Dan Hynes (The More Things Changed)

Daniel W. Hynes (born July 20, 1968) is the 42nd and current Governor of Illinois, serving since 2011. He previously served as Illinois Comptroller from 1999-2011.

Hynes graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Notre Dame in 1990 with a degree in economics and computer applications, and earned a J.D. with Honors in 1993 from the Loyola University School of Law. Before taking office as Comptroller, he was a health care attorney for a Chicago law firm.

Illinois Comptroller
Hynes was first elected Illinois Comptroller in November 1998 at the age of 30, making him the youngest elected statewide constitutional officer in Illinois.

Rainy Day Fund
In 2000, Hynes engineered the creation of a Rainy Day Fund, designed to ensure that the state can meet its financial obligations during economic hard times and revenue slowdowns. He also drafted legislation passed in 2003 that generates a permanent revenue source for that fund, establishes a strong budgetary reserve in prosperous times, and creates greater accountability by recognizing and paying down unpaid liabilities.

Accenture Payments
In March 2004, the Chicago Sun-Times reported on an $11 million state contract Bermuda-based company Accenture won from Governor Rod Blagojevich's administration, despite the Governor's public position against corporations that based their operations in foreign tax havens. Two months later, Comptroller Hynes blocked $2 million in state payments Monday to Accenture Corp and asked a state panel to determine whether Illinois should contract with companies that locate offshore to soften their tax burdens.

2004 Senate Campaign
In March 2004, Hynes was a candidate in the Democratic primary election for his party's nomination for the United States Senate, finishing second to State Senator Barack Obama, who went on to win the general election in November. Hynes would later endorse Obama for the 2008 Democratic Presidential primaries, and speak on his behalf at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Gubernatorial Campaigns
See Also: Illinois Gubernatorial Election, 2010 (The More Things Changed)

See Also: Illinois Gubernatorial Election, 2014 (The More Things Changed)

See Also: Illinois Gubernatorial Election, 2018 (The More Things Changed)

Hynes challenged incumbent Governor Pat Quinn in the 2010 Democratic primary, narrowly beating the Governor by a margin of just over 8,000 votes, winning 462,049 votes to Quinn's 453,677 votes. Hynes went on to defeat the Republican nominee, State Senator Bill Brady, in the general election.

Hynes was re-elected in 2014, beating a challenge from Republican businessman Bruce Rauner. He is currently seeking a third term.

Tax Policy
During his 2010 campaign, Hynes proposed, a progressive income tax rate would be authorized by to an amendment to the state's constitution. The Hynes plan would leave the base income tax rate at 3% for people with up to $200,000 in taxable income. Starting at that level, the income tax rate would progressively increase from 3.5% to a maximum of 7.5%, that would apply solely to those with more than $1 million in annual, taxable income.

In March 2012, the constitutional amendment was passed by the necessary 3/5ths majority of the Illinois General Assembly, which was approved by 65% of the voters in the general election in November.

Spending Cuts
Governor Hynes was able to attract enough necessary Republican support for passage of his tax plan by implementing spending cuts elsewhere, including:
 * Eliminating advertising for the Illinois Lottery
 * Firing half of the Blagojevich political appointees making $70,000 a year or more
 * Reducing exorbitant state contracts by 20 percent
 * Bringing state government operations back to 2005 levels
 * Combining the offices of Comptroller and Treasurer
 * Closing the Section 25 loophole used to push debt from one fiscal year into the next

Clean Start
Governor Hynes' Clean Start for Illinois plan places emphasis on the need for innovation and Illinois' potential to become the energy hub of the Midwest, a model for alternative, more-efficient transportation and a center for medical research and health care.

Transportation


Illinois has been a longstanding hub for transportation in the United States. As part of Clean Start, Hynes focused on investment in infrastructure. Among them:
 * Prioritizing road projects downstate, to provide interstate access to all regions of Illinois
 * Investing in the state's regional airports, such as those in Peoria, the Quad Cities, Marion, Springfield, Rockford, Quincy and the Metro East area
 * Partnering with the City of Chicago to expand O'Hare Airport, bringing in an estimated 195,000 jobs and $18 billion in economic activity
 * Proposing the construction of an airport able to accommodate large jet service in Peotone, Illinois

Early into his first term, President Barack Obama pushed for a network of high-speed railways to be included in his administration's economic stimulus package. However, with the support of Secretary of Transportation and fellow Illinoisan Ray LaHood, Hynes successfully secured significant federal funding to construct a high-speed rail within the state. Illinois additionally entered into an interstate compact with Missouri - the Illinois-Missouri Railway Commission - to jointly expand high-speed railway access and coordinate construction.

Healthcare
As Comptroller, Hynes’ efforts to secure state funding for stem cell research led to the creation of the Illinois Regenerative Medicine Institute in 2005. The following year, the IRMI awarded $10 million in grants to medical research facilities for the development of stem cell-based treatments and cures, making Illinois the first state in the Midwest to commit public funds to such initiatives. As Governor, Hynes further championed medical innovation, adding over 40,000 jobs in the medical research field.

LincolnCare
After the successful passage of healthcare reform on the federal level, in the Affordable Care Act, uninsured Illinoisans have options for health coverage either through the state’s Medicaid program or through the Federal Health Insurance Marketplace, known as LincolnCare.

Governor Hynes pushed for LincolnCare to allow Illinois residents to buy into the state’s Medicaid system, offering healthcare exchanges in every county in the state, competing with the exchanges under the Affordable Care Act.

Hospital Budgets
In 2015, following the example set by Maryland the previous year, Illinois health officials have reached a deal to limit medical spending; rather than paying hospitals for each extra procedure they perform, Illinois hospitals are financially rewarded for keeping people out of the hospital. The global budgets set a cap on spending, with hospitals being assigned a predetermined amount of revenue and required to meet state-set quality metrics to get paid.

The American Journal of Public Health published its conclusion that the healthcare initiatives saved Medicare $221 million in 2016, more than one-third of the savings that Hynes had pledged by 2020. Per capita hospital costs actually shrank by more than 1.4% in the state.

2016 Presidential Election
During the 2016 Democratic primaries, Hynes supported former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, and served as an honorary Chair of the campaign. O'Malley would go on to win the Illinois primary, and eventually took office as Secretary of Homeland Security within the Hillary Clinton administration.