* BGA…

In mid-August, Governor Rauner vetoed House Bill 3649, the Debt Transparency Act. HB3649 was sponsored by state Rep. Fred Crespo and state Sen. Andy Manar, with the support of comptroller Susana Mendoza.

The bill would require all state agencies to report to the comptroller the dollar amount of any bills they receive and to indicate whether funding has been committed to pay off the obligations. Unlike current practice, the legislation requires reporting of due bills be done on a monthly basis. If an agency does not have any financial obligations, the comptroller can waive its reporting requirement.

The BGA supports an override of the governor’s veto of HB3649 and supported passage of the bill before the veto. An override vote is expected Wednesday in Springfield. The proposal passed out of the Illinois Senate and House with bipartisan support from Republicans and Democrats. HB3649 would boost transparency and provide taxpayers with a clearer, more accurate and current assessment of our debt and other financial obligations.

* Sun-Times…

This isn’t a debate just for accountants. If the state lets a bill go unpaid for 90 days, the interest rate by law generally jumps to 12 percent a year, which hits every taxpayer in the pocketbook. That also makes it a lot harder for the state to dig out of its financial problems.

After a lengthy budgetary impasse, Illinois’ finances are a mess. We should embrace anything that helps to restore order to the state’s checkbook. Rauner vetoed the bill, but no one has advanced a persuasive argument for upholding his veto.

* PJStar…

The Illinois Legislature must override the governor’s inexplicable veto of a good government measure known as the Debt Transparency Act. […]

This is basic, slam-dunk stuff. It’s impossible to balance the budget, as constitutionally required, without an accurate, real-time handle on the balance sheet, on liabilities and cash flow. The comptroller needs to know how old the bills are, whether there’s been an appropriation, whether interest penalties are accruing — in short, not fly blind — to prioritize payments, where possible. Sometimes federal matching dollars are at risk. It is nuts that the unpaid bill backlog could grow by $1 billion or more in a single day because an agency held on to its bills. Think of a spouse running up a credit card. […]

Rep. Ryan Spain of Peoria plans to reverse his earlier “no” vote to a “yes” to override, and Rep. Keith Sommer and Sens. Chuck Weaver and Bill Brady should follow without hesitation. (All other local legislators were on board.) To do otherwise is to communicate that you’re opposed to transparent, fiscally responsible government. Really?

* Herald & Review…

Gov. Rauner vetoed the bill. While acknowledging it would be good to provide more transparency about the state’s financial condition, he said, “This legislation more closely resembles an attempt by the Comptroller to micromanage executive agencies,” and complained about the amount of time the reporting would require. And the information provided, he added, would be “decreasing marginal.”

That from a businessman. To suggest Rauner would accept this reporting arrangement in his own businesses is ludicrous. To present himself as fiscally responsible and reject a bill spelling out requirements for that responsibility is disingenuous, a word we find ourselves using about the governor more often than we’d like.

Not that they’re always right or anything, but I’ve yet to see a newspaper editorial against an override of this veto. Mendoza has out-fought, out-hustled and out-maneuvered the governor on this one.