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Message from President & CEO Maisch: Please Welcome Danielle Blake, Illinois Chamber's Vice President of Membership Services
We are pleased to welcome Danielle Blake as the Chamber's Vice President of Membership Services!
Danielle previously worked at the Naperville Chamber as their Business Development Manager. During her time with Naperville, Danielle won first place in total new sales at the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives this past summer bringing in 229 new members. She also took second place in Membership Dues sold at $189,083 this year. Danielle was the only salesperson in the nation to win two ACCE awards.
Adding to her total of 8 years in the Chamber world, Danielle began her Chamber experience at the Joliet Region Chamber of Commerce & Industry. All told, she has helped over 1,000 businesses invest in local chambers resulting in over half a million dollars in Membership dues.
Before working at a Chamber of Commerce, Danielle worked in Career Services in higher education for over 10 years as a Director of Career Services, Associate Director of Career Services, and Employment & Internship Coordinator.
Danielle and her husband Mark reside in Plainfield, IL with their 3-year-old daughter, Megan, who just started preschool. Danielle holds a Master's Degree in Education with a focus in College Student Personnel from Illinois State University and a Bachelor of Arts in Media Arts from the University of St. Francis with a focus in Graphic Design.
We are pleased to have Danielle with us and look forward to what she will bring to the Illinois Chamber of Commerce.
You can contact Danielle at: dblake@ilchamber.org or 815.351.3262.
Chamber Op-ed: A bill proposed in Congress puts advancements in freight railroad network at risk
Infrastructure Council Executive Director Andrew Cunningham had the opportunity to write on the Freight Rail Shipping Fair Market Act currently under consideration in Congress. Provided below is part of that editorial published in the SJR.
Illinois received some welcome news last month in the form of $83.5 million from a federal grant program for infrastructure and transportation projects. In Springfield, a major project funded by the RAISE (Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity) grant will support construction of a new railroad grade separation. Rep. Rodney Davis called the announcement a “major step” toward completion of the Springfield Rail Project.
Big ideas like this are crucial to keeping economic development in our state moving forward. Not to mention the impact of consistent infrastructure investment on supply chains and keeping costs lower for businesses and consumers dealing with record inflation.
It’s unfortunate, then, that these infrastructure advances are being met with a potentially big step backward due to Congress. On the fast-track for a vote in September in the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is a bill, the Freight Rail Shipping Fair Market Act, that would essentially re-regulate the nation’s freight railroads, giving the government vast oversight of day-to-day rail operations.
This is problematic because it prevents railroads from operating like businesses and making decisions about their own assets and routes — yet they still need to compete with other modes that don’t face the same constraints. Railroads that can’t compete in a free market won’t earn enough revenue to keep investing massively into infrastructure. And poor rail infrastructure will hurt the Illinois economy and lead to more highway freight.
Read the rest here.
CGFA: FY21 Pension Systems Financial Condition
Today, the Commission on Government Forecasting & Accountability released its FY21 Financial Condition of the State Retirement Systems.
There is a lot of valuable information in this report but we will highlight these paragraph provided in the executive summary.
From FY 2007 through FY 2021, the combined unfunded liabilities of the systems increased by $87.5 billion based upon the market value of assets. The main factors for this increase in unfunded liabilities were actuarially insufficient employer contributions, changes in actuarial assumptions and demographics and other miscellaneous actuarial factors, along with lower-than-assumed investment returns.
If the State continues funding according to Public Act 88-0593, the projected accrued liabilities of the State retirement systems will increase from $249.0 billion at the end of FY 2022 to $322.0 billion at the end of FY 2045. At the same time, the projected actuarial value of assets is projected to increase from $111.3 billion to $289.8 billion. Consequently, the projected unfunded liabilities are projected to decrease from $137.7 billion at the end of FY 2022 to $32.2 billion at the end of FY 2045, and the projected funded ratio is expected to increase from 44.7% in FY 2022 to 90.0% by the end of FY 2045. All of the projected figures in this paragraph come from the various systems’ actuaries and are predicated upon the State making the necessary contributions as required by law. Please refer to Appendices A-F for more detailed projections.
Read the full report here.
Commercial Driver’s License Rulemaking
Proposed rulemaking by the Secretary of State would remove the requirement that Illinois Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) applicants who hold valid out of State CDLs retake their CDL written and pre-trip/skills/road exams.
This requirement had been temporarily halted during the pandemic but would be permanently removed under this rulemaking. Illinois is the only state that requires retesting of out-of-state CDL holders. The Illinois Chamber has long been supportive of this proposed change.
Read more about the proposed rulemaking here. Relevant reading begins on page 15522.
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