A week before Governor Pat Quinn’s FY2013 budget address, a panel of Illinois State senators met in Chicago to hear testimony on the State’s major budget challenges: rising Medicaid costs and unfunded pension liabilities. The Senate’s two Appropriation Committees held the joint hearing on February 15, 2012. Senator Heather Steans, who chairs one of the committees, said the hearing was intended to prepare members for the release of Governor Quinn’s recommended budget on February 22.…
In its most recent monthly briefing, the State of Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (COGFA) published new revenue projections for FY2012 and an early preview of its FY2013 projections, both reduced from previous forecasts. COGFA is a bipartisan joint legislative commission that provides analysis on State economic issues and the fiscal impact of legislative initiatives as well as reports on the State budget throughout the year. As discussed in the Civic Federation’…
The State of Illinois FY2013 Budget Roadmap, issued on January 30, 2012 by the Civic Federation’s Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability, relies on a five-year budget analysis by the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS). The HFS analysis is now available on the website of the State’s Budgeting for Results Commission. The HFS analysis sheds light on the complexity of Medicaid funding and provides an unusually long term perspective on State finances. The analysis…
(CHICAGO) The Civic Federation’s Illinois research institute warns that Illinois could face an unprecedented $34.8 billion backlog of unpaid bills if action is not taken immediately by the Governor and General Assembly to stabilize the State’s finances in FY2013 and beyond. The Federation’s new FY2013 Budget Roadmap analyzes the state’s current fiscal position, reviews Governor Quinn’s three-year budget plan, presents a rough five-year budget projection for FY2013 to FY2017 and provides…
Prior to the release of the Governor’s annual budget recommendation the Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability at the Civic Federation releases an analysis of the State of Illinois’ fiscal condition. The FY2013 Roadmap includes a review of Governor Quinn’s three-year budget plan, a rough five-year budget projection for FY2013 to FY2017 and recommendations for the Governor and General Assembly to improve the state’s financial condition. The Civic Federation’s Illinois research institute…
On January 19, 2012, Governor Pat Quinn announced plans to close a State psychiatric hospital in Tinley Park and a State residential facility for the developmentally disabled in Jacksonville. The Tinley Park Mental Health Center is scheduled to cease operations in July 2012, while the Jacksonville Developmental Center is expected to close in October 2012. As discussed here and here, the two facilities were among seven previously set to close under a budget-driven plan announced by the Governor…
Six months after the end of the last fiscal year, the Illinois State Comptroller is reporting that $5.2 billion of FY2012 revenues were needed to pay off the State’s bills from FY2011. Paying off the previous year’s bills with current revenues is one of the ways the State deals with its accumulated deficits, which have reached historic highs over the last five budget years. At the end of each fiscal year, which for Illinois ends on June 30, the State typically has 60 days to pay off the last of…
Governor Pat Quinn released a three-year budget projection for the State of Illinois this week that shows only minor improvements in the State’s financial circumstances in the near term and declining prospects for Illinois’ future fiscal stability. The budget plan, required by law to be issued the first week of January, provides an update to the FY2012 State budget after changes made during the General Assembly’s veto session and gives revenue and spending projections for the next three fiscal…
As previously discussed here, many controversial issues confronted the Illinois General Assembly as it entered its fall veto session. Pension reform, gambling expansion, tax incentives for corporations, the Governor’s budget vetoes and a list of pending facilities closures all loomed large on the fall legislative agenda. The session was originally scheduled for October 25 through October 27 and November 5 through November 8, but an additional day was added to the session on November 29. In the…
The Civic Federation's legislative priorities for 2012 include public pension reform, requiring the State of Illinois to develop and implement a capital improvement plan, dissolving the Illinois International Port District, creating a new governing board for the Cook County Forest Preserve District, requiring all counties to hold budget hearings and large counties to produce timely annual audits, enacting tax increment financing reporting reform, requiring school financial management…
