The Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) extended consideration of rules from the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), delivered a warning to the Illinois Board of Education (ISBE), but assented to their proposed emergency rules and voted to object to a rule proposed by the Illinois Gaming Board (IGB).

A Politico report Tuesday suggested today’s House activity would not include an SB1 veto override, and that one would be unlikely until next week as Democrats continue chasing Republican votes for the effort. The report said the House may take up Rauner’s amendatory veto language as its own bill, floating it in the chamber for the purposes of embarrassing the governor.

Three groups of rules are expected to attract attention at tomorrow’s 11:00 a.m. Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) meeting in Chicago’s Bilandic building. The 32 agenda items include a sizable rewrite of consumer safety rules for retail electricity suppliers, three emergency rules proposed by the State Board of Education, and potential property ownership limitations for gaming video terminal operators, first discussed in last month’s JCAR meeting.

A mandate that “any contract the Department of Healthcare and Family Services enters into with a managed care organization (MCO) shall be procured in accordance with the Illinois Procurement Code” has passed both houses.

The change, found in SB1446, essentially hits restart on awarded bids to six companies to administer Medicaid to state recipients. Those contracts are worth more than $9 billion over the next four years. That overhaul did not go through the usual procurement process, which sponsor Sen. David Koehler (D-Peoria) said lacked transparency. The bill would force the Request for Proposals (RFP) process to begin again and go through procurement,rather than as a Purchase of Care, exempt from the procurement code. Opponents said this meant millions of dollars in sunk costs and months of wasted time.

In Feb., Governor Bruce Rauner announced an RFP to overhaul the state’s Medicaid managed care program. The goal was to cut down on costs and the number of providers, while increasing managed care enrollment statewide. Comptroller Susana Mendoza and several Democrats blasted the move, saying it would be the biggest contract awarded in state history to not go through the usual procurement process. She added it shouldn’t have been pursued while the state was in the middle of a budget crisis and hundreds of millions of dollars behind on Medicaid provider payments..

MCOs have been under increasing pressure. Medicaid managed care expanded dramatically after 2011, when the state’s Smart Act mandated 50% of Medicaid recipients enroll in an MCO by 2015. Today, about 65% of the state’s 3.1 million Medicaid enrollees are in managed care programs. Rauner sought to increase that portion to 80% and extend coverage to children under DCFS care.

But Koehler said he wanted to ensure the state was getting the most bang for its buck, suggesting administrative costs and the several million dollars going to the private companies operating MCOs deserve a second look.

“Why are we paying 15% (in administrative costs)?... It’s estimated this year we’re going to pay $800 million in administrative fees to MCOs we have currently,” he said. Pointing out the $120 million in Affordable Care Act taxes, he added “All that profit is going outside the state.”

Sen. Dale Righter (R-Matoon) said the horse had already left the barn. Winners were announced on Friday, though contracts have not yet been negotiated.

“This process began in Feb. of this year,” he said. “The language that we’re voting on was filed in the House, not in March or April, but at the end of May. We’re almost over the goal line in this process before there was a decision to file a bill to block the process. That is very bad, very late timing.”

Koehler parried. He filed a bill in the Spring, he said, and was concerned from the start.

Righter asked if Koehler was aiming to help one of the applicants that lost in the contract process.

“I absolutely am not looking out for any special interest in this,” Koehler replied. “That’s the last thing on my mind.”

“Here’s the bottom line: just because it’s late in the game–and I’ll grant it, it’s late in the game–a bad process shouldn’t be pushed forward just because it’s late in the game. This is a $9 billion contract.”

Sen. Kyle McCarter (R-Lebanon) supported the change.

“Am I slowing down the process by voting for this? Perhaps, but I specifically asked the administration, ‘negotiate on our behalf, on the people’s behalf. Let these people cut their fees and get closer to New York at 6%,’” he said, noting the state had to work to plug its deficit.

McCarter filed a separate bill, SB1058, limiting MCO administrative costs to 9%.

Executed contracts were set to begin January 1, 2018, with a four-year term and a four-year renewal. Losing bidders can file a protest until 3:00 p.m. on Aug. 14.

After 20 minutes of closed door debate, the Cook County Democratic Party announced their endorsement of J.B. Pritzker for governor, following a push by a small group of party Committeemen calling for an open primary with no endorsement.

“I share your concerns about an open primary,” 11th Ward Democratic Committeeman and Cook County Commissioner John Daley said during governor candidate state Sen. Daniel Biss’ open session question and answer period. Biss, like each of the eight other candidates running against Pritzker, had called for no party endorsement.

The stack of 533 bills currently waiting for action on Governor Bruce Rauner’s desk just shrank by 13. The following bills were sent to Rauner on June 13 and, having reached 60 days on the governor’s desk without either a veto or a signature, are automatically passed into law:

Confirmation came from Senate President John Cullerton’s office yesterday morning: The chamber will convene Sunday at 2:00 p.m. to take up Governor Bruce Rauner’s SB1 amendatory veto.

Later in the afternoon, House Speaker Mike Madigan tossed a wet blanket on the annual Governor’s Day at the State Fair, calling for the chamber to convene on the same day. His schedule is as follows:

• 9:00 a.m., Aug. 16: House Approp. Elementary and Secondary Education Committee, Room 114
  


• 11:00 a.m., Aug. 16: House to convene a floor session
  

After House Democrats held a mock-hearing of Rauner’s SB1 amendatory vetoes during a meeting of the House Appropriations-Primary and Secondary Education Committee in Chicago, Sen. Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill) took to the airwaves for yet another SB1 advocacy presser, this time with Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth (D-Peoria).

Finally, Rauner held two bill signings yesterday: Sen. Pres. Pro Tempore Don Harmon’s (D-Oak Park) SB8, a procurement omnibus, and SB1413 from Sen. Michael Connelly (R-Naperville) which waives birth certificate duplicate fees for those recently released from jail.

Republican State Representatives had some sharp questioning for school superintendents and backers of SB1 Wednesday at a House Primary and Secondary Appropriations Committee subject matter hearing in Chicago. They questioned why Chicago Public Schools officials were not there, and suggested the city was “hiding its wealth” in its TIF districts. While the four hour hearing attracted a full media complement, committee chair and SB1 sponsor Rep. Will Davis (D-Chicago) was not present. Though State Rep. Lisa Hernandez chaired it, State Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago) and other Chicago Democrats nudged school superintendents in their praise of SB1 and the downsides of Governor Bruce Rauner’s amendatory veto.

The House Appropriations-Elementary & Secondary Education Committee will meet today in Chicago for a hearing on shell bill SB1947 or, more specifically, the House Floor Amendment 3 it carries.