A “cost shift” pension plan was introduced today, Senate Bill 1687 Amendment #2, for the State Universities Retirement System, or SURS. Here are the ins and outs of the plan: What the cost shift does: A significant driver of Illinois’ $97 billion pension crisis is the fact that the state makes pension contributions to SURS...
by Diane Cohen Under a 2010 amendment to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or PPACA, authored by U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, congressional leaders and their staffers are required to purchase health insurance from an ObamaCare exchange. Turns out Congress is having second thoughts. With the individual mandate set to take effect on...
by Paul Kersey So what exactly do government worker unions do? Along with negotiating contracts and lobbying politicians, they help create loads of debt. The Massachusetts-based Beacon Hill Institute has done some sophisticated analysis of state-level economic performance, and the results indicate that government unions tend to go hand in hand with high government debt....
A union coalition opposed to pension reform is arguing that a plan advanced by Senate President John Cullerton would save $26 billion more in retiree health care coverage costs than a plan backed by House Speaker Michael Madigan. From the Associated Press: A study by the We Are One Illinois coalition shows that if half of...
There are four days of legislative session remaining, during which time state lawmakers will debate many important issues that affect taxpayers in the state of Illinois. Here is what you need to know going into the last week of session. No budget … yet At this point in session, a state budget proposal is usually...
by Paul Schumacher The Illinois Department of Employment Security issues a monthly report on unemployment for veterans. In April 2013, the unemployment rate for all veterans older than 18 was 6.2 percent, down from 7.1 percent in April 2012. Monthly numbers for veteran unemployment are not available, but for 2012 Illinois had a lower veteran unemployment rate...
Union officials backed the very pension "holidays" they blame for Illinois' pension crisis.
by Ben VanMetre The American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, released its sixth annual Rich States, Poor Statespublication earlier this week. This report showed that Illinois maintained its near dead-last ranking – with the third-worst state economic outlook in the nation. This news is further confirmation that state lawmakers’ poor policy decisions continue to sap economic activity and...
by Josh Dwyer In an article on EdReach – a website that provides a platform for education innovators – Christopher Nyren, founder of Educated Ventures, listed a number of reasons why Chicago should be one of the “most prolific ed-tech hotspots on the planet.” Here are some of the facts Nyren shared: The Midwest boasts two of the...
by Jacob Huebert Jim Nuccio and Gabriel Wiesen are two young entrepreneurs who want to operate their Beavers Coffee & Donuts food truck in Evanston. But one thing stands in their way: a city ordinance that allows only food trucks run by “licensed food establishments,” such as brick-and-mortar restaurants, to operate there. Jim and Gabriel...
The state of Illinois has been experiencing net out-migration for the last decade. That is, the number of people choosing to leave the state is outpacing the number of people moving to Illinois. Illinois had the eighth-lowest population growth in the nation between 2002 and 2012. And compared with its neighbors, Illinois’ population growth is...
by Paul Kersey In governments all across the country, there’s a need to open up collective bargaining to more public scrutiny. Union contracts in particular need to be released to the public before they are ratified. But even when you have the contract in hand, you don’t necessarily know everything you need to know. The dirty little...
For the last several years, gas prices have remained stubbornly high at $3 or more a gallon nationwide — and customers have felt the pinch. Though prices remain high throughout the nation, they’ve mostly held steady since last year. The national average price per gallon decreased by $0.02 from this time last year, and now...
by Paul Kersey Sometimes decline is a reality that must be dealt with before it can be reversed – and that’s the situation that the Chicago Public Schools board faces. With shrinking enrollment in traditional public schools the CPS board had little choice but to close down some school buildings and redistribute students to new...