School Funding

This week's State Week in Review is an interesting listen on the whys and wherefores of the recently vetoed school funding bill. One reason for the Legislature to hold off sending the bill to the Governor for his already announced veto was that, if negotiations had panned out between the two sides, the bill would have only needed an amendment to incorporate any negotiated changes, then the Governor could sign the amended bill. As it stands now, with the veto, there can be no changes to the bill.  If the House overrides his veto, the school funding bill goes into effect as written.

The discussion also points out that, although Gov. Rauner only mentions the funding for Chicago teacher pensions as his reason for vetoing the bill, his amendatory veto also made a lot of changes in the way payments to school systems are calculated. Currently, according to my understanding of the discussion, since they don't generate any funds for schools, TIF districts and property tax caps are not considered when calculating how "rich" a school district is for purposes of calculating state funding. Under Gov. Rauner's changes, the value of TIF districts and total property valuation in excess of caps would be considered when determining funding, meaning that even poor districts would now have access to much more valuation, at least on paper.

State Leaders Meeting

Using the term "leaders" a bit sarcastically, as the governor and the heads of the state legislature have not met in about 6 months, Governor Rauner and the 4 legislative heads are scheduled to meet tomorrow. Given the seriousness of the situation, one would think they could have managed to meet monthly or even weekly, instead of debating the issues under consideration thorugh the media rather than in person.

Still No Budget

As Illinois Issues points out, we still don't have a budget and have no sign of one on the horizon. The governor's last proposal relies on projections that show little evidence of coming to pass while the legislature's does not include funding to cover its spending

Soda Sales Tax

Probably won't get enacted if Governor Rauner has anything to say about it but apparently a majority of Illinoisans favor a 1 cent sales tax on soda. Taxes like this are the preferred form of sales taxes, much like those on cigarettes. You don't want to pay the tax, don't buy the product. Unlike cigarettes, however, a 1 cent sales tax on soda is pretty small and it is likely that most soda consumers would even notice the increase. The increase is certainly not big enough to drive them across a nearby state border, the way that another jump in cigarette taxes would

Rauner's Speech

Looks as if 2275 signed the protest on Change.org asking the university to dis-invite the governor from speaking at graduation this weekend. Only about a dozen actually showed up to protest his appearance, proving once again that it is really easy to click something on the Internet but much harder to do when it actually involves action.

Pension Court Ruling

From my non-legal expertise, it seems like the lawsuit by the governor to change the state's pension payments was doomed from the start for two reasons:

1) the state Constitution says that you can't change pensions for state employees.

2) claiming that the state is in such a crisis that there is no other option doesn't wash since the state just let the temporary income tax increase lapse. Governor Rauner may not have liked it, a lot of other people may not like it, but keeping that tax increase in place was an option the state could have used.

Students Protest Against Rauner

2000+ students have signed a petition asking the university to replace Governor Bruce Rauner as graduation speaker, which is likely a fool's errand given the request comes only a few weeks before the scheduled speech, meaning the University would have to find a replacement speaker in a hurry.

Rauner is, like it or not, the chief executive of the state of Illinois for the next four years and therefore the ultimate head of the university system. This area and, Illinois outside of Chicago and the Metro-east St. Louis region, voted for him. That means that much of the state wanted to put him in charge. I do have to wonder how many of those who clicked on the Change. org petition actually voted in the gubernatorial election. Going out to your polling place and casting a vote takes much more time and effort than clicking on a link on a website.