Struggling businesses, individuals and families need relief while the economy is shut down. Despite Illinois’ financial woes, leaders can help the recovery by lifting government-imposed financial burdens.

The years 2010 through 2019 will go down in Illinois history as a decade of public policy failure and economic decline. High fixed costs for pensions and government worker health care have prevented the state from balancing its budget in any year since 2001. Since the Great Recession in 2008, the state’s fiscal imbalance has...