by Amanda Griffin-Johnson Earlier this year, SB 3012 was signed into law and created a pilot project mandating that election authorities provide early voting sites on public university campuses in their jurisdiction. The project is only for the 2010 general election, but some county clerks have voiced their opposition to the mandate citing the high costs for small...
by Lee Williams Download a formatted version of this report, complete with a table of the Pittman-Robertson Act contracts awarded by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, here. SPRINGFIELD, IL.—The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is misappropriating millions of dollars that should have been earmarked for the state’s sportsmen. The Pittman-Robertson Act, an 11-percent federal tax on...
by Ashley Muchow Check out Chris Britt’s cartoon in the State-Journal Register. We bloggedyesterday on the absurdity of the union blacklash against volunteers participating in zoo “clean up” day.
by Kate Piercy Illinois’s late payments are catching up with it, and businesses are responding. Yet another vendor is saying farewell to Illinois because of our state’s dismal budget situation. The Department of Corrections scrambled this week when the Industrial Soap Co. refused to deliver foam food trays to Menard Correctional Center because it hadn’t been paid,...
by Collin Hitt Teacherportal.com, an online resource for teachers and would-be teachers, has created a Salary Comfort Score Index that ranks each state. Illinois public school teachers always rank among the country’s highest-paid, but what standard of living does that provide once other factors are accounted for. A word from Teacherportal on its methods: The...
by Collin Hitt A new brief by the red-hot Civic Federation looks at the state budget in FY2011: “Total spending and transfers out increased by $543 million, or 1.6%, from $33.0 billion in FY2009 to $33.5 billion in FY2011.” Yes, programmatic spending is down. But pension payments are way up, 67 percent. Government in Illinois isn’t getting smaller yet...
by Ashley Muchow When polled by Gallup this past week, Americans showed their concern for the economy, healthcare, and the size of government. Voters are first and foremost concerned about the economy–43% believe this issue to be the most important. But consider this: Nearly 1 in 5 American voters believe the size and power of government is the most...
by Collin Hitt Federal education law compels states to create performance standards for their schools. Some state choose high standards – creating a common expectation that students are learning at or above grade level. Other states have low standards – benchmarks that are so easy for schools to meet that no meaningful information is provided...
by Wesley Fox In 2009, the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity awarded a $79,000 to the Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition (search “Looking for Lincoln” – Grant #09337008). The Grant was awarded to “cover costs associated with hosting a Living History Program” that would include “costumed interpreters” to lead daily tours of historical locations around Springfield. According...
In a recent survey of 750 Likely Voters in Illinois, Rasmussen Reports measured citizens’ views on the Illinois budget crisis. 73% of voters in Illinois blame the budget crisis in the state on politicians’ unwillingness to reduce government spending. 16% blame the taxpayer’s unwillingness to pay more in taxes. 10% are not sure who is more to...
by Wesley Fox The Illinois Policy Institute has proposed greater transparency in taxpayer-funded lobbying, including reports on state and local government expenditures on lobbyists. The Daily Herald has found another good reason for transparency. According to the Daily Herald, the Regional Transit Authority (RTA), Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), Pace and Metra spent more than $12.8 million on...
Today’s Wall Street Journal carried a special report on how Medicare claims data can be used to root out suspected waste, fraud and abuse (like the NYC family-medicine physician who was flagged for pocketing more than $2 million in 2008 from Medicare thanks in part to administering an odd battery of tests). Earlier this year, we testified in favor of creating...
by Ashley Muchow Illinois has received $8.4 billion in stimulus funds since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was passed in early February of last year. While these funds came as life preservers to some, a recent Mercatus on Policy study shows quite the opposite. According to Russell Sobel and George Crowley of the Mercatus Center, federal grant funding leads...
by Kate Piercy Here’s a telling graph, courtesy of the Heritage Foundation, about how the stimulus has “worked” since January 2008: Federal Government: 198,100 jobs gained State Government: 6,000 jobs lost Local Government: 128,000 jobs lost Private Sector: 7,837,000