House Bill 5522 would require local governments and school districts in Illinois to maintain websites with links to vital public information such as budgets, expenditures and officials’ names and numbers.
Total compensation for affected legislators and statewide officeholders equals about $1.3 million per month, according to the comptroller. On top of salaries, taxpayers also have to foot the bill for lawmaker pensions – in Illinois’ active legislators will each cost the state budget about $180,000 next year.
The top 18 percent of Illinois taxpayers cover more than 60 percent of the state’s income taxes, and the state’s millionaires pay 15 percent of Illinois’ income taxes.
SB 3267 would introduce electronic driver tracking, and create a behemoth bureaucracy to keep tabs on Illinois drivers and figure out how to process tax credits.
Illinois needs a combination of constitutional and statutory changes to put and keep the state on sound fiscal footing and allow it to pay its providers and better prepare for emergencies.
Monthly reports from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Illinois Department of Employment Security allow the public to see Illinois’ record for job creation and unemployment. Understanding the components of the reports, what they measure, and the significance of the data are key to assessing the state’s economic health.
The Illinois attorney general – House Speaker Mike Madigan’s daughter – could play a major role in whether state lawmakers will pass a budget Illinoisans can afford.
“I’ve been a boilermaker for 40 years. I was 20 years old when I started and I’ve raised eight kids on this job. It feels like back then you could just walk down the street and get a job in manufacturing … “I was born and raised in Chicago but I left for Indiana 12...
Illinois gained 14,700 jobs on net in March, according to a preliminary jobs report released by the Illinois Department of Employment Security, or IDES. March’s numbers mark three consecutive months of jobs growth in a state that had grown all too accustomed to job losses. More and more Illinoisans are looking for work – and...
Illinois' 859 local school districts consume nearly two-thirds of the $27 billion in local property taxes collected across the state each year.
An effective record-sealing policy can help nonviolent offenders find employment and stay away from crime.
Illinois’ March layoff report shows that almost a quarter of the 900 Illinoisans who will lose their jobs are manufacturing workers.