Morning Briefs: Wage history and anti-harassment bill hearings today, cannabis bill in Executive Committee

The Illinois General Assembly is back in Springfield. Here's your guide to every committee in the statehouse and the bills they're scheduled to hear this week.

A five-committee panel of state lawmakers met in Chicago Monday to hear further testimony on the full legalization, taxation and regulation of cannabis in the state. The focus on the joint subject matter hearing were SB316, sponsored by Sen. Heather Steans (D-Chicago) and HB2353, sponsored by Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago). Monday’s was the fourth meeting arranged on the topic by the two.

Monday, Jan. 22 - Five-committee joint hearing on cannabis

9:00 a.m. - Chicago - Sen. and Illinois Attorney General candidate Kwame Raoul will join officials from the Chicago Teachers Union for an announcement in the West Loop tomorrow at the CTU Headquarters, 1901 W. Carroll Ave. No further details are available at this time.

Two years into its investigation of Peoples Gas, the Illinois Commerce Commission has taken a hotly contested vote to green light a controversial pipeline project. Yesterday, news broke that downstate fire and police pensions are so underfunded they might be able to start intercepting city-bound state grants. Meanwhile, the newly-formed Sexual Harassment & Discrimination Task Force is slated for its inaugural meeting today in Chicago. Here's Illinois' morning in brief...

Gov. Bruce Rauner will address the media today at the Quincy Veterans Home at 11:30 a.m. about the recent Legionella outbreak at the facility. The move comes after a 4-hour hearing into the matter by a joint House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committee where lawmakers grilling cabinet officials over the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 13 residents.

 

This week state government bodies are buzzing with activity. A joint hearing of House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees will go after answers in the Quincy Veterans Home Legionella outbreak. A trio of pension boards will meet and likely certify employer contributions. And the state Gaming Board is set to meet, just days after the year’s first gaming bill was filed by former House Gaming Committee Chair and current Deputy Majority Leader Lou Lang (D-Skokie). Did I mention the first meeting of the House's Sexual Harassment Task Force? And that’s just the tip of the iceberg...

Tuesday, January 2

Because meetings scheduled close to holidays tend to get rescheduled, The Daily Line has provided the most readily available phone numbers and contact persons for each group wherever possible so that readers are able to verify these meetings’ continued intent to convene or more easily check for cancellations.

 

Monday, December 18

1:00 p.m. - Chicago - The House Appropriations-Human Services Committee will meet in C900 of the Bilandic Building for the final of three hearings on the state’s recently canceled $12 million contract with McKinsey and Company consulting, and the state’s massive medicaid overhaul. The meeting is the result of a re-schedule after a previous cancellation on the 12th. Chaired by Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago), the committee previously heard from DHFS Director Felicia Norwood, who was grilled on the growing cost of the contract but who left before she could be called to respond to child welfare advocates and nursing home providers who dropped committee members’ jaws with their pleas for assistance.

10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. - Dolton - The Illinois Health Connection event, from Central Management Services, will be held at the Healthcare Consortium of Illinois penthouse on 1350 East Sibley Blvd. (in the U.S. Bank building) in Dolton, 60419. The event is a networking event for Prime Medicaid Managed Care companies  and sub-vendors. The state’s site says it to encourage the two to connect “along with continuing our commitment to the Governors E.O. 2016-08 of a mentor/protégé initiative. Prime Medicaid care companies have confirmed their participation for this event.” The event was organized by CMS Business Enterprise Program Outreach Manager Irma Lopez, and is free of charge. Eventbrite invite.

 

Tuesday, December 19

10:00 a.m. - Chicago - The House Transportation Regulation, Roads & Bridges Committee will meet in room C-600, on the 6th floor of the Bilandic building for a subject matter hearing on the cost of maintaining existing infrastructure. Oral testimony is expected from Clayton Harris of the Illinois International Port District, Joseph Szabo of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, and Audrey Wennink from the Metropolitan Planning Council. Video coverage is expected from Blueroomstream.

1:00 p.m. - Springfield and Chicago - The Procurement Policy Board will meet in room 349C of the Stratton Office Building, 401 South Spring Street in Springfield and connected via video to the James R. Thompson Center, room 14-612, 100 West Randolph Street in Chicago. The group’s final 2017 meeting appears to be a light one. A legislative update will be preceded by a review of three leases--one in Chicago Heights for the Department of Corrections, and two for the Department of Human Services in Joliet and Carlinsville. Agenda.

 

Wednesday, December 20

6:00 p.m. - Chicago - The Small Business Advocacy Council will host “Hyde Park Happy Hour - The Perfect Storm of Economic Development,” a networking event to be held at Hyatt Place Chicago-South at 5225 South Harper Avenue. The event is free and free food will be available for early arrivals. Cash bar is available. The event is organized by Dwayne Hirsch, who serves on the Board of Directors, Executive Board, and Policy committees of the Small Business Advocacy Council. Program.

 

Thursday, December 21

10:00 a.m. - Springfield and Chicago - The Child Day Care Licensing Advisory Council will meet in dual locations and via teleconference. In Springfield, the group will convene at the Department of Children and Family Services Office at 406 E. Monroe Street, in the 7th floor conference room. The Chicago panel will meet in room 275 on the 6th floor of the Thompson Center. To join via teleconference, dial 888-494-4032 and use access number 1904761080#. Although the group was scheduled to meet on Aug. 17 and Oct. 19, the group has posted no public agenda or meeting minutes since June 15, and no public notice of cancellation for either meeting appears on their official website. Likewise, no agenda has yet been posted for the current meeting. Council contact information.

11:00 a.m. - Springfield and Chicago - The Illinois Pollution Control Board will hold its final meeting of 2017 in dual locations. In Springfield, the board will meet at the IPCB Office at 1021 N Grand Ave. E. in room 1244 N on the first floor. The Chicago meeting will be held in room 11-512 of the Thompson Center. An updated agenda has not yet been posted but is expected to be posted at the following link. Agenda update pending.

3:30 p.m. - Chicago - The Illinois Children & Family Services Advisory Council will meet in room 16-504 in the Thompson Center. The meeting can be joined via teleconference by dialing 888-494-4032 and using access number 1819480398. No agenda has yet been posted for the meeting. For more information, contact the communications office of the Department of Children and Family Services’ at 312-814-6847.

 

Tuesday, December 26

1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. - Springfield and Chicago - At the time of The Daily Line’s Monday publication, the Business Enterprise Program Council is still scheduled to meet in dual locations and via teleconference. In Springfield, the group will in the Stratton Building, in toom 500 ½. The Chicago meeting is to be held Thompson Center, suite 2-025. Those wishing to attend via teleconference can dial 888-494-4032, and use access number 2587213722. For questions or further information, BEP Operations Manager Elias Ricks Ngwayah can be reached via email at [email protected] or via phone at 312-814-5628. No agenda has been posted at this time.

After a brief bill signing in East St. Louis yesterday, the governor is sticking around the south for a trio of stops today. Meanwhile, the cost of a seat in the statehouse is through the dome.

The State Board of Elections will hold its lottery draw at 2:00 p.m. at 2329 S. MacArthur Blvd, but there are a number of other state meetings on the radar through the holidays. Here are the key ones to watch, along with notable moments from across the state.

Cook County Clerk David Orr held a lottery Monday to decide ballot positions in the March 2018 primary, and accepted all petition challenges. The objection process will play out in the coming weeks.

A long day ahead for state lawmakers and executive bodies.

Meetings and agendas for the week beginning Monday, Dec. 11, 2017.

On Friday, Gov. Bruce Rauner signed the following bills into law.

The largest procurement contract in Illinois history was once again the subject of a legislative hearing. The House Appropriations-Human Services Committee, chaired by Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago) heard from vulnerable stakeholders in the state’s medicaid program and grilled Department of Healthcare and Family Services Director Felicia Norwood. The following are core takeaways from the lengthy subject hearing.

9:15 a.m. - Springfield - First Lady Diana Rauner will announce the student winners of the Illinois Executive Mansion Association’s “Help Our Garden Grow” art contest at Innovate Springfield, 15 S. Old State Capitol Plaza. At 11:00 a.m. Gov. Bruce Rauner joins the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs & Illinois World War II Memorial Committee in a Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day ceremony at Elks Lodge #158, 409 E. Lake Shore Drive. Rauner will then host the Governor’s Cabinet on Children and Youth Quarterly Meeting at the Simmons Cancer Institute, Robbins-Woerner Conference Center, Room 1012, 315 W. Carpenter St.

On Tuesday, stakeholders and workers from across the corrections industry told a panel of Illinois lawmakers that lingering impacts from state’s budget impasse have contributed to an increase in assaults on corrections workers and the neglect of mentally ill inmates. State representatives gathered members of the Illinois Department of Corrections (DOC) and the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 31, among other groups, to testify on possible solutions during a subject matter hearing of the House Appropriations-Public Safety Committee.

Committee Chair Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) said she called the hearing after receiving an increased number of communications about violence in DOC and Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) facilities.

“These communications are coming from staff alleging increased abuse from inmates or residents, and from advocates on behalf of inmates and residents alleging increased violence on the part of staff. In both cases, complaints about the agencies’ level of response and level of acknowledgement of a prob, and seeming desire to correct it,” she said.

“The agencies’ responses to that have been that they are doing everything in their power, and then some. And, you know, rarely in this work do you find yourself in a situation where there is zero match between anybody’s stories. There’s usually some common ground that you can find, and these stories all diverge so much that it's almost impossible to get to the bottom of them.”

AFSCME representatives said violence has increased significantly in the last two years in the state’s medium security prisons, where a combination of new policies and a lack of funding create a need for multiple solutions at once from the state. In the meantime, they said ensuring workers’ safety requires timely action.

“No one in this room believes that it’s acceptable that anyone’s job would include being routinely spit on, groped, splashed with urine or feces. Or, for that matter, punched or stabbed, or otherwise assaulted,” said Anne Irving, director of public policy for AFSCME Council 31. “So if we can agree, then the significant increase in assaults that we’ve seen over roughly the last two years in DOC and DJJ facilities needs to be addressed.”

Irving said AFSCME representatives visited facilities and learned that assaults are contributing to extreme turnover. Prior to two years ago, state corrections policy enforced a greater degree of inmate segregation. Unless an inmate was in transit between rooms, they were largely in their cell. Reduced inmate segregation can make managing a facility’s general population unpredictable but AFSCME called for key improvements that could make the job safer.

The group wants the DOC to stop housing maximum security inmates in medium security facilities, provide adequate medical staff for facilities where mentally ill inmates are integrated into the general population, and to provide facilities with basic equipment such as functional walkie-talkies and replacement prisoner transport vehicles. Another recurring theme was the call for necessary staff training updates to address the new policy toward integrated inmate populations.

Rep. André Thapedi (D-Chicago) was adamant that neither staff, nor inmates, should endure the assaults currently reported.

“Absolutely not. That should not be happening,” he said. “The inmates have some rights as well, too. And when they’ve made a mistake--those that have truly made a mistake--and they’re incarcerated and they’re there to do their time, I think they’re they’re to do their time; not to be beat up on by other inmates or guards, not to be raped by other inmates, not to be mistreated, et cetera.”

DOC Director John Baldwin told the committee Illinois’ own assault rate increases are consistent with rates seen nationally, but that untangling the exact causes is a complex process that is currently being undertaken across multiple states.

One potential cause is that Illinois’ definition of assault has been widened in recent years, which he says makes it more expansive that most other member states of the Association of State Corrections Administrators.

“You’ll notice there is a spike when we change the definitions. That was to be expected and that is what has happened,” he said. Baldwin said he agrees with the definition in place currently, however.

Baldwin told lawmakers assaults in maximum security prisons, which hold 25% of the state’s prison population but account for 60% of all assaults on corrections workers, are down over the last two years. Baldwin said medium security prisons, which are home to 33% of total assaults are down over several years and currently at 2008 rates. He said minimum security facilities, which account for 25% of the prison population, accounted for only 6% of corrections assaults, a rate that’s been falling since 2014.

Another factor Baldwin said could impact the data is the location of the assaults.

“Almost all of our staff assault increases have occurred at Pontiac, Logan, and Dixon. Those are our three largest drivers. If you take those out of the equation, the number of staff assaults in the Illinois Department of Corrections is stagnant or dropping,” he said.

“Why those three institutions? All of those three are where we house a large percentage of our seriously mentally ill. Nationally, the percentage of staff assaults by someone who is designated SMI hovers between 70 and 80 percent of all staff assaults.”

The three locations are each scheduled for mental health unit development.

Baldwin was quick to stress that there are mentally ill people who interact with staff and do not assault or have integration problems, but said: “We owe it to our staff and population to do a much better job of dealing with the mentally ill in our operation.”

Cassidy told witnesses and committee members the panel would reconvene again at a later date to continue reform discussions aimed at stemming prison violence. No date has yet been confirmed.

 

During a Monday subject matter hearing by the House Mental Health Committee, four panels of witnesses testified that the Illinois Department of Insurance is failing to comply with federal mental health parity laws by neglecting to enforce Medicaid managed care organizations private insurance regulations. Medical professionals and industry experts said too-frequent denial of coverage has become hazardous to patient mental health and opioid addiction treatment in the state.