The following news pieces cover a recent press conference held by the Civic Federation and several social service, civic and advocacy organizations. During the press conference, Civic Federation President Laurence Msall and leaders from the other organizations urged the Illinois General Assembly and Governor Bruce Rauner to end the budget impasse and to pass and sign a comprehensive, balanced…
The following news items cover the release of the Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability at the Civic Federation's analysis of Governor Rauner’s FY2018 recommended budget. As mentioned in the analysis, the Civic Federation cannot support the FY2018 recommended budget. Further, the Federation calls on the Governor and General Assembly to end the unacceptable stalemate and to reject any…
Civic Federation urges governor and legislators to pass comprehensive, balanced budget (CHICAGO) – In a report released today, the Civic Federation’s Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability announced it cannot support Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner’s recommended budget for FY2018 because it has an operating deficit of at least $4.6 billion and does not address Illinois’ massive backlog of…
Click here to read the full report. The Civic Federation’s Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability not able to support Governor Rauner’s recommended FY2018 budget because it has an operating deficit of at least $4.6 billion, presents an insufficiently detailed plan for closing the gap and does not address Illinois’ massive backlog of bills. In addition to analyzing the recommended…
As Illinois approaches the end of its second year without a complete budget, lawmakers are debating a new plan to provide partial funding for higher education and human services. This blog post examines the size of the funding gap and how far the proposal would go toward closing it. Most State spending has continued during the prolonged budget impasse due to court orders, consent decrees,…
This article discusses a proposal by Governor Bruce Rauner that would freeze property taxes in Illinois and the financial repercussions it could have on the State’s local governments. Civic Federation President Laurence Msall says that if Illinois is going to enact a property tax freeze, it should present a plan for how its many distressed local governments will still be able to fund…
On March 22, two State Senate committees heard testimony on Illinois’ fiscal crisis. The not surprising message of the nearly three-hour hearing: the State’s budget problems have built up over many years, driven largely by rising pension costs, and will not be easy to fix. Thomas Walstrum, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, testified about his research on the history of…
This segment discusses a recent Illinois Senate Appropriations Committee hearing and how the State of Illinois has gone without a budget for more than 20 months. During his testimony at the hearing, Civic Federation President Laurence Msall said that there are no politically attractive or easy options left for Illinois to balance its budget.
This article discusses a recent Illinois Senate Appropriations Committee hearing where legislators heard testimony regarding the State’s continued spending far in excess of its known revenues due to the absence of a budget. During his testimony, Civic Federation President Laurence Msall highlighted recommendations from the Federation's State of Illinois FY2018 Budget Roadmap, which presents a…
In addition to many other obstacles to achieving a balanced budget, Illinois now faces another setback this week, this time in the form of under-performing revenues. A report issued by the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (COGFA) revised the agency’s earlier forecast of FY2017 General Funds revenues down by $674 million. The first forecast, issued in July 2016, had…
