-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
With a budget and capital plan still being sorted out — not to mention an expansive gambling measure that would add a Chicago casino, Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan has opted to extend adjournment of the spring legislative session until Sunday.
The extension means that any vote taken after May 31 will require a three-fifths majority to for the law to go into effect within the next 12 months — and legislators will likely use Friday to handle the state’s budget.
Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
SIGN UP HERE FOR OUR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER