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Capital plan funding and the budget plan

Friday, May 22nd, 2009

May 22, 2009

Dear neighbors,

As we near the end of session (scheduled to be done May 31st), we have some significant accomplishments but much left to address. Most notably, both the Senate and House passed a significant capital plan this week. The capital plan is funded by the following revenues that support bonds to accomplish the capital project:

    Vehicle Title/Transfer Fees                                   $114.5 million
    Driver’s License Fees                                               40.6 million
    Vehicle Registration Fee                                         176 million
    Sales Tax on Candy/Beauty Aids/Beverages           150 million
    Liquor Tax Increase                                               113.7 million
    Lottery Improvements                                            150 million
    Video Gaming                                                        375 million

TOTAL $1.119 billion

These revenues will support a $28.9 billion capital program to fund the following:

Road Programs

Multiyear Road Program $11,698 million
New Road Projects $3,000 million
New Local Trans Projects (formula) $500 million

Education

School Construction $3,000 million
School Maintenance Matching Grants $200 million
Public Universities $718 million
Community Colleges $353 million
Private Universities $300 million

Environmental/Energy/Tech

Environmenta/Water $175 million
LUST Fund $75 million
Technology $317 million
Parks $300 million
Libraries $100 million
Museums $100 million
Clean Sewer/Water Program $906 million

Transportation

Public Transit $4,660 million
Amtrak $150 million
CREATE $600 million
Airports $380 million

State Facilities

State Facilities $750 million

Economic Development/New Initiatives

Healthcare Facilities – FQHCs $50 million

In this plan are significant dollars that will benefit our community, including funding for the CTA, school renovation dollars, parks and healthcare facilities. $1.6 billion remains unallocated and we will pass another bill next week itemizing this spending.

We are beginning to take up significant ethics reform legislation now as well. When session is over I will provide a complete overview of what we pass regarding ethics improvements. I held an ethics town hall meeting in April and understand how deeply concerned the public is about the “culture of corruption” in state government. I firmly believe this is the best opportunity we will ever have to pass meaningful, comprehensive reform, and am pushing to get that accomplished.

Regarding our operating budget, this week we are passing base budgets that fund only legally required services. These budgets require no new revenues and include significant cuts to state operations. Next week we will work to finalize the budget — it remains uncertain if we will have a tax increase to avoid major cuts to education, health care, and human services.

While I am in Springfield, I wanted to send you an update about events that my office has hosted or will be hosting in the community. In this e-mail, you will find notes from the recent public safety meeting that I held in Uptown with Representative Greg Harris, results from the recent Edgewater Day of Service that I coordinated with Representative Harry Osterman and Alderman Mary Ann Smith, an announcement for an event that I will be holding at Sullivan High School in Rogers Park, and an announcement for the upcoming Women’s Resource Fair that Representative Osterman is hosting.

Finally, I want to solicit your input for this summer. I hope to be back from Springfield and done for the session on June 1. While I am back from Springfield, I hope to attend as many block club meetings, CAPS meetings, and special events in the area as I can. Please send your summer events to my chief of staff, Jen Walling at jen@heathersteans.com, and she will work with you to let you know if I will be available.

I also hope to hold a series of outdoor service office hours this summer. If there is a particular time or place that you would like to see my service office be accessible, please e-mail me at hsteans@senatedem.ilga.gov.

Sincerely,

Heather Steans

Posted in Budget, CTA, Education, Environment, Healthcare, Legislation

The “mini” capital bill and 15 bills I passed this session.

Monday, April 20th, 2009

April 20, 2009

Springfield Update

Dear Neighbor,

As we head back to session today, I want to provide you with a quick update about what was accomplished before the legislative spring break – yes, we have actually been able to come together to produce some meaningful results for Illinois. There remains an attitude of everyone working together, which I hope continues through the end of session.

Significantly, the legislature passed and the Governor signed a mini-capital bill of $3 billion. This roads and transit bonds program will create jobs in time for the current construction season and requires no new revenue. It maintains a 2-to-1 formula for roads-to-transit, meaning $2 billion is available for roads and bridges repairs, and $1 billion is targeted for transit. In the 7th Senate district, which I represent, state road projects that are included are:

Sheridan road from Arthur Avenue to Juneway Terrace
Broadway and Sheridan Road from Devon to Hollywood – the traffic signal interconnects
Lake Shore Drive viaducts at Lawrence and Wilson

Significant dollars will also be available to resurface various local roads throughout the district. The transit funds will also provide significant dollars to Chicago Transit Authority, including work on the Red Line. Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, State Representatives Harris and Osterman, and Aldermen Moore, O’Connor, Shiller and Smith and I have been meeting with top CTA officials to ensure the Red Line and its station are the highest priority.

I also got 15 bills passed from the Senate to the House, including:

Longitudinal Data System (SB1828)
This significant bill creates a longitudinal data system that will enable us to evaluate student, teacher, and school district performance from early learning to higher education. This system fully implements all ten essential elements that the National Data Quality campaign recommends.

Low-Profit Limited Liability Corporations (SB239)
A new LLC structure for businesses with a charitable or education purpose created under this bill increasing their ability to get start up capital from foundations.

Food Waste Composting (SB 99)
This legislation eases state restrictions to allow commercial food waste composting. Benefits include reducing our waste stream, cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions, and providing an organic soil amendment for Illinois’ farms and gardens.

School Intervention Task Force (SB2119)
The Innovation, Intervention, and Restructuring Task Force will develop strategies to allow for the innovation, intervention, and restructuring of schools, including those that need comprehensive or focused intervention.

Lead Sinker Education Program (SB 1269)
This bill creates a state education program to encourage the use of alternatives to lead fishing products, which can cause the death of wildlife and endanger human health.

Electric Bicycles (SB 236)
This legislation ends the need for a title and registration for electric bicycles, in order to end conflicting laws and encourage their use.

Natural Lawn Care (SB1769)
This bill creates new notice provisions when a school or day care sprays pesticides on areas where children will be present.

Stroke Care Working Group (SB 1516)
Procedures will be established enabling stroke patients to be taken to emergency centers that specialize in stroke care immediately, rather than the nearest emergency centers

Victims’ Economic Security and Safety Act (SB1770)
This legislation offers additional protections to victims of domestic violence to allow them to take unpaid leave to seek things like medical help or legal assistance for sexual or domestic violence incidences.

Humane Euthanasia – Ban Gas Chambers (SB38)
This bill bans the use of gas chambers to kill animals in shelters, except under the supervision of a veterinarian.

Mental Health – Voluntary Admission (SB209)
This bill heightens the standards for voluntary admission of mental health patients, consistent with a recent Supreme Court Case

Medicaid Study – Low Birthweight (SB2043)
This bill creates a pilot program for disease management for treatment for patients at risk of low birth weight or premature birth.

For additional information on any of the bills click here.

As we return we must address critical issues, including significant ethics reform legislation, the budget and a complete capital plan. I will keep you updated as we progress.

Sincerely,

Heather A. Steans
State Senator

Posted in Budget, CTA, Education, Environment, Healthcare, Legislation

Read my analysis of the Governor’s budget proposal.

Monday, March 23rd, 2009

March 23, 2009

Springfield Update

Dear Neighbor,

Last week Governor Quinn proposed a budget to address the state’s $11.6 billion budget deficit. The state’s total proposed budget is $53.1 billion, with a little over $28 billion in general revenue funds (GRF). It is GRF funds, rather than federal funds or state funds collected for specific purposes, that provide spending flexibility and are thus the focus of where adjustments must be made to fill our deficit. Spending from GRF breaks down as follows:

Education                                                       38.2%
Healthcare & Family Services                     30.8%
Human Services                                            21.3%
Public Safety                                                   5.2%
Government Services                                     3.7%
Economic dev’t and infrastructure                   .6%
Environment $ Business regulation                .3%

Given this allocation of resources, it is very challenging to solve our budget problem with no increases in revenue unless we cut education, health care and/or human service programs dramatically. While federal stimulus dollars of close to $2.2 billion are included in the Governor’s budget, they must be used to bring down our Medicaid payment cycle to 30 days (something we should absolutely be doing) and in most cases can not be used to “supplant” other state dollars. Clearly the federal dollars are extremely beneficial for the state, nonetheless, they will not solve our budget dilemma.

Governor Quinn’s proposed budget closes the $11.6 billion deficit with a combination of revenue increases and cost cutting measures outlined below. You can see the complete budget at http://budget.illinois.gov.

Revenue Increases

50% Income Tax Increase Offset by Tripling Personal Exemption to $6,000. The personal income tax is increased from 3% to 4.5%. According to his budget proposal this increase in the exemption means that a family of 4 would not pay any increase in taxes unless the family earned more than $61,000.
Comparable Corporate Tax Increases. The corporate income tax is increased from 4.8% to 7.2% and other corporate “loop holes” are closed.
Cigarette Tax. A $1/pack increase phased in over 2 years is proposed.

Budget Cuts

Pension Reform. The benefits for new state employees would be changed to raise the retirement age to match Social Security requirements (67 years old), alter the benefit formula, and provide a cost of living adjustment equal to 50% of the CPI change or 3%, whichever is lower. Additionally, current employees would increase their contribution by 2 percentage points.
Healthcare Contributions. State employees and retirees would increase their contributions for healthcare.
Agency Spending Cuts. Several state agencies are consolidated and across the board spending cuts are proposed for most agencies other than education, healthcare and public safety.K-12 Education.
K-12 education will receive the lowest increase ($174 million) in more than a decade.

Governor Quinn made a persuasive case that he is trying to change Illinois’ spending problems with this budget even though I am not comfortable with all of his specific proposals. His Illinois Reform Commission will recommend changes in April to make the state honest, ethical and transparent, and he is establishing a Taxpayer Action Board, headed by Tom Johnson of the Taxpayer Federation. His efforts to make our tax system less burdensome on low income families is admirable even if there may be better mechanisms to achieve this objective.

I applaud the Governor’s courage to forthrightly address our structural budget deficit – a problem that has been growing over many years. This budget is just a starting point, however. I will need a number of issues resolved before I can support this budget including the following:

Medicaid and Educational Budget Reforms Can Improve Services. The budget does not include any Medicaid reforms. With better prevention and community-base services for our elderly, mentally ill, and infants, we can improve health outcomes and reduce our health care liabilities. Moreover, Illinois’ 869 school districts create unnecessary overhead costs and may deny students diverse course offerings that would be associated with school district consolidations. I will pursue these issues and any other viable suggestions I receive as a member on the Senate’s Deficit Reduction Committee.
Reduce Income Tax Increase and Look at Other Revenue Options. I believe there are ways to reduce the size of an increase in the income tax. We should consider increasing the earned income tax credit rather than tripling the personal exemption to better target tax relief to poor and working families. We should also look at broadening our sales tax base (and even potentially lowering the sales tax rate) to include services as an option to an income tax increase.
Solve Long Term Public Policy Issues with Balanced Budget. If we are going to increase taxes, I believe we must solve our two most intractable public policy issues with revenue increases – reduce local property taxes and increase state support for schools. Illinois has the largest share of its educational system funded from local revenues of any state in the country. This reliance leads to a very unfair educational system, where the amount spent per child varies dramatically based on where the child lives. As you all have likely felt, this has also resulted in property taxes that are some of the highest in the country. If we are going to increase the state income tax we must address these fundamental problems, which the Governor’s proposed budget does not do.

We clearly are in tough economic times and must behave responsibly and with sensitivity to what residents throughout the state are experiencing. The tone in Springfield has improved dramatically with our new Governor, and I am hopeful that the legislature and Governor will work cooperatively to address our budget deficit. I welcome your thoughts and suggestions about how best to tackle our $11.6 billion problem. You can call me at 773-769-1717 or email me at heather@heathersteans.com.

Sincerely,

Heather A.Steans
State Senator

Posted in Budget, Education, Environment, Healthcare, Legislation