Illinois state Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie has introduced a pension bill that is unfair to new and current workers, is potentially unconstitutional, bails out Chicago Public Schools’ pensions, and perpetuates Illinois’ broken pension system.

This week, Gov. Quinn submitted his budget proposals for fiscal year 2013, which starts July 1, 2012. The governor said that the state’s “rendezvous with reality has arrived.” But while the governor recognized the state’s problems, he offered few concrete reforms on how to solve these problems. Below is the Institute’s commentary on Gov. Quinn’s...

CPS pension costs rising faster than state aid can keep up.

by Mark Cavers Last week, the Illinois Policy Institute partnered with the Manhattan Institute to release a poll measuring the public’s mood on a wide range of issues including: Pensions, the state’s budget, the economy, taxes, unions, and collective bargaining. According to our poll, 63% of people still oppose the tax hikes that were passed in January. Even more...

by Mark Cavers Rather than coming to the table to try and help save their members’ pensions, union officials seem content to vilify the wealthy in Illinois. Yesterday, while discussing the pension reform bill in committee, the head of AFSCME argued that all we need to do is raise taxes on the rich and our pension problem...