Chicago Tribune: Citizens deserve a seat in the room: Open up collective bargaining
Chicago Tribune: Citizens deserve a seat in the room: Open up collective bargaining
Illinois’ pension payment set to increase by another $1 billion next year
Illinois’ pension payment set to increase by another $1 billion next year
For the second year in a row, the state’s annual pension payment will increase by nearly $1 billion. The combined payment for all five state pension systems will increase to $6.8 billion next year, up from $5.9 billion this year. Annual payments for Illinois’ five pension systems per year, in millions Illinois ended fiscal year...
HJR 45: better than nothing
HJR 45: better than nothing
Faint praise for a fainthearted resolution Much of Illinois politics has become a contest of wills between a political establishment that is prone to wishful thinking and government employee unions with worldviews that border on fantasy. House Joint Resolution 45, or HJR 45, represents the latest attempt to wrest control of state spending away from...
Medicaid expansion would trap Illinoisans in inferior care
Medicaid expansion would trap Illinoisans in inferior care
Illinois lawmakers have a choice before them. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or PPACA, permits states to expand their Medicaid programs to those up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. Under the law, however, Illinois is not required to do so. Hundreds of thousands of the people targeted by the Medicaid...
Veto session: sneak peek of week two
Veto session: sneak peek of week two
Last week in Springfield, there was very little legislative activity during the first week of veto session. Such limited action took place that the House canceled Thursday session, and it is rumored that the Legislature will only meet on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week as well. It is expected that the current two-week veto...
Sneak peek at special session
Sneak peek at special session
Key issues that we expect to be brought up during Januarys special session
Quinning! Gov. Quinn is the most unpopular governor in the nation
Quinning! Gov. Quinn is the most unpopular governor in the nation
According to Public Policy Polling, Gov. Quinn is the most unpopular governor in the nation. Gov. Quinn’s approval rating stands at a dismal 25 percent. Adding insult to injury, 64 percent of Illinoisans polled disapprove of his job performance. PPP Release IL 112912
Rahm should focus on jobs first, hype later
Rahm should focus on jobs first, hype later
In his recent op-ed, “How to rebuild America,” Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel boasts that Chicago’s “investments” in public schools, community colleges and infrastructure improvements have put Chicagoans back to work. Here’s what he said: “The strength of these investments is proven in the number of people we’re putting back to work: Chicago is first...
Tax, borrow and spend in style
Tax, borrow and spend in style
During a House Executive Committee meeting this week, one round of testimony began with the argument that Illinois is in a fiscal crisis because it has $9 billion in unpaid bills. That argument couldn’t be more backward. Illinois’ crisis is due to habitual overspending, that results in unpaid bills. Unfortunately, the recent “solution” offered up...
Veto session: recap of week one
Veto session: recap of week one
The Illinois Policy Institute opposed eight bills and appeared in several committee meetings during the first week of veto session. Our policy team had crucial face time with legislators and discussed our positions on public policy that affects all Illinoisans. We also reached out to many members of the House Republican staff. Here is an...
Compass [Winter 2012]: Illinois labor law created union monster
Compass [Winter 2012]: Illinois labor law created union monster
Compass [Winter 2012] Illinois labor law created union monster
State Rep. LaShawn K. Ford has been indicted for bank fraud
State Rep. LaShawn K. Ford has been indicted for bank fraud
State Rep. LaShawn K. Ford, D-Chicago, of Illinois’ 8th District has become the most recent example of a steady stream of Illinois politicians caught with their hands in the cookie jar. According to the Chicago Sun-Times: “Ford, 40, of Chicago — who also invests in Chicago real estate — allegedly fraudulently obtained a $500,000 increase...
For entrepreneurs, the grass is greener … almost anywhere but Illinois
For entrepreneurs, the grass is greener … almost anywhere but Illinois
How do American entrepreneurs decide where to set up shop? Business creators look at indicators like corporate tax rates and the health of a state’s finances when determining the best location in which to take root. According to a survey published recently by Thumbtack.com and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Illinois isn’t quite cutting the mustard. On...
Forget reform: Illinois legislators want to borrow $4 billion
Forget reform: Illinois legislators want to borrow $4 billion
It was déjà vu in Springfield as proponents of more debt pushed Illinois to borrow another $4 billion from the bond market. Their promise? That the state’s backlog of bills would finally get paid down. This is exactly what we heard almost two years ago, when advocates of the massive $7 billion income tax increase...