Observations and comments about state government by State Representative Robert W. Pritchard.
February 24, 2014
In This Issue:
- Public Universities Pushed to be Smoke Free
- Major State Agency Rebuked for Poor Management
- Legislature Responds to Heroin Epidemic
- Budget Hearings Begin
- Illinois Farms Get Bigger
- MAP Advising Group Gives Recommendations for Student Success
- Join us for Breakfast
Public Universities Pushed to be Smoke Free
The movement to reduce cigarette smoking and tobacco use in public places took another step forward last week in the House Higher Education Committee. SB2202 was debated and approved to prohibit smoking on all public higher education campuses beginning July 1. The governing board of each institution is to develop policies and regulations necessary to achieve the ban including disciplinary action for violation of the policy.
I questioned how practical such a ban would be considering the high prevalence of smoking on campuses and at sporting events. The representative from the American Lung Association reminded us that high school and hospital campuses are already smoke free. Further, the spokeswoman said several universities including the University of Kentucky-in the middle of tobacco production country-have gone smoke free.
The bill encourages public colleges and universities to work with community leaders in achieving the ban and to establish smoking cessation programs in conjunction with the American Lung Association and other groups. The bill now moves to the full House for debate.
Major State Agency Rebuked for Poor Management
For those who believe that state government operations can be improved and made more cost effective, the State Government Administration Committee served up a prime example last week. We questioned Central Management Services (CMS) about its latest management audit and failure to make significant improvements over the past 10 years.
CMS is one of the largest state agencies which is responsible for human resources and employee benefits, property and facilities management, vehicle fleet management, procurement, information technology and telecommunication, and marketing.
The latest audit of space utilization found that CMS failed to keep a master record of all items of real property as required by state law. It had records for only a fraction of the state’s real property and failed to list 33 of the state’s 130 state parks and 8 of the state universities. Not only did the Auditor General’s Office find the records incomplete, but also they were inaccurate.
Surplus space was often not publicized so other agencies might use it nor was surplus property disposed of in a timely manner. The Auditor General found that the average time to dispose of surplus property was over 4 years and one parcel took over 19 years to be disposed.
The management of CMS has seemed like a revolving door which explains some of the lack of attention to audit findings and failure to correct them. I pointed out the millions of dollars the agency is spending on consulting services fail to address the real issue of management of this super agency.
Many members of the committee joined in demanding that the Governor take responsibility for this mismanagement and better manage state resources. I find it unbelievable that the Governor is asking for more revenue while failing to manage the resources the state already has. The CMS audit is another “smoking gun” for the fiscal management of our state.
Legislature Responds to Heroin Epidemic
The growth of heroin abuse among high school teens and young adults across Illinois, and numerous deaths due to drug overdose has sparked bipartisan legislative action. Working with addiction treatment experts and law enforcement professionals, a group of suburban legislators led by State Representative Dennis Reboletti (R-Addison), unveiled a heroin epidemic legislative package earlier this month.
The House formed a heroin taskforce last week to look at the problem statewide and examine new ways to help drug treatment and law enforcement professionals push back against this wave of addiction. I welcome bipartisanship on a serious issue and hope that it will continue as the legislature tackles other issues this spring.
The legislative package included tougher asset-forfeiture laws affecting criminal gangs, penalties for use of “krokodil” opiate on par with heroin, required county reporting of drug overdose deaths, and increased educational efforts.
I am co-sponsoring another bill as a part of this package which will create a pilot substance abuse treatment facility in a cooperative arrangement between DuPage County and the Department of Corrections. This facility would be a “last chance” option where individuals convicted of drug or property crimes and sentenced to prison, would be allowed to serve their sentences in a treatment-intensive environment.
Drug treatment has been an interest of mine since serving on the (DeKalb County) Ben Gordon Mental Health Center Board of Directors many years ago and watching the successes of the DeKalb County Drug Court.
Budget Hearings Begin
All five of the House Appropriation Committees held hearings last week to begin the process toward drafting the FY2015 budget. At this phase, each committee hears requests from agencies and funded organizations, and raises questions about the outcomes and effectiveness of the expenditures.
In the Elementary and Secondary as well as the Higher Education committees on which I serve, questions were raised about how the agencies would react to less anticipated revenue next year. Few groups are planning for or anticipating that the income tax will be allowed to roll back to 3.75 percent for individuals next January as required by law.
Nevertheless, the House Revenue and Finance Committee must set an anticipated revenue number for next year that includes a roll-back in tax rates. It is expected that the House will adopt the General Revenue estimate of $34.4 billion on Tuesday which would be $1 billion less than was appropriate for FY2014.
It seems abundantly clear to many legislators that spending growth cannot continue at its current pace. General Revenue Fund receipts are up an anticipated $13 billion since 2006 but spending has outpaced that growth. Spending was never reduced proportionately when the great recession hit six years ago.
So the dilemma facing the appropriation committees is how to balance spending with anticipated revenue. In addition, how should spending be prioritized among agencies and programs? Regardless of that answer, I believe agencies must find new ways of operating and quickly.
Take for example education. Those school districts, colleges and universities that succeed in the future will have to find a more cost effective way of delivering education. The cost of higher education is beyond the ability to pay for middle and lower income families today. Property taxes, tuition and fees can no longer be increased for business as usual programs-even education.
Illinois Farms Get Bigger
Just like other small businesses, family farms are facing economic pressures to “get bigger or get out.” The scope of these farm consolidations was laid out in a report released last week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The results reflect data fathered in the 2012 farm census.
The number of Illinois farms continues to decrease even as the acreage devoted to farm use is slightly increasing. The census found 75,087 farms in 2012 compared with nearly 77,000 farms in 2007. Land devoted to farming increased by 162,000 acres during the same period as land was brought back into production from government conservation programs or converted from woodland use. Almost three-quarters of the total land in Illinois was devoted to agricultural use in 2012 or 26.94 million acres.
MAP Advising Group Gives Recommendations for Student Success
In response to House Resolution 296 that I sponsored, a working group has gathered best practices and offered recommendations to colleges and universities for improving low income student advising and graduation. Formed by the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC), the group focused on financial and academic advising for Monetary Award Program (MAP) recipients who are low income and often first generation college students.
Among the recommendations was that MAP-eligible institutions provide a strong academic advising program for all students and mandatory advising for first year, at-risk students. In addition, institutions must describe their advising and support programs so ISAC can share with MAP-eligible institutions the best practices for student retention and degree completion.
Advising should also provide a blueprint for each incoming student illustrating how the student can complete the program in the shortest time. Research shows that as students take more time to complete a degree, the cost of the education (debt) increases as does the chance that life situations will force the student to drop out.
Other recommendations were that institutions should create a student tracking system to warn when students get off track toward completion; provide mandatory programs for freshman orienting them to college and improving their financial literacy about debt, loans and money management; and adopt a single advisor model to build strong relationships with the student.
ISAC also committed to reminding students that they must re-apply for a MAP grant each year and encouraging MAP students to commitment to take advantage of advising and mentoring programs as a condition for receiving the grant.
Join us for Breakfast
Circle March 12 on your calendar and come to the Community Leaders Breakfast sponsored by the Sycamore Chamber of Commerce. Doug Whitley, President of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, State Senator Dave Syverson and I will be speaking about state government issues and their importance to communities and you. Breakfast will be served at 7:30 at the Kishwaukee Country Club in DeKalb. Further information is available on my website: www.PritchardStateRep.com and my Facebook page. I hope to see you there.
Meanwhile I will return to Springfield this week as we debate thousands of bills, accept testimony on business incentives, and continue hearings on the budget.
Bob
District Office 815-748-3494 or E-Mail to bob@pritchardstaterep.com
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