Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Capitol Fax.com - Proposed DHS rule changes slammed as horribly biased against the poor

 

Wednesday, Aug 26, 2015

* Progress Illinois

The Illinois Department of Human Services is holding the second of two public hearings Wednesday over the Rauner administration’s proposals to toughen the appeals process for key benefits programs.

The Rauner administration’s proposed rule changes would impact Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), according to disability advocacy group Access Living.

The group says the Rauner administration is seeking to make the appeals process harder for people who are denied benefits or terminated from those programs.

The Rauner administration’s proposed rules “do not provide customers with due process, are unnecessarily complicated and confusing, and in some cases are in conflict with the federal statutes and regulations protecting the rights of those eligible for the various benefits programs,” Access Living’s advocacy director said in a posting on the group’s website.

SEIU Healthcare Illinois is also speaking out against the proposed changes.

“The Rauner administration is adding a blizzard of new barriers to access services as well as denying due process to the very poor in ways that conflict with existing statutes, regulations and court cases–not to mention Rauner’s own public statements that he is committed to preserving benefits for the vulnerable,” the union said in a media release. “Among the changes, the state would alter the entire premise for Illinois social services and place the burden of proof for aid on those who need help the most — a drastic departure from current conditions — and would move hearings when benefits are denied far away from access points for the poor.”

The proposed rule changes are here. Some criticisms are here.

* From today’s hearing…

See more:  http://capitolfax.com/2015/08/26/proposed-dha-rule-changes-slammed-as-horribly-biased-against-the-poor/

Illinois must disclose which bills it has paid or not paid: judge - Yahoo News

 

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A federal judge on Wednesday gave Illinois until midday on Friday to disclose which bills the state has paid or not paid and why it could not fully comply with a court order to fund services for developmentally disabled residents in the absence of a fiscal 2016 state budget.

U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman said she was "very disappointed" the state failed to meet an Aug. 21 payment deadline she set in her Aug. 18 order and did not communicate that failure to the court.

"You have to make contact with the court or else you are in contempt of the court order," the judge told attorneys for Illinois' comptroller and two state agency heads.

An impasse between Republican Governor Bruce Rauner and Democrats who control the House and Senate over a spending plan for the fiscal year that began July 1 ignited a rush to court to seek payment orders. State and federal courts have ordered state money to continue to flow for human services covered under existing consent decrees and for state payroll.

Services for more than 10,000 disabled residents were covered under a 2011 consent decree.

Attorneys for disabled residents on Tuesday asked the judge to find the state officials in civil contempt of court. But Coleman requested a detailed accounting of the state's bill payments instead.

"Human lives are at stake," the judge said, while acknowledging the existence of other court orders competing for state funds.

John Stevens, a lawyer for Illinois Comptroller Leslie Munger, said after payments were made on Aug. 21 for debt service on bonds and for pensions, the state lacked money to pay all of its bills.

Benjamin Wolf, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney representing the disabled, told reporters after the hearing that some clients were about to be thrown out in the street due to the lack of state payments.

(Reporting by Karen Pierog; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

Illinois must disclose which bills it has paid or not paid: judge - Yahoo News

Energy company could sue Boone County over proposed wind turbine setbacks - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

 

BELVIDERE — In January 2011, representatives from Mainstream Renewable Power met with county representatives at Belvidere City Hall to discuss wind turbine development in Manchester and LeRoy townships.
County officials told them they must apply for a special-use permit and comply with zoning regulations before the project could proceed. Mainstream representatives estimated it would take about a year to complete project studies and submit plans to the board for approval.
Four years later, debate over wind turbine development is raging in Boone County, Mainstream is no closer to developing turbines and there’s no clear end in sight.
For months, Zoning Board of Appeals members have mulled over proposed zoning ordinance changes that would essentially ban wind energy development in Boone County.
On Tuesday night, Jim Griffin, a Chicago lawyer who represents Mainstream, testified before the board that the proposed changes are unconstitutional.
"If the amendment is approved, in order to protect its investment and the property rights of land owners who wish to host wind energy turbines, Mainstream will need to consider all options, including litigation," Griffin said.
The changes would increase setback requirements — the determination of how far from property lines the turbines must be to comply with county code — to a half-mile. According to a map made by Mainstream developer Chris Dorman, it would be impossible for any landowner in the county to comply with that setback.
Griffin argued that the issue comes down to agricultural property rights and that the county can't limit the rights of property owners to lease land to energy companies.
Although the proposed changes do include a section that would allow neighboring property owners to waive the setback, Griffin called the clause "legally meaningless."
"Adjacent property owners can't decide what neighbors do with their property," Griffin said. "If a half-mile structure is truly a health hazard, how can Boone County allow it to be waived?"
Supporters of the changes argue that the half-mile setback is necessary to protect people living near turbines from negative health side effects. This spring, Michigan and Illinois property owners who live near turbines delivered hours of testimony to the board claiming health problems and property value decline from turbine development.
Public testimony will continue during a Sept. 22 meeting. Then planning staff will present to the board and another round of public comment from the citizens who proposed the changes will be scheduled.
It could be months before the ZBA votes on whether to recommend the changes to the County Board.
Ben Stanley: 815-987-1369; bstanley@rrstar.com; @ben_j_stanley

Energy company could sue Boone County over proposed wind turbine setbacks - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

Retain birthright citizenship: Our view---USA Today

 

Attacks on 'anchor babies' are impractical and unworthy of the immigration debate.

Ratified in 1868 in the wake of the Civil War, the Constitution's 14th Amendment is abundantly clear: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."

Thirty years later, the amendment was challenged after Congress passed a law to exclude Chinese immigrants. The Supreme Court held that the amendment confers automatic citizenship on anyone born in the USA. Through multiple waves of immigration since then, it has faced no serious challenge.

Until now.

This week, as part of his unworkable and mean-spirited immigration plan, Donald Trump called for denying citizenship to babies born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrants. At least a half-dozen other Republicans vying for the party's presidential nomination have scurried to join him in seeking to either undo or “reinterpret” the 14th Amendment.

In the modern era of porous borders, international tourism and jetliner travel, ending so-called birthright citizenship carries a certain visceral appeal. But the practical and legal obstacles make it at best a distraction from the nation's more serious immigration problems, and at worst an ugly form of anti-Hispanic discrimination.

To undo birthright citizenship would require the monumental task of amending the Constitution or passing a new law and battling constitutional challenges. Either approach would take many years; even if it succeeded, the nation would end up with a flawed system requiring federal involvement in what is now a local issue, the granting of birth certificates.

If history is any guide, many states would balk. In 2005, Congress passed a law to create a national identification system by placing new federal standards on driver’s licenses. A decade later, fewer than half the states have fully complied. If the same happened with birth certificates, citizenship would depend on where a baby was born.

Most politicians pushing the repeal of birthright citizenship have given short shrift to these sorts of real-life complications. Would women in labor need to bring birth certificates or passports to the hospital to prove that they or the baby's father is legal? Would bureaucrats need to check the IDs to determine authenticity before any birth certificates were issued?

Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, sponsor of a measure to repeal birthright citizenship, says he doesn't "think that would be a big deal." We wonder whether the parents of the 4 million babies born in the USA each year would agree that undergoing a citizenship test is worth the hassle in order to identify the estimated 7.7% who are born to unauthorized immigrants, according to the Pew Research Center.

And to what end?

The scheme would not put much of a dent in the country’s immigration problems. It would surely cause some women to stay away from hospitals, endangering the health of mother and child. Far better if the effort and federal dollars were put toward more efficient ways to fight illegal immigration: tighter borders, better employment verification and dealing with visitors who overstay their visas.

If babies born to undocumented immigrants were suddenly denied citizenship, it would create an automatic underclass of stateless children, unable to attend school or feel allegiance to the country in which they live.

Through past waves of anti-immigrant fervor against the Chinese, Irish, Italians and others, such ideas have never won out. America has thrived by assimilating people from all over the world, people proud to have been "born in the USA."  There is no good reason to change a winning formula now.

USA TODAY's editorial opinions are decided by its Editorial Board, separate from the news staff. Most editorials are coupled with an opposing view — a unique USA TODAY feature.

Retain birthright citizenship: Our view

Obama Slams Koch Brothers at Clean Energy Summit for 'Standing in the Way of Progress'

 

President Obama has returned from vacation and he said he feels “refreshed, renewed, recharged” and “a little feisty.” Well, that feistiness was apparent as he delivered the closing address at the 8th National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada Monday. Sun-blessed Nevada is being hailed as “ground zero in the solar boom.” He slammed critics of his energy policies for “wanting to protect an outdated status quo” based on fossil fuels and warned them away from “standing in the way of the future” and his efforts to combat climate change.

He railed against U.S. political and business figures, particularly the Koch brothers, for attempting to thwart the expansion of wind and solar power, which is widely popular among the American public.

“When you start seeing massive lobbying efforts backed by fossil fuel interests, or conservative think tanks, or the Koch brothers pushing for new laws to roll back renewable energy standards, or to prevent new clean energy businesses from succeeding, that’s a problem,” Obama said, marking the first time the President has singled out the Koch brothers in a climate speech. The explosive growth of solar in the U.S. “has some big fossil fuel interests pretty nervous,” Obama noted.

And he pointed out the inconsistency of those who promote free market solutions, except when those solutions point to renewable energy. “Now, it’s one thing if you’re consistent in being free market,” said Obama. “It’s another thing when you’re free market until it’s solar that’s working and people want to buy and suddenly you’re not for it any more.”

Koch-backed groups, particularly the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), have fought renewable energy programs in several states, including pushing for states to withdraw from climate compacts, penalizing rooftop solar installations and repealing renewable portfolio standards.

That’s not the American way. That’s not progress. That’s not innovation. That’s rent seeking. That’s standing in the way of progress,” Obama said. The President’s speech, however, was not all doom and gloom and bashing his critics. Obama spoke optimistically about American ingenuity and with great hope about solar and other renewable forms of energy. “We’re here today because we believe that no challenge poses a greater threat to our future than climate change,” Mr. Obama said. “But we’re also here because we hold another belief, and that is, we are deeply optimistic about American ingenuity.”

Obama said the growth in solar—which is 20 times bigger than it was in 2008, is “like evolving from the telegraph to the smartphone in less than a decade.” And he noted that “solar isn’t just for the green crowd any more, it’s for the green-eyeshade crowd too,” citing the fact that Walmart, Google and Apple are among the largest buyers of renewable energy in the world.

The speech came “as his administration announced a series of measures to encourage solar power construction, including making an additional $1 billion in loan guarantee authority available in a federal program for innovative versions of residential rooftop solar systems,” reports The New York Times.

“We’re going to make it even easier for individual homeowners to put solar panels on the roof with no upfront cost,” Obama said. “So we’re taking steps that will allow more Americans to join this revolution, with no money down.”

And this is all on the heels of the President’s Clean Power Plan, which requires states to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 32 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. Much of those cuts would come from bringing more renewable energy projects online.

Environmental groups praised the President’s latest efforts. “President Obama’s announcement today is a huge win for American families from coast-to-coast,” said Sierra Club Legislative Director Melinda Pierce. “These policies will save homeowners money on their electricity bills, put more people to work and empower Americans to act to tackle climate disruption in their everyday lives.”

Obama Slams Koch Brothers at Clean Energy Summit for 'Standing in the Way of Progress'

Mainstream challenges proposed changes in Wind Turbine Zoning as not legal

The Zoning Board of Appeals has concluded the witness phase of their public hearing regarding the amendment to the Wind Turbine ordinance. Only Mainstream gave testimony opposing the ordinance.  Next month “staff” will supply its finding/conclusion and a short (possibly two minute) comment statement will be allowing by individual members of the public.  Then the ZBA board will discuss and vote on its recommendations.

The following are the conclusions submitted by Mainstream and its legal counsel:

Mainstream oppose--  Conclusion

Their legal conclusions are based upon these two letters regarding legal presidence submitted earlier:  Schain and Banks letter dated January 23, 2015 http://boonecountywatchdog.blogspot.com/2015/01/mainstream-details-their-opposition-to.html  and Schain and Banks letter dated February 20, 2015   http://boonecountywatchdog.blogspot.com/2015/02/mainstream-renewable-powers-reaction-to.html

 

WORK IN PROGRESS

Mainstream’s full slide presentation will follow.