Jeanne Ives

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...

Illinois’ largest cities show wide disparity in online transparency, Chicago fails

By Brian Costin
12/19/2013
A new report looking at the state’s 25 largest municipalities shows a wide disparity in citizens’ access to basic government information online from community to community. In places such as Evanston, Skokie and Orland Park, citizens have excellent access to basic financial and participatory information online, but the same isn’t true in many other areas....

TAGS: good government, transparency

A principled stand against pension “fix”

By Matt Paprocki
12/04/2013
Lawmakers met in Springfield on Tuesday for a special session on pension reform. After an early morning committee hearing, a gathering of each of the four legislative caucuses and several hours of lengthy floor debates, a pension bill passed the House and Senate, and now awaits Gov. Pat Quinn’s signature. The Illinois Policy Institute adamantly...

TAGS: Brad Halbrook, Brian Stewart, Dale Righter, Dan Duffy, David Harris, David Luechtefeld, defined benefit plans, Dwight Kay, Jason Barickman, Jeanne Ives, Joe Sosnowski, Kyle McCarter, pensions, Senate Bill 1, Tom Cross, Tom Morrison

Despite the many problems Illinois faces, there is much to be thankful for

By Matt Paprocki, Jane McEnaney
11/28/2013
Working at free market think tank in Illinois, it’s easy to get discouraged by bad policies. Despite the many problems Illinois faces, there is much to be thankful for. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, here are some of the things we are most thankful for this year: Illinois’ flat income tax. Illinois’ current flat tax...

TAGS: fair tax, flat tax, income tax, Jeanne Ives, Joe Sosnowski, Kyle McCarter, Matt Murphy, Patti Bellock, Ron Sandack, Tom Morrison

Illinois lawmakers who have signed anti-progressive tax resolution

By Jane McEnaney
10/18/2013
As the Illinois General Assembly heads back to Springfield for veto session next week, here is a quick look at what elected officials have signed on to the Illinois Policy Institute’s legislative efforts to prevent lawmakers from amending the state’s constitution to permit a progressive income tax hike, which would increase taxes on 85 percent...

TAGS: fair tax, flat tax, graduated income tax, ILGA: Illinois General Assembly, progressive income tax

Credit union offers interest-free loans to Illinois lawmakers during pay freeze

By Hilary Gowins
08/04/2013
Illinois lawmakers stopped getting paid on Thursday. So did Gov. Pat Quinn, who on July 10 used his line-item veto power to halt lawmaker pay until the General Assembly reaches an agreement on pension reform. But a Rantoul-based credit union has come to their aid, offering interest-free loans to state legislators. According to the State Journal-Register,...

Five reasons why the university pension plan won’t solve Illinois’ crisis

By Benjamin VanMetre
07/19/2013
The Institute of Government and Public Affairs, or IGPA, a university-based research organization, recently developed a pension plan for Illinois. That plan was presented at a pension conference committee hearing earlier this month. But it’s not the type of reform Illinois’ needs. The IGPA plan fails to solve Illinois’ pension problem. Here are five reasons...

Little movement during Illinois’ first pension committee meeting

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...

Pension plan developed by universities fails to solve Illinois’ pension crisis

By Benjamin VanMetre
06/20/2013
A six-point pension plan created by the Institute of Government and Public Affairs, or IGPA, fails to solve Illinois’ pension problem. That’s because the plan, Senate Bill 2591, maintains the state’s unmanageable defined benefit plan for current employees. It requires all new employees to participate in a hybrid defined benefit and defined contribution pension plan, and...

Capitol Updates: lawmakers push off pension reform in favor of ‘pension conference committee’ during special session

By Jane McEnaney
06/20/2013
State lawmakers were in Springfield yesterday for a special session ordered by Gov. Pat Quinn. As expected, the General Assembly did not take formal votes on any pension reform legislation. Instead, Quinn called for the formation of a conference committee, with the intention of resolving the differences between the House and Senate on pension reform. As a means of breaking up...
Load More

Chicago Forward 2026: A pro-growth plan to end city budget deficits

Chicago’s $1.15 billion projected budget gap is the latest in a decades-long string of structural deficits. Making Chicago’s high taxes worse is not the solution.

View Report

Report Archive

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