Executive Report By SHELLEY DAVIS

Waste recycling exchange begun
The newly created Material Exchange Service will release its first listing for the market exchange of unwanted by-products, surpluses and industrial and hazardous wastes on April 1, according to Sidney Marder of the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce (ISCC).

The first monthly directory will contain 50 listings that Illinois industries can use to obtain reusable materials they may need from other industries. The service will serve as the go-between to the potential buyer and seller of the materials. Marder said the amount of interest expressed about the first listing is a "fairly encouraging" sign for the service, which went into effect in February.

Organized by the governor's office, Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and ISCC, the service is an alternative to waste disposal in the state. An 11-member industrial advisory council was also formed to serve as a "step-by-step guide" to the new service, Marder said, providing industrial information about "needs in the real world."

Cost Control Task Force saves $410 million
Because of recommendations made by the privately financed Governor's Cost Control Task Force in 1978, the state has realized more than $410 million annual difference in the bottom-line cost of government in the last two years.

Although the financial benefits do not represent "new money" that can be used for other projects, they do include increases in the amount of federal reimbursement funds the state receives; savings in the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund financed by state employers; savings to the federal government produced by savings at the state level; and millions in one-time cost benefits to the state.

The task force was formed by Gov. James R. Thompson in 1977 to examine the management activities of 52 major agencies and most of the 250 lesser entities in the state. Over $420,000 was provided by some 170 private sector organizations for the four-month project that employed the services of 70 management specialists.

The task force made 678 recommendations to the agencies, indicating that if over half of them were followed the state would see approximately $493 million in cost benefits.

To date, the state has seen net annualized financial benefits resulting from these recommendations of over $410 million in the two years since implementation. The biggest savings and income gains in fiscal 1980 were in the Department of Labor, which tightened up the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund program; the Department of Public Aid, which pursued previously unclaimed federal reimbursements; and the Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, again by pursuing federal reimbursements.

Although most of the recommendations involved intra-agency changes, about 40 of the task force's suggestions required action by the legislature. About half of those, mostly involving increases in licensing fees, were enacted last year with the remainder to be looked at again this session.

Thompson indicated that he feels a similar task force should be formed every four or five years to look at the same problems in state agencies, saying the next could be formed in a year or so. However, a spokesman for the governor said that will be unlikely to happen until Washington decides on all its budget cuts, eliminating any uncertainty about funding at the federal level.

AFSCME contract ratified
Members of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees voted March 13 to ratify a two-year contract that will give 40,000 employees under Gov. Thompson's control an 8 percent pay increase July 1 and a second 8 percent July 1, 1982. Favored by slightly more than 90 percent of the members voting, the contract also means that other state employees, who are not union members, will be guaranteed at least the same pay hike. The contract also includes a five-cent-per-hour shift differential for the second and third shifts and an additional increase on top of the 8 percent for some workers to correct current pay inequities.

The increase, which was included in the fiscal 82 budget request, is expected to cost the state $49.8 million in the first year and $52.6 million in the second. About 70 percent of that cost will come from the state's General Revenue Fund and the rest from other state or federal sources.

Blue Cross/Blue Shield rate hike denied
A request for a 46.56 percent increase in some rates of the Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC) of Blue Cross/Blue Shield was denied by Illinois Department of Insurance Director Philip O'Connor in February. O'Connor cited insufficient information as the reason for denying the rate hike. The increase would have affected about 13 percent of HCSC subscribers. Vice president of HCSC Theodore Desch said the increase was necessary because smaller increase requests over the past four years have been denied.

HCSC requested a public hearing which was scheduled for March 23 in Chicago. Dr. Kenneth A. Tannenbaum, president of Health Systems Group of Ann Arbor, Mich., was appointed special hearing officer. He has served in that capacity in three previous Blue Cross/Blue Shield rate cases.

Campaign disclosure reports
Of approximately 200 political committees that missed the February 2 deadline for filing post-election campaign disclosure reports, 15 had not filed as of mid-March. Thirty-four committees were publicly cited by the State Board of Elections at its February 18 meeting for failure to file.

According to the Illinois Campaign Financing Act, reports must be filed no later than 90 days after an election. The 15 delinquent committees must appear at hearings to explain why they have not filed the report. If they still do not comply, court orders, which carry the power to find the committees in contempt of court, can be issued and penalties of up to six months in jail and fines up to $500 can be imposed.

Congressmen Stevenson and Anderson donate records
Former U.S. Sen. Adlai E. Stevenson III has donated records of his 10 years as a senator to the Illinois State Historical Library, adding to the collection of the four-generation Stevenson political dynasty in Illinois. The library previously acquired records covering Stevenson's service as a state legislator and state treasurer.

Unsuccessful presidential candidate John B. Anderson of Rockford also donated the records of his 20-year congressional service to the library. The materials, which will join the records of other Illinois congressmen, will include records from Anderson's private and pre-congressional public career as well as those from his presidential campaign.

Wildlife and forestry grants
The Illinois Department of Conservation received two grants from the federal government in February: $16,000 in matching federal grants for endangered and threatened species from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and $131,000 in matching funds to be given to fire protection agencies under the federal Cooperative Forestry Assistance Program.□

May 1981/Illinois Issues/33