Illinois

Illinois will face future credit downgrades if it expands Medicaid

05/03/2013
Jonathan Ingram There are plenty of reasons to oppose trapping more Illinoisans in a broken Medicaid program, but Moody’s Investors Services has given the state one more: expanding Medicaid will lead to credit downgrades. Remember: Illinois already has the worst credit rating in the nation. Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings have downgraded the state 11 times since Gov. Pat...

U.S. April unemployment report: Underemployment a growing problem

05/03/2013
Ted Dabrowski John Klingner The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced today that the national unemployment rate declined to 7.5 percent in April from 7.6 percent in March. Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 165,000 in April, up from a revised 138,000 payroll jobs in March. source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics This amount of job creation...

The power of school choice

05/03/2013
Meet Emilia Melendez – a mother of four from Milwaukee.  She didn’t finish high school and works at a private school where she earns just enough to take care of her family. She desperately wants her children to have the educational opportunities she never had, but realizes that she doesn’t have the means to help...

Capitol Updates: April 29 week in review

By Jane McEnaney
05/03/2013
This was an eventful week in Springfield with both chambers in session. Virtual charter school moratorium bill moves to Senate subcommittee The Senate Education Committee did not hear House Bill 494 during its hearing on Tuesday, so the Illinois Policy Institute’s Vice President of Policy, Ted Dabrowski, was unable to testify in opposition to the bill as planned. Instead,...

Madigan’s pension plan would perpetuate Illinois’ crisis

By Benjamin VanMetre
05/02/2013
Illinois Speaker Michael Madigan’s pension proposal (House Amendment #1 to Senate Bill 1) perpetuates Illinois’ crisis. The plan locks in the unmanageable defined benefit plan, guarantees the crowd out of core government services and continues the irresponsible pension payment ramp. Madigan’s plan keeps politicians in control of state employee pensions. By failing to get rid of...

Quinn hikes taxes on Illinois homeowners as part of ‘property tax relief law’

05/01/2013
by Brian Costin Gov. Pat Quinn just hiked my property taxes. And, if you’re younger than 65 years old, he just hiked your property taxes too. But if you attended Quinn’s bill signing ceremony for Senate Bill 1894 you would have seen him championing himself as a fighter against Illinois’ outrageously high property tax rates, as evidenced...

Lessons from the Edgar plan: Why defined benefits can’t work

By Ted Dabrowski
04/30/2013
The problem The blame for Illinois’ pension crisis is often laid at the feet of state politicians who supposedly “skipped” payments and caused the state’s five pension systems to be underfunded. This has prompted legislators to add a “funding guarantee” to the current crop of pension reforms bills in order to stop any future pension...

Widespread non-compliance with TIF district reporting requirements

By Brian Costin
04/29/2013
Tax Increment Financing, or TIF, districts are a controversial economic development tool – and there is no concrete evidence they actually work. In fact, a study from professors at the University of Chicago and Lake Forest College showed that Illinois communities with TIF districts “grew substantially slower than non-adopters.” By law, TIFs are intended to promote economic...

My representative scored what?

By Mark Cavers
04/04/2013
Earlier this year, theAi??Illinois Policy Institute released a Vote Card, grading each of our state senators and representatives on their voting record. Today, theAi??National Taxpayers Union Types of generic synthroid Ai??released its 2011 Congressional Rating, which grades legislators at the national level. The Congressional Rating scores each senator and representative on his or her commitment...
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FAQ: How the federal scholarship program would help Illinois students

Illinois students could soon benefit from scholarship money to help them find a tutor, attend ACT or SAT prep sessions, pay tuition, get special education services or assist with other academic needs. That will happen in Illinois only if Gov. J.B. Pritzker lets the state’s schoolchildren benefit from the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program, established...

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Diana Graham

Process for unionizing non-state workers raises red flags

By Paul Kersey
06/19/2014

CBS Chicago: Illinois’ highest-paid superintendent receives $400K per year to oversee 1,200 students

By Ted Dabrowski
05/02/2016