Senate Forms Committees to Study Workers’ Compensation and Medicaid Reform
Senate Forms Committees to Study Workers’ Compensation and Medicaid Reform
by Wesley Fox Senate President John Cullerton announced today that he will form committees to study workers compensation and Medicaid reform, which are initiatives Republicans promoted during the campaign. The committees would advance legislation for a possible vote in January,according to the Sun-Times. Illinois’s workers’ compensation requirements are costly and discourage employers from hiring or even doing business...
By Chris Andriesen
Obama Will Extend Tax Cuts – Here’s Why
Obama Will Extend Tax Cuts – Here’s Why
President Obama will eventually agree to extend all the tax cuts if the Republicans stand firm and hold out for the full extension for all income levels. Extending the tax cuts helps Obama for his 2012 re-election regardless of how the economy performs. Allowing the tax hikes to go into effect could hurt him badly...
By John Tillman
Union Dues – Where do they go?
Union Dues – Where do they go?
by Kate Piercy A lot of money comes out of union members’ pockets for dues, but how many union members know exactly what those dues are going towards? Are union bosses representing workers’ best interests? Spending reports suggest otherwise, says the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and “As union workers struggle to make their paychecks cover household costs,...
By Chris Andriesen
Property Tax Bills Confusing Many in Cook County
Property Tax Bills Confusing Many in Cook County
by Wesley Fox Many property taxpayers in Cook County are confused and angry by their property tax bills. While property value assessments are supposedly declining, tax bills are increasing leaving many asking, “Why?” According to one columnist at the Southern Star: I have been writing about the property tax for more than two decades now and still...
By Chris Andriesen
Education Reform in Action at CICS-Basil
Education Reform in Action at CICS-Basil
by Ashley Muchow Thanks to the hospitality of Meghan Schmidt, Director of Special Projects at Chicago International Charter Schools (CICS), and Chenita Hardy, Director of CICS-Basil, Amanda Griffin-Johnson, Daniel Anthony, and myself were able to take an eye-opening tour of one of Chicago’s groundbreaking charter schools—CICS-Basil. CICS-Basil is a K-8 charter school located in Chicago’s West Englewood neighborhood. The...
By Chris Andriesen
Terry Mazany named head of Chicago Public Schools
Terry Mazany named head of Chicago Public Schools
By Collin Hitt Greg Hinz reports that Mayor Daley has officially named the replacement for the outgoing Chicago Public Schools chief Ron Huberman. The new schools CEO – and probably the last of the Daley administration – is Terry Mazany from the Chicago Community Trust, who will serve in an interim role until the city’s next mayor...
By Chris Andriesen
Transparency in Jeopardy
Transparency in Jeopardy
by Kate Piercy Back in July, Gov. Quinn made an amendatory veto to HB5154, which called for the exemption of all public employee performance evaluations under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The Illinois Policy Institute argued against this bill, saying it would threaten transparency in government by prohibiting the release of public employee performance reviews...
By Chris Andriesen
14 Million Hours Needed to Comply with Vending Machine Regulation
14 Million Hours Needed to Comply with Vending Machine Regulation
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson Long before the health care legislation passed, there were concerns about the number of jobs it would destroy and the state budgets it would bust. Now that it has been signed into law, unintended consequences from the bill continue to come to light. Earlier this month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released estimates that it...
By Chris Andriesen
The Wisconsin/Illinois Jobs Spat
The Wisconsin/Illinois Jobs Spat
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn is engaged in a jobs spat with Wisconsin Governor-Elect Scott Walker. Walker had questioned the wisdom of committing Wisconsin to additional “high speed rail” boondoogle spending (read why he’s right on the policy merits); Governor Quinn responded by trying to woo a Wisconsin-based rail firm to Illinois. Beyond targeted campaigns to win over one company or another...
By Chris Andriesen
Obamacare Waivers
Obamacare Waivers
by Kate Piercy Bureaucracy deciding who gets exemptions from a law and who does not: Here is the list of the lucky 111 groups (including unions and health care providers) exempt from the burden of the Obama administration’s onerous health care plan, buried six clicks deep on the Health and Human Services website and posted last Friday. Nice...
By Chris Andriesen
Sunshine Standard – Model transparency language
Sunshine Standard – Model transparency language
by Kate Piercy All interested in government transparency, check out this new website,sunshinestandard.org, created by Sunshine Review. The website aims to provide citizens and elected officials with model legislation and tools to launch reforms and expand the amount of information available about government. As Michael Barnhart of Sunshine Review explains, “State and local governments, and school districts,...
By Chris Andriesen
AARP Cites Obamacare When Increasing Employee Health Care Costs
AARP Cites Obamacare When Increasing Employee Health Care Costs
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson While some of the provisions of the massive federal health care legislation don’t go into effect for some time, their impact is already being seen across the country. Last month, McDonald’s, the United Federation of Teachers Welfare Fund, and 29 other firms, representing nearly one million workers, received waivers from the Department of Health...
By Chris Andriesen
Most Voters Want Health Care Impact Investigated
Most Voters Want Health Care Impact Investigated
by Kate Piercy A recent Rasmussen Reports national survey found ambivalence among voters about House Republican plans to investigate the Obama administration – unless the subject of the probe is the unpopular national health care bill. Scott Rasmussen remarked about the findings, saying, “Voters want Congress to focus on substance, not distractions. Congressional questioning about policy...
By Chris Andriesen