By Ted Dabrowski
07/26/2013
In what’s become a torrent of bad news regarding Illinois’ fiscal health, Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded Chicago Public Schools’ $6.3 billion general obligation debt one notch. The credit rating agency’s outlook remains negative, and CPS debt is now just four levels above junk bond status. The CPS ranking drop to A3 from A2 follows recent downgrades...
by Katherine Casey Taxpayer-funded state lobbying is once again on the rise in Illinois. As the Illinois Policy Institute noted earlier this year in its 2011-2012 Illinois Legislators’ Guide to the Issues, a lack of transparency still plagues the topic of lobbying across the state. Unknown to many citizens, “state-level lobbying” has quickly seeped its way into towns and...
By Chris Andriesen
11/30/2010
by Kate Piercy Free rides aren’t so free: According to a report from the University of Illinois, the free-rides program initiated and sent through the legislature by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich costs the CTA, Metra and Pace between $38 million and $116 million last year. On top of this, “Thousands of fraudulent free rides have been...
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...
A report from the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform found that taxpayers paid lobbyists nearly $6.4 million to influence their own state government last year.
by Mark Cavers In 2009, the Department of Transportation gave the National Railroad Passenger Corporation $24,902,584.31 in grants. The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, also known as Amtrak, is a for-profit corporation that operates intercity passenger rail services in 46 States and the District of Columbia, in addition to serving as a contractor in various capacities for several commuter rail agencies. ...
In 2009, the CTA received $25 million in direct funding from the state but it still needed to cut service to close a budget deficit after union workers refused to return a 3.5% pay raise.
Dennis Byrne applauds the Institute's Pension Funding and Fairness Act as an innovative solution to the problem of funding the state's pensions.
