Politics

Guns, scholarships, nuclear energy on table for IL veto session

Published

2 years ago

October 22, 2023

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When lawmakers return to the Capitol next week for their annual fall veto session, they have a full agenda, including a handful of vetoes from Gov. J.B. Pritzker to consider overriding, in addition to deciding whether to revive a private school scholarship program.But additional state spending is unlikely to be on their agenda, according to recent comments from both the governor and House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch.The prospect of a supplemental spending plan had been floated in recent months after the state ended the previous fiscal year with a surplus of about $700 million and revenues have continued to meet projections in the first quarter of the current fiscal year.New Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson had hoped the state might allocate more funding to help the city house some of the 18,500 migrants who have been bussed to Illinois from southern U.S. border states such as Florida and Texas in the past year.But Welch indicated last week that no such funding package would materialize in the veto session, answering a reporter’s inquiry about whether Johnson had requested the additional funding in a recent meeting between the two.“At that time, there was no request made (from Johnson), specifically because I think I made it clear that we were not expecting to do a supplemental budget in veto session,” Welch said.The veto session runs Oct. 24 to 26 and Nov. 7 to 9.Invest in Kids ActWhile Welch poured cold water on the prospect of a supplemental spending plan, advocates for a state private school scholarship program are hoping lawmakers can come to an agreement on keeping the program alive.The Invest in Kids Scholarship Tax Credit Program was created by lawmakers in 2017 as part of a bipartisan compromise that ushered in a complete overhaul of the way Illinois funds its public schools.An initiative of school choice advocates, the program provides a 75 percent income tax credit for contributions made to scholarship funds for private schools. In other words, someone who contributes $100 to such a scholarship fund can deduct $75 directly off the amount they owe in state income taxes. The program has been capped at a collective maximum of $75 million per year for the tax breaks.Without legislative action, however, that program will sunset at the end of this year.Supporters of the program argue that it provides children from lower-income families an opportunity to attend private or parochial schools that would otherwise be accessible only to wealthier families. But critics argue that it’s a back-door way of sending public tax dollars to private schools at the expense of public schools that are already underfunded.In recent days, behind-the-scenes discussions have taken place between advocates and legislative staff on possible changes to the program that would satisfy critics, according to sources familiar with the talks. Those include reducing the maximum amount of tax credits available and incentivizing scholarship funds to target students from the most disadvantaged areas of the state.Asked about the program’s chances at an unrelated event Thursday, Pritzker said he’d be willing to sign an extension of the program “in whatever form.”“I mean, I can’t imagine it would show up in some form that I would be unwilling to,” he said. “But again, the reality is that the legislature needs to go through this process.”In response Friday morning, the heads of the state’s two largest teachers’ unions issued a scathing statement accusing Pritzker of siding with “anti-public education Republican governors.”“Illinois cannot afford to support two school systems – one, a public system where schools are held accountable, educate ALL students, and exist for the common good, and a second that does none of this,” the union presidents said.Legislative staff unionsAnother issue likely to come up during veto session is a change to the state’s labor laws that would allow certain legislative staffers to unionize.Last year, a group of employees in Welch’s office formed the Illinois Legislative Staff Association in an attempt to establish a union. Current state law, however, specifically exempts legislative staff from the categories of public employees who are allowed to unionize.But organizers of the unionization effort pointed to the passage last year of a state constitutional amendment that declares employees in Illinois have a “fundamental right” to organize and engage in collective bargaining. They also noted that Welch was a vocal supporter of that amendment.In response, Welch introduced House Bill 4148, which would eliminate the exemption for most legislative staff and allow them to unionize. Welch has said he intends to push for the bill’s passage during the veto session, although Senate President Don Harmon’s office has said only that it would give the measure a thorough review if it clears the House.Domestic violence firearm protectionsDomestic violence advocates and a group of Democratic lawmakers are reviving a proposal left on the cutting room floor when the spring session ended in May. The bill would clarify existing law that mandates guns be taken away from an alleged abuser after a judge grants a certain type of domestic violence order of protection against them.The revamped measure has been dubbed “Karina’s Bill” for Karina Gonzalez, a Chicago woman whose husband allegedly shot to her to death in July just weeks after she secured an order of protection against him.Firearm Owner’s Identification, or FOID, cards are automatically suspended for the duration of an order of protection, whether for domestic violence or other reasons. But current law allows those who’ve been hit with orders of protection to transfer their guns to anyone with a valid FOID card, including to someone who lives in the same residence.Current law also is unclear on how law enforcement should confiscate guns from alleged abusers whose domestic violence orders of protection include the “firearm remedy” – one of 18 additional requests victims can make to the court when filing for a protective order. The bill would clarify that law enforcement should seize the firearms within 48 hours of a judge granting such an order. Under the proposal, the judge would also be explicitly empowered to issue a warrant for officers to seize the guns at the same time they serve the order of protection.Earlier this month, the bill’s co-sponsors said they’re still working out details on process – including where local law enforcement would store temporarily confiscated guns – with the Illinois State Police and other stakeholders.Nuclear moratoriumIn a move that pleased environmental groups, Pritzker this summer vetoed Senate Bill 76, which would have lifted a nearly 40-year moratorium on new nuclear power station construction. The bill would have only allowed companies to build “advanced” nuclear reactors as defined by federal law.The bill initially passed with bipartisan majorities in the House, 84-22-3, and Senate, 36-14.But while Pritzker said he saw potential in some new nuclear technology such as small modular reactors to be built in the state, he wrote that the bill contains “no regulatory protections for the health and safety of Illinois residents who would live and work around these new reactors.”The moratorium on all new nuclear construction has been in place since the 1980s, passed in light of concerns over the storage and disposal of nuclear fuel. The moratorium was set to remain in effect until the federal government designates a method of disposing nuclear waste — something it has never done.Bill sponsor Sen. Sue Rezin, R-Morris, filed a new version of the proposal on Wednesday that she said would “clearly address the governor’s stated reasons for his veto.”The new bill contains identical language to her original version of SB 76 before it was amended as part of negotiations this spring. Rezin told Capitol News Illinois she supports an override vote but filed her new bill in case legislative leaders choose not to call it.“Either way, this issue needs to be resolved before we leave Springfield in November,” Rezin said in an email statement.Right of first refusalPritzker also issued an amendatory veto on another piece of energy legislation, nixing a controversial provision in a broader bill that would grant existing electric utilities in downstate Illinois the “right of first refusal” for transmission line construction until the end of 2024.An amendatory veto changes only certain portions of a bill, giving lawmakers the opportunity to accept or override the changes, or to let the bill die entirely.The change would mean that for new long-distance power lines, established companies like Ameren Illinois or municipal utilities would be asked if they wanted to build the project before other companies, circumventing a federally outlined competitive bidding process.The bill passed through the General Assembly with slim, bipartisan margins, 63-32-2 in the House and 41-9-1 in the Senate. But in his veto message to lawmakers, Pritzker said the proposal would “eliminate competition and raise costs for rate payers.”The grid operator for downstate Illinois, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, has estimated the cost for its current round of transmission line projects in the region to be between $20 and $30 billion.Corey Stone, a representative of IBEW 51 and vocal advocate for the provision, told Capitol News Illinois this week that he is worried out-of-state companies may bid on transmission line projects and not use Illinois’ unionized workers.“We’re trying to maintain the status quo,” Stone said.Other measures and vetoesPritzker also vetoed a handful of other measures this summer that lawmakers may take up next week along with other standalone bills.Delta-8, other hemp regulations: Democrats are once again attempting to regulate delta-8 THC – a cannabis-derived synthetic drug that’s exploded in popularity over the last few years – and similar hemp-derived products.Delta-8 purportedly causes a milder high than the effects most THC users would be used to from the delta-9-THC found in most marijuana or cannabis products. But because it’s unregulated federally, delta-8 products accessible to the casual consumer may contain contaminants including heavy metals – and reports of users getting sick are on the rise.Leaders in Illinois’ four-year-old recreational cannabis industry are split on whether they want the substance banned or merely regulated. But State Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago, is pushing for the strict regulation, licensing and taxation of delta-8 in order to prevent incentivizing “bad actors” on the “black market.” He filed his proposed regulations in House Bill 4161 earlier this month after failing to pass it in a broader bill this spring.Elected Chicago school board: For nearly three decades, Chicago’s school board has been appointed by the city’s mayor, rather than elected. But next November, that’s supposed to change after a 2021 state law sought to phase back in electing board members.But in the last two years since Democrats in Springfield passed the elected school board law, negotiations on drawing electoral maps have proven difficult. They punted on their spring deadline to approve the districts but could try to hammer out an agreement during veto session.Ten members on the 21-member board are slated to be chosen in next November’s general election, and the board will run as a hybrid elected-appointed model for two years until the next 11 are elected in 2026 – including one president elected citywide.A contract ‘they cannot execute’: Pritzker also vetoed a narrowly passed bill that would have required the Illinois State Board of Education to sign a master contract to offer religious dietary options as part of school lunches. House Bill 3643 passed 63-34 in the House, which is short of the three-fifths majority needed to override a veto.In his veto message, Pritzker called the bill “well-intentioned,” but said it would force ISBE to enter a contract “they cannot execute,” and the General Assembly also did not provide funding for such a contract.Nursing home tax breaks: House Bill 2507 made several property tax changes, many of which Pritzker said he supports, including creating property tax relief for surviving spouses of first responders.But in a message announcing his amendatory veto, Pritzker said he would strike a provision that “gives nursing home operators in Cook County a property tax break which passes that cost on to suburban Cook County homeowners and small businesses,” particularly in the south suburbs.Potential for corruption ‘too great’: House Bill 2878 also received an amendatory veto. That wide-ranging bill included language governing public-private partnerships entered into by the Illinois Toll Highway Authority and the Department of Transportation. But it also would have allowed counties and other units of government to engage in such partnerships. That would have allowed municipalities to skirt “transparency and anti-corruption requirements established in state statute,” the governor wrote.“The potential in this bill for opacity and corruption is too great,” Pritzker wrote.‘Irreconcilable drafting errors’: The governor issued a full veto of Senate Bill 1515, a measure pertaining to workplace privacy protections. The governor wrote that he vetoed the bill “at the request of the sponsors and advocates,” making it an unlikely candidate for an override vote. Pritzker did note he’d work with lawmakers and advocates on a new bill to correct “irreconcilable drafting errors” in the original measure.Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.

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Poll: Support for Missouri abortion rights amendment growing

Published

1 year ago

August 29, 2024

Natural Bridge

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A proposed constitutional amendment legalizing abortion in Missouri received support from more than half of respondents in a new poll from St. Louis University and YouGov.That’s a boost from a poll earlier this year, which could mean what’s known as Amendment 3 is in a solid position to pass in November.SLU/YouGov’s poll of 900 likely Missouri voters from Aug. 8-16 found that 52% of respondents would vote for Amendment 3, which would place constitutional protections for abortion up to fetal viability. Thirty-four percent would vote against the measure, while 14% aren’t sure.By comparison, the SLU/YouGov poll from February found that 44% of voters would back the abortion legalization amendment.St. Louis University political science professor Steven Rogers said 32% of Republicans and 53% of independents would vote for the amendment. That’s in addition to nearly 80% of Democratic respondents who would approve the measure. In the previous poll, 24% of Republicans supported the amendment.Rogers noted that neither Amendment 3 nor a separate ballot item raising the state’s minimum wage is helping Democratic candidates. GOP contenders for U.S. Senate, governor, lieutenant governor, treasurer and secretary of state all hold comfortable leads.“We are seeing this kind of crossover voting, a little bit, where there are voters who are basically saying, ‘I am going to the polls and I’m going to support a Republican candidate, but I’m also going to go to the polls and then I’m also going to try to expand abortion access and then raise the minimum wage,’” Rogers said.Republican gubernatorial nominee Mike Kehoe has a 51%-41% lead over Democrat Crystal Quade. And U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley is leading Democrat Lucas Kunce by 53% to 42%. Some GOP candidates for attorney general, secretary of state and treasurer have even larger leads over their Democratic rivals.

Brian Munoz

St. Louis Public RadioHundreds of demonstrators pack into a parking lot at Planned Parenthood of St. Louis and Southwest Missouri on June 24, 2022, during a demonstration following the Supreme Court’s reversal of a case that guaranteed the constitutional right to an abortion.

One of the biggest challenges for foes of Amendment 3 could be financial.Typically, Missouri ballot initiatives with well-funded and well-organized campaigns have a better chance of passing — especially if the opposition is underfunded and disorganized. Since the end of July, the campaign committee formed to pass Amendment 3 received more than $3 million in donations of $5,000 or more.That money could be used for television advertisements to improve the proposal’s standing further, Rogers said, as well as point out that Missouri’s current abortion ban doesn’t allow the procedure in the case of rape or incest.“Meanwhile, the anti side won’t have those resources to kind of try to make that counter argument as strongly, and they don’t have public opinion as strongly on their side,” Rogers said.There is precedent of a well-funded initiative almost failing due to opposition from socially conservative voters.In 2006, a measure providing constitutional protections for embryonic stem cell research nearly failed — even though a campaign committee aimed at passing it had a commanding financial advantage.Former state Sen. Bob Onder was part of the opposition campaign to that measure. He said earlier this month it is possible to create a similar dynamic in 2024 against Amendment 3, if social conservatives who oppose abortion rights can band together.“This is not about reproductive rights or care for miscarriages or IVF or anything else,” said Onder, the GOP nominee for Missouri’s 3rd Congressional District seat. “Missourians will learn that out-of-state special interests and dark money from out of state is lying to them and they will reject this amendment.”Quade said earlier this month that Missourians of all political ideologies are ready to roll back the state’s abortion ban.“Regardless of political party, we hear from folks who are tired of politicians being in their doctor’s offices,” Quade said. “They want politicians to mind their own business. So this is going to excite folks all across the political spectrum.”

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Democrat Mark Osmack makes his case for Missouri treasurer

Published

1 year ago

August 29, 2024

Natural Bridge

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Mark Osmack has been out of the electoral fray for awhile, but he never completely abandoned his passion for Missouri politics.Osmack, a Valley Park native and U.S. Army veteran, previously ran for Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District seat and for state Senate. Now he’s the Democratic nominee for state treasurer after receiving a phone call from Missouri Democratic Party Chairman Russ Carnahan asking him to run.“There’s a lot of decision making and processing and evaluation that goes into it, which is something I am very passionate and interested in,” Osmack said this week on an episode of Politically Speaking.Osmack is squaring off against state Treasurer Vivek Malek, who was able to easily win a crowded GOP primary against several veteran lawmakers including House Budget Chairman Cody Smith and state Sen. Andrew Koenig.While Malek was able to attract big donations to his political action committee and pour his own money into the campaign, Osmack isn’t worried that he won’t be able to compete in November. Since Malek was appointed to his post, Osmack contends he hasn’t proven that he’s a formidable opponent in a general election.“His actions and his decision making so far in his roughly two year tenure in that office have been questionable,” Osmack said.Among other things, Osmack was critical of Malek for placing unclaimed property notices on video gaming machines which are usually found in gas stations or convenience stores. The legality of the machines has been questioned for some time.As Malek explained on his own episode of Politically Speaking, he wanted to make sure the unclaimed property program was as widely advertised as possible. But he acknowledged it was a mistake to put the decals close to the machines and ultimately decided to remove them.Osmack said: “This doesn’t even pass the common sense sniff test of, ‘Hey, should I put state stickers claiming you might have a billion dollars on a gambling machine that is not registered with the state of Missouri?’ If we’re gonna give kudos for him acknowledging the wrong thing, it never should have been done in the first place.”Osmack’s platform includes supporting programs providing school meals using Missouri agriculture products and making child care more accessible for the working class.He said the fact that Missouri has such a large surplus shows that it’s possible to create programs to make child care within reach for parents.“It is quite audacious for [Republicans] to brag about $8 billion, with a B, dollars in state surplus, while we offer next to no social services to include pre-K, daycare, or child care,” Osmack said.Here’s are some other topics Osmack discussed on the show:How he would handle managing the state’s pension systems and approving low-income housing tax credits. The state treasurer’s office is on boards overseeing both of those programs.Malek’s decision to cut off investments from Chinese companies. Osmack said that Missouri needs to be cautious about abandoning China as a business partner, especially since they’re a major consumer of the state’s agriculture products. “There’s a way to make this work where we are not supporting communist nations to the detriment of the United States or our allies, while also maintaining strong economic ties that benefit Missouri farmers,” he said.What it was like to witness the skirmish at the Missouri State Fair between U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley and Democratic challenger Lucas Kunce.Whether Kunce can get the support of influential groups like the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which often channels money and staff to states with competitive Senate elections.

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As Illinois receives praise for its cannabis equity efforts, stakeholders work on system’s flaws

Published

1 year ago

August 29, 2024

Natural Bridge

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Medical marijuana patients can now purchase cannabis grown by small businesses as part of their allotment, Illinois’ top cannabis regulator said, but smaller, newly licensed cannabis growers are still seeking greater access to the state’s medical marijuana customers.Illinois legalized medicinal marijuana beginning in 2014, then legalized it for recreational use in 2020. While the 2020 law legalized cannabis use for any adult age 21 or older, it did not expand licensing for medical dispensaries.Patients can purchase marijuana as part of the medical cannabis program at dual-purpose dispensaries, which are licensed to serve both medical and recreational customers. But dual-purpose dispensaries are greatly outnumbered by dispensaries only licensed to sell recreationally, and there are no medical-only dispensaries in the state.As another part of the adult-use legalization law, lawmakers created a “craft grow” license category that was designed to give more opportunities to Illinoisans hoping to legally grow and sell marijuana. The smaller-scale grow operations were part of the 2020 law’s efforts to diversify the cannabis industry in Illinois.Prior to that, all cultivation centers in Illinois were large-scale operations dominated by large multi-state operators. The existing cultivators, mostly in operation since 2014, were allowed to grow recreational cannabis beginning in 2019.Until recently, dual-purpose dispensaries have been unsure as to whether craft-grown products, made by social equity licensees — those who have lived in a disproportionately impacted area or have been historically impacted by the war on drugs — can be sold medicinally as part of a patient’s medical allotment.Erin Johnson, the state’s cannabis regulation oversight officer, told Capitol News Illinois last month that her office has “been telling dispensaries, as they have been asking us” they can now sell craft-grown products to medical patients.“There was just a track and trace issue on our end, but never anything statutorily,” she said.

Dilpreet Raju

Capitol News IllinoisThe graphic shows how cannabis grown in Illinois gets from cultivation centers to customers.

No notice has been posted, but Johnson’s verbal guidance comes almost two years after the first craft grow business went online in Illinois.It allows roughly 150,000 medical patients, who dispensary owners say are the most consistent purchasers of marijuana, to buy products made by social equity businesses without paying recreational taxes. However — even as more dispensaries open — the number available to medical patients has not increased since 2018, something the Cannabis Regulation Oversight Office “desperately” wants to see changed. Johnson said Illinois is a limited license state, meaning “there are caps on everything” to help control the relatively new market.Berwyn Thompkins, who operates two cannabis businesses, said the rules limited options for patients and small businesses.“It’s about access,” Thompkins said. “Why wouldn’t we want all the patients — which the (adult-use) program was initially built around — why wouldn’t we want them to have access? They should have access to any dispensary.”Customers with a medical marijuana card pay a 1% tax on all marijuana products, whereas recreational customers pay retail taxes between roughly 20 and 40% on a given cannabis product, when accounting for local taxes.While Illinois has received praise for its equity-focused cannabis law, including through an independent study that showed more people of color own cannabis licenses than in any other state, some industry operators say they’ve experienced many unnecessary hurdles getting their businesses up and running.The state, in fact, announced last month that it had opened its 100th social equity dispensary.But Steve Olson, purchasing manager at a pair of dispensaries (including one dual-purpose dispensary) near Rockford, said small specialty license holders have been left in the lurch since the first craft grower opened in October 2022.“You would think that this would be something they’re (the government) trying to help out these social equity companies with, but they’re putting handcuffs on them in so many different spots,” he said. “One of them being this medical thing.”Olson said he contacted state agencies, including the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, months ago about whether craft products can be sold to medical patients at their retail tax rate, but only heard one response: “They all say it was an oversight.”This potentially hurt social equity companies because they sell wholesale to dispensaries and may have been missing out on a consistent customer base through those medical dispensaries.Olson said the state’s attempts to provide licensees with a path to a successful business over the years, such as with corrective lotteries that granted more social equity licenses, have come up short.“It’s like they almost set up the social equity thing to fail so the big guys could come in and swoop up all these licenses,” Olson said. “I hate to feel like that but, if you look at it, it’s pretty black and white.”Olson said craft companies benefit from any type of retail sale.“If we sell it to medical patients or not, it’s a matter of, ‘Are we collecting the proper taxes?’ That’s all it is,” he said.State revenue from cannabis taxes, licensing costs and other fees goes into the Cannabis Regulation Fund, which is used to fund a host of programs, including cannabis offense expungement, the general revenue fund, and the R3 campaign aiming to uplift disinvested communities.For fiscal year 2024, nearly $256 million was paid out from Cannabis Regulation Fund for related initiatives, which includes almost $89 million transferred to the state’s general revenue fund and more than $20 million distributed to local governments, according to the Illinois Department of Revenue.Medical access still limitedThe state’s 55 medical dispensaries that predate the 2020 legalization law, mostly owned by publicly traded multistate operators that had been operating in Illinois since 2014 under the state’s medical marijuana program, were automatically granted a right to licenses to sell recreationally in January 2020. That gave them a dual-purpose license that no new entrants into the market can receive under current law.Since expanding their clientele in 2020, Illinois dispensaries have sold more than $6 billion worth of cannabis products through recreational transactions alone.Nearly two-thirds of dispensaries licensed to sell to medical patients are in the northeast counties of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake and Will. Dual-purpose dispensaries only represent about 20 percent of the state’s dispensaries.While the state began offering recreational dispensary licenses since the adult-use legalization law passed, it has not granted a new medical dispensary license since 2018. That has allowed the established players to continue to corner the market on the state’s nearly 150,000 medical marijuana patients.But social equity licensees and advocates say there are more ways to level the playing field, including expanding access to medical sales.Johnson, who became the state’s top cannabis regulator in late 2022, expressed hope for movement during the fall veto session on House Bill 2911, which would expand medical access to all Illinois dispensaries.“We would like every single dispensary in Illinois to be able to serve medical patients,” Johnson said. “It’s something that medical patients have been asking for, for years.”Johnson said the bill would benefit patients and small businesses.“It’s something we desperately want to happen as a state system, because we want to make sure that medical patients are able to easily access what they need,” she said. “We also think it’s good for our social equity dispensaries, as they’re opening, to be able to serve medical patients.”Rep. Bob Morgan, D-Deerfield, who was the first statewide project coordinator for Illinois’ medical cannabis program prior to joining the legislature, wrote in an email to Capitol News Illinois that the state needs to be doing more for its patients.“Illinois is failing the state’s 150,000 medical cannabis patients with debilitating conditions. Too many are still denied the patient protections they deserve, including access to their medicine,” Morgan wrote, adding he would continue to work with stakeholders on further legislation.Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.

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