by Brian Costin A new study out by the Mercatus Center of George Mason University shows that Illinois ranks poorly when it comes to Freedom amongst the states. This study comprehensively ranks the American states on their public policies that affect individual freedoms in the economic, social, and personal spheres. Here’s Illinois’s rankings in each of the categories. 27/50 regulatory policy...
by Mark Cavers Mayor Rahm Emanuel has decided to put salary information for all 34,218 city of Chicago employees online for the public to see, analyze, and download. In the past, the information has been provided through news organizations and non-profits but this is the first time the data is available directly from the city. This level...
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 Earlier today, Governor Quinn announced his appointment of former mayoral hopeful Gery Chico to the head of the Illinois State Board of Education. Chico will face a challenging job as he oversees schools in communities as diverse as Chicago and Sparta. He is charged with overseeing all 868 school districts, 2.1 million...
Over the past decade, only Michigan and Ohio had worse private sector job growth than Illinois. The Prairie State’s private sector job growth was down 7 percent. That means 363,100 jobs disappeared between April 2001 and April 2011 — that’s equivalent to disappearance of Delaware’s entire private work force.
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...
y Mark Cavers Today, the Associated Press reports that Governor Quinn has made another controversial appointment with his move to put former Representative Michael Smith on the Illinois Education Labor Relations Board, complete with a salary of almost $100,000. Prior to voters’ decision to remove him from office last fall, Smith was a vocal advocate for Governor...
by Kristina Rasmussen Governor Pat Quinn is spending more of your money to study the feasibility of “high speed” rail lines in Illinois. Not daunted by the $8 billion budget deficit he’s failed to balance, yesterday the governor announced $1.25 million to study high speed rail between Chicago and Champaign. Over a billion dollars are already pouring into...
by Aon Hussain The Illinois Policy Institute’s Local Transparency Project aims to conduct a transparency audit of every taxing body in the state. Allowing citizens to attain information about government contracts, expenditures and municipal officials gives the public opportunities to highlight wasteful spending, prevent corruption, and improve the democratic system. Realizing the benefits of increased transparency, legislators...
by Sameer Warraich A recent news headline on Housing Action Illinois’ website reads: “Recession over, but poor renters still at risk of homelessness” After proposed state budget cuts for shelters, Housing Action Illinois has advocated maintaining federal and state funding for affordable housing programs. The ultimate irony, however, is that government intervention in the housing market has...
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...
by Collin Hitt The General Assembly has adjourned for the summer. A budget was passed that contained real cuts, but it was still too big. Significant school reform sits on the governor’s desk. Illinois government will be more transparent. And yet so much more remains to be done. Here are the highlights of the spring...
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...