L e g i s l at i v e U p dat e A pril 24, 2015 Published for Labor Activists M ichael T. C arrigan , P resident by the T imothy E. D rea , S ecretary T reasurer I l l i n o i s AFL- CIO J ason K eller , L egislative D irector The Illinois General Assembly completed its business for the week today. Friday was the House and Senate third reading deadline to pass bills over to the opposite chamber. Both chambers will return to Springfield on Tuesday, April 28 at 12pm. The House deadline to pass Senate Bills out of committee is Friday, May 8 – the Senate deadline to pass House Bills out of committee is Friday, May 15. The Governor’s Office did introduce two amendments to SB 979 and SB 981 that stripped collective bargaining rights from public employees and changed the definition of “employee” in many state labor laws to remove protections for all workers. Both amendments were placed in a sub-committee of the Senate Labor Committee and may not receive a hearing. G e n e r a l A s s e m b l y Senate Votes to put a Band-Aid on Rauner’s Cuts Last month, the General Assembly voted to sweep $1.3 billion from special funds, including the Road Fund, to plug a $1.6 billion hole in the FY15 budget. On April 3, Governor Rauner announced $26 million in cuts to service providers who work with those that have autism, epilepsy, pay for burials of indigent, and tobacco cessation programs. This week, the Senate adopted SB 274 (Kotowski/Chapa LaVia) by a vote of 57-1. The legislation gives Governor Rauner the authority to access special funds in total of $26 million – to restore public health grants and human services. House leadership has indicated the legislation may not be considered in that chamber. The Governor’s office announced more cuts this week. According to a document released by Rauner’s budget office, the Department of Human Services will see an overall loss of $1.1 million. That includes a $419,000 cut to domestic violence shelters and a $103,000 reduction to homeless youth services. A mental health program involving psychotropic drugs would be cut by $42,000. Spokeswoman Veronica Vera said the only two programs not affected are for developmental disabilities and mental health. Illinois community colleges will see a $6.37 million cut, according to data from its governing board. UAW Passes Legislation to Bolster American Manufacturing Representative Mike Smiddy (D – AFSCME member) successfully passed HB 3438 this week out of the House. It is a joint UAW/IL AFL-CIO initiative. The legislation would require all motor vehicles purchased or leased for one year or more by a State agency to be manufactured in the United States or Canada. The vote in the House was 70-42-0. The legislation will now go to the Senate, where Senator Dave Koehler (D – Peoria) will be the chief sponsor. Eric Dean Named General President of Iron Workers International Union Walter Wise, General President of the Ironworkers International Union announced his retirement effective July 1, 2015. Upon the announcement, the Ironworkers General Executive Board unanimously elected Eric Dean of Local 63 in Chicago to succeed General President Wise. Dean completed his apprenticeship in 1984 and became a journeyman ironworker in Local 63. As an accomplished ironworker he worked for various contractors as a journeyman, foreman and project superintendent throughout the Chicago area. After serving several positions in his Local Union, he was elected as president of the Chicago and Vicinity District Council of Iron Workers in 2005. General President Joseph Hunt appointed Eric as general vice president effective August 4, 2008. General President Walter Wise appointed Eric as general secretary effective Februrary 1, 2011. Upon taking office, Dean will join Dennis Williams, President of the United Auto Workers, William Hite, President of United Association and Frank Christensen of the Elevator Constructors as International Union Presidents who began their careers in Illinois. Call 217.544.4014 For More Information On These And Other Legislative Issues Important To Working People - www.ilafl-cio.org Liuna362afl-cio 04/24/15 Page 2 Labor Turnout is impeding Turnaround Local labor activists continued to turnout to stop Bruce Rauner’s turnaround resolution at village boards, city councils and county boards this week. With large numbers of union members watching, the elected officials of Naperville, Vernon Hills, Livingston County, Mt. Zion, Pecatonica, Vandalia and Vernon Hills tabled the resolution. In Wauconda, the resolution failed for lack of support from any council member. The resolution passed in Effingham County, Newton, Third Lake and Wayne. According to Bernie Schoenberg of the State Journal Register, Rauner spoke to the Illinois Bankers Association and said “special interest groups that like big government and currently control government, they’re showing up by the hundreds. They’re shipping them from other communities by the busloads to protest.” In response, Anders Lindall from AFSCME said, “It’s false and insulting to local communities for the governor to dismiss or distort grassroots resistance to his antiworker tactics. If he listened to testimony in town after town, he would hear teachers, caregivers, construction workers and tradespeople protecting their middle-class standard of living against the governor’s attacks. The only ‘outsiders’ I’m aware of at these meetings are the governor’s own staff.” In reality, there are 1,300 cities and villages and 102 counties in Illinois. Despite lobbying by Rauner and his staff for the past month, the overwhelming majority of elected officials are not putting the turnaround resolution on their agenda for consideration. To date, 46 units of local government have placed the turnaround resolution on their agenda and 22 have passed it. A 48 percent success rate. Using the total number of local governments in the State, only .01 percent of local governments have passed the Rauner turnaround agenda. At this time the IL AFL-CIO is aware of the following hearings will be held next week: • Chicago committee on workforce development to consider anti-turnaround resolution on April 28th • Cook County Board of Commissioners to consider anti-turnaround resolution on April 29th • Jefferson County Board will consider the anti-worker Rauner resolution on Monday, April 27 at 7 p.m. • Lexington City Council, 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 27 at 329 W. Main St., Lexington, IL 61753 • Village of Mahomet will consider Rauner resolution 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 28 at Village Administrative Office, 503 E. Main Street • Kane County Board Committee of the Whole, 4 p.m. April 28 at Gov’t Ctr, 719 S Batavia Ave, Geneva. Bldg A, County Board Room (next scheduled Board meeting 5/12) Local Governments throughout the State will be posting their agendas for next week. Please contact Bill Looby at [email protected] or 217-492-2612 for additional postings. For agendas posted in Cook County please contact Nora Cay Ryan at [email protected] or 312-222-1000. For updates www.facebook.com/ILAFLCIO 18th Congressional District Filing Closes Filing for the Special Election in the 18th Congressional District to fill the term of Aaron Schock closed at 5:00 p.m. on Monday, April 10th. The Special Primary Election will be held on Tuesday, July 7th and the Special Election will be held on Thursday, September 10th. Adam Lopez of Springfield and Robert Mellon of Quincy filed for the Democratic nomination and State Senator Darin LaHood of Peoria, Michael Flynn of Quincy and Donald Rients of Benson filed for the Republican nomination. Call 217.544.4014 For More Information On These And Other Legislative Issues Important To Working People - www.ilafl-cio.org Liuna362afl-cio 04/24/15 Page 3 In other bills this week: HB 229 (Franks) - Amends the Counties Code. Provides that the Division concerning local government consolidation applies to McHenry County, Lake County, and DuPage County (currently, only counties with a population of more than 900,000 and less than 3,000,000 that are contiguous to a county with a population of more than 3,000,000). Language was removed for employee protections before the House vote was taken. Passed House 61-40-4 to the Senate. Labor opposes. HB 373 (Madigan/Raoul) – Sets up the lease of land for the possible construction of President Obama’s Library and the Lucas Museum in Chicago. Passed both chambers, sent to Governor. No position. HB 397 (Welch/Sullivan) – Prohibits the State Charter School Commission from reversing a school board’s decision to deny, revoke, or not renew a charter. Passed House 60-40-2. To Senate. Labor Supports. HB 574 (Madigan) – Places state historic sites under the jurisdiction of the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and makes the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum a separate state agency. The amendment to the bill authorizes DCEO to create a nonprofit corporation to promote businesses. The corporations would be run by a 16-member board of directors chaired by Governor Rauner. The corporation would receive money from the state and private donors. Individuals from Labor testified against the legislation because it isn’t clear if current employees will be protected, prevailing wage and responsible bidder provisions may not apply to the new corporation, and the legislation is silent on whether political contributions can be made to the new board members. The amendment was recommended by House Executive Committee to floor by a vote of 11-0. The amendment has not been adopted by the House. Governor Rauner initiative, Labor opposed. HB 3323 (Acevedo/Holmes) – The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency shall adopt rules governing all corrosion prevention projects carried out on community water supplies. Passed House 115-0. To Senate. Labor Supports. HB 3497 (Currie/Munoz) - It provides the Capital Development Board (CDB) with continued authority to use the Single Prime project/procurement method with protected subcontractor contract delivery method for procuring construction projects and gives CDB greater ability to take advantage of efficiencies achieved using this approach. Under current law, CDB’s Single Prime authority expires on July 1, 2015. This legislation would extend the expiration date by five years. Passed House 95-19-1. To Senate. Labor Supports. HR 11 (Thapedi) – Encourages fast track trade authority and passage of a trade pact with European Union. Passed House International Trade Committee 6-1. To Floor. Labor opposes. HR 189 (Hoffman) - Urges the United States Department of Energy to provide the $1 billion that was previously committed to the FutureGen Project. Passed House Energy 10-0. To Floor. Labor supports. HR 243 (Reis) - Urges the President of the United States and his administration to speed up the process of granting final permits to enable construction to begin on the completion of the Keystone XL pipeline network for reasons of consumer protection and national security. Passed House Energy 6-3-0. To Floor. Labor supports. SB 47 (Clayborne/Dunkin) – Requires day and temporary labor agencies to keep and file statistics on the race, gender and ethnicity of applicants with the Department of Human Rights. Passed Senate 30-16-1. To House. Labor Supports. SB 564 (Biss/Jackson) - Requires the Governor’s Office of Boards and Commissions to establish and maintain on the Internet: (1) a centralized location for an electronic mail listserv for users to receive notices of the meetings of each board and commission and their agendas; and (2) a listing of the meetings times and agendas for each board and commission. Provides that the Office shall provide and post that information at least 48 hours before each meeting. Passed Senate 51-0-0. To House. Illinois AFL-CIO initiative. SB 1834 (Biss/D’Amico) – Defines a video event recorder. Requires owners of contract carriers that have this video event recorder to post a sign stating conversations may be recorded. Any data recorded by camera is property of the owner of that vehicle. Passed 57-0-0. To House. Labor Supports. Call 217.544.4014 For More Information On These And Other Legislative Issues Important To Working People - www.ilafl-cio.org Liuna362afl-cio 04/24/15 Page 4 IDOT/CDB to host Statewide Listening Tours on Infrastructure Needs Acting IDOT Secretary, Randy Blankenhorn, in conjunction with the Capital Development Board, announced a Statewide “listening tour” today to discuss infrastructure needs and priorities. The meetings are “intended to be a listening tour, sparking discussion that ultimately leads to a package of recommendations that can be presented to Governor Rauner and General Assembly for consideration this spring.” The schedule of meetings can be found at: http://www.idot.illinois.gov/aboutidot/stay-connected/events/Infrastructure-Investment. Union members are encouraged to RSVP for a meeting as soon as possible. Governor Rauner along with State and local officials need to hear that a Project Labor Agreement is a tool used in both the public and private sector to ensure smooth completion of projects with a workforce from the community and that Prevailing Wage supports a strong middle class by protecting area wage standards in communities in which the project is located. e Date h t e v a S 8th Annual Illinois AFL-CIO COPE Golf Outing The Rail Golf Course - 1400 S. Club House Drive, Springfield, IL Monday, June 8, 2015 1 PM Shotgun Start / 6 PM Dinner Registration available at www.ilafl-cio.org Call 217.544.4014 For More Information On These And Other Legislative Issues Important To Working People - www.ilafl-cio.org Liuna362afl-cio 04/24/15 Page 5 2015 Illinois Workers’ Memorial Day Events Decatur Tuesday, April 28, Decatur Trades and Labor Assembly Workers’ Memorial Day Service, 5:30 PM on the northwest corner of the Macon County Courthouse lawn, located at 253 West Wood Street in downtown Decatur. They will read the names of those who have died on the job. Contact Lloyd Holman, 217-620-4923 or Carl Draper, 217-791-1279. Joliet Friday, April 24, Will and Grundy Counties Trades and Labor Council annual Workers’ Memorial Day Dinner at the IBEW 176 Banquet Hall in Joliet. Contact Charlie Hanus at 815-744-2886. Alton Tuesday, April 28, the Greater Madison County Federation of Labor AFL-CIO will hold their annual Workers’ Memorial Day services at the Workers Memorial Statue located in the Gordon F. Moore Community Park, Highway 140 and Park Rd, Alton. Services will begin at 7:00 PM. Contact Rick Wieckhorst at 618-254-1395 or Dean Webb at 618-259-8558. Bloomington Tuesday, April 28, Bloomington-Normal Trades and Labor Assembly Workers’ Memorial Day Service at White Oak Park Pavilion in Bloomington. The ceremony will begin at 6:00 AM. Names will be read of local union members who have lost their lives. Contact Ron Morehead at 309-828-8813. Champaign Tuesday, April 28, 3:00 p.m., Champaign County AFL-CIO and the East Central Illinois Building & Construction Trades Council will hold a memorial service and recognize workers from Champaign County who have died while at the workplace. The event will be held at the Worker Memorial Site on Parkland Way, (east entrance to Parkland Jr. College off of Mattis Avenue) just across the drive from Olympic Memorial site. Seating will be available. This is an outdoor event. Contact Brad Diel at 217-841-2822 or brad@ uwayhelps.org. Chicago Tuesday, April 28, 10 a.m., Outside OSHA Region 5 Office, 230 S. Dearborn St., Chicago, IL. Gather to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Act and thank OSHA for protecting us from dangerous, unhealthy conditions at work. Solemnly remember workers across Illinois and the United States who have been injured and killed on the job. Peoria Tuesday, April 28, Labor Council of West Central Illinois Workers’ Memorial Service. We will be gathering at the Peoria Labor Temple, 400 NE Jefferson in Peoria at 5:00 PM and walk to the Workers’ Memorial site at 419 Fulton Street. We will have a brief ceremony to remember workers injured, or killed on the job. Contact Mike Everett at 309-673-3691. Quad Cities Tuesday, April 28, Quad Cities Federation of Labor Workers’ Memorial Day Service at 11:30 AM at the USW Local 105 Hall, 880 Devils Glen Rd, Bettendorf, IA. The union hall will open at 11:00 AM. All working families are invited to this service sponsored by Alcoa Davenport Works – Joint Safety and Health Committee. For more information, contact Joshua Schipp at 309-738-6536. Rockford Tuesday, April 28, the Rockford United Labor Workers’ Memorial Day Ceremony will be held at the Workers’ Memorial Tablets located behind the E.J. ‘Zeke’ Giorgi Building, 200 South Wyman Street in Rockford. The event will be at 5:00 PM and a light dinner will be served immediately following the ceremony. For more information, contact Bill Corey, 815-968-1411. Springfield Tuesday, April 28, Springfield and Central Illinois Trades and Labor Council Workers’ Memorial Day Service at 5:30 PM at the Illinois State Library Atrium, 300 S. Second Street in Springfield. They will recognize fallen workers and lay roses at the monument. Reception will follow. For more information contact Scott Saunders, 217529-6976. Spring Valley Save the date for a Workers’ Memorial Golf Outing scheduled for Friday, June 12th at Spring Creek Golf Course in Spring Valley, IL. Workers’ Memorial Scholarships: $2,000 scholarships awarded to eligible dependents of members of IVFL affiliated locals who have been either killed or permanently injured on the job. Email: ivfl. [email protected] for more information. Call 217.544.4014 For More Information On These And Other Legislative Issues Important To Working People - www.ilafl-cio.org Liuna362afl-cio
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