By John Gregory/Illinois Radio Network
SPRINGFIELD – With this year’s state budget still unsettled, there’s legislation already looking ahead to making future budget negotiations easier.
It’s being called the “Road Map to Fiscal Stability,” and claims to standardize the annual budgeting process. One of the changes, says State Rep. Ann Williams (D-Chicago), would be requiring a cost-benefit analysis of each new program at the committee stage.
“Before they even get out of the committee stage, we want an analysis done, and a finding from the committee that they are going to result in cost savings or they’re necessary, there’s an overriding public policy reason,” Williams said.
The legislation doesn’t change annual and often contentious discussions of spending cuts against raising new revenue. Williams says this is about setting a better framework for lawmakers to have that debate.
