Heading into 35 years of cheating older workers

Offset repeal went down in flames again in 2014 thanks to the lobbyists and Speaker Madigan. After three years of delay, we're right back where we started. Two opposing proposals came out of the task force:
1. Repeal the offset and pay the $25 million a year it will cost to give older workers their full unemployment payments out of money the Illinois Department of Employment Security swears it has found.
2. Repeal the offset and pay the $25 million out of the IDES money and reduce taxes on businesses $25 million.

PLEASE NOTE
* $25 million a year is less than one-half of what IDES pays out in a WEEK.
* A reduction of $25 million a year in business taxes amounts to pennies.
* Madigan could simply decide to let repeal happen.

Instead, more than 22,000 older workers in Illinois will continue to get cheated. The members of the task force were:

-Monica Brar - budget analyst in the Governor's Office

-Tim Drea - major honcho with the AFL-CIO. Labor and business made sweetheart deals that has allowed offset repeal legislation to die in the Rules Committee of the State Assembly every year was introduced. Labor stopped opposing repeal in 2012. 

-Ryan Gruenenfelder - our advocate from AARP. Applause. 

-Kim Maisch - State director of NFIC/Illinois, a business group opposed to offset repeal, i.e. lobbyist. Far as I can tell, she seems to care about the people getting hurt by the offset but goes along with her fellow business lobbyists when it's time to vote.

-State Representative Kelly Cassidy - the House sponsor for offset repeal, HB3042. More applause.

-Jay Rowell - top honcho of IDES. His team didn't present the issue very well and is under the mistaken impression that we all get our unemployment as long as we stay out of work long enough. In addition, he claims IDES has all sorts of unexpected money from upgrades, tracking down fraud and not paying unemployment to inmates anymore. But no one believes him -- including Mark Brown from the Sun-Times.

-Originally, David Vite was appointed to the task force. Vite was president and CEO of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, a very powerful business lobbyist and opposed to offset repeal. I believe he was the wizard behind the task force -- which delayed action for three years. He and labor worked together to kill offset repeal in the Rules Committee of the State Assembly every year. PLEASE NOTE -- lobbyists make sure your elected legislators never get to vote on the offset provision -- even the legislators who signed on to sponsor the repeal legislation. Remarkably, Vite stated that the offset was a moral issue and needed to be repealed. When Vite retired from IRMA, he was replaced by Rob Karr. Vite's a tough act to follow and Karr doesn't want to look like a weakling. (Weakling was not the word I really wanted to use, but this is a family blog.) Although Vite was replaced on the task force, he probably dreamed up the $25,000 tax reduction stipulation. 

-State Representative John Bradley - from Marion. He didn't participate or help much.

-State Senator Sam McCann - from Jacksonville. He didn't participate much, and when he did, he was not on the side of older workers.

-State Senator Kwame Raoul - from Chicago. He didn't participate or help much.

-State Senator Sue Rezin - from Peru. She participated by phone.

-Jay Dee Shattuck - Illinois Chamber of Commerce. An enemy of offset repeal. A hard-nosed guy who announced at the last minute that business would support repeal ONLY if business got a $25 million tax reduction. Seems keeping the employment fund artificially high by cheating older workers since 1980 wasn't enough of a benefit. In addition, labor HATES business and will not compromise, which Shattuck and his buddies knew. It was a cynical move. 

-State Senator Heather Steans - Senate champion of offset repeal. Applause.

It's official. ONLY Illinois discriminates against senior workers

Illinois is the only place in the entire United States -- which includes every state, district, territory and commonwealth -- that still cheats older workers out of their full unemployment payments. At least 17,000 people a year get half their social security payments deducted from their unemployment payments. And to make it worse, at least 4,000 workers a year receive ZERO unemployment payments.

It's the result of the social security offset -- a rule that's been enforced since 1980. And the only people who can repeal it are the state representatives and state senators we send to Springfield.

The social security offset is age discrimination. And it's shameful.

Employers pay the same amount into the employment fund for every eligible worker no matter what the worker's age is. Employers don't get a discount for older workers. So, when older workers are eligible for unemployment, they should receive their full unemployment benefits -- just like younger workers do.

The offset affects more than 17,000 senior workers in Illinois. The amount of money it would take to right this wrong is $25 million A YEAR. Sounds like a lot -- but it's less than what IDES pays out in unemployment payments in ONE MONTH. 

Repeal would also save the money and time it takes to administer the offset -- and send letters to claimants that no one understands. I wonder if the lawyers who write the letters understand them.

If you live in Illinois, please let your state legislators know you want them to vote to repeal the social security offset. If you aren't sure who they are, send me your street address, including your ZIP Code, and I'll send you their contact information. Email me at n.solomon@icloud.com

Paula Deen and Jesse Jackson

I've never forgiven Jesse Jackson for his hymietown comment. And I probably never will. I'm always surprised when a left-leaning group invites him to speak or a left-leaning person speaks of him as though he's some sort of awe-inspiring hero. Especially other liberal Jews like me.

I believe that Jackson's personal anti-Semitism is as deep rooted and natural to him as Paula Deen's racism is to her. I think they are as comfortable with those remarks as they are with breathing.

Both "regret" their remarks. But regret doesn't cut it for me. You have to do more than regret something. You have to do something about it.

It's not easy. I know from personal experience.

A woman friend of mine, a fellow progressive, and I went out to dinner with my friend Jeremy a few years ago. (He was visiting from California.) The other woman and I both mistook our waiter and the busboy for the same person. We talked to the busboy, asking him questions about himself that we really thought we were addressing to the waiter. 

The only things they had in common were their skin color and they were both men. 

Jeremy was astounded by our racism and said so right then and there -- which is unusual for him because he is very, very kind to me. But he was horrified. And he was right.

I "regret" what I did. It was super embarrassing. But it was also very, very wrong. So I have been trying to examine my behavior and get rid of it ever since. 

I thought I was getting better. I'm at least more aware. BUT two days ago while I was walking my dog, I waved at a man in the distance who I thought was my neighbor Shar, who was born in India. As I got closer, I realized that the man I had waved to was not Shar. The only things he and Shar have in common are their skin color and they are both men.

I still have SO much work to do.

Repeal Warrior Elizabeth Salley is the woman who publishes the blog, The Change For Social Justice. Terrific lady. She traveled to the meeting and testified on June 20th from her home in or around Glen Ellyn. Great lady and a good friend to all of us.

June 20 meeting: the Offset is a moral issue, but we don't have any money

The task force met on Thursday, June 20. It was easy to spot David Vite, the business lobbyist. In addition to being very handsome, he was also wearing the best suit in the room.

My state representative, Kelly Cassidy, was there. She's on the task force and is also the House sponsor of the legislation to repeal the social security offset provision in Illinois. Kelly is even smarter and more savvy than I thought she was -- and I already thought she was very smart and savvy.

State Senator Rezin was present by phone -- but I think she might have only been there for a few minutes.

I was told there was another state legislator there, but I didn't catch his name. I get it for you.

The IDES lawyer, Joseph Mueller, corrected the information he had given the task force at the last meeting -- corrections I gave him.

But get this -- According to Mueller, Louisiana may not enforce the offset -- which means Illinois is the ONLY place that does. (Minnesota does, maybe, under some hardly used compromise provision.)

I'm trying to track the Louisiana information down. It's very difficult to get through to a human being in Louisiana. Minnesota and I have been talking for a while. The people there are getting back to me.

When the task force agenda came to public comments, both I and the fabulous woman who runs another blog about this issue testified. I think it was the first time any of these folks -- except for our advocate Ryan from AARP who is on the task force and Vite who has been annoyed by my testimony before -- ever heard how the offset affects real people from some of the real people it affected.

We said it was state-supported age discrimination. I brought lots of letters from people all over the state.

I think the members finally had to acknowledge that the offset is a moral issue.

However, that didn't stop the task force from quickly running behind the cover of "how do we pay for it." To pay senior workers the full amount of the unemployment they should receive in a YEAR would cost considerably less than what IDES pays out in a MONTH.

I'll be back soon with the information from Louisiana and Minnesota and everyone's name and contact information. Meanwhile, here's what I prepared and used as talking points on June 20:

Information about the Social Security Offset Provision in Illinois

Prepared by Nancy Solomon, nancy@nancysolomon.net 773-262-8070. June 20, 2013

What is the Social Security Offset?

·       In 1980 the U.S. Dept. of Labor gave individual states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. territories the OPTION of taking social security benefits into account when computing unemployment payments.

·       More than 20 states, DC and the U.S. territories chose the offset. All have repealed it –-- except Illinois and Louisiana.

The Illinois 50% Offset Formula

·       In Illinois, one-half of an older worker’s weekly social security payment is deducted from his or her weekly unemployment payment.

How the Offset Affects Older Workers in Illinois

·       More than 17,000 workers in Illinois are affected by the social security offset.

·       Some receive ZERO unemployment payments.

·       Reduced unemployment payments create a financial hardship during an already difficult time.

·       It usually takes older workers at least two times longer than younger workers to find new employment.

The Social Security Offset is State-Supported Age Discrimination

·       Employers pay into the employment fund for every eligible worker regardless of the worker’s age.

·       Employers don’t get a discount for older workers.

·       Older workers should receive their full unemployment payments regardless of their age.

Information for the Social Security Retirement Pay Task Force

·       The information from the U.S. Dept. of Labor task force members received on May 7 stated – incorrectly -- that the Virgin Islands, South Dakota and Minnesota had not repealed the offset. They had; Minnesota’s repeal has conditions. The Dept. of Labor has been notified.

·       Legislation to repeal the offset has been introduced to the Illinois General Assembly every year since 2002. None of them made it through the agreed bill process to the legislature floor for debate and decision.

·       There were more than 40 co-signers on the bipartisan offset repeal legislation in the Illinois House and Senate in 2011. Instead of allowing the legislation to move forward, the Social Security Retirement Pay Task Force was formed – delaying offset repeal legislation for at least one more year.

·       Because the task force didn’t meet until 2012 as instructed, action on offset repeal legislation has been delayed yet another year.

Lobbyists Control the Agreed Bill Process

·       The agreed bill process is an Illinois invention that controls which unemployment and workers compensation bills will be allowed to be presented to the legislature for debate and decision.

·       Over time, lobbyists from labor and business have come to dominate the agreed bill process, often meeting privately without any legislators present.

·       Labor decided to withdraw its opposition to offset repeal in 2011.

·       Business continues to oppose offset repeal, insisting that it will cause an increase in employment taxes.

·       Offset repeal has NEVER caused an increase in employment taxes.

Offset Task Force Meetings Concerns

·       The members of the Social Security Retirement Pay Task Force were supposed to be appointed in 2012, hold at least three public hearings and submit recommendations to the legislature in December 2012.

·       The last task force members were finally appointed in 2013, delaying action for another year.

·       The May 7, 2013, meeting was surprisingly labeled the first public hearing. There were no public comments.

·       Only state legislators can repeal the offset. However, the only state legislator able to attend the May 7 meeting was Representative Kelly Cassidy, the sponsor of the offset repeal bill, HB3042.

·       The second meeting for June 20 was posted June 18 under News and Announcements on the IDES website. It was not posted on the IDES Events and Workshops calendar. 

Illinois Caves in to David Vite Again

I thought Speaker Mike Madigan was the most powerful person in Illinois. I was wrong. David Vite is.

Mr. Vite is the king of the lobbyists for business. I think he's worth more than his weight in gold to his employers. He seems to believe that if you say a lie enough times, everyone will come to believe it. And no one we elect seems to have the guts to stand up to him. No one. I'm willing to bet that the enormous amount of contribution money he controls has something to do with it.

As a result of Mr. Vite's formidable talent, the Illinois General Assembly voted in the 2011 fall veto session to continue state-approved age discrimination against older workers.

They voted for a very long, multi-paged bill that had item 611.1 in the middle of it all -- allowing the unfair Social Security Offset provision to continue. Under the provision, if a person on Social Security is eligible for unemployment, one-half of that person's Social Security payment is deducted from his or her unemployment payment. The provision was enacted in 1980. It was a mistake then, it's a mistake now.

More than 17,500 older workers in Illinois are affected by this provision every year. Many seniors receive absolutely no unemployment payments at all because of it. Zero. And it creates incredible hardship.

Illinois and Louisiana are the only places left in the United States that still impose this unfair and cruel provision. It has been repealed everywhere else.

Business traditionally tried to block repeal in every other state and territory, claiming that the employment tax will go up. The employment tax never went up anywhere when the Social Security Offset provision was repealed. Didn't happen.

But that didn't keep Mr. Vite from insisting it would.

The amount of money taken from seniors amounts to less than 1.5 percent of the total amount IDES -- the Illinois Department of Employment Security -- pays out. It's about $50+ million. Sounds like a lot of money -- but it's not.

It costs IDES money to administer the provision, which it does very badly, I might add. Even IDES wants the provision repealed -- even though they get to keep the money they are forced to take from seniors.

Mr. Vite insisted there is no money to be fair to older workers because Illinois is broke. But Mr. Vite and his fellow labor lobbyist kept repeal off the floor of the Assembly for years when Illinois was flush. And this time, even the labor lobbyist supported repeal.

I know Illinois is broke. But I also know $50 million or more is available somewhere. That's just the way things work in government. We're talking about discrimination here, not something arbitrary.

Repeal had strong bipartisan support. Didn't matter. When it came down to it, the legislative sponsors gave impassioned and sincere speeches but voted against repeal anyway. They couldn't bring themselves to vote against the whole package just because of one little section that hurt seniors.

Under 611.1, repeal can't even be introduced for two years. IDES is ordered to hold three public meetings in 2012 and report back to the Assembly in 2013 -- all of which IDES has to pay for out of the money it isn't supposed to have. A task force is being appointed -- all of whom have to be reimbursed for expenses and staffed, and for whom meeting rooms and materials have to be paid.

And what will the public meetings report? That the provision is discriminatory and damaging and that citizens don't have the knowledge to tell the State government where to find the money to be fair to older workers but that it should?

The cynicism in this state is breathtaking. You would think exposing the super secret inner sanctum cabal that had killed repeal for the last 11 years would have meant something. But no. No one seems to care that Mr. Vite and the labor lobbyists killed every attempt to introduce appeal.

Speaker Madigan and Governor Thompson established the agreed bill process in 1982. It isn't what you think it is. It's not a process to create a compromise bill. It's a process that allows lobbyists from business and labor to decide in secret without any legislators which bills about unemployment insurance and workers comp are released to the floor of the Assembly.

It was marvelous that Eric Zorn at the Trib wrote about this super secret ad hoc group. Rich Miller at Capitol Fax also wrote about it. Readers posted blogs. It was promising.

It resulted in four legislators being appointed to at least give the appearance that someone other than lobbyists were familiar with the offset repeal bills. I know older workers contacted them, but I have no idea if they ever actually discussed the bill in real meetings.

I thought Speaker Madigan could have gotten the bill released. After all, it's his process and his legislature. But he didn't.

There's a terrific article in today's Sun-Times by Mark Brown that may shake things up a bit. It's about a woman whose unemployment should be $235, but because of the Social Security Offset provision, it's $70 a week.

It's not too late. If enough legislators have the courage to sign up to support repeal now, 611.1 could be kicked to the curb. Repeal could in fact be introduced in 2012 after all. They should contact State Representative Karen May before she retires and/or State Senator Heather Steans.

Or maybe a lawyer will read Mr. Brown's article and decide to file a class action suit -- which will cost Illinois a whole lot more than $50 million.

After all, our employers paid the whole amount for each of us into the employment fund. They didn't pay less because we get Social Security. (If they did, every senior in Illinois would have a job.)

I have always been a good government person, a believer in the American promise. I have never been so disheartened in my life. It's getting tougher and tougher to get up and dust myself off and rejoin the fray. I'm pretty sure people like Mr. Vite count on that.

Help pass Illinois legislation with a phone call

If you live in Illinois, you can help repeal the unfair offset law with a phone call. The offset law discriminates against older workers - which, if you're not one yet, you will be. This punative law reduces the amount of money older workers get from unemployment if they receive social security. Illinois, Louisiana, Puerto Rico are the only places in the United States and its territories that never repealed this law that penalizes older workers. (Utah's offset law is in the process of being repealed, effective this summer.)

AARP in Illinois has taken on the repeal of the "offset law" as a priority for 2010 and you can help make sure it passes. If you live in Illinois, and you support repeal (and why wouldn't you?), please call the AARP hotline at 1-800-664-9903. You'll hear a short statement about why any sane human being should support repeal of this law and then you'll be asked for your ZIP Code. And THEN you'll be connected directly to the office of your state representative or state senator. You may actually talk to a real person. Please tell the person who answers (or leave a message) that you want your representative to support House Bill 5047 - or your state senator to support Senate Bill 2640 - to repeal the social security offset law in Illinois.

Ryan Guenenfelder with Illinois AARP is doing a bang-up job lining up support. You can check if your state legislators are already sponsors. Go to the Illinois General Assembly home page at http://www.ilga.gov/, click on Bills. In the House, find HB5047. In the Senate, find SB2640. You'll link to an information page for the bill, including the sponsors.

For example, my state representative is Harry Osterman. He was an early supporter and is now one of the chief co-sponsors. So when I was connected to his office through the hotline, I asked the woman who answered to please thank Representative Osterman for his support of House Bill5047 and for signing on as a chief co-sponsor.

The offices keep track of stuff like that. The more calls they get, the better the chances are for repeal.

Thanks in advance. If you get a chance, let me know if you hear back from anyone. I go to Springfield once a month as a volunteer lobbyist for AARP now (it's one of those "pay it forward" things) and I'd be glad to thank your legislators for their support.