While technically ending Illinois’ nuclear power plant moratorium, a new law does not allow even one watt of nuclear energy to be generated for the public electrical grid.
There are over 150 new laws going into effect in 2024, but here are a dozen likely to affect your life. They might impact the cost of a burger, your gun ownership, where you can vape and who your local police officer is and what that officer can do.
The current owners Kevin McCallister’s house from “Home Alone” will pay more than $50,000 in property taxes this year. Illinoisans pay the second-highest property taxes in the nation on average.
The contract negotiated between the state and AFSCME Council 31 was ratified by members in July. But the final contract has yet to be released, meaning taxpayers don’t yet know how much it will cost them.
Illinois politicians have worked hard to protect incumbent state lawmakers and discourage newcomers. But that is changing for the second election cycle in a row as more Illinoisans work to get into the Illinois General Assembly.
The Illinois State Board of Education failed to publish diagnostic reports required by the Invest in Kids Act to track scholarship recipients’ progress starting in 2019. State lawmakers are letting the program expire without seeing a single report.
Illinois could make it easier to escape poverty by letting more people work without first getting a license. Six neighboring states do a better job of easing occupational licensing on low-income professions.
More than 55 million people are traveling for Thanksgiving this year, according to AAA. Illinois motorists can avoid the nation’s second-highest gas taxes by filling up in other states.
Authors left out key data that contradicted their findings to claim Illinois’ population is growing. Evidence Illinois is shrinking comes independently from the IRS, U.S. Census Bureau, Illinois Department of Revenue and multiple moving companies.
Some Illinois communities see regulating any mischief on Halloween as a real treat. Belleville prohibits anyone older than 12 from trick-or-treating, with fines up to $1,000.
Data from the Mercatus Center shows Illinois faces a high regulatory burden at both the federal and state level. Research shows these regulations place a disproportionately high burden on the poor, helping to keep them in poverty.
Contradictory metrics statewide point to poor accountability and grade promotion standards in Illinois. Low-income parents seeking alternatives are hamstrung as lawmakers weigh ending Illinois’ only school choice program.
Public education has received about $1.98 billion in additional funding since the 2018-19 school year when the Invest in Kids scholarship tax-credit program awarded its first scholarships to low-income students to attend the schools of their choice.
Illinois public school students are at a severe disadvantage. Educational unions here can strike, keeping kids out of school, but that’s not the case in other big cities or neighboring states.
Iowa, Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee are all having back-to-school sales tax holidays. Not Illinois, where state leaders saw the need during the 2022 election.
Current lawmakers in the Illinois General Assembly have received nearly $133 million in contributions from unions since 2010. Most of that cash went to Democrats.
