Illinois is a great state. It's time we get growing again.

Illinois hasn't meaningfully grown in decades. That's because we are an older, wealthier, more established state with a temperate climate. But it's also because decades of overlapping rules, fees, as well as unfunded obligations that make job creation, business formation, or the prospect of moving here too uncertain or challenging. We need to remove barriers and make it easier to invest, start businesses, and build careers in Illinois.

Constituent-friendly government

• Streamline business licensing and permits. Too many overlapping licenses, permits, and approvals make starting a business in Illinois unnecessarily painful. Consolidate requirements, create thoughtful digital processes, and set reasonable timelines for approval.

• Simplify employment regulations. Small businesses struggle with complex, sometimes contradictory state employment rules. Clarify requirements and reduce unnecessary paperwork so businesses can invest in Illinoisans, in hiring and growing, not just compliance.

• Reduce duplicative filing. State, county, and municipal requirements often overlap. Support coordination between government levels to eliminate redundant filings and reduce burden.

• Cut unnecessary fees. Government shouldn't nickel-and-dime small businesses and entrepreneurs. Review and eliminate fees that don't serve a clear public purpose.

• Reimagine bureaucratic process. Many state processes still require in-person filing or paper documents. Invest in digital government so businesses can interact with the state online.

Small businesses & entrepreneurship

• Let's make it easy to start a business. New businesses are job creators. Support fast, affordable business formation—corporate registration, licensing, tax setup. Some states do this in days. Illinois should too.

• Support IL small business access to capital. Small businesses struggle to access affordable financing. Support small business lending programs, loan guarantees, and venture capital initiatives that reach underserved entrepreneurs.

• Focus on in-state networks and resources. Provide small business counseling, mentorship, and peer networks. Minority-focused small business development centers should be approachable, resourced, and accessible.

• Support women and minority-owned businesses. Historically marginalized entrepreneurs face added barriers to capital and networks. Support targeted programs for women- and minority-owned businesses.

• Reduce barriers to starting home-based businesses. Many entrepreneurs start from home. Zoning and licensing rules shouldn't prevent this. Remove unnecessary restrictions on home-based businesses.

Workforce Development

• Double-down on Community Colleges, apprenticeship & workforce training. Workers deserve good-paying, reliable jobs with benefits. Businesses face shortages in key skills. Locally, Oakton is already partnering to train workers on in-demand skills. We can focus on building and maintaining these regional pipelines to build a healthy, resilient workforce statewide.

• Support a just economic transition. Economic transformation is coming and Illinois must support working families. We must support job re-training, relocation assistance, and income support for workers displaced by major economic dislocations.

• Recruit and retain talent. Illinois competes nationally for workers and businesses. Our exceptional schools, world-class cities and places, diverse economy, affordability, and progressive and inclusive policies are attracting talent nationwide. Improvements in childcare, healthcare, affordability, housing, and transit can all ensure that talent makes a home in Illinois. We need to continue to pursue projects and policies that attract new workers and help our graduates and young people build a future in Illinois.

Pension & Fiscal Responsibility

• Address unfunded pension obligations while supporting our public servants. Illinois' pension debt continues to haunt our future and limits what we can invest in schools, healthcare, roads, and economic development. We must tackle pension debt and smooth out the pension ramp to ensure predictable and equitable future budgets, rather than kicking the can down the road. We must deal with our past mismanagement without balancing our books on the backs of working families and public servants. We must fight for pension funding solutions that are funded and reasonable, fair to workers and sustainable for taxpayers.

• Maintain fiscal responsibility. We are finally recovering from decades of financial mismanagement. With ten credit upgrades in just six years, we are on a path towards solid fiscal stewardship, which will make borrowing cheaper and easier, and make Illinois a more attractive place to move, work, and live.

Regional Economic Development

• Invest in regional economic and academic strengths. Different regions of Illinois have different strengths, from agriculture to services to manufacturing near major transit hubs, tech and services in Chicago. The state can partner with flagship academic institutions, local and regional businesses, unions, and communities to connect and invest in regional strengths.

• Reimagine our downtowns. City and village downtowns can be vibrant economic and cultural centers, where we live, work, and play. Support community-led downtown revitalization that brings people, jobs, and investment back to our main streets, which prioritize density, local business, culture and arts, tree canopies and healthy, native, green infrastructure.

• Support rural economic development. Rural Illinois faces particular challenges. Support agricultural innovation, value-added agriculture, rural broadband, and rural business development.