Politicians use a loophole to bypass the Illinois Constitution’s requirement that bills be read on three separate days before they are passed. Instead, they often gut minor bills and put significant legislation in the bills within a day of the vote.
Firefighters in a Chicago suburb won their appeal to remove the Service Employees International Union from their workplace. False claims by SEIU bosses complicated the process.
Amendment 1 would allow government unions to nullify hundreds of Illinois statutes – including laws aimed at protecting school children – simply by contradicting them in union contracts.
Illinois is still missing 77,000 jobs from its restaurants, bars, hotels and other leisure industries since COVID-19 shutdowns. That Illinois jobs sector has recovered only 72% of what it lost in the pandemic – one of the nation’s worst recoveries.
SAT math scores dropped nearly 15%, and reading scores dropped 9% from 2019 to 2021 among Illinois high school juniors. Low-income and minority students saw bigger losses.
Illinois school districts paid out $8.8 million in penalties over two school years to cover salary and sick days in excess of what is allowed by law. Those are dollars taken from classrooms, but only hint at the full taxpayer cost.