State Senator Heather Steans issued the following statement in response to Gov. JB Pritzker’s signing of the state’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year:

“These budget negotiations were challenging in ways we could not have imagined even a few months beforehand,” Steans said. “This is a preservation budget, one aimed at maintaining our funding levels in the most important areas at a time when these services have never been more crucial.”

While making $1 billion in cuts in comparison to the governor’s proposed Fiscal Year 2021 budget, Senate Bill 264 increases funding to the Dept. of Children and Family Services and programs that help seniors and the developmentally disabled live independently in their homes – especially crucial as the state responds to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Funding for schools and public safety are preserved at their current levels under the plan, while programs that are truly crucial in responding to COVID-19 will see increases, including senior meals programs, home care and respite services, DCFS, and other programs that help the developmentally disabled and their families.

Included in the budget this year:

• $8.9 billion for P-12 education, an increase of $12.7 million when compared to what was enacted in FY 20, including an increase of $6.77 million to evidence-based funding to ensure all schools’ funds are level and an additional $11 million over the previous year for mandated categoricals such as transportation.
• Level funding for early childhood education.
• Level funding for higher education.
• An increase over FY 20 of $43 million to public safety agencies, including increases to violence prevention and reduction programs, two new classes of State Police cadets, and 280 additional staff and equipment, commodities, and supplies to improve operations at the Illinois Veterans’ Home at Chicago.
• A $438 million increase to human services, with funding that includes:
  • Increases to the Community Care Program and similar home care services like Home Delivered Meals, Adult Protective Services, Senior HelpLine and area agencies on aging.
  • $299.5 million increase to DHS to cover Rehab Services, the Mental Health Division, the Developmental Disabilities Division, substance abuse prevention, and Child Care Assistance, among others.
  • $178.5 million increase to DCFS to hire 123 additional direct service staff, with the goal of improving the state’s caseload ratios. Includes step pay for union employees.
• $19.1 million increase to the Dept. of Public Health, as well as $600 million in new federal funding to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
• $447.4 million increase of state funding and a $780 million increase in federal funding to HFS, covering increased Medicaid liability.
• Most state agencies will remain at or very near level funding compared to the previous year. Overall, a total of about $1 billion in cuts to the governor’s original proposed FY 21 budget are reflected in the final plan passed by the General Assembly.

The budget also makes the state’s full pension payment.

“Failing to meet this obligation, even in light of our current circumstances, was not an option,” Steans said. “As we adjust to severely reduced revenues from nearly all sources, it’s our duty to protect our state’s bond rating.”

Steans also said the budget’s $5 billion in borrowing was necessary in light of the devastation wrought by COVID-19-related business closures.

“I stand behind this decision as we look forward to a year where our state will be reeling from historically unprecedented hardship,” Steans said. “It is true that borrowing now costs money later, but we’ve seen, very recently, what happens when the state simply abandons its obligations. If we were to see the same indolence we did during the Rauner years now, in a pandemic, it would be a true humanitarian crisis.”

The governor signed the budget Tuesday, contained within Senate Bill 264 and House Bill 357.

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As protests continue in Chicago and across the nation this week, I encourage you to find ways to support peaceful protests and stand in solidarity with businesses that are trying to recover from damage at the same time they are cautiously reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We must stand together to say that Black Lives Matter. We must commit to the work ahead to reform our justice system and dismantle the layers of harm of systemic racism. As we stand in support of the peaceful protesters who are seeking reform, I want to highlight resources we can use to amplify Black voices and help in our communities. Read below for information on those resources.

Sincerely,

Heather A. Steans
State Senator, 7th Illinois Senate District

Groups to support and follow for information on the protests and on seeking justice

Chicago/Illinois Organizations:

• Assata's Daughters is a Black-woman led organization that organizes young Black people in Chicago by providing them with political education, leadership development, mentorship, and revolutionary services. (https://www.assatasdaughters.org/)
• Black Lives Matter Chicago Chapter works to end state violence and criminalization of Black communities by deconstructing white supremacist, capitalist, patriarchy. (https://www.blacklivesmatterchicago.com/about-us/)
• Brave Space Alliance performs social activism against discrimination, racism, and bigotry against queer people of color. It provides resources to marginalized communities including a food pantry. https://www.bravespacealliance.org/
• Chicago Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression is a local chapter of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. This group addresses and fights against discrimination based on race and religion. (https://www.caarpr.org/?fbclid=IwAR2xIoQjUyn3fXyoverRY9b4CBWFehByn7gd3AqF7g8FvaFYex4MBlo2XCw)
• Chicago Community Bond Fund raises money for bail for those arrested in the protests who cannot afford it. https://chicagobond.org/
• Chicago COVID-19 Hardship and Help organizes mutual-aid to families that are hard hit by the virus. Families make requests to the organization. Volunteers fulfill those requests. https://transformativespaces.org/2020/03/15/chicago-covid-19-hardship-and-help-page/amp/
• My Block, My Hood, My City funds and organizes efforts to repair small businesses. It also provides aid to seniors for COVID-19. https://www.formyblock.org/
• Imagine Englewood works to strengthen and empower the Greater Englewood community through teaching local youth and their families healthy living, environmental awareness, and positive communication skills. (https://www.imagineenglewoodif.org/). They are also using funds for neighborhood clean-ups.
• SOUL (Southsiders Organized for Liberty and Unification) seeks to empower and support low income residents on the South Side. Currently, they are arguing for the release of arrested protestors and putting them in touch with legal services while spreading information about demonstrations/protests. (http://www.soulinchicago.org/)

National Organizations:

• Black Youth Project 100 is a grassroots organization building a network focused on transformative leadership development, direct action organizing, advocacy, and education. Our membership core believes in the principles of decision-making, radical inclusivity, and is building a Black politic through a Black, queer, feminist lens. (https://www.byp100.org)
• Color of Change is an online organization that develops campaigns to challenge
  injustice, hold corporate and political leaders accountable, commission game-changing research on systems of inequality, and advance solutions for racial justice that can transform our world. (https://colorofchange.org)
• Dignity and Power Now is a grassroots organization grounded in the principles of abolition, healing justice, and transformative justice. Dignity and Power Now has multiple programs centered around activism, health and wellness, and leadership building. (http://dignityandpowernow.org)
• Campaign Zero supports the analysis of policing practices across the country, research to identify effective solutions to end police violence, technical assistance to organizers leading police accountability campaigns and the development of model legislation and advocacy to end police violence nationwide. (https://www.joincampaignzero.org/#vision)

Aid for businesses affected by civil unrest

The state's Dept. of Commerce and Economic Opportunity is working to secure access to helpful resources for businesses affected by circumstances arising out of the past weeks of protests and police action. DCEO is working with the U.S. Small Business Administration to provide targeted, low-interest loans to small businesses and non-profits that have been severely affected by these events in counties that have received a disaster declaration (including Cook). As a part of this process, DCEO is collecting information from businesses that have been negatively impacted. You can access the form by clicking here.

Dear friend,

Last week the Illinois General Assembly completed a truncated session, passing a budget, revising gaming law to enable Chicago to create a casino, providing assistance to Illinoisans impacted by COVID-19, and enacting a new hospital assessment program to provide critical resources to health care providers across the state. Below are overviews of the action we took. I will provide additional details on the budget in a future email. Please reach out with any questions or concerns at 773-769-1717.

Sincerely,

Heather A. Steans
State Senator, 7th Illinois Senate District

Budget

Building a budget in this uncertain time proved challenging. With the pandemic and associated closures of many economic sectors, revenues have dropped precipitously in Illinois, as in every state. It remains unclear what additional assistance the federal government will provide states, how Illinois’ economy will bounce back as the state reopens, and whether or not enacts a progressive income tax.

Given these unknowns, we opted for a budget that preserves services during this time of need, knowing we may need to adjust the budget in the fall. Overall the budget keeps most programs funded at the same as the current year. K-12 education, higher education, public safety programs and general government services are preserved so that our school districts, universities and community colleges, and police and correctional institutions can maintain critical services. In human service arena most programs are also maintained at current levels, with some new investments in the Department of Children and Family Services and programs that care for elderly and developmentally disabled individuals. We also implemented a new funding mechanism in the Medicaid program to direct additional resources to health care providers around the state.

If additional assistance from the federal government is not provided and Illinois does not change its income tax structure, we provided authority for the administration to borrow up to $5 billion through the new Federal Reserve Bank credit facility it recently established. I will provide more details on the budget in my next newsletter.

A Chicago casino

Included in a package of legislation on gaming was a major change that will finally make it viable for a casino to operate in Chicago. All revenue from a Chicago casino will go toward paying the city's police and fire pension funds.

Senate Bill 516 removes a 33.3% tax on a casino’s income, and adjusts the rates on table games and slots. 

As Illinois moves to expand gaming statewide, we must ensure the process remains transparent and well-regulated. This is just the beginning of a long process that will result in a Chicago casino. Under the legislation, there are public posting and presentation requirements for a proposal for a new casino. As that process moves forward, I will provide further updates.

Health care

One of the most important things we can do right now is ensure the long term viability of Medicaid and our hospital system. I sponsored Senate Bill 2541 to increase rates for hospitals serving low-income individuals throughout the state, raise physician rates, and enable hospitals in under-resourced communities to improve health care access and address social determinants of health.

The legislation includes $250 million in increases through the hospital assessment program, $50 million in physician rate increases, and $150 million for a hospital transformation fund to help hospitals facing difficulties change what type of institution they are in the interest of more cost-effectively providing care to their community.

Additional consideration is included for safety net hospitals and critical access hospitals through a fixed pool funding approach, and high Medicaid hospitals through an increased fixed rate approach.

The $150 million hospital and health care transformation program allows an application for funding from the hospital and health care transformation program to incorporate the campus of a hospital closed after Jan. 1, 2018 or a hospital that has provided notice of its intent to close.

There were other major pieces of health care legislation that passed the General Assembly last week as well. Senate Bill 1864 contained numerous important health care provisions in light of the pandemic. Among other things, this omnibus package:

• Directs the Illinois Dept. of Healthcare and Family Services to require Medicaid coverage for services under the psychiatric Collaborative Care Model and to adopt a similar model of its own.
• Allows HFS to take a set of necessary actions to address the COVID-19 public health emergency to the extent allowed by federal rules until up to a year after emergency. The intent is largely to bypass administrative hurdles and ensure families who need care can access it.
• Allows individuals who are not otherwise eligible for Medicaid to qualify for COVID-19-related medical assistance for the duration of any federal or State declared emergency due to COVID-19.
• Allows HFS to cover and provide medical assistance to undocumented individuals who would otherwise meet the eligibility requirements for the duration of the state emergency period.
• requires HFS and the Dept. of Human Services to seek a federal waiver or state plan amendment to allow remote monitoring and support services to be waiver-reimbursable services for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities and seniors requiring in-home care.

Pandemic response

Moving quickly to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic must remain our top priority in state government. As part of our efforts during a very short session in Springfield, we directed federal CARES Act funding to help in areas that included contact tracing, rental and mortgage assistance, more assistance for businesses, and child care facilities. Among those efforts:

• $396 million in rental and mortgage assistance. This will go toward helping renters afford their apartments and toward ensuring rental properties are safe and operational. These resources will aid units that are not already receiving federal or state rental subsidy and have experienced losses due to a tenant’s inability to pay rent as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• $376 million in grants for businesses that have experienced interruption during the pandemic.
• $260 million for child care facilities that have had to close their doors due to COVID-19.
• $600 million to expand the state’s contact tracing capabilities. A complete transformation of our contact tracing system in Illinois is key to eventually defeating the virus.
• $700 million in state pandemic response that includes spending for PPE, state agency health and safety measures, and other emergency response costs through the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.

As we enter Phase 3 of the Restore Illinois plan, we also need to ensure safe workplaces for employees as businesses operate in pandemic conditions. House Bill 2455 creates a “rebuttable presumption” that a first-responder or essential worker who contracts COVID-19 did so in the course of their employment. An employer would have certain means of rebutting the worker’s claim.

Employers may rebut the presumption that an employee contracted COVID-19 in the workplace through the following means:

• Demonstrating that for at least 14 days prior to the date the employee claims injury (their COVID-19 infection) the workplace was following up-to-date public health guidelines appropriate to their type of business issued by the Illinois Department of Public Health or the Centers for Disease Control.
• Demonstrating that the employee in question was working from home for a period at least 14 days prior to the injury claim.
• Demonstrating that the employee was exposed to the virus by an alternative source outside the workplace.

The legislation also ensures Illinois continues to qualify for federal relief packages by extending unemployment benefits, waiving the one-week unemployment insurance waiting period, and expanding eligibility for unemployment to non-instructional education employees, such as lunch workers and teachers’ aides. Employers would also not be charged for unemployment benefits paid to those out of work due to COVID-19 for benefits issued between March 15, 2020 and Dec. 31, 2020.

Finally, another reason to get excited: Curbside cocktails are now legal. In the interest of helping bars and restaurants operate during the pandemic, House Bill 2682 allows cocktails mixed by employees to be sold for curbside pickup and delivery. Some restrictions:

• To-go cocktails must be held in a sealed container with a tamper-proof lid and drivers must store them in a trunk or other compartment inaccessible to themselves or passengers.
• Delivery must be done by a trained employee over the age of 21 who will verify the age of the purchaser. Third party delivery of cocktails is prohibited. (No Grub Hub or Uber Eats!)
• The container must also be labeled with the ingredients of the drink, the name of the license holder, the address of the business that sold the product, the volume of the drink, and a message saying the container was filled less than 7 days before the date of sale.
• This sunsets after a year.

Ensuring transparent government operations

Senate Bill 2135 makes a wide variety of changes to laws that affect state and local government in response to the COVID-19 crisis, aimed at making it easier for local governments to comply with the Open Meetings Act and creating groups to respond to the challenges brought on by the crisis. Some provisions:

• Government bodies subject to the Open Meetings Act are authorized to meet via audio or video conferencing, as long as the public still has the ability to see or hear the meeting and that two days’ notice of each meeting is provided.
• Creates the Restore Illinois Collaborative Commission to monitor the governor’s actions regarding the state’s reopening plan.
• Creates the Task Force on Business Interruption Insurance Policies to investigate these insurance policies in light of COVID-19 and make recommendations for changes.
• The Broadband Advisory Council is given authority to undertake a study on free internet for all.

To address immediate issues facing the newly forming legalized cannabis industry in Illinois, especially in light of the pandemic, State Senator Heather Steans (D-Chicago) successfully passed legislation out of the Illinois Senate today to expedite the hiring process for new employees, ensure a fair marketplace for independent cannabis businesses and rectify inconsistencies in the law.

“This plan came about through cooperation across the aisle and between both chambers of the legislature, with input from the governor’s administration, law enforcement, and business,” Steans said. “I am grateful for their hard work and for our ability to get this done despite the challenges we’ve faced during the pandemic.”

Currently, employees of cannabis dispensaries face a 45-day backlog between when they apply for a job and when a background check clears them to begin work. Under the plan passed today, new hires could begin work provisionally as they await a background check’s results.

“This backlog was unsustainable even before the pandemic,” Steans said. “As dispensaries need new employees, and so many people are out of work due to the pandemic, this change is immediately necessary.”

The measure also allows medical cannabis patients to fill their prescriptions at any licensed dispensary. Under current law, a cannabis patient is tied to a particular dispensary.

“In light of adult use legalization, the uncertainty the pandemic has caused for travel, and concerns about possible supply issues, this restriction is a barrier that medical patients just shouldn’t need to overcome,” Steans said.

The legislation also places some regulations on how cannabis cultivators supply dispensaries, and when and how cannabis businesses can move in the interest of ensuring a fair marketplace that will be accommodating to new businesses that are granted licenses due to the state’s equity program. Dispensaries established under the state’s older medical use rules and now find themselves in areas where local government has opted out of adult use may relocate under the legislation, but must wait to do so until after an upcoming series of business licenses are approved by state regulators.

“We must ensure that the benefits of cannabis aren’t just going to privileged corporations,” Steans said. “The state’s equity program gives consideration to business owners from communities that have been harmed by the War on Drugs and should benefit from our recovery from it.”

The measure also limits how larger cannabis cultivators are allowed to supply dispensaries in an attempt to ensure smaller, independent dispensaries are not at a significant disadvantage when it comes to their supply.

“New, independent cannabis dispensaries are entering a market already occupied by established businesses,” Steans said. “These small shops should not be at a disadvantage when it comes to real estate and supply.”

Among other changes enacted by House Bill 123, sponsored by Steans in the Senate:

• No special district taxes on cannabis. Special district taxing bodies (e.g. mosquito abatement districts, cemetery management districts, and many others in Illinois) would not be able to impose taxes on cannabis.
• Clarifications for publishers. In addition to clarifying how the Freedom of Information Act applies to adult use cannabis business regulation, the law also clarifies that advertising restrictions do not penalize publications who merely report on cannabis.
• Eliminating the conflict on where a cultivation center can be located. Location restrictions differ between older and newer statute. Under the legislation, newer statutes supersede older ones.
• Ending double-taxing on cannabis vaping products. Due to an oversight, cannabis vaping products are taxed as both electronic cigarettes and cannabis products under current law. The legislation ensures they are not subject to the e-cigarette tax.

House Bill 123 passed the Senate 46-10. It awaits a vote of concurrence from the Illinois House.