Editorial Roundup:

Here are editorials from newspapers around Illinois.

March 29, 2020

The (Champaign) News-Gazette

Sausage Making at its worst

In a time of national despair, Congress rushed to pass an economic stimulus bill aimed at assisting individuals and businesses - both large and small - whose financial status is jeopardized by the ongoing and open-ended national economic shutdown.

At least most of them did. Others threatened to block the $2 trillion-plus legislative package unless they were able to funnel money to favored groups or causes that have nothing to do with the corona virus.

It will take weeks to identify and disclose all the financial provisions that were demanded as the price for passing a bill aimed at helping forestall a possible depression.

But Nikki Haley, the onetime U.S. ambassador to the United States, made a strong point when she released a statement via Twitter.

'œThese are the items included in the stimulus bill: $75 million for public television/radio, $25 million for the Kennedy Center, $75 million for the National Endowment for the Arts, $75 million for the National Endowment for the Humanities. How many more people could have been helped with this money?'ť

How many, indeed?

However one feels about the organizations that will benefit from this exploitation of the legislative process, no one can credibly argue that these kinds of appropriations have anything to do with softening the economic crash landing caused by the pandemic. And wasn't that supposed to be the sole goal of this legislative rush to judgment?

How people react in time of great social need speaks volumes about their character. Most people have stepped up as federal and state officials have taken strong public actions to shut down social interactions to limit the spread of the virus.

But others have rushed to feather their own nests. Consider the price gougers who dramatically raised prices on household essentials - milk, hand sanitizers and, the most obvious example, toilet paper.

And what about the hoarders who've stripped grocery store shelves clean of those kinds of items, ensuring they have more than they need and guaranteeing that others have less than they need.

How different are the gougers and hoarders from the members of Congress who threatened to hold up the entire aid legislation unless their extortionate demands were met? Not much.

This kind of activity, of course, is why those familiar with the process say people should never watch sausage or legislation being made. To call it unappetizing is to understate the depths to which the participants sometimes stoop.

As for the bill itself, it's intended to keep individuals and businesses afloat until the current contagions - both public health and economic - have subsided. It is, however, something of a misnomer to call it a stimulus. When everything is shut down, there's not much to stimulate.

Still, the legislation provides a cash infusion to those suddenly out of work as well as those who are working but below designated income levels - $3,400 for the average family of four.

The legislation also includes $377 billion in loans to small businesses with less than 500 employees, $150 billion for state and local governments and $474 billion in loans to help maintain credit markets and individual companies.

Frankly, there's a lot here that is indecipherable to those who are not experts in the high-powered world of lending and corporate finance.

But the gist of it is clear - President Trump and Congress are doing what they can to ease the pain.

Everyone, however, needs to realize there will be no limit to the pain until the virus is under control and people and businesses are up and running.

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March 23, 2020

(Arlington Heights) Daily Herald

Can we trust a ``Fair Tax' if there are no fair maps?

A primary argument of Gov. J.B. Pritzker and legislative supporters of a graduated income tax is that we can trust them. We can trust them to use additional money it would generate to shore up the state's finances. We can trust them not to use it to come up with new ways to spend money. We can trust them not to use the new system to regularly increase income taxes.

By May 3, we will have a good idea of just how seriously we should regard their word.

May 3 is the deadline for the General Assembly to pass legislation allowing a referendum on creation of a nonpartisan commission to draw legislative boundaries, replacing the highly politicized process now in place. If they miss that deadline, the state will not have a chance to address the issue until the next U.S. Census in 10 years.

Repeated surveys have shown the measure is immensely popular. The most recent, a study conducted by Fako Strategies & Research of Darien for the nonpartisan organization CHANGE Illinois, found that 80% of likely Illinois voters consider the present means of creating legislative districts to be unfair and 75% support creation of an independent commission to rectify that.

A Senate bill sponsored by Grayslake Democrat Melinda Bush that would put the measure on the November ballot comes into the picture with 31 co-sponsors. The House version, led by Glen Ellyn Democrat Terra Costa Howard, has 16 co-sponsors.

Support for change from the public and within the legislature is clearly strong. Only three people stand in the way of action. Democratic Speaker Mike Madigan decides what legislation gets voted on in the House. Democratic Senate President Don Harmon has that role in the Senate. Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who has repeatedly claimed to support a new redistricting process, has the prestige and influence of his office to move legislative leaders of his own party.

We cannot help but wonder how these three individuals -- or the dozens of rank-and-file lawmakers they lead in both chambers -- can expect voters to trust them to handle a new income tax system that many Illinoisans view skeptically if the politicians won't even allow people to vote on a measure the public long has clamored to adopt.

Legislative redistricting, even when identified by the more familiar pejorative term "gerrymandering," is not a topic with immediate emotional appeal. It sounds wonky and process oriented. Yet, gerrymandering is the foundation supporting many of the issues that do stir voters' passions -- corruption, lack of accountability and the tyranny of one-party rule.

The current system encourages these embarrassments. A pivotal question for voters this fall will be whether to put the powers of income taxation into the hands of people who cynically obstruct changes that would control them.

Lawmakers and legislative leaders should understand the links to that question will follow them if they cannot act on a Fair Maps Amendment referendum by May 3.

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March 25, 2020

Chicago Sun-Times

Amid coronavirus, another worry looming for Illinois

The coronavirus pandemic has pushed many issues state lawmakers are facing to the back burner. The price of electricity shouldn't be one of them.

That's why we're sounding this alarm that power bills for northern Illinois ratepayers will shoot up soon if the Legislature doesn't act.

Last week, a company named PJM, which coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity in all or parts of 13 states and the District of Columbia, filed a so-called compliance plan under a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission order. The plan would have devastating consequences for Illinois consumers.

If nothing is done, power bills will soar for ratepayers, job opportunities will be lost and the environment will suffer enormous harm.

The Legislature can prevent that, though, by enacting legislation along the lines of the proposed Clean Energy Jobs Act. But it has to get the job done before the end of the current legislative session, and this is a complicated bill that has a lot of working parts.

Because of the way energy markets work, if the Legislature misses this opportunity, it won't get another crack at making a fix for years, possibly until 2025.

Billions of dollars would be shunted to fossil fuel-burning power plants, at least one nuclear power plant might shut down and the growth of renewable energy sources would be slowed to a trickle. If that happens, it would be very difficult to get back even to the point where we are now.

It would helpful if we had more time to deal with this when there are so many issues related to the coronavirus to consider. But we don't.

Building on earlier legislation, the Clean Energy Jobs Act is designed to ramp up renewable energy, create jobs, assist economically challenged communities that are being hit hard by the effect of the coronavirus and aid workers who are losing their jobs as coal-fired plants close. The bill also would allow the Illinois Power Agency to take over the management of the state's capacity market - a system set up to ensure states have enough energy capacity to meet peak loads. That would insulate Illinois from the Trump administration's effort to favor fossils over renewables.

We know the governor and lawmakers have a lot on their plate right now. But the CEJA bill already was unnecessarily delayed when lawmakers thought they had plenty of time to deal with it.

They don't anymore. The legislative session is set to end May 31.