Among the deadlock, Koehler still finds savings for the vulnerable

SPRINGFIELD – Seniors and disabled property owners in supportive living facilities will soon be able to keep their property tax savings thanks to successful legislation from Senator Dave Koehler (D – Peoria).

The measure updates current law to allow a taxpayer moving into a supportive living facility to keep their homestead exemption. Currently, homestead exemptions apply to specific nursing facilities, not including supportive living facilities.

“Seniors and disabled property owners should not have to pay more in property taxes because their health or family situations have forced them into a nursing facility,” said Sen. Koehler. “And we cannot allow some facility residents to keep their benefits, while residents in other similar facilities cannot.”

Supportive living facilities are a newer type of nursing home care option officially defined in 2006 as an alternative, more independent-living option for low-income seniors and disabled persons under Medicaid.

“Even in these trying times, we can still find substantive solutions to protect the well-being of our state’s most vulnerable,” Koehler said.

The legislation, Senate Bill 2934, passed the Senate and now heads to the House for further action.

Koehler meets with OSF HealthCare at Capitol

Senator Koehler met with representatives from OSF Healthcare at the Capitol during The Illinois Health and Hospital Association's Quality Improvement Showcase. OSF Healthcare is a not-for-profit Catholic health care corporation headquartered in Peoria that operates a medical group, hospital system and other health care facilities.

Koehler on education funding proposal: When some lose, we all lose

SPRINGFIELD – This week, Governor Rauner released an education funding proposal that, according to critics, does not go far enough in helping Illinois students across the state. Even though the governor’s plan fully funds education at the current foundation level, it still leaves 35 percent of districts as financial “losers” for the upcoming fiscal year. In response, state Senator Dave Koehler (D – Peoria) released the following statement.

“The governor’s education funding proposal fully funds the current foundational level, and it also fully embraces an unfair education system that abandons the very students that need the most financial help.

“Wealthier, growing schools stand to gain money from the governor’s proposal, while poorer, shrinking schools throughout the Peoria area would see stark decreases in funding in the hundreds of thousands of dollars when they can ill afford it.

“Providing a little more funding for some schools, while completely disregarding the disparity in property tax revenue for the poorest districts, is a travesty and must be reformed immediately. This is why Sen. Manar’s need-based education reform plan that would dole out more state money to the districts with lower-income families is so crucial. The well-being of every student, every school and every district must be taken into account, or as a state, we all suffer.”

Sen. Manar has been working on education reform and has yet to receive any numbers on the effect of his reform after repeated inquires to the Illinois State Board of Education.

A win for young builders and school management in Pekin

SPRINGFIELD – Each year, students at Pekin Community High School participate in a building trade program, where students learn construction skills and build a home, after which, the school district sells the new home and uses the revenue to fund the program the next year.

Legislation sponsored by State Senator Dave Koehler (D – Peoria) that just passed in the Senate will make the selling process much easier for the district by allowing it to use a real estate agent without first going through an auction or bid process.

“This program is a great example of self-sustainability and goes a long way in showing students the value of hard work in an important trade,” Sen. Koehler said. “By making it easier for the district to sell the homes its students build, we show support for a valuable program that engages and builds up the community in a financially independent way.”

Under current law, building trade houses must be sold the same way as other state-owned real estate is sold – a sometimes convoluted process that leaves Pekin Community High School District 303 jumping through time-consuming hoops.

The district’s ability to engage a real estate agent is contingent upon the property being publicly listed for at least two weeks.

The legislation, Senate Bill 2823, now goes to the House of Representatives.