United States Senate

Has your legislator signed the Repeal the Tax Hike Pledge?

11/01/2011
by Brian Costin Just a few hours before a new legislature was sworn in, on January 12, 2011, at 1:30AM Illinois’s 96th General Assembly passed the largest tax hike in state history, raising the individual income tax rate by 67 percent and the corporate tax rate by 46 percent. The vote passed by a razor thin...

CLASS Act Scrapped

10/14/2011
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson Earlier today, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act is not going to be implemented. The controversial long-term care program is part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and has been under scrutiny since before the law was enacted....

Citizens Don’t Want More Taxes

08/05/2011
by Aon Hussain With the world watching, the Republican controlled House and the Democrat controlled Senate and President came to an agreement on the debt ceiling that simultaneously raised the debt ceiling and ensured more than two trillion dollars in spending cuts. While this showdown was combative, another duel between Democrats and Republicans looms in...

Quinn’s “Cuts”

07/01/2011
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson On Thursday, Gov. Quinn signed the budget for fiscal year 2012, which begins today. As governor, he has the power to make line item vetoes and reductions to the budget passed by the General Assembly. In his budget announcement, Gov. Quinn claims to have made $376.4 million in budget cuts, but looking deeper...

Tiny Taxing District Transparency

06/22/2011
by Mark Cavers On Monday, the Chicago Tribune ran a story on the thousands of taxing districts and government bodies that are scattered across Illinois: “Illinois has the most units of government in the nation, and the Tribune acquired and combed through a list of each one — nearly 8,500 by the state comptroller’s count, from well-known...

Chico Takes on Job Ripe with Opportunities

06/07/2011
by Mark Cavers Earlier today, Governor Quinn announced his appointment of former mayoral hopeful Gery Chico to the head of the Illinois State Board of Education. Chico will face a challenging job as he oversees schools in communities as diverse as Chicago and Sparta. He is charged with overseeing all 868 school districts, 2.1 million...

Spring 2011 Legislative Session Summary

06/01/2011
by Collin Hitt The General Assembly has adjourned for the summer. A budget was passed that contained real cuts, but it was still too big. Significant school reform sits on the governor’s desk. Illinois government will be more transparent. And yet so much more remains to be done. Here are the highlights of the spring...

What’s Going on Next Door?

05/04/2011
by Mark Cavers Last week, Indiana’s Governor, Mitch Daniels, released a recap of the previous legislative session and touted a number of successes for the residents of Indiana. Here in Illinois, our legislators are now faced with many of the same opportunities that Indiana took advantage of over the past few months. Lets take a quick look...

Teacher Tenure or High Performance?

04/14/2011
by Collin Hitt We’ve reached an important moment for education reform. Teacher tenure – the impregnable job protection held by teachers good and bad – could soon be replaced by a system that protects only high performance. The threat of strikes could be diminished. And school districts could no longer be forced to bargain away...

Nonessential Personnel

04/07/2011
by Mark Cavers In the case of a government “shutdown” the government doesn’t actually shut down. Rather, essential services remain up and running: Military personnel in Iraq don’t suddenly fly home, TSA agents don’t stay in bed, and the IRS doesn’t stop collecting taxes (although, in a particularly cruel bit of irony, they stop sending...
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Pathway to a Profession: How Apprenticeships Could Reshape Illinois’ Beauty Service Industry

Occupational licensing requirements present one of the steepest barriers to low-income Illinoisans starting careers in beauty services. Illinois requires anyone seeking to become a barber, cosmetologist, nail technician or hair braider to obtain a state license, essentially a permission slip to work. Unlike 45 other states, Illinois offers only one pathway to licensure for each...

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Diana Graham

Process for unionizing non-state workers raises red flags

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

By Ted Dabrowski
05/02/2016