State of Illinois

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Illinois General Assembly Approves Expanded Capital Budget with Additional Borrowing

Although Governor Pat Quinn originally proposed a capital budget for FY2015…

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Chicago Area Governments Prohibited from Improving Pension Funding Without State Intervention

State statute governs all benefits and funding of public pensions for the City of Chicago. The City cannot contribute more to its pensions than the multiple of employee contributions allowed under state statute. There has unfortunately…

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New Details Emerge on FY2015 Illinois Budget

A week after the Illinois General Assembly ended its spring session, legislative leaders circulated new information about the FY2015 spending plan approved by lawmakers. General…

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Illinois House Defers Major Budget Decisions

UPDATE: Illinois General Assembly Passes FY2015 Budget On May 30, 2014, a day before the end of the Illinois General Assembly’s regular spring session, the Senate passed the FY2015 budget previously approved by the House. As discussed…

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Illinois Medicaid Enrollment under Affordable Care Act Exceeds Projections

More Illinois residents than originally projected are signing up for Medicaid as a result of the federal Affordable Care Act, but the long-term impact on the State budget remains unclear. Illinois officials had initially projected that…

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State of Illinois FY2015 Recommended Operating Budget: Analysis and Recommendations

The Civic Federation opposes Governor Pat Quinn’s recommended budget for FY2015 because it uses revenue from extending the 2011 temporary income tax increase for new spending. The State’s fiscal crisis demands that any increased revenue be…

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Governor’s Five-Year Projections Illustrate Dramatically Different Financial Paths

As part of the FY2015 budget recommendation for the State of Illinois, Governor Pat Quinn provided two separate five-year projections for both “…

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Government Consolidation in Illinois: An Update

The consolidation and dissolution of local units of government has been the subject of much discussion recently in Illinois. The purpose of this blog post is to briefly summarize a recent report released by the Illinois Local Government…

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Illinois Lacks True Rainy Day Fund

Governor Pat Quinn’s recommended budget for FY2015 proposes that the State of Illinois build a financial cushion to deal with future economic…

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Governor Quinn's FY2015 Budget Includes Interfund Borrowing to Close Budget Gap

Although the budget recommended by Governor Pat Quinn for FY2015 proposes extending current income tax rates to avoid a massive revenue cliff, it also relies on borrowing $650 million to close a budget gap and pay down a portion of the…