Laurence Msall, President of the Civic Federation, is interviewed on this segment of Chicago Tonight about the State’s budgetary problems. Msall points out that the State is pushing off its hard decisions to a later date in favor of borrowing today.
In this blog post, Greg Hinz discusses Illinois’ capital plan and the various infrastructure needs throughout the State. Hinz notes that the Civic Federation has urged lawmakers to prioritize spending through a capital improvement plan before any funds were allocated.
In a blog post about the programs the Illinois capital budget will fund, Greg Hinz mentions the Civic Federation as one of the major supporters of the State producing a capital improvement plan as a way of prioritizing projects in the budget.
A new study from the Rockefeller Institute of Government in Albany, New York reports that total state tax collections for the first quarter of 2009 declined by 11.8% from the same quarter last year. This is the largest decline since 1963 and can be attributed in large part to the impact of the current recession. There were sharp reductions in collections for all three of the major state revenue…
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…
Over the years, Illinois’ poorly funded retirement systems have put an enormous strain on the State’s budget. At times, the State has chosen to simply avoid the burden by making smaller contributions to the pension funds than required under a 1995 pension funding law. As part of the $54 billion FY2010 operating budget passed on July 15, 2009, the General Assembly and Governor chose to make…
In this column, Steve Huntley explores the deadlock in Springfield over the State of Illinois budget. He cites the Civic Federation’s analysis of Governor Quinn’s proposed budget, which advocated state employee pension and health care benefit reforms and budget cuts before any kind of tax increase.
In this news segment about a proposed increase to the Illinois income tax, the Civic Federation expresses concerns that too much of the focus in Springfield is on raising taxes, rather than fixing the state’s current fiscal problems. The Federation notes that it could support a small increase in the income tax, provided that state pensions are properly funded.
In an editorial about Governor Quinn’s proposed cuts to the Illinois budget, the Chicago Tribune strongly commended the Civic Federation’s analysis of the state’s FY2010 budget, saying it has “produced solid recommendations for saving billions of dollars in state spending.”
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…
