·
New wave of unpaid State bills.
Efforts by the State to keep up with mushrooming pension obligations
mean that other State creditors must wait to be paid from inadequate State
resources. In the House Republicans’
daily “In the Know” resource, Rep. Tom Cross (R-Oswego) pointed out on Tuesday,
August 20 that the House Republican Caucus has led efforts to chip away at this
load of unpaid debt in fiscal year 2013.
As a result of this pressure for thriftiness and budget- cutting, the
State’s revenues exceeded expenditures by $1.4 billion in FY13, enabling the
available moneys to be used to pay down the debt. Unfortunately, the load of unpaid bills had
been $7.5 billion at the beginning of this period (July 1, 2012) and was
reduced by less than one-fifth during the following 12 months, to $6.1 billion
at the end of the fiscal year on June 30, 2013.
News stories indicate that fiscal pressures are scheduled to
worsen in FY14. State spending is increasing as the current majority party
gears up to seek reelection, and the current laws governing State-managed
pension systems demand that increased sums be allocated from general revenues
to meet actuarial full-funding commitments.
The $6.1 billion in unpaid debt is scheduled to increase in FY14. Those interested in further information about
State issues are invited to read “In the Know” every weekday at www.intheknowillinois.com.
Chicago
·
6 dead, 28 wounded in wave of weekend
Chicago shootings. The roll was compiled by Chicago police during
the 48-hour period starting on the evening of Friday, August 16 and continuing
into Sunday, August 18. One of the
fatalities occurred on the North Side, three on the West Side and two on the
South Side. Police blotters collaborated
to generate totals for the third weekend of August.
Consumers
·
“Puppy lemon law” bill signed.
Gov. Quinn’s signature on SB 1639 created a new series of duties upon
pet shops. A purchaser who learns
specified forms of bad news about his or her new dog or cat from a licensed
veterinarian within specified periods of time after the purchase of the animal
is entitled to a remedy. Remedies
authorized under SB 1639 include a full refund, an exchange of the dog or cat
for a comparable healthy animal, or certain reasonable veterinary fees. Limits are placed upon the amount of the
veterinary fees that must be provided as a remedy. Persons interested in learning more about the
types of canine or feline illnesses and syndromes that are covered by this
bill, and the levels or remedy authorized, should consult with their pet shop,
with their veterinarian, or with the Illinois Department of Agriculture, the
State agency that will oversee this amendment to the Animal Welfare Act. The bill became law on Monday, August 19 as
P.A. 98-509.
Guns
·
Governor signs gun-control bill over
objections of firearms-rights community. The bill imposes new
restrictions upon gun owners and upon the private transfer of firearms. As signed into law, effective immediately,
persons who suffer the loss or theft of a firearm will be required to report
the loss or theft to law enforcement within 72 hours. In addition, on January 1, 2014, a further
provision of this new law will go into effect to require non-licensed firearms
dealers to perform a dial-up background check of a purchaser’s FOID card status
before transferring the firearm. The
State Police are required, by a separate section of this law, to create a new
Internet FOID background check system by 2015 that could also be used in
transactions like these. Language within
this bill makes clear that the failure of a private seller to check the FOID
status of a private buyer of a firearm or firearms could entangle the private
seller in any civil legal liability that is incurred by the future possessor of
the firearm. This requirement is
separate from, and supplemental to, the existing requirement in State law that
a background check take place before a firearm is transferred on the grounds of
a gun show. Transfers of firearms to
family members are exempted from this requirement. HB 1189 was signed into law on Monday,
August 19, and became P.A. 98-508.
Health care
·
Controversial bill to ban teenage use
of tanning salons signed into law. The new law forbids commercial tanning
salons from allowing persons younger than 18 to purchase time under their
lights. HB 188 was supported by
advocates as a way to fight back against the dangerous skin cancer melanoma,
which has been connected to ultraviolet light exposure from tanning beds and
natural sunlight. Previous law had
allowed persons age 14 to 17 to purchase tanning services with parental
permission; the new law overrides parental permission and reduces the customer
base for Illinois tanning salons, including many small businesses. The Illinois House vote of 67-49-0 helped
send this measure to Gov. Quinn, who signed it into law on Thursday, August 15
as P.A. 98-349.
Jobs
·
Unemployment rate increases again in
Illinois. The official U.S. government jobless
rate, which reflects the percentage of the Illinois labor force that is
completely unemployed and is actively searching for full-time work, rose from
9.1 percent in June 2013 to 9.2 percent in July. While the increase was statistically
insignificant, it solidified Illinois’ status as the industrial state with the
highest rate of joblessness in the U.S.
The new figures were released by the state’s Department of Employment
Security on Thursday, August 15.
No progress has been made on Illinois joblessness over the past 12
months. Unemployment was 9.0 percent in
July 2011, and has worsened by 0.2 percent since then. In addition, many additional Illinoisans have
dropped out of the labor force or have been forced to accept part-time labor as
opposed to the full-time hours they would prefer to work, and these workers are
not counted in the 9.2% figure.
Local government
·
House Republican-initiated bill
increases government openness, mandates public reporting of county pay hikes.
HB 2482 (Cabello/Stadelman), originated by House Republican member John
Cabello, was signed into law on Friday, August 16. The new law requires county officials to
include in their annual budgets a detailed statement showing salary and other
compensation increases granted that year from county-appropriated funds. The budgetary disclosures will, in turn,
give local taxpayers a better idea of where cost pressures are coming from when
county budgets increase above the rate of local economic growth or
inflation. HB 2482, with the Governor’s
signature, became P.A. 98-419.
Metra
·
Mystery of Metra severance package
deepens. One of the public disclosures surrounding
Metra, the commuter-train operator that serves as an autonomous agency within
the Chicago-area Regional Transportation Authority (RTA), has been the $718,000
severance settlement paid to their short-term CEO, Alex Clifford; two of the
conditions of the settlement were that Clifford would not take legal action
against the Metra board for terminating his contract and that Clifford would
maintain confidentiality about the circumstances surrounding his tenure and
removal.
The ample settlement had been “sold” to taxpayers as a necessary
investment to prevent budget-busting legal costs of pre-litigation negotiations
and potential litigation between Clifford and Metra. However, auditors on Tuesday, August 20
revealed that Metra simultaneously possessed an insurance policy intended to
indemnify Metra’s budget against costs of this type. The revelation increased the depth of
questions surrounding potential political conflicts of interest and corruption
at Metra.
The commuter-train agency, like other RTA operating boards, is
funded through fares paid by passengers, motor fuel taxes paid at the gas pump
by non-passengers, and a supplemental sales tax levied at the retail counter
upon consumers purchasing retail goods in the six-county Metra/RTA service
area. Chicago is one of the
highest-taxed municipalities in the United States, and the standing of its
public sector in relation to the private sector is blamed for the area’s
comparatively poor job-creation performance and economic stagnation in recent
years.
Pensions
·
Moody’s reduces Cook County bond
rating. In a move that fell in line with previous
reductions imposed by Moody’s on the state of Illinois, the city of Chicago,
and seven Illinois public universities, the New York City-based debt-ratings
service reduced the publicly posted quality rating stamped on Cook County
general-obligation debt from Aa3 to A1.
While the bonds of Illinois’s highest-populated county continue to be
ranked as investment-grade securities, the move will increase the interest
costs that must be paid by Cook County taxpayers and persons who owe costs and
fees to the county. Cook County has a
current total of $3.7 billion in general obligation debt outstanding, and this
change in debt rating will impact all future moves to refinance this debt or to
borrow additional funds.
Cook County reported an unpaid pension liability of $5.6 billion
as of December 31, 2012, and Moody’s called attention to this liability and
pointed out that the application of increasingly conservative actuarial
assumptions would revalue this liability obligation to $12.7 billion.
Transportation
·
Illinois drivers will soon see 70 mph
signs on stretches of Downstate limited-access highways.
In one of the key pieces of legislation approved by the General Assembly
in May 2013, SB 2356 increased the speed limit on Interstate limited-access
highways from 65 mph to 70 mph. House
Republican C.D. Davidsmeyer was a key co-sponsor of this measure in the
House. The 70 mph bill was signed into
law on Monday, August 19 as P.A. 98-511.
The new speed limit will not take effect throughout Illinois; the new
law provides that eight counties in and around Chicago and the East St. Louis
area will be able to enact ordinances to prevent the increases from taking
effect in thickly-settled metropolitan areas.
Enactment of P.A. 98-511 brings Illinois’ speed limits into line
with the limits allowed in many neighboring and comparable states, such as
Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan and Missouri.
The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) will have to adopt
rules to implement the increase. IDOT
will also have to paint and hang new signs.
Under IDOT’s future new rules, some urban sections of Downstate superhighway
may see continued operation of the 65 mph speed limit for public safety
reasons.
·
Illinois bans handheld cellphones
while driving a moving motor vehicle. The offense, which is a
“primary stop” violation, will not apply to hands-free, voice-operated, and
headset cell phones and calling devices.
When Gov. Quinn signed HB 1247 on Friday, August 16, the new State law
supplemented existing State laws that previously outlawed the use of a
cellphone or other device to send or actively receive text messages while
driving. The new law is P.A.
98-506. The fine for this offense will
be $75 for a first offense and additional sums for a second or succeeding
offense. Persons found guilty or placed
under court supervision will also be required to pay a substantial schedule of
additional fines and court costs. A
“primary stop” offense is an offense for which a police officer may make a stop
of a moving vehicle and issue a citation if he sees the offense taking place. Illinois became the 12th state to
ban handheld cellphone use while operating a moving motor vehicle.
Veterans
·
Bill to increase civil court fees,
provide legal assistance to veterans signed by Governor.
HB 3111 creates the Access to Justice Act, a new program that will
operate a legal advice hotline for veterans seeking legal assistance. Veterans may also get some court-based legal
assistance from this program if resources are available. The Access to Justice Act was the initiative
of state Supreme Court Justice Thomas Kilbride. Although many Illinois House members voted
against adding an additional expense to what is already a lengthy catalog of
fees facing persons seeking access to Illinois courts, the bill was approved by
the House by a vote of 71-46-0. It was
signed into law on Thursday, August 15, as P.A. 98-351.