QUOTE OF THE DAY
State Rep. Scott Drury: Keep a promise, earn some cred: Let Illinois’ income tax roll back
In the coming days, the Illinois General Assembly will likely vote on whether to make permanent the so-called temporary income tax increase. At issue is whether Illinois lawmakers will choose honesty over political expediency. It is time for honesty to win a battle in Illinois.
When the income tax increase was proposed and passed in 2011, it came with the explicit promise that the rates would begin to roll back in 2015. Gov. Pat Quinn now contends that it would be irresponsible to roll back the rates because Illinois needs the additional revenue. At the same time, the governor proposes that Illinois borrow almost $700 million just to give it away to certain property owners in the form of $500 property tax refunds. This does not make sense and magnifies why Illinois must break its habit of breaking promises.
Dishonesty and political gimmicks only serve to prolong Illinois’ problems. While Illinois residents may debate whether Illinois has a spending or a revenue problem, they are united in their belief that Illinois has a credibility problem. As quoted above, “To be believable, we must be credible.” Without credibility, Illinois cannot provide certainty. Today, Illinois claims that it wants to help its most vulnerable residents and provide needed services by extending the so-called temporary tax increase. Tomorrow, it may be more expedient to do away with those same services despite previous promises. In a world where promises are optional, everyone is perpetually at risk.
NBC Chicago: Chicago Suburb Ranks Second in List of Top Cities to Raise Kids
Look no further than Chicago’s suburbs for one of the best places to raise a child in the United States, according to a new study.
Downers Grove ranked second on a Top 10 list of the best cities for kids by Livability.com, which evaluates the best U.S. towns to work, play and live.
The Illinois town “not only offers great schools, playgrounds and low crime rates,” the site states, “it also gives children opportunities to live healthy lifestyles and engage in a multitude of activities with other kids.”
Chicago Tribune: State rep, potentially key vote in tax hike, seeks to postpone bribery trial
Lame duck state Rep. Derrick Smith, potentially a key vote in a bid to make a temporary tax hike permanent, has asked a federal judge to postpone his trial on bribery charges next week so he can finish out the legislative session in Springfield.
Smith is scheduled to go on trial May 28 on charges he pocketed a $7,000 kickback in return for writing a letter supporting a day care operator’s bid for a $50,000 state grant. The trial has already been delayed twice while lawyers sorted out pretrial issues.
In a motion filed last week, the West Side legislator asked U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman to again reset the trial for June 2 due to “significant pieces of legislation to be voted upon” in the House before the traditional end of the session by May 31.
Crain’s: Doctors, hospital feud over the future of health care
Swedish Covenant Hospital is locked in a nasty feud with many of its physicians as major changes aimed at controlling the cost of health care affect how doctors do their jobs.
The argument reached a crescendo in late April when hospital CEO Mark Newton, board Chairman Thomas Pyra and David Dwight, president of Swedish parent Covenant Ministries of Benevolence, sent a harshly worded memo to the medical staff and managers. “For many years we have tolerated a lack of collaboration in some,” it said. “We allowed this to happen with the hope that maybe these individuals might change. Patience has come to an end. Self-interested individuals will find themselves estranged from the future as this conduct will not be condoned as we move forward.”
The memo was sent one day after members of the hospital’s medical staff delivered a no-confidence vote to Mr. Newton (at right) partly because a physician was removed as a department head for partnering with a rival health care system. Many also claim that the hospital is favoring doctors on its payroll over independent physicians who make up the bulk of its medical staff.
Washington Post: How much lower could Obamacare premiums be with better competition?
With much of the focus on Obamacare now on how much individual premiums could increase next year, a new analysis suggests there’s one way to keep them in check — more competition. That’s the conclusion of a new report from economists Leemore Dafny, Christopher Ody and Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber.
If every insurer that had sold individual policies in 2011 participated in Affordable Care Act insurance marketplaces this past year, average premiums for a benchmark exchange health plan would have been 11.1 percent lower in 2014, the economists found.
Big insurance companies generally took a cautious approach to the new exchanges in 2014, limiting their participation in the health-care law’s first year amid concerns about too many sick patients signing up for coverage. The Affordable Care Act exchanges were created as a way for people to buy their own insurance if they couldn’t find affordable options elsewhere, like through an employer.
Chicago Tribune: Emanuel to establish task force to discuss Chicago’s minimum wage
Mayor Rahm Emanuel is moving cautiously on the issue of raising the city’s minimum wage, announcing the creation of a committee that will discuss the pros and cons and report back to him.
The famously hard-charging mayor doesn’t need to solicit input on a wage hike from a panel made up of 18 community, labor and business leaders. He could simply introduce a plan to the usually agreeable City Council calling for the city’s minimum wage to be raised above the state’s current rate of $8.25 an hour.
Emanuel has a record of pressing ahead with proposals he feels strongly about despite a lack of consensus, often challenging aldermen to come up with better plans and arguing that the time for discussion is over. When he has moved quickly on issues like local gun control ordinances, the mayor sometimes contrasts his decisiveness with the gridlock he says afflicts Springfield and Washington D.C.
Chicago Tribune: Illinois lawmaker wants to outlaw wearing Google Glass while driving
The future of distracted driving has arrived with the advent of Google Glass, but an Illinois lawmaker wants to outlaw wearing it behind the wheel before drivers start trying to get directions from images hanging directly in front of their eyes.
While the computer interface mounted on an eyeglass frame hasn’t become a common sight on the faces of Illinois residents the way it has on people on the West Coast, State Sen. Ira Silverstein, D-Chicago, isn’t waiting.
He introduced a bill in the General Assembly that would make it illegal to operate a motor vehicle while even wearing a “mobile computing headset” like Google Glass.
AP: Some Illinois Democrats defy leaders on tax rises
Some Illinois Democratic lawmakers reluctant to vote to make tax increases permanent are splitting with party leaders and calling for alternative approaches such as gradually reducing income tax rates or finding spending cuts to help balance the budget.
But Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn and House Speaker Michael Madigan are unwilling so far to look at those options, despite being what Madigan described as “significantly” short of the number of votes needed for approval of the tax increases in the House.
The intraparty disagreement is playing out with less than two weeks to go in the spring legislative session, and with lawmakers still needing to approve a budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. That is frustrating several lawmakers – including some who are fighting to hold on to their seats in November – who expressed their concerns during an at-times contentious meeting with Quinn Monday, and again on Tuesday.
CARTOON OF THE DAY
