"OBAMOU" May Develop

A little known semi-legal document known only in the state of Illinois may soon come into play. Rumors are circulating within the Kool Aid Brigade that an infrequently used "OBAMOU" may be tendered for consideration. The "Official Bilateral Assistance Memorandun Of Understanding" is used to prevent the sharing of proprietary information. Simply put, "those who need to know will know and those we desire not to know will not know." The first "OBAMOU's" were developed during Union negotiations in Chicago in the 70's but have become popular in many State involved negotiations. As a former state official said, "great, just great, we don't have to disclose what we're doing and if the knowledge somehow gets out we just walk away. I mean these pieces of paper aren't worth crap, but man they sound so damn impressive." Stay tuned, it's looks like good old Illinois' political maneuvering has got a secure foothold in Sparta.

 

The 2016 PULL LLC is being worked out financially. Financial details are just a pain in the ass for most shooters so certain members of the ATA hierarchy have decided shooters just don't have the need or sufficient financial knowledge to understand why certain financial transactions take place. Therefore, it's better if they stay uninformed so they might better concentrate on attending the Grand. Understanding the ATA's efforts any mention of 2016 PULL LLC will be punished swiftly and harshly in the interest of keeping shooters complacent and ignorant of facts detrimental to their shooting enjoyment. Sadly the ATA may be forced to implement triple secret probation.

 

Lengthy budget delay to dominate 2016 legislative session
WRITTEN BY ASSOCIATED PRESS POSTED: 01/10/2016, 10:20AM



SPRINGFIELD — Illinois has limped along without a budget since July and solving that gridlock will be lawmakers’ top priority in the impending session, a time when they’ve traditionally turned attention to passing a fresh budget for the coming fiscal year.

The epic budget fight that’s crippling many state services will overshadow other key issues lawmakers want to address in the 2016 session, which begins Wednesday, including legislation to allow recall efforts against Chicago mayors and regulating fantasy sports gambling.

Upcoming elections could weigh heavily and delay the budget deliberations. There are few session days scheduled before primaries March 15, and even if there’s a deal before then, some lawmakers may be reluctant to take on tough votes if they’re in tight contests.




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In fact, lawmakers will be off to a slow start. While the Senate is meeting Wednesday, House lawmakers won’t convene until Jan. 27, the day of the State of the State address, because the “workload was not there,” said Steve Brown, the spokesman for Speaker Michael Madigan.

Despite rare, celebrated meetings last month between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and legislative leaders, there’s no indication he and Democrats who control the Legislature are any closer to bridging their ideological divide to end a seven-month stalemate.

Rep. David Harris, the Revenue and Finance Committee’s ranking Republican, said he’s not optimistic for a deal — but hopes he’s wrong.

“I’m one of those folks who believes there can be a middle ground and that middle ground requires some compromise,” said Harris, from Mount Prospect. “And we have to get to a middle ground.”

If compromise comes, it may be in the form of two budgets — the one that’s overdue and one for next year, Harris said.

Also hovering over lawmakers is the state’s $111 billion pension debt. The state Supreme Court threw out the General Assembly’s suggested fix last year, but with no major proposals pending, any progress is likely to be slow.

The state’s budget for the current year should’ve taken effect July 1, but Rauner rejected the plan lawmakers sent him. He has said a budget agreement should include reforms he believes will benefit the state’s economy, like curbing the power of unions, setting term limits for lawmakers and passing measures to reduce businesses’ costs.

Democrats say the things Rauner wants have nothing to do with a state budget.

“He chose to put us into chaos and turmoil,” said Rep. Lou Lang, a Democratic leader.

Democrats want a combination of cuts and a tax increase to settle the dispute and plug a multibillion deficit. Rauner is open to increasing taxes but only if he gets his suggested reforms, saying he won’t “put in a significant new tax and change nothing.”

“That’s going to continue the long-term decline of the state that’s been going on for decades and I’m not going to do that,” he told reporters last week.

The state has managed without a budget because of court orders and stop-gap measures. Last month, lawmakers and Rauner agreed to spend $3 billion from special funds. A third of that went toward paying state lottery winners, while emergency dispatch call centers and 52 domestic-violence shelters also received funding to stay afloat.

Stop-gap measures may become the norm for now, said Rep. Elaine Nekritz, a Buffalo Grove Democrat.

“I could imagine a situation where we continue to piecemeal budget based on the crisis du jour,” she said.

The budget crisis’ effects are widespread: Hundreds of college students are finding out they won’t be getting tuition subsidies, social service agencies that provide cancer screening and other health care have gone unfunded or had funding severely cut and Chicago Public Schools is bracing for the possibility of laying of hundreds of teachers.

Rep. Patricia Bellock, a Republican from Westmont who’s on the House Budget Oversight Panel, said Illinois residents “don’t want a tug of war between Republicans and Democrats” and legislators need to find a compromise.

 

Rauner, union can’t agree on issues, including whether it’s an impasse
WRITTEN BY TINA SFONDELES POSTED: 01/08/2016, 06:12PM



Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration is calling it an impasse. But the state’s largest public employee union says it’s willing to keep negotiating despite disagreeing on a number of issues.

On Friday, talks between the state’s largest public employee union and Rauner’s administration broke down once again.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents more than 40,000 unionized state employees, said Rauner representatives refused to participate in any further bargaining sessions, claiming that negotiations are at an impasse. The union rejected that claim and said they’re willing to continue to negotiate.




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But Lance Trover, Rauner’s spokesman, later released a statement saying the union has rejected all of Rauner’s core proposals and insisted that they would never agree to those proposals. Trover said negotiators asked AFSCME if they believed they were at an impasse. He said the union rejected that claim and also rejected the offer for additional negotiation sessions next week.

“After a year of no meaningful progress, we must now evaluate the benefit of future sessions given AFSCME’s intransigence,” Trover said in a statement. “In light of their answers today, we will now decide if the previously-agreed dispute resolution process should be considered.”

In a statement, AFSCME Executive Director Roberta Lynch said the union is prepared to continue negotiating and will take legal action if they refuse to negotiate.

“It is a violation of state labor law for a party to declare impasse where none exists,” she said in a statement.

“We are shocked that the Rauner Administration would walk away and refuse to continue negotiations. The Governor’s rash action invites confrontation and chaos — it is not the path to a fair agreement. The people of Illinois deserve leadership that is focused on working together and getting things done, not someone who demands his own way or nothing at all. With no state budget to fund the public services that Illinois residents rely on and no union contract for the men and women who provide those services, the last thing the people of Illinois need is another manufactured crisis from a governor unwilling to do the hard work of compromise,” Lynch said.

Only the Labor Relations Board can declare an impasse and can only do so after a party files with the board. Neither party has filed with the labor board, according to the governor’s office.

Rauner’s office released a spreadsheet of the issues in contention, which include merit pay and incentives, weekly hours, layoffs, wages, and subcontracting and cost-effective alternatives.

The union said both parties have areas of serious disagreement, namely the administration’s desire to double employee’s costs for health care, which they say will make it the state’s worst health plan for any state workforce. AFSCME also claims the administration would freeze wages for four years, which coupled with hikes in health costs would take money from its employees.

 

If anyone can look at some of the articles coming right out of the Illinois Governors Office and tell me they are even remotely thinking about the WSRC and or anything to do with it, I would have to say they are hitting the KOOL AID to hard again ...

If compromise comes, it may be in the form of two budgets — the one that’s overdue and one for next year, Harris said.

Also hovering over lawmakers is the state’s $111 billion pension debt. The state Supreme Court threw out the General Assembly’s suggested fix last year, but with no major proposals pending, any progress is likely to be slow.

The state’s budget for the current year should’ve taken effect July 1, but Rauner rejected the plan lawmakers sent him. He has said a budget agreement should include reforms he believes will benefit the state’s economy, like curbing the power of unions, setting term limits for lawmakers and passing measures to reduce businesses’ costs.

Democrats say the things Rauner wants have nothing to do with a state budget.

“He chose to put us into chaos and turmoil,” said Rep. Lou Lang, a Democratic leader.

Democrats want a combination of cuts and a tax increase to settle the dispute and plug a multibillion deficit. Rauner is open to increasing taxes but only if he gets his suggested reforms, saying he won’t “put in a significant new tax and change nothing.”

“That’s going to continue the long-term decline of the state that’s been going on for decades and I’m not going to do that,” he told reporters last week.

The state has managed without a budget because of court orders and stop-gap measures. Last month, lawmakers and Rauner agreed to spend $3 billion from special funds. A third of that went toward paying state lottery winners, while emergency dispatch call centers and 52 domestic-violence shelters also received funding to stay afloat.

Stop-gap measures may become the norm for now, said Rep. Elaine Nekritz, a Buffalo Grove Democrat.


The union said both parties have areas of serious disagreement, namely the administration’s desire to double employee’s costs for health care, which they say will make it the state’s worst health plan for any state workforce. AFSCME also claims the administration would freeze wages for four years, which coupled with hikes in health costs would take money from its employees.


Call me crazy, but does this sound like anyone is ready to play together , in the mean time ... WPT ... (YAC) ...

 

This, you should, we should, they should, goes no where at all! Each person deciphers what they read differently. Opinion are like butt holes, everyone has at least one to keep clean. When the attorneys get through with this fiasco they will be the only ones with the money. And I certainly hope a good attorney for the ATA reads their agreement before it's signed. A three way fight is ahead, the state, the ATA , and the Unions involved. I will wait to see where this aims. Actually, doesn't look like a bright & rosey future without extreme turmoil.