We received the information below from Senator Christine Radogno, Illinois State Senate 41st District. Senator Radogno is the minority leader in the Senate.
Illinois’ Auditor General William Holland reports the state’s liabilities exceed assets so dramatically that Illinois’ net assets deficit is now the largest among all 50 states. Holland was able to compare the state’s fiscal year (FY) 2010 financial statement to all states but Hawaii, which has not yet been released.
The deficit in net assets is the difference between the state’s liabilities and assets. Examining a state’s net assets provides a state with a good picture of its fiscal health. Unfortunately, Illinois’ net assets have steadily deteriorated over the last decade, increasing from $12.8 billion in FY 2003 to $37.9 billion in FY 2010. In FY 2010, Governor Pat Quinn's first full year in office, the state’s net assets fell $8.4 billion.
Only three other states reported a net assets deficit in FY 2010, including California, Connecticut and New Jersey. However, Illinois' deficit far exceeds even those dubious companions. California reported a $4.2 billion asset deficit, Connecticut had a $13.7 billion and New Jersey shows a $28.2 billion deficit.
Holland also reported that Illinois’ general fund deficit has risen to a record $9.2 billion. The audit is one of numerous reports released by both state officials and private entities that reflect the state’s ongoing fiscal problems.
In May, Illinois Treasurer Dan Rutherford released a report showing state taxpayers’ borrowing debt has jumped to $45 billion—or $24,000 for every Illinois family. Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka has consistently cautioned that substantial structural budget changes are needed if Illinois is to ever eliminate its massive deficit.
04 Public Policy
U.S. and Midwest Regional Economic Outlook Event
NAWBO members invited to attend. . .seating is limited and lunch will be served. . .please reserve today!
The Peoria Money Smart Week Partners, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and the Hult Health Education Center extend a special invitation to you to hear Rick Mattoon, an economist from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. His primary focus will be on issues facing the U. S. and the Midwest region.
We hope you will join us for what promises to be an interesting and insightful discussion! Please forward this message to others you feel would like to attend!
Have Lunch with Area Mayors!
You are invited to attend a NAWBO-CIL Public Policy Event, organized by Lynne Johnson!
“LUNCH WITH THE MAYORS”
Friday, March 27, 2009
12:00 – 1:30PM
Country Club of Peoria
Come join us for a glimpse into the future. Meet with and gain valuable business insight, as Peoria Area Mayors share their vision and plans to lead our communities forward through these tough economic times. You will enjoy a fabulous lunch in a historic and picturesque setting, located on the “World’s Most Beautiful Drive”.
Bring your questions and your notebooks as there will be Q&A.
Event Price - $25. Reservation deadline is March 20th!
Reserve now as seating is limited! Register by e-mailing secretary@nawbo-cil.org or complete the registration form below, enclose your payment and mail to:
NAWBO - CIL
PO BOX 573
Peoria, IL 61615
Please make checks payable to NAWBO. For further information, please call 309-692-2225 and leave a message or e-mail secretary@nawbo-cil.org.
Public Policy Topic - Obama's Presidency
The following article is courtesy of NAWBO Public Policy leader Lynne Johnson and EA Connect.
Top 4 Ways Obama's Presidency Could Affect You
President-elect Barack Obama has plans that could affect employers in many significant areas, including healthcare insurance, unions, Family and Medical Leave, and the minimum wage.
As he tries to implement his plans, however, he faces challenges on a few fronts. He must, for example, deal with issues that are leftover from previous administrations, including the financial crisis and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In addition, while he will hold significant majorities in both chambers of Congress, he may lack the votes to end a filibuster (it is still unknown whether he can reach the 60 votes needed in the Senate to end a filibuster), which could stall his initiatives.
Still, here are four areas to keep an eye on when Obama takes office in 2009.
Healthcare
Obama's healthcare plan would require employers to offer healthcare insurance to employees or pay a percentage of payroll to support a public healthcare plan. Small employers would be exempt. He would also give a tax credit to small businesses to encourage them to offer healthcare insurance.
All children would be required to have healthcare insurance and his plan calls for subsidies for people who are unable to afford insurance. He also has plan that he says will reduce healthcare costs, including a change to allow Americans to purchase less expensive prescription drugs form other countries.
Unions
Obama supports the Employee Free Choice Act. This legislation would make it easier for unions to organize. The legislation would require the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to certify a union if a majority of the relevant employees signs cards in support of the union. Under current rules, union elections must be done by secret ballot (unless the employer agrees to a card-check format).
Obama also supports legislation that would overrule NLRB decisions on the definition of a supervisor (supervisors are ineligible to join unions).
FMLA
Obama wants to expand the Family and Medical Leave Act to cover smaller employers, those with 25 or more employees. Under current rules, employers with 50 or more employees are covered. He also wants to allow workers to take leave for eldercare needs, give parents up to 24 hours of leave each year to participate in their children's academic activities, and cover leave for employees to address domestic violence.
He would also encourage states to adopt paid leave laws by starting a fund that could be tapped to offset costs.
Minimum Wage
Barack Obama wants to raise the minimum wage and index it to inflation. This would mean that the minimum wage would increase every year in which consumer prices rise.
Public Policy and You
The Public Policy committee has been contacting various legislative representatives at the federal, state and local levels. We are going to do our best to have as many different points of view shared so that you can make informed decisions.
This last month Colleen Calahan - Democratic candidate for 18th District, U.S. Congress - joined us and talked for a while and answered questions about her stand on the issues.
Coming Up
Jean Gordon, Democratic candidate for Illinois 92nd District will join us on September 17th to share her views.
Darin LaHood, Republican candidate for States Attorney will attend our September 17th meeting to share his views.
Aaron Schock, Republican candidate for 18th District, U.S. Congress and his assistant Shelly Owens will be attending our October 15th meeting.
We tried to get Sheldon Schafer, Green Party candidate for 18th District, U.S. Congress to join us, but unfortunately his schedule would not allow it. I will be sharing information from his party at the September meeting.
Steve Sauerberg, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate has tentatively confirmed for our October 15th meeting.
We are in the process of coordinating with many others.
We could use your help!
If you are in contact with your legislators, we would like your assistance in getting them to schedule time to join us at our meetings.
Also, I still have room on the Public Policy committee. You don't have to know about Public Policy, just have an interest in learning. Please let me know if you would be interested in helping or if you would like to know more.
Lynne
Public Policy: Fair and Equitable Tax Treatment
Position:
NAWBO supports fair and equitable tax policy for large and small businesses that fosters the economic growth of women-owned and other small businesses. Legislation should be enacted to ensure tax equity and basic fairness for all forms of small business organizations.
The privilege of deducting legitimate business expenses should no longer be based upon the entity chosen to operate the business.
Continue reading "Public Policy: Fair and Equitable Tax Treatment" »
Public Policy: Procurement and Contract Bundling
Position: NAWBO supports achievement of the five percent Federal procurement goal for women-owned small businesses (WOSBs). We oppose the Small Business Administration’s recent proposed rule that the set-aside program only be applied in four industry categories, knowing from experience that women-owned businesses face disparity in many of the 2,300 categories established by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). We support increasing contract opportunities for women by holding federal agencies accountable when they fail to meet these goals. NAWBO also opposes contract bundling, the Federal government’s policy of consolidating its purchases of unrelated goods and services into a single large contract. Bundling limits the opportunities for small busines to effectively compete, thereby restricting competition and increasing the overal cost of goods and services to the federal government.
Continue reading "Public Policy: Procurement and Contract Bundling" »
New Standard Mileage Rate
NAWBO Sisters –
Have you heard that the IRS has announced a new standard business mileage rate of 58.5 cents per mile beginning July 1, 2008? If you claim mileage on your taxes, be sure to clearly separate miles driven between 1/1/08 through 6/30/08 from miles driven 7/1/08 through 12/31/08 for your tax deduction next year.
To your success!
Stephanie
Public Policy: Procurement and Contract Bundling
NAWBO Position:
NAWBO supports achievement of the five percent Federal procurement goal for women-owned small businesses (WOSBs). We oppose the Small Business Administration’s recent proposed rule that the set-aside program only be applied in four industry categories, knowing from experience that women-owned businesses face disparity in many of the 2,300 categories established by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). We support increasing contract opportunities for women by holding federal agencies accountable when they fail to meet these goals. NAWBO also opposes contract bundling, the Federal government’s policy of consolidating its purchases of unrelated goods and services into a single large contract. Bundling limits the opportunities for small business to effectively compete, thereby restricting competition and increasing the overall cost of goods and services to the federal government.
Continue reading "Public Policy: Procurement and Contract Bundling" »
Public Policy: Access to Affordable Healthcare
NAWBO supports legislation that will make health care insurance more affordable for women business owners and their employees. NAWBO will consider and support, as appropriate, federal and state legislation designed to address the rising cost of health insurance by lowering premiums or creating tax incentives that make the purchase of health insurance more affordable for small business owners.
Continue reading "Public Policy: Access to Affordable Healthcare" »
Public Policy: Facts About Women Business Owners
Source: Center for Women’s Business Research
(founded by NAWBO in 1989 as the National Foundation for Women Business Owners)
- Privately held 50% or more women-owned firms are just as likely as all privately held firms to have employees (23 percent of women-owned firms compared to 25 percent of all firms).
- Contrary to common perception, women business owners are as likely as men business owners to be willing to adopt new technology and more likely (24 percent vs. 18 percent) than women in general.
- Women business owners value technology as a means to create workplace flexibility:
- 61 percent use technology to integrate the responsibilities of work and home.
- 44 percent use technology to enable employees to work offsite or to have flexible work schedules.
- 3 percent of all women-owned firms have revenues of $1 million or more compared with 6 percent of men-owned firms.
- Women business owners are highly likely to be voters, as indicated by a survey of NAWBO members. The reported NAWBO voter turnout of 93.4 percent for the 2000 Presidential election is larger than those for both all registered voters (85.5 percent) and all women registered voters (85.7 percent).
- Women business owners are nearly twice as likely as men business owners to intend to pass the business on to a daughter or daughters (37 percent vs. 19 percent).
Public Policy: Facts About Women Business Owners
Source: Center for Women’s Business Research
(founded by NAWBO in 1989 as the National Foundation for Women Business Owners)
- Nearly 10.4 million firms are owned by women (50 percent or more), employing more than 12.8 million people and generating $1.9 trillion in sales.
- Three quarters of all women-owned businesses are majority owned by women (51 percent or more), for a total of 7.7 million firms, employing more than 7.1 million people and generating $1.1 trillion in sales.
- For the past two decades, majority women-owned firms have continued to grow at around two times the rate of all firms (42 percent vs. 24 percent).
- Women-owned firms, 50 percent or more owned by women, account for 41 percent of all privately held firms.
- Women-owned businesses will spend an estimated $546 billion annually on salaries and benefits ($492 billion on salaries and $54 billion for employee benefits – health, retirement, and insurance). Health benefits comprise the largest share of benefit expenditures, with 2006 spending estimated at $38 billion.
- Women-owned firms employ 12.8 million people and generate $1.9 trillion in sales.
Discuss Business Issues With Senator Koehler
NFIB is offering an opportunity to discuss business issues with State Senator David Koehler on Monday, the 21st at Barracks. Non-NFIB members are welcome. Please see the attached flyer for details.
Joy Duling, Public Policy Director
Public Policy: Key Messages and Issues
Public Policy - Public Policy Positions & Key Messages
Public Policy impacts all of us. It is not about politics. It is about the issues. Joy will share the National Public Policy Key Messages with us periodically. If you would like to see the full document now, you can find it on the national site here. Or if you are interested in seeing previous PULSE articles related to Public Policy you can find it here.
Keep reading to learn about some of our key messages and issues. Interested in learning more? Let Joy know.
Public Policy - Public Policy Positions & Key Messages
Public Policy impacts all of us. It is not about politics. It is about the issues. Joy will share the National Public Policy Key Messages with us periodically. If you would like to see the full document now, you can find it on the national site here. Or if you are interested in seeing previous PULSE articles related to Public Policy you can find it here.
Keep reading to learn about some of our key messages and issues. Interested in learning more? Let Joy know.
Continue reading "Public Policy - Public Policy Positions & Key Messages" »
Public Policy Notes
Joy Duling shares recent happenings with Public Policy.
All members are invited to attend "Voices: Rising - NAWBO Public Policy Days 2008," scheduled from February 4-6th at the Ritz-Carlton in Pentagon City just outside of Washington D.C. Public Policy Days is a terrific opportunity to gather with women business owners, government officials and NAWBO's national leaders. This is not a political event, but rather an opportunity to learn how public policy decisions impact all of us and our businesses. It is scheduled for February 4-6th in Arlington, Virginia. Special convention rates are available for rooms at The Ritz Carlton Pentagon City (located at 1250 South Hayes Street, Arlington, VA 22202)
Highlights of this year's conference include:
About Our Members
The Pulse Updates
Recent Posts
- Our Sympathies
- "Good Neighbor" Business of the Month Award
- Government Affairs Update
- Business Roundtable Invite
- July Meeting
- Congratulations to our new board members!
- NAWBO Sister Doris Symonds to Receive Business Champion of the Year Award
- Children’s Dyslexia Center Wins Grant!
- Campaign for Better Health Care Webinar
- 11TH ANNUAL 25 WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP AWARD
Next Monthly Meeting
- Wed. April 20 - 4:30 pm
Location: Mt Hawley Country Club, Peoria, IL 61602
Events
Categories
- 01 Chapter Events & News
- 02 Sponsor News
- 03 Member Services
- 04 Public Policy
- 05 Nominations & Awards
- 06 Networking/Member Events
- 07 Member News & Kudos
- 08 Member to Member Offers
- 09 Marketing Your Business
- 10 Media & PR
- 11 HR & Employee Issues
- 12 Community Opportunity
- 13 Financial
- 14 Management
- 15. Business Development
