County Home Rule Proposal

County Board member Stephanie Fortado and County Board candidate Emily Rodriguez have been doing public outreach on the idea of making the County government a "home rule" entity. This post tries to break down what that means, links to some of their arguments and explanations, and also a recent public Zoom discussion on the topic (video here).

The Illinois Association of County Board Members has an explanation of home rule that could be a little confusing for Champaign residents. We're one of only two counties outside of Cook County that have an Executive Form of County government. When we adopted that form, we specifically excluded the "home rule" part of it. From their website:

A county which has a chief executive officer is considered a "home rule unit". A county-wide referendum is required to establish this plan. Home rule counties have broad authority to provide for local government issues. The advantage of this designation is that, except as limited by State law, home rule counties may exercise any power and perform any function relating to its government and affairs, including the power to regulate for the protection of the public health, safety, morals and welfare; to license; and to borrow money and levy taxes.

Cook County is the only home rule county in Illinois. Will County voters elected to go to a county executive form without home rule in 1988. Champaign County voters approved restructure to executive form in 2016.

More at that page here. Essentially we have the additional elected Executive office instead of an administrator that operates as an extension of the County Board's authority. A little more division of power, but without the additional home rule authorities.

Fortado and Rodriguez make their case for the change to home rule for the County in this Medium article here. Here's an excerpt of their descriptions of home rule from that article:

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.

That full article with their arguments here. It goes on to make the case for some political issues that they feel could be better addressed with home rule authority.

Their virtual Town Hall for Home Rule is available on YouTube here. Their slide presentation is available on Google Docs here. They also had a form for anyone interested in their efforts, updates, or ask questions here. You can jump to the Q & A portion of the Town Hall here.

Back in 2016, the idea of adding home rule to the County Executive form of government proposal was raised as a possibility. A WILL article at the time highlighted some of the political division on why:

Cook County has a similar arrangement with its elected County Board President. But Cook County has something that Will County --- and the Champaign County executive proposal --- do not have: home rule powers.

Among other things, home rule governments can raise taxes without asking the voters through a tax referendum. That’s not a popular concept with groups like the Chamber of Commerce and Farm Bureau. But Petrie says the challenges Champaign County faces with its nursing home, its county jail and the maintenance of county buildings in general, are financial challenges that will need new revenue.

“So it is a bit antithetical to know that the Farm Bureau  and the Chamber are only putting forth a referendum for an elected county executive because they want things to happen, but they have not given any provision for the county to raise money,” said [former Champaign County Board Chair Pattsi] Petrie.

That full article here, including a bit more background on the original Executive Form debate. Rodriguez brings up the historical conservative opposition in the Town Hall presentation here. The issue of "home rule" was raised in the District 8 primary debate between Rodriguez and current board Chair Giraldo Rosales who lost in March. It was raised in the League of Women Voters candidate panels with that video here. In a Cheat Sheet overview here, I highlighted some of the other accusations raised in that panel discussion. Rodriguez pushed for adopting home rule and why, while Rosales mostly dismissed it as empty rhetoric.

In addition to this push to make the County Executive Form of government a home rule entity, there has been an opposite push to abandon the County Executive Form of government altogether in a step back to a County Administrator under the authority of the County Board. More on that from a Cheat Sheet post from earlier this year here.

The Executive Form of government was supported by Republicans and conservative groups initially when it was viewed as a sure bet that a Republican would win the elected office. This would give a Republican veto over the Democratic majority County Board. That sure bet candidate who was groomed for and helped plan the position with those groups was former Champaign County Clerk Gordy Hulten. From that Cheat Sheet post on why conservatives might now oppose the Executive Form of government they created:

The surprise victory by Democratic Darlene Kloeppel was a shock to many, including Hulten who dismissed the possibility as realistic prior to the election. Since that election his and Republican Party desires to have veto power over the Democratic majority County Board have disappeared.

What has happened since has been frustrating and confusing for many Democrats hoping to consolidate those gains towards more political victories after the 2018 "blue wave" as they like to call it. Instead the Republicans have formed a coalition with self-described pragmatic Democrats on the County Board and elected Giraldo Rosales as Chairman of that coalition majority.

The Chairman and the Republican coalition have acted as an interim check on the Democratic Party's majority on some of the very issues Republicans hoped Hulten would play as County Executive. This appears to be a limited and temporary solution to their original goals, however. The ability to elect a Republican County Executive in a couple years is far from certain. The fractured Democratic party may be infighting before a primary election now, but that's not certain to continue either. The coalition some Democrats have formed with Republicans is causing serious resentments and bizarre power moves that could result in a very different situation heading towards or after the general election.

That full post is available here. Readers can make up their own mind on the motivations and the plausibility of the explanations in contrast with the power interests. I leave it to voters to decide if home rule is a good option for the county or their own interests.