CHICAGO  — Today the State of Illinois priced $750 million in new money General Obligation bonds for 2018 capital expenditures. Bond proceeds will be used to fund major capital construction projects and finance information technology projects.

The General Obligation bonds were priced competitively in two separate bids:

• The $655,000,000 Series of December 2017A fixed-rate bonds with a final maturity in 2042 will be used to fund major capital construction projects. The 2017A bonds received eight bids and the bonds were awarded to Bank of America Merrill Lynch with a true interest cost of 4.33 percent.

• The $95,000,000 Series of December 2017B fixed rate bonds with a final maturity in 2027 will be used to finance information technology projects. The 2017B bonds received 10 bids and the bonds were awarded to Bank of America Merrill Lynch with a true interest cost of 3.71 percent.

Today’s bond issue has an all-in borrowing cost for the combined series of 4.29 percent. The bonds are being issued as fully tax-exempt from federal taxation and are rated “BBB” by Fitch Ratings, “Baa3” by Moody’s Investors Service and “BBB-” by S&P Global.

“We are very pleased with the strong response that the State received on today’s competitive bids,” said Scott Harry, director of the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget. “These transactions will allow the State to move forward with funding to address essential capital and infrastructure needs at an attractive interest rate.”

Chapman and Cutler LLP and Hardwick Law Firm LLC are acting as co-bond counsel for the State. Chapman and Cutler LLP is the State’s disclosure counsel. The State’s financial adviser for the transaction is Sycamore Advisors LLC.

Worker Advocate: It is time for the Court to recognize that the First Amendment protects public employees from being forced to subsidize union speech

Washington, DC (November 29, 2017) – Today, attorneys for Illinois public servant Mark Janus filed the first merits brief in the Supreme Court case, Janus v. AFSCME. The brief asks the High Court to recognize that the First Amendment protects public workers from being required to make payments to union officials as a condition of working for their own government.

Plaintiff Mark Janus is an Illinois child support specialist who filed the challenge with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation and the Liberty Justice Center. Janus is currently required to pay union fees to AFSCME union officials even though he opposes many of the positions union officials advocate using his money and feels he would be better off without the union’s so-called representation.

In the 1977 Abood v. Detroit Board of Education case, a divided High Court ruled that public employees could not be required to subsidize many political and ideological union activities; however the court left in place forced fees used to subsidize union monopoly bargaining with the government. In a series of cases in the last five years, the Supreme Court has begun to question the theory underpinning Abood.

In the National Right to Work Foundation-won Knox v. SEIU (2012) and Harris v. Quinn (2014) cases, the Supreme Court made clear that mandatory union payments invoke the highest level of First Amendment protection. In Janus, Mark Janus asks the Supreme Court to apply this heightened scrutiny to all mandatory union payments required of government employees.

If the High Court rules in Janus’ favor, over 5 million public school teachers, firefighters, police officers, and other government employees who currently are forced to pay money to union officials just to keep their jobs would be free to decide individually whether or not to make voluntary union payments. Oral arguments in the case are now expected to occur in late February.

“Forced union fees remain the largest regime of compelled speech in the nation,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. “Forty years ago in Abood, the Supreme Court erroneously left forced fees in place citing the artificial distinction between union officials’ ideological activities and union bargaining with the government that inherently seeks to alter public policy.”

“Now that the Janus case is being briefed for argument at the High Court, we are hopeful that in the coming months the Supreme Court will correct this anomaly in First Amendment jurisprudence by striking down all mandatory union payments for public workers,” continued Mix. “Americans shouldn’t forfeit their First Amendment protections just to work for their own government.”

“Government workers like Mark Janus shouldn’t have to pay for union politics just to keep their jobs,” said Jacob Huebert, director of litigation at the Liberty Justice Center. “The First Amendment gives everyone the right to choose which political groups they will and won’t support with their money.”

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The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses. The Foundation, which can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-336-3600, assists thousands of employees in more than 250 cases nationwide per year. Its web address is www.nrtw.org.

Advancements in US Customs and Border Protection technology at O’Hare more effectively identify inbound international fentanyl packages

CHICAGO  — Improved detection capabilities and increased scrutiny of incoming packages will curb the influx of fentanyl and other deadly synthetic opioids entering the U.S. through the mail, Gov. Bruce Rauner said today while touring the Chicago International Mailing Facility (IMF).

The governor joined Lt. Gov. Evelyn Sanguinetti and Illinois State Police Director Leo Schmitz in applauding new practices that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) employees are implementing at the Chicago IMF to stop the lethal cargo.

“There is great urgency to curb the spread of the opioid epidemic as more Illinoisans die each year from overdoses,” Rauner said. “These enhanced screening procedures will decrease the prevalence of opioids and fentanyl entering our communities. Collaboration amongst federal, state and local government is crucial to combat the projected increases in opioid-related deaths.”

The governor issued an Executive Order Sept. 6, 2017, creating the Opioid Overdose Prevention and Intervention Task Force. He appointed Sanguinetti to co-chair the task force with Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health.

“As our task force moves rapidly to implement our Opioid Action Plan and curb the growing opioid overdose epidemic in Illinois, we are fortunate to have strong federal partners like U.S. Customs and Border Protection who are doing everything they can to keep deadly narcotics off our shores and out of our state,” Sanguinetti said. “This epidemic knows no neighborhood, no color and no class … it will take all of us working together to curb this deadly scourge.”

Nearly 2,000 Illinoisans died of opioid-related overdoses last year, and the Illinois Department of Public Health projects annual deaths will reach 2,700 by 2020 if nothing more is done to address the issue. Synthetics like fentanyl are fueling the rise in overdose deaths. Fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. A dose equivalent to three grains of salt is lethal for an average-sized person, health officials said.

Customs officials seized 82 fentanyl shipments at the Chicago International Mailing Facility (IMF) last year, the second highest number of seizures in the country after the New York IMF. Eighty-nine percent of the fentanyl packages seized at the Chicago IMF were from Hong Kong and China, the primary source of fentanyl in the United States.

Recently launched procedures at the Chicago IMF use Advanced Electronic Data (AED) to enhance screening capabilities. AED is another layer of protection that will help CBP officers effectively target and seize drug packages based on various characteristics. The data will build on other measures such as Gemini™ Analyzer technology that uses spectroscopy for quick and effective chemical identification in fentanyl-filled packages and K-9 units that are specially trained to detect opioids.

“We have a highly dedicated and committed group of CBP officers disrupting the flow of illicit narcotics into our country,” said Matthew S. Davies, Chicago Area Port Director. “We will continue collaborating with our law enforcement partners to improve the efficiency of information sharing in order to identify trafficking trends and execute operations to keep these extremely dangerous drugs off the street.”

Last month, President Trump declared the opioid epidemic a national emergency.

“The opioid crisis has negatively affected far too many citizens of this state,” Illinois State Police Director Leo Schmitz said. “It has robbed people of their futures, destroyed families, and has touched all aspects of society.

“The Illinois State Police is committed to working with our partners in law enforcement, other state agencies and community stakeholders to fight this epidemic,” he continued. “By working together as a team, we can stem the flow of opioids to our communities, educate our children on the dangers of addiction and hold those who violate the law accountable.”