Club fees would help restore cuts to rape crisis centers

SPRINGFIELD - May 16, 2012. With bipartisan support and agreement from victim advocates and the adult entertainment industry, strip clubs that permit alcohol would have two options to help restore funding to rape crisis centers under a bill passed 8-0 by the Senate Public Health Committee, Lt. Governor Sheila Simon said today.

Strip club owners would choose to pay the state a $3 per patron surcharge on an annual basis or opt to pay a flat fee based on the taxable receipts they report to the Illinois Department of Revenue each year, under House Bill 1645 Amendment 3. Clubs that report taxable receipts of $2 million or more would pay $25,000 a year; clubs that report total receipts of $500,000 to $2 million would pay $15,000; and clubs that report total receipts of less than $500,000 would pay $5,000, according to the legislation.

The $3 surcharge and fee structure in House Bill 1645 Amendment 3 replaced the $5 per patron entrance fee proposed in an earlier bill. The new language was agreed to by rape crisis advocates, club owners and sponsor Sen. Toi Hutchinson (D-Chicago Heights). House Bill 1645 Amendment 3 now moves to the Senate for a vote.

"I am pleased all the interested parties came to the table with Sen. Hutchinson and my office and agreed on a common sense way to restore funding to rape crisis centers that have struggled to provide critical services to sexual assault survivors, school children and law enforcement agencies on ever-shrinking budgets," Simon said.

"Substantial evidence links the consumption of alcohol at strip clubs to negative secondary effects, including sexual harassment, sexual assault and prostitution. This legislation will address the social ills and protect free expression. Clubs that do not want to pay the surcharge or fee can choose to stop permitting alcohol," Simon added.

The newly generated revenue will go into the new Sexual Assault Services and Prevention Fund and be distributed by the Department of Human Services for community-based assistance to victims of sexual assault and sexual assault prevention.  There are at least 32 rape crisis centers - 10 in the Chicago-metro region and 22 in the non-metro area. State funding for the centers has decreased about 28 percent in the past five years.

Last year, the Texas Supreme Court upheld legislation that funded crisis centers through a $5 entrance fee at strip clubs that permit alcohol based on the correlation between alcohol, live nude dancing and negative secondary effects, such as sexual assault. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge of that decision, effectively opening the door for other cities and states to purse similar measures. California is among the states seeking legislation; it is considering a $10-per-patron fee.

Simon, a longtime domestic violence and women's advocate, first voiced her support for Hutchinson's legislation in February and testified in support of the amended legislation today. She visited rape crisis centers across the state this spring to call for a budget-neutral way to restore state funding.

CYPRESS - May 11, 2012. A champion for safe, clean and accessible rivers, Lt. Governor Sheila Simon gave the keynote address today at a dedication ceremony for the Section 8 Boardwalk at the Cache River State Natural Area. The boardwalk was closed following damage from a 2008 flood.

A group of junior high school students, known as the Wetland Warriors, at Creal Springs School used $15,000 of the $20,000 they received last year from the Disney Planet Challenge, a nationwide science competition, to help rebuild the boardwalk. Additional funding for the project came from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), Friends of the Cache River Wetlands and the Southern Illinois Audubon Society.

"I applaud the Creal Springs School students' commitment to protection and restoration of the Cache River Wetlands and to the many others who assisted in this collaborative project," said Simon. "This boardwalk makes it possible for Illinois citizens young and old to enjoy some of our state's wonderful natural resources."

Simon issued a proclamation last year that declared July 12 to be Creal Springs School Day. Simon presented the proclamation to the Wetland Warriors at a meeting of the Mississippi River Coordinating Council, which she chairs. The council was established in 2010 and promotes the environmental and economic health of the Mississippi River and its tributaries.

The boardwalk is located in the Section 8 Woods Nature Preserve which is a floodplain forest that features large bald cypress and provides a safe haven for a variety of birds, frogs and swamp fish. The boardwalk, located at the junction of IL Rt. 37 and the Cache River, extends from a parking area into the forested swamp.

The Creal Springs students won the Disney Planet Challenge for their projects in the Cache River Basin including transplanting vegetation, performing trail maintenance, determining water quality through sample collection, assembling educational materials for teachers and creating a website about their research.

Since winning the science competition the students have received the 2011 Illinois Audubon Society's Youth Conservationist Award and their teacher, Fran Wachter, was awarded a 2011 Exxon Mobil Outstanding Illinois Teachers of Science award by the Illinois Science Teachers Association. The students are using the remaining money from the Disney Planet Challenge to build a wildlife viewing blind and purchase radio transmitters for species research.

Simon was joined at the dedication by IDNR Director Marc Miller, Friends of the Cache River Watershed board member Charlie Proctor, and members of the Wetland Warriors. The ceremony was hosted by Friends of the Cache River Watershed.

SPRINGFIELD - Lt. Governor Sheila Simon will testify Wednesday morning in support of SB 3244 before the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee. The bill creates optional state math curricula that extends from middle school through the final year of high school, and aims to boost college and career readiness. In 2011, 58 percent of Illinois high school graduates did not meet the math college readiness benchmark, according to ACT.

TIME: 9 a.m.

DATE: Wednesday, April 25

PLACE: Room 114, State Capitol, Springfield

Report cards, math reforms to boost college completion rates

SPRINGFIELD - March 23, 2012. Lt. Governor Sheila Simon, State Sen. Kimberly Lightford, State Sen. Michael Frerichs and Women Employed are backing education reform bills that are designed to increase college completion rates and better prepare students for the workforce.

The Complete College reform package aims to improve college and career readiness, smooth transfers from community colleges to universities and make it easier for parents and students to compare higher education institutions.

The bills are being introduced following Simon's fact-finding tour of the state's 48 community colleges, and they reflect state and national efforts to boost graduation rates, build stronger relationships between schools and employers and move to a more transparent and accountable higher education system.

The Senate Higher Education Committee is expected to call the Sen. Lightford-sponsored legislation on college report cards and a college transfer audit for a vote on Monday. A third bill creating state-recommended math curriculum that aims to cut down remediation needs at college, sponsored by Sen. Frerichs, also will be called next week.

"Our reform package puts Illinois on track to have the best educated workforce in the nation," said Simon, the Governor's point person on education reform. "We want students to make informed choices. We want to send them to their chosen destinations ready to learn. And we want to make sure they transfer seamlessly between colleges, universities and the workforce. We're approaching college completion from all angles, with the ultimate goal of graduating more students who are job ready."

Sen. Lightford (D-Maywood) agreed to sponsor part of the Complete College Illinois reform package after successfully negotiating sweeping education reform bills last year, and Sen. Frerichs' (D-Champaign) district is home to the state's top university. The Complete College Illinois reform package will require collaboration among the K-12, community college, university and for-profit higher education systems.

"We want to continue our work to make higher education as accessible to Illinois' working families as possible. That's what this common sense legislative package is about," Lightford said. "We're seeking to make information more accessible and streamline the credit transfer process so that working families in Illinois have the information they need to choose the right school, and community college students can more easily make the transition to four-year institutions."

"Employers in my district, and across the state, have called on the legislature to enact policies that would strengthen the standards that provide us with a top-notch educated work force," Frerichs said. "The college reform package will raise those standards and reinforce our position as global leader in technology and agriculture."

Women Employed, a nonprofit advocacy organization working to improve women's economic status, backs Complete College reform package. It will help more women achieve the credentials they need to advance in their careers.

"Education is a very important factor in women being able to get good jobs and support families. And women who are trying to get ahead are wasting time and money on courses that they cannot transfer or programs that are not a good fit for them," said Meegan Dugan Bassett, senior policy associate at Women Employed. "These bills will help make higher education in Illinois work better for the low- and middle-income families who need it most."

The Complete College Illinois reform package contains three bills:

SB 3803 requires the higher education community to create a consumer report card that could contain information such as tuition and completion rates. The consumer report cards would be standard across all Illinois colleges and universities that accept students receiving state or federal financial aid. The P-20 Council will coordinate the project over two years, with input from education stakeholders across the state including the Illinois Community College Board and Board of Higher Education. SB 3803 will help students to make informed choices about where to attend college.

SB 3804 authorizes a comprehensive audit of transfers between community colleges and universities that accept students who receive state financial aid. The transcript audit will look for areas where transfer students are being denied credit for completed coursework and recommend ways to strengthen the state's transfer system, known as the Illinois Articulation Initiative. SB 3804 will help students complete college on time and make better use of taxpayer dollars.

SB 3244 directs the Illinois State Board of Education to design math curriculum for high schools by March 2013. This would be the first-ever recommended statewide curriculum model for any subject. It would define the scope and sequence of study for math and math equivalent courses throughout a student's high school years and could lead to early college enrollment. SB 3244 aims to better prepare students for post-secondary work and reduce expensive and time-consuming remedial math needs at colleges and universities.

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Lt. Governor Simon, Experts to Gather on Capitol Hill to Release Latest College Attainment Report

and Discuss the Urgent Need to Redesign America's Higher Education System

WHAT: Illinois Lt. Governor Sheila Simon and the Lumina Foundation, the largest private foundation focused on enrolling and graduating more Americans from college, will release a new, third edition of the foundation's signature report, A Stronger Nation through Higher Education. Detailed breakdowns of college attainment data will be made available at the national, state and county level. The report will also include attainment information for the nation's 100 largest metro areas.

Experts will discuss: how America is doing as college completion rates continue to climb globally; what can be done to address tuition increases that have made the cost of a degree prohibitive for too many; what CEOs are saying about the availability of skilled workers as the economy improves, and much more.

Lumina Foundation selected Simon to represent Illinois in its Postsecondary Productivity Strategy Lab sites. The Strategy Labs provide policymakers in 22 states technical assistance on Lumina Foundation's "Four Steps to Finishing First" reform agenda. The steps include performance funding, student incentives, new learning models and business efficiencies.

WHEN: Monday, March 26^th

2:30 p.m. - 3:15 p.m. CT

*A reception will immediately follow in the same room.

WHERE:               Rayburn House Office Building

Committee on Education and the Workforce Hearing Room #2261

Washington, DC

Members of the media who cannot join this news conference in person can participate via teleconference by dialing: (800) 230-1085.

WHO: Speakers to include :

·         Lumina Foundation President and CEO Jamie Merisotis

·         Illinois Lieutenant Governor Sheila Simon

·         Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce Director Tony Carnevale

·         American Chamber of Commerce Executives President Mick Fleming 

RSVP: Any member of the media can join the teleconference by dialing the number above.

QUESTIONS: You can reach Lucia Anderson at landerson@luminafoundation.org or 317.951.5316 if you have any questions.

*The Stronger Nation report will be embargoed until 3:30 p.m. Monday, March 26.*