Archived Articles
Illinois Cultural News
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"Government Involvement in Agriculture" by Joyce Geiler
Planting crops this spring has been challenging for Illinois farmers. Many had cropland covered in floodwaters and many fields were wet just from the seemingly endless rain. Ideal panting time came and went. Delayed planting time came and went. And still some crops were not planted. In response to a request by Gov. J.B. Pritzker to help farmers dealing with the historic flooding this spring, the Illinois Department of Agriculture is making funds available to be distributed to farmers who will plant cover crops on their unplanted fields this summer.
Farmers who meet certain criteria can receive $5 per acre for planting cover crops on the acres designated as “Prevented Planting acres.” Cover crops are not harvested but help control weeds, conserve and prevent erosion of the soil and reduce nutrient runoff while the land lays fallow for the next growing season. As of the first of July, 40% of the total allotment of $400,000 had been allocated. The program is separate from another one that incentivizes cover crops after harvest. Only a small percentage of Illinois farmers plant fall (after harvest) cover crops because even though it is beneficial, it is extra work for farmers during an already busy season and the incentive payments are not deemed worth it. More information is available here.
How is it that government is involved in incentivizing and subsidizing the business of farming? Like most government policy, agricultural subsidies in the United States started out with good intentions. While some may argue that government involvement in agriculture has been around a long time as in the activities of Joseph in Egypt, major government involvement in the United States is more recent. The New Deal programs of the 1930s, beginning with the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) of 1933, marked the beginnings of agricultural subsidies. The AAA eventually turned into the Farm Bill, a congressional act that now must be renewed every 5 years.
Under these bills, the primary tool of the government is the use of direct payments, or payments paid straight to farmers, regardless of their harvest for the year. At the end of this 5-year cycle, Congress writes a farm bill that delegates money that includes farm subsidies that are believed to keep commodity prices artificially low; however, over time, prices have only increased. Spending routinely surpassed the $100 billion over the 5-year appropriations.
New rules in recent Farm Bills have changed the payment scheme to a more robust crop insurance program. Overall, according to The Economist, the federal government spends $20 billion per year of publically-collected tax funds, a large portion of which go to industrial farmers who are producing staple crops like soy beans and corn. In the farm bill passed in 2014 Congress sought to correct some abuses of subsidies and incentives and increased the amount of subsidized crop insurance.
Learn more on this site.
The history of crop insurance:
In the 1880s, a group of tobacco farmers in Connecticut formed the first organized Crop Insurance company, offering protection against losses from hail. Hail coverage was offered by private companies for the next 50 years. Then in 1937, the Federal Government announced the first national Crop Insurance program to help agriculture recover from the combined effects of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. During that time, the federal government administered the program insurance rates, which were high, while participation by farmers was low.
In the 1980s, private insurance companies became involved and, by 1998, had become the sole providers of Crop Insurance to the American farmer. Depending on the level of coverage, the government subsidizes from 38% to 67% of the producer’s premium and provides reinsurance to Approved Insurance Providers (AIPs). (Reinsurance: a form of insurance for the insurance companies.) The government also provides administrative and operating (A&O) reimbursement to these companies; and the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation, owned and managed but the USDA Department of Agriculture, determines the crops or commodities that can be insured and sets the premium prices for various crop insurance, so that insurance cost is the same from all agencies. Read more.
While participation in the crop insurance program is not mandatory, it is required in order to be eligible for other Farm Bill benefits. Between 1980 and 2005, FCIC recorded $43.6 billion in total claims, averaging approximately $1.7 billion in losses per year. Three-quarters of FCIC claims were the result of three weather-related disasters – drought, excess moisture, and hail – with the remaining claims divided among 27 different causes, including crop-damaging frost and tornados.
Learn more here.
The Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) “pays farmers to not plant crops” is how some describe the program. That’s not entirely accurate. CSP pays producers to improve, maintain, and actively manage conservation activities already in place and to adopt new conservation activities during the life of the five-year contract. Payment amounts are determined by multiple factors, including the costs incurred (for planning, design, materials, installation, labor, management, maintenance or training), income theoretically forgone, and expected conservation benefits. While conservation may include not planting or harvesting crops, the criteria for the program often includes “refurbishing” acreage currently out of production to reduce noxious or undesirable growth of weeds or trees.
The 2018 Farm Bill changed CSP from an acreage-based program to a dollar-based program, providing between $700 million to $1 billion in additional funding for new CSP enrollment each year, on top of the 70 million acres currently enrolled under previous farm bills. The 2018 farm bill also legalizes the production of hemp, a form of cannabis with lower THC levels than marijuana.
More information is available on this site.
Each year, taxpayers fork over more than $20 billion to subsidize corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, rice, dairy and a few other commodities. Critics of these subsidies say that not only do these programs distort the market, but they tend to benefit big agribusinesses at the expense of family farms. One example of such subsidies is in the dairy farming business. According to the federal government, almost 1.4 billion pounds of surplus cheese produced from surplus milk now sits in refrigerated warehouses around the country. Yet dairy production is climbing even while milk consumption is declining. In 2016, the government continued decades of subsidies and bailed out the dairy industry by purchasing $20 million worth — 11 million pounds — of cheese, which it then used for food assistance programs. But the stockpile has grown 16% since then. Read more here.
In 2015, the support granted to U.S dairy producers represented the equivalent of 73% of the farmers’ marketplace revenue. USDA data reveals that US dairy farmers operate at a loss, and have a cost of production that is higher than what they earn from the marketplace. In fact, the difference between the U.S national average farm-gate price received by farmers and the U.S. national average costs of production, in every year from 2005-2016, represents a loss to the farmer. Processors have the ability to purchase milk at prices below the costs of production, while the government subsidizes offers a significant competitive advantage to the American dairy
industry. Find more information here.
Federal and state governments are involved in more than subsidies and incentives in agriculture. Numerous rules and regulation provide protection for consumers regarding safe handling of farm products and regarding disposal of wastes from farm processes. Protection is a valid role of government. Price regulation through incentives and subsidies, economic engineering is not a biblical role of government. Even if farmers dislike government regulation and payments, they feel obliged to stick with these programs now that they are so pervasive in the industry of farming. What government subsidizes; it controls.
Planting crops this spring has been challenging for Illinois farmers. Many had cropland covered in floodwaters and many fields were wet just from the seemingly endless rain. Ideal panting time came and went. Delayed planting time came and went. And still some crops were not planted. In response to a request by Gov. J.B. Pritzker to help farmers dealing with the historic flooding this spring, the Illinois Department of Agriculture is making funds available to be distributed to farmers who will plant cover crops on their unplanted fields this summer.
Farmers who meet certain criteria can receive $5 per acre for planting cover crops on the acres designated as “Prevented Planting acres.” Cover crops are not harvested but help control weeds, conserve and prevent erosion of the soil and reduce nutrient runoff while the land lays fallow for the next growing season. As of the first of July, 40% of the total allotment of $400,000 had been allocated. The program is separate from another one that incentivizes cover crops after harvest. Only a small percentage of Illinois farmers plant fall (after harvest) cover crops because even though it is beneficial, it is extra work for farmers during an already busy season and the incentive payments are not deemed worth it. More information is available here.
How is it that government is involved in incentivizing and subsidizing the business of farming? Like most government policy, agricultural subsidies in the United States started out with good intentions. While some may argue that government involvement in agriculture has been around a long time as in the activities of Joseph in Egypt, major government involvement in the United States is more recent. The New Deal programs of the 1930s, beginning with the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) of 1933, marked the beginnings of agricultural subsidies. The AAA eventually turned into the Farm Bill, a congressional act that now must be renewed every 5 years.
Under these bills, the primary tool of the government is the use of direct payments, or payments paid straight to farmers, regardless of their harvest for the year. At the end of this 5-year cycle, Congress writes a farm bill that delegates money that includes farm subsidies that are believed to keep commodity prices artificially low; however, over time, prices have only increased. Spending routinely surpassed the $100 billion over the 5-year appropriations.
New rules in recent Farm Bills have changed the payment scheme to a more robust crop insurance program. Overall, according to The Economist, the federal government spends $20 billion per year of publically-collected tax funds, a large portion of which go to industrial farmers who are producing staple crops like soy beans and corn. In the farm bill passed in 2014 Congress sought to correct some abuses of subsidies and incentives and increased the amount of subsidized crop insurance.
Learn more on this site.
The history of crop insurance:
In the 1880s, a group of tobacco farmers in Connecticut formed the first organized Crop Insurance company, offering protection against losses from hail. Hail coverage was offered by private companies for the next 50 years. Then in 1937, the Federal Government announced the first national Crop Insurance program to help agriculture recover from the combined effects of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. During that time, the federal government administered the program insurance rates, which were high, while participation by farmers was low.
In the 1980s, private insurance companies became involved and, by 1998, had become the sole providers of Crop Insurance to the American farmer. Depending on the level of coverage, the government subsidizes from 38% to 67% of the producer’s premium and provides reinsurance to Approved Insurance Providers (AIPs). (Reinsurance: a form of insurance for the insurance companies.) The government also provides administrative and operating (A&O) reimbursement to these companies; and the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation, owned and managed but the USDA Department of Agriculture, determines the crops or commodities that can be insured and sets the premium prices for various crop insurance, so that insurance cost is the same from all agencies. Read more.
While participation in the crop insurance program is not mandatory, it is required in order to be eligible for other Farm Bill benefits. Between 1980 and 2005, FCIC recorded $43.6 billion in total claims, averaging approximately $1.7 billion in losses per year. Three-quarters of FCIC claims were the result of three weather-related disasters – drought, excess moisture, and hail – with the remaining claims divided among 27 different causes, including crop-damaging frost and tornados.
Learn more here.
The Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) “pays farmers to not plant crops” is how some describe the program. That’s not entirely accurate. CSP pays producers to improve, maintain, and actively manage conservation activities already in place and to adopt new conservation activities during the life of the five-year contract. Payment amounts are determined by multiple factors, including the costs incurred (for planning, design, materials, installation, labor, management, maintenance or training), income theoretically forgone, and expected conservation benefits. While conservation may include not planting or harvesting crops, the criteria for the program often includes “refurbishing” acreage currently out of production to reduce noxious or undesirable growth of weeds or trees.
The 2018 Farm Bill changed CSP from an acreage-based program to a dollar-based program, providing between $700 million to $1 billion in additional funding for new CSP enrollment each year, on top of the 70 million acres currently enrolled under previous farm bills. The 2018 farm bill also legalizes the production of hemp, a form of cannabis with lower THC levels than marijuana.
More information is available on this site.
Each year, taxpayers fork over more than $20 billion to subsidize corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, rice, dairy and a few other commodities. Critics of these subsidies say that not only do these programs distort the market, but they tend to benefit big agribusinesses at the expense of family farms. One example of such subsidies is in the dairy farming business. According to the federal government, almost 1.4 billion pounds of surplus cheese produced from surplus milk now sits in refrigerated warehouses around the country. Yet dairy production is climbing even while milk consumption is declining. In 2016, the government continued decades of subsidies and bailed out the dairy industry by purchasing $20 million worth — 11 million pounds — of cheese, which it then used for food assistance programs. But the stockpile has grown 16% since then. Read more here.
In 2015, the support granted to U.S dairy producers represented the equivalent of 73% of the farmers’ marketplace revenue. USDA data reveals that US dairy farmers operate at a loss, and have a cost of production that is higher than what they earn from the marketplace. In fact, the difference between the U.S national average farm-gate price received by farmers and the U.S. national average costs of production, in every year from 2005-2016, represents a loss to the farmer. Processors have the ability to purchase milk at prices below the costs of production, while the government subsidizes offers a significant competitive advantage to the American dairy
industry. Find more information here.
Federal and state governments are involved in more than subsidies and incentives in agriculture. Numerous rules and regulation provide protection for consumers regarding safe handling of farm products and regarding disposal of wastes from farm processes. Protection is a valid role of government. Price regulation through incentives and subsidies, economic engineering is not a biblical role of government. Even if farmers dislike government regulation and payments, they feel obliged to stick with these programs now that they are so pervasive in the industry of farming. What government subsidizes; it controls.
"The Progressive Income Tax in U.S. History" by Burton W. Folsom
(Originally published May 1, 2003 on FEE.org. Republished with permission.
https://fee.org/articles/the-progressive-income-tax-in-us-history/ )
The root of much evil.
America’s founders rejected the income tax entirely, but when they spoke of taxes they recognized the need for uniformity and equal protection to all citizens. “All duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States,” reads the U.S. Constitution. And 80 years later, in the same spirit, the Fourteenth Amendment promised “equal protection of the laws” to all citizens.
In other words, the principle behind the progressive income tax—the more you earn, the larger the percentage of tax you must pay—would have been appalling to the founders. They recognized that, in James Madison’s words, “the spirit of party and faction” would prevail if Congress could tax one group of citizens and confer the benefits on another group.
In Federalist No. 10, Madison asked, “What are the different classes of legislators but advocates and parties to the causes which they determine?” He went on to say, “The apportionment of taxes on the various descriptions of property is an act which seems to require the most exact impartiality; yet there is, perhaps, no legislative act in which greater opportunity and temptation are given to a predominant party to trample on the rules of justice.”
During the 1800s, economic thinking in the United States usually conformed to the founders’ guiding principles of uniformity and equal protection. One exception was during the Civil War, when a progressive income tax was first enacted. Interestingly, the tax had a maximum rate of 10 percent, and it was repealed in 1872. As Representative Justin Morrill of Vermont observed, “in this country we neither create nor tolerate any distinction of rank, race, or color, and should not tolerate anything else than entire equality in our taxes.”
When Congress passed another income tax in 1894—one that only hit the top 2 percent of wealth holders—the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional. Stephen Field, a veteran of 30 years on the Court, was outraged that Congress would pass a bill to tax a small voting bloc and exempt the larger group of voters. At age 77, Field not only repudiated Congress’s actions, he also penned a prophecy. A small progressive tax, he predicted, “will be but the stepping stone to others, larger and more sweeping, till our political contests will become a war of the poor against the rich.”
In 1913, almost 20 years later, the ideas of uniform taxation and equal protection of the law for all citizens were overturned when a constitutional amendment permitting a progressive income tax was ratified. Congress first set the top rate at a mere 7 percent—and married couples were only taxed on income over $4,000 (equivalent to $80,000 today). During the tax debate, William Shelton, a Georgian, supported the income tax “because none of us here have $4,000 incomes, and somebody else will have to pay the tax.” As Madison and Field had feared, the seeds of class warfare were sown in the strategy of different rates for different incomes.
It took the politicians less than one generation to hike the tax rates and fulfill Field’s prophecy. Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt, using the excuses of depression and war, permanently enlarged the income tax. Under Hoover, the top rate was hiked from 24 to 63 percent. Under Roosevelt, the top rate was again raised—first to 79 percent and later to 90 percent. In 1941, in fact, Roosevelt proposed a 99.5 percent marginal rate on all incomes over $100,000. “Why not?” he said when an adviser questioned him.
After that proposal failed, Roosevelt issued an executive order to tax all income over $25,000 at the astonishing rate of 100 percent. Congress later repealed the order, but still allowed top incomes to be taxed at a marginal rate of 90 percent. (For more on taxes and its effects during this era, see "What Caused the Great Depression?")
Subsidies for Friends, Audits for Enemies
Roosevelt thus became the first president to practice on a large scale what Madison had called “the spirit of party and faction” and what Field had called the “war of the poor against the rich.” With a steeply progressive income tax in place, Roosevelt used the federal treasury to reward, among others, farmers (who were paid not to plant crops), silver miners (who had the price of their product artificially inflated), and southerners in the vote-rich Tennessee Valley (with dams and cheap electricity).
In the 1936 presidential election, Senator Hiram Johnson of California, a Roosevelt supporter, watched in amazement as the President mobilized “the different agencies of government” to dole out subsidies for votes. “He starts with probably 8 million votes bought,” Johnson calculated. “The other side has to buy them one by one, and they cannot hope to match his money.” In that campaign, Roosevelt defeated the Republican Alf Landon by an electoral vote of 523–8.
The flip side of rewards for supporters was investigations of opponents. Senator James Couzens of Michigan, who supported Roosevelt even more vigorously than Johnson did, had said before Roosevelt took office, “Give me control of the Bureau of Internal Revenue and I will run the politics of the country.”
Couzens lived to see the bureau begin to investigate Roosevelt’s opponents. It started with an investigation of Senator Huey Long of Louisiana, who had threatened to run for president against Roosevelt. Next came an audit of William Randolph Hearst, whose newspaper empire strongly opposed Roosevelt for president in 1936. Moses Annenberg, publisher of the Philadelphia Inquirer, vehemently opposed Roosevelt’s re-election campaign in 1936; the next year he had a full-scale audit, which was followed by a prison term.
Elliott Roosevelt, the president’s son, conceded in 1975 that “my father may have been the originator of the concept of employing the IRS as a weapon of political retribution.” But he was quick to add that “each of his successors followed his lead.” That is a key point: once the machinery of retribution is in place, it is hard for politicians to resist using it. When Richard Nixon, a Republican, became president, he sounded like his Democrat counterparts when he described whom he wanted as commissioner of internal revenue. Nixon said, “I want to be sure that he is . . . ruthless . . . that he will do what he is told, that every income-tax return I want to see, I see. That he will go after our enemies and not go after our friends. It is as simple as that.”
If we want to lessen “the spirit of party and faction,” as Madison recommended, and if we want to avoid a “war of the poor against the rich,” as Field anticipated, we would do well to scrap the progressive income tax.
(Originally published May 1, 2003 on FEE.org. Republished with permission.
https://fee.org/articles/the-progressive-income-tax-in-us-history/ )
The root of much evil.
America’s founders rejected the income tax entirely, but when they spoke of taxes they recognized the need for uniformity and equal protection to all citizens. “All duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States,” reads the U.S. Constitution. And 80 years later, in the same spirit, the Fourteenth Amendment promised “equal protection of the laws” to all citizens.
In other words, the principle behind the progressive income tax—the more you earn, the larger the percentage of tax you must pay—would have been appalling to the founders. They recognized that, in James Madison’s words, “the spirit of party and faction” would prevail if Congress could tax one group of citizens and confer the benefits on another group.
In Federalist No. 10, Madison asked, “What are the different classes of legislators but advocates and parties to the causes which they determine?” He went on to say, “The apportionment of taxes on the various descriptions of property is an act which seems to require the most exact impartiality; yet there is, perhaps, no legislative act in which greater opportunity and temptation are given to a predominant party to trample on the rules of justice.”
During the 1800s, economic thinking in the United States usually conformed to the founders’ guiding principles of uniformity and equal protection. One exception was during the Civil War, when a progressive income tax was first enacted. Interestingly, the tax had a maximum rate of 10 percent, and it was repealed in 1872. As Representative Justin Morrill of Vermont observed, “in this country we neither create nor tolerate any distinction of rank, race, or color, and should not tolerate anything else than entire equality in our taxes.”
When Congress passed another income tax in 1894—one that only hit the top 2 percent of wealth holders—the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional. Stephen Field, a veteran of 30 years on the Court, was outraged that Congress would pass a bill to tax a small voting bloc and exempt the larger group of voters. At age 77, Field not only repudiated Congress’s actions, he also penned a prophecy. A small progressive tax, he predicted, “will be but the stepping stone to others, larger and more sweeping, till our political contests will become a war of the poor against the rich.”
In 1913, almost 20 years later, the ideas of uniform taxation and equal protection of the law for all citizens were overturned when a constitutional amendment permitting a progressive income tax was ratified. Congress first set the top rate at a mere 7 percent—and married couples were only taxed on income over $4,000 (equivalent to $80,000 today). During the tax debate, William Shelton, a Georgian, supported the income tax “because none of us here have $4,000 incomes, and somebody else will have to pay the tax.” As Madison and Field had feared, the seeds of class warfare were sown in the strategy of different rates for different incomes.
It took the politicians less than one generation to hike the tax rates and fulfill Field’s prophecy. Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt, using the excuses of depression and war, permanently enlarged the income tax. Under Hoover, the top rate was hiked from 24 to 63 percent. Under Roosevelt, the top rate was again raised—first to 79 percent and later to 90 percent. In 1941, in fact, Roosevelt proposed a 99.5 percent marginal rate on all incomes over $100,000. “Why not?” he said when an adviser questioned him.
After that proposal failed, Roosevelt issued an executive order to tax all income over $25,000 at the astonishing rate of 100 percent. Congress later repealed the order, but still allowed top incomes to be taxed at a marginal rate of 90 percent. (For more on taxes and its effects during this era, see "What Caused the Great Depression?")
Subsidies for Friends, Audits for Enemies
Roosevelt thus became the first president to practice on a large scale what Madison had called “the spirit of party and faction” and what Field had called the “war of the poor against the rich.” With a steeply progressive income tax in place, Roosevelt used the federal treasury to reward, among others, farmers (who were paid not to plant crops), silver miners (who had the price of their product artificially inflated), and southerners in the vote-rich Tennessee Valley (with dams and cheap electricity).
In the 1936 presidential election, Senator Hiram Johnson of California, a Roosevelt supporter, watched in amazement as the President mobilized “the different agencies of government” to dole out subsidies for votes. “He starts with probably 8 million votes bought,” Johnson calculated. “The other side has to buy them one by one, and they cannot hope to match his money.” In that campaign, Roosevelt defeated the Republican Alf Landon by an electoral vote of 523–8.
The flip side of rewards for supporters was investigations of opponents. Senator James Couzens of Michigan, who supported Roosevelt even more vigorously than Johnson did, had said before Roosevelt took office, “Give me control of the Bureau of Internal Revenue and I will run the politics of the country.”
Couzens lived to see the bureau begin to investigate Roosevelt’s opponents. It started with an investigation of Senator Huey Long of Louisiana, who had threatened to run for president against Roosevelt. Next came an audit of William Randolph Hearst, whose newspaper empire strongly opposed Roosevelt for president in 1936. Moses Annenberg, publisher of the Philadelphia Inquirer, vehemently opposed Roosevelt’s re-election campaign in 1936; the next year he had a full-scale audit, which was followed by a prison term.
Elliott Roosevelt, the president’s son, conceded in 1975 that “my father may have been the originator of the concept of employing the IRS as a weapon of political retribution.” But he was quick to add that “each of his successors followed his lead.” That is a key point: once the machinery of retribution is in place, it is hard for politicians to resist using it. When Richard Nixon, a Republican, became president, he sounded like his Democrat counterparts when he described whom he wanted as commissioner of internal revenue. Nixon said, “I want to be sure that he is . . . ruthless . . . that he will do what he is told, that every income-tax return I want to see, I see. That he will go after our enemies and not go after our friends. It is as simple as that.”
If we want to lessen “the spirit of party and faction,” as Madison recommended, and if we want to avoid a “war of the poor against the rich,” as Field anticipated, we would do well to scrap the progressive income tax.
"Graduated, Progressive, Variable Tax Structure" by Joyce Geiler
Illinois currently has a modified flat or unified income tax structure, not a graduated, progressive or variable structure. A change to the Illinois Constitution is necessary for the adoption of progressive income tax rates proposed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker and which he calls a “fair” tax. A progressive income tax structure would allow higher income earners to be taxed at higher rates. The Illinois Senate and House have passed the necessary legislation (along party lines) to place a referendum on the November 2020 ballot, and Gov. Pritzker is expected to sign it if he hasn’t already by the time this newsletter is released. Because it regards a possible constitutional amendment, the bill required a supermajority to pass to advance to voters. This presented no problem for the Democratically-controlled Illinois Congress.
The actual tax rates will be left to agreement of Governor Pritzker, Speaker Mike Madigan, and Senate President John Cullerton and will not be part of the language voted on by voters in the 2020 General Election, per the proposal passed by Illinois Democrats.
In his opposition to the referendum, State Rep. Andrew Chesney, R-Freeport, said the proposal would lower taxes for the working poor by less than $7 a year, not enough to buy a sandwich at a restaurant. For those making less than $100,000, Chesney said they’d save less than $38. “That’s a heck of a negotiation, but the $37.38 will be erased when the Democratic majority passes the gas tax,” Chesney said. Read more here.
Indeed, Illinois legislators did double the gas tax from 19 cents to 38 cents per gallon beginning July 1. That makes the state one of the highest in the nation for taxes at the pump. Drivers will also see a $50 annual increase in vehicle registration fees for most vehicles starting in 2020.
How does Illinois compare with other states regarding flat vs progressive income taxes?
The United States has a progressive federal tax system, which applies higher tax rates as one’s income increases. The majority of states follows the federal example, and each state employs its own version of a progressive income tax system. Thirty four of the fifty states have progressive income tax systems as does the District of Columbia. The rates are set at much lower percentages than the 10 to 37 percent federal income tax brackets. States with low income tax rates, such as North Dakota and New Mexico, have rates between 1 and 6 percent. The high-income tax states like California, Hawaii and New York have top brackets in the 9 to 11 percent range.
Some states -- Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming -- don't collect any income taxes. That essentially means they use the opposite of a progressive tax system. New Hampshire and Tennessee don't have income taxes on earned income. They do apply a flat income tax rate to interest and dividend income. Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Colorado and Utah use a flat tax system where everyone pays the same percentage regardless of income.
Even states with flat income tax rates have progressive features. With certain income brackets, one can pay deductions and exemptions before paying any income taxes. As a result, it is possible to end up in a zero percent bracket for the lowest levels of income, and the flat tax rate bracket if income exceeds the level of deductions or exemptions. More information here.
Since Illinois has more than a year before the referendum appears on the November 2020 ballot, one can be certain to be inundated with information from supporters and from those opposed to the proposal. Expect some information to be factual, some not.
America’s founders rejected the income tax entirely; but when they spoke of taxes, they recognized the need for uniformity and equal protection to all citizens. The next newsletter will explore the history of taxes in the United States, which of course, set the precedent for Illinois.
“doing.”
Illinois currently has a modified flat or unified income tax structure, not a graduated, progressive or variable structure. A change to the Illinois Constitution is necessary for the adoption of progressive income tax rates proposed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker and which he calls a “fair” tax. A progressive income tax structure would allow higher income earners to be taxed at higher rates. The Illinois Senate and House have passed the necessary legislation (along party lines) to place a referendum on the November 2020 ballot, and Gov. Pritzker is expected to sign it if he hasn’t already by the time this newsletter is released. Because it regards a possible constitutional amendment, the bill required a supermajority to pass to advance to voters. This presented no problem for the Democratically-controlled Illinois Congress.
The actual tax rates will be left to agreement of Governor Pritzker, Speaker Mike Madigan, and Senate President John Cullerton and will not be part of the language voted on by voters in the 2020 General Election, per the proposal passed by Illinois Democrats.
In his opposition to the referendum, State Rep. Andrew Chesney, R-Freeport, said the proposal would lower taxes for the working poor by less than $7 a year, not enough to buy a sandwich at a restaurant. For those making less than $100,000, Chesney said they’d save less than $38. “That’s a heck of a negotiation, but the $37.38 will be erased when the Democratic majority passes the gas tax,” Chesney said. Read more here.
Indeed, Illinois legislators did double the gas tax from 19 cents to 38 cents per gallon beginning July 1. That makes the state one of the highest in the nation for taxes at the pump. Drivers will also see a $50 annual increase in vehicle registration fees for most vehicles starting in 2020.
How does Illinois compare with other states regarding flat vs progressive income taxes?
The United States has a progressive federal tax system, which applies higher tax rates as one’s income increases. The majority of states follows the federal example, and each state employs its own version of a progressive income tax system. Thirty four of the fifty states have progressive income tax systems as does the District of Columbia. The rates are set at much lower percentages than the 10 to 37 percent federal income tax brackets. States with low income tax rates, such as North Dakota and New Mexico, have rates between 1 and 6 percent. The high-income tax states like California, Hawaii and New York have top brackets in the 9 to 11 percent range.
Some states -- Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming -- don't collect any income taxes. That essentially means they use the opposite of a progressive tax system. New Hampshire and Tennessee don't have income taxes on earned income. They do apply a flat income tax rate to interest and dividend income. Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Colorado and Utah use a flat tax system where everyone pays the same percentage regardless of income.
Even states with flat income tax rates have progressive features. With certain income brackets, one can pay deductions and exemptions before paying any income taxes. As a result, it is possible to end up in a zero percent bracket for the lowest levels of income, and the flat tax rate bracket if income exceeds the level of deductions or exemptions. More information here.
Since Illinois has more than a year before the referendum appears on the November 2020 ballot, one can be certain to be inundated with information from supporters and from those opposed to the proposal. Expect some information to be factual, some not.
America’s founders rejected the income tax entirely; but when they spoke of taxes, they recognized the need for uniformity and equal protection to all citizens. The next newsletter will explore the history of taxes in the United States, which of course, set the precedent for Illinois.
“doing.”
"Honoring Those Who Helped in the Flood" by Joyce Geiler and contribution by Chris Martha
All rivers and watersheds from the Continental Divide at the ridge of the Rocky Mountains in the west to the ridge of the Appalachian Mountains in the east empty into the Mississippi River. Much of the Midwest is currently experiencing great river flooding. The American Red Cross, which is on the front lines in flood situations, posted the following report as part of its Daily Report sent to Red Cross volunteers: “The Mississippi River reached a record crest on 5/2/19 at 22.7 feet in the Quad Cities area. Major flooding continues at all locations and most Mississippi River locations will crest in the top 5 historical crests for each location. On 4/30/19 a temporary flood wall failed in the city of Davenport, Iowa. This incident resulted in 200 people being evacuated. Sandbagging efforts are underway and the American Red Cross is on standby to serve those affected by the ongoing flooding. On 5/2/19 continued heavy rains caused additional concerns along the Mississippi River in northeast Missouri and West Central Illinois. This same storm system has also caused the Illinois River to rise and many locations will reach Major Flood stage later this week. Additional heavy rain is expected this week and the region will continue to monitor storm reports and river level forecasts along the Mississippi, but also the Illinois, Wapsipinicon, Cedar, and Rock Rivers.” Read more on this report at this site.
Greg and Chris Martha are volunteers who answered the call to serve in the Quad Cities area. Following is a brief report of their work written by Chris:
"When Greg and I retired last summer, we read an article describing retirement as made up of three parts: the “go-go years, the slow-go years and the no-go years”. We decided that during our “go-go years” we wanted to use the skills and experience we had gained in our jobs to help people in times of disasters like floods, tornadoes and hurricanes. So, we signed up as American Red Cross volunteers and spent the winter completing on-line training.
On May 1 our first opportunity came. We received a call that the Mississippi River had flooded the Quad Cities area and volunteers were needed immediately to help people who had lost their homes. I texted the Illinois intercessors to ask for prayer coverage, we packed our suitcases and we were on the road in 2 hours.
When we arrived, we were assigned the day shift of a shelter in Davenport, IA. Our job was to check-in new clients as they arrived, provide them with cots, blankets and towels, and make sure they had meals, snacks and plenty of bottled water throughout their stay. The situation was fluid as new people arrived and old clients moved on to other housing. Our clients had a variety of medical and mental health needs, so we communicated frequently with three amazing Red Cross health care workers. These ladies made themselves available to us day and night to help our clients with medications, stress and dietary needs.
There was also a group of volunteers who organized and delivered hot meals, sandwiches and bottled water to our shelter and to all the many sandbaggers and rescue workers down at the riverfront. They did an awesome job!
Greg and I SO appreciated the prayer coverage we had from the folks in Illinois. The flood situation changed daily. There was a lot of difficulty with communications among the Red Cross and many agencies trying to help, lack of internet services and problems getting over the bridge. Prayer helped us remain calm and keep working to resolve issues and take care of the clients.
For Greg and me, the experience was both challenging and rewarding. We, along with all the volunteers, worked very long hours with all the unknowns of the rain forecast and the rising flood. But it was so very rewarding when the clients told us over and over how safe they felt in the shelter, and how grateful they were for all the Red Cross was doing for them.
We definitely have a new appreciation for the American Red Cross volunteers who leave home on a moment’s notice and head into a disaster zone to serve, comfort and assist people on one of the worst days of their lives. A truly amazing bunch of people!”
Kingdom Congress honors Greg and Chris and the host of other volunteers throughout the flooded Mississippi River Valley who function as the hands and feet of Jesus, leaving the comfort of their homes and the security of their churches to go where the need is!
What is the extent of the flooding in Illinois? In northern Illinois records were broken. “We have points in Iowa and Illinois that have been in flood stage for over 30 days, which hasn’t occurred since we started keeping records — and some of them go back 150 years,” said Patrick Burke, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland. “At least four people have died in the flooding, which has closed hundreds of roads, stopped vessel traffic along parts of the Mississippi River and inundated multiple towns, including major flooding in Davenport, Iowa, and Rock Island, Illinois. Flooding along the Mississippi River could persist through the end of the month and even into June as relentless rains continue to saturate the Midwest, forecasters say. Even if things dry out, it could also persist for another month beyond.” Read more here.
In early May, Governor JB Pritzker issued a state disaster proclamation for 34 counties along the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. The declaration will ensure state support to communities that are battling floods caused by weeks of elevated river levels and recent heavy rains. The disaster proclamation covers the following counties: Adams, Alexander, Brown, Bureau, Calhoun, Carroll, Cass, Fulton, Greene, Grundy, Hancock, Henderson, Jackson, Jersey, Jo Daviess, LaSalle, Madison, Marshall, Mason, Mercer, Monroe, Morgan, Peoria, Pike, Putnam, Randolph, Rock Island, Schuyler, Scott, St. Clair, Tazewell, Union, Whiteside, Woodford. To assist with the state’s flood fighting efforts, the Department of Corrections has activated around-the-clock work crews to support sandbagging efforts; the Illinois Department of Transportation is handling delivery of the pumps, hoses and sandbags; the Department of Public Health is preparing clean drinking water kits, and the American Red Cross has established or identified shelters in the affected areas. Follow this link for more information.
The so-called Great Flood of 1993 killed 50 people. It spanned nine states, and the high waters didn't recede for five months. At the time, over 1,000 levees along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers failed. More here.
The current flooding has impacted northern Illinois to a greater degree than southern Illinois this time and includes the Rock and Pecatonica Rivers and the Fox and Des Plaines Rivers as well as the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. Flooding impacts more than just the homes and businesses flooded. Numerous rivers have been closed to river traffic causing a huge blow for commerce since many goods are shipped on barges up and down the river. Commercial fishermen are affected as they cannot access the submerged launch areas. Breached levees contaminate municipal water supplies. Road closures mean people must often make long detours just to travel to work. Disastrous times present opportunities for Christians to “do unto the least of these.” We pray for and honor those who are “doing.”
All rivers and watersheds from the Continental Divide at the ridge of the Rocky Mountains in the west to the ridge of the Appalachian Mountains in the east empty into the Mississippi River. Much of the Midwest is currently experiencing great river flooding. The American Red Cross, which is on the front lines in flood situations, posted the following report as part of its Daily Report sent to Red Cross volunteers: “The Mississippi River reached a record crest on 5/2/19 at 22.7 feet in the Quad Cities area. Major flooding continues at all locations and most Mississippi River locations will crest in the top 5 historical crests for each location. On 4/30/19 a temporary flood wall failed in the city of Davenport, Iowa. This incident resulted in 200 people being evacuated. Sandbagging efforts are underway and the American Red Cross is on standby to serve those affected by the ongoing flooding. On 5/2/19 continued heavy rains caused additional concerns along the Mississippi River in northeast Missouri and West Central Illinois. This same storm system has also caused the Illinois River to rise and many locations will reach Major Flood stage later this week. Additional heavy rain is expected this week and the region will continue to monitor storm reports and river level forecasts along the Mississippi, but also the Illinois, Wapsipinicon, Cedar, and Rock Rivers.” Read more on this report at this site.
Greg and Chris Martha are volunteers who answered the call to serve in the Quad Cities area. Following is a brief report of their work written by Chris:
"When Greg and I retired last summer, we read an article describing retirement as made up of three parts: the “go-go years, the slow-go years and the no-go years”. We decided that during our “go-go years” we wanted to use the skills and experience we had gained in our jobs to help people in times of disasters like floods, tornadoes and hurricanes. So, we signed up as American Red Cross volunteers and spent the winter completing on-line training.
On May 1 our first opportunity came. We received a call that the Mississippi River had flooded the Quad Cities area and volunteers were needed immediately to help people who had lost their homes. I texted the Illinois intercessors to ask for prayer coverage, we packed our suitcases and we were on the road in 2 hours.
When we arrived, we were assigned the day shift of a shelter in Davenport, IA. Our job was to check-in new clients as they arrived, provide them with cots, blankets and towels, and make sure they had meals, snacks and plenty of bottled water throughout their stay. The situation was fluid as new people arrived and old clients moved on to other housing. Our clients had a variety of medical and mental health needs, so we communicated frequently with three amazing Red Cross health care workers. These ladies made themselves available to us day and night to help our clients with medications, stress and dietary needs.
There was also a group of volunteers who organized and delivered hot meals, sandwiches and bottled water to our shelter and to all the many sandbaggers and rescue workers down at the riverfront. They did an awesome job!
Greg and I SO appreciated the prayer coverage we had from the folks in Illinois. The flood situation changed daily. There was a lot of difficulty with communications among the Red Cross and many agencies trying to help, lack of internet services and problems getting over the bridge. Prayer helped us remain calm and keep working to resolve issues and take care of the clients.
For Greg and me, the experience was both challenging and rewarding. We, along with all the volunteers, worked very long hours with all the unknowns of the rain forecast and the rising flood. But it was so very rewarding when the clients told us over and over how safe they felt in the shelter, and how grateful they were for all the Red Cross was doing for them.
We definitely have a new appreciation for the American Red Cross volunteers who leave home on a moment’s notice and head into a disaster zone to serve, comfort and assist people on one of the worst days of their lives. A truly amazing bunch of people!”
Kingdom Congress honors Greg and Chris and the host of other volunteers throughout the flooded Mississippi River Valley who function as the hands and feet of Jesus, leaving the comfort of their homes and the security of their churches to go where the need is!
What is the extent of the flooding in Illinois? In northern Illinois records were broken. “We have points in Iowa and Illinois that have been in flood stage for over 30 days, which hasn’t occurred since we started keeping records — and some of them go back 150 years,” said Patrick Burke, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland. “At least four people have died in the flooding, which has closed hundreds of roads, stopped vessel traffic along parts of the Mississippi River and inundated multiple towns, including major flooding in Davenport, Iowa, and Rock Island, Illinois. Flooding along the Mississippi River could persist through the end of the month and even into June as relentless rains continue to saturate the Midwest, forecasters say. Even if things dry out, it could also persist for another month beyond.” Read more here.
In early May, Governor JB Pritzker issued a state disaster proclamation for 34 counties along the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. The declaration will ensure state support to communities that are battling floods caused by weeks of elevated river levels and recent heavy rains. The disaster proclamation covers the following counties: Adams, Alexander, Brown, Bureau, Calhoun, Carroll, Cass, Fulton, Greene, Grundy, Hancock, Henderson, Jackson, Jersey, Jo Daviess, LaSalle, Madison, Marshall, Mason, Mercer, Monroe, Morgan, Peoria, Pike, Putnam, Randolph, Rock Island, Schuyler, Scott, St. Clair, Tazewell, Union, Whiteside, Woodford. To assist with the state’s flood fighting efforts, the Department of Corrections has activated around-the-clock work crews to support sandbagging efforts; the Illinois Department of Transportation is handling delivery of the pumps, hoses and sandbags; the Department of Public Health is preparing clean drinking water kits, and the American Red Cross has established or identified shelters in the affected areas. Follow this link for more information.
The so-called Great Flood of 1993 killed 50 people. It spanned nine states, and the high waters didn't recede for five months. At the time, over 1,000 levees along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers failed. More here.
The current flooding has impacted northern Illinois to a greater degree than southern Illinois this time and includes the Rock and Pecatonica Rivers and the Fox and Des Plaines Rivers as well as the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. Flooding impacts more than just the homes and businesses flooded. Numerous rivers have been closed to river traffic causing a huge blow for commerce since many goods are shipped on barges up and down the river. Commercial fishermen are affected as they cannot access the submerged launch areas. Breached levees contaminate municipal water supplies. Road closures mean people must often make long detours just to travel to work. Disastrous times present opportunities for Christians to “do unto the least of these.” We pray for and honor those who are “doing.”
"Illinois Treasurer and Comptroller" by Joyce Geiler
The executive branch of Illinois’ state government includes six elected officers as well as numerous appointed department heads. This series has discussed the elected offices of governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and secretary of state. In this issue the elected offices of treasurer and comptroller will be discussed. Biographical information on those currently occupying those posts will follow the description of the offices.
The Treasurer is required by the State Constitution to hold responsibility for the safekeeping and investment of the monies and securities deposited in the public funds of Illinois. The Treasurer is not the state's chief financial officer; that officer is the Illinois Comptroller. The official website of the Treasurer offers Illinois residents resources for money management may be reviewed here.
The Comptroller is responsible for maintaining the State's fiscal accounts and for ordering payments into and out of the funds held by the treasurer. The office was created by the Illinois Constitution of 1970, replacing the office of Auditor of Public Accounts. The Comptroller signs paychecks or grants approval to electronic payments made by the state to its employees and creditors. Additional duties include regulating cemeteries under the Cemetery Care Act, which includes the fiduciary protection of cemetery care funds used for the care and maintenance of Illinois gravesites. Read more here.
Some legislators have perceived a redundancy between the offices of Treasurer and Comptroller and have proposed constitutional amendments to merge the two offices and garner administrative savings. For example, HJRCA 12, which was considered by the Illinois General Assembly in the 2008-2009 session, would have merged the two offices into the office of a single State Fiscal Officer. In 2011, Comptroller Topinka and the Treasurer Rutherford, introduced legislation to allow voters to decide whether the offices should be merged. The legislation was opposed by Michael Madigan, Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, and did not become law.
Current Treasurer Michael W. Frerichs
Frerichs was born in 1973 and was raised in the small farming town of Gifford in Champaign County. Frerichs married in 2003. The couple had one daughter in 2008, and divorced in 2013. An interesting bit of trivia is that Frerichs stands 6 feet, 8 inches tall, making him one of the tallest politicians in Illinois' history, four inches taller than Abraham Lincoln.
Frerichs received his BA from Yale University then attended National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan where he studied Mandarin Chinese while teaching English courses. His professional experience includes working as a teacher and Certified Public Finance Officer. He served as Champaign County Auditor where, at the time, he was the only auditor in the state to become a Certified Public Finance Officer.
Frerichs was a Democratic member of the Illinois Senate, representing the 52nd District since 2007, being the first Democratic State Senator to represent East Central Illinois since 1936. During his time in the Senate, Frerichs led successful efforts to eliminate the often abused legislative scholarship program in which legislators could select individuals to receive a tuition waiver for which the college was not reimbursed. Frerichs also advocated for the disclosure of chemicals used in fracking and funded improvements at the University of Illinois, Parkland College and Danville Community College. After Governor Rod Blagojevich was removed from office for corruption, Frerichs moved to have the former governor barred from ever holding office again in Illinois, a motion that carried unanimously.
Frerichs’ election to State Treasurer of Illinois for the term beginning January 2015 was one of the closest elections in Illinois state history. Consumer protection has played an important role in Frerichs’ administration, securing $2.3 million in uncashed rebate checks from Sprint and $140,000 from RadioShack and reconnecting the funds with Illinois residents via I-Cash, the State's unclaimed-property program. Frerichs lead the call to pass legislation supported unanimously by Democrat and Republican legislators requiring life insurance companies to use the federal Death Master File list to confirm if a policy holder had died and the death benefits had not been paid. Learn more here and here or here
Current Comptroller Susana Mendoza
Mendoza was born in Chicago to parents who had emigrated from Mexico in the 1960s. When she was a child, the family moved from Chicago's Little Village neighborhood to Bolingbrook due to the ongoing violence in Little Village. Mendoza attended Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri on a soccer and academic scholarship and graduated with a B.A. in Business Administration.
After college, Mendoza moved to Chicago and lived with her family where they had relocated back to their Little Village neighborhood. During this time, while working in advertising/public relations, the hospitality industry and the City of Chicago’s Department of Planning and Development, she became a local community organizer for her neighborhood and got involved in Chicago politics. In December 2011, Mendoza married David Szostak, who attended Bolingbrook High School with her and in 2012, their son was born.
When she was elected from the 1st legislative district in 2000 at age 28, she was the youngest member of the 92nd Illinois General Assembly. She was chairman of several committees and co-founded the first Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus. In 2011, Mendoza became the first woman elected City Clerk in Chicago. Mendoza took office as Comptroller of Illinois in 2016 amid the two-year budget impasse between Governor Rauner and the General Assembly.
In her first year in office, Mendoza brought together members of both parties to pass the Debt Transparency Act, which, for the first time, provides residents and legislators with a monthly accounting of the debts owed by every state agency. In her second year in office, she introduced and saw passed three more Transparency Bills: 1) The Truth-in-Hiring Act, which requires governors to list employees on their own payroll, 2) The Truth in Budgeting Act, which requires governors to address the state’s Late Payment Interest Penalties in their proposed budgets and 3) The Vendor Payment Program Transparency Act, which requires lenders to state vendors to disclose their owners and the source of their financing. Mendoza ran for Chicago mayor in 2019 but did not advance to the runoff for mayor, finishing fifth in the primary election. She then endorsed Lori Lightfoot for Mayor of Chicago.Read more about Mendoza at this site or at this site.
Additional information may be found here or here .
The executive branch of Illinois’ state government includes six elected officers as well as numerous appointed department heads. This series has discussed the elected offices of governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and secretary of state. In this issue the elected offices of treasurer and comptroller will be discussed. Biographical information on those currently occupying those posts will follow the description of the offices.
The Treasurer is required by the State Constitution to hold responsibility for the safekeeping and investment of the monies and securities deposited in the public funds of Illinois. The Treasurer is not the state's chief financial officer; that officer is the Illinois Comptroller. The official website of the Treasurer offers Illinois residents resources for money management may be reviewed here.
The Comptroller is responsible for maintaining the State's fiscal accounts and for ordering payments into and out of the funds held by the treasurer. The office was created by the Illinois Constitution of 1970, replacing the office of Auditor of Public Accounts. The Comptroller signs paychecks or grants approval to electronic payments made by the state to its employees and creditors. Additional duties include regulating cemeteries under the Cemetery Care Act, which includes the fiduciary protection of cemetery care funds used for the care and maintenance of Illinois gravesites. Read more here.
Some legislators have perceived a redundancy between the offices of Treasurer and Comptroller and have proposed constitutional amendments to merge the two offices and garner administrative savings. For example, HJRCA 12, which was considered by the Illinois General Assembly in the 2008-2009 session, would have merged the two offices into the office of a single State Fiscal Officer. In 2011, Comptroller Topinka and the Treasurer Rutherford, introduced legislation to allow voters to decide whether the offices should be merged. The legislation was opposed by Michael Madigan, Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, and did not become law.
Current Treasurer Michael W. Frerichs
Frerichs was born in 1973 and was raised in the small farming town of Gifford in Champaign County. Frerichs married in 2003. The couple had one daughter in 2008, and divorced in 2013. An interesting bit of trivia is that Frerichs stands 6 feet, 8 inches tall, making him one of the tallest politicians in Illinois' history, four inches taller than Abraham Lincoln.
Frerichs received his BA from Yale University then attended National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan where he studied Mandarin Chinese while teaching English courses. His professional experience includes working as a teacher and Certified Public Finance Officer. He served as Champaign County Auditor where, at the time, he was the only auditor in the state to become a Certified Public Finance Officer.
Frerichs was a Democratic member of the Illinois Senate, representing the 52nd District since 2007, being the first Democratic State Senator to represent East Central Illinois since 1936. During his time in the Senate, Frerichs led successful efforts to eliminate the often abused legislative scholarship program in which legislators could select individuals to receive a tuition waiver for which the college was not reimbursed. Frerichs also advocated for the disclosure of chemicals used in fracking and funded improvements at the University of Illinois, Parkland College and Danville Community College. After Governor Rod Blagojevich was removed from office for corruption, Frerichs moved to have the former governor barred from ever holding office again in Illinois, a motion that carried unanimously.
Frerichs’ election to State Treasurer of Illinois for the term beginning January 2015 was one of the closest elections in Illinois state history. Consumer protection has played an important role in Frerichs’ administration, securing $2.3 million in uncashed rebate checks from Sprint and $140,000 from RadioShack and reconnecting the funds with Illinois residents via I-Cash, the State's unclaimed-property program. Frerichs lead the call to pass legislation supported unanimously by Democrat and Republican legislators requiring life insurance companies to use the federal Death Master File list to confirm if a policy holder had died and the death benefits had not been paid. Learn more here and here or here
Current Comptroller Susana Mendoza
Mendoza was born in Chicago to parents who had emigrated from Mexico in the 1960s. When she was a child, the family moved from Chicago's Little Village neighborhood to Bolingbrook due to the ongoing violence in Little Village. Mendoza attended Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri on a soccer and academic scholarship and graduated with a B.A. in Business Administration.
After college, Mendoza moved to Chicago and lived with her family where they had relocated back to their Little Village neighborhood. During this time, while working in advertising/public relations, the hospitality industry and the City of Chicago’s Department of Planning and Development, she became a local community organizer for her neighborhood and got involved in Chicago politics. In December 2011, Mendoza married David Szostak, who attended Bolingbrook High School with her and in 2012, their son was born.
When she was elected from the 1st legislative district in 2000 at age 28, she was the youngest member of the 92nd Illinois General Assembly. She was chairman of several committees and co-founded the first Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus. In 2011, Mendoza became the first woman elected City Clerk in Chicago. Mendoza took office as Comptroller of Illinois in 2016 amid the two-year budget impasse between Governor Rauner and the General Assembly.
In her first year in office, Mendoza brought together members of both parties to pass the Debt Transparency Act, which, for the first time, provides residents and legislators with a monthly accounting of the debts owed by every state agency. In her second year in office, she introduced and saw passed three more Transparency Bills: 1) The Truth-in-Hiring Act, which requires governors to list employees on their own payroll, 2) The Truth in Budgeting Act, which requires governors to address the state’s Late Payment Interest Penalties in their proposed budgets and 3) The Vendor Payment Program Transparency Act, which requires lenders to state vendors to disclose their owners and the source of their financing. Mendoza ran for Chicago mayor in 2019 but did not advance to the runoff for mayor, finishing fifth in the primary election. She then endorsed Lori Lightfoot for Mayor of Chicago.Read more about Mendoza at this site or at this site.
Additional information may be found here or here .
"Jesse White, Secretary of State of Illinois" by Joyce Geiler
Jesse White, a Democrat, has been Illinois Secretary of State since being elected in 1998. He is the longest-serving and the first African American to hold this position. After discussing the far-reaching duties of Illinois’ Secretary of State, this article will discuss the man who holds that office.
A Look at the Office:
The Secretary of State is one of the six elected executive officials in Illinois. As the second biggest established office of the state, the Secretary of State of Illinois keeps up one of the nation’s biggest databases that contains information on a huge number of business elements. Primarily, the Secretary of State is responsible for overseeing the corporate division and the business division of the state. Hence, the task of registering new business entities with the state of Illinois as well as keeping track of any commercial activity of those businesses headquartered in the state falls under this category. The department is responsible for the regulation of the securities industry in Illinois and protection of investors by ensuring compliance with the law and investigating any complaints of fraud or improper practices.
Besides enrolling corporations, lobbyists and public accountants, this office is likewise responsible for issuing licenses to Illinois-enlisted vehicles and drivers. Illinois is one of only two states to put the secretary of State in charge of drier services, the other being Michigan. Enforcement of these duties has made the Secretary of State's office a key bureau in the enforcement of driving-under-the-influence or DUI laws. The Illinois State Police Department and the Capitol Police Department lie under the jurisdiction with the Secretary of State.
In addition, the Secretary of State is the Illinois state librarian and is the custodian of the Illinois State Capitol. The office keeps the state’s official records, law, library, Great Seal of the state and archives. The Secretary of State comes at par with the Governor in terms of responsibilities and seniority in the state.
The duties of the Secretary of State’s office are divided among 20 departments employing approximately 4,000 people. The Office of the Secretary of State occupies three buildings of the Illinois Capitol Complex in Springfield, Illinois. Many of the Secretary of State's workers assigned to motor vehicle and licensing duties work in the Howlett Building, south of the Capitol. The Illinois State Library is located in the Brooks Library, east of the Capitol, and the State Archives are housed in the Norton Building, southwest of the Capitol. Read more here.
A Look at the Office:
Jesse White was born in Alton, IL in 1934. In 1943, he moved with his parents to Chicago. In high school, he was an all-city baseball and basketball player. Upon his father’s insistence, White attended and graduated from Alabama State College. Before he could enter the sports arena, he was drafted and served as a paratrooper in the U.S. Army followed by Illinois National Guard duty. Later, he continued in sports and was eventually inducted into three different Halls of Fame. He founded the Jesse White Tumbling Team to serve as a positive alternative for children residing in the Chicago area. He had a 33-year career with the Chicago Public Schools system as a teacher and administrator.
White was elected to the Illinois General Assembly in 1974 where he served for 16 years. Among the bills proposed by White in the House was the Good Samaritan Bill, which allowed hotels to offer leftover food to soup kitchens without threat of liability. He was elected Recorder of Deeds of Cook County, where he served until being elected Secretary of State. In recent years he has also served as Democratic Committeeman of Chicago's 27th Ward.
Jesse White’s record of achievements as Secretary of State may explain why he has been overwhelmingly re-elected for the past 20 years. In 1999, White inherited an office under a cloud of corruption from George H. Ryan and pledged to restore integrity and eliminate all forms of institutionalized corruption and wrongdoing. Some key efforts included: establishing a code of conduct for employees, setting strict fundraising policies that prohibit employee contributions, and initiating legislation to make the position of Inspector General permanent with broad powers to root out corruption.
In January 2009, White gained national attention for his decision to not certify Roland Burris' nomination to the United States Senate following corruption charges against former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. White refused to co-sign a certificate of appointment for any appointee named by Gov. Blagojevich, who was arrested in part for trying to sell this very same senate seat. Although Burris filed a lawsuit against White with the Illinois Supreme Court to compel him to certify the appointment as part of his routine administrative duties, the Court ruled that White did not have to sign his name to any appointment made by Gov. Blagojevich. The Court further ruled that White had fulfilled his legal obligations regarding the appointment of Burris to the U.S. Senate by registering the appointment in accordance with state law. The document registered did not include White's signature or the State Seal, and the U.S. Senate officially seated Burris as Illinois’ junior senator anyway.
White has been an advocate on traffic safety issues. In 2007, he initiated teen driver safety legislation giving Illinois one of the top-ranked graduated driver licensing (GDL) programs in the country. In the first full year of the new law, teen fatal crashes in Illinois dropped by over 40 percent. White has worked to crack down on DUI infractions by supporting legislation that requires all first-time DUI offenders who wish to obtain driving relief to install a breath alcohol ignition interlock device (BAIID) on their vehicles. He has also worked to improve truck safety and the CDL licensing process. More information here.
White now lives on Chicago's Near North Side. He has two daughters and two grandchildren. One of Jesse White’s interns shares in his blog: “On a more personal note, my first experience meeting Secretary White was enjoyable. At 84 years old, the man still has a great sense of humor and is very active. One thing I’ve noticed about him is that he has the best memory of any person I know (he truly could pick up a conversion from years prior). Mr. White also has an extremely personable character and not as bitter as one would expect from 20 years working in political environment. The most important trait from Secretary White that separates him from other politicians, however, is his passion for principled politics, organ donation, and honest belief in the betterment of individuals. I can confidently say that Mr. White has the best intentions for the state of Illinois in mind and that we, the citizens, are lucky to have him.” Learn more here.
In 1999, Jesse White was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame as a Friend of the Community. According to their website, White’s “support for lesbian and gay rights is part of supporting equal rights for all. When he became a state legislator, he backed bills against sexual-orientation discrimination and hate crimes. He continued to uphold sexual-minority rights as Cook County recorder of deeds and now does so as Illinois Secretary of State.” He was the first signer of a historic 1999 letter that eventually was signed by all the state’s constitutional officers, urging legislators to vote for House Bill 474, the proposed Human Rights Act amendment. During the 1999 legislative session, he personally called legislators to support the bill. He met with them on the floor of the House and conferred with House Speaker Michael Madigan. White pledged personal and office resources to ensure the bill’s passage, and he promised to continue work toward making Illinois discrimination-free for all its people. More information available here.
Jesse White, a Democrat, has been Illinois Secretary of State since being elected in 1998. He is the longest-serving and the first African American to hold this position. After discussing the far-reaching duties of Illinois’ Secretary of State, this article will discuss the man who holds that office.
A Look at the Office:
The Secretary of State is one of the six elected executive officials in Illinois. As the second biggest established office of the state, the Secretary of State of Illinois keeps up one of the nation’s biggest databases that contains information on a huge number of business elements. Primarily, the Secretary of State is responsible for overseeing the corporate division and the business division of the state. Hence, the task of registering new business entities with the state of Illinois as well as keeping track of any commercial activity of those businesses headquartered in the state falls under this category. The department is responsible for the regulation of the securities industry in Illinois and protection of investors by ensuring compliance with the law and investigating any complaints of fraud or improper practices.
Besides enrolling corporations, lobbyists and public accountants, this office is likewise responsible for issuing licenses to Illinois-enlisted vehicles and drivers. Illinois is one of only two states to put the secretary of State in charge of drier services, the other being Michigan. Enforcement of these duties has made the Secretary of State's office a key bureau in the enforcement of driving-under-the-influence or DUI laws. The Illinois State Police Department and the Capitol Police Department lie under the jurisdiction with the Secretary of State.
In addition, the Secretary of State is the Illinois state librarian and is the custodian of the Illinois State Capitol. The office keeps the state’s official records, law, library, Great Seal of the state and archives. The Secretary of State comes at par with the Governor in terms of responsibilities and seniority in the state.
The duties of the Secretary of State’s office are divided among 20 departments employing approximately 4,000 people. The Office of the Secretary of State occupies three buildings of the Illinois Capitol Complex in Springfield, Illinois. Many of the Secretary of State's workers assigned to motor vehicle and licensing duties work in the Howlett Building, south of the Capitol. The Illinois State Library is located in the Brooks Library, east of the Capitol, and the State Archives are housed in the Norton Building, southwest of the Capitol. Read more here.
A Look at the Office:
Jesse White was born in Alton, IL in 1934. In 1943, he moved with his parents to Chicago. In high school, he was an all-city baseball and basketball player. Upon his father’s insistence, White attended and graduated from Alabama State College. Before he could enter the sports arena, he was drafted and served as a paratrooper in the U.S. Army followed by Illinois National Guard duty. Later, he continued in sports and was eventually inducted into three different Halls of Fame. He founded the Jesse White Tumbling Team to serve as a positive alternative for children residing in the Chicago area. He had a 33-year career with the Chicago Public Schools system as a teacher and administrator.
White was elected to the Illinois General Assembly in 1974 where he served for 16 years. Among the bills proposed by White in the House was the Good Samaritan Bill, which allowed hotels to offer leftover food to soup kitchens without threat of liability. He was elected Recorder of Deeds of Cook County, where he served until being elected Secretary of State. In recent years he has also served as Democratic Committeeman of Chicago's 27th Ward.
Jesse White’s record of achievements as Secretary of State may explain why he has been overwhelmingly re-elected for the past 20 years. In 1999, White inherited an office under a cloud of corruption from George H. Ryan and pledged to restore integrity and eliminate all forms of institutionalized corruption and wrongdoing. Some key efforts included: establishing a code of conduct for employees, setting strict fundraising policies that prohibit employee contributions, and initiating legislation to make the position of Inspector General permanent with broad powers to root out corruption.
In January 2009, White gained national attention for his decision to not certify Roland Burris' nomination to the United States Senate following corruption charges against former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. White refused to co-sign a certificate of appointment for any appointee named by Gov. Blagojevich, who was arrested in part for trying to sell this very same senate seat. Although Burris filed a lawsuit against White with the Illinois Supreme Court to compel him to certify the appointment as part of his routine administrative duties, the Court ruled that White did not have to sign his name to any appointment made by Gov. Blagojevich. The Court further ruled that White had fulfilled his legal obligations regarding the appointment of Burris to the U.S. Senate by registering the appointment in accordance with state law. The document registered did not include White's signature or the State Seal, and the U.S. Senate officially seated Burris as Illinois’ junior senator anyway.
White has been an advocate on traffic safety issues. In 2007, he initiated teen driver safety legislation giving Illinois one of the top-ranked graduated driver licensing (GDL) programs in the country. In the first full year of the new law, teen fatal crashes in Illinois dropped by over 40 percent. White has worked to crack down on DUI infractions by supporting legislation that requires all first-time DUI offenders who wish to obtain driving relief to install a breath alcohol ignition interlock device (BAIID) on their vehicles. He has also worked to improve truck safety and the CDL licensing process. More information here.
White now lives on Chicago's Near North Side. He has two daughters and two grandchildren. One of Jesse White’s interns shares in his blog: “On a more personal note, my first experience meeting Secretary White was enjoyable. At 84 years old, the man still has a great sense of humor and is very active. One thing I’ve noticed about him is that he has the best memory of any person I know (he truly could pick up a conversion from years prior). Mr. White also has an extremely personable character and not as bitter as one would expect from 20 years working in political environment. The most important trait from Secretary White that separates him from other politicians, however, is his passion for principled politics, organ donation, and honest belief in the betterment of individuals. I can confidently say that Mr. White has the best intentions for the state of Illinois in mind and that we, the citizens, are lucky to have him.” Learn more here.
In 1999, Jesse White was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame as a Friend of the Community. According to their website, White’s “support for lesbian and gay rights is part of supporting equal rights for all. When he became a state legislator, he backed bills against sexual-orientation discrimination and hate crimes. He continued to uphold sexual-minority rights as Cook County recorder of deeds and now does so as Illinois Secretary of State.” He was the first signer of a historic 1999 letter that eventually was signed by all the state’s constitutional officers, urging legislators to vote for House Bill 474, the proposed Human Rights Act amendment. During the 1999 legislative session, he personally called legislators to support the bill. He met with them on the floor of the House and conferred with House Speaker Michael Madigan. White pledged personal and office resources to ensure the bill’s passage, and he promised to continue work toward making Illinois discrimination-free for all its people. More information available here.
Kwame Raoul, Illinois Attorney General
Article researched and written by Joyce Geiler
The Attorney General (AG) is the Legal Officer of the state. The AG is charged with the responsibility of enforcing the laws. The state attorney general also has the higher purpose of protecting the people of the state and their interests. Attorney general duties include providing consumer protections from fraud, scams and dangerous products, people and situations, protection of the state's resources by upholding state and federal environmental laws, oversight or direct involvement in criminal court cases and appeals, enforcement of judgments, such as child support and victim's programs, and formal opinions to state and federal agencies.
Kwame Raoul, Illinois’ newly elected Attorney General, was born in Chicago to Haitian-born immigrants. He is a lifelong resident of the Hyde Park community in Chicago where he lives with his wife Kali and his two children, Che and Mizan. His law education and legal career has been in Chicago. As a role model for his public service, Raoul looks to his father, who was a community physician for 30 years on Chicago’s South Side. Raoul says he is inspired by his father’s compassion and ethic of service explaining that he made house calls and never turned away a patient who was unable to pay.
In 2004, Raoul was appointed to fill the vacancy left in the 13th Legislative District by former Illinois state Senator Barack Obama's election to the U.S. Senate. Kwame Raoul’s AG campaign website https://kwameraoul.com/ describes him as “A leading progressive voice in the Illinois Senate, who has allowed real life experiences to shape his legislative philosophy.” Raoul’s achievements in the Senate are many and reveal those causes he supports. They include expanding opportunities for minority and women-owned financial service firms, helping protect student athletes from brain injuries, eliminating pension ethics loopholes and reforming workers compensation policy. Raoul also enacted tougher penalties for child pornography and legislation protecting children from sexual predators, assisted communities struggling with the opioid abuse epidemic, and empowered survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence by guaranteeing their legal rights and keeping them safe at home and in the workplace.
He has been a leading voice at the state Capitol for equal rights and a woman’s right to choose. He has been very involved in criminal justice reform including the historic legislation that abolishes the death penalty and legislation creating the Torture Inquiry Commission to investigate allegations of police torture of African American prisoners. He also championed legislation aimed at breaking the code of silence by deterring intimidation of those who cooperate with law enforcement officers. He sponsored legislation that included background checks on private transfers of guns,
Related to economic concerns, Raoul has supported efforts to create and retain jobs in the State of Illinois including convention center reforms and a multibillion dollars capital bill. He has been the chief sponsor of legislation to extend the Economic Development for a Growing Economy (EDGE) tax credit to companies in order to retain and create jobs in Illinois.
As chairman of the Senate's Redistricting Committee, Sen. Raoul introduced legislation that created the Illinois Voting Rights Act to protect racial and language minorities in the legislative redistricting process. In addition, Raoul served as Vice-Chair of the Criminal Law Committee and a member of the Judiciary and Financial Institutions Committees.
Raoul was a co-sponsor of Illinois’ expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, and says he will defend Illinoisans against Republican attempts to take away their healthcare by repealing or weakening the ACA. As Attorney General, he’ll step up to be Illinois’ last line of defense against what he sees as federal attacks on access to affordable healthcare, voting rights, the environment, civil rights and more. Read more here.
In recent news, the new Attorney General asked the Illinois Supreme Court to review former officer Jason Van Dyke’s sentence for shooting Laquan McDonald.
A jury convicted Van Dyke in October of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery, one for each shot fired at the teenager. AG Raoul says he recognizes the trial judge has discretion in sentencing. “However, it is in the interest of justice that we do all within in our power to make sure that such exercise of discretion be applied consistently with the mandates of law. No matter who the defendant, and no matter who the victim in a particular case.” More information available here.
Illinois AG Kwame Raoul is joining 16 states in a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration at the southern border.
Raoul and the other attorneys general in the lawsuit allege the emergency declaration is an unconstitutional end run around Congress’ power to appropriate money. The recently-passed bipartisan federal budget deal included money for the southern border, but not as much as Pres. Trump had first requested. “Diverting funds that have been appropriated by Congress is a violation of the U.S. Constitution,” Raoul said. “My office joined this lawsuit because I am committed to fighting this abuse of power.” The attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Virginia have also joined the lawsuit. Read about the lawsuit by following this link.
Article researched and written by Joyce Geiler
The Attorney General (AG) is the Legal Officer of the state. The AG is charged with the responsibility of enforcing the laws. The state attorney general also has the higher purpose of protecting the people of the state and their interests. Attorney general duties include providing consumer protections from fraud, scams and dangerous products, people and situations, protection of the state's resources by upholding state and federal environmental laws, oversight or direct involvement in criminal court cases and appeals, enforcement of judgments, such as child support and victim's programs, and formal opinions to state and federal agencies.
Kwame Raoul, Illinois’ newly elected Attorney General, was born in Chicago to Haitian-born immigrants. He is a lifelong resident of the Hyde Park community in Chicago where he lives with his wife Kali and his two children, Che and Mizan. His law education and legal career has been in Chicago. As a role model for his public service, Raoul looks to his father, who was a community physician for 30 years on Chicago’s South Side. Raoul says he is inspired by his father’s compassion and ethic of service explaining that he made house calls and never turned away a patient who was unable to pay.
In 2004, Raoul was appointed to fill the vacancy left in the 13th Legislative District by former Illinois state Senator Barack Obama's election to the U.S. Senate. Kwame Raoul’s AG campaign website https://kwameraoul.com/ describes him as “A leading progressive voice in the Illinois Senate, who has allowed real life experiences to shape his legislative philosophy.” Raoul’s achievements in the Senate are many and reveal those causes he supports. They include expanding opportunities for minority and women-owned financial service firms, helping protect student athletes from brain injuries, eliminating pension ethics loopholes and reforming workers compensation policy. Raoul also enacted tougher penalties for child pornography and legislation protecting children from sexual predators, assisted communities struggling with the opioid abuse epidemic, and empowered survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence by guaranteeing their legal rights and keeping them safe at home and in the workplace.
He has been a leading voice at the state Capitol for equal rights and a woman’s right to choose. He has been very involved in criminal justice reform including the historic legislation that abolishes the death penalty and legislation creating the Torture Inquiry Commission to investigate allegations of police torture of African American prisoners. He also championed legislation aimed at breaking the code of silence by deterring intimidation of those who cooperate with law enforcement officers. He sponsored legislation that included background checks on private transfers of guns,
Related to economic concerns, Raoul has supported efforts to create and retain jobs in the State of Illinois including convention center reforms and a multibillion dollars capital bill. He has been the chief sponsor of legislation to extend the Economic Development for a Growing Economy (EDGE) tax credit to companies in order to retain and create jobs in Illinois.
As chairman of the Senate's Redistricting Committee, Sen. Raoul introduced legislation that created the Illinois Voting Rights Act to protect racial and language minorities in the legislative redistricting process. In addition, Raoul served as Vice-Chair of the Criminal Law Committee and a member of the Judiciary and Financial Institutions Committees.
Raoul was a co-sponsor of Illinois’ expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, and says he will defend Illinoisans against Republican attempts to take away their healthcare by repealing or weakening the ACA. As Attorney General, he’ll step up to be Illinois’ last line of defense against what he sees as federal attacks on access to affordable healthcare, voting rights, the environment, civil rights and more. Read more here.
In recent news, the new Attorney General asked the Illinois Supreme Court to review former officer Jason Van Dyke’s sentence for shooting Laquan McDonald.
A jury convicted Van Dyke in October of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery, one for each shot fired at the teenager. AG Raoul says he recognizes the trial judge has discretion in sentencing. “However, it is in the interest of justice that we do all within in our power to make sure that such exercise of discretion be applied consistently with the mandates of law. No matter who the defendant, and no matter who the victim in a particular case.” More information available here.
Illinois AG Kwame Raoul is joining 16 states in a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration at the southern border.
Raoul and the other attorneys general in the lawsuit allege the emergency declaration is an unconstitutional end run around Congress’ power to appropriate money. The recently-passed bipartisan federal budget deal included money for the southern border, but not as much as Pres. Trump had first requested. “Diverting funds that have been appropriated by Congress is a violation of the U.S. Constitution,” Raoul said. “My office joined this lawsuit because I am committed to fighting this abuse of power.” The attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Virginia have also joined the lawsuit. Read about the lawsuit by following this link.
" School Performance Down; Costs Up" by Joyce Geiler
Possibly every person reading this article can name some really good teachers who love their work and who positively impact the lives of their students. This article is not intended to take anything away from those teachers. This article presents details of overall performance and costs in Illinois Schools.
The 2017 Illinois Report Card said that only 37 percent of Illinois eight graders can read at grade level, and only 31 percent can do math at grade level. The results of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC, test shows 37 percent of students in grades three through 11 are proficient in the English Language Arts portion of the test. Only 31 percent passed the math test. The report showed continued struggles for 8th graders to pass basic Algebra as well. Of those that even qualified to take the course, only 29 percent passed Algebra 1. The PARCC test has been the subject of criticism over the last two years of its implementation. It is reported to be a much more rigorous test than past tests and scores will improve as its implementation continues. Since 2015, the first year PARCC was implemented, the average score has increased by 1.1 percent. The state’s students are still in need of improvement on the basics.
2017 is the first year of statewide SAT testing. In this first year, 38 percent of Illinois’ 11th graders were considered “proficient” in their SAT scores with 40 percent considered proficient in English Language Arts and 36 percent proficient in math. Despite low levels of test proficiency, the state’s average teacher evaluation is 97 percent.
Student performance is largely flat across the state, while teachers and administrators are making more money, The average teacher salary in Illinois jumped over $1,000 this year, to $64,516 annually. The average paycheck for a school administrator jumped over $2,500 to $106,273 a year. Local schools set salaries but often without public scrutiny. Using national data from previous years, the average Illinois salaries remain higher than all but a handful of states.
Assistant Superintendent of Galesburg schools, Jennifer Hamm, said more than half of her district's money this year is going to salaries alone. "We'll be spending about $27 million alone on salaries, out of a $50 million budget," Hamm said. "That doesn't include benefits, Social Security, IMRF [pension] payments, or TRS [teacher pension] payments." Hamm added that many teachers in her district actually get three raises each year, a base increase, a step increase for longevity, and a lane increase for continued education. Those raises have averaged 3.17 percent a year. And that doesn't touch the rising cost of health insurance. Mike Jacoby with the Illinois Association of School Business Officials said the health insurance marketplace as a whole isn't getting any cheaper for anyone, and someone has to pay the costs. Some Illinois school districts pick up 90 percent of the health insurance premium costs for teachers. Teachers unions in at least two districts, Rockford and Quincy, are talking about striking because they don't want to pay more for their insurance benefits. Read more here.
At the same time teacher salaries seem to be increasing, school officials statewide are reporting that districts are having a hard time filling teaching positions. The (Springfield) State Journal-Register says an Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools survey shows 75 percent of school districts have fewer qualified candidates than in previous years. The survey covers the 2015 to 2016 school year. It also shows 16 percent of schools canceled classes or programs because of a teacher shortage in areas including special education and language arts. The Illinois State Board of Education says there are over 2,000 unfilled positions in Illinois, including teachers, administrative staff and support staff.
Troy Hinkel, the associate director of the Cecilia J. Lauby Teacher Education Center at Illinois State University says the shortage of teachers in Illinois' high schools and elementary schools has its roots in the state's colleges and universities. Hinkel feels a lot of students are going through school, wondering, 'Why am I going to four, four-and-a-half years of college to make $30,000 a year?’ (There seems to be a discrepancy between reported teacher salaries quoted in an above paragraph and student’s perceptions of teacher salaries.) Tuition, room and board, and fees at Illinois State University (ISU) cost about $28,000 a year. Every student who wants to be a teacher has to pass a basic skills test, a content specific test, and also the education TPA, which is the 'are-you-prepared-to-be-a-teacher' test. A lot of other fields don't have all of those regulation. ISU's student teacher enrollment is down from over 5,072 students in 2009, to 3,896 in 2016. Read more here.
Administrative costs and salaries are also increasing on the university level. An Illinois Senate report in 2015 tracked the skyrocketing expansion of administrative costs at Illinois' public universities. Between 2005 and 2015, student enrollment at Illinois universities fell almost 3 percent, the cost for professors and faculty members increased by 2 percent, and the cost for university administrators jumped by over 26 percent. During about the same time, more and more Illinois students left the state to attend college elsewhere because they could pay the same or less for a degree at the University of Missouri, the University of Wisconsin, Indiana University, and the University of Iowa than at the University of Illinois. The Illinois State Board of Higher Education said in 2014, 33,700 students left Illinois to go to college somewhere else.
The University of Illinois' latest request from taxpayers is almost $100 million more than last year, with most of the money earmarked for raises. University leaders want to ask lawmakers for $98 million dollars more next year, so they can spend almost $70 million on raises. This year's request is for $680 million compared to the $582 million requested last year. U of I reports they couldn't offer raises two years ago, and have offered only 3 percent raises since. The school says they pay attention to the cost that students pay, but says without raises the U of I won't be competitive for faculty and staff. More information here.
Chancellor Montemagno at Southern Illinois University's main campus has a plan to change the school and hopefully reverse years of declining enrollment and lost money. "We are spending too much time and money on administration, and not enough on teaching and research," Montemagno said in a recent video message to campus. Adding to this challenge are outdated ways in which departments function, limiting innovation and collaboration. At SIU Carbondale, just 1,354 of the school's 4,795 employees work in a classroom. The budget for the school was more than $488 million last year. As a result, Montemagno said, the school is stuck in a downward spiral. The school has lost 50 percent of its freshman class over the past three years alone. The nearly nine percent drop in enrollment this year reflects a $9.4 million loss in tuition revenue. They have 6,000 fewer students than just 10 years ago. Read more here.
No doubt there is other information and statistics to consider, but these provide a starting place for investigation.
Additional references available Here, Here and Here
Possibly every person reading this article can name some really good teachers who love their work and who positively impact the lives of their students. This article is not intended to take anything away from those teachers. This article presents details of overall performance and costs in Illinois Schools.
The 2017 Illinois Report Card said that only 37 percent of Illinois eight graders can read at grade level, and only 31 percent can do math at grade level. The results of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC, test shows 37 percent of students in grades three through 11 are proficient in the English Language Arts portion of the test. Only 31 percent passed the math test. The report showed continued struggles for 8th graders to pass basic Algebra as well. Of those that even qualified to take the course, only 29 percent passed Algebra 1. The PARCC test has been the subject of criticism over the last two years of its implementation. It is reported to be a much more rigorous test than past tests and scores will improve as its implementation continues. Since 2015, the first year PARCC was implemented, the average score has increased by 1.1 percent. The state’s students are still in need of improvement on the basics.
2017 is the first year of statewide SAT testing. In this first year, 38 percent of Illinois’ 11th graders were considered “proficient” in their SAT scores with 40 percent considered proficient in English Language Arts and 36 percent proficient in math. Despite low levels of test proficiency, the state’s average teacher evaluation is 97 percent.
Student performance is largely flat across the state, while teachers and administrators are making more money, The average teacher salary in Illinois jumped over $1,000 this year, to $64,516 annually. The average paycheck for a school administrator jumped over $2,500 to $106,273 a year. Local schools set salaries but often without public scrutiny. Using national data from previous years, the average Illinois salaries remain higher than all but a handful of states.
Assistant Superintendent of Galesburg schools, Jennifer Hamm, said more than half of her district's money this year is going to salaries alone. "We'll be spending about $27 million alone on salaries, out of a $50 million budget," Hamm said. "That doesn't include benefits, Social Security, IMRF [pension] payments, or TRS [teacher pension] payments." Hamm added that many teachers in her district actually get three raises each year, a base increase, a step increase for longevity, and a lane increase for continued education. Those raises have averaged 3.17 percent a year. And that doesn't touch the rising cost of health insurance. Mike Jacoby with the Illinois Association of School Business Officials said the health insurance marketplace as a whole isn't getting any cheaper for anyone, and someone has to pay the costs. Some Illinois school districts pick up 90 percent of the health insurance premium costs for teachers. Teachers unions in at least two districts, Rockford and Quincy, are talking about striking because they don't want to pay more for their insurance benefits. Read more here.
At the same time teacher salaries seem to be increasing, school officials statewide are reporting that districts are having a hard time filling teaching positions. The (Springfield) State Journal-Register says an Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools survey shows 75 percent of school districts have fewer qualified candidates than in previous years. The survey covers the 2015 to 2016 school year. It also shows 16 percent of schools canceled classes or programs because of a teacher shortage in areas including special education and language arts. The Illinois State Board of Education says there are over 2,000 unfilled positions in Illinois, including teachers, administrative staff and support staff.
Troy Hinkel, the associate director of the Cecilia J. Lauby Teacher Education Center at Illinois State University says the shortage of teachers in Illinois' high schools and elementary schools has its roots in the state's colleges and universities. Hinkel feels a lot of students are going through school, wondering, 'Why am I going to four, four-and-a-half years of college to make $30,000 a year?’ (There seems to be a discrepancy between reported teacher salaries quoted in an above paragraph and student’s perceptions of teacher salaries.) Tuition, room and board, and fees at Illinois State University (ISU) cost about $28,000 a year. Every student who wants to be a teacher has to pass a basic skills test, a content specific test, and also the education TPA, which is the 'are-you-prepared-to-be-a-teacher' test. A lot of other fields don't have all of those regulation. ISU's student teacher enrollment is down from over 5,072 students in 2009, to 3,896 in 2016. Read more here.
Administrative costs and salaries are also increasing on the university level. An Illinois Senate report in 2015 tracked the skyrocketing expansion of administrative costs at Illinois' public universities. Between 2005 and 2015, student enrollment at Illinois universities fell almost 3 percent, the cost for professors and faculty members increased by 2 percent, and the cost for university administrators jumped by over 26 percent. During about the same time, more and more Illinois students left the state to attend college elsewhere because they could pay the same or less for a degree at the University of Missouri, the University of Wisconsin, Indiana University, and the University of Iowa than at the University of Illinois. The Illinois State Board of Higher Education said in 2014, 33,700 students left Illinois to go to college somewhere else.
The University of Illinois' latest request from taxpayers is almost $100 million more than last year, with most of the money earmarked for raises. University leaders want to ask lawmakers for $98 million dollars more next year, so they can spend almost $70 million on raises. This year's request is for $680 million compared to the $582 million requested last year. U of I reports they couldn't offer raises two years ago, and have offered only 3 percent raises since. The school says they pay attention to the cost that students pay, but says without raises the U of I won't be competitive for faculty and staff. More information here.
Chancellor Montemagno at Southern Illinois University's main campus has a plan to change the school and hopefully reverse years of declining enrollment and lost money. "We are spending too much time and money on administration, and not enough on teaching and research," Montemagno said in a recent video message to campus. Adding to this challenge are outdated ways in which departments function, limiting innovation and collaboration. At SIU Carbondale, just 1,354 of the school's 4,795 employees work in a classroom. The budget for the school was more than $488 million last year. As a result, Montemagno said, the school is stuck in a downward spiral. The school has lost 50 percent of its freshman class over the past three years alone. The nearly nine percent drop in enrollment this year reflects a $9.4 million loss in tuition revenue. They have 6,000 fewer students than just 10 years ago. Read more here.
No doubt there is other information and statistics to consider, but these provide a starting place for investigation.
Additional references available Here, Here and Here
" Fixes for Illinois Pension System?"
by Joyce Geiler
Anyone who has the benefit of a pension is grateful for it. Illinois’ taxpayers, however often see pension costs as a giant albatross rather than benefit. Pensions are historically difficult to reform in Illinois due to a clause in the state's Constitution prohibiting the diminishment of pension benefits. The following article discusses several efforts to deal with Illinois’ unfunded pension liabilities.
Will County and McHenry County are two Illinois’ counties who have tried to adopt resolutions denying county board members participation in pensions. Although such a resolution by a county has no legally enforceable effect, the recent Senate bill signed by Gov. Rauner does. SB 2701 has been signed into law by the Governor. The law eliminates future part-time County Board Members from participating in the Illinois municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF).
Effective January 1, 1951, all cities, villages, and incorporated towns with populations of 10,000 or more and all counties (except Cook County) and sanitary districts (except Metropolitan Chicago Sanitary District) were mandated by legislation into IMRF. In 2011, the pension reform package mandated that those enrolled in IMRF need to be vested for 10 years rather than the previous 8 years. Existing board members already enrolled will not be affected by the new law as the Illinois Constitution forbids altering their benefits. However, they must now fill out time sheets to prove they are working the minimum hours required, either 600 or 1,000 hours a year, to qualify.
Read more here.
In September, an appeals court ordered a cash-strapped Harvey, Illinois to raise property taxes to meet its firefighter pension obligations. The First District Appellate Court decided that the city of Harvey must pay $15 million in damages to the local pension fund and approve a property tax levy specifically for the pension system, which the court said was on the brink of bankruptcy. The Firefighters’ Pension Fund in Harvey, a city that has been plagued by mismanagement, was only 27.2 percent funded as of 2014, the court found. By contrast, the city of Chicago’s four pensions are on average only 21 percent funded. Not all Illinois communities are in such bad shape, however. The Village of Vernon Hills reports its police pension is more than 80 percent funded. The state average for police and fire pensions per county stands at 54 percent. Because the state Supreme Court ruled two years ago that pension benefits cannot be reduced, the only options for cities that are drowning in pension debts would be through a change in the Illinois Constitution or through the federal bankruptcy process.
Currently, there are two types of repayment plans for unfunded liabilities. One method is through what is called percentage of payroll. This method comes at a lower cost today but with more ramped-up costs in future years. The percentage of payroll for the current number of employees may not be enough to pay increasing liabilities as the number receiving pension benefits increases.
A better way would be through what’s known as level-dollar amortization. Level-dollar amortization is repayment of a loan through a fixed number of fixed-amount monthly installments. While the amount of the installment is same every month, it is apportioned unequally between interest and principal payments, meaning that in the early years, the major proportion (as much as 90 percent) of the installment amount goes towards payment of the interest. It is only in later years, when most of the interest has been paid off, that the principal balance begins to reduce significantly, which would force local governments to expend more money initially in exchange for more stability as the debt is paid off over time. Read more here.
Another way to help local communities improve their pension finances over time would be to consolidate the more than 650 police and firefighter pension systems in Illinois under a single administrative framework. Currently, each municipality’s pension system has its own investment managers, attorneys and other overhead. By putting their administration under a combined system, $33 million annually could potentially be saved, not including the rise in investment performance that would come with the higher assets base. Local pension funding levels in Illinois have continued to decline despite a 400 percent jump in taxpayer contributions. Consolidating all the police and firefighter plans within the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF) could reduce operating costs by about $1,000 per member per year, for a savings of nearly $1 billion over 30 years. Funds are combined for investment purposes only and the funds from one unit of government cannot be utilized to subsidize the funds of another unit of government. Consolidation efforts don’t always save money, and they aren’t always more efficient. Oklahoma, for instance, decided against consolidation. More here.
Illinois has nearly 7,000 units of government, which is more than any other state in the nation. One western Illinois county is looking to trim pensions by trimming government through reducing the number of its townships. Henry County is one of the first to use a new state law, which makes it easier for county officials to dissolve local government units. Henry County Board Chairman, Roger Gradert, said county taxpayers can't afford to continue funding 24 separate townships not just because of salaries and benefits, but because some townships are rural counties and the number of residents supporting the townships are small. Read more here.
Two new laws are on the books in Illinois, which sponsors call an effort to root out abuse of the state's local police pension systems. One keeps police officers who return to active duty after retirement from collecting two pensions, commonly called “double dipping.” When the Governor signed the bill, he noted that this type of pension abuse deprives money from both the pension system and takes money away from other critical services in our communities. This bill stems from a Naperville police chief accruing new pension benefits while simultaneously earning a salary of over $168,000 and collecting payments from his first pension.
A second bill, admittedly a small step, keeps survivors from getting pension benefits related to their spouse’s service if the survivor has been convicted of a felony. This law relates to the scandal of Lt. Joe Gliniewicz, whose wife collected pension benefits even after she was convicted for her part in embezzling taxpayer money from a local youth program. Find out more here.
The issue of pension funding is complex and even all the above tactics combined are not enough. Responsible handling of finances in Illinois offers the only real solution.
by Joyce Geiler
Anyone who has the benefit of a pension is grateful for it. Illinois’ taxpayers, however often see pension costs as a giant albatross rather than benefit. Pensions are historically difficult to reform in Illinois due to a clause in the state's Constitution prohibiting the diminishment of pension benefits. The following article discusses several efforts to deal with Illinois’ unfunded pension liabilities.
Will County and McHenry County are two Illinois’ counties who have tried to adopt resolutions denying county board members participation in pensions. Although such a resolution by a county has no legally enforceable effect, the recent Senate bill signed by Gov. Rauner does. SB 2701 has been signed into law by the Governor. The law eliminates future part-time County Board Members from participating in the Illinois municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF).
Effective January 1, 1951, all cities, villages, and incorporated towns with populations of 10,000 or more and all counties (except Cook County) and sanitary districts (except Metropolitan Chicago Sanitary District) were mandated by legislation into IMRF. In 2011, the pension reform package mandated that those enrolled in IMRF need to be vested for 10 years rather than the previous 8 years. Existing board members already enrolled will not be affected by the new law as the Illinois Constitution forbids altering their benefits. However, they must now fill out time sheets to prove they are working the minimum hours required, either 600 or 1,000 hours a year, to qualify.
Read more here.
In September, an appeals court ordered a cash-strapped Harvey, Illinois to raise property taxes to meet its firefighter pension obligations. The First District Appellate Court decided that the city of Harvey must pay $15 million in damages to the local pension fund and approve a property tax levy specifically for the pension system, which the court said was on the brink of bankruptcy. The Firefighters’ Pension Fund in Harvey, a city that has been plagued by mismanagement, was only 27.2 percent funded as of 2014, the court found. By contrast, the city of Chicago’s four pensions are on average only 21 percent funded. Not all Illinois communities are in such bad shape, however. The Village of Vernon Hills reports its police pension is more than 80 percent funded. The state average for police and fire pensions per county stands at 54 percent. Because the state Supreme Court ruled two years ago that pension benefits cannot be reduced, the only options for cities that are drowning in pension debts would be through a change in the Illinois Constitution or through the federal bankruptcy process.
Currently, there are two types of repayment plans for unfunded liabilities. One method is through what is called percentage of payroll. This method comes at a lower cost today but with more ramped-up costs in future years. The percentage of payroll for the current number of employees may not be enough to pay increasing liabilities as the number receiving pension benefits increases.
A better way would be through what’s known as level-dollar amortization. Level-dollar amortization is repayment of a loan through a fixed number of fixed-amount monthly installments. While the amount of the installment is same every month, it is apportioned unequally between interest and principal payments, meaning that in the early years, the major proportion (as much as 90 percent) of the installment amount goes towards payment of the interest. It is only in later years, when most of the interest has been paid off, that the principal balance begins to reduce significantly, which would force local governments to expend more money initially in exchange for more stability as the debt is paid off over time. Read more here.
Another way to help local communities improve their pension finances over time would be to consolidate the more than 650 police and firefighter pension systems in Illinois under a single administrative framework. Currently, each municipality’s pension system has its own investment managers, attorneys and other overhead. By putting their administration under a combined system, $33 million annually could potentially be saved, not including the rise in investment performance that would come with the higher assets base. Local pension funding levels in Illinois have continued to decline despite a 400 percent jump in taxpayer contributions. Consolidating all the police and firefighter plans within the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF) could reduce operating costs by about $1,000 per member per year, for a savings of nearly $1 billion over 30 years. Funds are combined for investment purposes only and the funds from one unit of government cannot be utilized to subsidize the funds of another unit of government. Consolidation efforts don’t always save money, and they aren’t always more efficient. Oklahoma, for instance, decided against consolidation. More here.
Illinois has nearly 7,000 units of government, which is more than any other state in the nation. One western Illinois county is looking to trim pensions by trimming government through reducing the number of its townships. Henry County is one of the first to use a new state law, which makes it easier for county officials to dissolve local government units. Henry County Board Chairman, Roger Gradert, said county taxpayers can't afford to continue funding 24 separate townships not just because of salaries and benefits, but because some townships are rural counties and the number of residents supporting the townships are small. Read more here.
Two new laws are on the books in Illinois, which sponsors call an effort to root out abuse of the state's local police pension systems. One keeps police officers who return to active duty after retirement from collecting two pensions, commonly called “double dipping.” When the Governor signed the bill, he noted that this type of pension abuse deprives money from both the pension system and takes money away from other critical services in our communities. This bill stems from a Naperville police chief accruing new pension benefits while simultaneously earning a salary of over $168,000 and collecting payments from his first pension.
A second bill, admittedly a small step, keeps survivors from getting pension benefits related to their spouse’s service if the survivor has been convicted of a felony. This law relates to the scandal of Lt. Joe Gliniewicz, whose wife collected pension benefits even after she was convicted for her part in embezzling taxpayer money from a local youth program. Find out more here.
The issue of pension funding is complex and even all the above tactics combined are not enough. Responsible handling of finances in Illinois offers the only real solution.
"Parental Control and the New School Funding Bill" by Joyce Geiler
Now that a little time has elapsed since the signing of Senate Bill 1947, the ‘School Funding Bill,’ some of the provisions of the bill are beginning to be understood. The Center for Education Reform's Parent Power Index is a measurement of how much control a state's parents have in regard to their child's education. Whether it be a voice in a public school system or the choice of an affordable alternative, those and other factors all contribute to the grade of a state. Illinois ranked 39th and received a "D" grade. The state's low rating is partly due to lack of school choice programs but also other restrictions on public schools. According to an educational freedom group's new report, Illinois parents have very little control over their children's education. That may improve slightly with the new school funding.
Because Illinois has a cap on charter schools as well as funding restrictions, it has a lower charter school score than most states. Illinois has zero school choice and only a modicum of access to online learning which contribute to the low 'D.' Illinois' grade was also lowered for poor availability and accessibility of online education metrics. The state received a "C+" in teacher quality but that has been improving. The group sees Illinois as having a problem with restricting the supply of new teachers, which thus creates artificial shortages. The supply of teachers is constrained by requiring traditional bureaucratic certifications that don't necessarily mean a teacher is a quality person or educator in the classroom. The group also criticizes the state's reporting on school data, saying the online portal doesn't make information easily accessible, even though the Illinois Report Card has won awards for its transparency. Read more here.
The new formula in the School Finding Bill creates an evidence-based model, which sends new state education dollars to less affluent schools that need it the most. For details on the evidence-based model, see here:
No school districts lose money under the plan. It allows for some unfunded mandate relief for schools, as well as creates a school choice plan that would give up to 6,000 lower-income students annually an opportunity to attend private schools. The new law will fund those school choice scholarships through the $75 million tax credit program, which credits 75 cents for every dollar donors give to a scholarship fund. The pilot program will expire after five years unless renewed.
Unfunded mandates are requirements for certain school activities but no funding is allocated for the mandated activities. The mandate relief items in the new funding include allowing school districts to reduce physical education requirements to three days a week and allowing student athletes in grades 7-10 to be exempt from physical education classes. Student athletes in grades 11 and 12 already are entitled to the exemption. School districts also will be able to contract drivers' education out to a third party without having to go through an exemption process.
Also included in the School Funding Bill is the ability for citizens in overfunded schools to lower their property tax burden via referendum allowing taxpayers to take matters into their own hands if school boards won't rein in their tax levies. The new funding formula classifies schools based on a target funding level of 100 percent. Any district at or over 110 percent would be eligible for such a referendum. According to an estimate from the state board of education, 101 districts out of the 860-some districts would qualify for this referendum next spring. A list of those districts can be found here:
Charter schools across the state of Illinois will get more money in the new school funding package. Illinois' charter schools will get almost the same amount of money as traditional public schools under the state's new school funding formula, about $2,000 more per student. Chicago charters will get that from the state, but downstate charter schools will get that money from their local public school district. The difference in funding is based on how the charter school was created. If they are State Charter School Commission approved, the money comes from the state, but if the schools are district created, the money is part of what the district has to provide to the charter.
Read more here
The enacting of the private scholarship program should help improve Illinois parental control score. The five-year scholarship program allows up to $75 million in tax exemptions from donors to help kids attend a private school. It was a major piece of the negotiation in convincing the GOP and Governor Rauner to go along with the funding formula change and the more than $200 million in new funding annually for Chicago Public Schools.
However, a little more than a month after its passage, the private school scholarship program created in the August reforms is the target of a new bill that seeks to remove it. Senator Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant, D-Shorewood, has filed legislation that would require state lawmakers to spend at least $350 million more on public school funding before the private school scholarship would be allowed to commence. The education funding reform measure already set an additional $350 million in school funding annually as a target, but lawmakers knew they wouldn't be able to meet that threshold in the first couple years of funding, considering the billions of dollars the state has in back-logged bills. The state will likely still be dealing with billions in unpaid bills, in addition to a budget shortfall of more than $1 billion in the current budget. Bertino-Tarrant’s legislation would make it mandatory to reach that $350 million mark before the scholarship program could commence. Learn more here
Now that a little time has elapsed since the signing of Senate Bill 1947, the ‘School Funding Bill,’ some of the provisions of the bill are beginning to be understood. The Center for Education Reform's Parent Power Index is a measurement of how much control a state's parents have in regard to their child's education. Whether it be a voice in a public school system or the choice of an affordable alternative, those and other factors all contribute to the grade of a state. Illinois ranked 39th and received a "D" grade. The state's low rating is partly due to lack of school choice programs but also other restrictions on public schools. According to an educational freedom group's new report, Illinois parents have very little control over their children's education. That may improve slightly with the new school funding.
Because Illinois has a cap on charter schools as well as funding restrictions, it has a lower charter school score than most states. Illinois has zero school choice and only a modicum of access to online learning which contribute to the low 'D.' Illinois' grade was also lowered for poor availability and accessibility of online education metrics. The state received a "C+" in teacher quality but that has been improving. The group sees Illinois as having a problem with restricting the supply of new teachers, which thus creates artificial shortages. The supply of teachers is constrained by requiring traditional bureaucratic certifications that don't necessarily mean a teacher is a quality person or educator in the classroom. The group also criticizes the state's reporting on school data, saying the online portal doesn't make information easily accessible, even though the Illinois Report Card has won awards for its transparency. Read more here.
The new formula in the School Finding Bill creates an evidence-based model, which sends new state education dollars to less affluent schools that need it the most. For details on the evidence-based model, see here:
No school districts lose money under the plan. It allows for some unfunded mandate relief for schools, as well as creates a school choice plan that would give up to 6,000 lower-income students annually an opportunity to attend private schools. The new law will fund those school choice scholarships through the $75 million tax credit program, which credits 75 cents for every dollar donors give to a scholarship fund. The pilot program will expire after five years unless renewed.
Unfunded mandates are requirements for certain school activities but no funding is allocated for the mandated activities. The mandate relief items in the new funding include allowing school districts to reduce physical education requirements to three days a week and allowing student athletes in grades 7-10 to be exempt from physical education classes. Student athletes in grades 11 and 12 already are entitled to the exemption. School districts also will be able to contract drivers' education out to a third party without having to go through an exemption process.
Also included in the School Funding Bill is the ability for citizens in overfunded schools to lower their property tax burden via referendum allowing taxpayers to take matters into their own hands if school boards won't rein in their tax levies. The new funding formula classifies schools based on a target funding level of 100 percent. Any district at or over 110 percent would be eligible for such a referendum. According to an estimate from the state board of education, 101 districts out of the 860-some districts would qualify for this referendum next spring. A list of those districts can be found here:
Charter schools across the state of Illinois will get more money in the new school funding package. Illinois' charter schools will get almost the same amount of money as traditional public schools under the state's new school funding formula, about $2,000 more per student. Chicago charters will get that from the state, but downstate charter schools will get that money from their local public school district. The difference in funding is based on how the charter school was created. If they are State Charter School Commission approved, the money comes from the state, but if the schools are district created, the money is part of what the district has to provide to the charter.
Read more here
The enacting of the private scholarship program should help improve Illinois parental control score. The five-year scholarship program allows up to $75 million in tax exemptions from donors to help kids attend a private school. It was a major piece of the negotiation in convincing the GOP and Governor Rauner to go along with the funding formula change and the more than $200 million in new funding annually for Chicago Public Schools.
However, a little more than a month after its passage, the private school scholarship program created in the August reforms is the target of a new bill that seeks to remove it. Senator Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant, D-Shorewood, has filed legislation that would require state lawmakers to spend at least $350 million more on public school funding before the private school scholarship would be allowed to commence. The education funding reform measure already set an additional $350 million in school funding annually as a target, but lawmakers knew they wouldn't be able to meet that threshold in the first couple years of funding, considering the billions of dollars the state has in back-logged bills. The state will likely still be dealing with billions in unpaid bills, in addition to a budget shortfall of more than $1 billion in the current budget. Bertino-Tarrant’s legislation would make it mandatory to reach that $350 million mark before the scholarship program could commence. Learn more here
"Financial Cost of Gunshot Violence" by Joyce Geiler
Citizens are horrified with the shootings in Chicago, thinking of the physical and emotional pain to so many victims and their families. A less emotional but still disturbing result of these shootings is the cost to taxpayers for the medical care for victims who survive the shooting. The impact on the victims and the community is mind-boggling.
The cost to taxpayers is staggering. Medical, personal, and social costs continue for the victims long after the initial treatment for the gunshot. The article from which this material was taken culminates with the investigation of the lives of two gunshot victims in Chicago and includes the costs of initial treatment, especially to taxpayers.
An in-depth analysis of state data by the Chicago Tribune reveals that the initial medical costs for treating Chicago gunshot victims add up to tens of millions of dollars each year. And those costs are rising. The data show that Chicago-area hospitals billed more than $447 million to treat some 12,000 documented victims of gun violence in the city between 2009 and mid-2016. And even that figure represents just a fraction of the total billed. While the hospitals charge for room and board as well as equipment and drugs, the surgeons, anesthesiologists and other medical professionals who treat gunshot victims in emergency rooms across the city typically bill separately. The numbers obtained by the Tribune do not reflect what ongoing treatment might cost patients and taxpayers once a patient is discharged, whether it's follow-up care, physical therapy or mental health treatment to address the trauma of being shot.
The data shows that the victims who bear the physical and emotional scars of being shot live mostly in economically depressed and racially segregated neighborhoods. But the financial burden of caring for survivors of gunshot wounds extends well beyond neighborhood boundaries, according to the Tribune analysis. In fact, patients who live in poverty and are insured through the publicly funded Medicaid and Medicare programs account for nearly half of the costs analyzed by the Tribune. The violence has ripple effects that touch on every aspect of the city in some way regardless of where it happens.
The data released to the Tribune represent more than 11,800 patient visits involving gunshot victims in Chicago, only an estimated two-thirds of the known shooting victims during the 7 1/2-year time frame studied. The figures also don't reflect the amount ultimately paid by patients or taxpayers, presumably a fraction of what the hospitals billed. Private insurance companies negotiate payments based on treatment, and patients who pay out-of-pocket or have no insurance also can negotiate. Medicaid and Medicare pay using a set fee schedule for procedures and hospital stays. All together, the Tribune conservatively estimated that hospitals typically get paid about 30 percent of what they bill.
The data indicates that charges from area hospitals rose significantly over the 7 1/2-year span. In 2009, gunshot inpatients in Chicago averaged about $57,963 in charges for their hospital stay. Through the first half of last year, inpatients were charged $93,647 on average. Illinois' hospital charging data also indicates that inpatient stays grew longer increasing from one week in 2009 to 9 days in 2016, most likely a factor in the escalating charges.
How are these charges paid? The breakdown in the types of insurance used by hospital inpatients makes clear that the financial burden of the medical costs associated with gun violence often falls on taxpayers, not the victims. Nearly half of the amount for treating inpatients after a firearm assault was billed to taxpayer-funded Medicaid and, less often, Medicare. Less than one-quarter of inpatients were insured through commercial insurance or HMOs, and others either were self-pay or insured in some other way. The Illinois Department of Public Health provides the following statistics for 2009 through mid-2016: Medicaid $200 million, self-paid 100 million, commercial (insurance) 93 million, other $37 million, Medicare $10 million, HMO 6 million.
The costs to treat gunshot wounds are driven by the unique and critical nature of the injuries. The data paints a picture of the bodily destruction: injuries to the head and neck, abdomen, hips and thighs; fractures of bones; exposed small intestines and lacerated livers. The hospital needs to be in a constant state of readiness that includes people giving X-rays and drawing blood, technicians doing laboratory work, operating rooms ready to go, doctors ready to go.
Two victims agreed to give the Tribune detailed information about the costs of their gunshot injuries. The combined price tag for the acute medical care for the two people the Tribune followed was $184,000. One victim’s youngest son was killed in the shooting incident and she received bone-shattering injuries to her left forearm, which is her dominant arm, costing $27,000 for her surgery and overnight stay in the hospital. Her arm is only partly functional so she ended her paid job and started collecting disability and unemployment. When the subsidies ended she took a minimum wage job. Her weekly grief counseling sessions have cost about $5,500 with charges covered by a Mental Health Commission.
An 18-year-old young man was shot in the back leaving him permanently partially paralyzed. His three-week hospital treatment cost $157,000. The hospital had to go into high alert given the critical nature of his wound, incurring a $7,919 charge labeled "trauma active" for mobilizing doctors, residents, nurses, technicians — all the medical personnel who might have to treat him as he arrived at the hospital. One of the first services ordered was a "critical care evaluation and management." that cost $3,020. His post-hospitalization rehab has so far totaled $253,163.05, a tab that is still climbing and is being picked up almost entirely by Medicaid
While no price tag can be placed on the suffering and altered lives of gunshot trauma patients, the medical price tag is very great to all: and taxpayers pay nearly half of those costs. More information available here.
Citizens are horrified with the shootings in Chicago, thinking of the physical and emotional pain to so many victims and their families. A less emotional but still disturbing result of these shootings is the cost to taxpayers for the medical care for victims who survive the shooting. The impact on the victims and the community is mind-boggling.
The cost to taxpayers is staggering. Medical, personal, and social costs continue for the victims long after the initial treatment for the gunshot. The article from which this material was taken culminates with the investigation of the lives of two gunshot victims in Chicago and includes the costs of initial treatment, especially to taxpayers.
An in-depth analysis of state data by the Chicago Tribune reveals that the initial medical costs for treating Chicago gunshot victims add up to tens of millions of dollars each year. And those costs are rising. The data show that Chicago-area hospitals billed more than $447 million to treat some 12,000 documented victims of gun violence in the city between 2009 and mid-2016. And even that figure represents just a fraction of the total billed. While the hospitals charge for room and board as well as equipment and drugs, the surgeons, anesthesiologists and other medical professionals who treat gunshot victims in emergency rooms across the city typically bill separately. The numbers obtained by the Tribune do not reflect what ongoing treatment might cost patients and taxpayers once a patient is discharged, whether it's follow-up care, physical therapy or mental health treatment to address the trauma of being shot.
The data shows that the victims who bear the physical and emotional scars of being shot live mostly in economically depressed and racially segregated neighborhoods. But the financial burden of caring for survivors of gunshot wounds extends well beyond neighborhood boundaries, according to the Tribune analysis. In fact, patients who live in poverty and are insured through the publicly funded Medicaid and Medicare programs account for nearly half of the costs analyzed by the Tribune. The violence has ripple effects that touch on every aspect of the city in some way regardless of where it happens.
The data released to the Tribune represent more than 11,800 patient visits involving gunshot victims in Chicago, only an estimated two-thirds of the known shooting victims during the 7 1/2-year time frame studied. The figures also don't reflect the amount ultimately paid by patients or taxpayers, presumably a fraction of what the hospitals billed. Private insurance companies negotiate payments based on treatment, and patients who pay out-of-pocket or have no insurance also can negotiate. Medicaid and Medicare pay using a set fee schedule for procedures and hospital stays. All together, the Tribune conservatively estimated that hospitals typically get paid about 30 percent of what they bill.
The data indicates that charges from area hospitals rose significantly over the 7 1/2-year span. In 2009, gunshot inpatients in Chicago averaged about $57,963 in charges for their hospital stay. Through the first half of last year, inpatients were charged $93,647 on average. Illinois' hospital charging data also indicates that inpatient stays grew longer increasing from one week in 2009 to 9 days in 2016, most likely a factor in the escalating charges.
How are these charges paid? The breakdown in the types of insurance used by hospital inpatients makes clear that the financial burden of the medical costs associated with gun violence often falls on taxpayers, not the victims. Nearly half of the amount for treating inpatients after a firearm assault was billed to taxpayer-funded Medicaid and, less often, Medicare. Less than one-quarter of inpatients were insured through commercial insurance or HMOs, and others either were self-pay or insured in some other way. The Illinois Department of Public Health provides the following statistics for 2009 through mid-2016: Medicaid $200 million, self-paid 100 million, commercial (insurance) 93 million, other $37 million, Medicare $10 million, HMO 6 million.
The costs to treat gunshot wounds are driven by the unique and critical nature of the injuries. The data paints a picture of the bodily destruction: injuries to the head and neck, abdomen, hips and thighs; fractures of bones; exposed small intestines and lacerated livers. The hospital needs to be in a constant state of readiness that includes people giving X-rays and drawing blood, technicians doing laboratory work, operating rooms ready to go, doctors ready to go.
Two victims agreed to give the Tribune detailed information about the costs of their gunshot injuries. The combined price tag for the acute medical care for the two people the Tribune followed was $184,000. One victim’s youngest son was killed in the shooting incident and she received bone-shattering injuries to her left forearm, which is her dominant arm, costing $27,000 for her surgery and overnight stay in the hospital. Her arm is only partly functional so she ended her paid job and started collecting disability and unemployment. When the subsidies ended she took a minimum wage job. Her weekly grief counseling sessions have cost about $5,500 with charges covered by a Mental Health Commission.
An 18-year-old young man was shot in the back leaving him permanently partially paralyzed. His three-week hospital treatment cost $157,000. The hospital had to go into high alert given the critical nature of his wound, incurring a $7,919 charge labeled "trauma active" for mobilizing doctors, residents, nurses, technicians — all the medical personnel who might have to treat him as he arrived at the hospital. One of the first services ordered was a "critical care evaluation and management." that cost $3,020. His post-hospitalization rehab has so far totaled $253,163.05, a tab that is still climbing and is being picked up almost entirely by Medicaid
While no price tag can be placed on the suffering and altered lives of gunshot trauma patients, the medical price tag is very great to all: and taxpayers pay nearly half of those costs. More information available here.
" U.S. Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit Vacancies" by Joyce Geiler
A recent article concerning a vacancy in the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, a federal circuit which includes Illinois, prompted this review of Illinois’ judicial system. Terms like ‘appellate’ and ‘circuit’ apply to both federal and state courts and can be confusing. After differentiating some terms, this article will discuss the federal court system then Illinois’ court system.
Federal district courts and circuit courts are both trial courts where the facts of a litigated matter are usually presented to and decided by a jury. While both types of courts are trial courts, they are different in that each is in a separate judicial system, one federal and the other state.
Each state has at least one federal district court; Illinois has three. Federal district court decisions are appealable to the U.S. Court of Appeals. Federal judgeships have lifetime tenure and are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
Circuit courts are state trial courts that have the power to hear cases arising under the laws of that state and between citizens and/or businesses located in that state. These courts are created under the state's constitution and have jurisdiction to hear cases according to specified parameters. Circuit court decisions are typically appealable to the state courts of appeal. Circuit court judges are elected by the voters. Read more here.
Federal Courts
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest federal court and has appellate jurisdiction over all federal courts and over state court cases involving issues of federal law. The Court consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight associate justices who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate and have lifetime tenure unless they choose to resign or retire. The Supreme Court is generally the final interpreter of federal law including the United States Constitution, but it may act only within the context of a case in which it has jurisdiction. The Court does not have power to decide political questions, and its enforcement arm is in the executive branch of government.
The United States courts of appeals (or circuit courts) are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal court system. A court of appeals decides appeals from the district courts within its federal judicial circuit and, in some instances, from other designated federal courts and administrative agencies. There are thirteen U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals, with eleven numbered circuits and the D.C. Circuit being geographically defined. The thirteenth court of appeals is the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which has nationwide jurisdiction over certain appeals based on their subject matter.
The United States courts of appeals are considered among the most powerful and influential courts in the United States. Because of their ability to set legal precedent in regions that cover millions of Americans, the United States courts of appeals have strong policy influence on U.S. law. Moreover, because the U.S. Supreme Court chooses to review less than 2% of the more than 7,000 to 8,000 cases filed with it annually, the U.S. courts of appeals serve as the final arbiter on most federal cases. The Ninth Circuit in particular is very influential, covering 20% of the American population including California.
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the courts in the following districts: the central, northern and southern districts of Illinois; the northern and southern districts of Indiana; and the eastern and western districts of Wisconsin. It is composed of eleven appellate judges. The recent retirement of Richard A. Posner, created a fourth vacancy. The oldest of the remaining judges was born in 1936 and the youngest in 1957. Three judges were appointed by President Regan, one was appointed by President Clinton, one was appointed by President G.H.W. Bush, one by G.W. Bush and one by President Obama. President Trump will have the opportunity to appoint four judges to the 7th Circuit Appellate Court. In a long-running practice, six of the 7th Circuit’s seats are filled by candidates from Illinois, three from Indiana and two from Wisconsin so two of the appointees should come from Illinois. Candidates must be nominated by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate before they take the bench.
On May 8, 2017, President Donald Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett from Indiana to serve as a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, to the seat vacated by Judge John Daniel Tinder, who took senior status on February 18, 2015. Her nomination is now pending before the Senate Judiciary Committee. A hearing on her nomination before the Senate Judiciary Committee in which she was questioned regarding her Christian faith was held on September 6, 2017. Read more here.
Illinois’ Judicial System
The judicial system in Illinois is complex, especially if one forgets to differentiate it from the federal judicial system. A general overview reveals that most trials or court cases in Illinois enter the judicial system through the county circuit clerks, one clerk per county. One of 24 circuit courts then hears most cases. The circuit court may include one to twelve counties. There were 2.7 million new cases filed in circuit courts in Illinois in 2015. Five district appellate courts hear appeals from the circuit courts. In 2015, there were 7452 appeal cases filed. They also review cases from administrative agencies. The Illinois Supreme Court hears cases from the Appellate Court and certain Circuit Court cases. In 2015, 2402 new cases were filed with the Illinois Supreme Court.
Prior to 1964, the Illinois court system was fragmented. The courts of original jurisdiction had some concurrent and overlapping jurisdiction, and each court operated independently of the others. By 1962, Cook County alone had 208 courts: circuit court, superior court, family court, criminal court, probate court, county court, twenty-four city, village, town and municipal courts, seventy-five justice of the peace courts, and 103 police magistrate courts. Article VI, the Judicial Article of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, provided for a unified, 3-tiered judiciary - Circuit Court, Appellate Court, and Supreme Court. Read more here.
The Illinois Supreme Court is the highest court in the State. Cases are normally channeled to the Supreme Court from the Appellate Court, but in cases where a Circuit Court has imposed a death sentence the law allows direct appeal to the Supreme Court, bypassing the Appellate Court. The Supreme Court can pass rules to allow direct appeals in other cases. The Supreme Court has original and exclusive jurisdiction in matters that involve legislative redistricting and determining the ability of the Governor to serve in office. Original jurisdiction means the court has the power to hear a case for the first time without it being received as an appeal. Exclusive jurisdiction is where one court has the power to adjudicate a case to the exclusion of all other courts. The Supreme Court also has discretionary original jurisdiction in cases relating to State revenue and certain directives. The Illinois Supreme Court is comprised of 7 Justices: 3 represent the First Appellate Judicial District (Cook County) and 1 each represents the remaining 4 Appellate Judicial Districts. A majority vote of 4 is required to decide a case.
The Illinois Appellate Court is divided into 5 Judicial Districts. Cook County comprises the entire First Judicial District, with the rest of the State being divided into the remaining 4 judicial districts. The State of Illinois is divided into 23 Judicial Circuits. Each Judicial Circuit is comprised of one or more contiguous counties. Circuit Courts, also known as trial courts, are established within each judicial circuit. The Circuit Court is a court of general jurisdiction, which means it has original jurisdiction in all matters except those limited cases in which the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction. The trial courts hear a wide variety of civil and criminal cases, ranging from small claim actions to domestic relations to criminal felonies.
There are 2 types of judges in the Circuit Court: Circuit Judges and Associate Judges. All judges must be licensed attorneys and are officials of the State of Illinois. Circuit Judges are initially elected for a six-year term, either on a circuit-wide basis or from their county of residence. Thereafter, every 6 years they must run for retention. The Circuit Judges elect a Chief Judge who provides administrative guidance to the entire circuit. Associate Judges are appointed on a merit basis by the Circuit Judges for a 4-year term. Thereafter, they are considered for retention by the Circuit Judges every 4 years. Associate Judges may hear all types of cases except felony matters, for which they must receive authorization from the Supreme Court. Read more here.
A recent article concerning a vacancy in the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, a federal circuit which includes Illinois, prompted this review of Illinois’ judicial system. Terms like ‘appellate’ and ‘circuit’ apply to both federal and state courts and can be confusing. After differentiating some terms, this article will discuss the federal court system then Illinois’ court system.
Federal district courts and circuit courts are both trial courts where the facts of a litigated matter are usually presented to and decided by a jury. While both types of courts are trial courts, they are different in that each is in a separate judicial system, one federal and the other state.
Each state has at least one federal district court; Illinois has three. Federal district court decisions are appealable to the U.S. Court of Appeals. Federal judgeships have lifetime tenure and are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
Circuit courts are state trial courts that have the power to hear cases arising under the laws of that state and between citizens and/or businesses located in that state. These courts are created under the state's constitution and have jurisdiction to hear cases according to specified parameters. Circuit court decisions are typically appealable to the state courts of appeal. Circuit court judges are elected by the voters. Read more here.
Federal Courts
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest federal court and has appellate jurisdiction over all federal courts and over state court cases involving issues of federal law. The Court consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight associate justices who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate and have lifetime tenure unless they choose to resign or retire. The Supreme Court is generally the final interpreter of federal law including the United States Constitution, but it may act only within the context of a case in which it has jurisdiction. The Court does not have power to decide political questions, and its enforcement arm is in the executive branch of government.
The United States courts of appeals (or circuit courts) are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal court system. A court of appeals decides appeals from the district courts within its federal judicial circuit and, in some instances, from other designated federal courts and administrative agencies. There are thirteen U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals, with eleven numbered circuits and the D.C. Circuit being geographically defined. The thirteenth court of appeals is the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which has nationwide jurisdiction over certain appeals based on their subject matter.
The United States courts of appeals are considered among the most powerful and influential courts in the United States. Because of their ability to set legal precedent in regions that cover millions of Americans, the United States courts of appeals have strong policy influence on U.S. law. Moreover, because the U.S. Supreme Court chooses to review less than 2% of the more than 7,000 to 8,000 cases filed with it annually, the U.S. courts of appeals serve as the final arbiter on most federal cases. The Ninth Circuit in particular is very influential, covering 20% of the American population including California.
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the courts in the following districts: the central, northern and southern districts of Illinois; the northern and southern districts of Indiana; and the eastern and western districts of Wisconsin. It is composed of eleven appellate judges. The recent retirement of Richard A. Posner, created a fourth vacancy. The oldest of the remaining judges was born in 1936 and the youngest in 1957. Three judges were appointed by President Regan, one was appointed by President Clinton, one was appointed by President G.H.W. Bush, one by G.W. Bush and one by President Obama. President Trump will have the opportunity to appoint four judges to the 7th Circuit Appellate Court. In a long-running practice, six of the 7th Circuit’s seats are filled by candidates from Illinois, three from Indiana and two from Wisconsin so two of the appointees should come from Illinois. Candidates must be nominated by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate before they take the bench.
On May 8, 2017, President Donald Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett from Indiana to serve as a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, to the seat vacated by Judge John Daniel Tinder, who took senior status on February 18, 2015. Her nomination is now pending before the Senate Judiciary Committee. A hearing on her nomination before the Senate Judiciary Committee in which she was questioned regarding her Christian faith was held on September 6, 2017. Read more here.
Illinois’ Judicial System
The judicial system in Illinois is complex, especially if one forgets to differentiate it from the federal judicial system. A general overview reveals that most trials or court cases in Illinois enter the judicial system through the county circuit clerks, one clerk per county. One of 24 circuit courts then hears most cases. The circuit court may include one to twelve counties. There were 2.7 million new cases filed in circuit courts in Illinois in 2015. Five district appellate courts hear appeals from the circuit courts. In 2015, there were 7452 appeal cases filed. They also review cases from administrative agencies. The Illinois Supreme Court hears cases from the Appellate Court and certain Circuit Court cases. In 2015, 2402 new cases were filed with the Illinois Supreme Court.
Prior to 1964, the Illinois court system was fragmented. The courts of original jurisdiction had some concurrent and overlapping jurisdiction, and each court operated independently of the others. By 1962, Cook County alone had 208 courts: circuit court, superior court, family court, criminal court, probate court, county court, twenty-four city, village, town and municipal courts, seventy-five justice of the peace courts, and 103 police magistrate courts. Article VI, the Judicial Article of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, provided for a unified, 3-tiered judiciary - Circuit Court, Appellate Court, and Supreme Court. Read more here.
The Illinois Supreme Court is the highest court in the State. Cases are normally channeled to the Supreme Court from the Appellate Court, but in cases where a Circuit Court has imposed a death sentence the law allows direct appeal to the Supreme Court, bypassing the Appellate Court. The Supreme Court can pass rules to allow direct appeals in other cases. The Supreme Court has original and exclusive jurisdiction in matters that involve legislative redistricting and determining the ability of the Governor to serve in office. Original jurisdiction means the court has the power to hear a case for the first time without it being received as an appeal. Exclusive jurisdiction is where one court has the power to adjudicate a case to the exclusion of all other courts. The Supreme Court also has discretionary original jurisdiction in cases relating to State revenue and certain directives. The Illinois Supreme Court is comprised of 7 Justices: 3 represent the First Appellate Judicial District (Cook County) and 1 each represents the remaining 4 Appellate Judicial Districts. A majority vote of 4 is required to decide a case.
The Illinois Appellate Court is divided into 5 Judicial Districts. Cook County comprises the entire First Judicial District, with the rest of the State being divided into the remaining 4 judicial districts. The State of Illinois is divided into 23 Judicial Circuits. Each Judicial Circuit is comprised of one or more contiguous counties. Circuit Courts, also known as trial courts, are established within each judicial circuit. The Circuit Court is a court of general jurisdiction, which means it has original jurisdiction in all matters except those limited cases in which the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction. The trial courts hear a wide variety of civil and criminal cases, ranging from small claim actions to domestic relations to criminal felonies.
There are 2 types of judges in the Circuit Court: Circuit Judges and Associate Judges. All judges must be licensed attorneys and are officials of the State of Illinois. Circuit Judges are initially elected for a six-year term, either on a circuit-wide basis or from their county of residence. Thereafter, every 6 years they must run for retention. The Circuit Judges elect a Chief Judge who provides administrative guidance to the entire circuit. Associate Judges are appointed on a merit basis by the Circuit Judges for a 4-year term. Thereafter, they are considered for retention by the Circuit Judges every 4 years. Associate Judges may hear all types of cases except felony matters, for which they must receive authorization from the Supreme Court. Read more here.
"Tax Increment Financing – What it Means to School Funding"
by Joyce Geiler
Tax Increment Financing (TIF), which has been around since the 1950s, has recently been the focus of discussion because of the school funding section of the new Illinois budget. The proposed method of calculating a school district's ability to support itself, a necessary step in determining Illinois government funding for schools, did not include the consideration of TIF. When Governor Rauner did an amendatory veto of the budget, the TIF consideration was the part he amended so that the wealth of TIFs would be included in the overall calculation of a school district's ability to support itself. All of this may now be a moot point. The Senate over-rode the amendatory veto but the House over-ride failed. Instead, a compromise plan was approved by the House, which now goes to the Senate where it is expected to be approved; Governor Rauner has indicated he will sign it. As of this writing it is not known exactly what is in that compromise and whether the TIF consideration is still on the table.
Nevertheless, a discussion of TIF is expedient.
Illinois has used TIF since 1987 and has regulations defining its use. Tax Increment Financing calls for local taxing bodies to make a joint investment in the development or redevelopment of an area, with the intent that any short-term gains be reinvested and leveraged so that all the taxing bodies will receive larger financial gains in the future. The funds for this investment do not come from current revenues, but from future tax revenues, not otherwise expected to occur. These new revenues are generated by increased public and private investment in identified, underperforming areas. Through the use of TIF, municipalities typically divert future property tax revenue increases from a defined area or district toward an economic development project or public improvement project in the community.
Tax Increment Financing creates funding for public or private projects by borrowing against the future increase in these property-tax revenues. A tax increment is the difference between the amount of property tax revenue generated before TIF district designation and the amount of property tax revenue generated after designation. Simplified, when a local government partners with a development project, the current tax assessment of a blighted parcel of land is frozen, meaning taxes will not increase on that parcel for the duration of the agreement, usually around 20 years. That difference, the tax increment, is the collateral for the bonds financing the project. The developer makes improvements that contribute to the value of the parcel but taxes are not raised as they normally would be. For the duration of the agreement, the developer pays the original lower tax rate and the developer is paid by the community from the bonds issued for the loan. Developers are thereby encouraged and rewarded for investing in blighted property and some aspect of the community is benefited by the development. After the end of the agreement, the developer will pay taxes at a new, higher rate and the community will begin to receive that increased tax revenue. Private investors are helped by a reduction in development cost and risk, and public investors by the generation of additional revenue available at the conclusion of the TIF project.
Blighted areas, or urban renewal districts, are underperforming areas in a community, a somewhat vague definition which can leave room for abuse through eminent domain. TIF was designed to channel funding toward improvements in distressed, underdeveloped, or underutilized parts of a jurisdiction where development might otherwise not occur. TIF subsidies have provided the means for cities and counties to gain approval of redevelopment of blighted properties or for public projects such as city halls, parks, libraries etc. TIF subsidies also provide the means for corporations to build or expand where the community sees benefit. The definition of blight has taken on a broad inclusion of nearly every type of land including farmland, which has given rise to much criticism.
To provide the needed subsidy, the urban renewal district, or TIF district, is essentially always drawn around hundreds or thousands of acres of additional real estate (beyond the project site) to provide the needed borrowing capacity for the project or projects. The borrowing capacity is established by committing all normal yearly future real estate tax increases from every parcel in the TIF district (usually for 20–25 years) along with the anticipated new tax revenue eventually coming from the project or projects themselves. If the projects are public improvements paying no real estate taxes, all of the repayment will come from the adjacent properties within the TIF district.
Capturing the full tax increment and directing it to repay the development bonds ignores the fact that the incremental increase in property value likely requires an increase in the provision of public services, which will now have to be funded from elsewhere (often from subsidies from less economically thriving areas). For example, the use of tax increment financing to create a large residential development means that public services from schools to public safety will need to be expanded, yet if the full tax increment is captured to repay the development bonds, other money will have to be used. TIF subsidies are not appropriated directly from a city's budget, but the city incurs loss through foregone tax revenue.
When a TIF district is created, it caps tax revenue that local governmental units - such as schools - receive at its current level. As property values rise in a TIF district, that new tax revenue does not go to schools. Instead, it funds the TIF project with tax write-offs for businesses that promise to grow jobs, property acquisition, construction, job training, relocation, financing costs, studies and surveys, planning, demolition and site preparation.
Although they initially were intended to provide relief for blighted areas, TIF districts now cover many wealthy areas of Chicago and the suburbs, such as LaSalle Street in the Loop. Chicago alone banks hundreds of millions of dollars a year off its more than 200 TIF districts covering more than 30% of the city, money that otherwise would go to schools and other government services.
A blatant example of the misuse of TIF involves Sears and its corporate headquarters, which used to be located in Chicago. In the late 1980s, Sears was looking to relocate. Jim Thompson, governor at that time, didn’t want to lose Sears so he created a TIF for them in Hoffman Estates. At the time, Hoffman Estates was mostly farmland and undeveloped property and didn't generate much property tax revenue. The tax values on empty lots worth almost nothing in terms of tax dollars were frozen, forcing the area’s taxing bodies to give up enormous chunks of tax revenue when improvements came, because they received no more money than they did when there were soybean fields and empty lots. Sears did create thousands of jobs, but at the same time, that created the need for new schools, more roads, police and fire services. Those services did not get any tax money from Hoffman Estates to pay for them.
What has TIF got to do with school funding? When a community creates a TIF district, the government no longer counts it in a city’s overall property wealth for state aid purposes. Because of this apparent reduction in the property wealth that the state sees, an already wealthy community has more state aid sent to it. The state, meaning the taxpayers of the state, must then cover the lack of tax revenue that the community has chosen by participating in TIF.
Such was the case in the education funding reform that Governor Rauner amended. It did not include TIFs in its formula to calculate a district’s overall wealth, including wealth that is hidden in areas with lots of TIF districts such as Chicago. Under that plan, taxpayers from school districts with no or very few TIF districts would end up financially supporting districts with many TIFs. Rauner’s amendatory veto was designed to change that. It included the wealth of TIFs in the overall calculation of a school district's ability to support itself. The Senate over-rode the governor’s amendatory veto and the House has approved a compromise.
The history of this form of what could be called corporate welfare began in California in 1952. By 2004, all 50 American States had authorized the use of TIF. Interestingly, as the use of TIFs increased elsewhere, Governor Jerry Brown of California enacted legislation in 2011 which led to elimination of California’s nearly 400 redevelopment agencies that implemented TIFs, thereby stopping the diversion of property tax revenues from public funding.
The use of TIFs can certainly increase the profitable use of an area. Also, the completion of a public or private project may result in an increase in the value of surrounding real estate, generating additional tax revenue in that sector. Sales-tax revenue may also increase, and jobs may be added. TIFs can be a blessing to a community or they may be abused with the use of eminent domain or political favoring. They may precipitate increased need for services without tax revenue to support those services. They may be indiscriminately used where development would have happened anyway thereby taking tax revenue from the community.
Resources:
Read more here.
Find more at this site
Also look here and here
by Joyce Geiler
Tax Increment Financing (TIF), which has been around since the 1950s, has recently been the focus of discussion because of the school funding section of the new Illinois budget. The proposed method of calculating a school district's ability to support itself, a necessary step in determining Illinois government funding for schools, did not include the consideration of TIF. When Governor Rauner did an amendatory veto of the budget, the TIF consideration was the part he amended so that the wealth of TIFs would be included in the overall calculation of a school district's ability to support itself. All of this may now be a moot point. The Senate over-rode the amendatory veto but the House over-ride failed. Instead, a compromise plan was approved by the House, which now goes to the Senate where it is expected to be approved; Governor Rauner has indicated he will sign it. As of this writing it is not known exactly what is in that compromise and whether the TIF consideration is still on the table.
Nevertheless, a discussion of TIF is expedient.
Illinois has used TIF since 1987 and has regulations defining its use. Tax Increment Financing calls for local taxing bodies to make a joint investment in the development or redevelopment of an area, with the intent that any short-term gains be reinvested and leveraged so that all the taxing bodies will receive larger financial gains in the future. The funds for this investment do not come from current revenues, but from future tax revenues, not otherwise expected to occur. These new revenues are generated by increased public and private investment in identified, underperforming areas. Through the use of TIF, municipalities typically divert future property tax revenue increases from a defined area or district toward an economic development project or public improvement project in the community.
Tax Increment Financing creates funding for public or private projects by borrowing against the future increase in these property-tax revenues. A tax increment is the difference between the amount of property tax revenue generated before TIF district designation and the amount of property tax revenue generated after designation. Simplified, when a local government partners with a development project, the current tax assessment of a blighted parcel of land is frozen, meaning taxes will not increase on that parcel for the duration of the agreement, usually around 20 years. That difference, the tax increment, is the collateral for the bonds financing the project. The developer makes improvements that contribute to the value of the parcel but taxes are not raised as they normally would be. For the duration of the agreement, the developer pays the original lower tax rate and the developer is paid by the community from the bonds issued for the loan. Developers are thereby encouraged and rewarded for investing in blighted property and some aspect of the community is benefited by the development. After the end of the agreement, the developer will pay taxes at a new, higher rate and the community will begin to receive that increased tax revenue. Private investors are helped by a reduction in development cost and risk, and public investors by the generation of additional revenue available at the conclusion of the TIF project.
Blighted areas, or urban renewal districts, are underperforming areas in a community, a somewhat vague definition which can leave room for abuse through eminent domain. TIF was designed to channel funding toward improvements in distressed, underdeveloped, or underutilized parts of a jurisdiction where development might otherwise not occur. TIF subsidies have provided the means for cities and counties to gain approval of redevelopment of blighted properties or for public projects such as city halls, parks, libraries etc. TIF subsidies also provide the means for corporations to build or expand where the community sees benefit. The definition of blight has taken on a broad inclusion of nearly every type of land including farmland, which has given rise to much criticism.
To provide the needed subsidy, the urban renewal district, or TIF district, is essentially always drawn around hundreds or thousands of acres of additional real estate (beyond the project site) to provide the needed borrowing capacity for the project or projects. The borrowing capacity is established by committing all normal yearly future real estate tax increases from every parcel in the TIF district (usually for 20–25 years) along with the anticipated new tax revenue eventually coming from the project or projects themselves. If the projects are public improvements paying no real estate taxes, all of the repayment will come from the adjacent properties within the TIF district.
Capturing the full tax increment and directing it to repay the development bonds ignores the fact that the incremental increase in property value likely requires an increase in the provision of public services, which will now have to be funded from elsewhere (often from subsidies from less economically thriving areas). For example, the use of tax increment financing to create a large residential development means that public services from schools to public safety will need to be expanded, yet if the full tax increment is captured to repay the development bonds, other money will have to be used. TIF subsidies are not appropriated directly from a city's budget, but the city incurs loss through foregone tax revenue.
When a TIF district is created, it caps tax revenue that local governmental units - such as schools - receive at its current level. As property values rise in a TIF district, that new tax revenue does not go to schools. Instead, it funds the TIF project with tax write-offs for businesses that promise to grow jobs, property acquisition, construction, job training, relocation, financing costs, studies and surveys, planning, demolition and site preparation.
Although they initially were intended to provide relief for blighted areas, TIF districts now cover many wealthy areas of Chicago and the suburbs, such as LaSalle Street in the Loop. Chicago alone banks hundreds of millions of dollars a year off its more than 200 TIF districts covering more than 30% of the city, money that otherwise would go to schools and other government services.
A blatant example of the misuse of TIF involves Sears and its corporate headquarters, which used to be located in Chicago. In the late 1980s, Sears was looking to relocate. Jim Thompson, governor at that time, didn’t want to lose Sears so he created a TIF for them in Hoffman Estates. At the time, Hoffman Estates was mostly farmland and undeveloped property and didn't generate much property tax revenue. The tax values on empty lots worth almost nothing in terms of tax dollars were frozen, forcing the area’s taxing bodies to give up enormous chunks of tax revenue when improvements came, because they received no more money than they did when there were soybean fields and empty lots. Sears did create thousands of jobs, but at the same time, that created the need for new schools, more roads, police and fire services. Those services did not get any tax money from Hoffman Estates to pay for them.
What has TIF got to do with school funding? When a community creates a TIF district, the government no longer counts it in a city’s overall property wealth for state aid purposes. Because of this apparent reduction in the property wealth that the state sees, an already wealthy community has more state aid sent to it. The state, meaning the taxpayers of the state, must then cover the lack of tax revenue that the community has chosen by participating in TIF.
Such was the case in the education funding reform that Governor Rauner amended. It did not include TIFs in its formula to calculate a district’s overall wealth, including wealth that is hidden in areas with lots of TIF districts such as Chicago. Under that plan, taxpayers from school districts with no or very few TIF districts would end up financially supporting districts with many TIFs. Rauner’s amendatory veto was designed to change that. It included the wealth of TIFs in the overall calculation of a school district's ability to support itself. The Senate over-rode the governor’s amendatory veto and the House has approved a compromise.
The history of this form of what could be called corporate welfare began in California in 1952. By 2004, all 50 American States had authorized the use of TIF. Interestingly, as the use of TIFs increased elsewhere, Governor Jerry Brown of California enacted legislation in 2011 which led to elimination of California’s nearly 400 redevelopment agencies that implemented TIFs, thereby stopping the diversion of property tax revenues from public funding.
The use of TIFs can certainly increase the profitable use of an area. Also, the completion of a public or private project may result in an increase in the value of surrounding real estate, generating additional tax revenue in that sector. Sales-tax revenue may also increase, and jobs may be added. TIFs can be a blessing to a community or they may be abused with the use of eminent domain or political favoring. They may precipitate increased need for services without tax revenue to support those services. They may be indiscriminately used where development would have happened anyway thereby taking tax revenue from the community.
Resources:
Read more here.
Find more at this site
Also look here and here
"Minimum Wage Revisited" by Joyce Geiler
Illinois’ legislators have passed a bill with an eventual increase to $15 minimum wage for Cook County that is now on Governor Rauner’s desk. More than 50 municipalities have already opted out of the series of minimum wage increases in the county. Starting pay in municipalities that haven't opted out yet will gradually increase to $13 per hour in 2020.
In the past, minimum wage hikes came in small increments and could be absorbed by the economy but today’s wage hikes are much larger. Studies on the effect of minimum wage seem to be conflicting. According to a study from the University of Washington, the minimum wage increase in Seattle resulted in an average loss of $129 per month for workers. However, the University of California – Berkeley found food industry workers were benefiting from the wage increases. Mark Grant, Illinois State Director for the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), noted that numerous studies have shown that minimum wage increases might benefit some workers, but other workers will lose out through decreased hours or even loss of jobs. Grant said one NFIB member, a bakery in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, has explained that wage hikes force him to reduce hours, often for the least skilled workers. The impact, he said, is that there are either fewer positions, fewer hours, or fewer opportunities for people to enter the workforce. More information available here.
Compared to the food industry, most manufacturers pay more than the minimum wage. Food industry jobs are often considered entry level jobs. If food industry jobs like McDonald’s pay a higher minimum wage, will fewer people be motivated to gain skills for advancement? Wendy’s founder, Dave Thomas, proposed the fast food industry as a place for entry level workers to gain work ethic skills and then move on to improve themselves.
The federal minimum wage is $7.25. A 2014 review by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found up to one million jobs would be lost nationwide at a $10.10 minimum wage. This job loss would be supersized at a $15 wage floor. University of Washington’s team of researchers explained that employee hours were cut by three times as much as their wages were increased, leaving them with less wages overall. In fact, the researchers found that those earning less than $19 an hour, which is about $40,000 a year full-time, saw their annual income fall by the equivalent of $1,500 a year because of this effect.
Some minimum wage proponents say that small businesses could avoid worker hour reductions and absorb the minimum wage costs through small price increases. But because consumers are price sensitive, price increases generally reduce sales, thereby reducing jobs. Larger businesses, including national firms are launching automated alternatives to replace entry-level positions. A 2015 research study done by Citi Research and the Oxford Martin School found that many critical industries will face job losses due to automation. Large minimum wage increases will accelerate this growing trend, hurting young and entry-level employees who are most vulnerable.
More information is available here and here.
Missouri, one of Illinois’ neighboring states, has forced the city of St. Louis to lower its minimum wage from $10 an hour to the state level of $7.70. St. Louis was on its way to an increase to $11 in January but after a two-year legal fight with local business groups, a bill was ultimately passed by the state legislature this spring that bars cities and counties from setting their own minimum wages above the state's minimum. See more here.
For comparison, listed here are cities, counties and states that got recent boosts in minimum wage.
Chicago: $11 an hour.
Cook County, Illinois: $10 an hour increasing to $13 an hour in 2020.
Emeryville, California: $15.20 an hour for businesses with more than 56 employees, and $14 an hour for businesses with 55 or fewer employees.
Flagstaff, Arizona: $10.50 an hour.
Los Angeles: $12 an hour for businesses with more than 26 employees, and $10.50 an hour for businesses with 25 or fewer employees.
Maryland: $9.25 an hour.
Milpitas, California: $11 an hour.
Minneapolis, Minnesota: $15 an hour by 2024.
Montgomery County, Maryland: $11.50 an hour.
Oregon: $10.25 an hour. (Exception: $11.25 an hour in the Portland metro area, and $10 an hour in some counties designated as "non-urban.")
Pasadena, California: $12 an hour for businesses with 26 or more employees, and $10.50 an hour or businesses with 25 or fewer employees.
San Francisco: $14 an hour.
San Jose, California: $12 an hour.
San Leandro, California: $12 an hour.
Santa Monica, California: $12 an hour for businesses with 26 or more employees, and $10.50 an hour or businesses with 25 or fewer employees.
Washington, D.C.: $12.50 an hour.
Stats may be found at this link.
One alternative to increasing minimum wage is the federal earned income tax credit (EITC), which encourages workers to enter the work force. It provides substantial support to low- and moderate-income working parents, but very little support to childless workers. Workers receive a credit equal to a percentage of their earnings up to a maximum credit. Both the credit rate and maximum credit vary by family size, with larger credits available to families with more children. By design, the credit only benefits working families. Families with children receive a much larger credit than workers without qualifying children. In 2017, the maximum credit for families with one child is $3,400, while the maximum credit for families with three or more children is $6,318. The credit is received at tax time and my result in a refund.
Read more here.
Both the EITC and increasing minimum wage are examples of economic engineering, which in general, thwarts entrepreneurship. Non-engineered policies are more likely to encourage competition of businesses to pay honest wages for honest work.
Illinois’ legislators have passed a bill with an eventual increase to $15 minimum wage for Cook County that is now on Governor Rauner’s desk. More than 50 municipalities have already opted out of the series of minimum wage increases in the county. Starting pay in municipalities that haven't opted out yet will gradually increase to $13 per hour in 2020.
In the past, minimum wage hikes came in small increments and could be absorbed by the economy but today’s wage hikes are much larger. Studies on the effect of minimum wage seem to be conflicting. According to a study from the University of Washington, the minimum wage increase in Seattle resulted in an average loss of $129 per month for workers. However, the University of California – Berkeley found food industry workers were benefiting from the wage increases. Mark Grant, Illinois State Director for the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), noted that numerous studies have shown that minimum wage increases might benefit some workers, but other workers will lose out through decreased hours or even loss of jobs. Grant said one NFIB member, a bakery in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, has explained that wage hikes force him to reduce hours, often for the least skilled workers. The impact, he said, is that there are either fewer positions, fewer hours, or fewer opportunities for people to enter the workforce. More information available here.
Compared to the food industry, most manufacturers pay more than the minimum wage. Food industry jobs are often considered entry level jobs. If food industry jobs like McDonald’s pay a higher minimum wage, will fewer people be motivated to gain skills for advancement? Wendy’s founder, Dave Thomas, proposed the fast food industry as a place for entry level workers to gain work ethic skills and then move on to improve themselves.
The federal minimum wage is $7.25. A 2014 review by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found up to one million jobs would be lost nationwide at a $10.10 minimum wage. This job loss would be supersized at a $15 wage floor. University of Washington’s team of researchers explained that employee hours were cut by three times as much as their wages were increased, leaving them with less wages overall. In fact, the researchers found that those earning less than $19 an hour, which is about $40,000 a year full-time, saw their annual income fall by the equivalent of $1,500 a year because of this effect.
Some minimum wage proponents say that small businesses could avoid worker hour reductions and absorb the minimum wage costs through small price increases. But because consumers are price sensitive, price increases generally reduce sales, thereby reducing jobs. Larger businesses, including national firms are launching automated alternatives to replace entry-level positions. A 2015 research study done by Citi Research and the Oxford Martin School found that many critical industries will face job losses due to automation. Large minimum wage increases will accelerate this growing trend, hurting young and entry-level employees who are most vulnerable.
More information is available here and here.
Missouri, one of Illinois’ neighboring states, has forced the city of St. Louis to lower its minimum wage from $10 an hour to the state level of $7.70. St. Louis was on its way to an increase to $11 in January but after a two-year legal fight with local business groups, a bill was ultimately passed by the state legislature this spring that bars cities and counties from setting their own minimum wages above the state's minimum. See more here.
For comparison, listed here are cities, counties and states that got recent boosts in minimum wage.
Chicago: $11 an hour.
Cook County, Illinois: $10 an hour increasing to $13 an hour in 2020.
Emeryville, California: $15.20 an hour for businesses with more than 56 employees, and $14 an hour for businesses with 55 or fewer employees.
Flagstaff, Arizona: $10.50 an hour.
Los Angeles: $12 an hour for businesses with more than 26 employees, and $10.50 an hour for businesses with 25 or fewer employees.
Maryland: $9.25 an hour.
Milpitas, California: $11 an hour.
Minneapolis, Minnesota: $15 an hour by 2024.
Montgomery County, Maryland: $11.50 an hour.
Oregon: $10.25 an hour. (Exception: $11.25 an hour in the Portland metro area, and $10 an hour in some counties designated as "non-urban.")
Pasadena, California: $12 an hour for businesses with 26 or more employees, and $10.50 an hour or businesses with 25 or fewer employees.
San Francisco: $14 an hour.
San Jose, California: $12 an hour.
San Leandro, California: $12 an hour.
Santa Monica, California: $12 an hour for businesses with 26 or more employees, and $10.50 an hour or businesses with 25 or fewer employees.
Washington, D.C.: $12.50 an hour.
Stats may be found at this link.
One alternative to increasing minimum wage is the federal earned income tax credit (EITC), which encourages workers to enter the work force. It provides substantial support to low- and moderate-income working parents, but very little support to childless workers. Workers receive a credit equal to a percentage of their earnings up to a maximum credit. Both the credit rate and maximum credit vary by family size, with larger credits available to families with more children. By design, the credit only benefits working families. Families with children receive a much larger credit than workers without qualifying children. In 2017, the maximum credit for families with one child is $3,400, while the maximum credit for families with three or more children is $6,318. The credit is received at tax time and my result in a refund.
Read more here.
Both the EITC and increasing minimum wage are examples of economic engineering, which in general, thwarts entrepreneurship. Non-engineered policies are more likely to encourage competition of businesses to pay honest wages for honest work.
"Chicago's Soda Tax" by Joyce Geiler
Cook County’s Sweetened Beverage Tax, which was originally set to take effect on July 1st was temporarily halted by a restraining order. The restraining order resulted from a suit filed by the Illinois Retail Merchants Association (IRMA) against the Cook County Board of Revenue, arguing that the tax is vague and unconstitutional. However, a Cook County judge dismissed the suit, clearing the way for the tax to be implemented starting Wednesday, Aug. 2. The IRMA is appealing again.
Under the measure, every ounce of a sweetened beverage sold in Cook County is subject to a 1-cent tax. According to the Cook County Board, a "sweetened beverage" is a drink that contains sugar or artificial sweetener. That includes carbonated soft drinks, fruit drinks that don't contain 100 percent juice, and sports and energy drinks. And it doesn't matter how those beverages are delivered. Bottles, cans and fountain drinks all get taxed. A 2-liter bottle will have an extra 67 cents tacked on, and a six-pack of cans of the soft drink will include an additional 72 cents added to the cost (not counting sales tax). How a customer is taxed for an ice-filled fountain drink will be up to the business selling the beverage. Beverages purchased using food stamps are exempt from the tax. Read more here.
Ostensibly, the tax is to encourage consumers to make wiser choices in beverages, choices that include less sugar. Less sugar consumption will reduce obesity and diabetes thereby improving consumer health and reducing health care costs. (It seems unclear how reducing the intake of artificially sweetened drinks would contribute to reduced diabetes.) Of course, the extra $224 billion annually in revenue expected from the tax couldn’t hurt. Cook County, with its 5.2 million residents, will become the largest locale in the nation to put in place a (soda) pop tax. Philadelphia approved a tax earlier this year; and voters in Oakland, Calif., San Francisco and Boulder, Colo., recently approved referendums to enact such a tax.
The beverage tax passed the Cook County Board only with the tie-breaking vote of the Board President. Those opposed to the measure insisted on including an ordinance barring further sales tax increases or property tax increases beyond the rate of inflation before 2020.
Is there any data supporting the premise that increasing the tax on sugary drinks will reduce consumption? Mexico implemented a 10 percent nation-wide tax on sugary beverages in January 2014. Mexico has one of the highest rates of diabetes in the Americas, with 14% of Mexican adults having diabetes, according to a recent study. In the United States, about 12% of adults live with diabetes. Additionally, Mexico and the United States have among the highest rates of soda consumption in the world. In 2010, 31.5 gallons of soft drinks per person were consumed in Mexico, and 31.2 gallons per person were consumed in the United States, according to a 2013 study published in the American Journal of Public Health. More recent data does show Americans have been drinking fewer sodas since then.
Researchers used the Cardiovascular Disease Policy Model, which has been involved in estimating health benefits in the United States since the 1980s, to simulate how Mexico's sugar-sweetened beverage tax would affect adults ages 35 to 94. After the tax went into effect, purchases of taxed sugary beverages decreased by an average of 6% compared with what expected purchases would have been with no tax, and the decrease has been even greater since then. Researchers predict the reduction in sugary beverage consumption among Mexican adults could result in about 189,300 fewer cases of type 2 diabetes with an anticipated savings of almost $1 billion in health care expenditures. The researchers also projected 20,400 fewer incidents of strokes and heart attacks and 18,900 fewer deaths. However, the studies have limitations because the further out into the future one projects, the more uncertain the results. Only time will tell whether the models they use adequately predict what will happen.
On the other hand, the International Council of Beverages Associations noted that soft drink consumption in Mexico was actually reduced by only 11.6 milliliters (about two teaspoons) per person per day in 2014. That would be an insignificant calorie reduction per person per day yielding no apparent health benefit.
Meanwhile, the tax reduced 10,000 jobs, caused a decline in Mexican GDP, and increased the tax burden on the poor; all without any evident improvement in public health. The beverage industry says they understand that the overweight and obesity issue is a very complicated one, and it will not be solved by a singular simplistic solution like a discriminatory tax. Read more here.
Illinois has experience with increasing taxes on specialty products. In June 2012, state cigarette taxes were raised from 98 cents to $1.98. The same law also increased taxes on other products such as loose tobacco and supplies. Supporters estimated the state would see an additional $350 million each year from the hikes. In the four years following the tax hikes, the state of Illinois fell about $419 million short of projected additional revenue from cigarettes and tobacco. That amounts to slightly over $1 million per year short of the prediction. It is true that the number of smokers dropped about 3.5 percent. However, the same percentage drop occurred throughout the United States, so the drop was not unique to Illinois’ increased tax. Smokers in Illinois did change their behaviors: they drove to neighboring states to purchase cartons of cigarettes $20 cheaper. At $6.16 per pack, Chicago and Cook County have the highest per pack tax in the entire country. Yes, the cigarette tax brought in more revenue, but not as much as anticipated and consumer behavior did not enhance their health.
More information available here.
As with most issues, there are at least two sides to arguments. None of the arguments, either pro or con, examine whether there is a biblical foundation for levying a tax on a specialty item for the “benefit” of the consumer. It amounts to economic engineering, which is the introduction into the market of artificial indicators by bureaucrats in an attempt to bend the market in the way they deem beneficial or expedient or in keeping with their ideology. Certainly, when the total amount of taxes the populace pays is greater than the tithe paid to God, there is a question of its validity.
Cook County’s Sweetened Beverage Tax, which was originally set to take effect on July 1st was temporarily halted by a restraining order. The restraining order resulted from a suit filed by the Illinois Retail Merchants Association (IRMA) against the Cook County Board of Revenue, arguing that the tax is vague and unconstitutional. However, a Cook County judge dismissed the suit, clearing the way for the tax to be implemented starting Wednesday, Aug. 2. The IRMA is appealing again.
Under the measure, every ounce of a sweetened beverage sold in Cook County is subject to a 1-cent tax. According to the Cook County Board, a "sweetened beverage" is a drink that contains sugar or artificial sweetener. That includes carbonated soft drinks, fruit drinks that don't contain 100 percent juice, and sports and energy drinks. And it doesn't matter how those beverages are delivered. Bottles, cans and fountain drinks all get taxed. A 2-liter bottle will have an extra 67 cents tacked on, and a six-pack of cans of the soft drink will include an additional 72 cents added to the cost (not counting sales tax). How a customer is taxed for an ice-filled fountain drink will be up to the business selling the beverage. Beverages purchased using food stamps are exempt from the tax. Read more here.
Ostensibly, the tax is to encourage consumers to make wiser choices in beverages, choices that include less sugar. Less sugar consumption will reduce obesity and diabetes thereby improving consumer health and reducing health care costs. (It seems unclear how reducing the intake of artificially sweetened drinks would contribute to reduced diabetes.) Of course, the extra $224 billion annually in revenue expected from the tax couldn’t hurt. Cook County, with its 5.2 million residents, will become the largest locale in the nation to put in place a (soda) pop tax. Philadelphia approved a tax earlier this year; and voters in Oakland, Calif., San Francisco and Boulder, Colo., recently approved referendums to enact such a tax.
The beverage tax passed the Cook County Board only with the tie-breaking vote of the Board President. Those opposed to the measure insisted on including an ordinance barring further sales tax increases or property tax increases beyond the rate of inflation before 2020.
Is there any data supporting the premise that increasing the tax on sugary drinks will reduce consumption? Mexico implemented a 10 percent nation-wide tax on sugary beverages in January 2014. Mexico has one of the highest rates of diabetes in the Americas, with 14% of Mexican adults having diabetes, according to a recent study. In the United States, about 12% of adults live with diabetes. Additionally, Mexico and the United States have among the highest rates of soda consumption in the world. In 2010, 31.5 gallons of soft drinks per person were consumed in Mexico, and 31.2 gallons per person were consumed in the United States, according to a 2013 study published in the American Journal of Public Health. More recent data does show Americans have been drinking fewer sodas since then.
Researchers used the Cardiovascular Disease Policy Model, which has been involved in estimating health benefits in the United States since the 1980s, to simulate how Mexico's sugar-sweetened beverage tax would affect adults ages 35 to 94. After the tax went into effect, purchases of taxed sugary beverages decreased by an average of 6% compared with what expected purchases would have been with no tax, and the decrease has been even greater since then. Researchers predict the reduction in sugary beverage consumption among Mexican adults could result in about 189,300 fewer cases of type 2 diabetes with an anticipated savings of almost $1 billion in health care expenditures. The researchers also projected 20,400 fewer incidents of strokes and heart attacks and 18,900 fewer deaths. However, the studies have limitations because the further out into the future one projects, the more uncertain the results. Only time will tell whether the models they use adequately predict what will happen.
On the other hand, the International Council of Beverages Associations noted that soft drink consumption in Mexico was actually reduced by only 11.6 milliliters (about two teaspoons) per person per day in 2014. That would be an insignificant calorie reduction per person per day yielding no apparent health benefit.
Meanwhile, the tax reduced 10,000 jobs, caused a decline in Mexican GDP, and increased the tax burden on the poor; all without any evident improvement in public health. The beverage industry says they understand that the overweight and obesity issue is a very complicated one, and it will not be solved by a singular simplistic solution like a discriminatory tax. Read more here.
Illinois has experience with increasing taxes on specialty products. In June 2012, state cigarette taxes were raised from 98 cents to $1.98. The same law also increased taxes on other products such as loose tobacco and supplies. Supporters estimated the state would see an additional $350 million each year from the hikes. In the four years following the tax hikes, the state of Illinois fell about $419 million short of projected additional revenue from cigarettes and tobacco. That amounts to slightly over $1 million per year short of the prediction. It is true that the number of smokers dropped about 3.5 percent. However, the same percentage drop occurred throughout the United States, so the drop was not unique to Illinois’ increased tax. Smokers in Illinois did change their behaviors: they drove to neighboring states to purchase cartons of cigarettes $20 cheaper. At $6.16 per pack, Chicago and Cook County have the highest per pack tax in the entire country. Yes, the cigarette tax brought in more revenue, but not as much as anticipated and consumer behavior did not enhance their health.
More information available here.
As with most issues, there are at least two sides to arguments. None of the arguments, either pro or con, examine whether there is a biblical foundation for levying a tax on a specialty item for the “benefit” of the consumer. It amounts to economic engineering, which is the introduction into the market of artificial indicators by bureaucrats in an attempt to bend the market in the way they deem beneficial or expedient or in keeping with their ideology. Certainly, when the total amount of taxes the populace pays is greater than the tithe paid to God, there is a question of its validity.
"Tax Increase - Again" by Joyce Geiler
Governor Rauner vetoed the budget bill saying it does not deal sufficiently with spending, but both the Illinois Senate and House voted to over-ride his veto, approving a budget after more than two years of chaos without one. It was the longest state budget impasse in the nation’s modern history. There is no lack of opinions on this budget. This article will provide what facts could be found.
In the hopes of avoiding the state’s credit rating being downgraded to junk status, legislators in the new budget agreed to increase Illinois taxes by $5 billion. Credit rating determines the interest rate on money borrowed (in the form of bonds) by the state to pay its debts. Illinois is already paying some of the highest interest rates possible. The state has a backlog of bills totaling about $15 billion. Borrowing to pay off some of that backlog is one of the options under consideration. Financially conservative legislators voted for the tax increases in the new budget to protect the credit rating from further deterioration. However, the irony is that bond rating agency Moody’s said last week that even with the tax hike and budget in place, the state risks junk status because of its unfunded pension liability, which tops $130 billion and is growing.
The new budget will raise the personal income tax in Illinois 32% going from 3.75% to 4.95%, which is expected generate roughly $4.3 billion. The corporate income tax rate is raised 33% from 5.2% to 7% generating an additional $460 million. Together, those tax hikes are expected to pull in about $5 billion in revenue - assuming there is not mass exodus of people and businesses.
The tax increases go into effect immediately. The next paycheck workers receive will have a lot less money in it. For a family making $60,000 annually, the extra tax burden is about $60 a month, $720 annually, or $360 for the remainder of 2017. Families earning $90,000 will pay $1,080 more each year in taxes, or $90 a month. The concern expressed by many is that lower take-home income hurts families and local businesses. Less disposable income means fewer dollars to spend at local stores, restaurants and the like.
So, Illinois has a budget. Schools will open on time. Human services will be properly funded. But it comes at a huge cost, particularly since the current spending practices that have pushed the state to the brink have not been addressed. In addition, the special session called to pass the budget will cost taxpayers at least $145,410 to pay for the $111 per diem to which lawmakers are entitled. The cost would be greater but 46 lawmakers voluntarily chose to not receive their allotted per diem. Read more here
What is known about the new budget?
The state would spend about $4 billion more than it currently takes in from taxes, hence the need for the tax increase. The 5% across-the-board cut to most government agencies and 10% cut to higher education are expected to result in less spending. Also approved is a provision sought by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel for new hires in Chicago to pay more into the city municipal workers and laborers retirement funds. The amount taxpayers contribute to those plans would also increase. The cuts and the tax increases are expected to balance the budget. However, the Governor asserts the budget does not account for $1.5 billion spent from the year just ended that will have to be paid from the new budget.
The budget legislation reinstates the research and development tax credit set to expire in 2022, increases the earned income tax credit for low income families and ends several corporate tax breaks. Funding for elementary and high schools is increased by $350 million with a change in the formula for how money is allocated to schools, unpopularly called the “Chicago Bailout.” The budget includes roughly $365 million that will be used to refund colleges and universities that fronted scholarships for low-income students the first half of this year, as well as $400 million for scholarships for the school year beginning this fall. More information available here.
Even if Illinois’ credit is further downgraded, the city of Chicago may be able to end junk status on much of its debt—potentially saving $100 million or more in interest charges each year—thanks to a clause that was quietly tucked into the state's new budget. The provision will allow home-rule entities such as Chicago to separate out money they get from the state and use that dedicated revenue to pay for new debt, or to pay for retiring old debt. (Home-rule is the power of a local city or county to set up its own system of self-government without receiving a charter from the state.) The city now gets well over $1 billion from the state each year, including $630 million in sales taxes collected by the Illinois Department of Revenue on the city's behalf, the $368 million city share of local income tax receipts, and $71 million in motor fuel taxes.
City officials hope the provision will allow them to save as much as 3 full percentage points on borrowed money compared to what junk-level city general-obligation debt now costs. With more than $8 billion in outstanding general-obligation debt, the city would save $30 million a year on each $1 billion that could be refinanced. The measure allows home-rule municipalities to assign revenues received from the state to debt repayment without state government interfering. The idea of creating a designated revenue stream to bail out troubled government is not new. Chicago Public Schools did it a generation ago when it created an independent School Finance Authority. For the plan to work state revenue must go directly into debt repayment and not into the city’s general operations. Other large cities could also take advantage of this clause in the budget. Read more here.
Business groups are not pleased with the tax increase of the budget.
Business oversight groups attacked the new Illinois budget almost immediately upon its passing, arguing that it does nothing to improve the economic climate. Jared Walczak of the nonpartisan Tax Foundation said Illinois plummeted in its state business tax climate index. "The state would fall from 23rd to 28th overall," he said. "More notably, it would fall from 26th to 37th on the corporate tax component." By comparison, Missouri ranked ninth, higher than other states in the Midwest mostly because of having one of the lower corporate tax rates in the country and new businesses coming in. Read more here.
State Rep. Joe Sosnowski, R-Rockford, said communities in southern Wisconsin don't need billboards or ad campaigns to lure Illinois taxpayers and businesses over the border. Southern Wisconsin State Rep. Todd Novak said lower taxes and more job opportunities are driving Illinoisans to Wisconsin. The unemployment rate in Winnebago County, Illinois, Sosnowski's district, is 6.4 percent. Lafayette County, Wisconsin, Novak's district just across the state line, has a 2.2 percent jobless rate.
More information available here.
Governor Rauner vetoed the budget bill saying it does not deal sufficiently with spending, but both the Illinois Senate and House voted to over-ride his veto, approving a budget after more than two years of chaos without one. It was the longest state budget impasse in the nation’s modern history. There is no lack of opinions on this budget. This article will provide what facts could be found.
In the hopes of avoiding the state’s credit rating being downgraded to junk status, legislators in the new budget agreed to increase Illinois taxes by $5 billion. Credit rating determines the interest rate on money borrowed (in the form of bonds) by the state to pay its debts. Illinois is already paying some of the highest interest rates possible. The state has a backlog of bills totaling about $15 billion. Borrowing to pay off some of that backlog is one of the options under consideration. Financially conservative legislators voted for the tax increases in the new budget to protect the credit rating from further deterioration. However, the irony is that bond rating agency Moody’s said last week that even with the tax hike and budget in place, the state risks junk status because of its unfunded pension liability, which tops $130 billion and is growing.
The new budget will raise the personal income tax in Illinois 32% going from 3.75% to 4.95%, which is expected generate roughly $4.3 billion. The corporate income tax rate is raised 33% from 5.2% to 7% generating an additional $460 million. Together, those tax hikes are expected to pull in about $5 billion in revenue - assuming there is not mass exodus of people and businesses.
The tax increases go into effect immediately. The next paycheck workers receive will have a lot less money in it. For a family making $60,000 annually, the extra tax burden is about $60 a month, $720 annually, or $360 for the remainder of 2017. Families earning $90,000 will pay $1,080 more each year in taxes, or $90 a month. The concern expressed by many is that lower take-home income hurts families and local businesses. Less disposable income means fewer dollars to spend at local stores, restaurants and the like.
So, Illinois has a budget. Schools will open on time. Human services will be properly funded. But it comes at a huge cost, particularly since the current spending practices that have pushed the state to the brink have not been addressed. In addition, the special session called to pass the budget will cost taxpayers at least $145,410 to pay for the $111 per diem to which lawmakers are entitled. The cost would be greater but 46 lawmakers voluntarily chose to not receive their allotted per diem. Read more here
What is known about the new budget?
The state would spend about $4 billion more than it currently takes in from taxes, hence the need for the tax increase. The 5% across-the-board cut to most government agencies and 10% cut to higher education are expected to result in less spending. Also approved is a provision sought by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel for new hires in Chicago to pay more into the city municipal workers and laborers retirement funds. The amount taxpayers contribute to those plans would also increase. The cuts and the tax increases are expected to balance the budget. However, the Governor asserts the budget does not account for $1.5 billion spent from the year just ended that will have to be paid from the new budget.
The budget legislation reinstates the research and development tax credit set to expire in 2022, increases the earned income tax credit for low income families and ends several corporate tax breaks. Funding for elementary and high schools is increased by $350 million with a change in the formula for how money is allocated to schools, unpopularly called the “Chicago Bailout.” The budget includes roughly $365 million that will be used to refund colleges and universities that fronted scholarships for low-income students the first half of this year, as well as $400 million for scholarships for the school year beginning this fall. More information available here.
Even if Illinois’ credit is further downgraded, the city of Chicago may be able to end junk status on much of its debt—potentially saving $100 million or more in interest charges each year—thanks to a clause that was quietly tucked into the state's new budget. The provision will allow home-rule entities such as Chicago to separate out money they get from the state and use that dedicated revenue to pay for new debt, or to pay for retiring old debt. (Home-rule is the power of a local city or county to set up its own system of self-government without receiving a charter from the state.) The city now gets well over $1 billion from the state each year, including $630 million in sales taxes collected by the Illinois Department of Revenue on the city's behalf, the $368 million city share of local income tax receipts, and $71 million in motor fuel taxes.
City officials hope the provision will allow them to save as much as 3 full percentage points on borrowed money compared to what junk-level city general-obligation debt now costs. With more than $8 billion in outstanding general-obligation debt, the city would save $30 million a year on each $1 billion that could be refinanced. The measure allows home-rule municipalities to assign revenues received from the state to debt repayment without state government interfering. The idea of creating a designated revenue stream to bail out troubled government is not new. Chicago Public Schools did it a generation ago when it created an independent School Finance Authority. For the plan to work state revenue must go directly into debt repayment and not into the city’s general operations. Other large cities could also take advantage of this clause in the budget. Read more here.
Business groups are not pleased with the tax increase of the budget.
Business oversight groups attacked the new Illinois budget almost immediately upon its passing, arguing that it does nothing to improve the economic climate. Jared Walczak of the nonpartisan Tax Foundation said Illinois plummeted in its state business tax climate index. "The state would fall from 23rd to 28th overall," he said. "More notably, it would fall from 26th to 37th on the corporate tax component." By comparison, Missouri ranked ninth, higher than other states in the Midwest mostly because of having one of the lower corporate tax rates in the country and new businesses coming in. Read more here.
State Rep. Joe Sosnowski, R-Rockford, said communities in southern Wisconsin don't need billboards or ad campaigns to lure Illinois taxpayers and businesses over the border. Southern Wisconsin State Rep. Todd Novak said lower taxes and more job opportunities are driving Illinoisans to Wisconsin. The unemployment rate in Winnebago County, Illinois, Sosnowski's district, is 6.4 percent. Lafayette County, Wisconsin, Novak's district just across the state line, has a 2.2 percent jobless rate.
More information available here.
Are There Solutions for Illinois? by Joyce Geiler
Opinions freely flow regarding Illinois’ budget stalemate and the state’s financial condition. In his article published in the Illinois Review, John Di Leo offers insights and solutions that are broader than the standard blame on political parties and personalities.
He begins by affirming Illinois’ many assets. He lists as assets Illinois’ agricultural power and terrific road and rail transportation with which agricultural products are shipped all over the world. As a manufacturing powerhouse, large numbers of workers are employed in Chicago, Peoria, the Quad Cities, Rockford, Aurora, and Decatur. Illinois has international airports and a highway system designed to bring travelers and conventions to Illinois from around the Midwest or around the world to spend their money on entertainment. Illinois is a virtual revenue machine, garnering some $34 billion in annual state tax revenues alone, not counting counties, cities, and other tax bodies. Di Leo notes that the amount the state government takes in is more in annual tax revenue than most countries.
Di Leo then lists five major areas that cause problems for the state’s economy, four in addition to the political system. He says the effects of massive crime vastly increase needed spending on city, county and state law enforcement, courtroom, and prison resources but also depresses property values while increasing auto and property insurance costs, which drive residents and employers out of state and raise the cost of living for those who remain. Next, an unsustainably-generous public pension system is essentially at the point where 100% of state revenues now go to paying current and future pensions. Third, the failed K-12 education system in our biggest cities, especially Chicago, functions more as taxpayer-funded gang recruiting centers than as schools. Fourth, a welfare system obligates the state to make welfare payments of every kind, from food and housing to medical care and transportation, for an unaffordable percentage of its population. He names the state’s legislature as the worst problem. Despite a number of stellar individuals in the state house and senate, both houses are ruled by Democratic majorities, which are in the iron death-grip of Chicago’s most intractable powerbrokers.
There is, nevertheless, a solution according to the writer. First, he posits that lower tax rates and government regulations will invite new business startups, encourage existing businesses to expand, and invite outside businesses to invest here. These changes will result in the numbers reversing themselves. He feels that the problem isn’t so much the state income tax as other taxes and fees. Reductions in the workmen’s comp costs, property taxes, sales taxes, and state and local regulations would make the difference. Cutting the tax rates, especially the property tax, by copying Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s successful public employee contracting reforms from 2011, is essential.
He feels driving down crime isn’t hard; just have tougher sentencing on those who are caught and stop inviting criminals in with Sanctuary City status. He sees that a massive spike in mandatory sentencing combined with cooperation with ICE to drive illegal aliens out of the state would bring down Chicago’s crime levels, raise property values, cut insurance costs, and make the state more welcoming to employers, residents, and tourists alike.
Finally, he says you don’t need to pay for the housing, food, transportation and medical care of the employed. No doubt all these points have been discussed and probably Mr. Di Leo offers nothing new, but he puts together a concise and compelling package of ideas. Read more here.
Opinions freely flow regarding Illinois’ budget stalemate and the state’s financial condition. In his article published in the Illinois Review, John Di Leo offers insights and solutions that are broader than the standard blame on political parties and personalities.
He begins by affirming Illinois’ many assets. He lists as assets Illinois’ agricultural power and terrific road and rail transportation with which agricultural products are shipped all over the world. As a manufacturing powerhouse, large numbers of workers are employed in Chicago, Peoria, the Quad Cities, Rockford, Aurora, and Decatur. Illinois has international airports and a highway system designed to bring travelers and conventions to Illinois from around the Midwest or around the world to spend their money on entertainment. Illinois is a virtual revenue machine, garnering some $34 billion in annual state tax revenues alone, not counting counties, cities, and other tax bodies. Di Leo notes that the amount the state government takes in is more in annual tax revenue than most countries.
Di Leo then lists five major areas that cause problems for the state’s economy, four in addition to the political system. He says the effects of massive crime vastly increase needed spending on city, county and state law enforcement, courtroom, and prison resources but also depresses property values while increasing auto and property insurance costs, which drive residents and employers out of state and raise the cost of living for those who remain. Next, an unsustainably-generous public pension system is essentially at the point where 100% of state revenues now go to paying current and future pensions. Third, the failed K-12 education system in our biggest cities, especially Chicago, functions more as taxpayer-funded gang recruiting centers than as schools. Fourth, a welfare system obligates the state to make welfare payments of every kind, from food and housing to medical care and transportation, for an unaffordable percentage of its population. He names the state’s legislature as the worst problem. Despite a number of stellar individuals in the state house and senate, both houses are ruled by Democratic majorities, which are in the iron death-grip of Chicago’s most intractable powerbrokers.
There is, nevertheless, a solution according to the writer. First, he posits that lower tax rates and government regulations will invite new business startups, encourage existing businesses to expand, and invite outside businesses to invest here. These changes will result in the numbers reversing themselves. He feels that the problem isn’t so much the state income tax as other taxes and fees. Reductions in the workmen’s comp costs, property taxes, sales taxes, and state and local regulations would make the difference. Cutting the tax rates, especially the property tax, by copying Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s successful public employee contracting reforms from 2011, is essential.
He feels driving down crime isn’t hard; just have tougher sentencing on those who are caught and stop inviting criminals in with Sanctuary City status. He sees that a massive spike in mandatory sentencing combined with cooperation with ICE to drive illegal aliens out of the state would bring down Chicago’s crime levels, raise property values, cut insurance costs, and make the state more welcoming to employers, residents, and tourists alike.
Finally, he says you don’t need to pay for the housing, food, transportation and medical care of the employed. No doubt all these points have been discussed and probably Mr. Di Leo offers nothing new, but he puts together a concise and compelling package of ideas. Read more here.
New Construction and Demolition Debris Delima
by Joyce Geiler
Lawmakers and environmentalists from parts of Illinois that rely on groundwater want tougher monitoring of porous rock quarries that are being reclaimed by filling them with construction waste, saying they want to regulate them to make sure drinking water doesn't become contaminated with toxins.
Lawmakers in limestone-rich Will County want to require groundwater monitoring around rock quarries that accept broken concrete and other debris from construction and demolition. Limestone is a type of pouros rock that allows groundwater to filter through, potentially picking up contaminants that might be present. Although opponents say groundwater testing would be expensive, Dean Olson, director of the resource recovery and energy division for the Will County Land Use Department, said based on his experience, drilling a monitoring well costs just over $2,000 and each time sampling of water is done, the cost is less than $500.
Attorney General Lisa Madigan is in court, trying to force previously dismissed groundwater monitoring on the quarries. Proponents of monitoring cite the worst-case scenario of Flint, Michigan, where river water was not treated to reduce corrosion for 18 months, leading lead to leach from old pipes and fixtures. (Of course, that case was not even remotely related to ground water.) Attorney General Madigan is asking a state appellate court to require groundwater monitoring at 34 state quarries. More than once, the Pollution Control Board has rejected groundwater monitoring, the very decision Madigan is contesting.
On the opposing side are road builders, engineers and others in the construction business, who argue that Illinois has sufficient quarry regulations and additional testing would be too expensive. Eighteen organizations, which have made $6 million in political contributions in the past decade, have lined up against legislation for ground water monitoring. Illinois has the most stringent rules for quarry reclamation in the nation, according to Dan Eichholz, president of the Illinois Association of Aggregate Producers. The waste material must come from a site where previous land use has been determined and verified that it's not part of a toxic-cleanup project. A professional engineer or geologist must test the soil at the site and determine that contaminants do not exceed allowed levels. At the quarry, a detector is used to check for suspicious odors. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency calls it "clean construction-demolition debris." Currently, concrete free of steel reinforcement bars, rock, stone, brick and asphalt from sites where buildings are going up or being razed is "clean" and can be dumped in spent rock quarries. Requirements that professionals examine the waste have been put in place in the past decade, although decades of unregulated dumping occurred before that.
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/illinois/articles/2017-04-30/illinois-bills-suit-target-quarries-taking-demolition-waste
http://fox2now.com/2017/04/30/illinois-bills-suit-target-quarries-taking-demolition-waste/
The Construction & Demolition Recycling Association (CDRA) estimates more than 325 million tons of recoverable construction and demolition (C&D) materials that are generated in the United States annually. These materials include aggregates such as concrete, asphalt, asphalt shingles, gypsum wallboard, wood and metals. http://www.cdrecycling.org/ Construction and Demolition is the source of 8.3% of the waste in Illinois landfills. (Note that this article discusses depleted rock quarries, not landfills.) https://igpa.uillinois.edu/sites/igpa.uillinois.edu/files/reports/IR10-09_Waste_&_Recycling.pdf The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency’s website defines construction and demolition debris and how to deal with it. http://www.epa.illinois.gov/topics/small-business/publications/construction-debris/index
So, is this discussion of protection from groundwater contamination a valid discussion? According to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, approximately 4.1 million people use groundwater as a source of public water supply in Illinois. There are 5,534 groundwater dependent public water supplies in the state, of which 1,195 are community water supplies (CWSs). The community supplies serve about 3.1 million people. Approximately 400,000 residences of the state are served by their own private wells (ground water sourced.) Seventy percent of CWSs in the state withdraw water from confined aquifers that have natural geologic protection from surface and near surface activities, making contamination unlikely. However, the remaining 30 percent of the communities withdraw water from unconfined aquifers that are susceptible to pollution from land use and other surface activities. These are scattered throughout the state.
The Illinois Environmental Agency website shows all community wells in the state and also, shows the quality of water in the watersheds in the state that are associated with ground water. The only confined aquifer well rated as “poor” is in northern Will County. The wells in the remainder of Will county are listed as good. Three other counties have unconfined aquifer wells, which are susceptible to contamination and rated as “poor”; those are in northern Pike County, Marshall county on the Illinois River, and Winnebago County near Rockford. http://www.epa.state.il.us/water/water-quality/report-1999/overall-use.html It would appear that something is already doing a good job of protecting Illinois’ ground water.
desk.
by Joyce Geiler
Lawmakers and environmentalists from parts of Illinois that rely on groundwater want tougher monitoring of porous rock quarries that are being reclaimed by filling them with construction waste, saying they want to regulate them to make sure drinking water doesn't become contaminated with toxins.
Lawmakers in limestone-rich Will County want to require groundwater monitoring around rock quarries that accept broken concrete and other debris from construction and demolition. Limestone is a type of pouros rock that allows groundwater to filter through, potentially picking up contaminants that might be present. Although opponents say groundwater testing would be expensive, Dean Olson, director of the resource recovery and energy division for the Will County Land Use Department, said based on his experience, drilling a monitoring well costs just over $2,000 and each time sampling of water is done, the cost is less than $500.
Attorney General Lisa Madigan is in court, trying to force previously dismissed groundwater monitoring on the quarries. Proponents of monitoring cite the worst-case scenario of Flint, Michigan, where river water was not treated to reduce corrosion for 18 months, leading lead to leach from old pipes and fixtures. (Of course, that case was not even remotely related to ground water.) Attorney General Madigan is asking a state appellate court to require groundwater monitoring at 34 state quarries. More than once, the Pollution Control Board has rejected groundwater monitoring, the very decision Madigan is contesting.
On the opposing side are road builders, engineers and others in the construction business, who argue that Illinois has sufficient quarry regulations and additional testing would be too expensive. Eighteen organizations, which have made $6 million in political contributions in the past decade, have lined up against legislation for ground water monitoring. Illinois has the most stringent rules for quarry reclamation in the nation, according to Dan Eichholz, president of the Illinois Association of Aggregate Producers. The waste material must come from a site where previous land use has been determined and verified that it's not part of a toxic-cleanup project. A professional engineer or geologist must test the soil at the site and determine that contaminants do not exceed allowed levels. At the quarry, a detector is used to check for suspicious odors. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency calls it "clean construction-demolition debris." Currently, concrete free of steel reinforcement bars, rock, stone, brick and asphalt from sites where buildings are going up or being razed is "clean" and can be dumped in spent rock quarries. Requirements that professionals examine the waste have been put in place in the past decade, although decades of unregulated dumping occurred before that.
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/illinois/articles/2017-04-30/illinois-bills-suit-target-quarries-taking-demolition-waste
http://fox2now.com/2017/04/30/illinois-bills-suit-target-quarries-taking-demolition-waste/
The Construction & Demolition Recycling Association (CDRA) estimates more than 325 million tons of recoverable construction and demolition (C&D) materials that are generated in the United States annually. These materials include aggregates such as concrete, asphalt, asphalt shingles, gypsum wallboard, wood and metals. http://www.cdrecycling.org/ Construction and Demolition is the source of 8.3% of the waste in Illinois landfills. (Note that this article discusses depleted rock quarries, not landfills.) https://igpa.uillinois.edu/sites/igpa.uillinois.edu/files/reports/IR10-09_Waste_&_Recycling.pdf The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency’s website defines construction and demolition debris and how to deal with it. http://www.epa.illinois.gov/topics/small-business/publications/construction-debris/index
So, is this discussion of protection from groundwater contamination a valid discussion? According to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, approximately 4.1 million people use groundwater as a source of public water supply in Illinois. There are 5,534 groundwater dependent public water supplies in the state, of which 1,195 are community water supplies (CWSs). The community supplies serve about 3.1 million people. Approximately 400,000 residences of the state are served by their own private wells (ground water sourced.) Seventy percent of CWSs in the state withdraw water from confined aquifers that have natural geologic protection from surface and near surface activities, making contamination unlikely. However, the remaining 30 percent of the communities withdraw water from unconfined aquifers that are susceptible to pollution from land use and other surface activities. These are scattered throughout the state.
The Illinois Environmental Agency website shows all community wells in the state and also, shows the quality of water in the watersheds in the state that are associated with ground water. The only confined aquifer well rated as “poor” is in northern Will County. The wells in the remainder of Will county are listed as good. Three other counties have unconfined aquifer wells, which are susceptible to contamination and rated as “poor”; those are in northern Pike County, Marshall county on the Illinois River, and Winnebago County near Rockford. http://www.epa.state.il.us/water/water-quality/report-1999/overall-use.html It would appear that something is already doing a good job of protecting Illinois’ ground water.
desk.
Illinois: A Sanctuary State? by Joyce Geiler
Earlier this year Kingdom Congress wrote an article on Chicago and other sanctuary cities in Illinois. Illinois is now moving toward becoming a sanctuary state.
Despite threats from the Trump Administration to cut federal law enforcement funding to jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration officials, the Illinois Review reports that Illinois is moving towards becoming the nation's fifth sanctuary state after California, Connecticut, New Mexico and Colorado (another source listed Rhode Island also). With one vote to spare, the Illinois Senate passed a SB 031, dubbed by supporters as the “Illinois Trust Act,” which would set Illinois state-funded schools, health care centers and secretary of state facilities as "safe zones" for undocumented immigrants to find protection from federal law enforcement. In those locations throughout the state, state and local police would be prohibited from arresting persons based on their immigration status - the same practice now in place in the city of Chicago and Cook County. The bill will now proceed to the Illinois House, where a similar measure stalled earlier this year when it was referred to the Rules committee. For a listing of Illinois Congress members supporting this law click here.
The executive director of the National Immigrant Justice Center, Mary Meg McCarthy said, “all of our communities are safer” when immigrants do not fear deportation if they interact with police. The NIJC provides “comprehensive legal services to low-income immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers.” Their website does not disclose the source of funding for these services. Look here.
Meanwhile, tax dollars are being diverted to providing legal assistance to those facing deportation in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. In Chicago where the Chicago Public School System can't find funds to keep schools open, the Chicago City Council, at Mayor Rham Emanuel’s request, set aside $1.3 million for a legal defense fund to help immigrants threatened with deportation.
Opponents say if the bill becomes law, tax-funded pre-schools, hospitals, nursing homes and mental health facilities statewide - where Illinois' most defenseless and vulnerable gather - are where criminals will find protection from immigration law enforcement. State Rep. Allen Skillicorn (R-East Dundee) introduced legislation that would strengthen law enforcement's hand as a counter to SB 31-type laws. His bill, HB 2942, would be similar to the bill Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law May 7, 2017. The law is a sanctuary cities ban that allows police to ask whether someone is in the U.S. legally during routine stops; the law also threatens sheriffs with jail if they don’t cooperate with federal immigration agents. Democrat Speaker Mike Madigan has not given a thumbs-up to allow Skillicorn's bill out of Rules Committee.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) explains why they see a worsening of the development of diverting tax dollars for legal assistance for illegals. Deportation proceedings before immigration courts are civil, not criminal cases. While illegals are guaranteed legal representation for criminal offenses and therefore public funding is available, there is no legislative guarantee for funding civil cases for illegals. So, like all civil court matters, people who are fighting removal from the United States have no constitutional right to publicly funded representation. Organizations like NIJC choose to provide legal representation but not with public funds. In sanctuary cities, local government officials are deciding to allocate taxpayers' money to promote their efforts to thwart immigration law enforcement, At the same time, U.S. citizens or legal immigrants facing civil court matters, like foreclosures, evictions in tenant/landlord proceedings, child custody cases, and divorce proceedings, will receive no such public freebee. FAIR seeks to reduce overall immigration to a level that is more manageable and which more closely reflects past policy. Learn more here.
Additional opposition comes from the Eagle Forum. "These are not people crossing the border just because they need jobs or because they want a safer place to live. These are people who are here to do mischief. And we know that there are drug lords that are controlling the border and creating lots of trouble for those living along the border," states Cathie Adams, a national board member of Eagle Forum. According to their website, Eagle Forum's Mission is to “enable conservative and pro-family men and women to participate in the process of self-government and public policy making so that America will continue to be a land of individual liberty, respect for family integrity, public and private virtue, and private enterprise.” Eagle Forum was founded in 1972 by Phyllis Schlafley, who was a constitutional lawyer and conservative activist known for her opposition to the Equal rights Amendment and, among many other accomplishments, was awarded the honor of being named 1992 Illinois Mother of the Year.
Governor Rauner has not indicated whether he would sign SB 31 into law if he reaches his desk.
Earlier this year Kingdom Congress wrote an article on Chicago and other sanctuary cities in Illinois. Illinois is now moving toward becoming a sanctuary state.
Despite threats from the Trump Administration to cut federal law enforcement funding to jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration officials, the Illinois Review reports that Illinois is moving towards becoming the nation's fifth sanctuary state after California, Connecticut, New Mexico and Colorado (another source listed Rhode Island also). With one vote to spare, the Illinois Senate passed a SB 031, dubbed by supporters as the “Illinois Trust Act,” which would set Illinois state-funded schools, health care centers and secretary of state facilities as "safe zones" for undocumented immigrants to find protection from federal law enforcement. In those locations throughout the state, state and local police would be prohibited from arresting persons based on their immigration status - the same practice now in place in the city of Chicago and Cook County. The bill will now proceed to the Illinois House, where a similar measure stalled earlier this year when it was referred to the Rules committee. For a listing of Illinois Congress members supporting this law click here.
The executive director of the National Immigrant Justice Center, Mary Meg McCarthy said, “all of our communities are safer” when immigrants do not fear deportation if they interact with police. The NIJC provides “comprehensive legal services to low-income immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers.” Their website does not disclose the source of funding for these services. Look here.
Meanwhile, tax dollars are being diverted to providing legal assistance to those facing deportation in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. In Chicago where the Chicago Public School System can't find funds to keep schools open, the Chicago City Council, at Mayor Rham Emanuel’s request, set aside $1.3 million for a legal defense fund to help immigrants threatened with deportation.
Opponents say if the bill becomes law, tax-funded pre-schools, hospitals, nursing homes and mental health facilities statewide - where Illinois' most defenseless and vulnerable gather - are where criminals will find protection from immigration law enforcement. State Rep. Allen Skillicorn (R-East Dundee) introduced legislation that would strengthen law enforcement's hand as a counter to SB 31-type laws. His bill, HB 2942, would be similar to the bill Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law May 7, 2017. The law is a sanctuary cities ban that allows police to ask whether someone is in the U.S. legally during routine stops; the law also threatens sheriffs with jail if they don’t cooperate with federal immigration agents. Democrat Speaker Mike Madigan has not given a thumbs-up to allow Skillicorn's bill out of Rules Committee.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) explains why they see a worsening of the development of diverting tax dollars for legal assistance for illegals. Deportation proceedings before immigration courts are civil, not criminal cases. While illegals are guaranteed legal representation for criminal offenses and therefore public funding is available, there is no legislative guarantee for funding civil cases for illegals. So, like all civil court matters, people who are fighting removal from the United States have no constitutional right to publicly funded representation. Organizations like NIJC choose to provide legal representation but not with public funds. In sanctuary cities, local government officials are deciding to allocate taxpayers' money to promote their efforts to thwart immigration law enforcement, At the same time, U.S. citizens or legal immigrants facing civil court matters, like foreclosures, evictions in tenant/landlord proceedings, child custody cases, and divorce proceedings, will receive no such public freebee. FAIR seeks to reduce overall immigration to a level that is more manageable and which more closely reflects past policy. Learn more here.
Additional opposition comes from the Eagle Forum. "These are not people crossing the border just because they need jobs or because they want a safer place to live. These are people who are here to do mischief. And we know that there are drug lords that are controlling the border and creating lots of trouble for those living along the border," states Cathie Adams, a national board member of Eagle Forum. According to their website, Eagle Forum's Mission is to “enable conservative and pro-family men and women to participate in the process of self-government and public policy making so that America will continue to be a land of individual liberty, respect for family integrity, public and private virtue, and private enterprise.” Eagle Forum was founded in 1972 by Phyllis Schlafley, who was a constitutional lawyer and conservative activist known for her opposition to the Equal rights Amendment and, among many other accomplishments, was awarded the honor of being named 1992 Illinois Mother of the Year.
Governor Rauner has not indicated whether he would sign SB 31 into law if he reaches his desk.
Solar Jobs Increasing in Illinois by Joyce Geiler
Solar jobs in Illinois are growing, increasing 6.7 percent in 2016. AES Solar in Southern Illinois has been installing solar panels for 17 years but business has increased substantially in the past year and a half. Although the company used to serve eight states in order to have enough business, now 90 percent of their work is within two hours from home. What is behind the increase in solar in Illinois? Prices of solar products have dropped dramatically, plus Illinois offers incentives for solar installation and solar power production.
Read more here.
A quick Google search reveals innumerable sites promoting the advantages of solar for home and businesses. Illinois has a website dedicated to Solar and Wind Energy Rebate Programs in Illinois.
Find programs here.
Illinois is in the middle of the country geographically and it’s in the center when it comes to solar energy. Solar Energy Industries ranks Illinois No. 25 in the nation for installed solar capacity. And the state is more or less on pace to hold its position. In 2014, Illinois installed 6 megawatts of solar capacity, which ranked it 27th for growth that year. Installed capacity, sometimes termed peak installed capacity or rated capacity, describes the maximum capacity at which a system is designed to run. If, for example, a solar farm has an installed capacity of 24 megawatts, the system will have the ability – the components and hardware – to produce a maximum of 24 megawatts per hour with optimal sun exposure. Installed capacity relates mainly to calculating the cost of solar panels. Looking at how many watt hours an installation will generate/produce is used for assessing how many solar panels are required to compare solar energy production to existing electricity usage.
While maintaining a moderate position in the middle of the solar industry’s explosive growth, Illinois itself has seen substantial increases in its solar industry. More than 3,000 Illinois residents have jobs because of the state’s healthy solar industry, which saw a 165 percent increased financial investment year-over-year in 2014.
Illinois has an aggressive renewable energy portfolio standard, requiring that the state’s utilities get 25 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2025. Currently solar power shows less than .3 percent on a chart listing energy sources for Illinois. To achieve such an aggressive goal, Illinois offers incentives. Discover incentives here.
The renewable rebate program, which has been operating since 1997, is funded by Illinois’ Renewable Energy Resources Trust Fund and administered by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. Part of the cost of installation of solar (photovoltaic) equipment for individual, business and nonprofit organizations can be rebated. As of 2009, Illinois had received $101,321,000 from the federal Department of Energy's State Energy Program to assist with the state’s incentives. Illinoisans can also apply for federal energy rebates in addition to state rebates.
Illinois’ net-metering program, which began April 1, 2008, requires all investor-owned utility companies operating in the state to credit solar customers at the retail rate for the power they feed back onto the grid. Potential savings depend on how much energy is generated by the system. All net-metered customers in Illinois must pay fixed interconnection fees to connect to the electric grid. Other states have waived such fees.
So, solar jobs in Illinois are increasing. Of the 65,236,000 jobs in Illinois, 3000 can be credited to solar. The increase in solar jobs is due largely to government incentives and rebates. Whether the money for those rebates comes from the state or from the federal government, tax dollars are paying for it. A portion of the tax dollars of Illinoisans is helping to provide for jobs for a small segment of the population in order for Illinois to meet its federal government mandate to increase renewable energy production.
Solar jobs in Illinois are growing, increasing 6.7 percent in 2016. AES Solar in Southern Illinois has been installing solar panels for 17 years but business has increased substantially in the past year and a half. Although the company used to serve eight states in order to have enough business, now 90 percent of their work is within two hours from home. What is behind the increase in solar in Illinois? Prices of solar products have dropped dramatically, plus Illinois offers incentives for solar installation and solar power production.
Read more here.
A quick Google search reveals innumerable sites promoting the advantages of solar for home and businesses. Illinois has a website dedicated to Solar and Wind Energy Rebate Programs in Illinois.
Find programs here.
Illinois is in the middle of the country geographically and it’s in the center when it comes to solar energy. Solar Energy Industries ranks Illinois No. 25 in the nation for installed solar capacity. And the state is more or less on pace to hold its position. In 2014, Illinois installed 6 megawatts of solar capacity, which ranked it 27th for growth that year. Installed capacity, sometimes termed peak installed capacity or rated capacity, describes the maximum capacity at which a system is designed to run. If, for example, a solar farm has an installed capacity of 24 megawatts, the system will have the ability – the components and hardware – to produce a maximum of 24 megawatts per hour with optimal sun exposure. Installed capacity relates mainly to calculating the cost of solar panels. Looking at how many watt hours an installation will generate/produce is used for assessing how many solar panels are required to compare solar energy production to existing electricity usage.
While maintaining a moderate position in the middle of the solar industry’s explosive growth, Illinois itself has seen substantial increases in its solar industry. More than 3,000 Illinois residents have jobs because of the state’s healthy solar industry, which saw a 165 percent increased financial investment year-over-year in 2014.
Illinois has an aggressive renewable energy portfolio standard, requiring that the state’s utilities get 25 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2025. Currently solar power shows less than .3 percent on a chart listing energy sources for Illinois. To achieve such an aggressive goal, Illinois offers incentives. Discover incentives here.
The renewable rebate program, which has been operating since 1997, is funded by Illinois’ Renewable Energy Resources Trust Fund and administered by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. Part of the cost of installation of solar (photovoltaic) equipment for individual, business and nonprofit organizations can be rebated. As of 2009, Illinois had received $101,321,000 from the federal Department of Energy's State Energy Program to assist with the state’s incentives. Illinoisans can also apply for federal energy rebates in addition to state rebates.
Illinois’ net-metering program, which began April 1, 2008, requires all investor-owned utility companies operating in the state to credit solar customers at the retail rate for the power they feed back onto the grid. Potential savings depend on how much energy is generated by the system. All net-metered customers in Illinois must pay fixed interconnection fees to connect to the electric grid. Other states have waived such fees.
So, solar jobs in Illinois are increasing. Of the 65,236,000 jobs in Illinois, 3000 can be credited to solar. The increase in solar jobs is due largely to government incentives and rebates. Whether the money for those rebates comes from the state or from the federal government, tax dollars are paying for it. A portion of the tax dollars of Illinoisans is helping to provide for jobs for a small segment of the population in order for Illinois to meet its federal government mandate to increase renewable energy production.
EDGE Tax Incentives in Illinois by Joyce Geiler
Illinois offers many types of business incentives. One of the most impactful for taxpayers has been the Illinois Economic Development for a Growing Economy (EDGE) credit, which provides companies with an income tax credit equal to a percentage of Illinois state income tax withheld. On January 20, 2017, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner signed S.B. 513, which extended the sunset date of the Illinois EDGE credit from December 31, 2016, to April 30, 2017. The program has allowed politicians to bestow $1.3 billion in tax credits since 2001 with the goal of encouraging companies to invest in Illinois, thereby providing more jobs for the people who live here. But critics say EDGE’s success rate is abysmal.
The state’s $1.3 billion has brought in 34,000 jobs since 2001. But overall, Illinois is down more than 100,000 jobs for this time period. In one year, Illinois’ population lost more residents than EDGE attracted jobs over the lifetime of the program. From July 2015 to July 2016, the state’s population decreased by 37,500 due to residents leaving for other states – the worst out-migration loss of any state in the country.
Critics of the EDGE incentive say it is a way for politicians to pick favorites – usually large corporations. From Jan. 1, 2014, to Oct. 31, 2014, the state doled out millions of dollars in EDGE tax credits to companies including: Groupon ($8.4 million), Takeda Pharmaceuticals ($6.8 million) and Ford ($5.5 million). In December 2016, Amazon announced it would bring two more distribution centers to the Chicago area and promised more than 1,000 jobs in Aurora. The e-commerce giant is set to receive nearly $12.9 million in corporate tax breaks under the EDGE program. Learn more here.
Critics note that for more than a decade, Illinois has been giving select businesses many millions of dollars more in tax credits than the law allows. The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, or DCEO, has been giving tax credits to companies that simply retain employees (rather than creating additional jobs). The Liberty Justice Center has filed a lawsuit, Jenner v. DCEO, which seeks to stop this illegal practice. The lawsuit alleges that as much as half of EDGE tax credits approved over the life of the program violated the limits established in the law.
The Small Business Advocacy Council states “some folks cannot condone government officials choosing specific companies deemed worthy of receiving special tax breaks and thereby inserting themselves into the free market by picking winners and losers. Others believe these lavish tax breaks constitute corporate welfare benefiting primarily large companies at the expense of the state’s taxpayers. Small business owners, of all political persuasions, understand there are inherent problems with EDGE and are looking for a level playing field so that companies, both large and small, pay their fair share of whatever income tax the state levies.” More here.
The Rauner administration has made changes to the EDGE program, shutting down job incentives that his Democratic predecessor, Gov. Pat Quinn, allowed for job retention. Rauner also halted a practice that let dozens of companies collect millions of dollars in tax breaks for creating jobs at one office while eliminating a greater number of jobs at another location. A Chicago Tribune investigation highlighted the practice in October 2015. The Tribune found at least 37 agreements in which Illinois companies were rewarded with tax credits after hiring employees in one location while firing a far greater number of workers at another site.
Agreements for tax credits reached under Illinois' premier jobs program can now be viewed on the website of the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. Agreements made by Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration under the EDGE program including deals with Amazon, ConAgra Foods, eBay and more are now available. Previously, the public had to file open records requests to find out the details of the agreements. The department soon plans to publish agreements made under previous administrations as well.
Talk of changes in EDGE have been happening since 2013. In an attempt to revive the more important components of EDGE, Senate Bill 3459 has been filed. The proposed program is called THRIVE, short for Transforming, Helping and Reviving Illinois' Versatile Economy. Under the provisions of the new bill, companies would receive credit for half of the Illinois withholding attributable to job creation, offsetting the corporate income tax for that year. EDGE currently gives credit for 100%. In order to be eligible, companies must create at least 50 jobs or jobs equal to 10 percent of its global workforce, whichever is less. They also must have a capital investment in Illinois of at least $2.5 million unless the company employs fewer than 100 people. More here.
A similar bill has been filed in the House.
Illinois offers many types of business incentives. One of the most impactful for taxpayers has been the Illinois Economic Development for a Growing Economy (EDGE) credit, which provides companies with an income tax credit equal to a percentage of Illinois state income tax withheld. On January 20, 2017, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner signed S.B. 513, which extended the sunset date of the Illinois EDGE credit from December 31, 2016, to April 30, 2017. The program has allowed politicians to bestow $1.3 billion in tax credits since 2001 with the goal of encouraging companies to invest in Illinois, thereby providing more jobs for the people who live here. But critics say EDGE’s success rate is abysmal.
The state’s $1.3 billion has brought in 34,000 jobs since 2001. But overall, Illinois is down more than 100,000 jobs for this time period. In one year, Illinois’ population lost more residents than EDGE attracted jobs over the lifetime of the program. From July 2015 to July 2016, the state’s population decreased by 37,500 due to residents leaving for other states – the worst out-migration loss of any state in the country.
Critics of the EDGE incentive say it is a way for politicians to pick favorites – usually large corporations. From Jan. 1, 2014, to Oct. 31, 2014, the state doled out millions of dollars in EDGE tax credits to companies including: Groupon ($8.4 million), Takeda Pharmaceuticals ($6.8 million) and Ford ($5.5 million). In December 2016, Amazon announced it would bring two more distribution centers to the Chicago area and promised more than 1,000 jobs in Aurora. The e-commerce giant is set to receive nearly $12.9 million in corporate tax breaks under the EDGE program. Learn more here.
Critics note that for more than a decade, Illinois has been giving select businesses many millions of dollars more in tax credits than the law allows. The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, or DCEO, has been giving tax credits to companies that simply retain employees (rather than creating additional jobs). The Liberty Justice Center has filed a lawsuit, Jenner v. DCEO, which seeks to stop this illegal practice. The lawsuit alleges that as much as half of EDGE tax credits approved over the life of the program violated the limits established in the law.
The Small Business Advocacy Council states “some folks cannot condone government officials choosing specific companies deemed worthy of receiving special tax breaks and thereby inserting themselves into the free market by picking winners and losers. Others believe these lavish tax breaks constitute corporate welfare benefiting primarily large companies at the expense of the state’s taxpayers. Small business owners, of all political persuasions, understand there are inherent problems with EDGE and are looking for a level playing field so that companies, both large and small, pay their fair share of whatever income tax the state levies.” More here.
The Rauner administration has made changes to the EDGE program, shutting down job incentives that his Democratic predecessor, Gov. Pat Quinn, allowed for job retention. Rauner also halted a practice that let dozens of companies collect millions of dollars in tax breaks for creating jobs at one office while eliminating a greater number of jobs at another location. A Chicago Tribune investigation highlighted the practice in October 2015. The Tribune found at least 37 agreements in which Illinois companies were rewarded with tax credits after hiring employees in one location while firing a far greater number of workers at another site.
Agreements for tax credits reached under Illinois' premier jobs program can now be viewed on the website of the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. Agreements made by Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration under the EDGE program including deals with Amazon, ConAgra Foods, eBay and more are now available. Previously, the public had to file open records requests to find out the details of the agreements. The department soon plans to publish agreements made under previous administrations as well.
Talk of changes in EDGE have been happening since 2013. In an attempt to revive the more important components of EDGE, Senate Bill 3459 has been filed. The proposed program is called THRIVE, short for Transforming, Helping and Reviving Illinois' Versatile Economy. Under the provisions of the new bill, companies would receive credit for half of the Illinois withholding attributable to job creation, offsetting the corporate income tax for that year. EDGE currently gives credit for 100%. In order to be eligible, companies must create at least 50 jobs or jobs equal to 10 percent of its global workforce, whichever is less. They also must have a capital investment in Illinois of at least $2.5 million unless the company employs fewer than 100 people. More here.
A similar bill has been filed in the House.
ILLINOIS ENTREPRENEURSHIP FACILITATED BY UNIVERSITIES by Joyce Geiler
Over the past five years, student and faculty entrepreneurs in Illinois formed approximately 804 startups businesses through university technology licensing, entrepreneurship programs and competitions, and other university initiatives. This number represents tremendous growth over the past several years. In fact, universities created roughly double the number of startups from 2012 to 2016 compared with 2009 to 2013.
Illinois universities spur innovation and economic development in the state. They cultivate innovative thinkers and give them the resources they need to develop and deploy their ideas. Budding entrepreneurs at Illinois universities have access to more resources than ever before, including university incubation centers, university-supported funding, and innovative curriculum to help them develop new ideas and technologies into viable businesses. The expansion of these resources is paying dividends, with 2016 showing a surge in business startup creation and retention in the state.
Universities support not only the development of these startups but also their continued success. More than three out of four (78 percent) startups formed from 2012 to 2016 are either still active or were acquired by an existing company. A record number of these companies have remained in the state, continuing to build their business and generate jobs and economic impact for Illinois. Of the 612 still-active startups founded from 2012 to 2016, 81 percent remain in the state compared with 73 percent of those founded from 2011 to 2015.
These university startups span a range of industries, from clean technology and advanced manufacturing to software and the Internet of Things. (The Internet of Things is the inter-networking of physical devices, vehicles, buildings, and other items that are embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators, and network connectivity that enable these objects to collect and exchange data.)
More than half of all tech transfer startups are in the biomedical field. Tech transfer is the process by which university research becomes commercial products and services often resulting in the creation of new startup companies. This process involves the disclosure of new technology through university research, the protection of the new technology through patents or copyrights, and the eventual commercialization through licenses or options. Briefly stated, tech transfer is the use of university intellectual property.
Non–tech transfer startups are less concentrated in any one industry. Industries with the most non–tech transfer startups include software and applications, finance and business services, healthcare, food and agriculture technology, consumer products (such as clothing and retail), and education.
Founders for these startup businesses come from diverse backgrounds. For startups founded from 2012 to 2016, more than 30 percent have a foreign-born founder or co-founder. In Illinois, immigrants make up less than 15 percent of the population but account for more than 22 percent of entrepreneurs. The proportion of startups founded by immigrants is even higher at Illinois universities. In addition, approximately 30 percent of these startups have a female founder or co-founder.
Illinois universities are producing more startups due in large part to their intentional efforts to increase student, faculty, and staff access to entrepreneurial resources, including curriculum, programming, competitions, and seed funding. Many Illinois universities are delivering these resources through centralized spaces, which serve as hubs to facilitate cross-campus, interdisciplinary activity. In addition to providing physical space to house companies, these spaces typically offer mentorship, connections to industry, and links to potential funders that help entrepreneurs bring their products and services to market.
The federal government has played an instrumental role in serving as a catalyst for developing and funding startups in the state and across the nation through a number of key programs. One such program is the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps program, which is designed to help entrepreneurs commercialize their innovations by validating commercial opportunities, providing business training, and fostering connections to private partnerships and additional funding. I-Corps programs are facilitated through university sites and regional nodes. Capital raised by university startups surged in 2016, with nearly $630 million in funding raised from 2012 to 2016 compared with $345 million from 2011 to 2015.
Although more students are choosing to pursue entrepreneurial activities while on campus, Illinois also has a growing base of alumni entrepreneurs who have launched companies later in their careers. To assist them, Illinois universities are stepping up initiatives to increase entrepreneurship offerings to alumni. Alumni from Illinois universities started more than 1,100 companies and raised more than $9 billion in funding over the past five years. Alumni founders came from diverse fields, with no one field accounting for more than 10 percent of all founders.
For examples of university facilitated startup businesses, look at this sight.
Over the past five years, student and faculty entrepreneurs in Illinois formed approximately 804 startups businesses through university technology licensing, entrepreneurship programs and competitions, and other university initiatives. This number represents tremendous growth over the past several years. In fact, universities created roughly double the number of startups from 2012 to 2016 compared with 2009 to 2013.
Illinois universities spur innovation and economic development in the state. They cultivate innovative thinkers and give them the resources they need to develop and deploy their ideas. Budding entrepreneurs at Illinois universities have access to more resources than ever before, including university incubation centers, university-supported funding, and innovative curriculum to help them develop new ideas and technologies into viable businesses. The expansion of these resources is paying dividends, with 2016 showing a surge in business startup creation and retention in the state.
Universities support not only the development of these startups but also their continued success. More than three out of four (78 percent) startups formed from 2012 to 2016 are either still active or were acquired by an existing company. A record number of these companies have remained in the state, continuing to build their business and generate jobs and economic impact for Illinois. Of the 612 still-active startups founded from 2012 to 2016, 81 percent remain in the state compared with 73 percent of those founded from 2011 to 2015.
These university startups span a range of industries, from clean technology and advanced manufacturing to software and the Internet of Things. (The Internet of Things is the inter-networking of physical devices, vehicles, buildings, and other items that are embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators, and network connectivity that enable these objects to collect and exchange data.)
More than half of all tech transfer startups are in the biomedical field. Tech transfer is the process by which university research becomes commercial products and services often resulting in the creation of new startup companies. This process involves the disclosure of new technology through university research, the protection of the new technology through patents or copyrights, and the eventual commercialization through licenses or options. Briefly stated, tech transfer is the use of university intellectual property.
Non–tech transfer startups are less concentrated in any one industry. Industries with the most non–tech transfer startups include software and applications, finance and business services, healthcare, food and agriculture technology, consumer products (such as clothing and retail), and education.
Founders for these startup businesses come from diverse backgrounds. For startups founded from 2012 to 2016, more than 30 percent have a foreign-born founder or co-founder. In Illinois, immigrants make up less than 15 percent of the population but account for more than 22 percent of entrepreneurs. The proportion of startups founded by immigrants is even higher at Illinois universities. In addition, approximately 30 percent of these startups have a female founder or co-founder.
Illinois universities are producing more startups due in large part to their intentional efforts to increase student, faculty, and staff access to entrepreneurial resources, including curriculum, programming, competitions, and seed funding. Many Illinois universities are delivering these resources through centralized spaces, which serve as hubs to facilitate cross-campus, interdisciplinary activity. In addition to providing physical space to house companies, these spaces typically offer mentorship, connections to industry, and links to potential funders that help entrepreneurs bring their products and services to market.
The federal government has played an instrumental role in serving as a catalyst for developing and funding startups in the state and across the nation through a number of key programs. One such program is the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps program, which is designed to help entrepreneurs commercialize their innovations by validating commercial opportunities, providing business training, and fostering connections to private partnerships and additional funding. I-Corps programs are facilitated through university sites and regional nodes. Capital raised by university startups surged in 2016, with nearly $630 million in funding raised from 2012 to 2016 compared with $345 million from 2011 to 2015.
Although more students are choosing to pursue entrepreneurial activities while on campus, Illinois also has a growing base of alumni entrepreneurs who have launched companies later in their careers. To assist them, Illinois universities are stepping up initiatives to increase entrepreneurship offerings to alumni. Alumni from Illinois universities started more than 1,100 companies and raised more than $9 billion in funding over the past five years. Alumni founders came from diverse fields, with no one field accounting for more than 10 percent of all founders.
For examples of university facilitated startup businesses, look at this sight.
CHICAGO GAINS VAST MAJORITY OF ILLINOIS' NEW JOBS by Joyce Geiler
A study released by RCF Economic & Financial Consulting, a Chicago research firm, finds that Illinois really has become two states, with almost all the private-sector job growth this decade in the Chicago area. A whopping 85 percent of the jobs created since the recession ended in December 2009 have been in Chicago. Just 15 percent are in the rest of Illinois, south of the interstate 80 corridor, even though it is home to roughly a third of the state's population.
In the seven-county Chicago region, employment dropped from about 3.5 million in 2009 to under 3.2 million by early 2010. But the region has gained almost 400,000 jobs since then and hit a record high of just under 3.6 million last year. But in downstate Illinois, which is much more dependent on manufacturing than Chicago, any bounce-back has been slow and irregular with total employment nearly static since December 2011 and up only about 50,000 from the trough.
Thus, while Chicago is well past its previous employment peak, downstate is still 56,000 behind where it was in late 2008 and 93,000, short of the 1.7 million it hit in 2001. The report states that most of the employment growth, especially in metro Chicago, has occurred in the service sector as has been the case nationally for many years. Moreover, because Chicago is less reliant on goods-producing employment, it has been better insulated than the rest of the state from struggles affecting both the construction and manufacturing industries. Even so, Chicago still lags behind other big regions of the country in jobs. Read more here
Caterpillar Headquarters Moving to Chicago
Caterpillar joins several other agriculture-focused businesses in the Midwest that have relocated to Chicago over the years. Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. moved from its central Illinois base in Decatur in 2014. ConAgra moved to Chicago in 2016 after nearly a century in Omaha, Nebraska.
Caterpillar, known for its bright yellow tractors that helped build the golden gate bridge, as well as roads around the globe from Mexico to India, is moving its headquarters to the Chicago area and won't build a new complex in its current Peoria location. A new headquarters building, which was announced just two years ago and planned for downtown Peoria, won't be built. The company said it will locate a limited group of senior executives and support functions in the Chicago area later this year, saying it is a more strategic location. One of the reasons cited is the advantage of O'Hare International Airport for better travel connections for executives. It expects about 300 people to be based at the new location. Caterpillar said the vast majority of their people, which is around 12,000 employees, will remain in central Illinois.
The Pull to Move from Illinois
Former Caterpillar CEO Doug Oberhelman once sent former Gov. Pat Quinn a packet of letters from other governors who had tried to persuade the mammoth manufacturer of construction and mining machinery to move. The company employs 34 percent fewer people in Illinois than in 2006, and work once performed at its plant in Joliet will eventually be done at a new factory in Monterrey, Mexico. When new CEO Jim Umpleby finally announced Jan. 31 that the company would uproot its headquarters from Peoria, it chose to stay in Illinois and headed to the Chicago area.
Caterpillar History
Caterpillar came to Illinois in 1909, when one of its two corporate predecessors moved from California. The addition of a plant in the Midwest, despite the hefty capital needed to retool the plant, proved so profitable that only two years later the company employed 625 people and was exporting tractors to Argentina, Canada, and Mexico. Tractors were built in both Stockton and East Peoria. Caterpillar now has operations in 23 locations around the state, from the global research and development center in Mossville to a lobbying office in Springfield and from the Mapleton foundry that molds iron into engine blocks, heads and liners, to the rail recycling center in Galesburg.
Caterpillar makes its biggest mining truck—two stories tall, capable of hauling 400 tons of earth and selling for roughly $5.5 million—in Decatur and nowhere else. Caterpillar’s largest bulldozer, selling for around $2 million is manufactured only in East Peoria. Caterpillar stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Value of a Good Work Force
The workforce is one factor executives weigh when deciding where to locate operations. The products built in Illinois are high-value, says Joshua Lewer, an economics professor at Bradley University in Peoria who helps run a training program for Caterpillar executives. Several generations of workers who have contributed their manufacturing knowledge to the company means the workforce is highly productive, which is to the company’s advantage. Caterpillar has a large investment in Illinois in both its trained workforce and the facilities needed to build these huge machines. It would cost billions of dollars for buildings and equipment to replace the facilities as well as taking 10 to 20 years to train the workforce somewhere else. So, its primary facilities will remain in Decatur, East Peoria, Aurora and Pontiac.
Caterpillar’s headcount in Illinois has dropped, from 26,200 in 2006 to 17,400 last year. Sales have slumped from a peak of $65.88 billion in 2012 to $38.54 billion for 2016. The Joliet factory that makes cylinders, gear pumps and valves for large mining trucks is slated to lose that work. Caterpillar also has considered moving work away from Aurora, where the company manufactures large and medium-sized wheel loaders, compactors, and powertrain and tube components. Some of that work could go to Arkansas; but the bulk of it would move to Decatur, according to Caterpillar’s previous statements. The company also plans to transfer some component manufacturing to Decatur from Winston-Salem, N.C.
While there are fewer Caterpillar jobs in Illinois now, the ones remaining seem to pay better than average. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employees working at private manufacturing companies in Illinois averaged $1,222 a week in the second-quarter of 2016. Workers in Cook County averaged less, at $1,187. In Peoria County, workers received $1,495, making it the state's sixth-highest-paying county. Read more here
A study released by RCF Economic & Financial Consulting, a Chicago research firm, finds that Illinois really has become two states, with almost all the private-sector job growth this decade in the Chicago area. A whopping 85 percent of the jobs created since the recession ended in December 2009 have been in Chicago. Just 15 percent are in the rest of Illinois, south of the interstate 80 corridor, even though it is home to roughly a third of the state's population.
In the seven-county Chicago region, employment dropped from about 3.5 million in 2009 to under 3.2 million by early 2010. But the region has gained almost 400,000 jobs since then and hit a record high of just under 3.6 million last year. But in downstate Illinois, which is much more dependent on manufacturing than Chicago, any bounce-back has been slow and irregular with total employment nearly static since December 2011 and up only about 50,000 from the trough.
Thus, while Chicago is well past its previous employment peak, downstate is still 56,000 behind where it was in late 2008 and 93,000, short of the 1.7 million it hit in 2001. The report states that most of the employment growth, especially in metro Chicago, has occurred in the service sector as has been the case nationally for many years. Moreover, because Chicago is less reliant on goods-producing employment, it has been better insulated than the rest of the state from struggles affecting both the construction and manufacturing industries. Even so, Chicago still lags behind other big regions of the country in jobs. Read more here
Caterpillar Headquarters Moving to Chicago
Caterpillar joins several other agriculture-focused businesses in the Midwest that have relocated to Chicago over the years. Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. moved from its central Illinois base in Decatur in 2014. ConAgra moved to Chicago in 2016 after nearly a century in Omaha, Nebraska.
Caterpillar, known for its bright yellow tractors that helped build the golden gate bridge, as well as roads around the globe from Mexico to India, is moving its headquarters to the Chicago area and won't build a new complex in its current Peoria location. A new headquarters building, which was announced just two years ago and planned for downtown Peoria, won't be built. The company said it will locate a limited group of senior executives and support functions in the Chicago area later this year, saying it is a more strategic location. One of the reasons cited is the advantage of O'Hare International Airport for better travel connections for executives. It expects about 300 people to be based at the new location. Caterpillar said the vast majority of their people, which is around 12,000 employees, will remain in central Illinois.
The Pull to Move from Illinois
Former Caterpillar CEO Doug Oberhelman once sent former Gov. Pat Quinn a packet of letters from other governors who had tried to persuade the mammoth manufacturer of construction and mining machinery to move. The company employs 34 percent fewer people in Illinois than in 2006, and work once performed at its plant in Joliet will eventually be done at a new factory in Monterrey, Mexico. When new CEO Jim Umpleby finally announced Jan. 31 that the company would uproot its headquarters from Peoria, it chose to stay in Illinois and headed to the Chicago area.
Caterpillar History
Caterpillar came to Illinois in 1909, when one of its two corporate predecessors moved from California. The addition of a plant in the Midwest, despite the hefty capital needed to retool the plant, proved so profitable that only two years later the company employed 625 people and was exporting tractors to Argentina, Canada, and Mexico. Tractors were built in both Stockton and East Peoria. Caterpillar now has operations in 23 locations around the state, from the global research and development center in Mossville to a lobbying office in Springfield and from the Mapleton foundry that molds iron into engine blocks, heads and liners, to the rail recycling center in Galesburg.
Caterpillar makes its biggest mining truck—two stories tall, capable of hauling 400 tons of earth and selling for roughly $5.5 million—in Decatur and nowhere else. Caterpillar’s largest bulldozer, selling for around $2 million is manufactured only in East Peoria. Caterpillar stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Value of a Good Work Force
The workforce is one factor executives weigh when deciding where to locate operations. The products built in Illinois are high-value, says Joshua Lewer, an economics professor at Bradley University in Peoria who helps run a training program for Caterpillar executives. Several generations of workers who have contributed their manufacturing knowledge to the company means the workforce is highly productive, which is to the company’s advantage. Caterpillar has a large investment in Illinois in both its trained workforce and the facilities needed to build these huge machines. It would cost billions of dollars for buildings and equipment to replace the facilities as well as taking 10 to 20 years to train the workforce somewhere else. So, its primary facilities will remain in Decatur, East Peoria, Aurora and Pontiac.
Caterpillar’s headcount in Illinois has dropped, from 26,200 in 2006 to 17,400 last year. Sales have slumped from a peak of $65.88 billion in 2012 to $38.54 billion for 2016. The Joliet factory that makes cylinders, gear pumps and valves for large mining trucks is slated to lose that work. Caterpillar also has considered moving work away from Aurora, where the company manufactures large and medium-sized wheel loaders, compactors, and powertrain and tube components. Some of that work could go to Arkansas; but the bulk of it would move to Decatur, according to Caterpillar’s previous statements. The company also plans to transfer some component manufacturing to Decatur from Winston-Salem, N.C.
While there are fewer Caterpillar jobs in Illinois now, the ones remaining seem to pay better than average. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employees working at private manufacturing companies in Illinois averaged $1,222 a week in the second-quarter of 2016. Workers in Cook County averaged less, at $1,187. In Peoria County, workers received $1,495, making it the state's sixth-highest-paying county. Read more here
ILLIOIS SURROUNDED BY RIGHT-TO-WORK STATES by Joyce Geiler
The recent signing of the Missouri Right-to-Work law by its new Republican governor means Illinois is now surrounded by right-to-work states. In fact, Illinois and Minnesota are the only Midwestern states that are NOT right-to-work states. Of the 28 states that are currently right-to-work states, most are southern and western states.
Right-to-Work laws are statutes that prohibit union security agreements. Under these laws employees in unionized workplaces may not be compelled to join a union nor compelled to pay for any part of the cost of union representation. Right-to-Work laws do not prohibit unions from existing in a workplace or limit any employee’s ability to join a union. Rather, Right-to-Work laws allow workers to choose for themselves whether they would like to join or pay money to a union that may exist in their workplace. In states with Right-to-Work laws, employees cannot be fired for refusing to join or pay money to a union.
Historical Perspective
Today, around 80% of Americans overwhelmingly believe that every worker and their employer should have the power to negotiate the terms of their employment. When Congress enacted the National Labor Relations Act in 1935, that right was taken away from the people and Americans were forced to pay union dues and abide by the union’s rules just to get or keep a job.
In 1947, Congress passed the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, generally known as the Taft–Hartley Act, over President Harry S. Truman's veto. In so doing, Congress tacitly admitted that this concept of "monopoly bargaining" does indeed violate the rights of workers. This law repealed some parts of the 1935 act, including outlawing the closed shop (union membership mandatory for a job). The Taft-Hartley Act also authorizes individual states (but not local governments, such as cities or counties) to outlaw the union shop and agency shop for employees working in their jurisdictions. (An agency shop is one in which non-union members must pay unions a fee for the benefit of the union’s negotiations but they don’t pay for the union’s political activities.)
In 1946, Arizona was the first state to enact a Right-to-Work law. More recent states include Indiana, which enacted such a law in 2012, and Michigan whose law became effective in 2013. Wisconsin enacted statewide Right to Work in 2015, and Kentucky did the same in 2016. The most recent state added to the list prior to Missouri was Virginia. In November 2016, The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the right of local governments to enact local Right-to-Work laws in Ohio. Read More Here
A bill, which would repeal federal laws that make forced dues the default labor law, was introduced just this month by Congressman Steve King of Iowa and Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina. This National Right to Work Act would erase the forced-dues clauses in the federal statute without adding a single letter to federal law. Thus far, no Illinois lawmakers have signed onto the effort.
Economic Pros and Cons
Studies on economic benefits of right-to-work show varied results. Right-to-work states usually have business friendly packages that make it difficult to isolate findings just about the right-to-work aspect. Proponents say that workers are the beneficiaries of Right-to-Work laws while opponents say that businesses receive the benefits.
In supporting Missouri’s adoption of a Right-to-Work law, the Missouri Chamber of Commerce pointed out that jobs in right-to-work states grew by 8.6 percent over the last decade, according to an article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Meanwhile, in forced-unionization states, job growth has been only 5 percent during the same period. According to the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, right-to-work states have seen jobs growth at double the rate of forced-unionization states since 1990. Since mid-2012, Indiana has added 33,100 manufacturing jobs; over that same period, Illinois lost 20,500 manufacturing jobs. During that same time frame, Michigan added 59,700 manufacturing jobs, Wisconsin added 16,400 manufacturing jobs, Kentucky added 16,800 manufacturing jobs, and Missouri added 6,700 manufacturing jobs. Unions will be quick to point out that job growth does not necessarily mean higher wages.
Illinois Labor Laws
Because there are various labor laws, there is a distinction between private and public workers. The National Labor Relations Act sets the rules for private sector employees, employers and unions except for transportation workers who have their own law. States have their own set of laws to deal with their employees. In Illinois, that law is called the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act, which gives unions the power to collect fair share fees. Under that state law, employees can decline to join a union but are still on the hook for “fair share” fees related to collective bargaining and contract negotiations. The idea is that if all employees are getting the benefits from a new contract, everyone should contribute to the cost.
Illinois statute prohibits those fees from being used to support political activities, but Rauner contended it’s nearly impossible to draw a distinction because public sector unions directly negotiate with the government. Thus, an employee who is forced to pay fair share dues is being forced to fund political activity with which they disagree. Gov. Rauner says those fees violate workers' First Amendment rights; and in February 2015, Rauner issued an executive order aimed at absolving state workers who don’t want to join a union from paying fees that support collective bargaining. The decree effectively attempts to impose right-to-work rules on public employees in a non right-to- work state (Illinois).
A group of 26 labor unions — representing employees ranging from police officers to painters — has brought suit alleging that Rauner’s order violates state law, goes against numerous collective bargaining agreements, and is beyond the scope of his executive authority. The unions asked a judge in Downstate St. Clair County to put a stop to the decree and allow unions access to the fees while the legal process plays out. The status of this suit is not currently known. Read more here
Gov. Rauner’s order could become the second case attempting to reverse a Supreme Court decision. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld mandatory union dues in 1977 in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education. The court concluded that fair-share dues were constitutional as long as unions did not use that money to support a union's political activities such as lobbying or making campaign contributions. The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation has been pushing to reverse that decision. In fact, it recently asked the court to consider a California case in which it argues the 1977 decision violates the First Amendment. Gov. Rauner's order could become the second case cited in trying to reverse Abood. Follow this link for more information.
The recent signing of the Missouri Right-to-Work law by its new Republican governor means Illinois is now surrounded by right-to-work states. In fact, Illinois and Minnesota are the only Midwestern states that are NOT right-to-work states. Of the 28 states that are currently right-to-work states, most are southern and western states.
Right-to-Work laws are statutes that prohibit union security agreements. Under these laws employees in unionized workplaces may not be compelled to join a union nor compelled to pay for any part of the cost of union representation. Right-to-Work laws do not prohibit unions from existing in a workplace or limit any employee’s ability to join a union. Rather, Right-to-Work laws allow workers to choose for themselves whether they would like to join or pay money to a union that may exist in their workplace. In states with Right-to-Work laws, employees cannot be fired for refusing to join or pay money to a union.
Historical Perspective
Today, around 80% of Americans overwhelmingly believe that every worker and their employer should have the power to negotiate the terms of their employment. When Congress enacted the National Labor Relations Act in 1935, that right was taken away from the people and Americans were forced to pay union dues and abide by the union’s rules just to get or keep a job.
In 1947, Congress passed the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, generally known as the Taft–Hartley Act, over President Harry S. Truman's veto. In so doing, Congress tacitly admitted that this concept of "monopoly bargaining" does indeed violate the rights of workers. This law repealed some parts of the 1935 act, including outlawing the closed shop (union membership mandatory for a job). The Taft-Hartley Act also authorizes individual states (but not local governments, such as cities or counties) to outlaw the union shop and agency shop for employees working in their jurisdictions. (An agency shop is one in which non-union members must pay unions a fee for the benefit of the union’s negotiations but they don’t pay for the union’s political activities.)
In 1946, Arizona was the first state to enact a Right-to-Work law. More recent states include Indiana, which enacted such a law in 2012, and Michigan whose law became effective in 2013. Wisconsin enacted statewide Right to Work in 2015, and Kentucky did the same in 2016. The most recent state added to the list prior to Missouri was Virginia. In November 2016, The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the right of local governments to enact local Right-to-Work laws in Ohio. Read More Here
A bill, which would repeal federal laws that make forced dues the default labor law, was introduced just this month by Congressman Steve King of Iowa and Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina. This National Right to Work Act would erase the forced-dues clauses in the federal statute without adding a single letter to federal law. Thus far, no Illinois lawmakers have signed onto the effort.
Economic Pros and Cons
Studies on economic benefits of right-to-work show varied results. Right-to-work states usually have business friendly packages that make it difficult to isolate findings just about the right-to-work aspect. Proponents say that workers are the beneficiaries of Right-to-Work laws while opponents say that businesses receive the benefits.
In supporting Missouri’s adoption of a Right-to-Work law, the Missouri Chamber of Commerce pointed out that jobs in right-to-work states grew by 8.6 percent over the last decade, according to an article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Meanwhile, in forced-unionization states, job growth has been only 5 percent during the same period. According to the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, right-to-work states have seen jobs growth at double the rate of forced-unionization states since 1990. Since mid-2012, Indiana has added 33,100 manufacturing jobs; over that same period, Illinois lost 20,500 manufacturing jobs. During that same time frame, Michigan added 59,700 manufacturing jobs, Wisconsin added 16,400 manufacturing jobs, Kentucky added 16,800 manufacturing jobs, and Missouri added 6,700 manufacturing jobs. Unions will be quick to point out that job growth does not necessarily mean higher wages.
Illinois Labor Laws
Because there are various labor laws, there is a distinction between private and public workers. The National Labor Relations Act sets the rules for private sector employees, employers and unions except for transportation workers who have their own law. States have their own set of laws to deal with their employees. In Illinois, that law is called the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act, which gives unions the power to collect fair share fees. Under that state law, employees can decline to join a union but are still on the hook for “fair share” fees related to collective bargaining and contract negotiations. The idea is that if all employees are getting the benefits from a new contract, everyone should contribute to the cost.
Illinois statute prohibits those fees from being used to support political activities, but Rauner contended it’s nearly impossible to draw a distinction because public sector unions directly negotiate with the government. Thus, an employee who is forced to pay fair share dues is being forced to fund political activity with which they disagree. Gov. Rauner says those fees violate workers' First Amendment rights; and in February 2015, Rauner issued an executive order aimed at absolving state workers who don’t want to join a union from paying fees that support collective bargaining. The decree effectively attempts to impose right-to-work rules on public employees in a non right-to- work state (Illinois).
A group of 26 labor unions — representing employees ranging from police officers to painters — has brought suit alleging that Rauner’s order violates state law, goes against numerous collective bargaining agreements, and is beyond the scope of his executive authority. The unions asked a judge in Downstate St. Clair County to put a stop to the decree and allow unions access to the fees while the legal process plays out. The status of this suit is not currently known. Read more here
Gov. Rauner’s order could become the second case attempting to reverse a Supreme Court decision. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld mandatory union dues in 1977 in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education. The court concluded that fair-share dues were constitutional as long as unions did not use that money to support a union's political activities such as lobbying or making campaign contributions. The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation has been pushing to reverse that decision. In fact, it recently asked the court to consider a California case in which it argues the 1977 decision violates the First Amendment. Gov. Rauner's order could become the second case cited in trying to reverse Abood. Follow this link for more information.
Chicago: A Sanctuary City by Joyce Geiler
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order designed to crack down on so-called sanctuary cities. Along with mayors of other U.S. cities, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has declared that Chicago will remain a sanctuary city. This article will explore the meaning and history of sanctuary cities in the U.S., the locations of sanctuary jurisdictions in Illinois and will examine the biblical perspective.
In addition to Chicago, several sanctuary jurisdictions exist in Illinois. They include Cook County, Des Plaines, Hanover Park’s Hoffman Estates, Palatine and Champaign County, which includes Urbana. http://cis.org/Sanctuary-Cities-Map A sanctuary policy can be set out expressly in a law (de jure) or observed only in practice (de facto). The term applies generally to cities that do not use municipal funds or resources to enforce national immigration laws and usually forbids police or municipal employees from inquiring about a person's immigration status.
The term "sanctuary city" is a broad term applied to jurisdictions that have policies in place designed to limit cooperation with or involvement in federal immigration enforcement actions. Cities, counties and some states have a range of informal policies as well as actual laws that qualify as sanctuary positions. Many of the largest cities in the country have forms of such policies.
In 2015, more than 200 state and local jurisdictions did not honor requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain individuals, and a subset of that group refused to give access to their jails and prisons to ICE. Roughly 300 sanctuary jurisdictions rejected more than 17,000 detention requests between January 1 2014 and September 30, 2015. Learn more here.
History of Sanctuary Cities in the U.S.
Some sources say the idea for sanctuary cities appears to have sprung out of churches in the 1980s that provided sanctuary to Central Americans fleeing violence at home amid reluctance by the federal government to grant them refugee status. Sanctuary jurisdictions quickly became popular in more diverse locales to counter what officials there saw as overzealous federal immigration policies, particularly against those arrested for minor, non-violent crimes.
The sanctuary policy was first initiated in 1979 in Los Angeles to prevent police from inquiring about the immigration status of arrestees. The internal policy, "Special Order 40", states: "Officers shall not initiate police action with the objective of discovering the alien status of a person. Officers shall not arrest nor book persons for violation of title 8, section 1325 of the United States Immigration code (Illegal Entry)." Other cities adopted sanctuary ordinances banning city employees and police officers from asking people about their immigration status, and local governments in certain cities began designating themselves as sanctuary cities during the 1980s.
The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 addressed the relationship between the federal government and local governments. Minor crimes, such as shoplifting, became grounds for possible deportation. The legislation also outlawed cities' bans against employees of municipalities reporting persons' immigration status to federal authorities. In addition to federal laws, a number of states have attempted to pass laws banning sanctuary cities.
More information available here.
Currently, the President’s Executive Order threatens to cut off federal funding to sanctuary cities. While the administration likely can't cut off all federal funding, since much of it is disbursed through Congress, the President could put some pressure on cities this way. There are a number of grants administered by federal agencies (not Congress) that could mean the loss of big money to cities and states. One such program is the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program, administered by the Department of Justice. That fund alone allocated $274.9 million in 2016, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and the five states with the most allocations were California at $30.5 million, Texas at $21.4 million, Florida with $17.8 million, New York with $15.6 million, and Illinois at $10.4 million.
Illinois Sanctuary Cities
Chicago became a "de jure" sanctuary city in 2012 when Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the City Council passed the WELCOMING CITY ORDINANCE. The ordinance protects residents' rights to access city services regardless of immigration status. The ordinance states that Chicago police officers cannot arrest individuals on the basis of immigration status alone. The ordinance makes clear Chicago will not help investigate the citizenship status of individuals unless mandated by law or a court, will not discriminate issuing city services depending on citizenship and will not cooperate with immigration detentions. During the 2016 elections, Mayor Emanuel reaffirmed Chicago as a sanctuary city. Read more here.
Chicago, along with some other major cities, has set up a city fund to provide legal services to the immigrant community. Twelve states and the District of Columbia have laws allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain driver's licenses, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. More information here.
Urbana’s city council re-affirmed its status as a sanctuary city for undocumented immigrants, approving a resolution 5 to 1 in December. University of Illinois law professor Francis Boyle, who designed the original 1986 measure to assist Central American refugees, says this resolution makes Urbana the only sanctuary city in downstate Illinois. The only council member opposing the sanctuary resolution was Alderman Madigan, the lone Republican on the Urbana City Council. He says government was founded on the rule of law, and this measure “flies in the face of it.” Lean more here.
Biblical Perspective
Sanctuary cities, which are safe places for illegal aliens to evade the law, are counterfeits of the cities of refuge described in chapter 35 of Numbers in the Old Testament. Cities of refuge were God-designated cities where those who had accidentally killed someone could flee and be safe from revenge until a ruling could be made. If the killing was judged to be accidental, the person could live there safely. They could not return to their home but their life was protected as long as they stayed in the city of refuge. God’s plan offered protection until the legal process could be carried out. In the United States, Federal law provides for the deportation of illegal aliens. Sanctuary cities like Chicago disobey and interfere with federal law.
“The Use and Abuse of the Bible in the Immigration Debate” by James K. Hoffmeier written in December, 2011 is a thoughtful article discussing what it meant to be an alien in Old Testament times. There was the understanding that a sojourner requested permission to live in a country and was expected to obey the laws and customs of that country. He did have certain protections when those conditions were met. There are distinctions made between sojourners and foreigners or strangers. As is often the case, proponents for and against securing national borders and housing illegals misuse scriptures to support their particular position. One must dig deeper to discover the application of biblical truth for today’s situations. http://cis.org/bible-use-and-abuse-immigration
Intercessors declared kingdom resurrection life in the families of Illinois and in the cities and towns of Illinois and in every cultural sphere in Illinois. The intercessors refuse to allow a spirit of offense to rule in this state and where it has run unchecked, they asked that it be turned back so there can be good dialog where truth and righteousness prevail. There was repentance for thinking too small followed by the declaration that the desire is for every nation, tribe and tongue to know God. The year of 2017 has been seen prophetically as a year of breakthrough and victory in which the glory of God will be manifested. The intercessors joyfully expressed their agreement for Illinois and the nation.
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order designed to crack down on so-called sanctuary cities. Along with mayors of other U.S. cities, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has declared that Chicago will remain a sanctuary city. This article will explore the meaning and history of sanctuary cities in the U.S., the locations of sanctuary jurisdictions in Illinois and will examine the biblical perspective.
In addition to Chicago, several sanctuary jurisdictions exist in Illinois. They include Cook County, Des Plaines, Hanover Park’s Hoffman Estates, Palatine and Champaign County, which includes Urbana. http://cis.org/Sanctuary-Cities-Map A sanctuary policy can be set out expressly in a law (de jure) or observed only in practice (de facto). The term applies generally to cities that do not use municipal funds or resources to enforce national immigration laws and usually forbids police or municipal employees from inquiring about a person's immigration status.
The term "sanctuary city" is a broad term applied to jurisdictions that have policies in place designed to limit cooperation with or involvement in federal immigration enforcement actions. Cities, counties and some states have a range of informal policies as well as actual laws that qualify as sanctuary positions. Many of the largest cities in the country have forms of such policies.
In 2015, more than 200 state and local jurisdictions did not honor requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain individuals, and a subset of that group refused to give access to their jails and prisons to ICE. Roughly 300 sanctuary jurisdictions rejected more than 17,000 detention requests between January 1 2014 and September 30, 2015. Learn more here.
History of Sanctuary Cities in the U.S.
Some sources say the idea for sanctuary cities appears to have sprung out of churches in the 1980s that provided sanctuary to Central Americans fleeing violence at home amid reluctance by the federal government to grant them refugee status. Sanctuary jurisdictions quickly became popular in more diverse locales to counter what officials there saw as overzealous federal immigration policies, particularly against those arrested for minor, non-violent crimes.
The sanctuary policy was first initiated in 1979 in Los Angeles to prevent police from inquiring about the immigration status of arrestees. The internal policy, "Special Order 40", states: "Officers shall not initiate police action with the objective of discovering the alien status of a person. Officers shall not arrest nor book persons for violation of title 8, section 1325 of the United States Immigration code (Illegal Entry)." Other cities adopted sanctuary ordinances banning city employees and police officers from asking people about their immigration status, and local governments in certain cities began designating themselves as sanctuary cities during the 1980s.
The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 addressed the relationship between the federal government and local governments. Minor crimes, such as shoplifting, became grounds for possible deportation. The legislation also outlawed cities' bans against employees of municipalities reporting persons' immigration status to federal authorities. In addition to federal laws, a number of states have attempted to pass laws banning sanctuary cities.
More information available here.
Currently, the President’s Executive Order threatens to cut off federal funding to sanctuary cities. While the administration likely can't cut off all federal funding, since much of it is disbursed through Congress, the President could put some pressure on cities this way. There are a number of grants administered by federal agencies (not Congress) that could mean the loss of big money to cities and states. One such program is the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program, administered by the Department of Justice. That fund alone allocated $274.9 million in 2016, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and the five states with the most allocations were California at $30.5 million, Texas at $21.4 million, Florida with $17.8 million, New York with $15.6 million, and Illinois at $10.4 million.
Illinois Sanctuary Cities
Chicago became a "de jure" sanctuary city in 2012 when Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the City Council passed the WELCOMING CITY ORDINANCE. The ordinance protects residents' rights to access city services regardless of immigration status. The ordinance states that Chicago police officers cannot arrest individuals on the basis of immigration status alone. The ordinance makes clear Chicago will not help investigate the citizenship status of individuals unless mandated by law or a court, will not discriminate issuing city services depending on citizenship and will not cooperate with immigration detentions. During the 2016 elections, Mayor Emanuel reaffirmed Chicago as a sanctuary city. Read more here.
Chicago, along with some other major cities, has set up a city fund to provide legal services to the immigrant community. Twelve states and the District of Columbia have laws allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain driver's licenses, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. More information here.
Urbana’s city council re-affirmed its status as a sanctuary city for undocumented immigrants, approving a resolution 5 to 1 in December. University of Illinois law professor Francis Boyle, who designed the original 1986 measure to assist Central American refugees, says this resolution makes Urbana the only sanctuary city in downstate Illinois. The only council member opposing the sanctuary resolution was Alderman Madigan, the lone Republican on the Urbana City Council. He says government was founded on the rule of law, and this measure “flies in the face of it.” Lean more here.
Biblical Perspective
Sanctuary cities, which are safe places for illegal aliens to evade the law, are counterfeits of the cities of refuge described in chapter 35 of Numbers in the Old Testament. Cities of refuge were God-designated cities where those who had accidentally killed someone could flee and be safe from revenge until a ruling could be made. If the killing was judged to be accidental, the person could live there safely. They could not return to their home but their life was protected as long as they stayed in the city of refuge. God’s plan offered protection until the legal process could be carried out. In the United States, Federal law provides for the deportation of illegal aliens. Sanctuary cities like Chicago disobey and interfere with federal law.
“The Use and Abuse of the Bible in the Immigration Debate” by James K. Hoffmeier written in December, 2011 is a thoughtful article discussing what it meant to be an alien in Old Testament times. There was the understanding that a sojourner requested permission to live in a country and was expected to obey the laws and customs of that country. He did have certain protections when those conditions were met. There are distinctions made between sojourners and foreigners or strangers. As is often the case, proponents for and against securing national borders and housing illegals misuse scriptures to support their particular position. One must dig deeper to discover the application of biblical truth for today’s situations. http://cis.org/bible-use-and-abuse-immigration
Intercessors declared kingdom resurrection life in the families of Illinois and in the cities and towns of Illinois and in every cultural sphere in Illinois. The intercessors refuse to allow a spirit of offense to rule in this state and where it has run unchecked, they asked that it be turned back so there can be good dialog where truth and righteousness prevail. There was repentance for thinking too small followed by the declaration that the desire is for every nation, tribe and tongue to know God. The year of 2017 has been seen prophetically as a year of breakthrough and victory in which the glory of God will be manifested. The intercessors joyfully expressed their agreement for Illinois and the nation.
