The Institute's Executive Vice President Kristina Rasmussen was quoted in an editorial published by the Northwest Herald which evaluated the Governor's budget in comparison to Budget Solutions 2013, an annual alternative to the Governor's state budget.
The Daily Herald published an editorial that highlighted a recent story about Illinois trial judges being the highest in the nation. The story featured research and commentary from the Illinois Policy Institute.
Three important bills passed out of the Illinois Senate on Thursday and will now be considered by the House.Ai??My colleague Amanda outlined some bad news coming out of the House, but in the Senate the passage of three bills is good news for people committed to saving Illinois. Each bill would change the structure of...
On Thursday, the Illinois Senate passedAi??a bill sponsored by Senator Brady that would compile information on employee characteristics, compensation and mobility. Cheap compazine side This is an important piece of legislation because approximately one-third of the stateai??i??s budget goes towards compensation. Yet, simple top-line data on the labor forceAi??is very difficult and in some instances...
During a contentious hearing on the Chicago school closings and turnarounds, Rep. Monique Davis compared actions of the CPS board to those during the "German whatever" (referring to the Nazi regime that closed Jewish businesses and schools in the 30s).
Illinois Policy Institute Senior Fellow Leonard Gilroy was interviewed by the Associated Press about Mayor Emmanuel's $7 billion public-private partnership plan for Chicago.
The Institute's senior director of government affairs, Collin Hitt, was quoted in an Illinois Statehouse News article about a former University of Illinois President receiving a golden parachute funded by the students and taxpayers.
Today the Illinois House adopted a budget framework for fiscal year 2013. The framework had bipartisan sponsorship, but unfortunately adopts an overall spending target that is still far too high. What is good about the budget is that it acknowledges the overwhelming burden of the unsustainable Medicaid program and takes steps to slow the growth of the...
Ever notice that going out to eat seems more expensive in Chicago than other cities? One of the reasons is that on top of the very high sales tax in Chicago, there are additional taxes on meals in restaurants: 0.25 percent Chicago restaurant tax and 1.0 percent Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA) food and...
Chicago has the second highest taxes on meals of the 50 largest U.S. cities. Check out the Institute's interactive dashboard on meal taxes to see how we stack up.
Institute proposal to put "price tags" on Medicaid legislation advances out of Senate committee.
Today was the final marathon session of oral arguments over ObamaCare. It began this morning with the question of what to do with the rest of the law if the individual mandate is struck down, a very real possibility after yesterday's hearing.
If the government can force you to buy health insurance, what can’t they force you to do or buy? That was the question posed by a number of Supreme Court justices throughout today’s oral argument on the constitutionality of ObamaCare. And that was the question President Obama’s lawyers couldn’t seem to answer. That question didn’t...
by Michael Wille Last month, Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan continued the White House talking point of “We Can’t Wait” when it comes to stalled Congressional action on education. Together with the president, he announced that waivers to the No Child Left Behind Act would be granted to ten different states. These waivers are...