This memo provides a review of the funding guarantee provisions found in the pension reform bills that currently are or have been under consideration by the Illinois General Assembly.
The Illinois Senate is in session this week though the House is in recess until April 29. The Senate deadline for the third reading of substantive bills is on Thursday, April 25 meaning that all Senate bills must be voted on by the full Senate Chamber by Thursday. Otherwise bills will be sent back...
Illinois Policy Institute Executive Vice President, Kristina Rasmussen, joined Andrew Hansen on ABC 20 to discuss frivolous bills at the Illinois statehouse. $17 million dollars is how much Gov. Pat Quinn says the state falls in the red each day without pension reform. While there has been progress on the issue, no bill has hit...
Senate Democrats pushed through Senate Bill 26, which would impose ObamaCare’s massive expansion of Medicaid on Illinois, on Feb. 28. The bill passed on a party-line vote. You may recall that when this bill was debated in committee, proponents were allowed an hour of testimony – I was given less than one minute to testify in opposition. It’s a...
The 2013 legislative session is in full swing and there are a number of good government reform bills that have been introduced by legislators of both parties. While much of the focus in the media and at the Illinois Policy Institute is rightly on big-dollar issues such as pension and Medicaid reform, there are many other issues...
On Feb. 28, the Illinois Policy Institute held a press conference to publicly release its alternative budget plan, entitled Budget Solutions 2014. This 10-point plan offers responsible solutions to Illinois’ fiscal crisis. State Reps. Tom Morrison, Jeanne Ives, Dwight Kay and state Sen. Kyle McCarter showed their support and attended the press conference. Budget Solutions...
The only way to end Illinois’ pension crisis is to empower government workers by transitioning benefits for all future work to a defined contribution system.
Charter schools are intended to offer families more options in the public school system, but Illinois law often restricts and undermines the autonomy with which they were designed.