I will be in the Capitol tomorrow covering the Governor’s Budget Address and the DHS and HFS budget hearings. Here is some information from DHS on activities tomorrow in the Capitol.Governor Pat Quinn will deliver his Fiscal Year 2013 budget address at 12:00 noon on Wednesday.  It is expected to be an austere budget with serious fiscal consequences on state operations and services.  
 
Springfield radio stations, WMAY (AM 970) http://www.wmay.com/listen/
 and WUIS (FM 96.7) www.wuis.org will both carry the address live.
 
You may also access the General Assembly’s live web feed at http://www.ilga.gov/house/audvid.asp.
 
The Illinois House will have hearing rooms open with a live video feed of the address. 
 
We will provide more details on the FY 13 budget following the governor’s remarks.  DHS and other agencies will hold a budget briefing for providers and the general public immediately following the governor’s address in the Howlett Building auditorium, at 2ndand Edwards just south of the State Capitol.
 
DHS will also post FY 13 budget information on the website at www.dhs.state.il.us.
   

Tony

Quinn budget plan would shut 14 facilities

 
02012012quinn5.jpg
 
Ted Schurter/The State Journal-Register

Gov. Pat Quinn greets members of the audience after delivering his annual State of the State address to the Illinois General Assembly on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012.

By CHRISTOPHER WILLS
Posted Feb 21, 2012 @ 12:09 PM
Last update Feb 21, 2012 @ 12:14 PM
 
 

ONLINE: Visit SJ-R.com at noon Wednesday for live coverage of Gov. Quinn’s budget address

***

Gov. Pat Quinn plans to call for closing 14 state facilities, including eight run by the Corrections Department, when he presents his proposal for a new Illinois budget that would slash spending throughout state government, a person familiar with the plan told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The eight Corrections Department facilities targeted for closure are not all prisons, said the person, who has seen the governor’s budget plan but is not authorized to discuss it publicly. The person would speak only on condition of anonymity.

Aside from prisons, the only facilities on the Corrections Department’s website are seven “adult transition centers” for inmates nearing the end of their sentences and various work camps affiliated with prisons.

Quinn’s budget, which he plans to unveil at noon Wednesday during a speech to the General Assembly, calls for closing two facilities run by the Department of Juvenile Justice and four under the Department of Human Services, the person said.

Illinois prisons are severely overcrowded. As of November, 48,620 people were squeezed into space designed for 33,700. The Corrections Department has begun counting areas like gymnasiums when calculating the space available for housing inmates.

The Democratic governor’s call for closures could be a repeat of last year, when he said several facilities need to be shut down because lawmakers hadn’t given him enough money to run them. They included a prison in Lincoln, a youth prison in Murphysboro and mental institutions in Rockford, Chester and Dixon.

Those closures were avoided when lawmakers approved additional money to keep those and other facilities open.

Quinn has said he’ll call for cuts of 9 percent in most state agencies, and he has challenged other statewide officials to cut the same amount from their budgets. The administration says Medicaid spending must be cut by $2.7 billion and that offici als must find a way to reduce the amount Illinois spends on pensions each year.

One of the few areas where Quinn wants to increase spending is education. He will propose hiking education funds by $90 million, or about 1 percent, with the money going to early childhood education and college scholarships, the administration says. His proposal also includes a call for closing unneeded tax loopholes as a way of coming up with money to gradually pay billions of dollars in overdue bills.

ONLINE: Visit SJ-R.com at noon Wednesday for live coverage of Gov. Quinn’s budget address

***

Gov. Pat Quinn plans to call for closing 14 state facilities, including eight run by the Corrections Department, when he presents his proposal for a new Illinois budget that would slash spending throughout state government, a person familiar with the plan told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The eight Corrections Department facilities targeted for closure are not all prisons, said the person, who has seen the governor’s budget plan but is not authorized to discuss it publicly. The person would speak only on condition of anonymity.

Aside from prisons, the only facilities on the Corrections Department’s website are seven “adult transition centers” for inmates nearing the end of their sentences and various work camps affiliated with prisons.

Quinn’s budget, which he plans to unveil at noon Wednesday during a speech to the General Assembly, calls for closing two facilities run by the Department of Juvenile Justice and four under the Department of Human Services, the person said.

Illinois prisons are severely overcrowded. As of November, 48,620 people were squeezed into space designed for 33,700. The Corrections Department has begun counting areas like gymnasiums when calculating the space available for housing inmates.

The Democratic governor’s call for closures could be a repeat of last year, when he said several facilities need to be shut down because lawmakers hadn’t given him enough money to run them. They included a prison in Lincoln, a youth prison in Murphysboro and mental institutions in Rockford, Chester and Dixon.

Those closures were avoided when lawmakers approved additional money to keep those and other facilities open.

Quinn has said he’ll call for cuts of 9 percent in most state agencies, and he has challenged other statewide officials to cut the same amount from their budgets. The administration says Medicaid spending must be cut by $2.7 billion and that offici als must find a way to reduce the amount Illinois spends on pensions each year.

One of the few areas where Quinn wants to increase spending is education. He will propose hiking education funds by $90 million, or about 1 percent, with the money going to early childhood education and college scholarships, the administration says. His proposal also includes a call for closing unneeded tax loopholes as a way of coming up with money to gradually pay billions of dollars in overdue bills.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

 

Tony Paulauski
Executive Director
The Arc of Illinois
20901 S. LaGrange Rd. Suite 209
Frankfort, IL 60423
815-464-1832 (OFFICE)
815-464-1832 (CELL)
Tony@www.thearcofil.org