-eminent racing state. It has lost that pre-eminence over the past decade.”
These representatives of the state’s agriculture community trying to encourage Quinn to approve the gaming bill as is, but the governor can’t do anything with the legislation yet. After the bill passed in his chamber, Senate President John Cullerton pulled a procedural move to stall sending the bill to Quinn’s desk.
John Patterson, a Cullerton spokesman, said that the Senate president made the move so that he can continue negations with Quinn about the bill, as well as better understand the governor’s intentions.
Quinn has not given a clear indication about what he will do once he gets the bill. He supports a casino in Chicago. But after SB 744 passed, he said, “I think any person with common sense looking at that bill would say it’s excessive.”
Quinn has also said he does not approve of allowing slots at the state fairgrounds, calling the fairgrounds a “family place.” Quinn could veto the bill outright, sign it as is or use an amendatory veto to try and cut out the parts he does not like.
Vaughn said of the fairgrounds: “It’s a big beautiful facility. And they’re not really utilized the other 50 weeks of the year. There are events going on but [not] compared to what they are capable of.”
Chris Boyster, Sangamon County Board member from Springfield, said slots at the fairgrounds would give the S
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