Illinois lawmakers grill diversity commission over lack of progress

By Jared Strong | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) — State lawmakers expressed public, bipartisan concern again Wednesday over an Illinois commission’s efforts to increase access to state contract money for businesses that are owned by racial minorities, women and people with disabilities.

The lawmakers’ concerns are largely based on the reporting of The Center Square in recent months, which has found that the commissioners have fewer responsibilities than their counterparts elsewhere in government and that their decisions have led to a dramatic decline in businesses that are certified for contract preference.

“It seems to be in shambles,” said state Rep. Brad Halbrook, a Shelbyville Republican.

Halbrook made the remark and fired numerous questions at staff of the Commission on Equity and Inclusion during a committee budget hearing Wednesday night. He questioned the pay of the seven commissioners who lead the agency — who each make about $150,000 a year — and their switch to a new computer system nearly two years ago that has effectively blocked more than 2,000 businesses from enhanced access to the contracts.

Other lawmakers had their own concerns, which led them to request that the commission’s staff return to the Capitol for further questioning before they decide whether to approve their $5.6 million budget request for the next fiscal year.

None of the six other agencies that were also subjects of the Wednesday budget hearing were asked to return. The commission’s next appearance before the committee has not yet been scheduled.

Rep. Angelica Guerrero-Cuellar, a Chicago Democrat, was “taken aback” that the commission had failed for a year to coordinate with the Secretary of State’s Office to contact businesses that might be eligible for certification, as she has previously requested.

Businesses in Illinois register their information with that office. Those that gain certification with the program the commission oversees get help navigating the state contracting process and preference in selection, because the state has goals to give those businesses between 20 and 30 percent of eligible state contract money, which exceeds $10 billion annually.

“If I brought it up last year, for me it’s an important issue,” Guerrero-Cuellar told The Center Square after the budget hearing. She had described the commission’s failure to adequately act on the request as a “red flag.”

Rep. Robert Rita, a Blue Island Democrat who led the committee hearing, echoed the concern: “A whole year went by and you couldn’t connect?”

The commission’s chief of staff, Robin Streets, said schedule conflicts had prevented them from making progress toward Guerrero-Cuellar’s request.

The commission’s executive director, Alexandria Wilson, defended the commissioners’ work as “regulatory” and “analytical,” and said: “They are doing a lot.”

Wilson noted that the total state contract dollars spent with certified businesses reached a new high of about $1.6 billion last fiscal year.

Yet lawmakers were not convinced. Guerrero-Cuellar said she needs more information from the commission before lawmakers decide how to fund it and whether to restructure it. They created the commission in 2022, which now has a staff of about 30.

“I want to see what their direction is,” Guerrero-Cuellar told The Center Square.

The commission was also the subject of bipartisan criticism during a similar budget hearing in the state Senate earlier this month.

“I know you say we’re heading in the right direction, but I’m telling you that business owners that we are talking to are not saying that,” Elgie R. Sims Jr., the Senate Democrats’ appropriations leader, said during the April 1 hearing.

Sen. Chapin Rose, the Republican minority caucus whip, said lawmakers should require the commissioners to treat their posts as full-time jobs, similar to state requirements for other boards and commissions with comparable pay.

Most of the commissioners have worked paid side jobs that netted them thousands of dollars, according to their annual ethics disclosures. That work included freelancing as a Human Resources contractor, teaching and consulting for universities, and running a business that hosts Dungeons and Dragons games at bars.

“This really needs to be fixed, and if it means making you guys full-time employees, I think maybe that’s what needs to happen because $150,000 a year to lose 2,600 vendors, it’s just unacceptable,” Rose said at the April 1 hearing.

Halbrook, who doesn’t support state preference for businesses based on who owns them, was heartened that Democrats were also skeptical of the commission’s progress.

“I’m not sure the $5, $6, $7 million that we’re putting into this agency is moving us in the right direction,” he said.

Wilson said the commission plans to have a fix for the computer problem in place by June.