IIFS Blog Archive: April 2012

04.26.12

Medicaid 101: How $337.5 Million Turns Into $675 Million

A key component of Governor Pat Quinn’s proposal to close the State of Illinois’ $2.7 billion Medicaid funding gap in FY2013 is an increase in the State’s cigarette tax. The Governor projects that a $1 a pack increase in the cigarette tax, to $1.98, would bring $337.5 million in...

04.19.12

What are the Rhode Island Pension Reforms?

Public officials and opinion leaders in Illinois have expressed much interest in the landmark pension reforms approved in Rhode Island in 2011. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel remarked recently that Illinois should look at reforms similar to those enacted in Rhode Island. Cook County Commissioner...

04.12.12

Largest State Pension Fund Calls for Major Reforms in FY2013

The Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois (TRS) has concluded that it can no longer rely on the State to follow the law for funding its five retirement systems and that sweeping changes are needed to sustain the pension funds. On March 30, 2012, the TRS Board of Trustees...

04.05.12

Illinois House Proposes Reductions to Governor’s FY2013 Budget

The Illinois House has approved a spending plan for FY2013 that would cut the State of Illinois’ expenditures from the level proposed by Governor Pat Quinn and use an additional budget surplus to reduce the State’s backlog of unpaid bills. House Resolution 706, approved on March 29,...