General Assembly health benefits cost taxpayers $1.2 million; Rauner “ticked off,” Franks: State should pay Lottery penalty; and more from INN Radio – Illinois News Network

 

Legislators’ health benefits cost taxpayers $1.2 million
Nearly one-fifth of the Illinois General Assembly are refusing to accept health insurance benefits from the state as Illinois taxpayers spent $1.23 million last year to provide the perk. Republican Representative David McSweeney, who joins 33 other lawmakers in refusing to accept the offered health insurance benefits, says there’s no reason for the benefits at a time when the state is hurting financially. McSweeney says the perk should at least be scaled back, if not eliminated. The perk is so generous it is considered a “Cadillac plan” under the Affordable Care Act and in 2018 the state could begin paying an excise tax to the federal government for the benefits. Longtime Democratic Representative Mary Flowers, who makes over $78,000 a year and receives the health insurance benefit, says she couldn’t afford to buy insurance on her own. An Illinois News Network analysis of legislator insurance benefits found that the 143 lawmakers who get the benefit contributed a combined $251,000 toward their premiums while taxpayers paid the rest to the tune of over $1.2 million.

Rauner “ticked off” no budget in place
The frustration levels for Illinois’ Republican Governor are up with the absence of a state budget. Joining a live WMAY Springfield broadcast to raise money for the American Red Cross serving South Central Illinois Thursday Governor Bruce Rauner addressed his irritation that lawmakers still do not have a balanced spending plan.

“I am so ticked off we don’t have a budget I can’t tell ya. But we need reforms, we can’t just raise taxes on everybody, we need structural reforms so we can grow. But we’re working hard.”

It’s now Day 60 of the new fiscal year with no budget in place. The Governor says he’s continuing to meet with lawmakers to find a budget solution but said there must be structural reforms instead of only tax increases. Meanwhile the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget says the look forward to continued advice from their outgoing budget advisor. Donna Arduin was on contract to work on the budget and GOMB says she helped engineer the elimination of an inherited $1.5 billion budget deficit from the previous fiscal year without a tax increase.

Franks: State should pay penalty to waiting big lotto winners
Big winners of the Illinois Lottery are out of luck until a full state budget is in place and one state lawmaker says that means the state should pay winners a penalty in what’s become the latest fallout of the state not having a fully balanced budget. A statement from the Illinois Lottery says that winners of prizes $600 or less can claim their cash at lottery retailers. If a winner’s take is under $25,000, the prize can be claimed at one of Lottery’s prize centers located in Chicago, Des Plaines, Rockford, Fairview Heights or Springfield. Anything over $25,000 is on hold. A spokesperson for Illinois Lottery says all winners will get paid in full once the Illinois Comptroller has the legislative authority to do so. Democratic Representative Jack Franks says selling tickets and not paying is tantamount to a fraud and that the state should have to pay the waiting winners penalties for the late payments.

“If you owe the state some money we’re not going to say ‘wait, we’re going to hold off until you get your budget taken care of at home and then just give us a call and then you can pay us.’ Because that’s not how it works in the real world. And the Lottery ought to be paying penalties to these folks who are owed money.”

Franks puts the blame on the Governor saying he didn’t have to veto the appropriation for the Lottery. The Comptroller’s office says they are not allowed by law to pay anything during the budget impasses without a continuing appropriation, court order or consent decree. The Comptroller’s office also says they do not have any vouchers from the lottery currently in their system.

IDES to distribute $16 million credit among nearly 13,000 businesses
The State of Illinois plans to credit nearly 13,000 businesses a total of $16 million because of difficult wage reporting rules. The Illinois Department of Employment Security says rules implemented in 2013 as part of a Medicaid reform law required employers with 25 or more employees to file wage reports electronically but many Illinois employers had problems with the transition and incurred penalties and interest charges for late reports. New rules adopted in 2014 removed the penalties and retroactively waved up to the first two quarters of the penalties for late monthly reports. The state says they have already credited $1.5 million to around 4,000 employers with the remaining $14.5 million in credits expected by the end of the 4th quarter. IDES Director Jeff Mays says the Department will continue to explore ways to enhance wage reporting systems to prevent unemployment insurance benefit fraud.

Ives pleads for building to be named after U.S. Army Staff Sgt., not Brueder
A state representative is pleading with a public community college to not name any buildings after a disgraced former college president. In an open letter to the College of DuPage Republican Representative Jeanne Ives says the college should ensure that no building at the school bears the name of Robert Breuder. Most importantly, Ives says the colleges’ Homeland Security Education Center should not be named after the former president. Ives’ letter requests the building be named after U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Robert James Miller who was killed in Afghanistan back in 2008. Brueder was dismissed from the College of DuPage after questions surrounding various perks and a three-quarters of a million dollars severance package agreed to behind closed doors.

Rauner encourages business to prepare for emergency
Illinois’ Governor is putting the call out to businesses around the state to prepare for emergencies. Beginning this week the Illinois National Guard and other first responders are conducting drills simulating a 7.7 magnitude earthquake called the Prairie Assurance Exercise. During a fundraiser for the American Red Cross serving South Central Illinois on WMAY Springfield Governor Bruce Rauner highlighted the importance for businesses to be ready for disasters.

“Business folks, some of them understand how important this is, others are so busy with their head down that they don’t look. We need everybody to stay conscious of the fact we’ve got a lot of challenges and the potential disasters that could hit us, we need to think about it and talk about and communicate with the National Guard to be ready for it.”

The Governor also says that every summer he’ll be working with the Illinois National Guard on every issue that could come about like storms, floods and even dirty bombs.

“We’ve got to be worried. There are a lot of bad people out there trying to hurt American citizens and we’ve got to be ready for the eventuality”

Meanwhile the Governor applauded the work the Red Cross does in helping families in times of need like fires and other disasters. The Rauner Family Foundation has been a major contributor to the American Red Cross for years.

The Illinois News Network is an independent project of the Illinois Policy Institute.

GA health benefits cost taxpayers $1.2 million; Rauner “ticked off,” Franks: State should pay Lottery penalty; and more from INN Radio – Illinois News Network