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State Fiscal Crisis Demands More Assertive Action
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My first year office as a State Representative has reinforced my belief that the urgency with which significant issues are addressed is not commensurate with the magnitude of our State’s fiscal crisis. This is due in part to the glacial pace that business moves in Springfield legislatively. Inordinate amounts of time and effort are spent on matters that are peripheral at best in relation to the real issues facing our State.
Additionally, reforms that have been passed into law by the General Assembly in relation to …
Read More »College Illinois! Update
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I recently traveled to Springfield to hear testimony from parents and others concerned about the future of the College Illinois! college investment program.
As we have discussed here before, About 55,000 families across the State have invested their children’s college money in College Illinois!, but questionable investment practices and management decisions as well as sky rocketing tuition have created a shortfall. Our College Illinois! Restoration Task Force is charged with finding solutions to bring stability back to the program.
In addition to hearing families’ personal stories …
Read More »Continued Success in the Battle against Meth
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There’s no question that tracking and limiting large purchases of pseudoephedrine (PSE), a main ingredient in making of illegal methamphetamine, has helped reduce the number of homemade meth labs in our local communities. A key component of that success is a pilot program that currently allows all Illinois pharmacies to electronically track PSE purchases and block sales that exceed state and federal limits. But if we don’t act, the pilot program will expire in January, 2012.
Last week I signed-on as a co-sponsor of legislation initiated …
Read More »Personal Care/Christie Clinic News
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Personal Care/Christie Clinic Clients Take Note: Special Enrollment Begins This Week
A new Special Enrollment Period (SEP) began on Monday for those who receive their health insurance coverage through the state. Special Enrollment offers an opportunity to review your insurance carrier options and make a change if you wish. This may be particularly helpful now to Personal Care enrollees with Christie Clinic physicians. Below are Central Management Services answers to some of the questions you may have:
Q. What changes can I make during the SEP?
A. You …
Read More »Veto Session Deal on Gaming Bill?
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We’re a couple weeks away from the start of the General Assembly’s fall veto session and Senate President John Cullerton still has not released to the Governor the gaming bill we approved in the spring that includes a new riverboat facility for Danville.
The latest news is that the Senate President and the Governor are discussing possible ways to scale-back the proposal by removing some of the language allowing slot machines at horse racing events such as harness racing at the state fairgrounds in Springfield.
President Cullerton …
Read More »Making Jobs Priority #1
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We received two pieces of news in recent days that really highlight why we desperately need to focus on improving our jobs climate: first, our unemployment rate in Illinois rose nearly half a percentage point to 9.9%. Then a new survey of 322 company executives ranked Illinois as the third worst state in the country for doing business (we did manage to score just ahead of New York and California).
Our neighboring states are beating us in the battle for jobs. Why? Because they have made …
Read More »Health Insurance Contract Extension Finalized
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Emergency Contracts Extended
Its official…A nine month extension of emergency state health insurance contracts authorized several weeks ago was finalized this week. Now, the temporary, emergency contracts with Health Alliance, HealthLink and Personal Care initially set to expire in late September will remain in effect through the end of the fiscal year on June 30, 2012.
This is very good news for thousands of local families. Extending the emergency contracts will ensure families continue to have access to their trusted doctors and providers while the lawsuits challenging …
Read More »It’s Time to End the General Assembly Scholarship Program
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This week I participated in a press conference with Representatives Chapin Rose and Jason Barickman to urge an end to the troubled General Assembly Scholarship Program.
The program has been in place for decades. It allows each member of the General Assembly to award the equivalent of eight one-year tuition waivers each year for students to attend a state university in Illinois.
First of all, these waivers are not funded– our universities are expected to just “eat” the costs. When we’re already not paying our universities what …
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