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Bill seeks to limit funds Changes proposed to local gov’t meal, travel expenses By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com
AP photo
Gov. Bruce Rauner speaks outside his office Dec. 2 at the Capitol in Springfield. Illinois started the new year without a state budget for a fiscal year that began July 1. At a time when lawmakers should be thinking about next year’s spending plan, it’s likely little else will rise on the agenda. Rauner, needing to fulfill campaign promises from a year ago, is demanding pro-business, anti-union changes to state law.
Rauner reflects on first year as Illinois governor
SPRINGFIELD – One year into Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s term, the state doesn’t have a budget, and he hasn’t gotten the structural reforms he’s been pushing as part of his “Turnaround Agenda.” Rauner said in an interview with the Northwest Herald’s Emily Coleman that he isn’t surprised, but he is frustrated by the situation, although he added that the state’s problems took years to create and will take time to fix. But Rauner also pointed to some victories in unemployment insurance reform that prevented a tax hike for businesses and a benefit decrease for recipients, and a plan to fill a $1.6 billion hole in last year’s budget through across-the-board cuts and transfers from other areas.
Coleman: Is this where you expect-
Hot topics include budget impasse, structural reform, pension debate ed to be one year in? Rauner: Well, I’m not totally
surprised. I’m obviously a bit disappointed we haven’t been able to get major structural reforms that are so badly needed, but it was a good year in many regards. We made some major strides in the right direction, and we’ll just stay persistent and strong, trying to get the structural reforms to grow the economy and get more value for taxpayers. We’ll stay the course.
Coleman: When you were running for office, you said you were going to run Illinois like a CEO runs a business.
How has that worked out for you? Rauner: Mostly very well. The
parallels between leading in government and leading in business are very similar. It’s about assembling a very talented team of executives, leaders. It’s about team building. It’s about setting a vision and a plan, laying it out. And then it’s about managing to implement that plan. It’s all very similar. It’s negotiating. It’s selling. It’s all very similar skills to business. Obviously, the big difference is major structural change is hard. It’s hard in business, but in business, the constituents that have to be
convinced or persuaded – the scale is just fundamentally different. Democracy is designed to change slowly. It’s just built that way, and to get major change just takes a while. I’m not totally surprised. I’m frustrated, but I’m not surprised.
Coleman: In a few weeks, you have to give your annual budget address, and since we don’t have a budget currently, how do you think you’re going to go about doing that? Rauner: I’ll say a few things. First, I’ve been talking about the budget and budget issues every day for a year, and I’m going to continue to talk every day for the next year. The budget address is just one part of that, and I’ll talk about budget issues in detail.
Local government officials and employees would have a harder time traveling and dining on the taxpayers’ dime under a bill filed by a McHenry County lawmaker. House Bill 4379, filed last week by state Rep. David McSweeney, R-Barrington Hills, seeks to limit the amount of money school districts and non-home-rule governments can spend on Rep. David t r a v e l , m e a l s McSweeney and lodging. I t w i l l r e - On the quire said gove r n m e n t s t o Web regulate reimRead the bursement by r e s o l u t i o n o r text of House ordinance, set Bill 4379 at maximum lim- www.ilga. its and better gov. document expenses through a standardized form. Spending taxpayer money on entertainment would be forbidden under the proposed law. McSweeney said no one incident prompted him to file the bill, but rather a steady flow of stories from media and the Better Government Association about local governments racking up questionable expenses as taxpayers struggle under one of the nation’s highest property tax burdens. Eliminating unnecessary or frivolous costs is a small but important step in bringing the tax burden down, he said. “I think we can all agree taxpayers should not be footing the bill for local government officials to see movies, concerts or live theater shows,” McSweeney said. Minimum documentation for reimbursement that would
See RAUNER, page A4
See BILL, page A4
Supreme Court considers ditching mandatory public union fees By SAM HANANEL The Associated Press WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court appears ready to deliver a major setback to American unions as it considers scrapping a four-decade precedent that lets public-sector labor organizations collect fees from workers who decline to join. During more than an hour of oral arguments Monday, the high court’s conservative justices seemed likely to side with a group of California teachers who say those mandatory fees violate the free-speech rights of workers who disagree with a union’s positions. Labor officials fear unions’ very existence could be threatened if workers are allowed to get all the
benefits of representation without at least paying fees to cover the costs of collective bargaining. The case affects more than 5 million workers in 23 states and Washington, D.C. But Justice Anthony Kennedy rejected arguments by lawyers for the state of California and the California Teachers Association that the current fee system is needed to prevent nonmembers from becoming “free riders” – workers who reap the rewards of union bargaining and grievance procedures without paying for it. “The union basically is making these teachers compelled riders for issues on which they strongly disagree,” Kennedy said, noting the political nature of bargaining issues such as teacher salaries, merit pro-
motions and class size. Even Justice Antonin Scalia, who in the past has expressed some sympathy for the free-rider argument, said all the items negotiated in a collective bargaining agreement “are necessarily political questions.” Arguing in support of the union, California Solicitor General Edward DuMont said the state needs a reliable bargaining partner that is funded by all the workers it represents. He said the fees for collective bargaining typically apply to nonpolitical issues such as mileage reimbursement, working hours and other mundane matters. Chief Justice John Roberts dismissed that reasoning, saying even
See UNION FEES, page A4
AP photo
Lesa Curtis (right) of Westchester, N.Y., who is pro-agency fees and former president of her union, joins a rally Monday outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.
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