Restoring Champaign County: An Argument for Home Rule Status.
By Emily Rodriguez and Stephanie Seawell Fortado
If you’re anything like us, you’re reading this while wearing sweatpants. You’re exhausted and anxious, seated within arms reach of a bottle of hand sanitizer. We are two voices among the new progressive majority on the Champaign County Board, and we’re ready to talk about about recovery.
We represent Champaign County Board District 8. Stephanie Fortado was elected in 2018 and serves on the Finance and Labor Committees. Emily Rodriguez is the presumptive County Board member-elect. We pray with our fingers crossed for a vaccine in the next year, but we know there will be no return to “normal.” Some neighbors are living a personal hell that probably won’t let up any time soon. Many are without housing, struggling to find the next meal, and looking for a stable job that doesn’t put their lives in danger.
We also know our neighbors are tired of nibbling around the edges of social problems. The stunning landslide victories for progressive candidates in Champaign County prove we have a strong mandate to govern. The pandemic only underlines the fierce urgency of that agenda. If you’re like us, you’ve lived through two economic recessions. We know it’s not just about money. Downturns come with serious emotional and physical-health consequences for everyone. We lived the harms of the “trickle down economy,” and we know that “a rising tide” does not lift all boats equally. If we’re not careful, history shows that our recovery can worsen growing and grevious imbalances of opportunity.
Now, more than ever, we need our local governments to shield our neighbors from the worst of the pandemic fallout.
Thousands of Illinoisans will be unemployed. While it will be months before states release revenue data from the early days and weeks of the coronavirus epidemic, there are already signs of a substantial economic downturn. We may also see a dip in sales tax revenue that could rock the county budget. It seems certain that we can’t rely on aid from Congress or the President. “Use the bankruptcy route” was Mitch McConnell’s advice to state and local governments.
We need to be able to do more good for more people, and in a much shorter time frame. We believe the Champaign County Board partner with state and city efforts to tackle bigger tasks with efficiency and efficacy. Unfortunately, the authorities outlined for county governments in the State Constitution restrict us from using our budget to do that. A simple ballot referendum would make recovery a fair fight.
“Shall Champaign County become a Home Rule Unit?”
In Illinois, a home rule unit can exercise any power and perform any function unless it is specifically prohibited from doing so by state law. We can restructure our budget to reflect our values. We can get affordable housing, increase treatment for substance use disorder, shrink the jail population, and build a meaningful partnership between the County and local trade unions — and much more. Here, we’ll outline what home rule could mean for Champaign County’s recovery, and what it would take to get home rule on the ballot in the upcoming General Election.
What is Home Rule?
Home rule units have a more flexible system of power that can be used to address complex social, economic, and environmental problems at the local level. Like most legal concepts in the United States, we imported the concept of home rule from England. It was a part of a larger labor movement in the 1870s to secure internal autonomy for Ireland within the British Empire. In fact, Illinois home rule powers are among the broadest and strongest in the nation. Here’s what the home rule provision in our State Constitution says:
“[a] home rule unit may exercise any power and perform any function pertaining to its government and affairs including, but not limited to, the power to regulate for the protection of the public health, safety, morals and welfare; to license; to tax; and to incur debt., (Ill. Const. of 1970, art. VII § 6[a]).
Except for county governments, home rule is the default-mode of authority for most forms of local government in Illinois with a population greater than 25,000. Therefore, Champaign and Urbana became home rule units automatically when the State Constitution was rewritten in 1970. County governments, on the other hand, must adopt home rule by public referendum. It requires a petition with 500 votes to get home rule on the ballot and a simple majority to pass.
How Does Home Rule Work?
Home rule lifts most state restrictions that limit how a locality can use their budget. Tax dollars are like manure, Dolly Levi would say; “it isn’t worth a thing unless it’s spread around, encouraging young things to grow.” With home rule, we have more freedom in how we spread those dollars and where we can grow things. With a progressive and dedicated majority on the County Board, we can make structural changes that empower working class people in our community. That’s why Bernie Sanders made a serious push for home rule when he served as mayor of Burlington Vermont in the 1970's.
Home rule also strengthens the authority of local government. It means we can restructure our budget to meet community needs. Home rule units in Illinois have used home rule powers to diversify their revenue streams and strengthen regulatory authority. These interventions promoted economic development, reduced debt costs, and facilitated the purchase, sale, and lease of real estate (2016, Illinois Municipal Policy Journal).
We would decide how Champaign County recovers. Non-home rule units rely on property and sales taxes to raise revenue, but these are blunt tools that often hurt as much as they help. Home rule units, on the other hand, can tax more creatively and compassionately. We would open up alternative routes to raise county revenue that won’t squeeze neighbors who are hurting or knee-cap small businesses. In the long run, we could break cycles of generational poverty, which would stabilize and expand our tax base. When residents aren’t fighting to get the basics, they are more able to do things that generate revenue for the County, like eating out or buying a house.
Champaign County could truly self-govern. We wouldn’t have to wait for Congress or the Illinois General Assembly to pass the progressive policies we need. Our laws could reflect our values and forge a more equitable future for everyone. New York City, for example, used a mansion tax to provide free preschool for all New Yorkers. Currently, Illinois’ property tax cap laws prevent non-home rule units from exercising higher property tax rates on higher-value properties. Here are a sampling of policies that have been implemented in the United States through home rule powers:
- We can end cash bail and increase pretrial services.
- We can declare racism to be a public health crisis in Champaign County.
- We can partner with municipal governments to take on larger building projects, such as affordable housing units, which would increase prevailing wage jobs and empower trade unions.
- We can offer municipal broadband as an alternative to private telecommunications providers.
- We can protect the environment by reducing pollution and raising penalties.
- We can mandate employers provide paid leave and a living wage.
- We can become a sanctuary county, pass anti-discrimination ordinances that protect trans folk, and even pass a community bill of rights.
Finally, a stronger county government could be meaningful partner to the cities of Champaign and Urbana. For too long, the Champaign County Board has down-streamed complex social and economic problems into the city council chambers. With home rule, we can help both city councils implement solutions that may be either too expensive or ineffective because of the lack of coordination with neighboring municipalities.
Next Steps
To become a home rule unit, we must circulate a petition to get the referendum on the ballot. A public question requires 500 signatures Illinois State statute. The deadline to file a petition for a public question in the upcoming General Election is August 3rd, 2020. That will be an uphill battle further complicated by COVID-19.
The first step is to facilitate a public conversation on home rule. Our goal is to start that conversation. It will be important to ground our conversation in facts and budget forecasts in Illinois and Champaign County. Remember, most cities in Illinois have enjoyed home rule since 1970, and very few have opted out of home rule status (IMPJ, 2019). For example, Batavia, Illinois defeated a referendum to withdraw their home rule status in 2018. Residents fought back with an information campaign. City staff prepared an analysis of home rule revenue in their budget and found that 19 percent of their $27 million budget relied on revenue they could only access with home rule authority. We need to gather research on how other cities have used and defended their home rule status and get that information to voters.
Most importantly, we will need a team of dedicated organizers to create a petition drive that adapts to the realities of the pandemic. Petitions must be signed and notarized in the presence of the petition circulator, typically while canvassing. Obviously, going door to door is out of the question, but that also doesn’t mean we’re out of luck. Local businesses have developed their curbside services overnight, and the Farmer’s Market in Urbana will open in May using safety guidelines developed in collaboration with the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District. Petitions cannot be signed with digital signatures, though there is nothing to prevent a circulator or notary from virtually witnessing a signature. We might also consider a drive-through petition drive.
This fight is worthy of our time, energy, and talents.
The next two years will be consequential for the County. Without more authority, Republicans on the County Board will undoubtedly argue that we must choose between steep and painful cuts to social programs and making long-deferred upgrades to our facilities. We can’t wait until 2022.
One in four Champaign County residents were trapped below the poverty level before COVID-19. If our return to normalcy is our neighbor’s personal hell, we have not recovered. With 500 signatures, we have a shot at lifting more neighbors out of poverty. The pandemic continues to change the way we work, live, and relate to others; our democracy and grassroots organizations must evolve, too.
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Written by Emily Rodriguez and Stephanie Fortado, May 7, 2020.
Please follow the C-U Public Health District for updates and information regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and Champaign County.
