With still no actual legislation released on Medicaid reform, the clock is ticking louder and louder to address the Medicaid issue before adjournment.  As we mentioned last week, every other issue follows Medicaid.  No other major budgetary items can be voted on until Medicaid reforms pass.  If legislators do not meet the $2.7 billion in cuts outlined in Quinn’s proposal, more cuts will have to be made in t ...

 On Thursday the Senate voted to concur with the House amendments to SB1313 that changes the bill into the retiree healthcare proposal from the legislative leaders.  The amendments repeal a state law that gives state retirees with 20 years of service free health insurance premiums.  The Department of Central Management Services will negotiate the premium rates with labor groups which will then also be used ...

 In what may be a last ditch effort to pass the Tenaska “clean coal” legislation, Tenaska has introduced a new amendment to try and muster enough support to reach the Governor’s desk.  The original Tenaska proposal was too costly to taxpayers and was centered on using “clean coal” technology while forcing consumers to buy their product for 30 years while producing electric generation that isn’t needed.  The ...

The minimum wage increase bill that ties in to CPI, SB1565, has been scheduled for Senate Executive committee for two weeks now but has yet to be called for a vote.  The Chamber has been working this bill in opposition.  The proposal would raise the state's minimum wage to $10 an hour.  This would be a 21% increase in labor costs to many Illinois small businesses and would result in Illinois having the high ...

 The General Assembly is expected to adjourn just 27 days from now, but before lawmakers can put another legislative session on the books, they must first find a way to carve $2.7 billion out of the Medicaid program.  Failure to meet the $2.7 billion reduction could result in a prolonged legislative session, deeper cuts to other budget areas like education and public safety, and another downgrade in the sta ...

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="(Photo credit: Wikipedia)"][/caption] In a remarkable document released this week, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has called on the four legislative leaders to enact further workers’ compensation reforms, including addressing Illinois’ injury causation standard, long the Chamber’s top priority for workers’ compensation reform. A thorough, well re ...

 Governor Quinn followed through on promises to offer his vision of major reforms to the Medicaid and public pension systems this week.  The two systems are the primary culprits in Illinois fiscal crisis, eating up billions of taxpayer dollars at an ever increasing rate. While the Chamber is a forceful advocate for reforms of both Medicaid and pensions, and commend the Governor for proposing far reaching po ...

 In a stirring address, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker brought down the house at the 2012 Employer Action Day, the joint legislative lobby day of the Chamber and the National Federation of Independent Business.  Attendees gave the Governor three standing ovations and interrupted his speech seven times with applause. The Governor’s speech stressed the themes of fixing state budgets without raising taxes, re ...