58 Comments - Ducky LaMoore - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 9:09 am: Its a slow process. But people are starting to figure out what they have to do for their own good. And by people, I am referring to everyone but the governor, speaker and Senate president…. - Out Here In The Middle - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 9:10 am: “I am so tired of the games that they’re playing up in Springfield. When I say “they,” I’m meaning Governor Rauner, Mike Madigan and John Cullerton,” I suspect he speaks for the majority of Illinois citizens . . . . - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 9:10 am: - RNUG - is right again. The Rauner Administration will be the most litigious Administrition in the history of Illinois Governors. Irony? Rauner wants tort reform. You can’t make this up, people won’t believe you that its true either. - Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 9:11 am: Brent Gentry is right. Rauner, Madigan and Cullerton are like spoiled children. Not just one of them, but all three together. Especially Madigan and Rauner. - Jordan - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 9:17 am: Hasn’t it dawned on the governor or his superstars just how week and ineffective he looks by having the courts run the show? While everybody in state government tries to protect their authority (or possibly expand it if they can), the governor cedes his authority to the courts. Too bad, everybody was hoping he would use his big CEO skills to help the state. - Frenchie Mendoza - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 9:17 am: I already see the campaign commercial with the scrolling list of suits against the state. The black and white askew graphics. The ominous music. And then — boom: light. Color. Happy music. Someone — and perhaps we don’t know yet — shaking hands with the common folk. Smiling, nodding. Sleeves rolled up. Hands on his (her?) hips. He (she) is a do-er. A getting-things-doner. Tired of the games in Springfield. Tired of attacks on the middle class. Freeze frame. Who is this person? - Jordan - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 9:18 am: I meant “weak”. - Norseman - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 9:22 am: Who knew that Rauner’s “Turnaround” agenda would morph into turning the state around to the courts. I’m waiting for the Owl to tell Rauner that he’s presiding over an unconstitutional unbalanced spending pattern by the state. - DuPage - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 9:24 am: Time for Rauner to increase state revenue, and not attach any other non-budget issues. Rauner requested the tax rates not be extended, he said he did not need the revenue to balance the budget. He was given the chance to do just that and he has failed. Completely. - Wordslinger - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 9:24 am: More to come, I imagine. - burbanite - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 9:26 am: I didn’t realize his job creation plan focused so much on jobs for attorneys…. - A Jack - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 9:32 am: I don’t think fighting for what one believes in makes makes someone a spoiled child, just tenacious. We have three people with deep held beliefs on the direction where this state needs to head. Unfortunately, while they are wrestling over the wheel, Illinois is headed for an iceberg. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 9:35 am: Please note: Every case adjudicated and the state is forced to make payment does two things that effects more than the case and the monies; It forces the Office of the Comptroller to restructure payments, not necessarily by need, but by Judical decree… and… The finite amount of monies that exist or will be taken in will already be spoken for and the finite number gets closer and closer to zero because of it. I’m sure the Comptroller’s Ofgice as an entity trying to folks it’s legal obligations and requirements is thrilled with this trend, just giddy. - JS Mill - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 9:37 am: This is a group project folks. Not just one guy at fault. Illinois owes our tiny district more than $2 million in total and we will never see any of it. This has been going through on for more than five years folks. The guy who was supposed to be fix this (can one person really do that alone? He needs to figure that out) is only helping to make it worse, and that is on him. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 9:38 am: “I’m sure the Comptroller’s Office, as an entity trying to meet it’s legal obligations and requirements is thrilled with this trend, just giddy.” Ugh. Apologies. - UIC Guy - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 9:39 am: Is there a point at which the courts (State? Federal?) might order the state to raise taxes (or cut expenditures which are not protected by court order, such as [I think] the money going to school districts)? And what if the state continues to refuse to act? (Federal marshals seizing state property?) - Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 9:42 am: The lawsuits Jordan references were actually clever. Madigan was counting on a government shutdown to pressure Rauner into giving Madigan what he wants on the budget. The lawsuits are messy, but they eliminated Madigan’s ace in the hole. - cb - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 9:44 am: I think the real question is… Does it even matter at this point if they pass a budget? If the State passes a budget will a court still require the State to spend beyond the amount budgeted if the affected community feels it is not enough or the appropriation is less than last fiscal years appropriation. “Appropriation” via courts is going to be the norm if we are not careful. - Nickname#2 - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 9:49 am: Am I missing something? The Constitutional obligation to come up with a balanced budget rests squarely on one of the three individuals mentioned. Refusing to present a balanced budget because it makes you responsible for the cuts you propose, the revenue you need, or because of a desire to implement a completely unrelated agenda isn’t a valid explanation for avoiding a Constitutional responsibility. The other two, while powerful, are merely individual votes in a chamber full of votes that somehow must be convinced by the third to accept such budget. SECTION 2. STATE FINANCE (a) The Governor shall prepare and submit to the General Assembly, at a time prescribed by law, a State budget for the ensuing fiscal year. What would happen if Madigan and Cullerton had a veto-proof supermajority pass a bill to require the Governor present a balanced 2016 budget on before 10/1/15? - Nickname#2 - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 9:52 am: @Anonymous 9:42 - You have it backwards. - Team Sleep - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 9:52 am: Two years ago - during an Approp II hearing in the Senate - it was noted that some school districts had been waiting 10 years for construction funding. A DECADE. So while I’m sympathetic to the plight of these counties, there’s always someone who’s receiving the shorter end of the stick. And with all due respect to Mr. Kern - manage St. Clair County better before you cry wolf. - Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 9:54 am: Nickname #2 you are missing the part where the Constitutional balanced budget obligation falls on both the Governor in Section 2 and also the Legislature a few lines later. But that would require reading more than just selectively. - cb - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 9:58 am: Nickname #2 IL Constitution reads… Section 2 State Finance (b) The General Assembly by law shall make appropriations for all expenditures of public funds by the State. Appropriations for a fiscal year shall not exceed funds estimated by the General Assembly to be available during that year. - Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 9:59 am: Nickname #2 9:52 you think Madigan has been driving these lawsuits? - Fedralist - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 9:59 am: - Federalist - Thursday, Jul 30, 15 @ 10:39 am: “I suggest every interest group or organization that somehow relates to a state agency also file a complaint. Everything form prisons to public universities.” ABOUT TIME! Will others step up to the plate? Probably not many. - Union Man - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:01 am: All of this is Rauner’s fault, plainly, simply and truthfully. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:03 am: - cb - (a) comes before (b). Further, Rauner had… an unbalanced budget. So… there’s that. - Nickname#2 - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:10 am: Anonymous 9:54 - How do you appropriate funding on a budget that has yet to be proposed, much less passed? The roles are very clear. Governor proposes balanced budget, legislature appropriates spending based on that budget up to a limit equal to receipts. I didn’t miss anything. - Team Sleep - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:12 am: Union Man - correct. Bruce Rauner has been lording over the budget and causing structural deficiencies for the last 20-30 years. He’s a regular Michael J. Fox or Agent J. - Nickname#2 - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:14 am: Anonymous 9:59 am. ==Nickname #2 9:52 you think Madigan has been driving these lawsuits?== I think the lawsuits are ratcheting up pressure, but I don’t think Madigan is behind them. Even if he were, what do you think Madigan “wants on the budget?” If you honestly believe Madigan “wants” higher taxes because that is the goal of democrats, then you are so brainwashed it is silly. At this point, when Governor Rauner asks for higher revenue, I wouldn’t be surprised if no democrat voted for it unless he gives them something. - Arsenal - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:15 am: == Madigan was counting on a government shutdown to pressure Rauner into giving Madigan what he wants on the budget.== I think that’s backwards. All Madigan wants out of the budget is to not have sole responsibility for a tax hike. He’s getting that. It was Rauner who wanted to use the budget as leverage for the Turnaround Agenda. - Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:16 am: a) is right next to b), and numerically they are both contained under the same heading of 2). Virtually no separation to use as a legitimate basis for blaming only one and acting as though the other is faultless. Even if it were 1A) and 500Z), alphabetical order is a flimsy argument to use for exonerating or blaming someone when the plain language clearly places a responsibility on both. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:21 am: ” - Anonymous - ” Nah. Not close. Ask Candidate Rauner. Pat Quinn owned the budget, the failure to get a budget, the lump sum budget, the spending of the lump sum budget, the programs under the spending of the lump sum budget. Governors always own the budget. It’s not a new concept. ” - Anonymous - ” if you’re saying Bruce Rauner is inept… and… can’t formulate a budget… ok then we agree… - cb - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:22 am: - Oswego Willy a) does come before b) but it still dose not relinquish the responsibility of adopting a balanced budget and even without a), b) is still a requirement. - RetiredStateEmployee - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:22 am: This month Scientific American is dedicated to Albert Einstein. He was famous for his thought experiments. So let’s try one here. Let’s assume the Pat Quinn was re-elected governor and all the other players are the same. I propose that the income tax increase would not have been allowed to expire. FY15 expenditures would have been reasonably in line with the income. (This was the booby-trap in the FY15 budget left to ensnare the potential Republican Gov. Apparently he didn’t see it since he is now trapped.) A budget would have been proposed for FY16, reasonably aligned with projected income. By this time, there would have been an agreement on an AFSCME contract. And with any luck, further progress would have been made on deficient reduction. So is there any disagreement on how this would have played out? Did I miss something? Disclaimer: I was and am not a Pat Quinn supporter. So my conclusion is there is one major player that is a roadblock to solving this problem. - Blago's Luxurious Grey Mane - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:28 am: Dear St. Clair County: How about NOT building a boondoggle airport that nobody wanted, nobody uses, and has only benefited Democrat Party insiders and patronage. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:28 am: Governors sign budgets. Also… I find it comical that all these comments are advocating Mike Madigan dictating to Bruce Rauner how his Administration wants spending under Rauner to be. Think about that. The Rauner Administration, they lack so much, they want others to dictate to them the monetary values of Rauner’s Agencies. I mean, since Rauner will be the first governor to not own a budget, maybe Rauner admitting he is clueless to what things cost to run in government… or what an agency’s value is… so if a governor is that inept and supporting that Bruce Rauner can’t do his job… If you want to admit that… I’m sure many would agree. - Jay Gatsby - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:31 am: “Irony? Rauner wants tort reform.” That is neither ironic, nor is this related to tort reform. - Niblets - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:35 am: This so crazy! Is Rauner trying to starve the beast of government or prove that government does not work like so many Republicans say. Illinois is so wrecked. At this rate one year deficit will be close to $16 billion. We thought a pension deficit of $100 billion was bad from all those years of non payment. $16 billion a year will ruin the state. Now that is what I call a turnaround! - NewWestSuburbanGOP'er - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:57 am: Rauner’s Turnaround Agenda was rejected overwhelmingly by almost every unit of government that took a vote. That should have been enough for him to stop his union busting tactics. Now, counties are owed money by the state and can’t get it because he is insisting on having his way before a budget could be approved. I wonder how many of these units of government are going to sue to get their money? I would like to remind them, that he wants to take all that money away from them. - Paul - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:59 am: Why doesn’t the State talk about the Gaming Revenue and Lottery Revenue they get each and every month? 18 to 22 million a month just alone in Gaming Revenue and keeps increasing each month… - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 11:02 am: - Paul -, … because $18-22 million doesn’t start to fill a hole in excess of $8.5 billion. Why talk about $22 million when the Comptroller’s running deficit tally is over $5 billion? You don’t… - Formerly Known As... - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 11:05 am: ==Hasn’t it dawned on the governor or his superstars just how week and ineffective he looks by having the courts run the show?== Rauner wanted these lawsuits as a strategy to keep the state functioning during budget negotiations. As mentioned again just yesterday ==Also, Gov. Rauner not only used his own lawyers to make sure employees got paid (which is a major fiscal burden), but he has yet to ask any of the stakeholders or courts to renegotiate the consent decrees.== - walker - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 11:13 am: How many cards can the courts shift before the whole edifice collapses? We’re a couple of court orders away from Munger being unable to keep patching. No more than a few weeks to go IMO. - Formerly Known As... - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 11:24 am: @RetiredStateEmployee - the University of Illinois Institute of Government and Public Affairs researched your thought experiment this year. From Chicagobusiness ==The report says the fiscal hole is so big that even fully reversing the income tax cut that took effect Jan. 1 would close “only about half” the gap projected for the next several years.== Even if Quinn was gov again, and taxes increased again, it would not be enough to avoid some big problems. - UIC Guy - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 11:25 am: @Walker: and then what happens? (And if events to this point have not succeeded in forcing an agreement, and a budget, what would?) - Formerly Known As... - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 11:29 am: ==How many cards can the courts shift before the whole edifice collapses?== Bingo. Rauner and Madigan are apparently waiting for that clock to run out before acting, and even the GA is becoming unhappy with everyone sitting around. - Judgment Day - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 12:00 pm: “Walker: and then what happens? (And if events to this point have not succeeded in forcing an agreement, and a budget, what would?)” ————- Not Walker…. Simple answer: You are going into uncharted territory. No real answers. However, just a thought. Being that Illinois would be ‘going off the edge of the map’, it’s ‘TBD’ (”There Be Dragons….”) time, and that tends to mean creative solutions. Here’s one: The federal courts order a Special Master (or equivalent) for the State Comptroller’s office. This individual reports to the judiciary, is to set payment priorities, and payment percentages (if necessary) of available funds. In other words, who gets what, when, and how much. Issue kinda, sorta resolved - well, not really. But it buys some more time. Legality, who knows. But, it’s uncharted territory we’re heading into. Just a thought. - Stones - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 12:32 pm: I’m starting to think my prediction of having a budget in place by the end of October was laughingly unrealistic. - Old Dinah Sour - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 1:04 pm: UIC Guy - maybe u have hit upon something. I doubt a court would order the State to raise taxes. But, it could take over some control in a “receivership” situation. This usually happens in Bankruptcy Court, but not always, and couldn’t in this case. The Attorney General (Lisa Madigan) could really represent the People and put the State into receivership in State Court? - maybe the receiver would be the Comptroller? Regardless, the receiver normally has to account to the Court on a regular (monthly) basis demonstrating which bills are being paid, which are due, outstanding, and the revenue coming in. The receiver has to have a balanced budget to demonstrate how the “business” will get out of the mess that brought them into Court. This could be a way the Attorney General’s Office, Comptroller, and Court figure out how to balance a budget for the time being . . . since the legislators and governor’s office don’t seem to be able to. I don’t know if this is really feasible, but . . . ? - Rich Miller - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 1:17 pm: ===The report says the fiscal hole is so big that even fully reversing the income tax cut that took effect Jan. 1 would close “only about half” the gap projected for the next several years=== Meh. That’s if all old bills are paid all at once. Some stuff can be managed. And it was being managed until the income tax hike partially expired. - Honeybear - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 1:28 pm: Okay Learner question of the day. Is there something the Federal Government can do to force Illinois to behave and get it’s crap together? Just wondering. - Formerly Known As... - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 1:55 pm: @Rich - gracias. You also mentioned a Moody’s report in a comment, reading that next. - anon - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 1:55 pm: Honeybear, so you would ask an entity that is roughly $19 trillion in debt how to solve the problems with the state? - dupage dan - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 2:22 pm: === That’s if all old bills are paid all at once. Some stuff can be managed. And it was being managed until the income tax hike partially expired === Rauner came into office with his hands tied. I know he was against continuing the temp hike - how does one tie oneself up? Nonetheless, one wonders how things would look had the GA done its job? Their failure likely has more to do with election year issues, rather than sticking it to Rauner. Hey, they got a 2fer! - Formerly Known As... - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 3:47 pm: ==Their failure likely has more to do with election year issues, rather than sticking it to Rauner.== Their budget let them avoid increasing taxes or making cuts until after the election. When Rauner beat Quinn, it did become ==a 2fer==. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 5:06 pm: - FKA -, So the politics dictated that it wouldn’t happen, including Rahman Emanuel? - Gumby - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 5:28 pm: How did Jim Durkin avoid inclusion? His behavior during SB1229 will add momentum to Illinois’ tailspin toward economic and social wreckage. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.