The Civic Federation submitted the following written testimony to Chairperson Kifowit and Members of the House Personnel & Pensions Committee on August 9, 2023.Dear Chairperson Kifowit and Members of the House Personnel & Pensions Committee: As the House Personnel and Pensions Committee considers a path forward for Tier 2 pensions in Illinois this year, the Civic Federation urges this Committee and the Illinois General Assembly to consider the following recommendations:Any changes…
State of illinois enacts $46.5 billion FY2024 capital budgetThe General Assembly has approved and Governor Pritzker has signed an approximately $46.5 billion FY2024 capital budget.Unlike the State’s annual General Funds budget, which is intended to cover only the cost of operations for the current fiscal year, capital appropriations are reauthorized over multiple years as planning, engineering and construction of capital investments commence. Since 2005 the capital budget has been proposed…
This week, the Civic Federation released its annual analysis of the State of Illinois Budget for FY2024. Among the recommendations made to the Governor and lawmakers was a call for the Illinois General Assembly to increase transparency and accessibility by posting video archives of General Assembly floor and committee hearings. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), all 50 state legislatures now livestream floor proceedings, and most legislatures, including Illinois…
Click here to read the full report. Click here to read the press release for this analysis. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Governor’s proposed FY2024 budget reflects the State’s continued recovery from the pandemic recession. Since FY2021 State budgets have had year-end surpluses, much of which the State has directed toward several priorities strongly supported by the Civic Federation, such as paying down debt, increasing reserves and making supplemental pension payments. The State remains in a…
On April 20, 2023 two bills passed out of committee in the Illinois House of Representatives that would increase pension benefits for Chicago firefighters hired after 2010. Senate Bills 1629 and 1630 are now on second reading in the House after passing unanimously in the Senate earlier in the session. The Civic Federation is concerned about these and other proposals that would enhance benefits for Tier 2 government employees (those hired since January 1, 2011) without any analysis completed…
The State of Illinois currently pays debt service on four major types of bonds: General Obligation (GO) bonds for capital projects, GO bonds for pension obligations, GO bonds to pay backlogged bills and Build Illinois revenue bonds. In previous years, the State has also issued short-term debt. The Illinois Constitution, the Short-Term Borrowing Act and the 2020 Coronavirus Urgent Remediation Emergency Borrowing (CURE) Act all authorize the issuance of short-term debt. All GO bonds are…
The Civic Federation released its annual Consumer Tax Rates Report in March, which lists and describes selected consumer taxes within the City of Chicago, including the complicated way the hotel operators’ tax is calculated and why. This blog post will explain in detail the hotel operators’ tax history and dissect the tax rate calculation for FY2023. Hotel Tax Rates and History The State hotel operators’ tax was enacted in 1961 at a rate of 3% of 97% of gross receipts from transient guests.…
On February 15, 2023, Governor Pritzker released the State of Illinois FY2024 Operating and Capital Budgets. The proposed budget noted revenue collections post-pandemic have continued to exceed expectations. This strong performance has prompted the both the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget (GOMB) and the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (COGFA), the fiscal analysis unit of the Illinois State Legislature, to make several upward revisions to both FY2023 and FY2024…
The State of Illinois FY2024 budget proposed by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, reflects the State’s strong financial position following its economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The State has taken positive steps over the past several years to eliminate $4.5 billion in debt from the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, pay back $3.2 billion in federal Municipal Liquidity borrowing, pay down its bill backlog and make supplemental contributions to the State’s pension funds. The State has…
On February 3, 2022, Attorney General Raoul announced that the State of Illinois and local governments that signed on to the agreement will receive a total of $760 million of the $26 billion national opioid settlement with Johnson & Johnson and three opioid distributors over the next 18 years. The Attorney General has since announced a number of other settlements reached, in coalition with other attorneys general around the country, with pharmacies and other opioid manufacturers. Illinois’…
