With the Illinois House of Representatives in the midst of a month-long break, a group of Downstate GOP lawmakers want the House to return to session to work on a compromise to end the nine-month long budget impasse.

State Representatives Bill Mitchell, C.D. Davidsmeyer, John Cavaletto, David Reis and Avery Bourne held a press conference in Decatur Wednesday to urge Democrat leaders to call the General Assembly back into session.

“The sad fact is Illinois is broke. Our colleges, students and human services are suffering because of the Chicago politicians’ refusal to compromise on desperately-needed economic and spending reforms. We are nine months into Fiscal Year 2016 without a budget and the House has only been in session nine days this entire year. What are we doing? Speaker Madigan needs to end this month-long break and get back to work,” said Rep. Bill Mitchell (R-Forsyth). Read more.

Budget – FY15 – Social Services Restored
Revenue estimate up; $26 million in State grants to be restored. The State of Illinois has faced continuous challenges in “keeping the lights on” during the final months of FY15. When the Governor’s office changed hands in January, Governor Bruce Rauner found that the FY15 budget passed by Democrat majorities and signed by former Governor Pat Quinn was drastically unbalanced. The General Assembly and the Rauner administration have worked together since that time to shift funds around to cover shortfalls. In some cases, additional cuts were imposed on some agencies and their spending programs.

A group of southern Illinois lawmakers is showing support for a Salem teenager who is fighting for his life.

Weston McGhee was severely injured in a car accident recently.  His older brother, Wyatt was killed in the accident.  Dense fog that morning is to blame for the crash. WSLITV has the story.

Weston is known for wearing his 'superman' t-shirt under his athletic gear for 'good luck' which is where the idea for these shirts came from. The campaign uses the hashtag #WestonStrong to encourage Weston and support his family to stay strong.

State Reps Davidsmeyer, Brown, Bourne, Bryant, Cavaletto, Meier, Phelps & Reis wore Superman T-shirts on the floor of the House of Representatives on March 26 in a show of support for 14 year old Weston McGhee and his family.

Energy – Fracking
Fracking rules approved; jobs and opportunity coming to Southern Illinois. The rules, from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (DNR), are a legally essential element for engineering teams to enter Illinois properties and drill for fossil fuels. Up until now, Illinois has not had rules or a permit structure in place to cover horizontal drilling in sedimentary beds of shale rock. A newly-invented segment of oil drilling technology, “fracking,” has sprung up to puncture these tightly-bound particles of rock and force them to yield their crude oil and natural gas. A significant deposit of New Albany shale, believed to be oil-rich, lies underneath many counties of southeastern Illinois.

Southern Illinois will soon witness the economic boom tied to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, of natural oil and gas in Illinois.  On Thursday, the 12-member Joint Committee on Administrative Rules issued a “certificate of no objection” to fracking regulations for the State of Illinois.  This historic milestone authorizes the fracking permit process to get underway, and in doing so, brings Southern Illinois communities one-step closer to a windfall of new jobs and revenue.

New natural gas production in Illinois could create more than 45,000 jobs and $9 billion in economic impact, according to an Illinois Chamber Foundation study.

State Representative David Reis (R-Ste. Marie), chief Republican negotiator and sponsor of the fracking legislation, praised the jobs measure: “Fracking has the potential to create thousands of jobs for downstate residents.  Local businesses, classrooms and government services, such as fire and police, could benefit greatly once fracking gets underway in our state.”

The economic opportunities associated with fracking are limitless.  Local businesses will witness new revenue with an uptick of clientele purchasing materials.  Thousands of jobs are anticipated in the workforce spanning from the fracking/drilling industry, transportation, as well as new retail employees to meet heightened demand for services.  Landowners can also move forward with leasing land for the fracking industry to drill on.

Reis continued, “With economic recovery being paramount to rebuilding our state’s fiscal health, we must forge ahead with innovative policies to fuel job growth and bring much needed resources to our local communities.”

Chicago – NRI
“…we are trying to get the base out…” Newly-released emails confirm politics part of troubled Quinn program. On Tuesday, Oct. 7, former Quinn chief of staff Jack Lavin turned over personal emails subpoenaed by the Legislative Audit Commission that tie the 2010 election and Quinn’s campaign to the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative.

In a Sept. 5, 2010 email to Ben Nuckels, then Quinn’s campaign manager, Lavin outlined strategies to appeal to African-American voters. “If we are trying to get the base out and that’s the key to our victory, we better prioritize correctly,” Lavin wrote. “The African-American community tends to break late so we have some time. The Gov’s Neighborhood Recovery Initiative will also help on the jobs and anti-violence messages.”

House GOP members of Legislative Audit Commission
Rep. Ron Sandack, Dennis Reboletti & David Reis

After 12 full hours of testimony on Wednesday into Governor Pat Quinn’s disgraced Neighborhood Recovery Initiative (NRI), House Republicans on the Legislative Audit Commission were left with more questions than answers and continue to demand accountability for the failings of the program.
In day one of two days of testimony, members of the bipartisan and bicameral commission heard from four of seven witnesses who were subpoenaed to appear before them. While issues brought up in the Auditor General’s report into the program, such as hasty implementation, lax oversight and poor record keeping, were largely confirmed as accurate, members did not receive testimony into how the failings occurred and who was responsible.

Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration Wednesday turned down a bid by a Downstate Republican to search state computer servers personally for any unreleased emails related to the governor’s Neighborhood Recovery Initiative anti-violence program.

Rep. David Reis, R-Willow Hill, was not given access to state email systems by officials at the state Department of Central Management Services, who cited state and federal law and security concerns as the basis for their decision. Read more.

A key House Republican involved in the legislative probe of Gov. Pat Quinn’s 2010 Neighborhood Recovery Initiative announced plans Wednesday to personally visit a state agency to mine additional staff emails involving the program that the lawmaker believes have been withheld improperly by the administration.

Reis noted that a lawyer for former Quinn deputy chief of staff Toni Irving, who helped oversee the anti-violence grant program, indicated to the Legislative Audit Commission that CMS, which controls most of the state’s computer data servers containing emails, had found “over 100,000” relevant emails in a search. Yet, Auditor General William Holland had access to “a number much less than that figure,” Reis wrote. Dave McKinney has the story in the State Journal-Register.

Rep. Dwight Kay

A metro-east lawmaker says investigators might not have received all of the emails they sought in connection with Gov. Pat Quinn's scandal-tainted Neighborhood Recovery Initiative, an anti-violence program that critics say was used as a political slush fund.

The grant program is the subject of a federal investigation and also came under fire from the state's auditor general. The auditor general, in a blistering report issued in February, found there were "pervasive deficiencies" in how the program was operated.

But some emails from Quinn subordinates involved with the program might have been hidden from the auditor, according to Rep. Dwight Kay, R-Glen Carbon. The News-Democrat has the story by Brian Brueggemann.

FY15 State Budget
FY14 ends; Quinn signs FY15 budget bills. The partisan FY15 budget, enacted by the Democrat majority over strong Republican opposition, was signed on Monday, June 30, the final day of the expiring fiscal year. The governor imposed one veto of a non-GRF spending line but left the $35.7 billion general funds spending plan untouched. This veto could be addressed during the fall Veto Session to be held in November 2014.

A legislative subcommittee voted Monday to subpoena seven former state officials connected to Gov. Pat Quinn's troubled anti-violence initiative that's also under federal and Cook County probes.

The rare move — the Legislative Audit Commission last issued subpoenas in the early 1980s — would mean that the former state officials would be compelled to turn in documents and testify next month over two days about the 2010 Neighborhood Recovery Initiative, which was blasted in a state audit earlier this year for mismanagement and misspending. The subpoenas still required a sign off from state Rep. Frank Mautino, a Democratic co-chair of the commission that reviews state audits.  Read the Associated Press story by Sophie Tareen in the Belleville News-Democrat.

Rep. David Reis

The former head of the now-disbanded state agency put in charge of Gov. Pat Quinn’s discredited Neighborhood Recovery Initiative may be compelled to testify in front of a legislative panel next month.

A four-member subcommittee of the Legislative Audit Commission posted notice Tuesday that it intends to meet next Monday in Chicago to vote on whether to subpoena Barbara Shaw to appear before the commission. 

Dave McKinney with the SunTimes has the story.

Gov. Pat Quinn’s $55 million anti-violence program is the focus of a Capitol hearing today by a panel of lawmakers discussing a highly critical audit.

So far, it’s mostly been a rehash of a report issued in late February by Auditor General William Holland, one that was far from flattering for the Democratic governor as he seeks re-election this fall.

Quinn launched the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative in Democratic areas of the city and south suburbs as he sought re-election in fall 2010. Holland told members of the Legislative Audit Commission today that grant money was distributed without enough checks and balances to ensure it was properly spent.

The Quinn administration offered lax guidance, failed to make sure adequate records were kept to track spending and didn’t visit the program sites to see how taxpayer money was being spent.  Monique Garcia & Ray Long have the story in the Chicago Tribune.

More on the the issue.

Chicago – Neighborhood Recovery Initiative (NRI)
Governor claims ignorance, scandal grows. Claiming that he had been “reading the paper” and had just learned about the involvement of a key Chicago politician with his $55 million Neighborhood Recovery Initiative, Gov. Quinn admitted this week that questions about the Chicago-based program were “troublesome.”

The beleaguered governor spoke to the press as new questions swirled concerning the involvement of Cook County Circuit Clerk Dorothy Brown and her husband, Benton Cook III. At the time NRI was in full operation, Cook was a supervisory employee of the Chicago Area Project, a nonprofit social-work organization active in Chicago’s troubled West Garfield Park neighborhood.

The bipartisan, bicameral Legislative Audit Commission voted 10-1 to grant itself subpoena powers so that it can investigate Governor Quinn's scandal-ridden anti-violence program.

In March, State Rep. David Reis called for a federal probe after a report issued by the Audit General found "pervasive deficiencies" in planning, implementation and management of the Neighborhood Recover Initiative.

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Taxes – Graduated Income Tax
So-called “fair tax” will not appear on November ballot.  Although state senators who support a graduated income tax attempted to move a constitutional amendment to carry out this goal (SJRCA 40), Republicans blocked this amendment and helped prevent it from meeting its deadline for General Assembly action. The General Assembly cannot place this amendment on the November 2014 ballot and it will not, therefore, become law.

State Representative David Reis (R-Ste. Marie) today welcomed the federal Department of Justice’s investigation into Governor Quinn’s scandal-ridden Neighborhood Recovery Initiative (NRI).

“I’ve long held Quinn’s $54 million NRI program was a politically-motivated, re-election program subsidized by taxpayer dollars,” Reis said.  “I applaud the Justice Department’s recent probe into the program and their commitment to dismantle possible criminal wrongdoings of taxpayer resources.”

Federal prosecutors have requested the Illinois Comptroller’s Office to release information regarding the NRI program.  The federal probe is separate from Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez’s March subpoena to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity for records tied to the NRI.  Read more.

In the News
The Pantagraph
Herald & Review

Illinois Taxes
House Republicans launch petition drive against tax hike.  On the heels of what might prove to be the first in a long line of tax increase votes, Illinois House Republicans are launching an online petition drive against the effort to make the Illinois temporary tax increase of 2011 permanent.

“What Illinois needs right now are leaders committed to creating jobs, not running them out,” said House Republican Leader Jim Durkin.  “What we have instead is an assault on the taxpayers of Illinois in the form of numerous and continued attempts to raise taxes.  This has to stop.”

Chicago – Neighborhood Recovery Initiative
Lawmakers Urge Freeze of Chicago Anti-Violence State Funds; Call for Additional Investigation of Programs.  In the wake of the Illinois Auditor General’s scathing audit of Governor Quinn’s $54.55 million Neighborhood Recovery Initiative (NRI), State Reps. David Reis (R-Ste. Marie), John Cavaletto (R-Salem) and Dwight Kay (R-Glen Carbon) are demanding all state funds allocated to questionable Chicago anti-violence programs be frozen.  The lawmakers are also calling upon the Auditor General to further investigate state moneys allocated to these programs.