With pension reform still left undone, the General Assembly returns to Springfield tomorrow for a Special Session called by the Governor. Governor Quinn has met with Senate President Cullerton and Speaker Madigan to attempt to achieve a compromise approach that will resolve the state's severe pension debt problems. While not much is expected to be finalized during the Special Session, there have been indica ...

The application for interested organizations seeking to serve as federal Navigators was due last Friday (June 7) with the anticipated award announcement to be handed down in early July. HHS has made $54 million available for the Navigator program and received over 830 optional letters of intent from organizations that may or may not have formally submitted an application for the navigator grant. In the mean ...

HHS recently finalized regulations governing the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) - the small group market on the exchange - solidifying the proposed delay of the employee-directed choice option on the SHOP in states like Illinois that will rely on a partnership or full federally-facilitated exchange until at least 2015. Employers with fewer than 50 employees are eligible to purchase group cover ...

After many stops and starts, final FY 2014 funding for the Tax Tribunal is contained in HB 214, which is the State general services appropriation bill.  As we indicated earlier in the week, the funding is for approximately ¾'s of the fiscal year, and anticipates that the Tax Tribunal will not open its doors until January 1, 2014.  Judges may be appointed sooner for the purpose of establishing the Tribunal's ...

The House and Senate were scheduled for only perfunctory sessions this week, and our attention has been focused on bill filings. The deadline for introduction of substantive bills is February 26th in the House and February 15th in the Senate. To-date, substantive tax legislation is somewhat light, although a large number of "technical" or vehicle bills have been filed. These technical/vehicle bills make a n ...

The Illinois Department of Revenue and the Illinois Attorney General, in an ongoing joint criminal investigation, have recovered nearly $75 million in unpaid sales tax from gas station owners alleged to be involved in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the State. The investigation began in August of 2010. Most recently, two Chicago area accountants, Naveed Ahmed and his brother Asif Waheed, entered guilty ple ...

Broadband investment to create more jobs in Illinois. It seems like smartphones have been around a long time. But the iPhone only went on the market in 2007. The first iPad hit the shelves less than three years ago. Now Apple has sold 100 million of them. It happened so fast. ...

“This is what change looks like.” – President Obama upon signing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on March 23, 2010 ...