Illinois House votes 100-6-3 to expel Rep. Derrick Smith (D)
Illinois House votes 100-6-3 to expel Rep. Derrick Smith (D)
By a vote 100-6 State Rep. Derrick Smith (D-Chicago) has been expelled from the Illinois House of Representatives.
Quotes from Aug. 17 special session to reform state pensions
Quotes from Aug. 17 special session to reform state pensions
While they only managed to pass an amendment, the House provided some memorable quotes.
Illinois must shift from defined benefit to defined contribution plans.
Illinois must shift from defined benefit to defined contribution plans.
Illinois’ state pension systems are barreling towards insolvency. Without a complete pension overhaul, Illinois’ five pension systems may reach their breaking point. There is only one way to prevent a collapse. Illinois must shift from defined benefit (DB) to defined contribution (DC) plans. In a DB plan, an employer pays fixed, regular pension payments over a...
The truth about those union boos
The truth about those union boos
The spectacle of government union members booing the best friend they ever had off the stage Wednesday at the Illinois State Fair made for entertaining video. Gov. Quinn may not have liked the boos, but he certainly understands his starring role in this fiction of a drama. Here’s the truth: the pension proposals under consideration in Springfield...
Pension debt more than doubles under new rules
Pension debt more than doubles under new rules
THE PROBLEM Illinois reports that it owes $83 billion to its five public pension funds. That amount represents the chronic failure of the state to fully fund its pension systems, overly generous retirement benefits for state workers, and the inability of those funds to meet their investment targets. Unfortunately, this $83 billion figure grossly understates...
Government unions bluff on pension reform
Government unions bluff on pension reform
Lawmakers will return to Springfield for special session Friday to consider a woefully inadequate fix to the state’s pension system. On Tuesday, the Chicago Sun-Times published comments about the pension mess from Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel: “If we do nothing throughout … our five funds, we have to raise property taxes 150 percent, and I will...
Illinois’ pension math
Illinois’ pension math
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: The city that works but not for entrepreneurs
Chicago: The city that works but not for entrepreneurs
Chicago has the worst entrepreneurship rate among the 15 largest metropolitan areas in the country.
Willowbrook mails public employee compensation info to residents
Willowbrook mails public employee compensation info to residents
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...
Institute in Daily Herald: A road map to transparency
Institute in Daily Herald: A road map to transparency
Only when our government leaders emphasize the importance of transparency in all they do will taxpayers truly benefit.
Teacher retirement costs stealing our kids’ futures
Teacher retirement costs stealing our kids’ futures
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.
Illinois’ economic turnaround depends on entrepreneurship
Illinois’ economic turnaround depends on entrepreneurship
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...
Evanston lawsuit much more than just a food fight
Evanston lawsuit much more than just a food fight
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....
In tough economic times, Evanston piles on
In tough economic times, Evanston piles on
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,...