Monday, March 18, 2013
Evanston native and former mathematics professor Daniel Biss has moved up to the Illinois Senate determined to work on the state's pension liability.
Illinois has been struggling to fund pensions for a long time, but an Evanston native with an exceptional math background is pushing to ease the pension mess during his first term in the State Senate. Lawmakers could vote as early as Tuesday on a bill sponsored by freshman Sen. Daniel Biss, one he hopes will make a serious dent in the state's unfunded pension liability. If passed, Biss has promised that his bill would cut the state's current $95 billion unfunded liability by $28 billion and reduce the state's total pension payments by $159 billion over the next 32 years, according to the News-Gazette. Biss's rise to the senate floor has been rapid. In 2010, he won the Illinois House seat with his second bid for the office. A year later, …
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Possible changes to the current Illinois pension system, as proposed by the bill, include shifting teacher pension obligations onto school districts, raising the retirement age and capping cost of living adjustments.
In an effort to curb the state's budget woes without bailing on current Illinois public sector pension obligations, a press release announced Illinois lawmakers Elaine Nekritz (D-Northbrook) and Daniel Biss (D-Evanston) introduced House Bill 6258 in Springfield today. "The pension debate has featured too much finger-pointing and progress has been disappointingly slow," Biss said in the release. "This bill contains ideas drawn from business, labor, and civic groups as well as our colleagues in the General Assembly. We believe that it is a roadmap for solving this problem in January..." Changes to the state's public employee pension policy, as proposed by the bill inlclude: “Daniel and I understand this is a difficult issue for all of us, …
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Results include the 9th Congressional District, the 9th State Senate District and the 17th and 18th State House races.
Democrats Jan Schakowsky, Daniel Biss, Robyn Gabel and Laura Fine carried the day in the local races that affect Evanston. Click on the links below for complete coverage. VIDEOS: Obama Supporters Celebrate Win McCormick Place is filled with celebration as the race is called before thousands of Obama supporters gathered from around the suburbs and the city of Chicago. Schakowsky Wins 9th Congressional Over Wolfe Longtime Democratic Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky appeared to have won the race against Republican challenger as of 9:13 p.m., with a 30,000 vote lead with 306 of 336 precincts reporting. Want to stay up to date on the latest local political coverage from Patch? Sign up for our free newsletter. Biss Wins 9th State Senate District …
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Evanston resident Daniel Biss won against Glenn Farkas.
Updated 10:40 p.m. With only three precincts left to report votes, Glenn Farkas has confirmed he conceded the race to Daniel Biss. “I can’t say that it’s unexpected,” Farkas said in a phone interview. “We came in late, we knew it had been won by Schoenberg in the past.” During a telephone interview, Biss said he was humble and proud that his campaign has been successful. The Democratic candidate says as the new state senator he will be working hard on fiscal stabilization. “We need to find ways to leverage our economic strength and help accelerate our economy as fast as possible.” Updated 9:35 p.m. With only nine precincts yet to report votes, Biss has a comfortable lead with 66 percent or 61,100 of the votes. Updated 8:23 p.m. With …
Friday, October 19, 2012
17th District Illinois House candidates Laura Fine and Kyle Frank, 18th District Illinois House candidates Robyn Gabel and Eric Lieberman, and 9th District Illinois Senate candidate Glenn Farkas spoke in Evanston.
At a forum in Evanston last night, Illinois legislative candidates sparred over how to create jobs and reduce corruption, but agreed on one thing: that the state needs a massive budget overhaul. Hosted by the Central Street Neighbors Association at Haven Middle School, the forum included State Rep. Robyn Gabel (D-Evanston) and her 18th District Republican challenger, Eric Lieberman, as well as 17th district house candidates Laura Fine (D-Glenview) and Kyle Frank (R-Skokie.) Ninth district Illinois senate candidate Glenn Farkas (R-Glenview), was also in attendance, but his opponent, State Rep. Daniel Biss, had a previously scheduled appearance. Evanston Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl took his seat, answering questions on behalf of Biss from …
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Haven Middle School
2417 Prairie Ave, Evanston, IL
/articles/legislative-hopefuls-talk-jobs-taxes-corruption-at-evanston-forum
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Wednesday, October 17, 2012
18th District House candidates Robyn Gabel and Eric Lieberman, 17th District House candidates Laura Fine and Kyle Frank and 9th District Senate candidate Glenn Farkas will appear in Evanston.
Candidates for the 18th and 17th district house races and the 9th district senate race will appear at a moderated forum in Evanston Thursday. 18th District incumbent Rep. Robyn Gabel (D-Evanston), challenger Eric Lieberman (R-Evanston), 17th district house candidate Laura Fine (D-Glenview), 17th district house candidate Kyle Frank (R-Skokie) and 9th district senate candidate Glenn Farkas (R-Glenview) are scheduled to appear at the forum hosted by the Central Street Neighbors Association. State Rep. Daniel Biss (D-Evanston), who is also running for the 9th district senate seat, had a previously scheduled appearance that evening. "While the national presidential race is naturally the focus of most interest this election year, critical fiscal…
42.061306
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Haven Middle School
2417 Prairie Ave, Evanston, IL
/articles/17th-18th-district-house-candidates-to-debate-thursday-in-evanston
261655
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Friday, September 28, 2012
Find out where candidates Daniel Biss and Glenn Farkas stand on different issues.
Rep. Daniel Biss (D-Evanston) and Glenview resident Glenn Farkas recently shared their views at a debate held at Glenbrook South High School. See where the candidates stand on the Education and the Pension System. The candidates' answers have been lightly edited. The unemployment rate in Illinois is almost 1 percent higher than the national average. At the same time, both Indiana and Wisconsin are doing better than Illinois when it comes to jobs. What do you believe we need to do to create more jobs in Illinois? Farkas: First thing I would do is to repeal the corporate income tax. We’ve raised that from 4.7 percent, it’s now plus the 2.5 percent replacement tax at 9.5 percent; it’s the third highest in the nation. Number one, we’ve got …
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Find out where candidates Daniel Biss and Glenn Farkas stand on different issues.
Rep. Daniel Biss (D-Evanston) and Glenview resident Glenn Farkas recently shared their views at a debate held at Glenbrook South High School. The candidates' answers have been lightly edited. Want to know where the candidates stand on the pension system? Read: Senate District 9 Candidates on the Pension System Over the last decade, college tuition has skyrocketed. This jump in tuition costs has made college less and less affordable for families throughout Ilinois. During this same period, the state has simultaneously decreased the amount of funding it provides our state universities, What, if anything, can the state do to help more people afford college? Biss: Today the state of Illinois is sending less money to University of Illinois …
Monday, September 24, 2012
Find out where candidates Daniel Biss and Glenn Farkas stand on different issues.
Rep. Daniel Biss (D-Evanston) and Glenview resident Glenn Farkas recently shared their views at a debate held at Glenbrook South High School. The candidates' answers have been lightly edited. According to the Chicago Tribune, the Illinois pension fund is underfunded by about $80 billion, which would make it the highest underfunded pension system in the country. Do you believe it is possible to save our current pension system as it stands today without decreasing benefits for retirees? Farkas: No, we can't solve it without reducing benefits. We are going to need to start all new employees on 401k plans that are defined benefit plans, defined contribution plans like the private sector has. I’m going to need to ask retirees to look at the…
Thursday, August 16, 2012
State Rep. Daniel Biss discusses 'The Long Road to Pension Reform: What is ‘Cost Shift’ and Why Does It Matter?', at 7 p.m. at Temple Beth Israel in Skokie. Legislators return to Springfield Aug. 17 for a special pension reform session.
Among the many hotly debated topics in Springfield, legislators will attempt to reach consensus on pension reform tomorow at a special session scheduled by Gov. Quinn. Tonight, State Rep. Daniel Biss will hold a public forum to discuss the issues. Titled "The Long Road to Pension Reform: What is 'Cost Shift' and Why Does it Matter?", the community dialogue is the most recent in a series of public forums hosted by Biss and is open to all. The forum was originally scheduled at Wagner Farm but to accomodate mass interest from the community, the event will now be held at Temple Beth Israel in Skokie, 3601 W. Dempster St. Guest speakers include Erika Lindley, executive director of the Illinois school lobby group ED-RED; Dick Ingram, …
Jim
3:12 am on Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Actuarial malfeasance by Evanston city government was at the root of the local police and fire pension underfunding. Illinois has had it's credit rating lowered and the SEC has accused Illinois of fraud in it's bond presentation. Illinois has essentially admitted to that by agreeing to cease and desist. And now this blog has implied that because Mr. Biss is a mathematician, there is some magical … more ›