Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Wall Street Journal: The Illinois Capitulation
Bruce Rauner spent a chunk of his personal fortune running for Governor in 2014 to save Illinois from its tax-and-spend political class. More than two years later it looks like the former private equity star has made better investments.
On Tuesday evening the Governor with the worst job in America explained why he and his fellow Republicans have offered to raise taxes for the sake of ending a multiyear budget impasse with Democrats. He said he’ll accept a four-year increase in the flat state income tax to 4.95% from the current 3.75%, expand the sales tax and implement a cable and satellite TV tax.
Chicago Tribune: Rauner calls for compromise in speech Democrats dismiss as empty rhetoric
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner delivered a rare evening address Tuesday in which he called on lawmakers to “put the people’s interests ahead of all else” during a special session on the budget, a unity plea delivered as he continues to air attack ads against the very Democrats he needs to persuade to strike a deal.
Rauner delivered his three-minute, made-for-TV speech in an empty Representative Hall in the Old State Capitol, the room where Abraham Lincoln made his “House Divided” speech.
Chicago Tribune: Illinois governors haven't had much success with special sessions
Last year, Gov. Bruce Rauner called special sessions a “waste of time.”
Special sessions, Rauner declared, have “a tendency to alienate people, make them frustrated and angry, and has not had success when it’s been done in the past.” The former private equity specialist from Winnetka even said he was looking into whether he could pay the daily costs of the Legislature out of his own pocket.
Associated Press: A look at Illinois’ budget mess as lawmakers prepare for special session
Already holding the title for longest state budget stalemate, Illinois is poised to enter a third year without a spending plan as the feud between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democrats controlling the Legislature drags on.
Lawmakers blew past a budget deadline last month, triggering a requirement that any new budget vote be by three-fifths instead of a majority.
Chicago Sun-Times: Ten days of bad news for 10 days of a Springfield special session
Not a day goes by when we don’t hear from somebody with bad news about Illinois.
Credit rating going down, bills piling up, people moving out, roads crumbling.
Daily Herald: Special session stipends could cost $185,000, but lawmakers must wait
Unable to pass a budget during the monthslong regular session, the Illinois legislature is arriving in Springfield Wednesday at the behest of Gov. Bruce Rauner for a 10-day, budget-centric special session that could cost taxpayers at least $185,000.
That’s about what it would cost to pay all 166 legislators their $111 daily stipend for a 10-day special session running through June 30, the last day of the state’s fiscal year. That doesn’t include 39-cents-per-mile reimbursements many legislators will likely seek for traveling to and from the Capitol.
Crain's Chicago Business: Illinois Medicaid talks to blow past judge's deadline
Talks over boosting Illinois’ lagging payments to Medicaid providers amid the state’s budget impasse will continue past a deadline of today initially set by a federal judge, an attorney said yesterday.
Earlier this month, U.S. District Court Judge Joan Lefkow directed both sides to file motions today if they failed to reach a negotiated solution that would put Illinois in substantial compliance with federal consent decrees on Medicaid, the health care program for the poor and disabled.
Daily Herald: Suburban schools say cuts, closings loom without state budget by July 1
Suburban schools officials say they are making plans to spend down reserves, borrow and even close schools if Illinois lawmakers don’t pass an education budget in the next 10 days.
The General Assembly meets in special session beginning today in Springfield to try to do what it hasn’t done since 2014: Pass a budget.
Belleville News-Democrat: How long can Belleville schools operate without state budget solution?
As lawmakers prepare to return to Springfield to address the budget impasse, officials in Belleville District 118 have been calculating how long its 11 schools could operate next year without state funding.
Gov. Bruce Rauner asked lawmakers to return to the Capitol from June 21-30 for a special session. The new fiscal year begins July 1.
Chicago Tribune: Emanuel takes CPS graduation plan, and Rauner criticism, to a national audience
Mayor Rahm Emanuel told a national TV audience Tuesday that Chicago schools will open in the fall despite ongoing financial challenges, which he again blamed on the state’s budget stalemate and Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.
The Democratic mayor spoke at the National Press Club about his plan to require public high-school seniors to provide a college or trade school acceptance letter, proof of military enlistment or a job offer before they have a diploma in hand.
Bloomberg: No Buyers for Chicago School Bonds Causes Rates to Hit 9 Percent
Chicago’s school system is paying bond-market penalties similar to those seen during last decade’s credit crisis.
The junk-rated district, reeling from escalating pension costs and fallout from the Illinois budget gridlock, has been stuck paying punitive interest rates on $167.5 million of adjustable-rate bonds after PNC Capital Markets failed in March to resell the securities once previous owners sold them. The rate on the bonds, which are supposed to stay extremely low because investors can resell them to banks periodically, jumped to a maximum 9 percent on March 1 from 4.64 percent the week before and has stayed there ever since, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
NBC 5 Chicago: Chicago Public Schools Takes Out $375 Million Loan
Chicago Public Schools has turned to JPMorgan Chase for a $275 million loan to keep operating through June and make a contribution to teacher pensions.
JP Morgan purchased “grant anticipation notes,” a short-term loan meant to be repaid with state education aid.
Chicago Tribune: Sen. Biss to introduce overhaul to property tax assessments
Standing on the lawn of a modest home in unincorporated Melrose Park on Tuesday, gubernatorial candidate and state Sen. Daniel Biss laid out a sweeping proposal to overhaul a property tax assessment system that he says favors the wealthy and the politically connected at the expense of working families.
Referencing the Tribune’s recent series, “The Tax Divide,” which documented deep flaws in Cook County’s assessment system, Biss said he would introduce legislation after the General Assembly returns for a special session this week.
Northwest Herald: State board OKs small hospital for Crystal Lake
Mercyhealth was finally able to convince a state board Tuesday of the need for a hospital in Crystal Lake after about 14 years of trying.
The Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board voted to grant Mercyhealth’s request seeking to build a 13-bed small hospital in Crystal Lake, citing its belief that the size and scope of the proposed facility would not affect other area providers.
Decatur Herald & Review: Richland set to vote on budget with $1 million in cuts
Richland Community College is set to approve a budget that will cut nearly $1 million from its current budget year level.
The proposed budget, which will be voted on during Richland’s board of trustees meeting, will be $32,837,590, down from $33,807,832 this current fiscal year, which ends June 30.
Belleville News-Democrat: Saving taxpayers more by cutting public pensions, unifying schools
Taxpayers recently saw some small victories that we hope spread to other local governments.
First, Highland took its elected leaders out of the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund rather than be forced to prove they were working the required 1,000 hours per year. Seven elected leaders could have participated, but only one was. Not much savings, but still a precedent and move in the right direction.