The Senate on Inauguration Day took action to limit the power of its legislative leaders. Meanwhile, House Democrats re-elected Mike Madigan as House speaker, ensuring he will become the longest-tenured legislative leader in modern American history.
The new budget plan coming out of the Illinois Senate does little to nothing to reform the state’s reckless spending and financial mismanagement, but does plenty to hurt state taxpayers.
Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan’s spokesman, Steve Brown, has repeatedly implied that Illinois insurance companies are hoarding cost savings. However, this couldn't be happening unless insurance companies were colluding in violation of the principle of antitrust laws, and there's no evidence they are. Illinois trial lawyers have echoed Brown's sentiments, but they don't seem to see evidence of antitrust violations either given that they haven't brought lawsuits against insurance companies for violating federal antitrust law.
The Nov. 8 election saw Madigan lose his supermajority in the Illinois General Assembly. Now, two Democrats are calling on the speaker to present his solution set for a state in fiscal crisis before pledging to vote for his re-election as House speaker.
State Rep. Robert Martwick, D-Chicago, criticized payment delays for Illinois politicians, despite the fact that his compensation cost taxpayers nearly $100,000 in 2015.
The stopgap budget passed by the General Assembly provides six months worth of funding for government services such as road construction, as well as a full K-12 education budget for the 2016-2017 school year, property-tax-raising authority for Chicago, and more state funding of pensions for Chicago Public Schools teachers.
Chicago’s $1.15 billion projected budget gap is the latest in a decades-long string of structural deficits. Making Chicago’s high taxes worse is not the solution.