Despite the massive size and scope of the project to widen the Tri-State, the Illinois Tollway board suggests new tolls and taxes won’t be needed – but history shows that promises related to tolls in Illinois haven’t held up in the past.
Credit rating agencies have warned Illinois’ credit could slide into junk territory if the legislative session ends in May without a budget deal to get the state’s finances back on track.
Privatizing some medical services provided to inmates in the Illinois Department of Corrections could potentially save the state $8 million a year. But the Illinois Nurses Association has a history of doing all it can to keep taxpayers on the hook for that money – and for union jobs that might not even be necessary.
House Bill 2977 would require both public elementary schools and high schools to include cursive instruction in their curriculums, and the plan doesn’t include how much this unfunded state mandate would cost taxpayers.
State agencies have paid more than $270,000 to Mautino Distributing Company – most of it after Madigan brought Mautino into a leadership role in 2009.
Reforms such as record sealing expansion make it likelier that ex-offenders will be able to find work – and stop cycling in and out of prison. That means they and their families will have a chance to succeed. And the more ex-offenders enter this virtuous cycle – instead of returning to prison – the better off the state and taxpayers will be, too.
With House Speaker Mike Madigan’s longevity comes a patronage army paid with public dollars.
Former U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert had been receiving nearly $30,000 annually from the underfunded General Assembly Retirement System.
Chicago Public Schools is faced with the possibility of closing school early while Chicago sits on massive property wealth.
Illinois House Bill 4039 would reveal publicly the names of state lawmakers who haven’t filed their state tax returns.
Residents of Chicago’s collar counties pay the highest property taxes in the state – and some of the highest in the country.
Government worker retirement costs and interest on state retirement debt are squeezing out funding for social service providers and taxpayer relief.