by Ben SzalinskiJune 6, 2025
A coalition of civic organizations is urging Governor Pritzker and legislative leaders to delay action on last-minute Tier 2 pension legislation that could undermine Illinois’ fiscal stability and credit rating. The proposed changes go well beyond the Governor’s original plan and lack sufficient scrutiny or actuarial analysis. The group calls for transparency, careful evaluation, and stakeholder input before any pension reform is enacted.
Over 3.4 million Illinois residents were enrolled in Medicaid healthcare coverage in Fiscal Year 2024 (FY2024). Of those, 44% were children, 9% seniors, and 7% adults with disabilities. Of those 3.4 million, over 772,000 (23%) are adults who received coverage through the Affordable Care Act.
Green Bay Road, a vital north-south corridor through Lake and Cook Counties, is maintained by ten different jurisdictions, including the State of Illinois and nine municipalities. This fragmented structure leads to inconsistent planning, uneven road conditions, and disjointed infrastructure projects. While local control was intended to foster responsive governance, the result is a patchwork of priorities that fails to match how the road is actually used: as a continuous, regional thoroughfare.…
State debt burden—a state’s total financial liability from various forms of borrowing, including bonds, loans, and related financing instruments—is one of the core indicators of a government’s fiscal health, stability, and creditworthiness. This Civic Federation analysis indicates that, based on current State projections at the time of publication, the State of Illinois is positioned to continue a nearly decade-long trend of gradually reducing its debt burden. That situation could change,…
The Civic Federation has long advocated for the abolition of unnecessary, duplicative, and unaccountable units of local government, including townships. These proliferate in greater number in Illinois, which has 8,506 units of government,1 than anywhere in the country. Examples include the Federation’s successful three-year campaign that in 2006 resulted in the dissolution of the Cook County Suburban Tuberculosis Sanitarium District, a once important government function that evolved into…
A comparative analysis of state expenditures finds that Illinois allocates a larger portion of its operational expenditures to pension obligations than most peer states. Illinois’ annual expenditures on state-level public pensions totaled nearly $12.2 billion, or approximately 11% of Illinois’ total operational expenditures, based on FY2023 national data. This substantial allocation surpasses that of nearly all 12 peer states used for comparison, as well as the national average. This…
On February 19, Governor Pritzker released his proposed budget for Illinois’ fiscal year 2026 (FY2026), beginning on July 1, 2025. The proposed budget includes several new revenue sources but does not include a tax increase. It also includes a host of minor spending reductions across most state areas of expenditure, as well as significant savings due to the elimination of the state’s healthcare program for adult immigrants. Though the budget is balanced, it does not address several major fiscal…
A coalition of Illinois policy and civic leaders released Modernizing Illinois' Sales Tax: A Pathway to a Sustainable Future, which outlines the potential impacts of updating the state’s sales tax system. The report — coauthored by organizations that represent a broad range of government and tax policy viewpoints — details how specific reforms could apply sales tax to more consumer services, address revenue shortfalls, and ensure sustainable funding for essential public services like public…
