By Hilary Gowins
07/10/2013
Lawmakers on the Illinois General Assembly’s pension conference committee failed to meet Gov. Pat Quinn’s July 9 deadline to resolve the differences between the various pension reform proposals on the table. At a press conference Wednesday, Quinn announced that he is freezing legislators’ pay until they come up with a comprehensive pension solution. Quinn said he won’t collect...
By Ted Dabrowski
07/02/2013
After several months of saying that pension reform inaction by the Illinois General Assembly costs taxpayers $17 million a day, Gov. Pat Quinn lowered that number to $5 million per day for fiscal year 2014. That’s surprising, since no pension reform bill was passed in the recent legislative session and the unfunded liability is still almost...
By Chris Andriesen
06/29/2013
by Jane McEnaney On June 27, the Illinois General Assembly’s conference committee on pension reform met for the first time in Chicago. All 10 members of the bipartisan, bicameral committee were present. The committee met for five straight hours, hearing testimony from: Ty Fahner, President, Civic Committee of The Commercial Club of Chicago Jerry Stermer, Acting Director...
In May of 2010, the Illinois House of Representatives voted down the 2010 voucher bill. My hopes had been high for this bill, because I knew what school choice would mean for Illinois families. Vouchers mean freedom from failing schools; the possibility of students and families choosing their own path instead of being stuck with...
by Brian Costin The Illinois Policy Institute has long been a supporter of strengthening the Open Meetings Act, or OMA, and Freedom Information Act, or FOIA. Unfortunately, OMA and FOIA often come under attack by the Illinois General Assembly. The most recent assault is in the concealed carry bill that recently passed the House and Senate, and awaits Gov....
By Hilary Gowins
06/19/2013
Tucked in during the Illinois General Assembly’s special session to discuss the state’s pension crisis was a proposal to give a corporate giant a special tax break. According to the State Journal-Register, OfficeMax Inc. is asking the state of Illinois for tax breaks to keep the company’s headquarters in-state after the office supply chain’s merger with...
By Benjamin VanMetre
06/19/2013
Chicago Public Schools pension payment will increase by roughly $400 million due to the expiration of a temporary “pension holiday.” Local lawmakers knew this was coming but did nothing to prepare for the increased payment. The good news is there is a simple, responsible way to cut more than 30 percent of the increased pension...
By Benjamin VanMetre
06/14/2013
The Illinois General Assembly is gearing up for a special session to discuss pensions next week because of lawmakers’ reform inaction during the recent spring session, which resulted in back-to-back credit rating downgrades. The debate during session will likely be over which of two plans will solve Illinois’ crisis – House Speaker Mike Madigan’s proposal or the one...
by Paul Kersey Last year the Illinois General Assembly decided that up to 3,580 supervisors in state government would not be subject to unionization. Passing this legislation, dubbed the “management bill,” meant that Illinois would restore a well-established principle of labor law – that supervisors need to be strictly accountable to policymakers and the people...
by Ben VanMetre Illinois has a spending problem. State government spending has grown at three times the rate of inflation since 1990. Despite Illinois’ existing balanced budget requirement, the state hasn’t had a balanced budget since 2001. That’s because political leadership in Illinois has been ignoring the basics of good public policy for decades. Lawmakers had the...
