Quinn's Budget is Called Step in Right Direction

   By Benjamin Yount  (Illinois Statehouse News) - 2/23/2012 -  Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn's budget proposal tops 400 pages and is more than 3 inches thick.
   Inside the governor's plan for the next fiscal year, which begins in June, are the details of how he wants to spend $33.9 billion in taxpayers’ money.
   Illinois Statehouse News examines the governor's plan, speaking with lawmakers and outside experts and checking Quinn's math to make sure that dollars add up.
   Quinn’s fiscal 2013 spending plan is $700 million more than the current budget, an increase that will pay for the increase in the state's public employee pension payment.
   "Our pension payment is increasing a little over $1 billion this year," said Quinn’s Budget Director David Vaught. Illinois will owe $5.9 billion in the upcoming year/

   While spending has increased, Quinn is attempting to live within the state’s means, said Laurence Msall, president of the Chicago-based fiscal policy watchdog group, Civic Federation.
   "The governor's proposed spending is less than projected state revenues," said Msall. "And that is a step in the right direction."
   The Legislature's Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability on Tuesday predicted Illinois will take in $34.3 billion in tax revenue in fiscal 2013.
   Quinn’s proposed spending plan maintains the status quo on spending for human services — including Medicaid — holding strong at $14 billion.
   "Illinois spent $14 billion on human services and Medicaid last year, at the same time the state had $15.9 billion in liabilities," said Jerry Stermer, Quinn's special adviser on Medicaid. "Illinois has to cut $2.7 billion from human services and Medicaid in the next budget, because the state simply cannot afford to spend $14 billion on $16.7 billion in liabilities."
   The governor has not said how Illinois will make such a large cut.
   Danny Chun, spokesman for the Illinois Hospital Association, which lobbies for almost all of Illinois hospitals, said that last year Quinn wanted to trim the amount paid to hospitals for Medicaid services. He said he fears that is the plan again.
   "Governor Quinn wanted a 6 percent cut to save $550 million on Medicaid," Chun said. "To get to $2.7 billion in savings, hospitals would see a 24 percent rate cut."
   Chun said a cut that large would be devastating.
   "In Illinois, one in three hospitals, or 70 of the 200 in the state, are losing money," Chun said. "A dramatic cut in Medicaid reimbursement may force some hospitals to close."
   Stermer said no decision has been made about a rate, but "everything is on the table."
   Quinn's budget estimates that closing 14 facilities and consolidating dozens more could save the state close to $100 million a year.
   "That's not just one year savings," said Vaught. "That's $100 million next year, and the year after that, and the year after that."
   The closings would transition residents from state institutions like the Jacksonville Developmental Center in Jacksonville and the Tinley Park Mental Health Center in Tinley Park to community care.
   The governor also is proposing to close the Tamms and Dwight Correctional Centers, and the Youth Centers in Murphysboro and Joliet.
   State Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, whose district includes one of the youth centers considered for closure, said the governor is counting on savings while discounting the costs of moving people out of prisons, youth centers or institutions.
   "Just saying that we're closing facilities is not enough," Bost said. "You actually have to implement a plan and show those savings."
   Quinn’s proposal is not all cuts in spending. He has a handful of priorities where he would like to spend new money.
   "While nearly 150,000 Illinois students received state (Monetary Awards Program, or MAP) scholarships last year to attend college, just as many qualified applicants were denied because of lack of funding," Quinn said as he pushed for a $50 million increase for the MAP scholarship fund.
   The governor also wants lawmakers to approve clean water and new housing projects, and to make sure that elementary and high schools statewide receive the same level of funding as the current budget.
   But Quinn is not saying how he intends to pay for any of the items on his wish list.
   State Sen. Gary Forby, D-Benton, said that for that reason, the governor probably won't get much of what he wants.
   "We're going to give schools another $20 million, we're going to give the MAP program another $50 million. How can you give stuff away when you're shutting other things down?" Forby asked after Quinn's speech. "The governor's math just doesn't add up. He needs to get someone who knows how to add and subtract and make sure he knows how to balance the budget."
   Published courtesy of Illinois Statehouse News

Illinois Taxpayer Revenue Up, Federal Down

   By Andrew Thomason - (Illinois Statehouse News) - 9/12/2011 - Taxpayers gave Illinois a $1.2-billion shot of cash in August, or $464 million more than last August.
   Personal income tax revenue jumped by 68 percent for last month when compared with the same time in 2010, almost mirroring the personal income tax increase of 67 percent approved in January, according to a report issued by the Legislature’s Commission on Government Accountability and Forecasting, or COGFA, this week.
   Overall, the state’s revenue jumped from $1.9 billion in August 2010 to $2.2 billion last month, an increase of 13 percent.
   However, focusing on the month-to-month numbers won’t give an accurate picture of the state’s fiscal health, said Jim Muschinske, COGFA’s revenue manager and author of the August revenue report that outlines Illinois’ finances.
   “I’ve been doing this for more than 20 years, and I don’t get excited over one month. There is just too much that happens on a month-by-month basis,” Muschinske said.
   For example, income tax receipts from July through December, or the first half of fiscal 2012, might show big gains compared to last year. But those increases are only because of the income tax increase, and not because the state’s workforce or economy is doing better, according to the COGFA report.
   The state also got a one-time shot of $73 million relating to the selling of a permit for and opening of the state’s 10th riverboat casino this summer in Des Plaines.
   Higher revenue for August flowed in despite the state collecting less money from the federal government.  
   The end of the federal stimulus package and the state’s extension on paying its social service vendors caused a decline of federal funding by $264 million, or 66 percent less, to $135 million last month compared with $399 million last August.
   For the entire fiscal year, the state will lose about $1 billion in federal funding, Muschinske said. Under the federal stimulus, for every $2 the state spent on Medicaid, the federal government kicked in $1.20. But that extra 20 cents has been phased out, along with the strings attached to it.
   “What happened under the stimulus plan was that the federal government said ‘we’ll give you the higher matching rates, but in order to qualify, you are going to have to pay (social service) providers in 30 days.     
   That’s far quicker that we’ve ever paid before,” Muschinske said.
   “Now that the match is gone, part of the way to manage our resources was the decision to allow approximately $1 billion in bills to be pushed back and the payment cycled moved to more historic levels” of 60 to 90 days, he said.
   The state now has overdue bills from social service providers, schools and others totaling $3.8 billion, said Brad Hahn, spokesman for the state Comptroller’s Office.
   Legislators, when crafting the $33-billion operating budget for the state, said that any extra revenue would go toward paying off the state’s backlog of bills.
   However, Gov. Pat Quinn has said the budget sent to him doesn’t contain enough spending to operate at least 12 state agencies through the end of the fiscal year.
   Quinn could come back during the Legislature’s veto session at the end of October and ask for more money, known as a supplemental appropriation. Extra cash might keep workers from being laid off, but it also could suck up money that would have been used to pay off old bills.
   Story courtesy of Illinois Statehouse News (9/7/2011)

Illinois 50 out of 50 in 2010 for level of state deficit

   By Andrew Thomason (Illinois Statehouse News) - 8/2/2011 -  Illinois ended fiscal 2010 as the most broke state in the nation.
    Illinois owed $37.9 billion more than all of its assets combined, including cash, investments and property, as of July 1, 2010, according to a recent statewide financial audit by the Illinois Auditor General William Holland and Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka.
    Illinois even shorted unknowing taxpayers of $1.4 billion. An examination of the Income Tax Refund Fund by auditors revealed a $1.4 billion deficit, because the state didn’t put enough income tax revenue into the fund, causing a delay in getting the taxes returned to individuals and businesses.
    The deficit would have been worse without a $3 billion cash infusion of federal stimulus money.
    Illinois was one of four states with a deficit when comparing all its debts to assets in fiscal 2010, and of those four, it was in a hole of about $10 billion more that its nearest cousin — New Jersey, which ranked second.
    A combination of mismanagement and a global recession are the largest factors in Illinois monetary woes.
    Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted on corruption charges in federal court recently, came into office in 2003 during a small recession. He immediately promised he wouldn’t raise taxes, but he and the legislature did not cut spending, resulting in a full-blown fiscal crisis.
    “We had a period, maybe three, four or five years, from 2004 to 2007, where we could have, not solved all our problems, but gotten things under control. But we wasted those years and got deeper and deeper in the hole just because of a lack of discipline,” Fred Giertz, an economist with the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
    Another reason for the state of Illinois' financial misery is how it keeps its books, according to the audit. Ralf Seiffe is the director of research at the Institute for Truth in Accounting, a nonprofit that works to make governments provide accurate financial reports, according to its website.  
    "Bad accounting policies and bad budgeting policies are the means and manner by which legislators and the governor get away with essentially spending more than they should," Seiffe said.
   The state was faced with a smaller, but similar problem in the early 1990s. Former Gov. Jim Edgar and the General Assembly were handed a $2 billion deficit and produced a $1.5 billion surplus by 1999 through a tax increase, budget austerity measures and some good fortune in the financial markets.
    “Edgar was either good or lucky, or both,” Giertz said, adding that a similar combination is needed to pull the state out of its $37.9 billion hole.
    Bringing the state’s finances in line will be a struggle. Illinois recently instituted what was billed as a temporary income tax increase on individuals and businesses.
    Money from the tax hike is paying off old bills and making sure new ones are paid on time. Politicians will be faced with a situation where letting the income tax hike expire is unpalatable, because that would require a corresponding $6.8 billion cut to the state’s budget to make up for the lost revenue.
    Most people agree that the state needs to reduce spending, said David Yepsen, director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University. When presented with the programs that eat up the majority of the budget, however, people are hard pressed to point to areas where they would take the blade.
    “It’s no wonder that politicians have got us to this point, because they reflect what the sentiments are of a lot of people. A lot of people want something for nothing,” Yepsen said. “We want public services, yet we don’t want to pay the full price of them, and we don’t trust government to spend money wisely or to cut budgets fairly.”
    Massive public worker layoffs, school closures due to a lack of funds and the firing of entire fire departments statewide are examples of the kind of crisis needed to spur the public and government to take steps toward fixing the state’s finances, said Yepsen.
    A mini-crisis earlier this year is partially responsible for prodding the Legislature and Gov. Pat Quinn into action.
    The organizations that rate the state’s credit worthiness and its main source of borrowing — selling bonds — threatened to downgrade those bonds, when legislators floated a plan to leverage $3.7 billion to make the state’s payment to the pension system this spring. When a government’s bond rating falls, it’s harder to sell bonds, because investors don’t see them as good investments.
    Faced with that prospect, Quinn and the Legislature decided to make the state’s contribution with cash for first time in two years, instead of adding to the $13 billion the state owes in pension payment bonds.
    Additionally, since fiscal 2010, the state has taken the first steps of a long journey to get it on a more solid financial footing. Pension and workers’ compensation reforms, changes to Medicaid, a slimmer budget and an income tax increase were all passed this winter and spring.
    What’s needed to turn those baby steps into full strides?
    “It’s going to take Republicans talking about finding additional revenues. It’s going to take Democrats (finding) ways to talk about making cuts, and I think you’re seeing a form of that here with Quinn and the union. He’s clearly telling them something they don’t want to hear,” Yepsen said.
    Quinn has refused to pay state employees who are members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 public worker union a 2-percent pay hike that is outlined in their contract.
    Quinn continues to say the Legislature didn’t include the money for the raises in the budget it sent him, and without the money, he can’t pay the extra $75 million. Two lawsuits, one in Illinois Circuit Court and one in the U.S. District Court in Springfield, are pending on this issue.
    While politicians seem to be moving in the right direction, Yepsen said he is concerned about the speed with which they are doing it.
    “I just worry that it’s not fast enough. And that what’s going to happen to Illinois is as this recession ends, other states are going to get out the problem quicker than we are. And those states are going to become more attractive to economic growth and development than we are, because we are going to be lagging behind in cleaning up this mess,” Yepsen said.
   If the state was in the red for $37.9 billion in 2010, then what does the fiscal picture look like now? The audit released Thursday answers that question by simply saying: It’s nearly impossible to tell.
   However, the state's mounting debts were contrasted against the state's assets in this audit.
A report by Treasurer Dan Rutherford released in May said the state owes $45 billion in debt through 2036, including interest. Taxpayers owe $140 billion in unfunded pension and retiree health care liabilities, according to the same report.
   Story published courtesy of Illinois Statehouse News. Originally published July 28, 2011.

Governor to consider fate of death row inmates

   By Mary Massingale - (ISN) - 2/7/2011 - Gov. Pat Quinn on Feb. 4 said he would decide the fate of inmates now on death row when he reaches a decision on whether to sign legislation abolishing the death penalty.
   Lawmakers last month passed a measure that would end the death penalty in Illinois, but the legislation excludes the 15 inmates now on death row. That point was noted to Quinn, and he was asked if he was considering commuting the sentences of those inmates.
   “I’m going to make a decision on everything at the right time — it won’t be that long from now — but I do think it’s important to have a period of reflection and review, and that’s what we’re doing,” Quinn said.
   The governor is the only state official authorized to commute death row sentences.
   Lawmakers narrowly approved the abolition measure during the lame-duck session after a long and often-emotional debate. Supporters pointed to multiple death row exonerations, while opponents argued the threat of capital punishment is a tool used by law enforcement to garner confessions from alleged killers.
   The state constitution allows the governor 60 days to act on legislation after it is sent to his desk, or it becomes law without his signature. The proposal was sent to Quinn on Jan. 18.
   Quinn said his decision will come in “a few weeks.” In the meantime, he said he has taken time to “listen to the dialogue of the people, reflect and pray.”
   “I’ve had meetings in my office with a variety of different law enforcement people, as well as private individuals, people from the faith community,” Quinn said. “I encourage anyone in Illinois with an opinion on this subject to e-mail me, mail me letters.”
   Quinn has said in the past that he supports capital punishment for the most heinous of crimes, but he also has kept in place the moratorium on the death penalty imposed in 2000 by former Gov. George Ryan. Ryan in January 2003 then cleared out death row, commuting the sentences of all inmates.
   As the main proponent of the legislation, the Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and its supporters are patiently waiting for Quinn’s decision.
   “Obviously, we want him to sign it, but we’ve really stressed that the governor should take as much time as he needs,” said Jeremy Schroeder, executive director.
   County state’s attorneys, however, favor capital punishment, and are hoping Quinn keeps it in place.
   Coles County State’s Attorney Steve Ferguson in February 2003 successfully prosecuted and got the death sentence for Anthony Mertz, who was convicted of killing a female Eastern Illinois University student. Mertz was the first inmate to be sent to death row following Ryan’s blanket commutations, and still resides there.
   Ferguson said he doesn’t begrudge Quinn the time he needs to reach a decision.
   “He certainly seems to be putting more deliberation and time into this than the legislature did, and I’m thankful for that,” Ferguson said.
   Kevin Lyons, state’s attorney for Peoria County, traveled to the state Capitol several times to testify against the abolition bill. He noted that if Quinn signs the legislation, he would also have to act in favor of the inmates now on death row.
   “Fairness would demand that if the death penalty is abolished, those persons would surely have to have their sentences commuted by governor act to life without parole,” Lyons said. “Fairness would require it.”
   But a political observer noted the Democratic governor’s conundrum: Quinn narrowly supports the death penalty, but has been handed abolition legislation by a Democratic Legislature.
   “It does put him in a bit of a box,” said Kent Redfield, a professor of political studies at the University of Illinois-Springfield.
   However, Quinn could sign the legislation, and then ask the newly elected, more conservative Legislature to craft a narrowly defined death penalty, Redfield said.
   “That seems to be the only kind of out he has right now,” he said.
   Story courtesy of Illinois Statehouse News.

Brady Refuses to Admit Defeat in Illinois Election

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      By Benjamin Yount    

  Illinois Statehouse News
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  BLOOMINGTON – 11/3/10 - Republican candidate Bill Brady wants to count each vote in Illinois before he gives up his bid to become governor. Even if that takes a month or more.
   One day after Brady again finished within a percentage point of his opponent — this time Democratic governor Pat Quinn – the GOP hopeful from Bloomington said he wants to count each vote and let the process unfold.
   “The people of Illinois have cast over 3.6 million votes in this election," Brady said. "Right now the difference is less than one vote per precinct. We must allow the election authorities to do their job and wait for the official results.”

   The Illinois State Board of Elections has given all counties until Nov. 16 to count those overseas ballots. Because of a delay in sending out some of the ballots, six counties have until Nov. 17. It will then take state officials another few days to certify and finalize the vote total.

    Brady said he’s expecting to wait at least a month.

   “The State Board allows a minimum of 20 days for local officials to certify [the vote total] and a minimum of ten days for them to certify…Realistically we’re think we’re looking at a 30 day process."

    Brady is trailing Quinn by close just over 8,000 votes. There are scattered reports of some precincts that have yet to count their ballots and there is much talk about overseas and military ballots. But it is unclear if there are enough uncounted votes for Brady to overtake Quinn. 

    Brady said from what he’s been told, there may be.

    “We believe…based on what we’ve been given [that] we will win. And it’s important that we let [the review] process take place. We are certainly going to respect Governor Quinn, and I’m sure that he wants the same process to take place. 

    The Quinn campaign said in a written statement that the governor also wants every vote counted.

   “The ballots left to be counted appear mostly to come from Cook County, where the governor held a large margin over Sen. Brady.” said Mica Matsoff, campaign spokeswoman. “We expect to hold our lead and increase it. We do not see a path to victory for Bill Brady.”

    Close races and counting all of the ballots is becoming a habit for Brady. He barely won the Republican primary in February, edging out GOP State Sen. Kirk Dillard of Hinsdale by less than 200 votes. Brady also won a recount in one of his first races back in 1992. 

   Quinn also had a squeaker in the February primary. But his opponent, Democratic Comptroller Dan Hynes, conceded rather than push for a lengthy review and vote count.

   Story courtesy of Illinois Statehouse News.

Race Between Quinn-Brady still too close to call

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     By Kevin Lee and Mary Massingale    
               Illinois Statehouse News
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   CHICAGO and BLOOMINGTON  –  11/3/10 - After a prolonged election battle lasting the better part of a year, Illinois voters will have to wait some more before knowing who will serve as their next governor.
   The gubernatorial race between Democratic incumbent Pat Quinn and challenger State Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, was still too close to call after midnight.
   With 98 percent of the precincts counted, the Chicago Tribune was reporting that unofficial counts showed Quinn with a 8,300 vote lead as both candidates garnered about 46 percent of the vote.
   Independent candidate Scott Lee Cohen garnered about 3.6 percent of voters, Green Party candidate Rich Whitney gained 2.7 percent of voters and Libertarian candidate Lex Green earned just less than 1 percent.
   About four minutes after midnight, Brady and his running mate Jason Plummer appeared on stage to cheers of “Brady! Brady!” The Republican state senator thanked his supporters, and joked about the night’s similarity to the primary, when it took several days to decide his 193 vote win over state Sen. Kirk Dillard, R-Hinsdale.
   “As some of you may have realized by now, I have a penchant for close elections,” Brady said. “But it seems to be something that always ends up on the right side.”
But he then said the words that none of his supporters wanted to hear after a long, bitter campaign.
   “With over 3.5 million votes cast, this isn’t  going to be decided tonight,” Brady said. “We are excited and optimistic but we want to make sure every voter in the state of Illinois has a right to have their vote counted, and we’re going to make sure that happens, and we’re going to make sure that this process is done right.”
   That was the first appearance Brady made that night, although he earlier allowed photographers to take photos of him, his wife, Nancy, and running mate Jason Plummer in a fifth floor suite of the Doubletree hotel in Bloomington.
   Following Brady’s speech, Quinn made an appearance before supporters at his campaign headquarters, the Hotel Allegro in Chicago.
   His running mate, Southern Illinois University law professor Sheila Simon, said Quinn could provide a better future for Illinois.
   “That is why we do crazy things like knock on door after door and make phone call after phone call after phone call,” she said to applause. “And that is why we vote and that is why we have voted as we have done today.”
   Quinn then took the podium and told his supporters that he concurred with his opponent’s call to have all votes counted.
   “We want to make sure. We want to make sure every vote is counted. I totally agree with that,” Quinn said. “And I know there are votes out here in Cook County and other counties across the state. So we want to make sure they’re counted and counted fairly. But I think when all is said, we’ll end up on top with the most votes.”
   Election officials were predicting the usual 50 percent turnout of the states 7.4 million registered voters historically found in Illinois’ gubernatorial elections. In the days leading up to Election Day, President Barack Obama made appearances with Quinn and state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate.
   Illinois Democrats hoped for a carryover effect from the 2008 Presidential election, when Democrats at both the federal and state levels were overwhelming winners in the polls.
   But Republicans hoped to take advantage of voter frustration with a struggling economy and sustained one-party control over state government. Illinois Democrats have had control of all six Constitutional offices and both chambers of the legislature since 2002.
   House Democrats hold a 70-48 edge. For Republicans to gain control of that chamber, they would need to gain 12 seats. In the Senate, Democrats hold a 37-22 edge. Legislative seats are crucial in this upcoming legislative session since the state’s legislative and congressional map will be drawn according to what party is in control.
   About 250-300 supporters joined 30 news media outlets at Brady’s headquarters in a Bloomington hotel. State Sen. Tim Bivins, R-Dixon; Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro; Rep. Rich Brauer, R-Petersburg; Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington, and Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady were a few of the notables on hand to support Brady.
   Pat Brady early in the evening predicted a Brady win, saying the new year would see Brady as governor and House Minority Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego, as Speaker of the Illinois House.
Bivins said if Brady wins, he will draw upon his background as a builder and Realtor.
   “I expect him to run the state like a business,” Bivins said.
   A few hundred supporters gathered at Chicago’s Hotel Allegro, Quinn’s campaign headquarters, awaiting news of the results.
   Political veterans, including U.S Senator Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and former Illinois Senate President Emil Jones, Jr., as well as several Chicago Democratic state lawmakers, all came to schmooze with supporters and back Quinn.
   One of those supporters was Will Attig of Carbondale. Attig, a military veteran and Purple Heart winner, had served in Iraq and Afghanistan before returning home without a job.
   Attig, now a welder, said Quinn helped veterans like himself get a job.
    “We came home, we had no future, we have no jobs. He’s decided to give us a new pair of boots, work boots, so we could get to work here in southern Illinois. He’s the man for the job,” he said.
   Story courtesy of Illinois Statehouse News.

Quinn's Job Announcement Not in Latest Report

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    By Jennifer Wessner    
  Illinois Statehouse News
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   SPRINGFIELD –10/23/10 - If you listened to Gov. Pat Quinn on the stump this week, you heard him hand out over $300 million in and create almost 5,000 jobs. But those job numbers don’t add-up with the latest jobless report in Illinois.

   Quinn traveled to Moline, Rochelle and Chicago this week announcing state projects, and new jobs at each stop.  The money for the new projects is from Illinois’ $30 billion statewide construction plan that lawmakers approved back in 2009. The jobs from the new project appear to be scattered across the state, and across the calendar.

   On Wednesday the governor announced the release of $270 million dollars to 18 school districts around the state for the new construction. Quinn said the projects would “be creating 3,700 new construction jobs to area residents.”

   But many of those 18 districts said they started work on their projects months ago, and some are nearing completion.

   Illinois latest jobless report shows a jump in construction jobs, but not nearly the number of jobs Quinn touted this week.

   September’s job numbers show 700 new construction jobs were created last month.

   Annie Thompson with Governor Pat Quinn’s office said the new jobs are not included in the September jobless report and said she doesn’t know if it will be included in the October report.

   No one seems to know if the numbers by the Governor’s count are new jobs, old jobs, or current jobs.

Beth Spencer, communications director from Illinois AFL-CIO, said it doesn’t matter if the jobs were created or will be created.  The important part is that people are going back to work.

   “Part of the beauty of being a sitting governor is it’s your prerogative to make these announcements and it’s his pleasure and his prerogative. We’re just excited that it’s happening.”

   In the manufacturing sector, Quinn announced 250 new jobs at a new rail car manufacturing facility being built in Rochelle.

   Greg Baise, president of Illinois Manufacturing Association, said the timing of the job creation claims is not surprising.

   “It’s not unusual for governors to make claims like that, especially 12 days before a gubernatorial election,” Baise said. “So I guess we give governor’s a little latitude with these kinds of things.”

   Greg Rivara, spokesman for the IDES, said there is real improvement in Illinois.

   “[The state] added 8,600 jobs in the month of September and for the year so far Illinois has added 50,700,” Rivara said. “So we’ve had some positive economic job growth in the state. At the same time the unemployment rate has gone down. The unemployment rate fell for the sixth straight month to reach 9.9 percent.”

   Eleven thousand 800 people did lose their job in September, but Rivara said that was offset by 20,900 people finding jobs in September. Illinois’ unemployment rate is still slightly higher than the national rate, which is sitting at 9.6 percent.  Thompson with the governor’s office is quick to say that Illinois has added over 50,000 new jobs over the past six months.

   Story courtesy of Illinois Statehouse News. (Released Oct. 21.2010)

Payday Loan Companies Under Scrutiny in Illinois

By Steve Rensberry
srensberry@rensberrypublishing.com

    (RPC) 6/26/10 — Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn recently signed into law a measure that he and others hope will put the brakes on numerous practices of payday loan companies they consider abusive. The law will go into effect in about nine months, meaning consumers who do use such services will not see much relief until spring of 2011.
   Whether you have actually used such services or not, you have certainly seen the signs — bold, urgent and inviting for anyone who is struggling financially or in need of some quick cash.
   But the super-high-interest consumer installment loan business has been under increasing scrutiny in recent years, and is often criticized as unfairly trapping people into a viscous cycle that ultimately harms both them and the economy at large.
   One of the key elements of the new law is a cap on interest rates, which analysts say can climb as high as 1,000 percent.
   “Many consumers who take out short-term loans are doing so as a last resort to pay their bills and provide for their families. It is all too easy for lenders to take advantage of them by raising interest rates and setting very short repayment periods,” Quinn said in a statement released to the public. “It is important that we do everything we can to protect these consumers who are already hurting, by helping to make these loans more affordable.”
   House Bill 537 practically sailed through the legislature and had received backing from a host of lenders and consumer groups. It was sponsored by Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie) and Sen. Kimberly Lightford (D-Westchester).
   Under the new law:

• Rates for loans of $4,000 or less will be capped at 99 percent.
• Rates for loans greater than $4,000 will be capped at 36 percent. 
• Lending will be limited to 22.5 percent of a borrower’s gross monthly income.
• The minimum loan term will be six months compared to the current four.

   Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madison was among those praising the bill.
   "For too long, Wild West lending practices have dominated the marketplace in Illinois and consumers have suffered as a result — saddled with costly loans that they could never repay," Madigan said in a public statement.  "Now that has changed. House Bill 537 reigns in abusive and predatory lending practices and protects consumers. I want to thank Senator Lightford, Representative Lang, the Governor's Office and consumer advocates for their hard work on this important consumer protection legislation."
   Illinois Department of Professional Regulation Secretary Brent Adams said they were looking forward to working with lenders and their customers to make sure the law is effectively enforced.
   “For too long, Illinois borrowers have been at the mercy of lenders who were free to charge quadruple-digit interest rates,” Adams said.