Governor Pat Quinn has decided that the State of Illinois will shut down its troubled Howe Developmental Center in Tinley Park and move residents to other quarters by April 2010. The decision, announced on August 28, 2009, came four months after the General Assembly’s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability on April 28 backed a recommendation by the Illinois Department of Human…
Hoping that Illinois lawmakers will agree to an income tax increase later this year, Governor Pat Quinn chose not to make the necessary cuts to work within the budget approved on July 15, 2009 by the General Assembly. At a press conference on July 31, the Governor said he had already trimmed more than $1 billion from the FY2010 budget that he initially proposed in March. However, Governor Quinn…
As Governor Pat Quinn searches for unaffordable programs to cut from the state budget, the fate of the troubled Howe Developmental Center in Tinley Park deserves close attention. Howe, a state-run facility for the developmentally disabled, was decertified by federal authorities in 2007 after reports of substandard care and safety violations, including deaths of residents in unexplained…
The Civic Federation's Institute for Illinois' Fiscal Sustainability wrote this issue brief about the Illinois Medicaid Program. The report provides an overview of Medicaid in Illinois and highlights areas where the program's cost efficiency might be improved. The report recommends that the General Assembly form a joint legislative and gubernatorial commission to launch a review of the future…
The Civic Federation's Institute for Illinois' Fiscal Sustainability produced this analysis of the proposed FY2010 Illinois operating and capital budgets. The Civic Federation does not support the proposed operating budget because it raises taxes without fixing the state's structural deficit. If significant pension and employee healthcare reforms are implemented, the Federation could support a…
The Civic Federation's Institute for Illinois' Fiscal Sustainability produced this guide for addressing the state's FY2010 budget. The roadmap provides an in-depth outline of best practices for a budget that would confront the state's growing fiscal crisis, including the areas of state spending, revenue, pensions, employee and retiree health insurance, Medicaid, capital, and asset sales.
In this article about mounting bad debt and debt collection problems in the Cook County health network, the Civic Federation is quoted as urging the county to increase their transparency in how they determine bad debt.
CHICAGO – As the Cook County Board continues its debate on the proposed $3 billion budget for FY 2005, the Civic Federation applauds the Board for its vote to consolidate the public relations, human resources and finance departments of the County’s four hospitals – a move that could save the taxpayers of Cook County more than $2 million in the coming year. “This move to end unnecessary…
