FY16 Budget
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Legislature’s budget commission
reports continued shortfall in State revenues.
A report for September 2015, compiled by the nonpartisan Commission on
Government Forecasting and Accountability (CGFA), shows that Illinois general
funds receipts fell $382 million short of comparable figures for September
2015. This change reflects reductions in
personal and corporate income tax rates that took effect on January 1, 2015,
and is one of the pieces of background that lie behind the current State of
Illinois budget crisis. Released on Thursday,
October 1, the report can be found on page 6 of CGFA’s “September 2015 Monthly Briefing.”
The September numbers, which reflect ongoing receipts paid by
taxpayers into the state Department of Revenue and other State agencies that
take in general funds, follow up on similar numbers reported in July 2015 and
August 2015. CGFA’s three-month summary
spreadsheet, also published in their September report, shows an accumulated
cash flow shortfall of $1,137 million for the quarter-long period. It is expected, furthermore, that a
comparable shortfall will be posted during the fourth and final quarter of
calendar year 2015.
Despite the ongoing fiscal shortfall, the Democrat majority in the
Illinois General Assembly continues to insist that the State must operate a
public sector that is almost exactly as large, and spends almost as much money
from day to day, as it did in fiscal year 2015 before the changes in tax rates
took effect. Court decisions, continuing
appropriations and consent decrees have kept the money flowing for a wide
variety of budget line items. The constitutional requirement that Illinois enact and
implement a balanced budget has been ignored.
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Budget impasse begins to affect
funding for 9-1-1 centers. On Monday, October 5, St. Clair County announced that it had commenced litigation
against the State of Illinois. At issue
is money from a tax that Illinois extracts from the cellphone bills paid by
millions of Illinoisans. The Emergency
Telephone tax is meant to support the 24/7 operation of 9-1-1 centers across
Illinois, but money collected by this tax is not being distributed by the State
to local 9-1-1 boards this fall because the money for the distribution has not
been appropriated by agreement between the General Assembly and the Governor. For St. Clair County, this lack of a budget
means that $125,000 a month in essential operational funding is not being
received. The county includes
Belleville, East St. Louis, and other diverse and working-class communities in
southwestern Illinois.
Chicago Public Schools
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Former CPS CEO indicted, is expected
to plead guilty. Barbara Byrd-Bennett, Mayor Emanuel’s choice as CEO of Chicago Public
Schools from October 2012 until going on leave of absence in April 2015, resigned under pressure in June of this year. At issue were no-bid contracts awarded by the
Byrd-Bennett management team to SUPES Academy and Synesi, two firms with
existing ties to the school system CEO, in return for alleged work in Chicago
Public Schools’ executive retraining and professional development.
The former schools chief has now been indicted on federal charges of mail fraud and wire fraud in
relation to these contracts. These
charges include alleged payments by the firms of “gifts” to Byrd-Bennett and
promises of future payments to her after she left office. On Thursday, October 8, federal
prosecutors held a news conference in which they announced the indictment and
reported that the former schools CEO is currently cooperating with
prosecutors. Her cooperation is expected
to include a guilty plea. The U.S.
attorney’s prosecution work will continue, now with SUPES Academy, Synesi, and
other persons of interest as targets.
Byrd-Bennett’s resignation and indictment are not directly related
to the $1.1 billion deficit facing Chicago Public Schools, but are seen by many
observers as worsening the overall cloud of suspicion that surrounds the
troubled school system.
Economy – Granite City
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U.S. Steel warns workers of possible
Granite City shutdown. The Granite City Works
specializes in the tubular steel used to drill for North American oil
and gas. A downturn in the international
prices of fossil fuels is reducing drilling activities and is one of the
factors endangering the mill’s 2,000 jobs.
The mill also makes steel products for other industry sectors and
products, including construction, containers, and motor vehicles. The mill complex, located in an industrial
region of urban southwestern Illinois, contains two blast furnaces with a
capacity to produce up to 2.8 million tons of steel per year, representing
almost 13 percent of U.S. Steel’s overall production capabilities. The mill complex also contains numerous
conveyor-belt lines used to “finish” blast-furnace steel for various specific
end-uses.
The steelmaker blamed a tide of imported steel products for the threatened closure.
The American Iron and Steel Institute, the voice of the American steel
industry, reports that the U.S. market share of imported steel has grown to 31
percent this year. The worker
notification was made public on Tuesday, October 6. Many other jobs in the Metro-East region are
indirectly dependent upon continued operations at the Granite City Works.
General Assembly – Rep. David Leitch
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Deputy Republican Leader to retire
from Peoria-based legislative seat. David Leitch has
represented parts of the greater Peoria area in the Illinois House since
January 1989, making him the dean of the House Republican Caucus. A leader in Illinois laws relating to health
care, higher education, job creation/retention and financial management, he has
also served as a financial vice president of PNC Bank and as a member of the
Illinois Senate. He currently represents
the 73rd District, which includes parts of Peoria, urbanized
subdivisions and suburbs north of Peoria, and rural areas along the upper
Illinois River. Rep. Leitch announced on Thursday, October 8 that he will
not run for re-election and that it is his intention to step down from public
office at the end of the 99th General Assembly in January 2017.
Representative Leitch is the lead sponsor of significant
pioneering laws on the statute books of Illinois. A cancer survivor, Leitch passed the first law
in Illinois to mandate insurance coverage for mammograms and the first bill in
the United States to secure umbilical cord blood stem cell collections. He was the legislative foundation and
guardian of what is now a major teaching-hospital complex in north central
Illinois, centering on the University of Illinois College of
Medicine at Peoria. Land transfer and capital development bills
he sponsored led to the creation and expansion of campuses within the Illinois Central
College community
college system.
Horse Racing – Maywood Park
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Maywood Park closure reduces number of
operating Illinois racetracks to 4. The final day of harness racing at the historic
racetrack was Friday, October 2.
Operations are highly endangered at the one remaining Illinois harness
track, south suburban Balmoral.
Three Illinois tracks – Arlington Park, Hawthorne and Fairmount Park –
offer thoroughbred racing during seasonal race meetings.
Racetrack jobs, which are lost when a track closes, include not
only track employees but also jobs supported by horse owners, such as horse
trainers, veterinarians, stable assistants, and jockeys/sulky drivers. Out at the horse farms, track closures mean
lower demand for animal professionals, feed, hay, and other essential equine
supplies. The racing animals are moved
to other states where racetracks survive and do business. Downstate Illinois is affected when a
Chicago-area track closes.
Standardbred (harness) racehorses pull racing sulkies around
tracks for spectator excitement, “purse” prizes paid to owners, and
gambling. Taxes from the gambling
“handle” help to support the prizes paid to horse owners, and a multi-year
decline in live horse racing – particularly harness racing – is blamed for
declining purses and a diminished ability of racetracks to enjoy the cash flow
needed to maintain operations.
Advocates have repeatedly asked for legal permission to carry out
non-horse betting at or adjacent to racetracks.
The proposal, called “slots at tracks,” has been utilized successfully
in other states such as New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. A proposal of this type was vetoed by former
Gov. Pat Quinn in 2012, dashing the hope of participants in the harness racing
industry and playing a role in the permanent closure of Maywood Park this
week.
Medical Marijuana
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First Illinois cultivation centers
begin to grow medical marijuana. A reporter was allowed this week into
the closely guarded, warehouse-like Ataraxia cultivation center
built adjacent to Albion in southeastern Illinois. Ataraxia’s all-interior cultivation rooms are
starting to grow cannabis buds from plant varieties that were chosen by Ataraxia
owners for sale in licensed Illinois dispensaries. Dispensary sales could start as soon as late
October or early November.
The benefits of the Illinois medical cannabis program, which is
administered by the Illinois Department of Public Health, will be accessible only to persons
who have been diagnosed with any one of 39 specified medical conditions and
diseases. Eligibility conditions include
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), cancer, multiple sclerosis, and
neurological seizures. The patient must
apply for a medical cannabis card with the permission of his or her longtime
medical care provider. Approximately
3,100 patients from across Illinois have been approved for the cards, and
additional applications are being considered for approval. The application process can be started here: https://medicalcannabispatients.illinois.gov/.
Medical marijuana remains on pilot-program status in
Illinois. The General Assembly is
required, after the drug begins to actually be sold and used by patients, to
look at how the program is being implemented and whether to make it permanent. The pilot-program cultivation and sale of
medical cannabis was legalized by the General Assembly in 2013. The pilot program will automatically be
repealed on January 1, 2018, unless its life is extended by law.
·
New health conditions may be added to medical
marijuana eligibility list. Under current law, a patient is only
eligible for a medical cannabis card if he or she has been diagnosed with any
one of 39 specified medical conditions.
Many patients who do not have any of these diagnoses, but who have
chronic and intractable symptoms arising from other health conditions, have
asked the Medical Cannabis Advisory Board to consider expanding the list of 39
medical conditions.
In a panel vote on Wednesday, October 7, the Advisory Board
recommended that eight additional conditions, including autism, osteoarthritis,
and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), be added to the list. The Advisory Board’s recommendation does not
constitute final action; the vote will be forwarded to the Director of the
Department of Public Health and the administration of Gov. Bruce Rauner.
The Advisory Board’s recommendation follows a previous decision by
the Rauner administration to hold off on expanding the medical marijuana
diagnosis eligibility list for now. In
the previous round of denials, Gov. Rauner explained that he was reluctant to
take precipitate action in the lack of operating evidence of the ability of the
Illinois medical marijuana system to dispense small quantities of cannabis in a
controlled, regulated manner under conditions of tight security. The Advisory Board believes that the imminent
time frame of actual medical marijuana dispensary sales in Illinois – which
could start up as soon as late October or early November of this year – will
provide the Rauner administration with the data and experience necessary to
revisit this decision.
Ridesharing – Taxicabs – Uber/Lyft
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Chicago cab drivers try to organize
one-day job action. The Thursday, October 8 job action was described as a cabdrivers’
protest against a recent announcement and policy change by the Mayor Emanuel
administration with respect to ridesharing cars, many of them operated by app
operators Uber and Lyft.
Under current city law, ridesharing cars are legally banned from
picking up or dropping customers at Chicago’s Midway and O’Hare Airports, and
at the McCormick Place convention Center.
Mayor Emanuel, however, as part of his 2016 city budget proposal, is
calling for granting ridesharing access to these three locations. In return for this access, ridesharing
drivers would have to pay additional fees to the city.
The Emanuel proposal would also allow cabdrivers to increase their
fares by 15 percent. Many cabdrivers
believe that the proceeds of the fare hike would not be sufficient to make up
for lost revenues from the city’s airports and convention center. Cab drivers must pay individual taxicab
licenses, called ‘medallions,” and other operating expenses that are not fully
borne by ridesharing drivers and their organizers.
Autumn in Illinois
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First full week of bowhunting season.
The widely anticipated hunting season began on October 1 and will end on
January 17, 2016. Deer bowhunters reduce
overpopulations of the browsing animals, which are widely blamed for Illinois
road safety issues. Bowhunting, like
other forms of hunting that require a license, is overseen by the Illinois Department of Natural
Resources. Bowhunting operations are plentiful
throughout Illinois, with west-central Illinois known nationwide for archery
trophy experiences.
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Fall harvest in full swing.
The Illinois Department of Agriculture reported this week that the process of
gathering in corn and soybeans from Illinois farm fields has passed the 50
percent mark. More than half of the corn
and beans harvested so far this year has been found to be in good or excellent
condition when cut and stored, reflecting relatively dry, harvest-friendly
weather conditions that have inhibited dampened grains and potential mold
growth. Illinois is expected to be the
nation’s No. 1 state producer of beans this year, and our corn crop should come
in as No. 2 behind Iowa.
Week in Review
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