A jury found all “ComEd Four” defendants guilty of bribing Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan in exchange for favorable legislation. It was an alarm for Springfield lawmakers that half-measures don’t work and lasting ethics reform is needed in Illinois.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s 42nd and final disaster proclamation has expired after 1,155 days in a state of emergency. Illinois was 1 of only 6 states still under emergency orders because of the pandemic.
Officials at the General Assembly Retirement System suspended Michael McClain’s legislative pension after he was convicted on nine counts of bribery in the ‘ComEd Four’ trial. Precedent suggests it may not be permanent.
Pennsylvania’s House Bill 950 is worded exactly like Illinois’ Amendment 1. Illinois labor leaders recently claimed Illinois’ amendment is the “blueprint” for other states, such as Pennsylvania.
Industry sources report one of Chicago’s largest money management firms could soon move their Illinois headquarters to Florida. Guggenheim Partners would be the sixth large company and second investment firm to move out of Illinois in the past year.
Illinois’ congressional Democrats asked for an additional $25 million to pay for security at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Host cities typically receive $50 million.
This week’s The Policy Shop is by Bryce Hill, director of fiscal and economic research for the Illinois Policy Institute. Illinois’ pension crisis is the driving force behind its high property taxes. With $140 billion in unfunded liabilities in the five state-run systems alone, plus another $70 billion in local pension system debt, state lawmakers’ default...
The four top lobbyists and executives at the state’s largest electric utility were convicted May 2 for their involvement in a multi-year scheme to funnel $1.3 million in jobs, contracts and payments to sway the former Illinois House Speaker.
The proposal by state Sen. Robert Martwick is intended to fix a technical problem with the Tier 2 pension system, but Martwick said he doesn’t know how much it could cost taxpayers. He said it could be “billions.”
Gov. J.B. Pritzker told Harvard students self-financing political campaigns isn’t the answer, calling for campaign finance reform. Pritzker self-financed both of his gubernatorial campaigns for a total of $323 million.
Illinois lost more than 105,000 residents and $10.9 billion on net in adjusted gross income to other states from 2020-2021, according to new federal tax return data. Losses were spread across every age and income group.
Illinois homeowners have lost the full value of their homes over relatively small tax debts. But a case now before the U.S. Supreme Court could end that practice in Illinois and across the country.