The Civic Federation's State Pension Dashboard is intended for use as a resource and educational tool to increase the accessibility of Illinois state pension fund data. The dashboard reports metrics for the five state-funded retirement systems of Illinois, with data from fiscal year 1990 to fiscal year 2024. Using this tool, dashboard users can explore trends and compare performance across funds over time.
The USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is an essential component of the social safety net. Last year’s H.R. 1 legislation made significant changes to the program, including new state cost-sharing requirements tied to payment error rates. Data released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on June 24, 2026, indicate that Illinois’ SNAP payment error rate (PER) remains elevated, exposing the State to the possibility of significant future fiscal pressure. …
CIVIC FEDERATION CONTACT: communications@civicfed.orgCHICAGO — Today, the Civic Federation released the following statement regarding the FY27 State Budget and end of the Illinois spring legislative session.“Illinois has once again settled for a budget that relies on new taxes and interfund transfers rather than adopting the meaningful…
Rising oil prices associated with the current conflict in Iran have increased pressure on household and transportation affordability nationwide and have led to calls across the country for the suspension or reduction of taxes on motor fuel sales. In the State of Illinois (Illinois or ‘the State’), however, motor fuel taxes now support a broader range of transportation and transit systems than in prior years, meaning temporary tax reductions could have significant implications for transportation…
TIF is a tool used by local governments, like cities, towns, or villages, to boost their economies and pay for redevelopment projects in specific areas. Governments do this by taking property tax revenue above a set starting point and reinvesting it back in the same area. The goal is to encourage development that would not happen without this public funding.
Illinois is undertaking a significant governance change in early childhood policy by establishing the Illinois Department of Early Childhood (IDEC). The new department is intended to consolidate key early childhood programs currently administered across multiple state agencies, including the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), the Department of Human Services (IDHS), the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), and coordinating functions within the Governor’s Office of Early…
Governor Pritzker’s FY2027 State of Illinois budget proposal offers a “maintenance” approach that meets the current moment and balances near-term fiscal pressures. However, it does not address underlying structural challenges that could make balancing future budgets increasingly difficult without broader policy reforms. At the heart of the challenge is that the State’s revenue base is not growing fast enough to support its spending. Recent revenue increases have been driven largely by tax…
Federal funding supports about a third of Illinois’ total All Funds operating budget, funding a variety of programs including health and human services. Changes in federal policy create significant fiscal and operational pressure for the State. The enactment of H.R. 1 represents a shift in the federal-state fiscal relationship, increasing Illinois’ responsibility for administering and financing core health and human services programs that the State previously could depend on the federal…
With nearly 9,000 units of local government, Illinois is among the most fragmented states in the nation. Government consolidation is frequently proposed as a mechanism to improve efficiency, accountability, and fiscal sustainability in fragmented systems of local governance. In practice, consolidation can take many forms, ranging from full structural mergers and dissolutions of governments to narrower functional consolidation and shared service arrangements. These approaches differ…
Governor Pritzker’s FY2027 budget proposal for the State of Illinois (Illinois or ‘the State’) largely reflects a “maintenance budget.” Overall, spending remains relatively flat or slightly higher compared with FY2026, with limited new initiatives and few major structural policy changes. The proposal closes the $2.2 billion budget gap projected by the Governor’s Office in October 2025 primarily through a combination of targeted revenue changes, modest reallocations of existing revenues,…
