Laurence Msall, federation president, said lawmakers and governors have spent Illinois into a deep hole by expanding Medicaid, which provides health-care coverage to low-income families.

“What is most frightening is that even after the income tax, the state was not able to pass a budget to fully fund Medicaid,” Msall said, referring to a 67 percent personal income tax increase and a 48 percent corporate income tax increase in January 2011.

But even with that additional revenue, Illinois lawmakers still had to pay more than $1 billion in 2011 Medicaid bills.

The Civic Federation report paints a grim picture for Medicaid spending:

• Illinois is on pace to spend a total of nearly $14 billion on Medicaid this year
• Illinois’ Medicaid costs are expected to increase 41 percent over the next five years.
• Gov. Pat Quinn is budgeting only a 13 percent spending increase.

Illinois will see as many as 296,000 new people enroll in Medicaid once the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act takes effect in 2014.

Under the new law, which is designed to make health care and insurance more accessible, the federal government will pay 100 percent of the cost of new Medicaid patients for two years. After 2016, Illinois will have to pay 50 percent of the costs.

The Civic Federation report also details increases in pension spending from $5.7 billion this year to $7.8 billion in 2017, and unpaid bills from $8.6 billion this year to $34.5 billion in five years.

Msall added that Medicaid spending is the biggest single cost for state government. The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services expects to spend a total of $14 billion on Medicaid this year, that includes both state and federal dollars.

The Civic Federation report calculates pension spending to rise 35 percent over five years, while Medicaid spending is expected to jump 41 percent.

By Benjamin Yount/Illinois Statehouse News

The legislation, Senate Bill 400, which the House passed on a vote of 67-49, would increase Illinois’ Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income, working households from a maximum of $283 to $566, boosting worker take home pay $55 million in 2012 and $110 million in 2013.

According to Deputy House Majority Leader Lou Lang (D-Skokie), a married couple with three children earning $30,000 a year would pay $799 in Illinois income taxes under current law. The new tax relief bill would drop their tax bill to $625 this year and $600 next year.

“For many hard-working families, $200 is a significant amount of money to go back in their pocket,” said Lang. “In turn, they will likely spend that money at a local business, boosting the economy.”

More than 2.5 million people benefited from the tax credit in 2009.

In addition to raising the earned income tax credit, the legislation also raises the standard tax exemption for households from $2,000 to $2,050, indexing it for inflation.

“By raising the standard, individual tax exemption, we will be adding an additional $40 million to Illinois households,” said Lang.

House lawmakers also voted, 81-28, for legislation, Senate Bill 397, to provide tax relief to top Illinois employers, such as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Sears, and nearly 30,000 small businesses.

“The business tax relief will keep more than 8,100 jobs in Illinois,” said Lang.

A plan to add five casinos throughout the state, expand the number of places where people can make bets at each casino, and allow video gambling at horse tracks eked out of the Legislature this spring but stalled in the face of opposition from Governor Pat Quinn.

Quinn has criticized the legislation repeatedly, calling it “top heavy.”

“The bill that they have proposed has many, many defects, and it needs to be improved substantially,” Quinn said earlier this week. “I’m going to speak about this later this month, and we’ll lay out some principles that I think ought to be used for the Legislature when it comes to gambling.”

Lawmakers will return Oct. 25 to the state Capitol for the start of the two-week veto session.

State Sen. President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, has put a temporary hold on the gaming legislation, preventing it from going to Quinn, who could reject part or all of the package.

From the end of the spring session until now, Quinn and legislators have met to discuss the gaming legislation, said state Rep. Lou Lang D-Skokie, who sponsored the gaming package in the House.

“We’ve had a lot of conversations, but there’s been no negotiation. The governor’s office is unwilling to negotiate and unwilling to tell us exactly what he wants in a bill,” Lang said.

Quinn said he is concerned about oversaturation, referring to the 10 current casinos in Illinois.

“If you have too many positions and casinos, they hurt each other,” Quinn said.

The possibility of more competition in the gaming market comes at a time when the state’s operating casinos are watching their profits drop.

The Rivers in Des Plaines was the 10th casino to open in Illinois and started operating this summer. Two months later, the closest in-state competitor, the Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin, saw its lowest profits for August in 16 years, according to a study released this week by the legislature’s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability.

Unlike Quinn, Lang said competition between casinos isn’t the state’s problem.

“Certainly we’d be worried about cannibalization, but it is not the role or function of Illinois state government to guarantee those 10 riverboat owners a profit,” he said.

Adjusted gross receipts have been falling each year since fiscal 2008, the study said.

The study puts most of the blame for the decline on the 2008 statewide indoor smoking ban, which it said drove gamblers to surrounding states, such as Wisconsin, Iowa and Missouri, where smoking is permitted in casinos.

The four riverboat casinos in the Chicago area saw adjusted gross receipts drop by $472.5 million, or 35.5 percent, between 2007 and 2010, the last year smoking was allowed indoors.

Adjusted gross receipts for Chicago-area casinos in neighboring Indiana, which allows smoking indoors and has more gaming positions, increased by $6.6 million, or 0.6 percent, during the same period, the report says.

This spring, the state House passed a proposal that would have allowed smoking in casinos, bordering states that allow indoor smoking. But the bill died in the state Senate.

The original gaming expansion bill passed the state Senate with 30 votes, the bare minimum for approval, and the House with 65 yes votes, just five more than the bare minimum for passage. To override a governor’s veto, a total of 37 out of 59 votes is needed in the Senate and 71 out of 118 votes in the House.

Because Quinn has not been willing to outline specific changes for the gaming expansion proposal, at least two legislators who voted no to the original expansion would vote to override Quinn’s veto, Lang said.

Andrew Thomason, Illinois Statehouse News

WBEZ radio’s Kristen McQueary has the story:

“Despite delays and debunked predictions—and a never-ending wait for Gov. Pat Quinn’s decision on a gambling expansion bill—supporters of expanded gambling in Illinois say they expect to find common ground by Oct. 25, the first day of the fall veto session.

The bill, stalled for months due to policy differences, political infighting and Quinn’s reluctance to increase gambling venues, remains a top priority.

But the waiting game may be ending soon. Unless Quinn outlines his concerns “in short order,” legislative leaders will present him with their own version of a clean-up gaming bill, known as a trailer bill, that will tighten control over the proposed Chicago-owned casino, according to State Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie), House sponsor of the bill.”

Read the rest of the article here …

State Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie)

(Skokie, IL) — August 25, 2011. Governor Pat Quinn last week signed legislation that requires insurance companies to provide insurance parity for both mental health care and substance abuse treatment, drawing praise for the measure’s approval but concern over funding from the measure’s legislative sponsor.

“No one should be forced to forgo critical mental health care because of where they live or because their insurance charges more for the necessary treatment,” said Quinn.

The legislation, House Bill 1530, sponsored by State Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie) and State Senator Willie Delgado (D-Chicago), prevents insurers from imposing additional barriers within the policy – such as financial requirements, treatment limitations, lifetime limits or annual limits – to treatments for mental, emotional, nervous and substance abuse disorders if no such stipulations exist for other health conditions.

The new Illinois new law exceeds the requirements of the recently-enacted federal mental health parity law, according to Lang.

“Federal enforcement is a more remote, lighter touch, relying on telephone calls and mail,” said Lang. “By matching state law to the federal standards, the Illinois Insurance Department can enforce the federal standards more aggressively than the federal government could by virtue of state face-to-face enforcement activities.”

Despite the governor’s signature on this legislation, Lang, the former Chairman of the House Committee on Mental Health Reform, expressed concern that Quinn’s effort to deeply cut funding for both mental health and substance abuse treatment services in this year’s budget undermines the coherence of any state strategy to improve behavioral health care in Illinois.

“Of course, I appreciate the governor’s signature on the mental health parity bill,” said Lang. “But we can’t slash funding for behavioral health care and then turn around and pat ourselves on the back and claim we’re helping the mentally ill.”

In the FY 2012 budget, Quinn proposed cutting $33 million from mental health director services and $63 million from substance abuse treatment, eliminating services for nearly 75,000 individuals.

“We have to pursue coherent behavioral health care strategy both on the substance and on the money,” said Lang.

“I urge the governor to sign this bill,” said Lang. “This bill will generate $1.6 billion for unpaid bills, bills in which governor has no other way to pay, and it creates or saves 90,000 jobs. When the economy risks falling back into recession, Illinois can not afford thumb its nose at 90,000 jobs.”

Former Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis joined the chorus of opposition to the state’s gambling expansion bill last week, warning that if it is implemented, “political corruption and crime syndicate infiltration will follow.”

Yet the concerns of Weis and other critics are largely addressed in the actual text of the legislation, a Chicago News Cooperative analysis of claims about the 400-page bill found.

Read the entire article here …

Moderated by Andy Shaw, President and CEO, of the watchdog group, two panels square off against each other at the Union League Club of Chicago on Wednesday evening for two-hours.

Lang, who sponsored the legislation, and Michael J. Mini, Director of Governmental Relations, Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce face opponents Rev. Phillip L. Blackwell, Senior Pastor, at the First United Methodist Church of the Temple and Anita Bedell, Executive Director, Illinois Church Action on Alcohol & Addiction Problems.

“Illinois legalized gaming decades ago. That debate is over,” said Lang. “The question before us is this: is the state going to fully the develop its economic potential of a key tourism sector to save or create 90,000 jobs and bring $1.5 billion to the state treasury?”

Quinn is weighing whether to sign or veto the legislation which include a casino for Chicago, a top economic priority of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

The Union League Club is located at 65 West Jackson Blvd. The debate will be held in the Crystal Room, 5th Floor. Registration begins at 5:00 P.M.; the program is 5:30 to 7:00 P.M. An audience Q & A session will follow the panel discussion.

The plan would generate $1.5 billion from upfront fees, which would be used to help pay the state’s $4.5 billion in unpaid bills, and produce $500 million annually for education and other state services, according to Lang.

Listen to Lang’s comments here:

Governor Pat Quinn, who has referred to the legislation as “top heavy”, is reviewing the measure.

Here’s the editorial:

Gov. Pat Quinn said Wednesday that he will give a bill authorizing a Chicago casino “a microscopic review.”

By all means. The bill dramatically expands gambling in Illinois, more than tripling the current number of gambling positions in the state.

The governor, like us, is unhappy about lumping in so many other gambling sites with Chicago’s, calling the bill “excessive” and “top-heavy.”

He’s absolutely right about that.

But here’s what Quinn will see when he finally gets his microscope in focus: A bill that will draw in much-needed revenue for Chicago and the state. The state is already slashing social services, education funding and threatening deep cuts to state employee pensions. Adding new revenue is one of the only ways available to soften that blow slightly, to ward off even more draconian cuts in years to come.

Read the rest here …