Illinois Policy Institute’s government affairs team makes big strides in 2013

The Illinois Policy Institute’s overarching goal is to transform liberty principles into marketable policies that become law. Naturally, the ultimate sign of success is when free market ideas are turned into laws that change lives for the better. There’s a long way to go before our vision is fully realized, but this year, our government...

The Illinois Policy Institute’s overarching goal is to transform liberty principles into marketable policies that become law. Naturally, the ultimate sign of success is when free market ideas are turned into laws that change lives for the better.

There’s a long way to go before our vision is fully realized, but this year, our government affairs department has made meaningful headway in building the foundation needed for the transformational change that is coming to Illinois.

With 2014 quickly approaching, we would like to share with you some our successes from the past year.

• 2013 legislative agenda. For the first time in Illinois Policy Institute history, a comprehensive legislative agenda was introduced with bipartisan support. Composed of 22 bills inspired by the Institute’s six policy pillars, 14 legislative sponsors adopted and championed initiatives that would make Illinois a more prosperous place for families to live, for students to excel and for businesses to grow. This is the signature platform from which we intend to launch Illinois’ turnaround.

• Budget Solutions 2014. Even though political insiders said it couldn’t be done, the Institute released a plan last February to show lawmakers how to fix Illinois’ budget and massive pension debt. If enacted, our 10-point proposal would balance the state budget and pay down the state’s billions in unpaid bills. These reforms made up the Institute’s fifth annual alternative state budget.

Throughout the year, we promoted our ideas at press conferences, committee hearings, community forums throughout the state, editorial board meetings, in social media and through media channels across the country.

• Moving the ball forward on real pension reform. Even though a pension bill passed Illinois’ General Assembly and was signed by Gov. Pat Quinn earlier this month, the Institute was a solitary but fierce advocate against this inadequate bill and for the real reform Illinois deserves.

A year ago, the mere mention of putting a defined contribution or 401(k) provision on the table made even Republican politicians laugh. In fact, just this summer, a “reform” package being pushed by the state universities called for the elimination of the existing 401(k)-style option within the State Universities Retirement System. Yet the bill that passed included a mandated 401(k) provision—albeit insufficient. Turning public opinion toward accepting and favoring our solutions is a great first step.

When this pension bill was being considered by lawmakers in Springfield, even some Democrats characterized 401(k)s as “the future.” This is a momentous development, especially considering the fact that the Institute is the only group in the state that has been messaging 401(k)s in Illinois.

• Standing strong against ObamaCare in Illinois. Last spring, the Institute stood alone in opposing ObamaCare’s expansion of Medicaid in Illinois even as other groups – including those in the business community – supported it. Our policy team’s work revealed the tragic human and fiscal costs of dumping more people into a broken system, and impressively, our senior director of government affairs made sure that not a single Republican voted for the expansion in either the House or Senate.

• Chipping away at the union stronghold in Illinois. The Institute’s Director of Labor Policy Paul Kersey’s pioneering work on government union reform helped pave the way for a policy that will loosen the monopoly grip of government unions on state government. This legislation, signed into law, stops workers with managerial and supervisory positions from unionizing. Our government affairs team expects that the Institute’s work on collective bargaining transparency will continue to ripen politically, as evidenced by a strong endorsement from the Chicago Tribune last spring.

• Warding off the next tax grab. The Institute sounded the alarm on the unions’ plan to push a constitutional amendment to allow for another income tax hike in the form of a progressive tax in 2014. In response, we introduced our own legislation to prevent this proposed tax “reform” from moving forward. The Illinois Senate and House Republican caucuses have issued a statement publicly opposing the progressive tax. The number of state lawmakers who publicly oppose the progressive tax is 62. That is more than the total necessary to prevent the passage of a constitutional amendment authorizing this tax hike. In short, as it currently stands, the Institute’s resolution in the House would successfully prevent a progressive tax in Illinois. 

In 2013, our government affairs and policy teams made more than 1,000 touches with lawmakers and held hundreds of conversations on our policy priorities with staffers on both sides of the aisle. Our government affairs team read every single bill introduced in Springfield so that you didn’t have to. After reading 3,632 House bills and 2,583 Senate bills, a total of 213 bills made it on to our team’s watch list, where bills of importance to our legislative agenda were closely monitored. Our experts registered opinions on 310 bills and were asked to testify before legislative committees numerous times. No other organization in the liberty movement has come remotely close to this level of engagement or impact – and ours will only grow in 2014.