Will County Legislative & Judicial Committee met Nov. 9.
Here are the minutes provided by the committee:
I. CALL TO ORDER
II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
Mr. Weigel led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
III. ROLL CALL
Chair Denise E. Winfrey called the meeting to order at 9:03 AM
| Attendee Name | Title | Status | Arrived |
| Denise E. Winfrey | Chair | Present | |
| Natalie Coleman | Vice Chair | Absent | |
| Julie Berkowicz | Member | Present | |
| Amanda Koch | Member | Present | |
| Debbie Kraulidis | Member | Present | |
| Sherry Newquist | Member | Present | |
| Judy Ogalla | Member | Present | |
| Tom Weigel | Member | Present | |
| Tyler Marcum | Member | Present |
Also Present: N. Palmer
Present from the State's Attorney's Office: M. Tatroe.
IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
1. WC Legislative & Judicial Committee - Regular Meeting - Oct 12, 2021 9:00 AM
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Tom Weigel, Member SECONDER: Debbie Kraulidis, Member AYES: Winfrey, Berkowicz, Koch, Kraulidis, Newquist, Ogalla, Weigel ABSENT: Coleman |
1. ISACo Updates
(Information)
Ms. Winfrey stated on the second item under legislative reports is support for S30-11 that is the Flexibility and ARPA Bill. Just as you know a letter was sent by me on behalf of the County Board and of course NACo’s First Vice President to the Senate thanking them for putting this bill forward. For moving it through the Senate and approving it. I also sent a letter to our House Representatives asking that HR-5735 which is the House side of that bill be supported; so we are asking them to do that. A letter also went out from the Speaker of the Board, and the County Executive; feel free to contact your representatives in the Senate and in the House. In the Senate thanking them for moving that bill forward and of course in the House asking them to support that. That bill allows us to have flexibility in how we spend the ARPA money once we get it. It is a big thing for counties; especially for this county since we have a number of projects that need this attention. I ask for your support on that.
2. S. 3011/H.R. 5735: State, Local, Tribal and Territorial Fiscal Recovery, Infrastructure, and Disaster Relief Flexibility Act
(Nick Palmer and Smith Dawson & Andrews)
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
TO: Will County Legislative & Judicial Committee MOVER: Judy Ogalla, Member SECONDER: Debbie Kraulidis, Member AYES: Winfrey, Berkowicz, Koch, Kraulidis, Newquist, Ogalla, Weigel ABSENT: Coleman |
1. Federal Legislative Update
(Smith, Dawson & Andrews)
Ms. Winfrey stated we will now move on to our federal lobbyist; e have Ms. Beal and Mr. Smith on the line. If you could give us an update. I know a lot of things are happening at the national level; if you could give us some insights.
Mr. Smith said good morning Ms. Winfrey and County Board Members. Yes, there is a lot of things happening on the federal level as you probably all know the big news is that the House finally passed the Biden partisan Infrastructure Bill late on Friday night. The Infrastructure Investment Jobs Act passed on a bipartisan vote; 228 to 206. Includes over $550 billion in new spending over the past
Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act. Of course the Infrastructure Bill is much broader than just the Reauthorization of the Fast Act; it includes billions of dollars and all kinds of assistance to benefit state and local governments. Over $110 billion for roads, bridges, and major projects. Over $20 billion over 5 years for freight goods movement which of course has a direct impact on the county. Close to $40 billion over 5 years for public transportation. There is also a broadband program that provides $65 billion in grants to state and local governments for broadband deployment and makes broadband more affordable for low income families. There is over $55 billion included in an infrastructure bill for water infrastructure; both drinking water and waste water. Over $65 billion for power and grid security for cyber security for infrastructure. Also $7.5 billion for electric vehicle charging and on and on. Obviously this is a major piece of legislation. I know Mr. Garson sent out a very thorough detailed summary to the Board yesterday. We are still going through it ourselves; there is still a lot to dissect. The plan is for the President to sign this bill next week. Congress is out of session this week; they will be back Monday and Tuesday so I expect a White House signing ceremony early next week. Otherwise there still remains a lot of unfinished business in this Congress. We are getting close to the end of the year. Of course the Build Back Better Reconciliation Bill is still pending. That is still being hammered out between the White House, House, and Senate Leaders. The hope and expectation is that it will pass before Christmas. At the same time Congress is dealing with the continuing resolution as you recall in the Appropriations Bills that keeps the government operating on a short term continuing resolution that expires on December 3rd. At the same time that we reach the limit on the federal debt ceiling. Congress is out of session, comes back early next week; we will only have about 4or 5 days to deal with both of those issues; the continuing resolution and debt ceiling. I think the odds are pretty good that they will probably elect to do another short term extension. At the same time they have to pass the National Defense Authorization Act; which is something that they do religiously every year. A lot of unfinished business; I think Congress is likely to be in session certainly in December and quite possibly right up until Christmas. It makes it kind of difficult to start planning for next year when there is so much left on the table. We are following it all very closely and will be providing you further guidance on the Infrastructure Bill as those plans and guidance come out from US DOT and other agencies. Ms. Beal would you like to add anything?
Ms. Beal stated I think Mr. Smith covered everything; there is a lot going on and a lot that we are tracking and we will keep you guys updated as we get them. Are there any questions?
Ms. Winfrey stated same for the Federal Agenda as for the State; we will start asking for Department heads and Countywide’s to give us ideas of what they want to see included in that agenda. We will begin to get those to you; so that we can start to shape that. Some of the things that they come up with as you say might be covered on the way to getting that work done since we have so much on the table still. But we will start to work on that. Mr. Smith is there anything you need from us?
Mr. Smith stated we will be in touch with you with developments; and start working on the Federal Agenda for next year. The calendar is still uncertain; Congress has not yet released a legislative calendar for 2022 so we are not sure when that will come in. It undoubtedly will come in sometime in January so that will give us some time to work with you to put that together.
Ms. Winfrey stated if there are no other questions then; thank you for being with us this morning.
Mr. Smith said thank you everyone I hope you have a great day.
2. Update on State Legislative Issues
(Curry & Associates)
Ms. Winfrey stated I am going to flip the agenda a little bit and go to the State first. We are looking at the state and federal consultants on the line. I am going to start with the State this morning and ask for any updates, and changes to legislation in the state or anything pending that we need to pay attention to.
Ms. Curry said the state legislators just completed its Fall Veto Session; they were in session approximately five days over the course of two weeks. Most of the veto overrides are bills that they had to deal with regarding mandatory vetoes were actually dealt with prior to the veto session. The majority of the legislative actions that took place in the veto session in October actually dealt with other issues. Those are listed in the report; but to highlight the legislators took out the repeal of the rental notice. The abortion act, they amended the Health Care Right of Conscience Act to prevent individuals from getting the COVID-19 vaccine or taking a COVID test. They also passed legislation that created the redistricting of Congressional Districts Seats in Illinois. It passed some clean up bills to deal with election and ethics reform. Those pretty much are the highlights. I would like to point out towards the end of my report we list upcoming key session dates; which I think are really important as we prepare for the state legislative agenda for 2022. Because the primary is now in June of next year, the General Assembly has targeted April 8th as their adjournment date for the 2022 session; which is obviously a month and half from where we would normally finish. That means that all of the bill introduction dates, LRB (Legislative Reference Bureau) request dates, and other dates are moved up. Basically the same number of days that we would have in a normal session they are all just pushed up into January, February, March, and the first week of April. I would be glad to answer any questions.
Ms. Winfrey said thank you Ms. Curry; you mentioned the State Agenda I just want to let everyone know that we are going to be asking Department Heads and Countywide’s to advise us of any projects or issues that they want to have included in the State Agenda so that we can hopefully get those in by December so we can begin to work on the State Agenda in early January. The work will be starting a little bit later this time because of all the changes that we have. Are there questions for Julie?
Ms. Berkowicz stated I was wondering about the letters that you referenced earlier; I didn’t see a copy of them. I didn’t know if they were emailed out; but could you have them sent to us?
Ms. Winfrey stated they are in the packet; look under miscellaneous reports. NACo sent a template over as well; they are in your packet.
Ms. Berkowicz said I will take a look at them; thank you.
Mrs. Ogalla said I am just really concerned in the way the State is going; removing the parental notice for kids as young as twelve. I still don’t understand what is happening and the impact it may have on the rest of their lives if they do choose an abortion. I find that we continue to take away the parental rights of those parents in some instances; but they look at other situations where parents are responsible. I think we really need to get back to the fact the majority of parents in Illinois and elsewhere do a great job of parenting their children. Their child; a young girl is in a situation the mother and father should know; I am very disappointed in that. As far as the legislation put forward by Don Harman from Oak Park the Health Care Reproduction Act; that act could replace that people have the ability or the freedom to make a choice what they do with their bodies. They say that if you don’t get the COVID Vaccination that you are causing illness to others on account of the fact that vaccinations don’t prevent COVID or from spreading COVID. It is really disheartening to me that this is going on. Think about the fact of what we are doing; and what rights we are taking away; it is going to continue down this dark road. I was looking at SB-536; I was wondering what the impact is; it is asking the County Board to increase precincts to 1,200 voters. Our current law has precincts at 500 to 800. I wasn’t sure that ours were like that. Do you have a comment on that at all Ms. Curry?
Ms. Curry said hang on I am looking for the bill; what was the number again? Mrs. Ogalla stated SB-536.
Ms. Winfrey stated you said it references precinct size.
Ms. Curry stated I am driving now and I can’t find that.
Mrs. Ogalla said if you could look at that and get back to us; I wasn’t really sure what it is now; it didn’t seem to me that the precincts were that small. If you could do that for me I would appreciate that. I have one more it is HB-3136 it allows non home rule units of government to increase the video gambling fees off of $250 to $25. What does that really mean?
Ms. Curry stated there are some communities; I just think that they are trying to put a cap on the amount municipalities and counties can charge per machine.
Ms. Winfrey stated I know you are on the road; so if we could allow you to safely drive and go where you are going; then we can get some further answers and bring those to the next meeting. Mr. Palmer is taking notes here and we will get those to you.
Mrs. Ogalla said thank you; that would be great.
Mrs. Tatroe stated my WebEx is a little glitch today. But I did want to address Mrs. Ogalla about the number of voters in each precinct. This is an issue that has come up as a result in part of the Vote by Mail. So many people are now voting by mail and are not coming to the precincts. Currently I believe the law requires that the County Clerks come to the County Board and request precincts be split when they get to over 500 or 600; but I am pretty sure it is over 600. That is just not necessary and quite frankly a big bill would be coming to this County Board if we were required to do that. I do think that in Will County we have precincts that are 800 or 900; some are even more. This legislation is actually kind of addressing the reality of what many of the big counties are facing and increasing the number of voters in each precinct because we just don’t have that many voters actually physically showing up to the polling place anymore.
Ms. Winfrey asked if there were any other questions.
3. Establishing FY2022 State Legislative Agenda & Priorities
(Nick Palmer)
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
TO: Will County Legislative & Judicial Committee MOVER: Judy Ogalla, Member SECONDER: Debbie Kraulidis, Member AYES: Winfrey, Berkowicz, Koch, Kraulidis, Newquist, Ogalla, Weigel, Marcum ABSENT: Coleman |
(Nick Palmer)
5. Supporting the Repeal of the Federal IMD Medicaid Exclusion (Dr. Kathleen Burke)
Ms. Winfrey stated next up is an item that you will remember from last month supporting the repeal of the Federal IMD Medicaid exclusion. The resolution that was included last month had language that didn’t really portray the issue in the right way. It has been rewritten in the right way; so it has been rewritten the way that it needs to be. It is attached; unless there are questions on it I will ask for a motion to accept it unless Dr. Burke has things that she would like to say about it.
Dr. Buke stated I can answer any questions if anybody has any specific questions about it. The purpose of the resolution is to take away a federal law that is that is preventing the expansion of substance use services in Will County specifically. I am hoping that the Board will support this.
Ms. Winfrey asked if there were any questions about this; we are looking to expand the numbers of beds for mental health services.
Mrs. Ogalla said that is good Ms. Winfrey; I was looking for something more specific. That is great I will be in support of it.
Ms. Winfrey asked would you like to make that motion then.
Mrs. Ogalla stated I would like to make a motion to support this Medicaid exclusions.
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
TO: Will County Board MOVER: Judy Ogalla, Member SECONDER: Debbie Kraulidis, Member AYES: Winfrey, Berkowicz, Koch, Kraulidis, Newquist, Ogalla, Weigel, Marcum ABSENT: Coleman |
VIII. NEW BUSINESS
1. Opting Out of Preferential Assessment for Low-Income Housing
(Rhonda Novak)
Ms. Winfrey stated next up we have opting out of preferential assessment for low income housing. There was some information attached to your agenda, I have Ms. Novak in the room if there are questions.
Mrs. Ogalla stated I always think that is good during these things since we have members of the public and media present, Ms. Novak I was wondering if you could explain what that fully means to me.
Ms. Novak stated this particular bill was initiated by Cook County; they obviously are different than the collar counties. Cook County is putting together and this has been passed and signed by the Governor. The collar counties and the state already have a low income housing basis for valuing low income housing. The way that it is done we receive a certificate from the state that an apartment building has low income housing, your Section 8 within the building. We take that income statement and we determine which units are low income and what the overall income is for the building. We make that reduction by using an income approach with the capitalization rate; we do that consistently and equitability for every low income housing property within the county. What Cook County wants to do is to go in and add the Illinois Housing Department requirements that a low income housing project needs to meet. The idea behind it for Cook County is that they want to entice rehabilitation and new construction in blighted areas. The difference is they don’t want to just take the income approach and the actual income statements, and the certificate from the state. The want the Illinois Housing Department to determine based on all of these requirements whether a property is considered low income housing. They want to do that by using things like the median income of the particular renter. They want to know if the renter has children that receive the lunch program. They want to know what the renter’s complete income is. They are only going to do that for the percentage in that particular area. They are going to choose areas within that county to determine whether a property is entitled to this. As I said they are targeting blighted areas. They want to know in all of the applications that go to the Illinois Department of Housing what the unemployment rate is within a particular area. Those are things that really make it difficult to even value a property. The low income approach is what we have used throughout the county forever, thirty-four years for sure. The reason that I believe and that all of the collar counties are on board. We had a meeting with the collar counties and with the Cook County Assessor. The Cook County Assessor really wanted this particular piece of legislation. What we did is rather than give Cook County another piece that is only directed for Cook County they put in the rest of the state counties and allowed us to opt out based on if our county is handling this the way that we always have; and that we are handling it fairly. I can tell you that we probably have eleven of these properties across the county that we look at the actual rental amount of the amount of units in the building. We determine from that income approach what the value should be. What Cook County does in this legislation is they go a little further. What they do is if a developer or someone in construction comes in and they invest in rehabs in one of these building that is in as I said a blighted area. They have a set area of where these building can be put. If that happens; what they do is it goes up to 30 years; they start with the first ten years. If the developer commits that they rehabbed and brought the building up to where it needs to be then that developer is going to get a 10 year reduction over and above the income approach. Then the next 10 years they are going to get another 10 year reduction. It goes from an 80% reduction of their taxes to; I think it is a 65% to 45% to 30%. The additional idea behind the legislation is that Cook County is not only going to make these people that are in the low income housing and are already paying; and they have Section 8 they are going to prove up so many things. Also along with the builders and the folks that are going to get involved in the rehab. They are going to make them through IHDA, go through all of these things. In the collar counties we believe this is completely a Cook County initiative. The language is designed for Cook County; it again establishes a specific procedure and it just tries to outline very simply; but I don’t know how simple that was. It eliminates the clear and fair approach in looking at the 7 unit, 9 or 11 unit building and determining how many units are Section 8; and how many are not and take that income and capitalize it and come up with a value. Then there is no reduction after that; there is no reduction that they’ve committed for so many years in their tax bill for the next 30 years. Obviously I am very confident that we have done this correctly in Will County and also at unease that we would adopt something that Cook County is trying to do when there are so many things in Cook County that obviously are nothing like the collar counties. So I am asking the County Board to opt out of this and allow us to value those low income properties the way that we always have. The County Board does have the option of after opting out of it; if next year they decide they want to opt in it is just a matter of a resolution that we want to opt in. I am asking the Board’s support to opt out of this.
Ms. Winfrey stated if I were to summarize Ms. Novak; and correct me if I am wrong. Cook County is looking to attract more developers for low income housing so they are wanting to change the state rules so that they can give developers more of a break in order to get them to come into the area. But we are currently following the IDHA rules about how we assess the property for low income housing; and would like to stay with that. The proposed rule allows us to do that; and it is in our best interest as a county which is much smaller that Cook County and does not have as many areas that we want to tackle to stay with the current guidelines. Is that right?
Ms. Novak agreed.
Ms. Berkowicz stated Ms. Novak so the way that you describe this program it appears that it creates a huge burden on the property owner to apply with all of the information they need to report. You know tenants come and go; they could change every year. Am I correct to assume that this creates quite a burden on the property owner and would also in turn create a burden on the county.
Ms. Novak stated it creates a huge burden of the property owner if the property owner does not meet all of the specifications through the Illinois Housing Department; then they would not be able to rent one of those units. What happens is the benefit really goes to the developer; the second part is yes it would require quite a bit of work on behalf of the county. But overall the Housing Department is who Cook County is leaning on to determine if all of these rules are correct. Then certify to the county these are the building and developers you can give something to; and these are not. Once that happens the County would have to keep track of those properties and determine; okay this one has been here for 10 years and has a certificate so now we have to not only use the income approach but now we have to lower their taxes by 80%. It is not just an income approach to come up with an assessed value. It is an assessed value that then comes with a tax bill. Then that tax bill; and that tax bill is lowered in the first 10 years by 80%, in the next 10 years 65%, 45% in the next ten years. It is a 30 year project; it is very clear in the legislation. When I say it is just for blighted areas; those areas are also looked at and chosen by the Illinois Housing Authority with the help of Cook County. That is not the case in Will County. In Will County it doesn’t matter where the project is; it doesn’t matter if they are in Section 8. If they are Section 8 and they are going to be in one of those units we are doing to look at that income. You’re absolutely right it puts a huge burden on the tax payer and a mild to moderate burden on the County. It is just not a collar county need; we all valued on the low income piece of legislation that has been around forever. This is completely new and if you read through the legislation; and it is 79 pages long. It is definitely caters to Cook County; it is for Cook County. The one thing I would also like to mention there is not one Representative or Senator within our county that has signed on to this.
Ms. Berkowicz said thank you Ms. Novak. Ms. Winfrey with that information I’d like to make a motion that we support this.
Mr. Weigel asked when was this going to be affective.
Ms. Novak stated it is effective as of July 29th of this year. The Governor signed it and it is effective immediately.
Ms. Winfrey stated this is allowing us to exercise our right to opt out. Are there further questions.
Mrs. Ogalla said we have the Chair or our Modern Housing Committee in this meeting as well. I was wondering what her input from her might be. I was wondering what she might have to say; they look into this more than I do.
Ms. Koch said I am here thank you Mrs. Ogalla. I am supportive of Ms. Novak and as you know if I don’t have anything to say I don’t say anything at all. You guys kind of have this handled and I think we should vote with the motion that Ms. Berkowicz presented.
Ms. Winfrey stated thank you Ms. Novak.
Ms. Novak said thank you; this will be best for Will County.
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
TO: Will County Board MOVER: Julie Berkowicz, Member SECONDER: Tom Weigel, Member AYES: Winfrey, Berkowicz, Koch, Kraulidis, Newquist, Ogalla, Weigel ABSENT: Coleman |
X. PUBLIC COMMENT
XI. ANNOUNCEMENTS/REPORTS BY CHAIR
XII. EXECUTIVE SESSION
XIII. ADJOURNMENT
1. Motion to Adjourn @ 2ww9:44 AM
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Tom Weigel, Member SECONDER: Debbie Kraulidis, Member AYES: Winfrey, Berkowicz, Koch, Kraulidis, Newquist, Ogalla, Weigel, Marcum ABSENT: Coleman |
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