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From the Capitol |
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No Movement on FY 2009 Budget
Thus far there has been no decision
on the FY 2009 budget. The General
Assembly passed a fiscal year 2009
budget May 31, increasing state
spending by $2.1 billion. The
Governor has called the budget "out
of wack" stating it is $2 billion in
the red.
The legislative leaders met last
week to discuss the budget, however
according to the State Journal
Register, Senate Republican Leader
Frank Watson said little progress
was made during the meeting.
(Majority Leader Barbara Flynn
Currie attended for Speaker
Madigan).
Currie accused Blagojevich of
manufacturing a crisis and said it
is his job to deal with the budget
lawmakers sent him last weekend.
Blagojevich said he wants to enact a
final fiscal year 2009 budget by
July 1st.
Highlights of the General Assembly
Enacted Fiscal Year 2009 Budget:
- Increases spending by $2.1
billion over fiscal year 2008
- Schools received an increase
of $500 million, including a
$225 increase in the per-pupil
foundation level (raising the
foundation level to $5,959 per
student).
- Appropriates $600 million
for Medicaid, however this does
not eliminate the backlog of
unpaid Medicaid bills
The
budget bills can be accessed at the
following links:
Senate Bill 1115
Senate Bill 1129
House Bill 5701
Senate Bill 1102
Senate Bill 773 (Budget
Implementation Bill)
In the coming weeks CTBA will have a
full analysis of the Fiscal Year
2009 final budget.
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May Revenues
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May Revenues Rise Due to Federal Sources
According to the
Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting
and Accountability, overall base receipts
increased $220 million in May. The increase was
almost entirely the result of federal sources
stemming from reimbursable spending. A fairly
large dip in personal income tax receipts as
well as an expected falloff in public utility
taxes acted to offset most of those gains.
Highlights:
- Personal income taxes fell $38 million
net of refunds
- Public utility taxes were down $27
million
- Other sources fell $8 million
- Corporate franchise taxes dipped $2
million
- Gross corporate income tax receipts grew
$15 million
- Sales tax receipts rose by $7 million
- Inheritance taxes and insurance taxes
and fees both grew by $3 million
- Liquor taxes increased $2 million
- Interest income rose $1 million
- Overall transfers grew $63 million
- Other transfers increased $65 million
due to $60 million related to the hospital
assessment program
- Riverboat transfers increased $5 million
- Lottery transfers fell $7 million
- Federal sources grew by$201 million
Year to Date
Through eleven
months, overall base receipts were up $1.173
billion.
It has been a
strong year for the personal income tax
receipts. Through
May, receipts
were up $707 million, or $842 million on a net
of refund basis.
Both corporate
income and sales taxes have struggled throughout
the fiscal year. Inheritance tax is up $104
million.
While lottery transfers were up $35 million,
other transfers more than erased those gains and
fell $181 million due to lack of fund sweeps and
chargebacks. Finally, the recent surge in
federal sources erased earlier declines and now
is running $163 million ahead of last year,
although a fairly large falloff is expected in
the final month of the fiscal year. Despite the
year to date growth of $1.173 billion, the final
month is expected to post a sizable loss due to:
· Riverboat
transfers in the final month will be
significantly less this
year as the
"hold harmless" provision no longer will supply
a last
minute surge
[$67 million last June]. That, in conjunction
with the
second half
falloff in gaming activity should result in a
sizable
decline.
· Lack of chargeback activity will result in a
significant drop off in
other transfers
[$73 million in June of last year]. In addition,
some
large transfers
that took place last June are not expected to be
repeated at similar levels, if at all.
· Reimbursable spending is anticipated to slow
as appropriation levels
are exhausted,
resulting in a falloff in federal sources.
For the full report visit:
http://www.ilga.gov/commission/cgfa2006/Upload/0508revenue.pdf
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FY 2008 Revenue
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FY 2008 Revised Revenue Estimate
FY 2008 Revenues Do Not Keep up With Inflation
In May, the Illinois Commission on
Government Forecasting and Accountability
revised the FY 2008 general funds estimate
upward
by $110 million. The new base estimate of
$29.555 billion reflects an
increase of $915 million over FY 2008.
The increase was primarily due to:
· SB 1863 [P.A. 95-718] provided
supplemental spending authority to
the Hospital Provider Fund which
subsequently allowed the execution
of the third and final year of the hospital
assessment program. This
should result in an additional $80 million
in transfers to the general
fund.
· While the estimates of personal and
corporate income taxes were
marginally increased, most of those
anticipated gains were wiped out
from decreases in the estimates of insurance
taxes, lottery transfers,
and riverboat transfers. The net result of
the various adjustments
totaled only an additional $30 million.
However, the
$915 million increase in FY 2008 revenues
over FY 2007 falls $201 million short of
inflation. If FY 2008 revenues would have
kept up with inflation (CPI-U) the increase
would stand at $1,116 billion.
For
more information please visit
www.ctbaonline.org or contact Chrissy
Mancini at cmancini@ctbaonline.org
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Ethics |
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No Action by Governor on Ethics Bill
HB 824, the bill
that would help end "pay to play politics"
unanimously passed the General Assembly May
31st.
The bill prohibits entities with more than
$50,000 in state contracts from giving political
donations to the elected officials who control
those contracts.
Currently, Illinois has no campaign contribution
limits.
It now sits on the Governor's desk. Blagojevich
can sign it into law, veto the entire bill, or
amendatory veto portions of the bill. The
Governor has stated he may add new provisions to
the bill. If so, lawmakers would then need to
rally support a second time to enact the
legislation.
Track HB 824 Here.
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Veto Session
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The fall veto
session calendar can be accessed at the
following links:
House
Senate
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Education Funding & Fiscal Reform |
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Schools and Kids Need Your Help!
Is Your Senator a Co-Sponsor of SB 2288?
The lead
sponsors of SB 2288, Senator James Meeks and
Senator John Cullerton, are committed to
bringing the bill to a vote in November.
This gives us the spring and summer to work
for the passage of the bill.
Senate Bill 2288 provides a new, permanent
revenue source for schools, property tax
relief for homeowners and
$1 billion
for debt service for a state infrastructure
program. It is the only piece of legislation
that will truly reform the way education is
funded in Illinois by making the state the
primary funder of K-12 education. The bill also
provides $300 million for community colleges and
universities.
Read the bill here
SB 2288 makes significant changes to tax
and school funding laws.
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It
reduces our reliance on property taxes
to fund schools by mandating an annual
property tax abatement of $2.9 billion
(indexed to inflation for each
subsequent year) with every property
owner seeing a minimum of 20% property
tax relief on the portion of the bill
designated to education.
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The
Invest in Illinois Fund is created and
funded with $1 billion each year to
provide funding for debt service and
fees on bonds for capital projects, such
as roads and schools, throughout the
State.
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The
bill also mandates a $300 million annual
appropriation (indexed for inflation)
for grants to institutions of Higher
Education.
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Increases for Early Childhood education
are phased in, from $45 million in
2009-2010 to $180 million in 2012-2013.
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Increases to the Foundation Level are
phased in, raising it from $6,253 for
the 2009-2010 school year (from $5,734)
up to $7,809 for the 2012-2013 school
year. The Foundation Level and
Supplemental General State Aid (Poverty
Grants) are automatically tied to
increases to the Employment Cost Index
to control for inflation.
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Creates a School
Improvement Partnership Fund to target
resources to proven programs such as
smaller class sizes, literacy coaching,
longer school days and teacher
mentoring;
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Maintains and
expands grants for high-poverty schools
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The
personal income tax is increased to 5%
(from 3%), and the corporate income tax
is increased to 8% (from 4.8%).
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Family Tax Credits
are provided to single taxpayers earning
less than $26,695 and married couples
earning less than $53,694.
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Calendar of Events |
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WHAT?
Shout Out for Schools Rally
WHEN?
June 10, 2008, 10am to 12pm
WHERE?
Soldier Field
Join
thousands of Chicago Public Schools
students, parents and teachers to
celebrate education and rally for
improved school funding and quality in
Illinois.
"Shout Out for Schools" will be a
ticketed event. For FREE tickets, please
call 773-553-1000, or send an e-mail to
studentrally@cps.k12.il.us with the name
of your school or organization, your
phone number, and the number of
requested tickets.
Soldier Field parking available for
school buses only; others are asked to
take public transit or park in nearby
Grant Park or downtown lots.
DOWNLOAD a flyer to distribute to
your school or community. For more
details, please visit. www.cps.edu.
WHAT:
Illinois
Maternal and Child Health Coalition 20th
Anniversary Annual Meeting and Luncheon
WHEN:
June 10,
2008
WHERE:
Maggiano's Little Italy in Chicago
The keynote presenter will be author and
journalist, Jennifer Block, whose book
Pushed: The Painful Truth about
Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care has
received critical acclaim, including
recognition as "A Best Consumer Health
Book of 2007" by the Library Journal and
"A Best of Book of 2007" by Kirkus
Reviews.
In Pushed, Ms. Block presents a full
picture of maternity care in America.
She traveled the country to witness
several births (from a planned cesarean
to an underground home birth) and to
report the experiences of women today.
Luncheon tickets are $30 for IMCHC
members and $35 for non-members.
Download a brochure from IMCHC's website
or contact Lilah Handler at 312-491-8161
for more information.
WHAT?
Making Media Connections
WHEN?
June 11-12
National new-media experts like Beth
Kanter as well as some of Chicago's most
prominent journalists such as Renee
Ferguson from channel 5 will
keynote. For $150 you can take two
half-day workshops highlighting new
media tools that nonprofits are using to
tell their stories and raise money or a
one-day Media Boot Camp class. For
another $150 you can hear Chicago-area
journalists and veteran nonprofit
communicators offer advice on everything
from how to work with newspapers'
editorial boards to planning a nonprofit
public relations career.
The conference organizers, Community
Media Workshop, offer a range of
discounts and scholarships for
nonprofits; with budgets under $100,000,
they offer everything at half-price.
If you can't make it to the conference
but want free communication tools and
tips and info about communications
workshops in the future, you should
check out their home page,
www.newstips.org,
where you can also sign up for the
Workshop's free email list.
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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