Biggest issues: fewer jobs, workers comp, licensing
By Dee Longfellow
For The Independent
On Wednesday, Feb. 8, a small group of Chamber members joined Elmhurst Chamber of Commerce & Industry president & CEO John R. Quigley on a one-day trip to Springfield for the Illinois Chamber of Commerce’s Legislative Summit. The event is held annually just after the new session of the General Assembly convenes.
The first speaker was Mischa Fisher, economic development policy advisor to Governor Bruce Rauner, who painted a matter-of-fact perspective of where we’ve been and where the state is going in terms of economic development. Fisher said manufacturing jobs have fallen off, while they used to have their “economic grounding” in the Midwest. Comparing Illinois to other states and the U.S. as a whole, manufacturing jobs dropped across the board in the past few years, but have since recovered — everywhere except Illinois.
Fisher posed the question, “how do we stay robust when we are doing so poorly?”
He said the second biggest factor was pension funding; that Illinois has the second largest pension debt and the worst funding ratio, the highest taxes and the highest amount of overall debt.
Another issue is workers compensation, which needs reform in Illinois.
“Business relocators go through the Department of Commerce,” Fisher said. “Workers compensation insurance rates average $3- to $5-million.”
He talked about licensing as well.
“In terms of basic entrepreneurial businesses, the state has 2 million,” Fisher said. “But one in three requires a permission slip from the government to keep their jobs. There may be 16,000 more jobs but a rise of 300% more regulation. If you want to braid hair, be an interior decorator or a landscaper, you need [certification] and there are 470 others.”
Fisher reminded the audience about the funeral director who was caught a few years ago improperly disposing of bodies. He got his license revoked but continued to do it.
“Government oversight through licensing is a way of delivering value to customers that people can rely on,” he said.
The bright news is that the state is working on ways to expedite the licensing process after Gov. Rauner ordered an overview of all agencies who are responsible for licensing with a goal of reducing it by 25%.
Asked if the state could file bankruptcy, Fisher said no. Cities can but states cannot.
“We are required to keep up our pension liabilities, which will keep pushing us deeper and deeper in debt,” he said. “[Without reform] all other spending and services won’t happen.”
Asked for a best case scenario, Fisher said if workers compensation gets under control, and we keep things going forward, then the state can grow. Illinois still has one of the lowest rates of state income tax, but we’re losing 1000 jobs a year, he said.
“Comprehensive tax reform at the federal level needs to take place then we could see growth across the country,” Fisher said, “but it hasn’t been done since Reagan was in office.”
He did commend the local government consolidation that has taken place recently.
“We still have I believe 6500 units of government, which is twice as much as the next closest state,” Fisher said. “Some special assessment districts have been eliminated.”
