A Commission of the Illinois Supreme Court tasked with making recommendations for comprehensive pretrial reform in Illinois released its final report earlier this month. The Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Pretrial Practices makes recommendations that cover pretrial procedures from arrest to bail setting and supervision orders. Among the 54 recommendations included in the report, the Commission recommends the creation of a statewide validated pretrial risk assessment to help judges…
The coronavirus pandemic has had a significant impact on all sectors, including the criminal justice system. How are the public safety agencies in Chicago, Cook County and Illinois responding to the public health emergency? Cook County Jail On March 9, the day Illinois Governor JB Pritzker declared a state of emergency, the Cook County Jail had about 5,700 people in jail (“behind the walls”) and another 2,430 people under the Sheriff’s custody on community supervision (electronic monitoring).…
In December the Civic Federation explored how Illinois, its local governments and other states tax recreational cannabis. In this post we will look at how those cannabis tax revenues will be spent by the State of Illinois and compare those priorities to other states. The Illinois Department of Revenue projects the State will collect $57 million in FY2020 from cannabis taxes and licensing fees and $140.5 million from taxes alone in FY2021, which starts July 1, 2020. But how will those revenues…
Click here to read the full report. Click here to read the press release for this analysis. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Civic Federation supports Mayor Lightfoot’s proposed FY2020 local funds budget of approximately $9.9 billion, but with several significant concerns. Entering FY2020 Mayor Lightfoot faced a historic $838.2 million Corporate Fund budget deficit driven largely by a $281.2 million increase to the City’s statutory contribution to the police and fire pension funds. The deficit is also…
For more than a decade, the Civic Federation has strongly supported consolidation of hundreds of police and fire department pension funds across Illinois to improve investment returns and reduce administrative costs. The step is now being considered by the General Assembly following recommendations in October 2019 by Governor J.B. Pritzker’s task force on pension consolidation. Senate Bill 616 would consolidate the assets of Illinois’ 649 public safety funds, not including those in Chicago,…
2020 Civic Federation Legislative Priorities The Civic Federation's legislative priorities for 2020 include public employee pension reforms, consolidation of local government units in Illinois, enacting policies to rationalize the property tax system, creation of a Local Government Protection Authority, requiring the State of Illinois to build a rainy day fund, development and implementation of a capital improvement plan and…
Click here to read the full report. Click here to read the press release for this analysis. SUMMARY The Civic Federation supports the City Colleges of Chicago FY2020 Tentative Annual Operating Budget totaling $447.5 million, but has concerns about the future fiscal stability of the District. The District is still recovering from the two-year State budget impasse that severely underfunded higher education institutions and reduced and delayed MAP grants, impacting student enrollment. In an…
The Cook County Chief Judge’s Office recently released a report and accompanying data assessing the effectiveness of a 2017 reform of bond court practices. The report increases transparency and allows for additional public analysis of pretrial justice in Cook County. The analysis in turn raises concerns about racial disparities and additional questions about bond court outcomes. General Order 18.8A, which became effective in September 2017, required Cook County bond court judges to maintain a…
2019 Civic Federation Legislative Priorities The Civic Federation's legislative priorities for 2019 include public employee pension reforms, consolidation of local government units in Illinois, enacting policies to rationalize the property tax system, creation of a Local Government Protection Authority, requiring the State of Illinois to build a rainy day fund, development and implementation of a capital improvement plan and improved…
Following major policy changes and calls for increased public disclosure, detailed quarterly information about Cook County bond court orders and outcomes is now available online. Chief Judge Timothy Evans’ Office began posting the new data on the Cook County Circuit Court’s website in early May. A dashboard with seven performance measures is currently available for the first quarter of 2018 and the last quarter of 2017. The initial data provide more official evidence of a trend that has been…
