Gov. Bruce Rauner wants to give cities, towns and counties the authority to file for bankruptcy protection, a move that could give local governments a stronger foothold when negotiating with local police and fire officials over costly pension obligations.

The governor made no mention of the idea during his State of the State speech Wednesday, instead burying the concept in a list of talking points the administration distributed to lawmakers. Rauner aides would not elaborate on how it might work.

With Wednesday’s State of the State address, Gov. Bruce Rauner is on record with an agenda to make Illinois competitive again.

We’ve waited a long time for an Illinois governor to voice many of these proposals as if he means them.

The question now is whether lawmakers, the majority of them Democrats, will join a Republican governor in fixing Illinois or will try to block reforms that represent a sharp new way of doing the business of government.

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) proposed Jan. 27 that individual communities be allowed to establish “right-to-work zones.” A new analysis by the nonpartisan Illinois Policy Institute finds that Illinois could see an economic boom if the state implements a right-to-work law.

Currently in Illinois, employees of a unionized workplace must pay money to a union as a condition of keeping their jobs because Illinois does not have a right-to-work law. This means teachers and employees of state government must pay money to a union whether they want to or not. But in states or communities with right-to-work laws, employees would have the power to choose whether they want to belong to a union and whether they want to pay money to a union.

The Illinois Policy Institute reviewed data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, and found that states with right-to-work laws have a tremendous economic advantage. The analysis of federal data found that states with right-to-work laws have the following:

More than a dozen former congressmen from Illinois are drawing taxpayer-subsidized pensions, with the biggest going to retired U.S. House Minority Leader Bob Michel, R-Illinois, followed by his successor in Congress, Ray LaHood, and Chicago Democrat William Lipinski.

That’s according to estimates based on the salaries officials made, pension formulas and interviews.

Federal pension officials refused to provide actual pensions for individuals, citing privacy concerns. In Illinois, state and local government pensions are a matter of public record, available on request.

In 2013, when they committed Illinois to a big expansion of Medicaid coverage, Democratic lawmakers soothed taxpayers with a relentless talking point: Don’t worry. The feds will pay for most of this. What could go wrong?

Illinois will receive a $52.5 million share of a multi-state settlement with Standard & Poor’s over allegations that the credit ratings agency knowingly inflated ratings to risky mortgage investments in the years that led up to the 2008 economic crisis, Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced Tuesday.

Gov. Bruce Rauner has proposed freezing property taxes for two years and expanding the sales tax base as part of a “taxpayer empowerment” plan.

The Republican proposed that real estate taxes not increase above 2015 levels except for new construction or property under other narrow restrictions. He wants to “modernize” the sales tax to include services such as haircuts or automotive repairs.

Rauner delivered his first State of the State address Wednesday.

A bill that would raise the minimum wage statewide has passed an Illinois Senate committee.

The measure would boost the minimum wage from $8.25 to $9 on July 1 and increase it every year until reaching $11 by 2019.

It passed with an 11-5 vote in the Senate executive committee Wednesday.

Governor Bruce Rauner will deliver his state of the state address Wednesday, and if his preview speeches are any indication, the governor will continue to blame part of Illinois’ budget problems on the salaries and benefits of state workers.

But two years from now, Rauner will face the biggest state payment it’ll ever have to make… Medicaid, the healthcare program for the poor, elderly and disabled.  The federal government will stop paying for all of Illinois’ new enrollees in Medicaid expansion in 2017, making the largest part of Illinois’ budget even larger.

Rauner hasn’t been specific on how he plans to change Medicaid to prepare for that day, the most he’s said is that the program is fraught with “waste, fraud and abuse.”