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PJStar: Time for taxpayers to win one in Illinois
Before next Tuesday, May 17, becomes history, Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner will veto House Bill 580, the binding arbitration bill championed by the state’s largest public employees union, AFSCME, to break the logjam in its contract negotiations with the administration.
As soon as next Wednesday, the Legislature’s two Democrat-controlled chambers likely will take up the matter in an attempt to override the governor’s veto. They will need three-fifths majorities to do that. If the previous votes hold, the Senate has the requisite number. The House is four votes short. No doubt AFSCME and perhaps other public sector unions are putting on a full-court press to get those four votes.
WCIA: Lawmakers play video games during budget debate
Instead of eyes on the budget, lawmakers had their eyes on their phones.
When people vote a lawmaker into office, they’d expect them to always be focused on their job. But during a budget session in April, some lawmakers played video games during a major debate over higher education funding.
State Representative Mike Smiddy (D-Port Byron) was found playing a game at his seat, and he didn’t apologize for his divided attention.
Chicago Tribune: Rank-and-file Illinois lawmakers talking income tax hike, but sizable obstacles in way
With state government drowning in red ink and some social service agencies on the verge of collapse, a group of rank-and-file lawmakers is pitching an income tax increase, spending cuts and borrowing as a jumping-off point to a larger budget deal.
Such a heavy lift would face long odds in any election year, but especially one that’s unfolding against the backdrop of an epic political battle being waged by Republican Gov.Bruce Rauner and Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan. What’s more, the budget blueprint lawmakers floated doesn’t include the pro-business, union-weakening changes the governor has demanded and that the speaker opposes on grounds it will hurt the middle class.
But inside a Capitol stuck in the rut of a record-breaking 11-month budget impasse, many eagerly welcomed any development, particularly since the talks were led by Rauner budget director Tim Nuding. Others remain less optimistic, unconvinced the meetings were a sincere effort toward compromise and suspicious they’re a continuation of the political blame game that’s dominated the stalemate.
WICS: Working Group Submits Budget Framework To Leaders
A working group of lawmakers say they have come up with a budget framework that includes both cuts and revenues.
They also say their plan has been sent to leaders.
Sun-Times: Principals bracing to lose 20 percent in school budgets
Chicago Public Schools has been bracing principals for school budget cuts of at least 20 percent for the upcoming fiscal year, the district acknowledged Thursday.
That devastating math is based on an estimated $1 billion deficit to CPS’ operating budget for the fiscal year starting July 1.
Chicago Tribune: Madigan's Democratic lawyer sues to block redistricting reform referendum
An attorney who’s long been a close ally of Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan has filed a lawsuit trying to block voters from considering a proposed constitutional amendment that seeks to remove some of the influence of partisan politics from how state House and Senate district boundaries are drawn.
The suit was brought by the People’s Map, the same group of prominent racial and ethnic minorities that sued two years ago to keep a similar referendum question off the 2014 ballot. Their attorney is Michael Kasper, general counsel for Madigan’s IllinoisDemocratic Party.
The legal move comes less than a week after the Independent Maps coalition filed more than 570,000 petition signatures with the State Board of Elections in the first step toward putting the proposed amendment on the Nov. 8 ballot — almost double the minimum required.
Chicago Tribune: Water testing finds high lead levels in communities across Illinois
Alarmed by chronic problems with lead-contaminated water in downstate Galesburg, federal officials are urging local officials to provide bottled water or filters to residents where testing at household taps found high levels of the toxic metal.
Though the small Knox County city stands out for repeatedly exceeding U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lead standards, a Tribune analysis of state data has identified nearly 200 other public water systems in Illinois — serving more than 800,000 people in all — where test results exceeded federal standards during at least one year since 2004.
In the Chicago region, about a dozen water systems exceeded the EPA standard at least twice during the same time period, including Berwyn and Forest View in Cook County, York Township in DuPage County, Barrington and Volo in Lake County, and Marengo and Richmond in McHenry County.