QUOTE OF THE DAY
Chicago Tribune: Judge halts Illinois pension reform law
A judge put the state’s pension reform law on hold today at the request of unions and other groups challenging the constitutionality of the far-reaching overhaul of the public worker retirement systems.
A temporary restraining order was issued by Judge John Belz in Sangamon County Circuit Court. Several lawsuits have been filed by retirees and a union coalition known as We Are One.
The groups bringing the lawsuits requested a delay in the June 1 implementation because they argued the law, which scaled back benefits and raised the retirement age, could not meet constitutional muster.
Inc: Buckyballs Founder Settles With the Government
After almost two years of litigation and a threat of $57 million in penalties, Craig Zucker, the man behind Buckyballs, will have to fork over just $375,000 to recall the little magnetic desk toys–and possibly even less than that.
In the March issue of Inc., I wrote about Zucker’s battle with the Consumer Product Safety Commission. After some children were injured by ingesting Buckyballs, the Consumer Product Safety Commission sued Zucker’s fast-growing company, Maxfield & Oberton, and later added him personally to the suit–the first administrative action against any entrepreneur by the agency in 11 years. As a result, Maxfield & Oberton went out of business. But Zucker fought back.
On Friday, May 9, the CPSC and Zucker finally settled the case. Under the terms of the agreement, the CPSC released Zucker from any personal liability related to his products and Zucker did not admit that the toys were defective or posed a substantial product hazard. In exchange, Zucker agreed to fund a CPSC-managed recall of Buckyballs, and waive his right to pursue any legal or administrative action against the federal agency related to the toys. The agreement also declared it is now illegal to manufacture, distribute, or sell Buckyballs in the U.S.
Wall Street Journal: Michigan Union Collapse
The conceit of the modern union movement is that workers would be clamoring to join if the rules weren’t rigged in favor of employers. The reality is closer to the opposite. Witness what happened in Michigan, where new data show that workers fled the Service Employees International Union Healthcare affiliate when their membership was no longer coerced.
Democrats gave the SEIU a huge membership gift in 2005 when then-Governor Jennifer Granholm allowed more than 40,000 home-care workers to be unionized. The majority of the workers were independent contractors or family members who care for disabled relatives at home. But because the workers received Medicaid subsidies, they were suddenly reclassified as “public” employees for the purposes of unionization.
In early 2005, the Michigan Employment Relations Commission set a vote-by-mail election for home-care workers. According to the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation, of a total of some 41,000 workers who could join the new collective-bargaining unit, there were 6,949 votes to join the SEIU and 1,007 opposed to the unionization. The union did a victory dance and began collecting dues.
On Tuesday, I wrote about how states that have rejected Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion had seen their Medicaid enrollment grow anyway, thanks to what’s known as the “woodwork effect.” Medicaid is built to serve low-income Americans, and many of these people were already eligible for the program but only decided to enroll after the Obama administration launched a massive outreach campaign to get people covered and to pressure states to expand their programs.
There’s not a reliable accounting just yet of how many woodwork enrollees have signed up since Obamacare enrollment opened in October. Some states running their own insurance marketplaces have provided information, but there’s still not a full nationwide picture.
So, how are states dealing with this wave of new Medicaid enrollees?
Chicago Tribune: Charges filed against ex-City Hall manager of red-light camera program
The former City Hall manager who ran Chicago’s red-light camera program was arrested today on federal charges related to the investigation of an alleged $2 million bribery scheme involving the city’s longtime vendor, Redflex Traffic Systems.
A federal complaint filed in U.S. District Court today accused John Bills of taking money and other benefits related to the contract with Redlfex. Mayor Rahm Emanuel fired the company amid the bribery scandal.
Federal prosecutors alleged that Phoenix-based Redflex funneled cash and other benefits, including an Arizona condominium, to Bills since before the contract was signed in 2003.
Chicago Tribune: Principal says Emanuel administration stifles dissent
A North Side grammar school principal touched a nerve with colleagues and created a fresh political wrinkle for Mayor Rahm Emanuel with an op-ed article laying bare what he says is a culture of silencing anyone who disagrees with the administration’s education policies.
The article by Blaine Elementary Principal Troy LaRaviere, which appeared in Saturday’s Sun-Times, led several of his fellow principals to jump in with support and their own criticism, both on a blog he maintains and in Catalyst, a magazine that covers Chicago Public Schools.
LaRaviere’s piece also presents another political challenge for Emanuel going into an election year: An attack on the administration’s cornerstone education initiatives from a well-respected African-American principal at a high-performing school in the heart of the mayor’s North Side base.
Crain’s: Indiana is driving past Illinois’ economic woes
Illinois companies, small businesses and professionals faced an annual reminder last month on Tax Day that never seems to get easier to swallow: Doing business in Illinois is expensive and it’s getting worse. Recent calls to make a 67 percent hike in the personal income tax rate permanent are clear evidence of Illinois’ dismal downward spiral.
The good news is that it doesn’t have to be this way. As Midwestern states, Illinois and Indiana share similar industries. Our locations are similar and the geographies are mostly interchangeable. But by following a different fiscal road map, Indiana avoided the Illinois mentality of tax-spend-and-then-tax-some-more that restricts growth and undermines job creation.
In Indiana, we’ve built a state that works by letting the true drivers of our Hoosier economy — employers — keep more of what they earn. Last month, our corporate income tax was officially placed on a reduction schedule, falling to 4.9 percent when fully implemented, giving Indiana one of the lowest corporate tax rates in the nation. By comparison, the Illinois corporate tax rate is one of the nation’s highest at 9.5 percent.
Chicago Tribune: Madigan: Pass budget now, round up tax hike votes later
House lawmakers are poised to start moving portions of the state budget this afternoon, but while they are prepared to vote on the spending side it’s unclear if they’ll have enough support to extend an income tax hike increase to pay for it.
House appropriations committees are scheduled to hold hearings on the $38 billion plan this afternoon despite questions from critics who contend it’s irresponsible to pass a spending plan without having enough revenue to pay for it. If the tax increase is allowed to expire as scheduled beginning January, the budget would be about $4 billion short.
House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, said there’s still plenty of time to pick up votes for the tax increase before the May 31 adjournment deadline, saying the strategy is aimed at building support based on the services lawmakers want to provide back home.
Gallup: Utahans Most Likely to Donate Money and Time
Utah leads U.S. states in reported charitable giving, with nearly half of its residents saying they had donated money and volunteered their time to an organization in the previous month. Residents in several Southern and Southwestern states — as well as New York — were among the least likely to say they did both.
These data come from a 50-state Gallup poll conducted June-December 2013, with at least 600 residents in each state. Gallup asked Americans whether they personally had donated money to charity or volunteered time to an organization in the previous month. The full results for each state are shown on page 2.
CARTOON OF THE DAY
