Springfield News
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JUL 26, 2017
A press release from a pair of Chicago Democratic Representatives Tuesday afternoon set off a flurry of chatter that Chicago-area House Democrats may not attend the special session beginning at noon today to protest Republican attempts to eliminate Chicago Public Schools funding. But a spot check of Chicago-area Democrats found that most will be in Springfield this afternoon. -
While the the FY2018 Illinois budget finally appropriated a significant sum to pension payments, over $6.6 billion to the state’s five employee pension funds, it still falls short on the $7.87 billion appropriation need projected by COGFA for this year, and does not address the $129.5 billion in unfunded pension liabilities.
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JUL 25, 2017
After Senate President John Cullerton declined to send education funding reform bill SB1 to Governor Bruce Rauner’s desk on Monday, Gov. Rauner called a special session of the General Assembly, convening Wednesday at noon. (Read Official Proclamation) As legislators head back to Springfield, here are the main points you need to know:
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JUL 24, 2017
Updated: July 26, 2017
An Illinois Gaming Board rule limiting property ownership to video terminal operators– companies that operate video gambling machines– seems to disproportionately affect one company and individual, Rick Heidner, in particular. The Gaming Board’s motivation to change the rules are unclear, as Heidner mounts a high-intensity lobbying effort to change the rules to his advantage. -
JUL 21, 2017
The latest gaming bill effort, one that would legalize fantasy sports, seems doomed to die in the House this year, as the bill’s sponsors express little faith it will move. In addition, sponsors and lobbyists connected to the bill, HB479, believe House Speaker Mike Madigan is reluctant to call up gaming bills for a vote.
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JUL 20, 2017
As the dust settles in Springfield after the SB6 showdown, outposts of higher education across the state are checking their mailboxes for the $7.945 billion allotted to them by the new law. Some portions of the money will come faster than others, with $3.2 billion headed toward university employee pension funds. Until then, SB6 provisions for FY17 afford higher education $1,836 billion. Combined with federal dollars and past-due FY17 funding, the sector is slated to receive $4.125 billion for FY18 overall.
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JUL 19, 2017
The Joint Committee on Administrative Rules sped through its agenda in less than twenty minutes, pausing to defer rules from the Illinois Gaming Board and to question a Board of Education representative about the appropriateness of an emergency rule. One rule regarding payments to Medicaid providers, that had been expected to draw attention, was passed without any questions.
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JUL 18, 2017
Tomorrow’s meeting of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules in Chicago (JCAR) will take up 31 items, but only two, a rule that changes payments to Medicaid providers and a rule dealing with cross-ownership of bars with video gaming and gaming terminal operators, are expected to draw discussion. A third item not even on the agenda, a rule creating the Community Reinvestment Program, which would eliminate a home senior care program, the Community Care Program.
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JUL 18, 2017
While Gov. Bruce Rauner’s efforts to redraw state worker contracts is tangled in the 4th District Appellate Court, his demand for require state workers to pay a heftier portion of their own health insurance costs was overridden in the budget appropriations bill. Making matters more complicated, a decision to seek bond funds to pay the remaining debt could reveal what the bond market really thinks of Illinois’ credit-worthiness.
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JUL 17, 2017
As school funding deadlines loom and Springfield readies itself for another fiscal battle, the bills at the center of the fray are Democratic-authored Senate Bill 1, and its Republican-backed alternatives: Senate Bill 1124 and House Bill 4069.
SB1, “The Evidence-Based Funding for Student Success Act”, includes authorization for a new funding model to account for $565 million in primary and secondary education spending–part of the $7.67 billion found in the recently-passed budget–and creates a new school funding formula, that eliminates the annual Chicago block grant and provides Chicago more money to pay down its towering teacher pension debt. The combination of education funding in SB1 and SB6, the FY2018 appropriations bill, represent a $730 million increase compared to FY2017.
