BRIEFLY
Edited by Donald Sevener
ELECTION YEAR BOTTOM LINE
How do you spell tax relief?
R-e-e-l-e-c-t-i-o-n
Don't rush out on a spending spree just yet, but you may be
— able to bank on some tax relief out of Springfield this year.
With the state's current budget flush in surplus, candidates
right and left see a chance to spread the wealth to Illinois voters
... er, taxpayers. In fact, as soon as the legislative session started,
many candidates were touting their tax relief plans.
House Minority Leader
Lee Daniels, an Elmhurst
Republican, unveiled his
proposal early last month.
By doubling the income tax
credit from 5 percent to 10
percent for property taxes
paid, Daniels promises to
save middle-class families
nearly $1 billion over the next four
years. The plan applies to homes
valued under $500,000, a ceiling high
enough to benefit his DuPage County
constituents.
Just two days after Daniels, flanked
by more than a dozen of his fellow
Republicans, announced this plan,
Democratic candidate for lieutenant
governor, Pat Quinn, expanded on it.
Quinn also wants to double the personal income tax exemption from $1,000 to
$2,000 for everyone and establish an
independent taxpayer commission to
fight "waste and corporate welfare." |
|
State Sen. Barack Obama would also
like to increase the personal exemption,
but only for those who need it: the
working poor.
"Now is a good time to address this
issue," says the Chicago Democrat.
"Not only because of our current
budget surplus, but because of our
commitment to move more people from
welfare to work."
Illinois' personal exemption hasn't
increased since 1969 — the year Illinois
adopted an income tax.
"For a family of four, the exemption
was quite substantial in 1969 dollars,"
Obama says. "But its value has eroded
drastically."
True, says Department of Revenue
spokesman Mike Klemens, but to
double it would cost the state $690
million. But to just increase it for a
particular class of people raises the risk
of a legal challenge, he adds, referring
to Illinois' flat tax structure.
Further, a family earning $16,021 a
year — last year's federal poverty level
— pays $361 a year in state income taxes.
"That's a dollar a day," says Klemens.
"I think the question is: Are those families more interested in saving that dollar
or in having subsidized day care or
good schools? That's the true public
policy question. The state income tax
isn't the problem. The problem is the
sales tax, property tax and excise tax."
Nonetheless, the combination of an
election year and a burgeoning state
treasury may prove too tempting for
lawmakers to resist.
Jennifer Davis
CULTURE, SMULTURE
At least we're ahead in indicted elected officials
In what surely is an insult to civic pride,
20 states outrank Illinois in civic culture.
This is the astonishing conclusion of a
University of Iowa political scientist who
measured citizen involvement, public
attitudes and community spirit and found
— Do people get paid to spread such
slander? — Illinoisans to be civically
challenged.
Tom Rice, clearly a professor with too
much time on his hands, based his
measurements on four characteristics:
participation in public affairs, belief in the
equality of citizens, readiness to trust
others and accept diverse ideas or
lifestyles, and willingness to join community groups.
Vermont, Massachusetts, Wyoming,
Maine and North Dakota weighed in as
the five most civic states. And, in general,
Rice found that the most civic states are
located in the northern portion of the
country, running from New England to
the Northwest. The least civic states are
located in the South, with Mississippi and
Louisiana rated the lowest. Jessica Winski
Republicans told to put
away their magic markers
Two months after throwing out a
Republican-drawn judicial district map,
the Illinois Supreme Court finally
explained why.
In an opinion issued last month, the
State's high court said the Illinois Constitution prohibits the subdivision of Cook
County's judicial districts.
Republicans, who rammed through
the map early last year before losing
control of the House, drew boundaries
that would help them win one of the
county's three seats.
The Illinois Supreme Court has been
mostly Democratic for almost 30 years.
Jennifer Davis
|
8 / March 1998 Illinois Issues
WEB SITE OF THE MONTH
Illinois, through
the eyes of a kid
March brings the arrival of spring,
land spring brings the arrival of
schoolkids to Springfield to learn about""
Lincoln and how many legislators it
takes to pass a bill.
But kids don't have to travel all the
May to the capital city to learn about
state government or about their state.
They can tune into the World Wide Web
for information and for entertainment;
just dial up http://www.state.il.us/kids/.
Once there, they can "Meet the
Edgars," something most visitors don't
get to do. More fun, they can "Explore
Nature," or even "Learn Illinois." Did
you know that the name "Illinois" comes
from a Native American word meaning
"tribe of superior men"?
Those interested in the outdoors can
sit indoors while exploring the RiverWatch Bug page, the "Wild about
Illinois Organisms & Ecosystems" page,
plus "Fish Facts and Fallacies." Do you
know, for example, the best place to drop
your line for the really big fish? Well, reel
in the Illinois kids page. Donald Sevener
|
All agree: Stale is doing a lousy job
forcing cleanup of hazardous waste
Every state, including Illinois, is
doing a poor job in forcing companies
to clean up their hazardous waste,
according to a recent federal study. And
Illinois Environmental Protection
Agency officials agree.
"We would be the first to admit we
haven't done anything with our
medium- and low-priority facilities,"
says William C. Child, bureau chief of
the IEPA's bureau of land.
But that's mostly because there is
no money or staff to do the job, he says.
And Child also disputes the U.S.
General Accounting Office's most
critical finding: that 42 percent of
Illinois' high-priority facilities have yet
to start cleanup.
"It's less than 10 percent. Actually, of
our 43 high-priority facilities, only three
have yet to start cleanup. The report
doesn't reflect that because they relied
on federal data. They didn't look at our
information."
An average high-priority facility is
one with a substantial or known risk of
chemical release into the water, air or
land. On the other end, a low-priority
facility would be one where officials are
almost positive there is no risk, "but we
just want to check out the place to
make sure," says Child.
The report, released in October, said
"about 56 percent of the [nation's] facilities — including about 35 percent of
those posing the highest risk — have
yet to begin the formal cleanup
process."
The problem is the process, which is
sometimes time-consuming and costly,
and states often don't have the resources
to make sure companies are following
the law.
Indeed, Child estimates Illinois could
use another $5 million and 10 more
people.
"We didn't get anything, really, when
we took this program over from the
federal government, just a one-time
$100,000 bonus," says Child. "We're the
first to admit we need a new influx of
resources."
Jennifer Davis
New path for old idea on school repair
Democratic U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun has been down this road before. This
time, however, her plan to save the nation's crumbling schools is taking a different
route, one she hopes will be more palatable to Republicans.
Instead of using $5 billion to help finance $20 billion in nationwide school repair
and construction — last year's failed plan — Moseley-Braun wants to let school
districts issue $21.8 billion in zero-interest bonds over the next two years beginning
next October. This would cost the federal government $10 billion over 10 years in lost
tax revenue, her office says.
"This is just a different way of getting to the same goal," says Michael Briggs,
Moseley-Braun's spokesman. "This Congress is more interested in offering tax incentives than in spending money. If this is more palatable to Republicans, then great."
A 1996 U.S. General Accounting Office survey Moseley-Braun commissioned
showed an estimated $112 billion is needed for school repairs. (See Illinois Issues,
March 1997, page 24.) So, as Briggs points out, "This is not enough to solve the
problem, but it is a significant step toward addressing it."
Illinois would get an estimated $795 million of the bonds, with $461 million going
to Chicago and $23 million to East St. Louis. Exactly how many schools or school
districts that would help, Briggs couldn't say. Illinois was also the only state with any
numbers available.
President Bill Clinton, as he did last year, mentioned Moseley-Braun's proposal in
his January State of the Union address.
"Illinois has $13 billion in outstanding school repairs," says Briggs. To cover that,
he adds, the average Illinoisan's property tax bill would have to double. "We're
talking going from paying an average $1,342 in real estate taxes to $2,695. We have a
better solution."
Jennifer Davis
Illinois Issues March 1998 / 9
BRIEFLY
HELLO BIRDIE
Volunteer effort overcomes housing shortage,
bringing flock of new residents to Illinois
Big Blue is back.
Thanks to a dedicated group of
volunteers, Sialia sialis — known
perhaps to you as the bluebird —
is making a comeback in Illinois
because it has more places to lay eggs
and nurture its nestlings.
The bluebird had become rare in
Illinois because it had to compete for
nesting sites. Vern Kleen, an avian
ecologist at the natural resources
department, says bluebirds nest in
holes created by other birds or
animals. Old wooden fenceposts and
dead trees, especially those visited by
woodpeckers, are bluebirds' favorite nesting sites. But metal fence posts have
replaced many of the wooden ones, and
old trees are often seen as something to
tear down rather than preserve as homes.
And other cavity-nesting birds such as
house wrens, tree swallows and house
sparrows competed with bluebirds for
fewer places to nest.
The Illinois Bluebird Project was
launched two years ago as a joint effort
among volunteers and the Department of
Natural Resources, the Illinois Natural
History Survey, the Illinois Audubon
Society and the Chicago Academy of
Sciences. The academy, which collects the
data from the volunteers and the other
co-sponsors, reports that the number
of bluebird eggs that survived to
fledglings was about the same this
past year as the year before. Mary
Hennen, an ornithologist at the
academy, says that is good news
"because it means that productivity
did not go down." Laura R. Lee, a
visiting lecturer at the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who
just completed five years of bluebird
research in central Illinois, agrees
that the nesting houses built along
trails favored by bluebirds — they
like open spaces with scattered
perching places — have helped.
A workshop for volunteers interested in
helping the bluebird continue to succeed
in Illinois will be held at the Illinois State
Museum in Springfield on March 14.
Call Vern Kleen at 217-785-8774 for more
information. Beverley Scobell |
The Eastern Bluebird
Courtesy of the Chicago Academy of Sciences
|
ELECTRIC MARKETPLACE
Illinois on the bandwagon but not leading
The bandwagon that added Illinois to
the roster of states deregulating electricity
service stopped in nine other capitals
before making it to Springfield last
December. Observers expect two other
states — Connecticut and New Jersey —
to join the parade this year. For some
consumers, full competition has already
begun, although residential users in
Illinois still have a wait.
Under the plan signed into law by Gov.
Jim Edgar, residential consumers can
choose their electricity suppliers beginning in 2002. (See Illinois Issues, December 1997, page 11.) Competition for
industrial and large-business consumers
will begin in 1999. Like Illinois, which has
an average residential cost of 10.4 cents
per kilowatt hour, other states with high
electricity rates were among the first to
deregulate. Nationally, the average residential cost is 8.39 cents a kilowatt hour.
These numbers, which fluctuate, are from
the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Some states have required residential rate cuts, while others are counting on
competition alone to reduce electric rates.
Full competition begins in Maine
in 2000, in Nevada in 2001 and in
Oklahoma in 2002. Details of the other
plans include:
• California: Competition for retail
customers began January 1. Competition
for all consumer classes will be phased in
by 2002. Residential and small commercial consumers receive a 10 percent electric rate reduction. Consumers, however,
will be responsible for a competition transition charge through March 31, 2002.
Average residential cost: 11.3 cents per kwh.
• Massachusetts: Full competition is
slated to begin this month. The legislation provides for a 10 percent rate cut this
month, with another 5 percent cut 18
months later. Average residential cost:11.3 cents per kwh.
• Montana: Large industrial customers
can choose a supplier beginning in July of
this year. A pilot program for small customers will also begin in July, but competition won't start until July of 2002. Average residential cost: 6.3 cents per kwh.
• New Hampshire: Retail competition
was slated to begin this year, but power
companies have taken the matter to court
in a dispute over recovering certain costs.
Average residential cost: 13.6 cents per kwh.
• Pennsylvania: Competition for one-
third of Pennsylvania's customers will be
phased in by January 1999. The remaining customers will be phased in by January 2001. Average residential cost: 9.7
cents per kwh.
• Rhode Island: Competition for large
industrial and government users is
already in place. All customers should be
phased in by July. Customer transition
charges will apply through 2009. Average
residential cost: 11.9 cents per kwh.
What can be expected in the future?
"Things will be moving a bit more slowly,
as they [state legislatures] watch what
happens in California and Massachusetts," says Matthew Brown of the
National Conference of State Legislatures. And this is an election year, another
reason Brown predicts a "wait and see"
approach. Jessica Winski
10 / March 1998 Illinois Issues
Juvenile justice
overhaul aims
crackdown on kids
Children who commit crimes in
Illinois would face tougher sanctions,
should Gov. Jim Edgar sign a bill
recently passed by the General
Assembly.
"This bill outlines an approach to
dealing with juvenile crime that is
nothing short of revolutionary in many
ways," Cook County State's Attorney
Richard Devine testified to legislators
last May when he first pushed for the
bill. Devine, who pointed out that
Illinois led the nation with its adoption
of juvenile laws nearly a century ago,
says it's time for a major overhaul.
"Juvenile crime no longer involves kids
stealing apples from a pushcart."
The bill revamps the juvenile justice
system and makes youthful offenders
more accountable for their actions, its
supporters contend. The following
changes are included:
Blended Sentencing: Under the
bill, some youthful offenders may
receive "blended sentences," in which a
judge imposes a lighter juvenile sentence and a suspended adult sentence at
the same time. If the juvenile doesn't
meet the terms of the juvenile sentence,
the adult sentence would take effect.
Victim's Rights: The victim's bill
of rights would be extended to juvenile
courts, giving victims of juvenile crimes
the right to attend court proceedings
and confront their aggressors face to
face.
Reporting: Another major provision of the bill requires the establishment of a statewide computerized database to help law enforcement officials
track juvenile offenders. Juveniles at
least 10 years old who commit crimes
will be fingerprinted and added to the
database.
Station Adjustments: The bill
limits the number of times a police
department may issue "station adjustments," or verbal warnings, to youthful
offenders. Police would be required to
contact the local state's attorney after
the ninth warning.
If signed by Edgar, the bill will take
effect next January 1.
Jessica Winski
Who is the most accountable state official?
With the MSI bribery trial fresh in memory, Gov. Jim Edgar may have had
accountability on his mind when he stood before lawmakers last month for his final
annual State of the State address.
Whatever the genesis, the governor urged the legislature to put before voters constitutional amendments he said would increase accountability in two institutions he
believes are too remote from public scrutiny: courts and the schools bureaucracy.
First he asked the General Assembly to give the next governor authority over a
cabinet-level Department of Education, saying: "If education is state government's
top priority, and I think we all agree it is, the individual who should be most
accountable is the state's chief executive: the governor."
Then he asked for the Illinois Courts Commission to be expanded "so that the
judging of judges is not left up entirely to their fellow judges."
If Edgar wants to see these amendments on November's ballot, the General
Assembly will have to work fast. Both chambers must pass the proposals on a
three-fifths vote by early May at the latest.
If either proposal is placed before voters, it will then take either three-fifths of
those voting on the question or a majority of those voting in the election for
approval of the constitutional amendment.
Since 1971, the General Assembly has introduced more than 650 resolutions to
amend the Constitution, according to David Miller, a lawyer and deputy director
of research at the Legislative Research Unit. Only 15 of those proposals made it
to voters, however. Of those, eight have been adopted, including two in 1994. (One
dropped the required face-to-face confrontation at criminal trials between
witnesses and defendants. The other changed the legislative adjournment date from
June 30 to May 31.)
The Constitution has been amended through public initiative just once: the
House cutback amendment of 1980. Three other initiative amendments were
struck down by the state's high court. Jennifer Davis
|
Illinois Issues March 1998 / 11
BRIEFLY
THANKS FOR THE MIRACLES
Exhibit of 'retablos' tells stories of trials,
tribulations and answered prayers
Call him Juan. He
crossed the Rio Grande at
night during high water. He
didn't want to be wet and
cold and afraid. He wanted
to be home with his mother
and father, sisters and
brothers, and especially
Maria, the girl he hoped to
marry. But three years of
drought had left him with
little choice. He avoided the
helicopters, patrols and
dogs. He ignored the
hunger and the people who
scowled when he didn't
answer in English. He
found work, back-break-
ing, dawn-to-dusk field
work. He lived on as little as
possible and sent his family
the rest of his pay. When he
returned to his village two years later, his
mother painted a retablo thanking her
son's patron saint for protecting him and
helping him save his family.
This Juan is fiction. But his story is
typical and true for many
Mexican immigrants, says
Jorge Tarpida, a psychologist at St. Elizabeth's
Hospital in Chicago. More
than 50 such stories are
told in the unique genre of
art called retablos now on
exhibit at the Mexican
Fine Arts Center Museum
in Chicago. The exhibition, "Milagros en la
Frontera, Folk Paintings
of Mexican Migrants to
the U.S.," will run through
April 12. |
Mextcan Fine Arts Center Museum
I dedicate the present retablo to the Holiest Virgin of San Juan de los Lagos
for having saved me from a Texan who tried to carry me off.
I hid under a tree by the side of the fl-iemselves
their relatives road with my little brother. Conception Zapata. San Luis Potosi. May 10, 1948
|
Usually created on
small pieces of tin or
sturdy wood, retablos are drawn by the immigrants themselves, their relatives
or professional retablo
artists. Offered in thanks for a miracle
granted or a favor received, the images
are flat, colorful and composed in three
sections: a drawing depicting the immigrant's experience; a likeness of the saint
prayed to; and a written text at the bottom thanking the saint for the received
favor. The retablos are posted on walls
inside Catholic churches in Mexico. The
word "retablo" is from the Latin meaning
"behind the altar." The genre developed
from a tradition brought to Mexico by
Europeans and adopted by Amerindians.
Though the retablos tell very personal
stories — some dating back to the early
1900s — Tarpida says the exhibition also
presents the universal experiences that
concern all migrants: the hazards of
border crossings; the trials of finding
work in an alien country; the frustrations
of working through legal problems; the
tearfulness of illness and accidents in a
foreign land; the gratification of small
successes; and the relief felt in returning
home to family and friends.
"Looking at a retablo gives the sense
of reading a personal letter or an entry
from a diary," says Tarpida.
Beverley Scobell
12 /March 1998 Illinois Issues
Q&A Question & Answer
TEACHING TEACHERS
State panel nears action on contentious
policy changes for classroom teachers
In his January State of the State address,
Gov. Jim Edgar suggested what he wants
for and from Illinois teachers: More practical experience in the classroom, more
guidance from seasoned teachers and fewer
teachers working outside their areas of
expertise. In particular, Edgar mentioned
Ted Sanders, a former state superintendent
now president of Southern Illinois University, and the policy group Sanders is co-chairing with Sally Pancrazio, dean of education
at Illinois State University. Illinois Issues
tallied with Sanders recently about the
Illinois Policy Group on Teacher Quality.
Q Can you tell us a little more about
your group?
Gov. Edgar appointed us in the fall. He
served on a national commission on
teaching and America's future for three
years, which released its report in September, a year and a half ago. Out of
that, there was talk of states which would
be committed to examining themselves
and making changes. He committed
Illinois to being one of those states. He
appointed this policy group to look at
their report and find out where we are
against it and what would be appropriate
actions.
Q. So when will the group release its recommendations and what will they be?
The plan was to have the recommendations to him early in this calendar year,
and I believe we're just a few weeks away
from doing that. Early March if we're
lucky.
As to what will be in the report, I think
it's a little bit premature to say. There is
not a consensus in the policy group as to
what the recommendations should look
like. But I can tell you some of the things
we've discussed.
For one, an issue that's been fairly
significant is whether there should be an
autonomous professional standards
board deciding what individuals ought to
be able to know and do before they
become teachers. There is a lot of
division in the house about that one,
which should come as no surprise.
Another is, once standards have been
set, how should they be enforced. Nationally, about one in four teachers is teaching
outside their expertise. In inner city
schools, it's about one in two. It's about
one in 10 across the board in Illinois. It
seems to me, and I'm speaking for myself,
we can't expect children to learn algebra
from a teacher who didn't even minor in
mathematics.
Third, we have opinions about how the
state board ought to carry out its new
responsibilities in the legislation passed
this fall.
Q. Sounds like a lot to do in just a few
weeks.
Yes, but we've had deep discussions
about all these issues. We just need to
come to a consensus.
Q. What will happen after you issue your
report?
That depends on what the governor or
others want to do with the recommendations. We might see legislation introduced. Some of the recommendations
might not require legislation, so the
governor could just pass along the information to the State Board [of Education].
Jennifer Davis
MORE ABOUT THAT
Hogs
The hog farm controversy (See Illinois
Issues, April 1996, page 16; September
1996, page 11) has wafted to the upper
reaches of state government. First, Lt.
Gov. Bob Kustra recommended plugging
loopholes in the Livestock Facilities
Management Act and allowing local
communities to veto new operations.
Then, House Speaker Michael Madigan announced he would sponsor legislation sought by city and county officials to
require local approval before the state can
authorize siting of a new hog facility.
Anyone smell politics? Donald Sevener
MSI
Illinois State Police Director Terrance
Gainer confirmed his agency is reviewing
testimony in the latest federal fraud and
bribery trial for possible "discrepancies."
In that case, James Berger was acquitted
of any role in the ongoing Management
Services of Illinois Inc. contract scandal.
Berger, a deputy director at Public Aid
on unpaid leave during the trial, is now
working for the Department of Human
Services as bureau chief of financial support policy. His salary is $85,404, which is
what he made at Public Aid. He will also
receive back pay from the time he was on
unpaid leave. Gainer suggested to the
governor's office that Berger not be
rehired, but, as Edgar spokesman Eric
Robinson said, "He's entitled to his job."
State police are investigating Berger's
statements, as well as those of Michael
Belletire, a former Edgar higher-up who
now runs the Illinois Gaming Board.
Belletire was not charged, but he testified
at Berger's trial.
"This is really an ongoing thing, part
of our three-year investigation," says
State Police spokesman Mark McDonald, who couldn't say when officials will
know whether to pursue further charges,
such as perjury or official misconduct.
"That's really putting the cart before the
horse." Jennifer Davis
Roby
While Roby resident Shirley Alien
spent time tuned to public radio,
Illinois state police spent theirs — and
about $650,000 — trying to listen in on
her. That's the final bill for the 39-day
standoff that garnered national
attention before ending October 30.
State Police Director Terrance
Gainer said the bulk of the cost —
$450,000 — went to pay officers.
Another $200,000 was spent on
surveillance equipment and nonlethal
weapons. Jennifer Davis
Illinois Issues March 1998 / 13