The City of Chicago released the final report of the Commission to Strengthen Chicago’s Pension Funds today, April 30, 2010. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley announced the creation of the Commission on January 11, 2008. The intent of the Commission was to propose ways to improve the financial strength of the City’s four pension funds. The Civic Federation served as a member of the group. The Civic…
The Civic Federation recently released its analysis of Governor Pat Quinn’s recommended FY2011 operating and capital budgets for the State of Illinois. One of the Federation’s strongest points of opposition to the proposed $52 billion operating budget was that it relied heavily on borrowing for operations. The budget as proposed by the Governor called for borrowing to fund $4.7 billion of the…
The Civic Federation opposes Governor Pat Quinn’s $52 billion FY2011 recommended operating budget for the State of Illinois because it is unbalanced and does too little to address the State’s fiscal crisis. The Governor’s recommended budget borrows billions to pay for operations while continuing to ignore the massive backlog of unpaid bills, which will make the State’s financial condition worse.…
The State of Illinois currently pays the entire bill for health insurance premiums for 90% of retired state workers. Under Illinois law, retirees with at least 20 years of government service and their survivors do not have to pay any portion of their health insurance premiums. Governor Pat Quinn’s FY2011 budget includes a proposal to save state taxpayers $254.5 million by requiring all retirees…
Although some national economic indicators suggest that the global recession, which began in December 2007, is showing signs of a gradual recovery, many state budgets are more stressed than ever and have little hope for significant economic gains in the coming fiscal year. The most recent report from the National Council of Economic Advisors, published in February, shows a turnaround in national…
The Civic Federation supports the Illinois General Assembly’s first steps toward comprehensive public pension reform in Illinois and urges state leaders to implement further reforms. On Wednesday, March 24, 2010, the Illinois General Assembly took the first important steps toward comprehensive public pension reform in Illinois by approving Senate Bill 1946 as amended by the Illinois House. The…
The Civic Federation supports the Illinois General Assembly’s first steps toward comprehensive public pension reform in Illinois and urges state leaders to implement further reforms. On Wednesday, March 24, 2010, the Illinois General Assembly took the first important steps toward comprehensive public pension reform in Illinois by approving Senate Bill 1946 as amended by the Illinois House. The…
Federal healthcare reform could increase the State of Illinois’ Medicaid enrollment by 400,000 to 600,000 recipients beginning in 2014, but the federal government is expected to pay nearly all the additional cost for newly eligible recipients. The new law would extend Medicaid coverage to all nonelderly individuals with incomes below 133% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) in 2014. The FPL…
Governor Pat Quinn’s recommended FY2011 budget, issued on March 10, 2010, proposes borrowing $4.7 billion to cover FY2011’s projected operating deficit. No details about the Governor’s borrowing plan have yet been made available. However, the budget proposal states that borrowing would be preferable to increasing the State of Illinois’ backlog of unpaid bills by roughly the same amount because…
Although the proposed FY2011operating budget for the State of Illinois, which includes a $4.7 billion annual deficit and carrying forward $6 billion in unpaid bills, has garnered the most attention since being released on March 10, 2010, Governor Pat Quinn also proposed an expansion of the capital budget in FY2011. The Governor’s proposed capital budget for FY2011 comes on the heels of a…
