Illinois

The high graduation rates of Illinois’ lowest-performing schools

02/15/2014
Here’s a startling statistic: despite having only 11 percent of students performing at grade level in math and reading, Illinois’ lowest-performing high schools graduate more than 60 percent of their students within four years. And only 6 percent of these students are college-ready according to the ACT. All of this indicates that the state’s lowest-performing...

Illinois Policy Action’s legislative agenda focuses on education, pensions, health care and more

By Jane McEnaney
02/15/2014
Yesterday marked Illinois lawmakers’ deadline to introduce bills for this spring’s legislative session. Our government affairs team was down in Springfield, finalizing Illinois Policy Action’s 2014 legislative agenda. Here’s a sneak peek at some of the major legislative initiatives we’ll be pushing this session: Pension reform State Rep. Ron Sandack has introduced a bill that...

Wisconsin’s turnaround: How labor reform under Act 10 gave power back to taxpayers and created a multimillion-dollar surplus

By Paul Kersey
02/13/2014
Three years ago, in the midst of a financial crisis, the state of Wisconsin enacted a landmark labor reform package, now known as Public Act 10. Through this legislation, the Legislature made fundamental changes to its government collective-bargaining law. Wisconsin started with a public-sector labor law that paralleled Illinois’ in most respects, but PA 10...

TAGS: labor, unions

Wisconsin’s labor reforms reach three-year mark: Should Illinois have followed Walker’s lead?

By Paul Kersey
02/13/2014
The Statehouse was packed. Protestors crammed the building, chanting, pounding drums and marching around with signs. The historic Wisconsin state Capitol had become overrun with sleeping bags and activists. In some cases, lawmakers were harassed. Doctors diagnosed fake illnesses so protestors could be excused from work. The Senate Democratic caucus fled the state. Within days,...

TAGS: labor, unions

Doubling down on job loss

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
02/12/2014
The president continues to promote the recent Congressional Budget Office report that predicts that the U.S. labor force will lose the equivalent of 2.5 million more jobs as the result of the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as ObamaCare. While he extols the benefits of having more flexibility in one’s job decisions as a result...

TAGS: ACA: Affordable Care Act, jobs

ObamaCare enrollment approaches 89,000 in Illinois

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
02/12/2014
The president’s public relations machine is at it again. With six weeks remaining until the March 31 deadline to obtain qualified health insurance coverage or face a penalty, the Obama administration is trumpeting the success of the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as ObamaCare, despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary. Enrollments have...

TAGS: ACA: Affordable Care Act, enrollment, Get Covered Illinois

Reasons for taxing the rich: Revenue or punishment?

By Justin Hegy
02/12/2014
Why do some people support taxing higher incomes at higher percentage rates? Some politicians throughout Illinois would like you to believe it’s to generate revenue – but a recent poll suggests something different. According to a new poll conducted in the U.K., members of their center-left Labour Party were overwhelmingly supportive of taxing higher incomes...

TAGS: fair tax, graduated income tax, income tax, progressive income tax, taxes

Illinois job losses: 546 layoffs announced in coming months

By Hilary Gowins
02/11/2014
Illinois continues to shed jobs. The state lost 3,200 nonfarm payroll jobs in December. Now, Illinois is poised to lose an additional 546 jobs from five companies in the next few months, according to the state’s January Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN report. Chicago-based Specialty Foods Group Inc., a meat wholesaler that makes...

TAGS: jobs, unemployment, WARN

ObamaCare employer mandate delayed for some businesses

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
02/11/2014
The Obama administration announced today another implementation delay of the calamitous law. Today, the administration announced an additional one-year delay of the employer mandate on some firms. Under the law’s employer mandate, employers with 50 or more full-time employees or full-time equivalents are required to offer “qualified and affordable” health insurance coverage to their employees....

TAGS: ACA: Affordable Care Act