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Dear Neighbor,
Yesterday we completed veto session, sending a bi-partisan budget reallocation plan and reforms to stop pension abuses to the Governor for signing. Details of these items are below. The General Assembly did not pass a tax relief plan for the financial exchanges/Sears, and we did not address gaming or the larger pension reform proposals for current employees. These issues may return for debate in the future.
Budget Reallocation
The budget reallocation plan provides additional funding for critical human service programs and keeps state facilities open this fiscal year to provide time to plan for appropriate closures. The new General Revenue Fund (GRF) spending is offset with reductions elsewhere. As a Senate appropriations chair, I negotiated this reallocation plan with Democratic and Republican representatives from both Chambers as well as the Governor's Office, and believe this plan significantly improves our use of limited resources and outcomes for our neediest residents.
Specifically, the following GRF items were included:
- $200.1 million for state operational expenses to maintain facilities and prevent layoffs (there will be personnel reductions through attrition);
- $30.0 million for community mental health programs;
- $28.0 million for substance abuse programs;
- $8.0 million for funeral and burial expenses; and
- $4.7 million for homeless services.
There are also a number of non-GRF appropriations added to the budget, including:
- $33.5 million for monetary assistance program (MAP) grants;
- $50.0 million for Race to the Top federal funding the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) will likely receive to help implement education reform initiatives;
- $70.0 million for an Early Learning Challenge grant ISBE has applied for from the federal government; and
- $20.0 million to implement the Williams federal consent decree that requires allowing individuals with mental illnesses in nursing homes to be moved to community settings if appropriate and desired.
Offsetting cuts are from education transportation and regional education office lines; Medicaid funding (we will not increase unfunded liabilities, however, as we will use about half of the Governor's vetoed funding to fund Medicaid and federal Medicaid matching dollars for it); and a variety of GRF statutory transfers that historically have not undergone scrutiny in the budget process.
Pension Fund Reforms
HB3813 addresses concerns about pension practices that enabled labor union employees to receive public pension benefits. This bill:
- Prevents current public employees who have not applied for a leave of absence or any future public employee to receive public pension credit for a leave of absence at a labor union;
- Bases public pension benefits for current public employees who have taken a leave of absence from the Chicago Municipal and Laborers funds on their municipal salary (not union salary) plus the average of CPI;
- Prohibits members of the Chicago Municipal and Laborers Fund from earning service credit toward a public pension fund if they are earning credit toward a pension plan by a union;
- Requires any reasonable suspicion of fraud to be reported to that pension system's board of trustees and establishes penalties for fiduciaries who do not report such suspicion; and
- Repeals state law which allowed members of the Illinois Federation of Teachers to establish service credit in the Teachers Retirement System.
Please let me know if you have questions on these or any other items. You can reach me by email at hsteans@senatedem.ilga.gov or by phone at 773-769-1717.
Best regards,
Heather A. Steans | 
