Fw: Arc and New Budget Deal Includes Better Plan to Close State Institutions

November 29, 2011

Arc and New Budget Deal Includes Better Plan to Close State InstitutionsFYI

Ellen

Ellen Garber Bronfeld

egskb@...

Arc and New Budget Deal Includes Better Plan to Close State

Institutions

Legislators meet in special session today to make some

necessary changes to the state budget and consider wrongful tax cuts for large

corporations. Is this email not displaying correctly?

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Dear Ellen,

The Governor's new initiative to close four state

institutions over the next two and a half years will be considered today in the

General Assembly. The new budget proposal will keep state facilities open

through June 30, 2012 and provide for a better transition to community services

for about 600 residents in those facilities. Director Casey will discuss the

Governor's new initiative at our Executive Forum next Wednesday, December 7th.

Tony

Deal to halt closure of Illinois state facilities

a.. Story

b.. Discussion

Deal to halt closure of Illinois state facilities

Kurt ksonThe Quad-City Times | Posted: Monday,

November 28, 2011 10:39 pm | No Comments Posted

SPRINGFIELD â€” Gov. Pat Quinn is poised to abandon his

plan to shutter seven state facilities, saying he has reached an agreement with

top legislative leaders that will stave off the need to lay off more than 1,900

state employees over the next several weeks.

The $273 million pact, reached after a closed-door

meeting Monday with top officials in the House and Senate, would stop pink slips

from going out to workers at Logan Correctional Center, the youth prison in

sboro, the Chester Mental Health Center and four other facilities.

â€œAfter working closely with the General Assembly this

veto session, we have reached a bipartisan budget agreement that achieves the

goal of keeping the seven state facilities slated for closure open throughout

this fiscal year using existing state resources,â€ Quinn said in a statement.

The deal remains subject to approval by members of the

House and Senate, who are returning to the Capitol today in an attempt to wrap

up a number of loose ends left over from the six-day fall veto session.

Quinn budget chief Vaught said the agreement

doesnâ€™t add spending to the cash-strapped state budget. Rather, it gives the

governor more flexibility to use existing state dollars to not only keep

facilities from closing but directs funds at other programs that were cut as

part of the budget approved by lawmakers in May.

Along with adding money for drug and alcohol treatment

programs, the tentative agreement earmarks $8 million to help counties pay for

burials of poor, deceased people.

â€œMost people think we should have an indigent burial

program,â€Vaught said.

The new changes donâ€™t violate an agreement among

Republicans and Democrats to cap state spending for the fiscal year at $33.2

billion, said Steve Brown, spokesman for House Speaker Madigan,

D-Chicago.

â€œWeâ€™re supportive of the proposal,â€ Brown said

Monday night.

Senate president Cullerton also supports the plan,

a spokesman said Monday.

It remained unclear Monday whether 21 employees of the

Illinois Department of Agriculture would be rehired if the agreement is approved

by the General Assembly. The workers were laid off in October in the first wave

of firings related to Quinnâ€™s closure threats.

The new deal comes just days before workers at the

Tinley Park Mental Health Center are scheduled to be let go. Vaught said the

pact, if approved by lawmakers, will keep the facility open past its Dec. 3

closure date.

Although the agreement runs through the end of the

budget year on June 30, it doesnâ€™t mean smooth sailing for other state

facilities. Quinn has already indicated that he plans to close four

developmental centers and two psychiatric hospitals over the next 2Â½ years in

order to reduce state costs.

The agreement does not restore raises that Quinn is

refusing to pay members of the American Federation of State, County and

Municipal Employees. That issue remains the subject of a legal battle by the

union.

AFSCME spokesman Anders ll said the deal could stop

devastating reductions to needed state programs.

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Fw: Arc and New Budget Deal Includes Better Plan to Close State Institutions

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