FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                              April 9, 2009

SPRINGFIELD – State lawmakers did not convene in Springfield this week, going back to their districts for a two-week hiatus before their scheduled return to the capital city on April 21. State Senator Dan Duffy (R-Lake Barrington) said that despite their absence, several bills were signed into law on April 7, including measures that would mandate insurance coverage of habilitative services and the extension of a program created to reduce juvenile crime.

Habilitative services for children with congenital, genetic or early acquired disorders—including autism and cerebral palsy—will soon be covered by insurance providers. The new law, Public Act 95-1049, will require insurance companies to pay for occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy and other services for children younger than 19 years of age.

Senator Duffy explained that these treatments often give children with developmental disorders the tools they need to grow and develop; however, in many cases the costly treatments are not covered by insurance companies, or the insurance policy doesn’t provide coverage for the length of time needed for the child to truly benefit from the therapy.

Also signed into law was an initiative to expand the state’s successful Redeploy Illinois program. Originally introduced as a pilot program, Redeploy Illinois provides financial incentives to counties that create programs to provide juvenile offenders with counseling, substance abuse treatment, and other rehabilitative services as a way to keep them out of the juvenile justice system.

Public Act 95-1050 will make the Redeploy Illinois program permanent, allowing other counties to participate in the program, which has been hailed as a model for other states for keeping children out of jail. Supporters say that it also reduces the state’s cost of housing juvenile offenders, noting that the cost to run Redeploy Illinois programs costs approximately $10,000, compared to the $70,000 annually it costs to house an inmate in a juvenile justice facility.

In other state news, Illinois’ credit rating took a blow this week, with Moody’s Investor Service downgrading Illinois’ credit rating and Fitch Ratings putting the state on “negative watch.” Fitch Ratings had downgraded Illinois in December from AA to AA-, so the agency’s recent action warns of another potential downgrade.Senator Duffy says the latest downgradings make a trifecta—Standard & Poor’s also downgraded the state in March.

Both agencies expressed criticism that Illinois didn’t take the opportunity in the last five years of a growing economy to build reserves or restructure the state’s finances, noting that there is now little flexibility to address the economic downturn.  Though Fitch Ratings said that its “negative watch” could be removed if there is a reasonable budget fix, Moody’s downgrade of Illinois makes the state one of the three worst-rated by the agency.

Moody’s expressed reservations over Gov. Pat Quinn’s tax hike proposal and the state’s $2.3 billion in short-term borrowing that crosses fiscal years. Moody’s also stressed that even if Quinn’s proposals are enacted, there will still be a “sizeable structural gap” due to the use of one-time federal stimulus money and a reduction in pension contributions. All three agencies expressed concerns over Illinois’ very high unfunded pension liabilities—which continue to grow.

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