Fw: News from Friends of Steans

[Guest guest]

This is good news in general for human services...hope we will see a thoughtful

rebalancing of the service delivery system (i.e.; closure of state facilities)

in 2012.

Ellen

Ellen Garber Bronfeld

egskb@...

News from Friends of Steans

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Thank you to all the participants and attendees at

our Mortgage Assistance Seminar. I also want to thank Truman College President

Reagan Romali and her staff for facilitating this event.

A special note of appreciation to our local HUD

groups - the Lakeside Community Development Corporation and the North Side

Community Federal Credit Union. Click here to get a complete list of

participants that can be contacted for future mortgage assistance.

We will also be participating in a Holiday Party

with Rep. Cassidy and Ald. Harry Osterman. The event will be held at the

Broadway Armory (5917 N Broadway) on Friday, December 9th between 3:00-5:30pm.

Click here for more details. We hope to see you there!

Dear Neighbor,

Yesterday we completed veto session, sending a

bi-partisan budget reallocation plan and reforms to stop pension abuses to the

Governor for signing. Details of these items are below. The General Assembly did

not pass a tax relief plan for the financial exchanges/Sears, and we did not

address gaming or the larger pension reform proposals for current employees.

These issues may return for debate in the future.

Budget Reallocation

The budget reallocation plan provides additional

funding for critical human service programs and keeps state facilities open this

fiscal year to provide time to plan for appropriate closures. The new General

Revenue Fund (GRF) spending is offset with reductions elsewhere. As a Senate

appropriations chair, I negotiated this reallocation plan with Democratic and

Republican representatives from both Chambers as well as the Governor's Office,

and believe this plan significantly improves our use of limited resources and

outcomes for our neediest residents.

Specifically, the following GRF items were

included:

a.. $200.1 million for state operational

expenses to maintain facilities and prevent layoffs (there will be personnel

reductions through attrition);

b.. $30.0 million for community mental health

programs;

c.. $28.0 million for substance abuse programs;

d.. $8.0 million for funeral and burial

expenses; and

e.. $4.7 million for homeless services.

There are also a number of non-GRF appropriations

added to the budget, including:

a.. $33.5 million for monetary assistance

program (MAP) grants;

b.. $50.0 million for Race to the Top federal

funding the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) will likely receive to help

implement education reform initiatives;

c.. $70.0 million for an Early Learning

Challenge grant ISBE has applied for from the federal government; and

d.. $20.0 million to implement the

federal consent decree that requires allowing individuals with mental illnesses

in nursing homes to be moved to community settings if appropriate and desired.

Offsetting cuts are from education transportation

and regional education office lines; Medicaid funding (we will not increase

unfunded liabilities, however, as we will use about half of the Governor's

vetoed funding to fund Medicaid and federal Medicaid matching dollars for it);

and a variety of GRF statutory transfers that historically have not undergone

scrutiny in the budget process.

Pension Fund Reforms

HB3813 addresses concerns about pension practices

that enabled labor union employees to receive public pension benefits. This

bill:

a.. Prevents current public employees who have

not applied for a leave of absence or any future public employee to receive

public pension credit for a leave of absence at a labor union;

b.. Bases public pension benefits for current

public employees who have taken a leave of absence from the Chicago Municipal

and Laborers funds on their municipal salary (not union salary) plus the average

of CPI;

c.. Prohibits members of the Chicago Municipal

and Laborers Fund from earning service credit toward a public pension fund if

they are earning credit toward a pension plan by a union;

d.. Requires any reasonable suspicion of fraud

to be reported to that pension system's board of trustees and establishes

penalties for fiduciaries who do not report such suspicion; and

e.. Repeals state law which allowed members of

the Illinois Federation of Teachers to establish service credit in the Teachers

Retirement System.

Please let me know if you have questions on these

or any other items. You can reach me by email at hsteans@... or

by phone at 773-769-1717.

Best regards,

A. Steans

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Office of State Senator Steans | 5533 N. Broadway | Chicago | IL |

60640