By Joe Ragusa
SPRINGFIELD – The state of Illinois has gone almost half of the year without a budget in place.
First-year Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner set the tone early in the year that he would not be a pushover to the Democratic-controlled legislature.
“Business as usual is over,” Rauner proclaimed during his State of the State address in January.
Rauner outlined several of his reform proposals in his budget speech the next month, but the Democratic leadership in both the House and Senate rejected many of the ideas in his “Turnaround Agenda” and instead, sent him a budget that was at least $4 billion out of balance. That was vetoed by Rauner and ever since, the two sides haven’t been able to reach an agreement on a budget for the fiscal year that started July 1.
Gov. Rauner told a town hall meeting at the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts in November that he was “cautiously optimistic” a state budget will be passed by mid-January.
“Because Chicago needs the help. They’re running out of money,” Rauner said. “And after Jan. 1, it only takes a majority vote in the legislature to get anything done. Right now, it takes a supermajority.”
The general assembly met several times in the first few months of the fiscal year, but none of those meetings produced an agreement. Illinois’ legislative leaders met with the governor in two high-profile meetings this month but House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, didn’t attend the second meeting. His spokesman said only that Madigan had a scheduling conflict.
Still, Gov. Rauner said the meeting was productive and he’s hopeful a budget can be reached soon.
State Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington, said there will be some pain if the state doesn’t have a budget for much longer.
“You will see more closures of services provided to the state by groups,” Brady said. “I think you’ll also see more of our state universities that will have severe problems of trying to be able to keep their doors open.”
Illinois State University passed a budget that includes a 10 percent cut in state aid, even though the actual cut to higher education is uncertain. MAP grant funding for about 5,400 students who attend colleges and universities in the Twin Cities is also uncertain as schools across the state struggle to cover those grants for students in the fall and spring semesters.
Some piecemeal budget bills have been passed, like one for K-12 education and another for local governments to operate things like 911 call centers and plow roads. The latter bill also includes money for Illinois Lottery winners, some of whom sued the state over the lack of payment.
Joe Ragusa can be reached at joe.ragusa@cumulus.com.
