Gov. JB Pritzker announced a plan last week to “manage Illinois pension commitments through a set of proposals designed to build on the state’s recent fiscal progress and further reduce long-term risk for taxpayers and retirees.” The price tag, however, is already giving one legislative leader pause. And “fiscal progress” is not the reality when […]
Gov. JB Pritzker
Posted inRich Miller
Bears’ Indiana gambit changes tone of legislators
Illinois House Democrats were told last week that a state capital projects plan designed to assist Arlington Height’s bid to lure the Chicago Bears away from their Indiana stadium gambit would cost up to $895 million. None of the money would be used to directly build the new Bears stadium or the surrounding commercial district […]
Posted inRich Miller
SAFE-T Act questions persist
Gov. JB Pritzker set off a chain reaction last November when he told reporters he’d be open to changes in the SAFE-T Act, which eliminated cash bail and replaced it with a new pre-trial release/retention system, among other things. Pritzker was asked about the case of a woman, Bethany MaGee, who was horrifically set ablaze […]
Posted inRich Miller
Mid-decade congressional remap unlikely
The two most intense state legislative pressure campaigns I’ve witnessed both ended in failure. Back in 2017, Gov. Bruce Rauner tried everything he could think of to stop legislative Republicans from voting to increase the income tax to about where it was right before he took office for his one and only term. Both political […]
Posted inRich Miller
Mass transit funding deal analysis
Last May, several Illinois House Democrats complained bitterly that their mass transit negotiators were ignored and even shut out by the Senate Democratic mass transit negotiators. The House members had a point. The Senate passed a bill which was an almost purely Senate Democratic creation. They literally gave the House a “take it or leave […]
Posted inEditor's Note
Editors note 8/28/25
It was great to hear Gov. JB Pritzker stand up to President Donald Trump and his plans to send National Guard troops into Chicago, supposedly to fight crime. “What President Trump is doing is unprecedented and unwarranted,” Pritzker railed. “It is illegal. It is unconstitutional. It is un-American.” It’s rare and welcome to hear our […]
