Diverting taxpayer dollars from pensions to salaries, underfunding pensions, and providing unsustainably high pension benefits have caused Elgin, Illinois’ combined police and firefighter pension shortfalls to double in just nine years to $180 million.
The outsized benefits received by retired government workers under the State Universities Retirement System and the unfair burden this places on taxpayers demonstrate the urgent need to reform Illinois’ government-worker pensions.
Funds provided through Senate Bill 2039, which Gov. Bruce Rauner signed into law Dec. 7, will allow the Illinois Lottery to resume paying winning ticket holders.
Chicagoans are the most-taxed residents of any major city in Illinois and pay the 10th-highest property taxes compared to taxpayers in other large U.S. cities.
Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White’s office is seeking bids to determine the feasibility of allowing electronic driver’s licenses.
Illinois’ anti-growth policies depress middle-class wages and job opportunities.
“I have friends who are very successful and friends who are barely getting by. I’d say our family is in the middle of that, living paycheck to paycheck. My husband is an Army veteran and we have two kids. “We love our neighborhood. We love our house. We built it 13 years ago and our...
Amid budget gridlock, Illinois lottery winners sue to have their winnings paid with interest and to prevent the state from selling more tickets it can’t pay out.
The states are the laboratories of democracy, but their experiments can’t violate citizens’ constitutional rights to free speech and freedom of association under the First Amendment of the Constitution.
The Illinois House of Representatives concluded its 2015 session without passing a budget, relying instead on piecemeal legislation to resolve policy issues and fill funding gaps.
Amid continued budget gridlock in Springfield, Senate Bill 2039 provides funds to pay Illinois Lottery winners, as well as to allow for road maintenance, 911-center operations and projects by Chicago’s tourism office, among other local government programs.
“This is the best job I’ve ever had. “I was a nursing assistant before this. I have two kids and the pay here is so much better. When I came in [the owner] taught me how to weld and do other fabrication work. “But it’s sad that I have friends who want these kinds of...