• 
  

  11:30 a.m. - Gov. Bruce Rauner will hold a bill signing on SB403 which provides a $750 tax credit to help certain Illinois homeowners recover after this year’s severe flooding disasters. The signing will be held in the 15th floor Blue Room of the Thompson Center, 100 W. Randolph St., in Chicago.

  
  


• 
  

  Rauner has also called on stakeholders and interested consumers to participate in the Illinois Commerce Commission’s announced comment period for energy resource adequacy in Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) Zone 4. In a press release yesterday, his office said a summary report will be provided to Gov. Rauner and the Illinois General Assembly, as well as posted on the ICC website, by Feb. 26, 2018.
  Public comments will be accepted through Nov. 30 and should be sent to [email protected], after which they will be displayed on the ICC’s website. [ICC MISO Zone 4 White Paper]

  
  


• 
  

  In a gubernatorial race of financial giants, Rauner now has a new primary contender in Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton). Ives officially filed a D-1 with the State Board of Elections, showing a balance of $267,725.

  
  


• 
  

  Ouch. Public Policy Polling reported that “In Illinois’ 6th Congressional District, Republican incumbent Congressman Peter Roskam has an approval rating of 34%, and a majority (53%) of voters say they do not approve of the job he is doing. President Trump has an approval rating of 38% and a disapproval rating of 57% in Roskam’s district, while 8% of voters say they approve of the job Congress is doing and 85% say they disapprove.”

  
  

• Senate Democrats are calling on Illinois State Board of Education Chairman James Meeks to get to the bottom of the state’s teacher shortage. In a Nov. 14 letter, Sens. Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant (D-Plainfield), Kimberly Lightford (D-Westchester) and Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill) say they want to see the inquiry completed no later than March 1, 2018 so lawmakers will have enough time to pass legislation before the next school year. “A 2015-16 school year survey conducted by the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of School found that 75 percent of districts had fewer qualified candidates than in previous years and 16 percent of schools canceled programs or classes because of teacher shortages. Additionally, the State Board has indicated that there are currently more than 2,000 unfilled positions in the state.”

The state's backlog of bills is slowly diminishing as heavy-duty payments make their way across accounts. Meanwhile, voter registration takes center stage as the focus of many voters' ire.

• 
  

  Cancellation - The 11:00 a.m. meeting of the House Restorative Justice Committee in Chicago on probation and parole in Illinois has been cancelled. At the time of publication, no legislation has been assigned to the committee, and the committee has not announced a rescheduled meeting time.
  

  
  


• 
  

  9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. - The Juvenile Justice Commission will hold its bi-monthly meeting on the first floor of the Department of Human Services building, 401 S. Clinton, in Chicago. The public is invited to join via teleconference by dialing (888) 494-4032 and using conference code 5329547331#. Ongoing projects for the commission include developing mental health opportunities for the Youth Division Task Force. No agenda has yet been posted for the meeting.
  

  
  


• 
  

  12:00 p.m - A joint meeting of the Senate Telecommunications and Information Technology and House Elections & Campaign Finance Committees will be held in Chicago at the Bilandic Building, in room C-600 on the 6th floor. In a subject matter hearing, the committees will discuss the state Board of Elections’ participation in the Interstate Crosscheck Voter Registration Program. Crosscheck has begun garnering significant attentionfrom Democrats across the state, particularly from Cook County residents, who accuse the voter registration tool of becoming a means of voter suppression in the hands of certain lawmakers. More than 320 witness slips have already been registered in opposition to the state’s participation.
  

  
  


• 
  

  2:30 p.m. - Gov. Bruce Rauner will join Sen. Dale Fowler (R-Harrisburg) today to announce the development of an off-highway vehicle trail facility in Sahara Woods. The announcement will be held at Sahara Woods State Fish and Wildlife Area, Dept. of Natural Resources Site Office, 1210 Tipple Road, Carrier Mills.
  

  
  


• 
  

  From the press release inbox we learn that Comptroller Susana Mendozahas issued enough payments toward the bill backlog that it has fallen from $16.7 billion to $9.5 billion after she used $6.48 billion in bond proceeds to into the debt, “along with more than $1 billion in federal reimbursements from the payment of medical bills.” Mendoza’s office said in the weeks to come, it expects further federal matching funds: “Office of the Comptroller has released more than $3.5 billion in medical vouchers, which are eligible for federal reimbursements. Almost $4 billion has gone toward state health insurance claims owed to medical providers. State taxpayers were accruing 9-12 percent interest on many of those bills. Reducing the interest payments to the 3.5 percent rate the state got on its bonds will save taxpayers billions of dollars over the life of the bonds.”
  

  
  


• Rauner’s office announced today the U.S. Small Business Administration “approved the state’s request for assistance to help people and businesses in northeastern Illinois recover from severe storms and floods that occurred July 11-27."


• In the state’s ongoing opioid addiction battle Attorney General Lisa Madigan, along with 43 other attorneys general, “sent a letter to congressional leaders urging them to repeal a 2016 federal law demanding registered drug manufacturers and distributors that have willfully contributed to the nation’s oversupply of opioids be held accountable.” Meanwhile, a central Illinois state's attorney is trying to help law enforcement by donating money from a special account to give to four different agencies in Ford County.

 

Senate leadership has a pulled together a list of names for the new sexual harassment task force, while the anti-harassment bill is still waiting for the governor’s action. A coming joint committee meeting this week will hear about a topic that has already garnered national calls for reform.  

Monday, November 13

7:30 a.m. - The Midwestern Higher Education Compact, a multi-state organization of which Illinois is part, will meet across state lines both Monday and Tuesday in Overland Park, Kansas. Illinois’ MHEC Commissioners include Jim Applegate and Alice Marie Jacobs, of the Illinois Board of Higher Education, along with Commissioner Suzanne Morris, of the Illinois Community College Board. MHEC Commissioners Sen. Pat McGuire (D-Crest Hill) and MHEC Executive Committee Chair Rep. Kelly Burke (D-Oak Lawn) are also expected to attend. Agenda and Agenda Book.

1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. - The Department on Aging’s Committee on Older Adult Services will be held in two locations video video conference. In Springfield, the group will meet at the Illinois Department of Aging, 1 Natural Resources Way, #100. In Chicago, the meeting will be held at the Bilandic Building in the IDoA Conference Room on the 7th floor. No agenda has yet been posted for the committee, which took up budget and legislative updates at its August meeting. Prior to that, the group’s May meeting minutes detail the pains felt by the budget impasse; although no individual clients saw a loss of services, 17 entities terminated contracts with the state and 12 saw difficulty making payroll.  

Tuesday, November 14

9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. - The Health Facilities & Services Review Board’s all-day meeting will take place at Bolingbrook Golf Club, 201 Rodeo Drive, Bolingbrook, Illinois. The panel will hear from two Centegra Hospital facilities which seek to reduce services. Centegra of Woodstock is applying to discontinue a 60-bed medical surgical unit and a 12-bed intensive care unit. Centegra of McHenry wants to discontinue a 22-bed physical rehabilitation unit but is also applying to relocate the service at a cost of $3.9 million. Six other companies are applying for substantive new facilities projects, such as a 150-bed, $23 million skilled nursing facility in Geneva and five for non-substantive. Public participation is welcome. Agenda.  

11:30 a.m. - Secretary Randy Blankenhorn, of the Illinois Department of Transportation, will speak to the City Club of Chicago during a reception held at Maggiano’s Banquets on W. Grand Avenue in Chicago. Program.


12:00 p.m. - The Illinois Conservation Foundation will meet at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, in the IDNR Boardroom at 1 Natural Resources Way in Springfield. No agenda has yet been posted for the committee.

3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. - The Illinois State Charter School Commission will meet at the Thompson Center in Chicago, room 9-031. The commission is expected to make amendments to its bylaws, and review its FY2019 budget which will receive its first reading. Operations Committee Agenda. Schools Committee Agenda.   

Wednesday, November 15

8:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. - The Drug Utilization Review Board of the Department of Healthcare and Family services will hold its quarterly meeting at the University of Illinois College of Pharmacy in Conference Room B-16, at 833 S. Wood St., in Chicago. At its previous meeting the board reviewed Gov. Bruce Rauner’s Opioid Action Plan. No agenda has yet been posted for this meeting. Those seeking further information can contact the board at (877) 782-5565.

9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. - The Juvenile Justice Commission will hold its bi-monthly meeting on the first floor of the Department of Human Services building, 401 S. Clinton, in Chicago. The public is invited to join via teleconference by dialing (888) 494-4032 and using conference code 5329547331#. Ongoing projects for the commission include developing mental health opportunities for the Youth Division Task Force. No agenda has yet been posted for the meeting.

12:00 p.m. -  A joint meeting of the Senate Telecommunications and Information Technology and House Elections & Campaign Finance Committees will be held in Chicago at the Bilandic Building, in room C-600 on the 6th floor. In a subject matter hearing, the committees will discuss the state Board of Elections’ participation in the Interstate Crosscheck Program. At time of publication, 324 witness slips had already been registered in opposition to the state’s participation with no witness slips registered in support. Groups include several chapters of Indivisible Illinois and Indivisible Chicago, Action for a Better tomorrow, a number of independent businesses, and the faculty and students of several universities.

1:00 p.m. - The Liquor Control Commission will meet in Suites 9-039 and 9-040 of the Thompson Center, 110 W. Randolph St., in Chicago. While open to the public, no agenda has yet been posted for this committee. The body is scheduled to hold a hearing for businesses out of compliance with liquor laws but no materials or case identifications have been made available on its website. The commission’s Underage Compliance Report from October details nine citations for establishments in violation of liquor control laws. No hearing dockets for the Liquor Control Commission have been posted on its official website for over a year, the latest docket was for Aug. 17, 2016. Meeting minutes from the commission’s Sept. 20 meeting indicate no hearing was held.   


Thursday, November 16

8:00 a.m. - University of Illinois’ Board of Trustees will meet in room MC-350 of the 352 Henry Administration Building at 506 S. Wright St., in Urbana. The group is expected to settle three medical lawsuits worth $4.2 million, two of which involve injuries to children. They will approve a $100,000 pay-for-performance bonus schema for President Timothy Killeen, who will unveil FY2017 goals for the university. Similarly, an additional $75,000 will be awarded to UIC Chancellor Michael Amiridis. Only in Amiridis’ case will the bonus be incorporated it into his base pay, with any future pay-for-performance funds eliminated after 2018. The board is also expected ask the Illinois Board of Higher Education for $98 million in new funds, a 5.4% funding increase for FY2019. Agenda.

9:00 a.m. - The Illinois Gaming Board is scheduled to hold will its monthly meeting, although details are unconfirmed. The board typically holds open session meetings on the fifth floor of the Bilandic Building in Chicago. Although the boards October meeting was cancelled, their September meeting saw the initial consideration of a transfer of ownership for Rivers Casino, and a request from Harrah’s casinos to proceed with a refinancing initiative. Agendas are expected to be posted by Tuesday, Nov. 14 for both the Riverboat or Video Gaming committees of the board. For more information, Administrator Mark Ostrowski may be contacted at (312) 814-4700.

9:00 a.m. - The Illinois Pollution Control Board will hold a hearing in two locations via video conference: IPCS Hearing Room 11-512 at the Thompson Center in Chicago, and the North Entrance IPCB Hearing Room 1244-N at 1021 North Grand Ave. East in Springfield. The case, R2018-017, has been ongoing since Aug. 3 of this year, brought by the Illinois EPA which wants to see an overhaul of the state’s rules governing public water supplies. The hearing will be followed by the board’s monthly meeting at 11:00 a.m. No agenda has yet been posted for this meeting, but is expected by Tuesday.    

11:00 a.m. - The House Restorative Justice Committee will meet in room C-600, the 6th floor of the Bilandic Building in Chicago for a subject matter hearing on probation and parole in Illinois. At this time, no legislation has been assigned to the committee or slated for hearing. It in unclear whether a video feed will be available.  

Friday, November 17

9:00 a.m. - The Illinois Housing Development Authority’s Asset Management Committee will meet in Suite 1000 of 111 E. Wicker Dr. in Chicago. Third quarter figures are out via the most recent Performance Report for Illinois, detailing the distribution of $57.8 million in grant money. An agenda is expected to be provided to the public no later than Wednesday. For more information, call (312) 836-5200.

9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. - The Statewide Foster Care Advisory Council will hold a joint meeting with the Adoption Advisory Council in Springfield at the Northfield Center, 3280 Northfield Drive. An agenda is expected to be provided to the public no later than Wednesday.  

10:00 a.m. - The Sentencing Policy Advisory Council will hold the last of its tri-annual meetings. The group typically meets in Suite 200 of 300 W. Adams, in Chicago. The group rarely uses video conferencing but the public is normally invited to participate via teleconference at (888) 494-4032, using passcode 7205356689#. An agenda is expected to be provided to the public no later than Wednesday.

10:00 a.m. - The Endangered Species Protection Board will meet in the Visitor Center Conference Room at 30239 S. State Route 53, in Wilmington. The body is slated to elevate the status of the Elfin Skimmer dragonfly from threatened to endangered. Agenda.

A busy week lies ahead for the state’s boards and agencies, while their chief executive vetoed a measure Friday which would have lengthened their terms. On the federal level, an Illinois senator splashes CNN with sharp criticism on the GOP’s new tax plan. State pensions, meanwhile, appear to have seen a slight uptick.

Hot on the heels of passage in the House Wednesday, the Senate wasted no time concurring with House’s passage of the 5G/Small Cell Wireless bill, SB1451 Floor Amendment #1, 41-7-2, sending it to Gov. Bruce Rauner’s desk for signature. The bill, which standardizes pricing and permitting for a new generation of wireless boxes on municipal-owned utility poles across the state, met some opposition in a Senate Telecommunications and Information Technology Committee hearing Wednesday morning. However, the committee did not vote on the measure, because the Senate Assignments committee had not met to assign the bill since it was sent over from the House.

The final day of the Fall Veto Session was marked by another rapid-fire passage of concurrences with the House. Few words were spoken on most of the measures, which shot through the chamber toward the governor’s desk. The Senate stands adjourned until Jan. 30, 2018.

Sens. Toi Hutchinson (D-Chicago Heights) and Daniel Biss (D-Skokie) saw a disappointing drop in the roll call vote for HB2462, which failed to muster the constitutional majority needed to override Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of the Equal Wage Act. The move immediately followed the announcement of the formation of a bipartisan Senate Women’s Caucus, with the goal of promoting women’s issues.

House Republicans walked into a trick box set up for them in the form of a property tax freeze bill Wednesday, and they went into it knowing what it was.

The official in charge of luring businesses to Illinois revealed in a House hearing Wednesday morning that not only was Illinois never actually in the running for a massive Foxconn manufacturing facility, there was never any official contact between the state and company leaders.