McHenry County Blog

A press release from State Senator Pam Althoff:

End of Session Review

Big Brother Knows Best

Another measure that passed will essentially strip local school boards and parents of the ability to design a local sex education curriculum and instead force them to accept programs picked by the state’s education board (HB 2675).

Using an “all or nothing” approach, the legislation declares that school boards who choose to adhere to local standards, rather than accept the dictates of state bureaucrats, would be prohibited from providing young persons with any sex education at all.

The legislation passed without any Senate Republican support.

This article started with a press release from the Illinois Church Action Council on Alcohol and Addiction. There are so many bills expanding gambling (despite the loss of the one to give Chicago, Danville, Rockford and the Waukegan-area casinos) that I am adding the roll calls. In order not to make an article too long, I shall run one a day.

Gambling Bills Passed by the Legislature – Part 6

Senate Bill 1738 is an expansion of video gambling.  More specifically,

• defines “electronic card” (and removes a cross-reference to the Illinois Administrative Code);
• provides that the central communications system vendor may be licensed as a video gaming terminal manufacturer or a video gaming terminal distributor, or both, but in no event shall the central communications system vendor be licensed as a video gaming terminal operator; [emphasis added]
• provides that the Board shall not permit the development of information or the use by any licensee of gaming device or individual game performance data;
• provides that nothing in the Act shall inhibit or prohibit the Board from the use of gaming device or individual game performance data in its regulatory duties;
• requires the Board to adopt rules to ensure that all licensees are treated and all licensees act in a non-discriminatory manner and develop processes and penalties to enforce those rules;
• adds language authorizing the Illinois Gaming Board to adopt rules establishing standards for advertising video gaming; removes language prohibiting the Board from disseminating information that is specific to individual licensed locations (and removes corresponding changes to the Freedom of Information Act); and,
• in provisions amending the Criminal Code of 2012, provides that video gaming terminals for sale to a licensed distributor or operator (rather than a licensed establishment, licensed fraternal establishment, licensed veterans establishment, or licensed truck stop establishment) under the Video Gaming Act are exempt from seizure.

FOR IMMEDIATE ACTION

The ICACAA recommends contacting Governor Quinn and ask him to VETO the gambling expansion bills: House Bills 996, 1140, 1570, 2520 and Senate Bills 70, 1738, 1884, 2234, 2371.  Phone:  800-642-3112, 312-814-2121 or 217-782-6830 or Click here to send the Governor an e-mail.

Share this Alert with your faith community and ask them to CALL and PRAY for the Governor.

When the “old” McHenry County College Board renewed President Vicky Smith’s contract after rejecting pleas from incoming Board members to allow them to make that vote, left out was her salary.

The agenda the outgoing Board posted

“…recommended that the Board of Trustees approves extending Dr. Smith’s contract through June 30, 2015 and to set compensation as discussed in Closed Session” (emphasis added).

That’s a no-no.

So the salary wasn’t set.

And the new salary is supposed to start on July 1st.

Check here for the time and agenda.  Last month it was 6 PM.

A press release from State Senator Pam Althoff:

End of Session Review

Repealing Welfare Reforms

The Medicaid expansion may encapsulate the philosophical differences between the parties, but it was far from the lone example. Indeed, 2013 saw a laundry list’s worth of issues that separated the parties, as Democrats, emboldened by supermajorities in the Senate and House, had free reign to pursue their agenda.

They rolled back welfare reform by allowing public aid recipients in the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program to hold unlimited assets in cash, real estate and personal property, while continuing to collect taxpayer-paid benefits (HB 2262).

The law already exempted the family’s primary residence, household furnishings, clothing, personal effects, $2,000 in cash for one person or $3,000 for two, one automobile, as well as life insurance and burial coverage. With this change, persons with virtually unlimited assets, but who have a temporary drop in income, could receive welfare benefits no matter what their personal wealth might be. No Republicans supported this rollback of welfare reforms.

City administrators feel down on the job when they approved Crystal Point Drive in front of McDonald’s.

Every time I drive out of McDonald’s I see the underdeveloped median strip that you see above.

One would think that Chase Bank or McDonald’s would be willing to put some dirt in and plant some perennials to beautify the area.

Maybe a nudge from City administrators at this point would do the trick.

Or, maybe city residents will have to wait for the next Tax Increment Financing District to be approved for the rest of Route 14 so we can have ornament lamps extend east from the current Virginia Street TIF District.

Or maybe a local garden club will take on the project.

This article started with a press release from the Illinois Church Action Council on Alcohol and Addiction. There are so many bills expanding gambling (despite the loss of the one to give Chicago, Danville, Rockford and the Waukegan-area casinos) that I am adding the roll calls. In order not to make an article too long, I shall run one a day.

Gambling Bills Passed by the Legislature – Part 5

Senate Bill 70 is an exemption to allow video gambling in retail liquor establishments, fraternal or veteran’s organizations closer than 100 feet from a church or school.

FOR IMMEDIATE ACTION

The ICACAA recommends contacting Governor Quinn and ask him to VETO the gambling expansion bills: House Bills 996, 1140, 1570, 2520 and Senate Bills 70, 1738, 1884, 2234, 2371.  Phone:  800-642-3112, 312-814-2121 or 217-782-6830 or Click here to send the Governor an e-mail.

Share this Alert with your faith community and ask them to CALL and PRAY for the Governor.

An announcement from the Hebron Helping Hands 4-H Club:

Help Raise Money to Improve the McHenry County Fair’s Livestock Barn

Hebron Helping Hands 4-H Club is hosting a Fundraiser at Crandall’s, 10441 Illinois 47 in Hebron to support the County Fairgrounds in their Livestock Barn Improvement Project

The Buffet Style Chicken Dinner includes Coffee and Soda Eat In or Carry-out Monday, June 17 from 4-8 PM.

Tickets are $15 and available at the McHenry County Fairgrounds, at the door or call 815-648-4515 or 815-405-7043.

A press release from State Senator Pam Althoff:

End of Session Review

Growing Medicaid in a Bankrupt State

The General Assembly voluntarily expanded Medicaid eligibility in Illinois this session as well. Senate Bill 26 will make almost 350,000 individuals newly eligible for Medicaid beginning on January 1, 2014. This is in addition to the 250,000 previously added to the rolls as a result of a Cook County waiver to implement the federal Affordable Care Act (commonly known as Obamacare) early.

It was approved on purely partisan lines in the Senate, with no Republicans voting for it and all Democrats voting in favor, Althoff added.

The increase in eligibility was approved despite a previously approved bipartisan moratorium on all Medicaid expansions. Through a combination of factors, the total number of new persons likely to be added to the Medicaid system is estimated at about 850,000 once the Cook County numbers are included, along with persons who already qualify, but are unaware of their eligibility.

Few issues exemplify the differences between the parties better than the Medicaid expansions. While Democrats pointed with pride to the swelling Medicaid rolls, Republicans wondered how long the state can sustain a system that was already growing by over 130,000 people annually and already accounted for two out of every nine persons in the state.

Democrats were also lured by the promise of federal dollars, while Republicans reminded their colleagues that even as Washington promises funding, the program is neither free nor affordable in a state that teeters on the edge of bankruptcy. In addition, Republican lawmakers have expressed concerns that the Quinn administration has been slow to implement savings approved in 2012, which is likely to result in a bigger budget hole going into the next fiscal year.

The estimated cumulative cost of the expansion could exceed $2.9 billion by 2020.

This article started with a press release from the Illinois Church Action Council on Alcohol and Addiction. There are so many bills expanding gambling (despite the loss of the one to give Chicago, Danville, Rockford and the Waukegan-area casinos) that I am adding the roll calls. In order not to make an article too long, I shall run one a day.

Gambling Bills Passed by the Legislature – Part 4

House Bill 2520 expands gambling and increases the danger of drinking and driving by legalizing Poker Runs as charitable gambling. Participants travel-usually on motorcycles–to 5 or locations-usually bars-where they draw a playing card to assemble a poker hand.

This language popped up in the Illinois Senate on May 30th, right at the end of the session.  It cleared the House two days later.

FOR IMMEDIATE ACTION

The ICACAA recommends contacting Governor Quinn and ask him to VETO the gambling expansion bills: House Bills 996, 1140, 1570, 2520 and Senate Bills 70, 1738, 1884, 2234, 2371.  Phone:  800-642-3112, 312-814-2121 or 217-782-6830 or Click here to send the Governor an e-mail.

Share this Alert with your faith community and ask them to CALL and PRAY for the Governor.

Held at a resort in Wauconda last year, this year’s fund raiser seems to designed to maximize revenue by holding down expenses.

The date is June 22, the time is from 4-8 on that Saturday and Wheeler continues to allow those attending to determine what they will donate.

It will be held at Tom and Susan Moran’s home at 7707 Oak Ridge Court, Crystal Lake.  The road is north of the Foxfire subdivision on the west side of Oak Ridge.

RSVP’s are requested by June 18th at 815-245-4556.