SPRINGFIELD – Senator Don Harmon, an Oak Park Democrat and president pro tempore of the Illinois Senate, issued the following statement today reacting to the governor’s amendatory veto of Senate Bill 1, which creates evidence-based school funding reform:

“Today, Gov. Rauner had the opportunity to fix the worst school funding formula in the nation. He had a chance to sign legislation that brings equality to a system that currently shortchanges the school districts that need our help the most.

“I am disappointed that the governor put politics ahead of the needs of our state’s children, but I will continue to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to make sure they get the education they deserve.”

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Updated at 3:15 p.m. with reaction to Senate's override of governor's budget veto.

Harmon statement on Rauner’s reckless budget veto, Senate override

SPRINGFIELD – Senator Don Harmon, an Oak Park Democrat and president pro tempore of the Illinois Senate, released the following statement this afternoon:

“Two weeks ago, Gov. Bruce Rauner called the General Assembly into emergency special session to pass a responsible, balanced budget. Today, the General Assembly passed a responsible, balanced budget with support from Democratic and Republican lawmakers — and Gov. Rauner immediately vetoed it.

“His actions are unbelievable, hypocritical and irresponsible.

“This afternoon, the Senate overrode Gov. Rauner’s reckless veto of our responsible, balanced budget with bipartisan support. We put our duty to protect Illinois and its residents above petty, partisan politics.

“We invite Gov. Rauenr to come in from the campaign trail and do the same.”

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Harmon: Senate passed a responsible, balanced budget package

SPRINGFIELD – Senator Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) released the following statement today regarding his vote on to send the governor a responsible budget package to prevent further financial upheaval in Illinois:

“Today’s bipartisan vote to send a responsible, balanced budget to Gov. Rauner was necessary. Just as every responsible business owner and head-of-household must do, Republican and Democratic lawmakers sat down with the books to find a way to make both sides of the ledger balance.

“Through a combination of deep spending cuts and modest revenue increases, we adopted a responsible, balanced budget that will halt the chaotic downward spiral from which it could take decades for Illinois to recover.

“We cut the state’s operational spending by about $5 billion.

“We cut state agency funding 5 percent across the board.

“We cut spending on pensions by $1.5 billion this year.

“We appropriated $380 million less than the governor’s proposed budget, and we devoted the budget surplus to paying unpaid bills.

“We closed corporate tax loopholes, recapturing almost $125 million in new tax revenue.

“We restored the income tax rate to 4.95 percent – the rate agreed to by Gov. Rauner and less than the rate in effect just three years ago.

“Two years of autopilot spending without a budget, coupled with various court-ordered payments, led to this inevitable vote: Illinois for the first time in history is no longer taking in enough revenue meet its monthly expenses. This isn’t a political accusation. It’s a mathematical reality.

“With this budget package, we’ll begin to address the state’s unpaid bill backlog, stabilize state universities, offer MAP grants to college students, ensure public schools open in the fall, fund human services, eliminate government programs that we can live without and stave off an embarrassing junk bond status for the state. It spends less than what the governor originally requested. It’s the right package for right now."

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Budget fact sheet

The Senate today voted to send Gov. Rauner a budget package that could put an end to the two-year stalemate that has crippled Illinois’ finances and has bond rating agencies threatening to lower Illinois to an unprecedented “junk” credit rating this week.

• The House approved the same package of legislation on Saturday with support from both Republicans and Democrats.
• Gov. Rauner threatened to veto the package if it landed on his desk and by 2 p.m. had followed through on his threat.
• The Senate then voted to override the governor’s veto and sent the package to the House for an override vote.
• Wall Street was waiting to see what happens. Junk bond status means it would cost more for state and local governments to borrow money to pay for services and institutional investors would be forced to sell Illinois bonds at deep losses.

Overview of the budget

It’s a $36.1 billion balanced budget. It authorizes less spending than Gov. Rauner introduced in his $37.3 billion plan in February. It incorporates key ideas from plans put forth by both Democrats and Republicans.

Key components

$2.5 billion in spending cuts, including 5 percent across-the-board cuts to state agencies and departments, plus reductions to various state programs, grants and other expenditures

$1.5 billion in pension savings

Ensures K-12 schools will open in the fall and includes money for an evidence-based school funding model

Offers stability to state universities and community colleges, which have not been fully funded in two years and have undergone dramatic cuts and tuition hikes, driving students to pursue degrees out of state

Funds Monetary Award Program (MAP) grants for college students

Pays down about $8 billion of the state’s backlog of unpaid bills – which currently stands at $15 billion – through a combination of borrowing and fund sweeps

Changes the state income tax rates, closes tax loopholes and offers tax credits for low- and middle-income individuals and families. Total revenue: $36.4 billion

• Personal income tax rate will go to 4.95 percent from 3.75 percent. Generates $4.453 billion annually. This is a 1.2 percentage point increase, or a 32-percent increase in the tax rate.
• Corporate income tax rate will go to 7 percent from 5.25 percent. Generates $514 million annually.
• Both changes are permanent and both are retroactive to July 1, 2017.

There are no service taxes, no soda taxes, and no satellite or streaming taxes in this proposal.

Illinois would continue to be one of few states that do not tax retirement income.

Increases the Earned Income Tax Credit to 14 percent from 10 percent in 2017; increases to 18 percent in 2018.

Increases the cap on the Education Expense Credit to $750 per family from $500.

Creates a new tax credit of up to $250 for educators who use personal funds to purchase classroom supplies.

Means tests the Education Expense Credit, the Personal Exemption and the Property Tax Credit; they would only be available for those making less than $250,000 per year (single filers) or $500,000 per year (joint filers).

Reinstates the Research and Development Tax Credit

Closes three corporate tax loopholes worth a combined $125 million per year:

• Eliminates the domestic production deduction (decouples Illinois from federal tax law; Wisconsin and Indiana already did this.)
• Repeals the non-combination rule
• Eliminates loophole exempting areas outside of standard U.S. from taxation, “outer continental shelf”

Removes the sales tax discount for gas and extends the discount for majority-blended ethanols until December 2023, worth $100 million per year

Creates the Uniform State Tax Lien Registration Act, a Republican initiative. Allows the Illinois Department of Revenue to file notice of tax liens in the registry, bypassing the need to file them with county recorders. Worth $40 million per year.

Harmon: “Without a budget, the proposed program is doomed to fail.”

SPRINGFIELD – About 36,000 senior citizens could be neglected or forced into nursing homes if the Rauner administration pushes forward with an untested in-home care program with no state budget in place.

State Senator Don Harmon, an Oak Park Democrat and president pro tempore of the Illinois Senate, said putting senior citizens into crisis to save money is unacceptable and pledged to protect the state’s existing Community Care Program, a proven decades-old program that provides services for non-Medicaid seniors so they can live independently and thrive in communities throughout Illinois.

“This is typical of the Rauner administration. In the rush to save millions of dollars in the short run, it would jeopardize billions in the long run,” Harmon said.

“These are real senior citizens who depend on this program and would be deprived. Where we could spend a few hundred dollars a month providing services seniors to keep them in their homes living healthy, integrated lives, we now risk moving them into nursing homes at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars a year.

“This is a poorly planned effort in my view, and I urge the Rauner administration to proceed with great caution, especially in the absence of a budget.”

The administration is moving forward with plans to establish the Community Reinvestment Program, which it says would save the state $120 million in the first year.

But critics say the state will achieve those cost savings by replacing trained home care workers with services such as Uber drivers, laundry services and meal vouchers, greatly diminishing the quality of care that vulnerable senior citizens receive.

Furthermore, rather than establish the new program through legislation, which comes with opportunities for hearings and public feedback, the Rauner administration chose to bypass the General Assembly, instead adopting rules that must only be presented to the legislature’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, more commonly referred to as JCAR. A bipartisan supermajority vote by JCAR is required to slow or halt the adoption of the Rauner administration’s rules.

Harmon is a co-chairman of JCAR.

“Even if you look at the Rauner proposal in the most charitable light, it depends on funding in the state budget, and that funding does not exist today,” he said. “Without a budget, the proposed program is doomed to fail. Even with it, there are great concerns about the efficacy of the program.”

Harmon appeared at a news conference Wednesday with opponents to the plan, including Lori Hendren, associate state director for AARP Illinois; and Barbara Franklin with the Illinois Alliance for Retired Americans. State Senator Ira Silverstein (D-Chicago) also spoke at the news conference.

Hendren said the governor’s pilot program is besieged with alarming safety loopholes, unprecedented policy control by the administration and unreliable care options for senior citizens and their loved ones.

“AARP Illinois is calling upon all elected officials – Republicans and Democrats – to rise above politics and hear the cries of Illinois’ aging seniors who are fearful their current in-home and community care will be taken from them under Gov. Rauner’s alarming initiative,” she said.

“The time is now to stop the governor’s Community Reinvestment Program and unite together for discussions for meaningful and compassionate reforms to our state’s current Community Care Program.”

Photo above: Senator Don Harmon on Wednesday signed a pledge to stand with Illinois senior citizens by protecting the Community Care Program from cuts. (Photo credit: Illinois Senate Democratic Caucus)

Today marks Day 6 in the 10-day special legislative session convened in an effort to reach agreement on a state budget.

It may not appear that much has been happening on that front, but the four legislative leaders met Sunday – without Gov. Rauner – for the first time in months to talk about the budget. This is a significant development. The last time the leaders were in a room together to discuss the budget was Dec. 6.

As many of you know, in May the Senate passed a responsible, balanced budget and reform package – much of it based on priorities set by Gov. Rauner – and sent all of those bills to the House for consideration in an effort to bring stability to the state as soon as possible. The House did not to vote on any of the Senate’s bills before the May 31 deadline.

I have been engaged daily in discussions with other state lawmakers and with the Senate president about possible changes to our budget and reform bills that we could accept, and we are proposing ideas that could help to move the process along so that we can send a budget to the governor’s desk by Friday, the final day of the fiscal year.

I have every reason to believe the governor and my colleagues in the General Assembly understand the gravity of the situation we face and are ready to engage productively in good-faith budget negotiations.

Today also marks 726 days since Illinois last operated with a full-year budget. Here is what’s at stake if Gov. Rauner cannot come to an agreement with lawmakers on a budget by midnight Friday:

• Illinois likely will be downgraded to junk status by bond ratings agencies, which means state and local governments, including school districts, will pay higher interest rates when borrowing money. No state in the history of the country has ever been downgraded to junk status.
• As of August, Illinois no longer will have enough money coming in to cover expenses mandated by court orders. This, too, is a historic development for Illinois. Under the best of circumstances, the state will fall $185 million short of what it needs to make payments required by court orders and consent decrees in the absence of a budget. In addition to our looming failure to fully comply with court orders, the comptroller no longer will be able to triage payments to small businesses and human service providers desperate for a disbursement from the state to avoid layoffs or closure.
• Millions of dollars worth of road construction projects statewide could shut down July 1 without a budget, putting as many as 30,000 people out of work and draining money from local economies.
• Some public schools may not open on time this fall because the state is more than $1 billion behind on making categorical payments to school districts for transportation, lunch and special education programs.
• Accreditation for colleges and universities is in jeopardy, according to a warning from the Higher Learning Commission. Illinois universities have endured too much – declining enrollment, the loss of faculty and staff, increased tuition and fees, elimination of academic programs, the loss of MAP grants for students in need, cancelled capital improvement projects, depleted cash reserves and more.
• An estimated 100,000 children on Medicaid may not be immunized because doctors all over Illinois have put a hold on vaccinations until the state catches up on the money it owes them for thousands of vaccines they’ve already administered. This puts the state at risk for an outbreak of preventable diseases.
• Illinois’ bill backlog today stands at $14.96 billion, a figure that will continue to grow the longer the state operates without a budget. As of May, Illinois had paid more than $800 million in penalties for late payments.
• If the state doesn’t pass a budget this month, the Illinois Lottery will be suspended from the multi-state consortium that runs the Powerball and Mega Millions games, meaning customers won’t be able to purchase tickets in Illinois. While this pales in comparison to other consequences of our failure to pass a budget, it harshly illustrates the embarrassment this causes our state.

As you can see, the damage being done to Illinois is unnecessary, expensive and cruel. It will take generations to repair.

I urge you to contact the governor’s office this week and tell him to put a stop to this madness by finding common ground with lawmakers before Friday on a responsible, full-year budget that prioritizes financial stability for Illinois. The most hopeful starting point for negotiations is the balanced budget and reform package the Senate passed in May.

Learn more about the Senate’s budget and reform measures here.

As always, I encourage you to stay in touch. Should you have any questions this week, please contact my district office at 708-848-2002 or my Springfield office at 217-782-8176. You also can email my office, find me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter.

Harmon: Burden of proof should be on government, not innocent property owners

SPRINGFIELD – Legislation designed to restore people’s trust in the civil asset forfeiture process in Illinois should be headed to the governor’s desk soon.

The measure, sponsored in the Senate by Senator Don Harmon (D-Oak Park), was heavily negotiated with police, state’s attorneys and civil rights groups, and it garnered bipartisan support among state lawmakers. The legislation passed unanimously in the Senate May 31, and the House took a final concurrence vote on it Friday.

The legislation (House Bill 303) seeks to end the controversial practice of “policing for profit,” which incentivizes police and prosecutors to seize cash, cars, land and other property from people suspected of – but not necessarily charged with or convicted of – criminal activity under current state law. The property frequently is forfeited and auctioned off, with proceeds going into the government coffers.

“This is a dramatic step forward for Illinois, where government has had a green light to take your property and you have had to prove you deserve to get it back. That galls me,” Harmon said. “We have more work to do to fine tune this law, but going forward the government will have to prove it has the right to take your property – not the other way around.”

Critics of current state law cite numerous problems with it. For example, it’s unclear if probable cause is a requirement for police to seize property in Illinois. Even if an owner is never charged or convicted of a crime, law enforcement agencies are not obligated to return property that was seized during an investigation.

Further, current state law makes it especially difficult for people to reclaim their property through the court system.

Harmon’s measure would require more accountability of law enforcement agencies that seize property while investigating possible crimes and also demand more transparency on behalf of innocent property owners who want to get their belongings back by doing the following:

• Improve the rights of property owners by placing the burden of proof on the prosecution instead of the property owner and creating an expedited process to have cases adjudicated more quickly.
• Increase the government’s burden of proof from probable cause to preponderance of the evidence.
• Require the government to do more to ensure property owners receive notice of forfeiture proceedings and understand the steps they must take to argue for the return of their property.
• Eliminate the requirement that property owners must pay a “cost bond” equal to 10 percent of the value of the seized property before their case can be heard by a judge.
• Exempt small sums of cash from forfeiture and provide that mere possession of miniscule amount of drugs no longer will serve as a legal basis for forfeiture.
• Provide for new data collection regarding property seizures and forfeitures. The information will be reported to the Illinois State Police, and the aggregated data will be posted online.

According to a 2016 report co-authored by the ACLU of Illinois and the Illinois Policy Institute, Illinois police agencies collect about $30 million every year from forfeited property.

Harmon noted that Illinois’ asset forfeiture guidelines are written into 25 different laws that authorize police and state’s attorneys to seize property in cases involving everything from drug investigations and money laundering to DUIs and basic traffic stops. The result is a convoluted system that can be difficult to navigate.

“I have read enough first-hand accounts from real people that have been through this process and feel so completely victimized by it that it makes you scratch your head,” Harmon said. “I think the folks involved realize that trust in this system has been completely undermined, and that is why we all agreed to move forward with this reform.

“With this legislation, we struck a balance that ensures both sides – the government and the property owners – can make their claims, be heard quickly and resolve the issue.”

Rep. Will Guzzardi (D-Chicago) sponsored the measure in the House. It is supported by the ACLU of Illinois, the Illinois State’s Attorneys Association, the Illinois State Police, the Illinois Sheriff’s Association and the Illinois Chiefs of Police.