State spending will increase in 2012. That is, unless additional cuts and policy changes are added to the general fund budget currently awaiting Gov. Quinn’s signature. Following the close of the spring session, many news outlets reported that the House and Senate had passed a 2012 general fund budget of $33.2 billion that cut overall...
by Mark Cavers The Amazon tax, which became law in January, is bad for businesses, workers, and families. Last week, Performance Marketing Associates brought a lawsuit against the Illinois Department of Revenuechallenging the constitutionality of the law. As far back as last year, executive vice president, Kristina Rasmussen warned that if the bill passed companies would flee Illinois. The day...
by Mark Cavers At the tail end of the legislative session the Illinois State Senate added $430 million in operating costs to this year’s capital bill, a move that was opposed by the House, which refused to consider the bill. Today Governor Quinn announced that capital and road construction programs will begin to shutdown as early as...
by Aon Hussain Want to save Illinois taxpayers some green and earn a little bit of your own? Instead of asking citizens to play the lottery, the State of Illinois is ready to give regular citizens big cash prizes if they come up with some fruitful ideas to save the state some bucks. The Illinois...
Policy makers struggling to protect higher education appropriations may be surprised to learn this fact: The total cost of the State Universities Retirement System (SURS) in 2012 will exceed the amount of general funds appropriated to all other higher education agencies and institutions. Years of overly generous pensions and delayed funding by the Illinois legislature...
by Mark Cavers Rather than coming to the table to try and help save their members’ pensions, union officials seem content to vilify the wealthy in Illinois. Yesterday, while discussing the pension reform bill in committee, the head of AFSCME argued that all we need to do is raise taxes on the rich and our pension problem...
by Kristina Rasmussen Echoing the sentiments of former Gov. Jim Edgar, state rep Daniel Biss made the argument that pension reform will hurt state government employee recruitment in a committee hearing yesterday. From the Tribune’s editorial: Then there’s Daniel Biss, a freshman Democrat from Evanston. In blather-rich questions and a pre-vote soliloquy, he illogically twisted his proclaimed...
Collin Hitt, the Institute’s Senior Director of Government Affairs, gives an update on S.B. 512 from just outside the Capitol Building on the afternoon of Friday, May 27. The bill, which would reform public employee pensions going forward, passed out of committee yesterday and could see a vote in the House very soon.
(UPDATED: action in House pension committee. See below) by Collin Hitt A bold proposal to reform government employee pensions has been put forward, Senate Bill 512. It is the broadest and best legislation yet introduced by legislative leaders hoping to address the long term debt, and insolvency, of Illinois’s public employee pension funds. Illinois taxpayers...
Download a pdf of this report and chart here. The required pension payment for Chicago city government and Chicago Public Schools will jump to $1.92 billion from $650 million between now and 2020. Current law will require local taxpayers to foot the bill. That’s a citywide per capita jump to $715 from $241. Illinois is...
Download a pdf of this report and chart here. The funding of Illinois’s Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS) has become a major obstacle for future increases in state education spending. Years of overly generous pensions and delayed funding by the Illinois legislature have left the TRS approximately $47 billion short of its obligations. Historically, the largest...
by Mark Cavers Illinois will have $8.3 billion in unpaid bills by the end of the fiscal year, a projected deficit of $1.7 billion for fiscal year 2012 and $86 billion in unpaid pension liabilities. A contributing factor to our deficits, and a major reason behind calls for higher taxes is government employee’s pay and benefits. Rather...
The Problem Illinois hasn’t saved enough money to fund the pensions promised to government employees who are in or near retirement. Official estimates calculate Illinois’s unfunded pension liability at $86 billion, while other academic studies put the real problem north of $210 billion. Bold action is needed to balance the state’s pension funds while keeping...
Pension reform is needed now. This five minute video addresses the misinformation about HB149, including the number one question people have: will it take away benefits that have been previously earned? The answer is no. Watch the video and then call your legislator and urge them to support HB149. Phone the Illinois Capitol Switchboard: (217) 782-2000.