Recent News About Illinois Policy Institute
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Members of the Illinois General Assembly’s bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules are questioning the prolonged state of emergency regarding COVID-19. Gov. J.B. Pritzker has declared a state of emergency 35 times.
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Proponents of Amendment 1 claim it applies to all workers, mimics other state constitutions and would help the economy. Wrong. Wrong. And wrong.
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An underused airport near Belleville, Illinois, has required local taxpayers to chip in $124.5 million since 2002 to keep it operating.
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Opponents of a November ballot measure dubbed the "Workers' Rights Amendment" say it's a property tax hike in disguise that would give government unions virtually unlimited bargaining power as a constitutional right.
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Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s blind trust of investments includes 12 different companies with $20 billion in state contracts since he took office.
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Appeals panel says the pro-union Amendment 1 must be approved by voters before it can be challenged in court, even though opponents say the amendment's language already blatantly conflicts with federal law and is itself unconstitutional
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A Truth in Accounting report argued state authorities should have used billions in federal aid to pay down interest on existing pension debt rather than save it for a rainy day. Experts warn this could lead to more state borrowing.
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Politicians and pundits can’t seem to agree about whether the U.S. is in a recession, but the semantics matter little for struggling Americans. Illinois can expect economic pain regardless of what it’s called.
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Wages have failed to keep up with inflation, dropping Illinoisans’ purchasing power by $2,900 on average.
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State workers are out enforcing Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s mandate that all gas pumps carry a sign noting his delay in the next automatic gas tax hike. The Illinois Fuel and Retail Association is in state court fighting the mandate and $500-a-day fines.
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July 1 marks the start of the suspended state grocery tax and delay in the automatic gas tax hike. Both industries are required by law to display signs reminding customers of the suspensions, but only gas stations face $500-a-day fines if they fail to comply.
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Delegates to the National Education Association’s annual meeting again called for mask and vaccine mandates, as well as remote learning. On Nov. 8 voters will decide whether to grant Illinois union bosses more power to set school policy.
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Illinois gas station owners lost their legal fight over the requirement to advertise the delay in Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s annual gas tax hike. Stations now will post the mandated signs July 1, but are also telling drivers how much state leaders raised the gas taxes.
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President Biden will call on Congress to suspend the federal gasoline and diesel tax for three months. Instead of suspending it, Gov J.B. Pritzker delayed the next motor fuel tax hike until after the election, hitting Illinois drivers with two hikes in 2023.
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Former state Sen. Thomas Cullerton was sentenced to one year in federal prison for embezzlement from a no-work union job. He sponsored the Amendment 1 proposal to make government unions nearly untouchable in Illinois.
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Unrealistic assumptions and missed investment returns have meant Illinois taxpayers paid $13.7 billion more for public pensions than state leaders projected five years earlier. Unless the estimates improve, taxpayers will pay an extra $21.3 billion during the next decade.
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A state audit found the Illinois Department of Employment Security lost to fraud more than half of the $3.6 billion in federal COVID-19 dollars earmarked for out-of-work Illinoisans. The full scope of the unemployment fraud remains unknown.
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Wages rose in Illinois, but inflation rose even more. That left the average worker almost $2,200 worse off.
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Rising gas prices show no sign of stopping. Average gas prices in Illinois are more than $5 a gallon, thanks in part to the nation’s second-highest motor fuel tax.
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As jobs growth and wage growth show signs of slowing, tax and regulatory changes could help prevent economic pain.