About a year ago, I attended a hearing of the Illinois House Judiciary – Criminal Law Committee and watched the Democratic majority vote down one Republican-sponsored criminal-penalty-enhancement bill after another.

A bunch of weak political arguments have been used so far against Governor JB Pritzker's proposed constitutional amendment for a graduated income tax. But there is a clear path to killing it.

A lobbyist who works for a business-related organization asked me a question the other day that I've been hearing a lot lately: "Who's going to be the stopper now?"

What he meant was: Who in the legislative process can be counted on these days to help derail bills which are deemed hostile to business interests?

Governor JB Pritzker's administration has confirmed that its new public pension plan will slash $800 million from the state's scheduled pension payment next fiscal year, which begins July 1.