10 States to Earn a Bigger Paycheck
1. Illinois
With an adjusted-average income of about $42,000, Illinois grabs the top spot as the best state for making a living . While the state’s unemployment rate remains high at 8.9 percent, Illinoisans benefit from reasonably high average wages, low state taxes, and a below-average cost of living.
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The state’s largest employees’ union says Gov. Bruce Rauner wants to try and force a strike or lockout while the union works to enact legislation to block a work stoppage and bring in a third party arbitrator.
That’s according to an AFSCME Council 31 bargaining update posted to the Capitol Fax blog as a contract extension nears an end with no agreement in sight.
Among the issues the Rauner administration is pushing, according to the AFSCME bulletin, are no wage or step increases for the entire term of the contract, and a restructuring of the group health insurance plan the union says would increase out-of-pocket costs by 500 percent.
The union also decries several items including elimination of all restrictions on subcontracting or personal service contracts, reduced pension benefits for those voluntarily agreeing to move to tier 2 and the elimination of the Upward Mobility Program in its entirety.
A previous Illinois News Network investigation found the state spends nearly $4 million, which includes administration costs, on the program that offers taxpayer funded college education for state employees.
The current contract expired at the end of June but both sides announced a one-month extension. The bulletin says AFSCME has proposed another extension.
The bulletin also urges union members to take financial steps now to buffer any potential work stoppage they claim the Governor is trying to force. Meanwhile the union says a strike is a last resort but something they’re willing to take.
The document encourages union members to put pressure on Republican Representative Raymond Poe to support Senate Bill 1229, a vote they say would be needed to override any potential veto of the measure that would bring in a third party arbitrator.
The Governor’s office says they were able to reach an agreement with the Teamsters several weeks ago and are continuing to negotiate in good faith with AFSCME to ensure all of their members get paid during the budget impasse.
AFSCME: Rauner pushing for work stoppage | The Rock River Times
BYRON (WREX) -
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or NRC has published its final report over the environmental impacts of renewing the operating licenses of the Byron Station nuclear power plant. The report states that the plant's impact on the environment isn't great enough to halt the renewal of the licenses.
Byron Station has two pressurized water reactors in Byron 17 miles southwest of Rockford. The NRC held public meetings in Byron to receive public comment on rules and renewal guidance.
The operator of the Byron Station, Exelon Generation Co. LLC, submitted a renewal application May 29, 2013. The application would extend the plant's licenses for 20 more years past their original expiration dates, Oct. 31, 2024, and Nov. 6, 2026.
The application included alternatives to the Byron Station, including a new plant, natural gas plants or a combination of wind, solar, and natural gas generators. Another option submitted was no renewal of the license.
If a hearing is granted, the renewal application will be evaluated by the commission. You can view the application by clicking here.
Final environmental report filed for license renewals of Byron S - WREX.com – Rockford’s News Leader
Mitsubishi Motors says it plans to stop U.S. production at its facility in central Illinois and sell the plant.
Dan Irvin, tthe company's North American spokesman, said Friday that the Japanese automaker reviewed its global supply chain and decided it was necessary to end production at the plant and find a buyer.
The plant in Normal, Illinois, employs more than 1,200 workers. Irvin says Mitsubishi's board will make a formal decision soon and hopes to find a buyer who'll maintain employment.
The plant's annual production has fallen from more than 200,000 vehicles in 2002, to 64,000 vehicles.
The announcement follows Japanese media reports that Mitsubishi wants to focus on Asian markets.
The company sold only 82,000 vehicles in the U.S. last year, less than one percent of the total market
Governor Bruce Rauner believes he can hold secret meetings on public property.
He also maintains that taxpayers have no right to know who he's consulted, even long after the conferences are over and policies have been enacted as a result.
A lawyer for Rauner staked out those positions in a letter last week to the office of Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.
It was submitted as part of a battle with the Reader over whether copies of the governor's past calendar and meeting schedule should be released to the public. I requested the records in May under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, but Christina McClernon, an assistant general counsel for Rauner, says he has the right to keep them private.
"The Governor's Office was under no obligation to provide the requested appointment calendars to Mr. Dumke because these documents are not 'public records' under FOIA," she wrote in a July 16 letter to the Public Access Bureau, a division of the attorney general's office that rules on FOIA disputes.
If the governor's position is upheld, it would be a setback for anyone who thinks taxpayers should get to know who has access to public officials conducting business with public funds. The letter suggests the calendars and meeting schedules of every other public official in Illinois could also be kept secret.
I'm writing about the back and forth to keep the legal dispute open and public.
During his $57 million campaign for governor, Rauner promised to bring a new level of openness to state government, painting incumbent Pat Quinn as a product of the corrupt Democratic machine that conducted public business in backroom deals. "This is about transparency and accountability," Rauner declared.
Since taking office, though, Rauner has worked to conceal how he operates.
He's made good on vows to fight for a probusiness "turnaround" agenda that would tighten the rules for union organizing, worker's compensation, and filing lawsuits. Since Democrats have rejected the proposals, Rauner has refused to work with house speaker Michael Madigan and senate president John Cullerton on a budget deal, resulting in a state shutdown during which the governor has remained largely out of public view.
At the same time, he has refused to disclose who has access to his office, let alone what he's working on. In some cases, he also won't say who's being compensated with taxpayer money to do work for the state.
In May I submitted a FOIA request intended to see who has Rauner's ear. Specifically, I asked for copies of his daily schedule and meeting calendar from his inauguration in January through early May.
The governor's office eventually provided copies of the schedules, but more than 150 appointments were blacked out—an average of more than one secret meeting a day, as Ben Joravsky and I wrote last month.
An attorney for Rauner argued that the redactions were justified because the information was "preliminary" and protected by attorney-client privilege, two loopholes in the FOIA frequently invoked by officials to avoid releasing records.
We then asked the public access bureau to weigh in, arguing that citizens have a clear right to know what the governor is up to. We stressed that we never asked what was said at the meetings—only who was in on them—so it was illogical to claim that releasing the information would reveal confidential discussions.
But last week the governor's office responded that the public doesn't have the right to see his daily schedules in any form.
In a five-page letter, McClernon—Rauner's assistant general counsel and freedom of information officer—cited old cases from federal court, Ohio, and Pennsylvania in arguing that the governor's schedules and calendars are off limits. She also claimed that releasing the documents could violate the governor's security, even long after the events are over.
But the letter also indicated that the governor simply doesn't want the public to know who has access to him. The calendars "reveal the identities of people with whom he has met and consulted and thus can be read to determine the substance and direction of his judgment and mental processes," McClernon wrote.
The arguments have a familiar ring. Five years ago I went through a similar battle with lawyers for the city of Chicago over schedules for then-mayor Richard M. Daley. They argued that releasing them would be too "burdensome" and could endanger the mayor.
But the attorney general's office eventually rejected those claims and determined that the mayor's schedule and meeting calendar were indeed public records. "The public has a legitimate interest in learning of its Mayor's public meetings held in City Hall," wrote an assistant attorney general.
I cited the ruling in a lawsuit against the city over its FOIA denials. City officials now cough up Mayor Rahm Emanuel's schedule when asked.
Yet Rauner's administration is fighting over more than copies of his meeting calendar. Previously it's refused to disclose which legislators attended policy planning meetings.
And last month I requested a list of private-sector law firms hired to do state work—that is, firms paid with taxpayer money. McClernon refused to provide that information either, saying it too was protected by attorney-client privilege.
Is the governor really claiming that the public doesn't have the right to know how taxpayer funds are spent? Public contracts are among the classic and longstanding examples of "information regarding the affairs of government" meant to be disclosed under the Illinois FOIA.
The public access bureau will have a chance to weigh in on both FOIA matters in the coming weeks.
So far, we know this much: Rauner is being transparent about what he thinks of open government.
Posted: Monday, July 20, 2015 12:56 pm
Rauner, Madigan hit a wall on Illinois budget Monique Garcia | Chicago Tribune Daily Egyptian
After seven months, the legislative sausage-making process to put in place a new state budget has hit a wall: The governor proposed a spending plan and lawmakers passed one, but the governor vetoed it and lawmakers failed to override him.
The end result is that Illinois enters its fourth week without full authority to spend money, and there's no clear path through the political logjam that threatens to shut down parts of state government.
At this point, it's historically been up to the governor and legislative leaders to hash out a deal in private. While the occasional talks are taking place, signs are that they've been less than productive and don't appear likely to bring about a quick agreement.
"I don't necessarily presume that there will be some kind of deal put together between the governor and legislative leaders," powerful House Speaker Michael Madigan said last week.
For now, Madigan has indicated he'll keep sending Gov. Bruce Rauner piecemeal budgets to try to prop up critical social service programs, while Rauner maintains he won't sign them into law.
"Rather than passing one-month, out-of-balance budgets that hurt social service providers and the most vulnerable, Speaker Madigan and the politicians he controls should compromise with Gov. Rauner on passing a truly balanced budget along with much-needed reforms that will turn our state around," Rauner spokesman Lance Trover said in a statement.
The political enmity between Rauner and Madigan remains a major stumbling block. Rauner has aired TV ads to try to blame Madigan as the source of the state's problems, while the speaker repeatedly counters that the governor is "extreme" for connecting the budget-making process to approval of his agenda to help businesses and curb union power.
It's difficult to see peace talks progressing when two of the state's biggest politicians are still firing at each other. Frustration among many lawmakers is evident.
"We need a reset. We're back to square zero, we're back to square negative two," said Sen. Daniel Biss, D-Evanston. "It's an outrage, it's an embarrassment."
Part of the impasse is that not enough pressure has built up to force Democrats and Republicans to reach a deal. Rauner signed the education budget, so schools will have money to open on time this fall. The law is set up to keep pension checks and lawmaker salaries flowing, and judges have ordered that workers should get paid and the state's child welfare department must be funded.
Many social service agencies that care for the disabled, elderly and addicted are still getting money because the state is so far behind in paying its bills, but that spending authority will run out in the coming weeks as the comptroller gets around to making good on vouchers dated July 1 and beyond.
One immediate pressure point evaporated Friday when the Illinois Supreme Court opted not to quickly hear Attorney General Lisa Madigan's appeal of a pair of legal cases on whether state workers can be paid in full absent a budget. Rauner has assured employees they will get paid during the impasse, and so far he's found help in keeping that promise from the courts. A speedy court ruling that turned off the paycheck spigot would have hurt Rauner's leverage.
Another factor in the stalemate is that there's not much of a template of how to proceed. Illinois has had divided control of government before, but the legislature and governor eventually were able to compromise.
The most recent parallel to the current impasse is 2007, when then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich was locked in a fight with fellow Democrats over his desire for a major increase in education spending and a massive expansion of state-subsidized health care. Speaker Madigan favored a smaller budget.
That year, the governor and lawmakers agreed to a one-month budget before Madigan teamed with then-Senate President Emil Jones Jr. to send Blagojevich a full-year budget that he eventually signed on Aug. 23. Blagojevich used his veto powers to cut $500 million from that plan. The House overturned that veto, but the effort was blocked in the Senate.
This time around, however, Rauner has vetoed much of the budget lawmakers sent him, but Democrats were unable to stick together to override him and put a spending plan on the books.
On its face, the two sides aren't terribly far apart on the budget. Both agree there need to be cuts. Democrats say a tax hike is necessary, and Rauner hasn't shut the door on the idea. It's how to get there that's the problem.
Rauner says he won't even consider raising taxes unless lawmakers also go along with his wide-ranging agenda, which includes freezing local property taxes, enacting term limits, curbing collective bargaining rights, reducing what businesses must pay injured workers and limiting awards in civil lawsuits.
Democrats are fundamentally opposed to many of those ideas, saying they will diminish the middle class at the benefit of corporate bosses. They've accused Rauner of hijacking the process to push ideas that have nothing to do with the budget, while the governor contends his plans are critical to putting the state on more sound financial footing.
"We're stuck, and here's the issue. I believe the math problem of the budget is not that difficult to solve," said Senate Republican leader Christine Radogno of Lemont. "Where we're stuck is that we absolutely have to have some reforms in order for this state to get on, and more importantly, stay on a path to prosperity."
It's now become a case of which side will flinch first. As Rauner continues to pitch his stance as positioning Illinois for a better economic future, Democrats have focused on the human toll of the fight. They've held hearing after hearing featuring testimony from those with the most to lose, namely people who rely on social service groups that receive the bulk of their funding from the state.
Most will be able to stay afloat for a few more weeks because the state is still paying for services they provided in the last budget year. But once those payments become current and the comptroller can no longer cut checks, groups that provide everything from home care for seniors to autism therapy for children could lay off workers, cut services or close completely.
Democrats say they're focused on piecemeal budget bills to keep those groups afloat, though that approach also could put Rauner in a political trick bag in which he must choose to approve or reject funding for sensitive programs.
A spokeswoman for Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, agreed a budget resolution doesn't appear to be in the "near term" but said it's time for all sides to get back to the bargaining table instead of focusing on political theater.
"The Senate president is at a place where he thinks we need to recognize that we've dialed back the clock to January or February, and it's time to get a credible budget plan on the table," spokeswoman Rikeesha Phelon said.
But as the last several months have proved, that's easier said than done.
"I've never seen anything like this," said Sen. Toi Hutchinson, D-Olympia Fields. "It's two different worldviews
Rauner, Madigan hit a wall on Illinois budget - Daily Egyptian: News
