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CTBA Weekly Review |
October 2, 2007 |
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Springfield Update: FY 2008 Budget
- House to Vote on Governor's Vetoes,
BIMP |
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 Fall
Veto Session Begins Today
Fall veto session begins today even as the regular
overtime session still drags on. A major focus of
the veto session will be budget cuts made by
Governor Blagojevich's vetoes.
Committee of the Whole
The House convened a Committee of the Whole on
Monday to
examine the affect of the Governor's fiscal year 2008
budget vetoes across the state. The House will vote
today to override the vetoes. It remains to be seen
how the Senate will react to the vetoes. Senate
President Emil Jones, D-Chicago, has said he will not
allow senators to vote on restoring the budget cuts made
by the Governor. However, many senators have expressed
concerns that the vetoes cut far more than "pork" and
"special interest spending" and instead cut legitimate
and necessary programs like community clinics, programs
for the mentally ill and funding for the home health
care program.
Budget Implementation Bill
Further
confusing the budget debate, the General
Assembly has not yet passed a "budget
implementation bill" (BIMP). The BIMP
authorizes how to spend any new money in the
budget such as the $400 increase in the per
pupil foundation level. Without a BIMP, The
Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) can
only make payments to schools based on last
year's per-pupil foundation level, making it
difficult for school districts to determine
their individual school year budgets. When
all FY 2008 budget legislation is adopted,
ISBE will retroactively pay school districts
to catch up with FY 2008 levels.
While local school
district can receive their increased
payments retroactively, human service
providers rely on Medicaid funding,
which can only be paid prospectively.
That means some human service programs
have lost funding this year.
Resources:
For a useful analysis of all 1,504 items vetoed or
reduced in funding by the Governor, read the CTBA
report
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Capital Bill & Transit Update |
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 Casinos
Fate Unknown
Even though
HB
2035,
a massive expansion of gaming to provide funding for
a long awaited capital plan, passed the Senate last
Tuesday, there is still no sign of the bill's fate
in the House. The House has planned a hearing
to discuss the capital and gaming plan on October
17th at 10:00AM in Chicago (Thompson Center Room
16-503).
Highlights of HB 2035:
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New land based casino in Chicago
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Two new riverboat casinos at unspecified locations
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An additional 6,000 slot machines or other positions
at existing casinos
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More than $25 billion for state construction
programs when federal and local dollars are combined
with the $13 billion in state funds generated from
gaming
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Additional funding for mass transit and education
Gaming Revenue Projections Overestimated?
Read testimony
given in May 2005 by economist Dr. Victor Matheson to
the Illinois General Assembly on the fiscal impact of
riverboat gaming. Dr. Matheson claims, among others
things, that gaming would generate far less money than
current speculations suggest and there are important
social costs to consider when reviewing a gaming
expansion proposal (such as increased crime and
pathological gambling disorders).
Resources About Gaming:
Read the latest
Illinois Gaming Board Annual
Report, 2006
Commission on Government
Forecasting and Accountability report on gaming
revenues,
Wagering in Illinois: 2006
Update.
No Cure for Transit Problems
Discussed last week, HB 2035 does nothing to fix
the Chicago region's transit funding problem.
It simply provides a $200 million loan (from
gaming revenues) for Chicago's mass transit
systems to fund operations for the next nine
months. At that point the system would again
need additional funding. The Governor has said
the $200 million would give lawmakers more time
to come up with a long-term transit funding
solution in 2008. However, all it really does
is post pone the problem yet another year.
Further, there is no revenue source to pay
back the $200 million loan to the state.
SB 572 (a regional sales tax
bill to fund transit) fell 10 votes short of
the 71 it needed to pass the House and is
still placed on "Consideration Postponed."
Senate President Emil Jones, previously
opposed to a regional sales tax increase for
Chicago mass transit has stated, "I don't
like a sales tax because it's so regressive,
but I have voted for taxes in the past and
will support them again." Jones said he
intends to pass some version of a transit
funding bill in the Senate in October.
The next "doomsday" date for mass transit
riders in the Chicago area is November 4th
unless relief comes from Springfield.
Highlights of SB 572:
- Generates a total of between $386-$482
million in revenues
- Local governments would receive $116
million of total revenue for roads
- Transit (CTA, RTA and PACE) would
receive between $270 and $366 million
- Additional revenue would go to the
Downstate and Metro-East Public Transit
Funds
- Increases the sales tax by .50% in Lake,
McHenry, DuPage, Kane and Will counties
- Increases the sales tax by .25% in Cook
County
- Increases the Chicago Real Estate
Transfer Tax (by $300 for every $100,000)
- Decreases CTA personnel retiree benefits
Resources:
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Cook County Revenue Proposal |
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After hours of testimony Monday, a bill to increase
the sales tax in Cook County was not called. Rather
than see the sales tax hike defeated, Commissioner
Joan Murphy moved for it to be deferred until Oct.
16th.
Cook County has now missed Monday's legal deadline
that would have allowed it to begin collecting the
sales tax Jan. 1, 2008.
A report released by CTBA analyzes the basic public
services Cook County provides and the revenue sources
that fund them. The report also examines the Cook
County fiscal system to determine whether it has the
ability to fund and sustain the level of public services
it currently provides.
Watch video interviews
documenting the costs
and consequences of the County's structural
deficit by Ralph Martire, executive director of
the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability.
Also on the video County Chief Financial Officer
Donna Dunnings outlines the County's anticipated
2008 budget shortfall of $307 million, and
County Board President Todd Stroger discusses
challenges the County confronts in paying for
core services.
For more information about this report, contact
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State Children's Health Insurance Program |
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President Bush Set to Veto Expansion in
Children's Health Care
A
bill to expand the State Children's Health
Insurance Program or SCHIP
(H.R. 976) was
approved by the House of Representatives last
Tuesday and the Senate last Thursday. The bill
would increase funding for the program by $35
billion. Funding for the program would come from
increasing the federal tobacco tax for
cigarettes from 39 cents to a dollar per pack.
President Bush
has threatened to veto the bill, which did not
pass the House by the two-thirds majority needed
to override a veto. The White House argues
that expanding SCHIP would inappropriately
enlarge the government's role in health care and
encourage middle-class parents to drop private
insurance. Lawmakers from both parties disagree
with these statements.
According to the Congressional Budget Office,
two thirds
of the children
receiving health care as a result of an SCHIP
expansion would be those who would otherwise
not have health insurance.
Cigarette Tax
Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ) found that
cigarette taxes (both federal and state) are
regressive,
meaning they take a larger proportion of income
from a poor family than from a wealthy family.
However, CTJ finds the cigarette tax to be the
most viable option for funding an important
health care initiative at this time.
CTJ
states that it is true that if two smokers, one
poor and one wealthy, are smoking the same
amount and paying the same tax of one dollar a
pack, that one dollar equals a larger percentage
of total income for the poor smoker than for the
wealthy smoker. It's always better to fund
important programs with progressive taxes, but
the health care crisis among low- and
middle-income families requires compromise.
Unlike President Bush, Democrats and many
Republicans in Congress have shown that they are
willing to make such a compromise.
Background:
The State Children's Health Insurance Program
(SCHIP) was enacted with bi-partisan support in
1997 and provides over six million children
across the country health insurance. According
to the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, over 316,000 Illinois children are
enrolled in the program.
SCHIP provides matching federal funds to states
to provide health coverage to children in
families who income is about 200 percent of the
poverty line (about $41,300 for a family of
four).
Resources:
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:
More information on children's health
insurance can be found
here
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Calendar of Events |
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WHAT?
Making the Connection: Public Benefits and
Single Adults & Public Benefits for Youths
up to 21
WHEN?October
2, 2007
WHERE?Naperville,
IL
Presented by the DuPage Federation on Human
Services
Register Here
WHAT?
Illinois School
Funding- It's Time to Talk
WHEN?October
6, 2007 1-4pm
WHERE?
National-Louis
University, Chicago Campus, 122 S. Michigan
Avenue, 2nd floor atrium
FEATURING: Professor Allan
Odden
Professor of Educational Leadership and
Policy Analysis at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison and Co-Director of the
Consortium for Policy Research in Education
(CPRE), Honorable Luther Olsen Wisconsin
State Senate, Honorable Miguel del Valle
Clerk, City of Chicago, Mr. Ralph Martire
Executive Director, Center for Tax and
Budget Accountability, Honorable Kathy Ryg
Illinois House of Representatives, Dr.
Donald Schlomann
Superintendent, School District 303, St.
Charles
Sponsored by:
A+
Illinois
National-Louis University
Golden Apple Foundation
WHAT? Illinois
Alcoholism and Drug Dependence Association Annual
Conference
WHEN?October
1-3, 2007
WHERE?The
Wyndham Drake,
Oak Brook, Illinois
More
Information and Registration Here
WHAT?
Making the Connection: Mental Health and Public
Benefits & Understanding Spenddown
WHEN?October
12, 2007
WHERE?Naperville,
IL
Presented by the DuPage Federation on Human Services
Register Here
WHAT?
Property and Asset Management: Community Housing
Developers Institute
WHEN?
October 16-17, 2007
WHERE?
ICAA Training Facility, 3435 Liberty Drive,
Springfield, IL
Contact:
nate@housingactionil.org
or 312-939-6074 x 201 More info:
www.housingactionil.org.
WHAT?
2008
Illinois State Budget Briefing: What Nonprofits
Need to Know.
WHEN?
Wednesday October 24, 9-11am
WHERE?
Spertus Institute -
618 S. Michigan, Chicago
Hear what experts
have to say about the areas of the state
budget that will have the greatest
impact on the nonprofit sector and get
answers to your questions.
Donors Forum,
the Center for Tax and Budget
Accountability and Roosevelt
University will co-host a budget
briefing on the 2008 Illinois state
budget. Hear what experts have to
say about areas of the state budget
that will have the greatest impact
on the nonprofit sector, and get
answers to your questions. Speakers
will include Ralph Martire of the
Center for Tax and Budget
Accountability, and Lawrence J.
Suffredin,
Jr., Cook County Commissioner. A
panel of legislators will also join
us as speakers
Register online or
call 312-578-0090, toll free 888-578-0090.
WHAT?
Understanding Appeals & Domestic Violence and
Public Benefits
WHEN?October
24, 2007
WHERE?Naperville,
IL
Presented by the DuPage Federation on Human
Services
Register Here
WHAT?
Immigrants and Public Benefits & Putting the
Pieces Together
WHEN?October
25, 2007
WHERE?Naperville,
IL
Presented by the DuPage Federation on Human
Services
Register Here
WHAT?
Illinois Food Summit 2007 "Building on
Success Through Collaboration"
WHEN?
November 8, 2007
WHERE?
Kankakee Community
College,
100 College Drive,
Kankakee, IL 60901
More info:
http://inc.aces.uiuc.edu/
Sponsored by
Illinois Interagency Nutrition Council
and the
University of Illinois
Urbana-Champaign Extension
WHAT?
Affordable Housing Month
WHEN?
November 1-30, 2007
WHERE?
Public education events and activities to be
held throughout the state
Contact:
nate@housingactionil.org
or 312-939-6074 x 201 More info:
www.housingactionil.org.
WHAT?
Release of the 2007
State of Working Illinois Report and Policy
Forum
WHEN?
Wednesday, December 5, 2007 from 8:30 to
12:30
WHERE?
Union League Club of Chicago, main Lounge,
65 West Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL
INFO:
This is the second
detailed analysis of workforce and
economic trends produced by the Center
for Governmental Studies and the Office
for Social Policy Research, both at
Northern Illinois University and the
Center for Tax and Budget
Accountability. Statewide data as well
as data on individual regions and
counties will be presented in the
report.
WHAT?
Making the Connection Basic Training
WHEN?
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
WHERE?
Naperville, IL
Presented by the DuPage Federation on Human
Services the session contains practical
information in an easy to understand format
regarding many programs available to assist low
income persons.
Register Here
WHAT?
Making the Connection: Public Benefits and
Single Adults & Public Benefits for Youths up to
21
WHEN?
March 5,
2008
WHERE?
Naperville, IL
Presented by the DuPage Federation on Human
Services
Register Here
WHAT?
Making the Connection: Mental Health and Public
Benefits & Understanding Spenddown
WHEN? March
6, 2008
WHERE?Naperville,
IL
Presented by the DuPage Federation on Human
Services
Register Here
WHAT?
Understanding Appeals & Domestic Violence and
Public Benefits
WHEN?
March
18, 2008
WHERE?Naperville,
IL
Presented by the DuPage Federation on Human
Services
Register Here
WHAT?
Immigrants and Public Benefits & Putting the
Pieces Together
WHEN?
March 19,
2008
WHERE?Naperville,
IL
Presented by the DuPage Federation on Human
Services
Register Here
WHAT?
Making the Connection Basic Training
WHEN?
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
WHERE?
Naperville, IL
Presented by the DuPage Federation on Human
Services the session contains practical
information in an easy to understand format
regarding many programs available to assist low
income persons.
Register Here
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Do you have something to share in the
Weekly Review?
Please email
Chrissy Mancini
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