When Rhode Island saw the writing on the wall late last year, its legislature did something no one thought it could do. It passed the boldest pension reforms in the nation. A democrat-controlled state, with the second-worst funded pension system in the nation, passed a series of reforms that cut the state’s unfunded liabilities by...
Chicago has the worst entrepreneurship rate among the 15 largest metropolitan areas in the country.
Ever since the Village of Willowbrook’s participation in the Illinois Policy Institute’s Local Transparency Project, the Mayor and Board of Trustees have been interested in ways of furthering the Village’s transparency efforts.” – Garrett Hummel, Management Analyst, Village of Willowbrook. The Village of Willowbrook previously earned a transparency award from the Illinois Policy Institute for scoring an...
Only when our government leaders emphasize the importance of transparency in all they do will taxpayers truly benefit.
Just over the past five years, 71 cents from every new dollar set aside by state government for Pk-12 education went to teacher retirement costs.
As the graphic shows, the rate of entrepreneurship in Illinois has been below the national average every year since 1996 except for 2001. The Kauffman Foundation entrepreneurship index measures the percentage of adults ages 20 to 64 that start a new business each month and work 15 or more hours per week. It’s measured across all 50...
Illinois has felt the bite of the Great Recession more than most states. Our unemployment rate increased to 8.7 percent in June, the highest in the Midwest and 10th highest in the nation. Lawmakers should be doing all they can to make opening a business easier. But in Evanston, Illinois, they are imposing needless restraints....
by Andrew C. Quinn “Take a risk! Be bold! Blaze your own trail!” We college students, along with recent graduates, constantly hear these commands to forge our own path through these uncertain times. Commencement speakers, counselors, columnists and family friends all repeat the conventional wisdom that entrepreneurial flexibility is now a prerequisite for success. Gone,...
by Lawrence J. McQuillan, PhD Chief Economist As the graphic shows, the rate of entrepreneurship in Illinois has been below the national average every year since 1996 except for 2001. The Kauffman Foundation entrepreneurship index measures the percentage of adults ages 20 to 64 that start a new business each month and work 15 or more hours...
On August 7, 2012, the Liberty Justice Center filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a City of Evanston ordinance that exists only to protect established restaurant owners from the legitimate competition that food trucks would bring to the C
CHICAGO (Aug. 1, 2012) – In the latest round of online transparency audits conducted by the Illinois Policy Institute, only 13 of 22 local government agencies in the York Township-area in DuPage County received passing grades. In an effort to fight corruption and encourage public participation in government, the Illinois Policy Institute grades governments on...
The average Illinoisan works 208 days to pay the cost of government July 26 is Illinois’ Cost of Government Day, the date of the calendar year on which the average Illinois worker has earned enough gross income to pay off his or her share of the spending and regulatory burden imposed by government at the federal,...
On July 24, 2012, the Liberty Justice Center filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Illinois’ campaign finance law. The law establishes a series of contribution limits on individuals and associations, including our client, Illinois Liberty PAC, while exempting political parties and their leaders from these same limits. The law’s overall scheme includes political party exemptions...
The budget that CPS produced is not without its flaws but CPS Chief Administrator Tim Cawley at least managed to display a certain bedraggled graciousness – too tired to be strident – as he walked the audience of 200, mostly CTU partisans, through the board’s handiwork. By contrast, the union members and their allies in...