Illinois Statehouse News

Tax credit expiration could slow wind’s rise in IL, but still plenty to export

illinoisadmin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:44:51 +0000

By Anthony Brino | Illinois Statehouse News

SPRINGFIELD — The federal tax credit that has supported wind energy for almost 20 years is set to expire at the end of 2012.

With this expiration looming, the future of the industry in Illinois — one of the top producers of wind energy in the nation — could leave the state struggling to meet its renewable energy requirements, even as the state exports more wind energy than it uses.

With 1,500 turbines in operation and about the same number in permitting stages, Illinois's wind industry also has thrived because of an electric grid ideal for carrying power into Chicago and exporting it to Midwestern and Eastern states and the state’s renewable-energy requirements.

Illinois is one of 33 states that has passed renewable energy requirements. By 2025, 25 percent of Illinois's electricity has to come from sources such as solar, wind and biomass; 75 percent of that must come from wind.

In 2011, Illinois became the fourth largest wind-producing state in the country, according to a January report from the American Wind Energy Association, a national trade group.

In 1992, Congress offered wind companies a federal tax credit, now worth 2.2 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity generated and lasts for 10 years. Illinois' wind generators can produce as much as 2.4 million kilowatts, worth as much as $52,000 a day.

But Matt Aldeman, senior energy analyst with Illinois State University's Center for Renewable Energy, which studies new sources of energy and the markets to sell them, said it is not "that often" that Illinois' wind farms generate the maximum 2.4 million kilowatts.

"It might be windy in one part of the state, but not windy in another part," Aldeman said. Which is why, he added, it is difficult to come up with average energy production and tax credit figures.

For Stefan Noe, wind energy is a worthy investment

“It does make up a good percentage of the economics of a wind projects,” said Noe, president of Midwest Wind Energy, a wind developer based in Chicago that is building the Big Sky wind farm in Bureau and Lee Counties, which is expected to generate enough electricity to power 125,000 houses.

But Illinois is just one state where Midwest Wind Energy has wind farms. The company also has wind farms in Wisconsin, Iowa and Nebraska, and sells power throughout the Midwest.

“The wind industry has become able to compete even with coal, thanks to the tax credit and falling turbine prices,” Noe said.

More companies are producing wind turbines, which leads to lower prices as does a drop in the price for many of the parts used to make the giant blades and generators.

Noe said he’s “cautiously optimistic” that the tax credit will be renewed, as it has been almost every year since 1993. And as long as wind turbines are in the ground before the end of the year, the companies will qualify for the credit.

Even so, the industry is lobbying hard for its renewal; the American Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit Extension Act, a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives, would extend it for four years.

“We’re not asking to be a permanent part of the tax code,” said Ellen Carey, a spokeswoman for the American Wind Energy Association. “Wind is on track (to) contribute 20 percent of the nation’s electricity by 2030. We’re just saying, let us finish the job.”

Kevin Borgia, executive director of the Illinois Wind Energy Association, a nonprofit industry trade group, said he is optimistic that the credit will be renewed.

But without the credit, Borgia said, “investment isn’t attractive, new development will grind to a halt and the thousands of American manufacturing jobs the industry supports will wane.”

In Illinois, dozens of companies, many of them headquartered in Europe or Asia, manufacture parts such as turbines and gearboxes for the state’s and country’s wind industry. Aside from the manufacturing jobs in the supply chain, the industry has created more than 13,000 temporary construction jobs and about 600 long-term maintenance jobs, according to the Illinois State University Center for Renewable Energy, a research and outreach nonprofit.

NTN Bearings, a Japanese company that makes bearings for heavy machinery, including wind turbines, has considered expanding its McComb plant to serve U.S. markets, said spokesman Joe Kahn.

"With the uncertainty over the production tax , it's difficult to make a business case for capital expansion," Kahn said of the McComb plant, which employs about 400 people and primarily makes bearings for agricultural and construction machinery.

A study released in December by the economic research firm Navigant projected that an end to the tax credit would likely lead to loss of 37,000 wind industry jobs nationwide. Extending the credit, according to Navigant, would create 17,000 jobs over the next several years.

More than jobs, though, Borgia and Noe, president of Midwest Wind Energy, said the expiration of the tax credit could make it hard for Illinois to meet its renewable energy regulations of getting 18.75 percent of its electricity from wind by 2025.

“With the federal tax credit, the cost of compliance with the (requirement) is low. Without (it), the cost increases dramatically, raising rates for consumers,” Borgia said.

Only a few Illinois wind farms have long-term agreements to sell to Illinois’ major electricity providers, Ameren Illinois and Commonwealth Edison LLC, said Borgia.

Between September 2010 and 2011, 4 percent of Ameren’s electricity came from wind, said Ameren spokesman Leigh Morris.

During that same time period, only 1 percent of ComEd’s electricity came from wind, according to the company's most recent disclosures.

Wind generates about 7 percent of the state’s electricity, enough to power about 500,000 to 1 million homes, said David Loomis, director of the Center for Renewable Energy, a nonprofit that does research and outreach on renewable energy. That’s projected to double over the next five to 10 years, Loomis said.

Most of the wind electricity generated in Illinois is exported to states on the East Coast such as New York and Massachusetts to help meet their renewable energy requirements. Or they sell to the “merchant” market to any utility that needs to buy power on any given day, whether in Illinois or elsewhere. The specific amounts of those exports aren’t public information.

Arlene Juracek, acting director of the Illinois Power Agency, which buys contracts for ComEd and Ameren, is optimistic Illinois will meet its renewable energy requirements, while also allowing companies to continue exporting most of that wind energy.

“Wind has proven to be a cost-effective resource, and we’re on track to grow the industry,” said Juracek.

IL seeks to add 100K people to Medicaid program

illinoisadmin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:20:16 +0000

By Andrew Thomason | Illinois Statehouse News

SPRINGFIELD — Illinois could add 100,000 new enrollees to its Medicaid rolls in the near future.

The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, which administers Medicaid, asked the federal government to approve accelerating the expansion of the state-federal health insurance program under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

The request seeks to add 100,000 childless, low-income Cook County residents to the Medicaid program two years before the federal health-care act requires their enrollment.

Medicaid funding normally is split equally between the state and the federal government. But the cost of the expansion would be split between Cook County and the feds, with each paying around $125 million in tax dollars annually.

These are costs Cook County would be paying anyway to care for low-income patients who show up at the emergency room because they can’t afford a doctor’s visit. Cook County is simply looking to recover some of those expenses, said Mike Claffey, a spokesman for the state’s Department of Healthcare and Family services.

But this expansion could affect downstate taxpayers, state Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon, said.

“People in my district, they pay state taxes, they also pay federal taxes,” Righter said. “And they care how much their governments are spending, not just in Springfield but in Washington, (D.C.) as well.”

Righter voiced concern that the state would be stuck with paying for the 100,000 new enrollees if the federal health-care law is struck down in whole or part by the U.S. Supreme Court before the end of this year since they’re eligibility is based on the new law.

Beyond approval at the federal level, the expansion requires state lawmakers to revisit changes to Medicaid they approved last year that suspended the addition of more people to Medicaid.

Last year’s reform also sought to expand income verification and residency checks for participants in an effort to prevent fraud.

But those changes haven’t gone into effect, because the state has not received a waiver from the federal government. The federal health-care law prohibits shrinking the state’s Medicaid programs to levels below those set in March 2010 without a federal waiver.

California, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey, Washington state and Washington, D.C., have taken similar steps to those being sought by Cook County, according to The Kaiser Family Foundation, a think tank that focuses on health-care related issues.

State Rep. Patti Bellock, R-Hinsdale, said every case is different.

“A lot of other states are not in the similarly fiscal crisis we are in. So we just ask for flexibility,” she said.

If nothing changes, the state will end up having $21 billion in unpaid Medicaid bills by 2017, according to a report released Monday by the Civic Federation, a nonpartisan group that focuses on budgetary matters.

Without changes, Medicaid will consume 40 percent of the state’s general revenue fund by 2017, the federation predicts.

Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, said the waiver would help theCook County Health and Hospital System, which has a deficit of $120 million, $39 million of which could be erased if the state processed Medicaid applications faster.

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Righter’s and Bellock’s criticisms came a day after Gov. Pat Quinn said “Medicaid” twice during his State of the State address Wednesday. The lack of specifics for reining in the swelling cost of Medicaid set off a surge of concern from lawmakers.

Video: GOP leaders react to state of the state

Benjmain Yount — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 02:06:38 +0000

Tom Cross and Christine Radogno speak with reporters after Gov. Quinn’s state of the state speech.

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Video: Jil Tracy on state of the state

Benjmain Yount — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 02:01:38 +0000

Quincy Republican Jil Tracy says she is disappointed in what she heard from Gov. Pat Quinn’s state of the state speech Wednesday.

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ISN fact checks Quinn’s State of the State

illinoisadmin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:55:50 +0000

By Benjamin Yount | Illinois Statehouse News

SPRINGFIELD — Illinois Statehouse News spoke with lawmakers, a university president and people outside of the state Capitol to go between the lines of Gov. Pat Quinn’s State of the State

address.

In 35 minutes, Quinn outlined his agenda for the spring legislative session, referring to investments in higher education and tax breaks designed to employ more veterans for his 2012 jobs agenda.

However, he only briefly referenced Illinois’ crushing pension and Medicaid debt.

Higher education

Quinn challenged lawmakers to increase the amount of money available to students from low-income families as part of the Monetary Awards Program, or MAP, Grant program.

“While nearly 150,000 Illinois students received state MAP scholarships last year …, just as many qualified applicants were denied because of a lack of funding,” Quinn said.

In fiscal 2012, the current state budget, Illinois is on pace to spend $420 million. Last year, Illinois spent $390 million.

But the state will need to balance more spending in the MAP program next year with the hundreds of millions of dollars in state aid payments the state owes to colleges and universities.

Glenn Poshard, president of Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, said his school still is waiting for $86 million from the state.

But Poshard is quick to say he’d rather see students get more in MAP grants.

“MAP grants are a direct investment in the students, and that’s fine with us,” Poshard said after Quinn’s speech. “We want to keep the door open to opportunity to those low-income kids as much as we can.”

Kelly Kraft, Quinn’s budget spokeswoman, said the governor will deliver more specifics on his plans for the MAP program during his budget speech on Feb. 22.

Job creation credits

The governor touted his job creation history: more jobs at Chicago’s Ford automobile manufacturing plant and Belvidere’s Chrysler automobile manufacturing plant, and of course large increases in the number of soybeans shipped overseas.

Ford is spending about $117 million and adding 400 jobs, while Chrysler is adding 400 to 500 workers to build newly designed cars.

Quinn inked a deal with a Chinese company to send 6.6 million bushels of Illinois soybeans to a processing facility in China.

But Quinn said more needs to be done when he presented his Jobs Agenda for 2012, which he said will “grow our economy by helping our employers, our working families and our veterans.”

The jobs agenda includes investments in high-tech infrastructure to build what he calls “gigabyte” communities, investments in education to have a better trained workforce.

The governor also wants a tax credit, worth between $5 million and $10 million annually, to help veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars find work.

Doug Whitley, president of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, which advocates for businesses statewide, said Illinois already has a $1,200 tax credit for businesses that hire veterans, but it is underused.

Whitley said he doesn’t know why the credit is not more popular, but Quinn’s push to hire veterans may popularize that tax credit.

“We have 100,000 veterans coming home … and Gov. Quinn is reminding employers that they need to be sensitized to the needs of hiring veterans,” Whitley said. “I think it was a positive element” in the speech.

Medicaid and pensions

Illinois two biggest expenses, Medicaid and pensions, were eyed for reform in Quinn’s speech, but he did not elaborate on how that would be accomplished.

“No reform is easy,” Quinn said at the end of his speech. “And reforming our Medicaid and public pension systems will require real political courage.”

Lawmakers blasted the governor for not offering more details.

Kraft said those details will come in three weeks when the governor delivers his budget address.

Wednesday’s “focus was the vision for our state,” Kraft said.

But Kent Redfield, political science professor at University of Illinois at Springfield, was not persuaded.

“It would have been a little more intellectually honest to acknowledge what an overwhelming fiscal crisis the state is facing,” said Redfield. “Even if we really cut down to the core services and increase revenue, we’re still going to have a hard time keeping it together.”

Redfield said that Medicaid spending may be the biggest problem for Illinois this year, adding that Medicaid is “almost insolvable.”

Quinn’s speech raises questions for IL lawmakers

illinoisadmin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:58:42 +0000

By Benjamin Yount and Anthony Brino | Illinois Statehouse News

SPRINGFIELD — Jerry and Melanie Howlett didn’t watch Gov. Pat Quinn‘s State of the State speech Wednesday afternoon.

Instead the Howletts, of Tremont, were touring the Capitol with their daughter and two sons.

Jerry Howlett has the time to tour the statehouse, because he is out of work.

The former hospital caseworker, who has been unemployed since September, was skeptical of the governor’s promises of tax credits for employers.

“I’d like to see some tax cuts,” Howlett said. “but that’s not something I think is going to happen.”

Howlett was not the only skeptic under the statehouse dome Wednesday.

Democrats and Republicans, state representatives and state senators said Quinn laid out an agenda that will cost the state money Illinois does not have.

State Sen. Christine Johnson, R-DeKalb, said Illinois is looking at a $130 billion pension debt and Medicaid bills that could top $14 billion this year. She said she doesn’t understand why the governor wants to spend more money on new programs.

“I live in the state of Illinois,” Johnson said. “I don’t know what state Gov. Quinn lives in.”

Johnson, and many Senate Republicans, said they do not see how Illinois can offer tax credits for families or offer housing opportunities in Chicago, while the state is shortchanging schools and local communities.

State Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-East Moline, said the governor’s heart is in the right place, but the state cannot afford his good intentions.

“Everyone supports veterans, and kids, and education. But the problem is, how do we pay for that support?” Jacobs said.

The governor spent most of his 35-minute speech talking up new programs, or highlighting his three years as governor. Quinn only briefly mentioned Illinois’ fiscal woes, and he touched on the need for Medicaid and pension reform.

“There’s two 800-pound gorillas sitting in the room, and that’s the need for Medicaid reform and the pension situation,” said state Sen. John Sullivan, D-Rushville. “We as a state need to come up with some solutions.”

State Sen. Darin LaHood, R-Peoria, used his own circus animal metaphor to criticize Quinn for the same lack of specifics.

“The elephant in the room today was the fiscal calamity that our state is facing,” LaHood said. “And to not have those addressed today was a little bit disconcerting.”

Quinn’s office said the budget speech on Feb. 22 will include more details about how the governor plans to address pensions and Medicaid.

But Warren Ribley, director of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, said “it’s too early” to say what those details will include.

State Rep. Jil Tracy, R-Quincy, said Quinn’s budget speech will be as ineffectual as his State of the State address.

“I’m very disillusioned. I’m very disappointed,” Tracy said. “But we have to get back to work. Speeches don’t solve problems, but getting back to work does.”

IL gov lays out jobs plan, cloudy on funding source

illinoisadmin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:02:29 +0000

By Andrew Thomason | Illinois Statehouse News

SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Pat Quinn on Wednesday said increased state spending in critical areas will spur much needed job creation in Illinois.

But Republican legislators had harsh criticism for a plan they say will cost the cash-strapped state roughly $500 million.

During his State of the State address, which came a year after the state’s individual and corporate income tax rates skyrocketed, Quinn said he’d like to create tax credits for families and businesses, invest more money in education and upgrade the state’s aging water systems.

Quinn said his Illinois Jobs Agenda 2012 would create a more job-friendly environment in a state that has seen its unemployment rate hover around 10 percent for the past several months, about 1 percentage point higher than the national average.

But Kent Redfield, a political science professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield, said Quinn’s ideas are working around the margins. The state has $8.5 billion in unpaid bills this year, and a recent study by the Civic Federation, a nonpartisan group that focuses on the state’s fiscal health, shows that number hitting $35 billion by 2017 drastic steps aren’t taken.

“If we don’t have the revenue, it really doesn’t matter. They’re great ideas we can’t afford. They are things we should probably be doing … but if we fall off the cliff three years from now these things will be pretty irrelevant,” Redfield said.

Quinn’s jobs program must past through the General Assembly, where legislative leaders, especially those on the right, were skeptical.

Illinois Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno, R-Lemont, and state House GOP Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego, said the ideas Quinn laid out weren’t bad, but he ignored the state’s ailing fiscal health.

“The best thing we can do for (jobs) … is fix the state’s budget, because what happens is people looking to invest in the state see the financial disaster it’s facing and they know the other shoe is going to drop,” Radogno said.

State Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, had more tactful words for Quinn.

“As he advances new initiatives to create jobs and improve the economy, I look forward to hearing how we can fund these important priorities within a balanced budget,” Cullerton said in a news release.

Specifically, Quinn proposed eliminating the natural gas utility tax, which his office estimates will take away around $164 million in state revenue. Quinn said the abolition of the tax on natural gas usage will give Illinois a competitive edge over its neighbors in attracting job-creators.

“Illinois will be the only state in the Midwest without a natural gas utility tax on manufacturers, retailers and everyday families,” Quinn said.

Quinn proposed a tax credit for families with children, which would provide $100 of tax relief annually for a family of four, the governor said.

“This targeted tax relief will stimulate consumer demand, which is 70 percent of our economy. And it will create jobs for our local merchants,” Quinn said.

Kelly Kraft, Quinn’s budget spokeswoman, said the tax credit would save taxpayers and cost the state $130 million annually.

Quinn also called for investing more in early childhood education, modernizing classrooms with digital textbooks and high-speed Internet access, and providing scholarships for college students.

“Our youngest and most vulnerable citizens need our strongest support. Research has shown that without an early learning foundation, children fall behind in school,” Quinn said.

The governor’s call for expanding the Monetary Award Program, which offers scholarships for college students demonstrating financial need, and more early childhood spending comes mere weeks after his own budget office projected keeping education spending flat for the next three years.

“I don’t know how that squares with what he himself said just a few weeks ago,” Radogno said.

The last pillar of Quinn’s jobs plan was upgrading the water systems statewide.

Quinn said his plan “will put thousands of people to work replacing broken water mains, building treatment plants, upgrading sewers and cleaning up environmental threats.”

Quinn didn’t outline how he would come up with the $500 million to cover his jobs plan, even as the state faces $8.5 billion in overdue bills despite the individual income tax rate jumping by 67 percent and the corporate income tax rate jumping by 46 percent last January.

The governor’s only mention of funding was: “I look forward to working with you to find the proper funding to meet these urgent needs.”

Kraft said details will following in Quinn’s Feb. 22 budget address.

“Today our focus is on the vision for our state,” Kraft said.

Cross said the state needs to tackle its ballooning Medicaid and pension spending before it looks to this jobs program.

“I’m not sure still to this day (if Quinn) gets the gravity of this situation. He certainly hasn’t demonstrated (that) in what he did today,” Cross said.

Video: Dave Syverson on state of the state

Benjmain Yount — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 02:02:49 +0000

State Sen. Dave Syverson says he wants to hear Gov. Pat Quinn offer some concrete proposals during the state of the state.

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Video: Jerry Costello on jobs

Benjmain Yount — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 01:58:58 +0000

State Rep. Jerry Costello speaks about what he wants to hear on jobs from Gov. Quinn’s state of the state speech.

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IL lawmakers want more than job talk from Gov. Quinn

illinoisadmin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 01:53:27 +0000

By Benjamin Yount and Anthony Brino | Illinois Statehouse News

SPRINGFIELD — Illinois lawmakers say they want to hear more from Gov. Pat Quinn than just talk about jobs — they want a plan.

Quinn is expected to make employment a cornerstone of his State of the State address at noon Wednesday.

“Gov. Quinn will lay out an ambitious agenda for creating jobs and paving the way to long-term economic growth,” said Annie Thompson a spokeswoman for Quinn.

But the governor is going to need more than just talking points to win over lawmakers, including many of his fellow Democrats.

“One of the issues we have, as a state, is that we’re not considered to be too business friendly,” said state Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Smithton. “That’s an image that we have to change.”

Costello, who represents an area that stretches from Metro East to Pinckneyville, is quick to caution that if Quinn wants to create jobs, those jobs must come from the private sector.

“The government cannot support employment for all,” Costello said.

Todd Maisch, vice president for government relations at the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, which promotes the interests of businesses in the state, agreed.

“We have to give the governor credit. He is willing to engage CEO’s. But we want to see him get outside of his comfort zone and engage employers on many levels,” Maisch said.

Maisch said he too wants to hear “concrete plans” from Quinn.

State Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-East Moline, said the governor must lay out specific and big plans.

“In my district, we have the lowest unemployment in the state of Illinois, and that’s not an accident,” said Jacobs. “We have kept our companies strong. And that’s the one thing we need to focus on, we’re not in this alone.”

The unemployment in the Quad Cities, which includes East Moline, is at 7.8 percent, according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security.

Republicans have less faith in the governor’s message.

State Rep. David Leitch, R-Peoria, said Quinn has not done enough to make Illinois the kind of place companies want to move to or expand in.

Leitch said the workers’ compensation reforms, signed into law last year, were not enough to make Illinois competitive. Leitch also points to medical malpractice costs and regulatory hurdles as chains holding the state back.

“I would say the administration has a lot to learn about what it takes to make businesses grow,” said Leitch.

Republican lawmakers are quick to point to the state’s unemployment rate, which last month sat at 9.8 percent. Quinn entered his job in January 2009 with an 8.1 percent unemployment rate, but then watched as the state jobless rate sky rocketed to 11.2 percent in January 2010.

Nationally, the jobless rate dipped to 8.5 percent in December. New unemployment figures will be released Friday.

All told, the state lost 400,000 jobs during the Great Recession, according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security.

In 2011, Illinois added 52,600 jobs, said Greg Rivara, spokesman for the Department of Employment Security. The state has added 95,900 jobs since January 2010, said Rivara.

State Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Rockford, said Illinois could add thousands more jobs, if the governor would sign legislation to allow new casinos to be built in the state.

Lawmakers approved that plan in May, but have been holding it as they try and negotiate a compromise with Quinn, who does not like the legislation’s carve-out for slot machines to be placed at horse racing tracks.

Rockford is one of five cities hoping for a new casino, but Syverson said he fears the governor’s job message will not include a pledge to sign that pending casino legislation.

“Clearly in the Rockford area, it is a concern,” said Syverson. “Because if Rockford doesn’t (build a casino) and Beloit, Wis., does, two minutes away, it would have a devastating effect.”

Thompson said in addition to jobs, Quinn will address the Illinois’ pension and Medicaid shortfalls during his State of the State address in the Illinois House Chamber here.