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Illinois Tag

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 06, 2017 31 Comments
The Illinois House voted to override Republican Governor Bruce Rauner's veto of the income tax hike and budget bill. This is the first budget Illinois has passed in two years. The House voted 71-42, which is the bare minimum House Speaker Mike Madigan needed, after a security incident delayed the vote for two hours.

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 04, 2017 14 Comments
The Illinois Senate has just approved the massive income tax hike, two days after the House approved it. This bill will permanently raise the income tax 32% from 3.75% to a little under 5%. It also raises the corporate tax rate from 5% to 7%. Republican Governor Bruce Rauner vetoed the bill this afternoon. The Senate voted to override Rauner's veto 36-18. Now the bills go back to the House, which will vote tomorrow.

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 03, 2017 20 Comments
Just days after a judge demanded Illinois pay $293 million toward Medicaid bills, the state's House decided to permanently hike the income tax rate by 32%. 15 Republicans voted for the bill, which Illinois Policy documented on Facebook. But Republican Governor Bruce Rauner announced that he will veto the bill if it lands on his desk:
"Under Speaker Madigan's direction, legislators chose to double down on higher taxes while protecting the special interests and refusing to reform the status quo. It's a repeat of the failed policies that created this financial crisis and caused jobs and taxpayers to flee" Rauner said in a statement.

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 02, 2017 38 Comments
I've been blogging about the mess that is my home state of Illinois and just as I thought...it managed to find a way to make things worse. Illinois legislators cannot agree on a budget. It closed the "fiscal year $6 billion in the red." The state also has "unpaid bills to state contractors and vendors that's reached about $14.5 billion and roughly $130 billion in unfunded pension liabilities." S&P downgraded the state's credit rating to a step above junk. Then the state's GOP leader resigned on Friday. A judge has ordered Illinois to pay $293 million towards Medicaid bills just as the state entered its THIRD FISCAL YEAR without a budget.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 21, 2017 28 Comments
The Illinois lottery may become a victim of the bankrupt state if lawmakers cannot agree and pass a budget. In a last ditch effort, the lawmakers have started a special session on Wednesday that can last for 10 days. From Fox News:
The state lotto requires a payment from the legislature each year. The current appropriation expires June 30, meaning no authority to pay prizes. In anticipation of a budget deadlock, the state already is planning to halt Powerball and Mega Millions sales.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 12, 2017 7 Comments
Cook County in Illinois, home to Chicago, has decided that its soda tax will not apply to food stamps. Purchases made with food stamps cannot have state and local taxes tacked onto them, according to federal law. Cook county tried to bypass that law, but none of the options officials used took off. So this means that the 827,000 people in Cook County who have food stamps will not have to pay the tax. This is the second reversal of the tax, which has caused massive confusion as the bankrupt county and state have tried everything to raise revenue.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 01, 2017 11 Comments
What a shock. The Illinois legislature has once again missed its spring deadline to pass a budget even though the state owes $14 billion to unpaid bills. From ABC 7:
Knowing the Governor Rauner would veto a budget that included tax increases, House Democrats left town without voting on a Senate-passed budget. The governor said all along he would only sign a budget with tax increases if it included reforms like workman's comp or a property tax freeze, two things Democrats have passed but the governor said the bills don't go far enough. "The majority of the House has shown no interest in any real changes to the system but I hope we can work something out with senators and then all of us together, Democrats and Republicans, put pressure on the House majority so they aren't just loyal to their political positions, they actually want to do things that are good for the people of Illinois," Governor Rauner said. "I believe we can get there, we just got to stay persistent."

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on May 30, 2017 12 Comments
Last year, Illinois governor Bruce Rauner (R) vetoed a version of Illinois' automatic voter registration bill because he felt that it violated federal election laws and didn't provide enough protections against potential voter fraud.  The state's House and Senate reworked the bill, hoping to satisfy Rauner's concerns, and the revised bill has been passed by the House. U. S. News reports:
The Illinois Legislature has overwhelmingly endorsed a plan to automatically register qualified voters. The proposal would register eligible individuals automatically when they visit Secretary of State's offices and several other state agencies unless they opt out. The House endorsed it 115-0 Monday. It now returns to the Senate for agreements on changes.

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 12, 2017 14 Comments
No, this is not a joke. No, this has nothing to do with Halloween. The state of Illinois has actually declared October "Zombie Preparedness Month." From The Chicago Tribune:
The measure instead encourages people to learn more about natural disasters and ensure they have emergency supplies that could last up to 72 hours.

Posted by Mary Chastain on January 02, 2017 14 Comments
That strict gun control in Chicago has obviously worked. America's third largest city had 762 homicides in 2016, the most in two decades and more than New York and Los Angeles combined. It also saw 3,500 shooting incidents, which is 1,100 more than it had in 2015. From WGN:
According to the Chicago Police Department, there were 762 murders in the city in 2016 and 3,550 shooting incidents with 4,331 shooting victims. A department spokesman says more than 80% of the fatal and non-fatal shooting victims were previously identified by police as being likely to be involved in an act of gun violence, either as a victim or an offender. Most of the murders occurred on the city's South and West Sides.

Posted by Mary Chastain on November 20, 2016 25 Comments
Chicago authorities have charged four people for beating David Wilcox and hijacking his car after a car accident. People around him just watched and did nothing to help him. Instead they screamed anti-Trump sentiments:
On a video posted online, Wilcox, 50, was pummeled by several individuals, while onlookers shouted “You Voted Trump!” The altercation started when his car was rear-ended at Kedzie and Roosevelt in the North Lawndale neighborhood on Wednesday.

Posted by Mary Chastain on November 03, 2016 8 Comments
Say it with me: The Chicago Cubs won the 2016 World Series. A perfect way to end a magical season that still seems unreal to us lifelong diehard crazy Cubs fans who have endured heartache after heartache. https://twitter.com/Cubs/status/794038334813151233

Posted by Mary Chastain on October 28, 2016 16 Comments
"Vote early, vote often" is one of Chicago's unofficial mottos. One of the most corrupt cities in America is famous for its voter fraud back in the day, but officials now insist that everything is on the down low and technology has helped wipe out voter fraud. Well, investigators at the local CBS station found that "119 dead people have voted a total of 229 times in Chicago in the last decade" after they merged the "Chicago Board of Election voter histories with the death master file from the Social Security Administration."

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 19, 2016 8 Comments
Veterans at the Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital have demanded action to clean the black mold in their housing complex, which has built up for the past 10 months. From Fox News:
Veterans Affairs documents indicate officials at Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital knew about the black mold infestation in August 2015 but conducted no testing until mid-April 2016 and have yet to clean up the problem – though they are promising to act soon. The mold is contained in two rooms of the Residential Care Facility (RCF), a separate building housing 30 residents for indefinite stays. “I was going by the hallway and the door was open. The back wall was all moldy black,” 81-year-old resident Raymond Shibek told FoxNews.com. “I went and told the director of nursing. She said, ‘How did you see that?’ I said, ‘The door was open.’ She said, ‘You weren’t supposed to see that.’” Shibek said the mold covered an entire wall measuring roughly 10 feet-by-10 feet.

Posted by Jonathan Levin on March 24, 2016 4 Comments
Illinois has become the first U.S. state to identify specific companies it will no longer invest state assets in because they engage in the Boycott, Divest and Sanction ("BDS") campaign.  LI has discussed various state anti-BDS laws here. The Illinois Investment Policy Board included eleven companies on its new "Prohibited Investment List" because those companies boycott Israel.  The list also includes five companies for their business in or with Iran and dozens of companies for their activities in Sudan. The listed companies have a grace period before the state actually begins divesting.  Under Illinois General Statute 1-110.16:
(e) The Illinois Investment Policy Board shall adhere to the following procedures for companies on the list of restricted companies:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 03, 2016 79 Comments
In all the news noise over the Iowa caucuses, a decision by the Illinois Board of Elections passed almost entirely under the radar. There was much hoopla when two voters filed a challenge to Ted Cruz appearing on the ballot because Cruz allegedly was not a "natural born Citizen" and ineligible. (My research and conclusions on the subject are here.) I have not been able to find the actual decision, but Huffington Post reports:
Two objectors, Lawrence Joyce and William Graham, had challenged Cruz's presidential bid with the board, contending that his name should not appear on the March 15 ballot because his candidacy did not comply with Article II of the Constitution. Adopting the recommendations of a hearing officer who considered the matter last week, the board of elections on Monday rejected both objections, ruled Cruz eligible and ordered that his name be certified for the election.
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