REPORT FROM THE CAPITOL
Northwestern students covered the legislative session

Lawmakers would consolidate nearly 14 percent of the state budget under one roof by combining three agencies.

In January, Gov. Jim Edgar talked boldly of making major structural changes to the House of Lincoln. Five months later, Edgar's ambitious home improvement plan has been reduced to a walk-in closet, and nobody quite knows what will be hanging inside when it's finished.

Still, the proposal that emerged at the end of the legislative session calls for consolidating nearly 14 percent of the state budget under one roof by combining three agencies that serve the mentally ill, the disabled and substance abusers. This massive new organization, to be called the Department of Human Services, will also swallow myriad related programs currently housed in three other agencies that focus on health, welfare and children.

Edgar wanted much more. He had originally proposed creating one super agency out of seven existing departments: Aging, Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, Mental Health, Public Aid, Public Health, Children and Family Services and Rehabilitation Services. But his plan was gutted in the Senate.

"This bill is still the lion's share of what the governor wanted to see," says Edgar spokesman Eric Robinson. "It puts together a more efficient system for families and individuals who receive these services. The concept is one-stop shopping."

In fact, the measure's supporters say it will streamline government by eliminating overlapping services. For example, a mother on welfare with a drug abuse problem is now forced to deal with two agencies and two caseworkers, says Dean Schott, a spokesman for the Department of Public Aid. With the new department, 'A mother on [Aid to Families with Dependent Children] who has Medicaid and food stamps also will be provided with transportation and substance abuse services at the same location," he says.

Edgar also argues consolidation will enable agencies to concentrate on their primary responsibilities while the human services department takes over ancillary programs. Children and Family Services, one of Illinois' most beleaguered agencies, is a case in point. The department has struggled for years to keep up with a rising caseload. Under the reorganization, the agency would give up its youth and community services programs and concentrate solely on abuse and neglect cases.

"It's a good idea but it has to be more than just moving boxes," warns Michael Burke, spokesman for Voices for Illinois Children, a nonprofit advocacy group.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle agree the legislation creating the super agency only provides a structure — not a solution — to the ills that plague the state's social service agencies.

"The bill doesn't change the programs," says state Sen. Steve Rauschenberger, an Elgin Republican and one of the bill's sponsors. "It's like a house that we need to put furniture in. We need a visionary leader to implement the changes."

Indeed, that leader will control a budget of more than $4.5 billion and

The blueprint for reorganization Under a plan approved by the legislature, the governor will appoint and the Senate will confirm a secretary of a Department of Human Services. The new agency will incorporate the following departments by July 1, 1997: • Alcoholism and Substance Abuse; • Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities; • Rehabilitation Services. It also will incorporate parts of the following programs: • The Department of Public Aid: everything except Medicaid and Child Support Enforcement, including all cash assistance programs such as Aid to Families with Dependent Children, the Food Stamp Program and all day care and social services programs. • The Department of Public Health: the Women, Infants and Children program, Infant Mortality Reduction, Chronic Renal Disease program, Early Childhood Intervention, Diabetes Prevention, Hemophilia program. Rape Crisis Prevention and Sexual Assault Survivors Emergency Treatment. • The Department of Children and Family Services: all programs except abuse and neglect, including day care funding, homeless youth services, social services to pregnant and unmarried youth. Medill reporting team

36 Q June 1996 Illinois Issues

about 20,000 employees. The names of several candidates have been floated.

Democratic leaders say the only person who has the depth to take on this mammoth task is Children and Family Services Director Jess McDonald. But McDonald, who also has headed the mental health department, has been at odds with Republican lawmakers, particularly Senate President James "Pate" Philip, over court intervention forcing his agency to reduce its backlog of cases. Philip does not regard McDonald as a top contender, says Philip's spokeswoman Patty Schuh.

"While the governor has the power to appoint the secretary, the Senate has ultimate confirmation power," Schuh says. "Jess McDonald will stay at DCFS."

And that is where McDonald apparently wants to stay. "He doesn't want the job," says Children and Family Services spokeswoman Martha Allen. "Jess is committed to one job, and that's the director of DCFS."

Another possible candidate is Edgar's budget director, Joan Walters. She "has been reorganizing programs in the state for years," says Kurt DeWeese, a human service analyst for the House Democrats. "She is clearly a player for this position."

The list includes Howard Peters, Edgar's chief of staff and former director of the Department of Corrections, and Edgar's policy director, Stephen Schnorf, who says he was not even aware he was in the running.

For the second year, Illinois Issues teamed up with the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in Evanston to enable students to cover the legislative session. They reported to instructor James Ylisela Jr., a contributing editor of the magazine. The Illinois Issues team included Editor Peggy Boyer Long and political columnist Charles Wheeler III, director of the Public Affairs Reporting Program at the University of Illinois at Springfield.

Meanwhile, the Democrats urged Republicans to delay reorganization. They called for public hearings through the summer. "The plan is just a skeleton," says Chicago Democrat Tom Dart.

"When you have drafted it without inviting community folks, you have a problem of immense magnitude."

Republicans dispute that claim. The governor's staff points to focus panels held during the past year that included agency staff, providers and advocacy groups.

David Stover, executive director of the Illinois Association of Rehabilitation Facilities, participated in several of those discussions, which, he says, were intended to allow participants to voice their concerns and suggestions.

"There has been a great deal of community involvement so far," Stover says. "The new agency has a strong potential for improving our services to people. How many budget officers do we need? How many computer systems do we need that don't talk to each other? It's time we serve the taxpayers of Illinois and the people who receive services."

But Polly Poskin, executive director of the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault, is less confident.

Rape and crisis prevention programs are among the public health initiatives to be taken over by the new super agency, and Poskin, who also participated in Edgar's focus groups, says she walked away with concerns.

"We deal with rape, which is a very private and sensitive issue," she says.

Because the super agency will be linked through a central computer network, Poskin fears victims' files may be more accessible.

"We're afraid rape victims won't come forward and seek help if they feel their privacy is at risk," she says. "We don't want to be regarded as one little component in one-stop shopping."

Reorganizing state government is not new in Illinois. In 1917, the state reduced the number of service agencies from 100 to nine in an effort to slow the rapid growth of services.

The newly created Department of Public Welfare controlled everything from child welfare cases to public health. But special interest groups attacked the agency for ignoring critical social issues. It wasn't until the early 1950s that the welfare department began to branch out again.

"We're just taking another step backward," says Steve Brown, a spokesman for House Minority Leader Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat. "Having a multi-agency approach is a fearful way to hide the shortcomings of the current system," he says.

A 15-member task force, to be appointed by Edgar, will be charged with addressing those shortcomings and finding the best way to create the new system. But even that group is embroiled in controversy: Republicans say it is solely a legislative advisory body; Democrats want the task force to include citizens affected by the reorganization.

Daryl Soures, a client of the Department of Rehabilitation Services for the last five years, is one such citizen. While nobody has asked him for his opinion, he says he doesn't think the changes are necessary.

"I am really happy with the services I get right now," says Soures, who works at the agency-run snack shop in the Capitol. "The changes could be good or they could be really bad. We don't know because there's not much talk among the clients."

Rick Hepp, Nancy Lee, Amy Norris, Mary Pender and Alexandra Silets contributed to this report.

Illinois Issues June 1996 ¦ 37