“Ted Dabrowski, President of Wirepoints, challenged comments made by Governor JB Pritzker…Dabrowski concluded by stating: ‘The governor may try to paint a pretty picture of Illinois to suit his presidential ambitions, but it’s just not true.’ Of course, Dabrowski is just one person expressing his views about what’s happening in our state, but others have joined his concern about the state’s financial climate and its impact on those living, working and operating a business in Illinois.”

“Will Illinois politicians let Invest In Kids ride off into the sunset? Or will they listen to calls to extend the law or even make it permanent? It’s hard to predict. Blue Chicago has produced many pro-school choice Democrats from Arne Duncan (an old Rauner buddy) to Rahm Emmanuel (who had his own voucher conversations with Bishop Cupich), while Paul Vallas, who has a long history of school choice advocacy, is now making a credible run for mayor with his fresh Democratic credentials.”

Comment: Significant the the Sun-Times would even print this.

Lawmakers said they are unsure how much it will cost to roll out this legislation if passed. But Sen. Ann Gillespie said she expects some attorneys to be public defenders or private lawyers. Part of the funding will come from the federal government.

Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System currently has a total unfunded pension liability of $80.6 billion among two different tiers of employees. State Rep. Steven Reick said, “If we wait until 100,000 of those 144,000 [retired teachers] are coming screaming at our doors saying, ‘hey, I want my money,'” Reick said. “If it all falls on local school districts, our property taxes are going to go straight to Mars.”

State Rep. Dan Caulkins celebrated a temporary restraining order being issued in Macon County against enforcement of the law. “We now have a patchwork of TROs and two- or three-thousand people that are covered by the TRO, not fair to all the rest of the citizens.”

The same groups just celebrated a legislative victory last month with the passage of five days of paid leave – negotiations that took four years but were ultimately agreed to by the state’s most influential business groups and even garnered some Republican votes.

According to state Rep. Dan Caulkins, the measure aims to ensure a patient has access to accurate and up-to-date records, set up legal repercussions for those who do not follow the measure, and create an audit trail that logs who enters the records at any time.

Their statement reads, in p[art, “This bill is a combination of prohibitions and requirements that will harm consumers, reduce competition, and increase litigation. To enforce the provisions of this legislation a massively expanded state bureaucracy to carry out these regulations will be necessary, the cost of which is also borne by consumers. The legislation will have exactly the opposite effect that the proponents seek.”

Nationwide, the federal government estimates that 15 million people, or 17.4 percent of Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program enrollees, will lose their coverage as a result of ending the continuous enrollment program. That would translate to roughly 700,000 people in Illinois if it follows the national pattern, but DHFS officials believe they can mitigate the impact of the rule change.

“We’ve heard from [workers],” state Sen. Ram Villivalam, one of the bill’s sponsors, said. “They need this legislation. They need this safety net…That is just something that they’re asking for, and quite frankly, they deserve.”

House Bill 2203 — sponsored by state Sen. Javier Cervantes and state Rep. Will Guzzardi — aims to tap the brakes on car insurers who they say continue to raise rates and discriminate against drivers based on credit score, Zip code and gender. Forty-eight states have oversight of car insurer’s rate hikes and prohibit that type of discrimination — but Illinois is not one of them.