* From a press release…

Today, Governor-Elect Bruce Rauner’s Transition Committee released its report on the state of Illinois. The committee, chaired by Lieutenant Governor-elect Evelyn Sanguinetti, and co-chaired by 28 of the top business, civic and non-profit leaders in Illinois, has outlined key recommendations to return the state to a position of prominence in the United States.

“The Transition Committee worked extremely hard on this report to ensure it was complete and thorough,” Evelyn Sanguinetti said. “I thank them for their hard work to ensure the administration is properly briefed with recommendations as we move forward. I am looking forward to Monday so we can start to shake up Springfield.”

The report details the challenges that must be overcome, and sets forth recommendations to propel Illinois into the future. Nearly 200 committee members, representing all aspects of the state, assisted the team to figure out how to best move the state forward. They reviewed more than 1,400 pages of policy memos, and interviewed local and national policy experts to come to their conclusions. In addition, they asked the people of Illinois for their recommendations and ideas, generating more than 2,500 responses through the website, MakeIllinoisGreat.com.

“The state of Illinois is in a death spiral and in desperate need of a turnaround. I look forward to reviewing these recommendations to ensure my administration can hit the ground running,” said Bruce Rauner. “I appreciate the hard work from Evelyn and the transition team, and am ready to work with all levels of government, business and civic leaders and residents throughout the state to bring back Illinois.”

* The full report is here. There are, of course, no specific budget recommendations…

As our work on these transition strategies concludes, the work to develop the budget is just beginning. We are not in a position to provide specific recommendations on budgetary solutions, however we want to emphasize that Illinois’ ability to chart a more prosperous course hinges upon our addressing the state’s dismal fiscal condition

* There’s a lot of empty rhetoric…

Setting department-specific goals, establishing transparency around the goals, and holding officials accountable for achieving them.

* In many ways, it looks like one of Rauner’s campaign documents…

Lower the cost of doing business in the state. Illinois should review legislation to ensure its corporate taxes, workers’ compensation rates, and unemployment insurance rates are in line with peer states. Currently, many companies choose to locate just across the border in states with more favorable rates, thereby saving significant sums while still taking advantage of Illinois’ transportation and logistics infrastructure. Lowering Illinois’ workers’ compensation rates, which are a key factor for executives in determining where to locate or expand operations, could support job retention, create new job opportunities, and significantly improve the business climate. Similarly, tort reform in Illinois could improve the legal environment, saving businesses $2.4 billion and creating up to 147,000 new jobs.

And that’s it on that topic.

* The report calls for a new public-private business development agency free of DCEO’s restrictions…

Redundant agencies should be consolidated into a new structure to streamline operations and enable better coordination. In addition, a restructured DCEO should be able to respond rapidly to business requests and, when necessary, raise outside funding. To enable this, consideration should be given to creating a new, public-private entity that would be freed of the restrictions DCEO currently contends with in exchange for meeting specific performance criteria. Several neighboring states, including Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin, have adopted this approach and reaped the benefits of a more nimble and responsive economic development arm geared to the needs of business.

* There are some buzz words…

Cultivate ecosystems in advantaged high-growth clusters.

* But we now have our first major hint of how Rauner wants to fund his infrastructure program: the service tax…

The state should optimize the use of existing funding sources and explore comprehensive tax reform proposals such as modernizing the sales tax, which could bring additional investment in infrastructure in general and transit in particular.

* They propose a new “czar”…

To coordinate communication across disparate energy and environmental stakeholders in the government, a senior policy position for energy and environment should be created.

* While desperately needed, I’m not sure where they’re gonna get the cash for this…

Design information technology (IT) systems to facilitate data integration and information sharing. IT platforms, systems, and databases are foundational components of efforts to reform health and human services, so the state should improve data transparency, report generation, and information accuracy to support health and human services programs and their administration. Ongoing efforts should be accelerated, including the Integrated Eligibility System (IES) program and the implementation of the Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS). Progress on the Child Care Management System (CCMS) should be assessed and adjusted as necessary. To facilitate the exchange of information among payers, providers, and the state, Illinois should expand its health information technology (HIT) infrastructure, including HIEs and electronic health records (EHRs). Other IT efforts to enable pay for value, enhance data analytics, and promote data storage and transparency should also be pursued.

* Easier said than done…

Assess areas of funding imbalance and sufficiency, from pre-K through postsecondary, across the entire system, and determine an appropriate formula that rebalances the system

* Good idea, not easy to do…

To reduce recidivism and increase prison safety, the state should embark on a sweeping effort to reform sentencing, ensure correctional supervision is commensurate with an offender’s risk profile, and allocate programming resources to increase positive outcomes.

* Another czar…

Currently, the provision of services to the residents is fragmented and, in many cases, redundant. To increase efficiency, Illinois should appoint a high-profile governmental official to lead efforts to rationalize and consolidate local government.

* Strengthen a current czar…

Illinois’ state CIO should drive a long-term IT strategic plan that is closely aligned with the governor’s priorities. This effort should lay out a unified vision on long-term priorities for investment governance, legacy migration, security, and procurement.

There’s lots more, so go read the whole thing.