After several significant budget related initiatives failed to advance out of the General Assembly, such as proposed pension reforms and borrowing to pay down the State’s backlog of unpaid bills, the legislature passed an operating budget for FY2012 in the final hours of its regular session late on May 31, 2011. The budget passed by both chambers and sent to Governor Pat Quinn totals $33.2…
This article discusses State of Illinois Treasurer Dan Rutherford’s resistance to proposals by State lawmakers to borrow to pay the State’s backlog of unpaid bills. The Civic Federation says that borrowing won’t ease the backlog and will impinge on future school and healthcare spending.
This article examines the various disagreements over plans of how, and if, to borrow to pay off the State of Illinois’ backlog of unpaid bills. The Civic Federation says that borrowing will worsen the State’s fiscal outlook.
Surprising as it may seem, not all budget cuts reduce spending. A case in point is the FY2012 Medicaid budget passed by the Illinois House on May 13, 2011. House Bill 3717 includes $6.9 billion of General Funds appropriations for the State of Illinois’ Medical Assistance Program.[1] As indicated in the chart below, the House budget is $537.3 million below Governor Pat Quinn’s proposed FY2012…
This editorial about the fiscal condition of the State of Illinois cites the Civic Federation’s analysis of the State’s FY2012 proposed budget.
A new report estimates that the State of Illinois could save between $260 million and $300 million in FY2012 by increasing the share of health insurance premiums paid by retirees and their dependents from the current average of roughly 9% to approximately 50%. As previously discussed on this blog, the General Assembly’s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (COGFA) hired a…
Earlier this week the Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability at the Civic Federation released its analysis of Governor Pat Quinn’s proposed FY2012 operating budget. The report found that the proposed FY2012 budget had a General Funds operating shortfall of $2.4 billion due to increased spending and overestimated revenues. The Civic Federation opposed the Governor’s proposed budget due to…
This editorial discusses findings in the Civic Federation’s analysis of the Governor Quinn’s FY2012 budget proposal for the State of Illinois.
This article discusses the Civic Federation’s analysis of the State of Illinois FY2012 proposed budget. It highlights the Federation’s reasons for rejecting the budget plan, which include a budget gap of $2.4 billion and a dependence on borrowing to pay overdue bills.
The State of Illinois’ largest area of capital investment, transportation projects, received a funding boost this week when the federal government announced additional grants to support high-speed rail projects in Illinois. The U.S. Department of Transportation notified Illinois in the past week that it would receive two additional grants for high-speed rail. On May 4, 2011, the State…
