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An unfinished budget?

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Illinois

* This story was obviously filed before the end of last night’s session. The House refused to accept the Senate’s changes…

A bill containing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of capital projects was sitting in the House awaiting final action late Tuesday, although an operations budget passed the General Assembly Monday and went to Gov. Pat Quinn.

The problem was that, in addition to capital projects in House Bill 2189, Senate Democrats on Monday added about $430 million in spending for state operations, restoring some cuts made by the House in various state agency budgets. […]

The capital budget includes some construction projects financed with state bonds and a number of “pay-as-you-go” projects that are not. Mautino said it is possible some of the pay-as-you-go projects could be jeopardized if the House doesn’t approve the capital budget. The number of those projects and their cost was not available Tuesday night.

House members said construction projects already begun, but not yet finished, will not be in danger if the House didn’t act on the capital bill Tuesday, but senators weren’t so sure.

* The Senate may have to come back…

(T)he House refused to sign off on more than $431 million in budget cut restorations the Senate sought involving programs for preschoolers, needy college students and seniors dependent on home-delivered meals.

That disagreement means funding for $26 billion in construction projects could be disrupted, likely meaning at least the Senate will have to come back to Springfield before the fall veto session.

“We’ve passed a balanced but incomplete budget,” Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) told his chamber shortly before the Senate adjourned around midnight Tuesday. “I can’t tell you when we’re going come back. You have the schedule for the [fall] veto session, but it may be before that.”

If just the Senate comes back, it would mean they’re receding from the budget add-ons in that bill. That will be a tough sell for rank-and-file Democrats, who want more spending, not less.

…Adding… A good explanation from Illinois Issues…

The largest portion of the Senate spending, about $151 million, would have replaced the House’s 4 percent cut to general state aid to schools. Because the Senate proposal, House Bill 2189 (Senate amendment 1) did not pass, the cut is in the final budget. By contrast, Gov. Pat Quinn had called for an increase of about $260 million to general state aid for schools

“Where’s the money coming from? It’s not within the [spending] caps we established. It’s not the conservative estimate. And we still haven’t done anything to pay the schools for the money we owe them for fiscal year 2011. [The payments] are going to be several months late. I understand why they took the action, but it doesn’t do anything to solve our problem,” said Eddy, the minority spokesperson on the House’s K-12 budget committee.

On Monday, Sen. Dan Kotowski, a Park Ridge Democrat, said that if the House did not approve the additional expenditure, the spending for the capital construction programs would also go down.

Rep. Frank Mautino, a budget point man for House Democrats, disagreed: “We’ve sold bonds and the money is there, though it may be tied up in court. The bond proceeds are there. The projects will continue.”

He said that because lawmakers also voted to extend the period in which they can pay off bills for the current fiscal year through January 1, contractors working on construction projects would be able to submit bills to the state through the rest of the year. The so-called lapse period that the state uses to catch up on bills from the previous fiscal year normally lasts through August. “So now, all those projects that are ongoing can just continue without a re-appropriation. … So we don’t need to do that bill,”said Mautino, a Spring Valley Democrat.

* Related…

* State’s unpaid bills would remain

* Districts play wait and see over state funding

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Jun 1, 11 @ 8:57 am

Comments

The budget that passed is an INCREASE in spending over last year’s budget in real dollars. In spite of being advertised as such, there have been no spending cuts, the only “cuts” are from proposed budgets, not in real expenditures. In addition, in order to gain enough Democrat votes to pass this budget, Democrats said there would be additional spending, to the tune of $431,000,000.00, attached as a rider to the Capital Plan which violates pledge between the GA leaders and the citizens of Illinois made several years ago.

Revenues are PROJECTED to meet expenditures, that is certainly no a sure thing if the economy remains in its current sour condition. At this time, the projected economic growth rate on which the revenue estimate is based is higher than the current measured rate. And the budget does not include the costs of servicing any borrowing to meet the current Pension shortfall or past due payments.

Comment by Cincinnatus Wednesday, Jun 1, 11 @ 9:46 am
I found the comments from school district leaders in Ms. Harris’s Pekin Times article that Rich linked to be most disturbing. If school districts are banking on Governor Quinn vetoing the budget that passed, I would say think again.

Under the 1970 Constitution Gov Quinn can:
1)Total veto, which rejects entire bills;
2) Item veto, which removes line items from appropriation (spending) bills;
3) Reduction veto, which reduces the amount of an appropriated line item;
4) Amendatory veto, which suggests changes in the text of a bill.

He cannot reshuffle the deck, the Illinois Supreme Court has ruled that an amendatory veto cannot create an entirely new bill, change the fundamental purpose of a bill, or make “substantial or expansive changes” in a bill. If Quinn veto’s the budget and again proposes funding for K-12 education at a higher level I suspect he will be overridden by the General Assembly. The House bill is what you will most likely get and there will most likely be no supplemental funding passed later. So school districts should end their angst, carry out the layoffs, and raise property taxes if necessary to keep the doors open. Districts should not worry about finding teachers to hire if things do get better, there will unfortunately be plenty on the street.

Comment by Rod Wednesday, Jun 1, 11 @ 10:49 am
Indicative of how much has been going on: A budget where appropiations match lowball revenue estimates gets two comments, lol.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Jun 1, 11 @ 11:37 am
===two comments===

Lol Word,

It could be the topic, or it could be because this post is “below the fold” and not on the handy “On the Blog Today” sidebar up top. I didn’t see this post until I checked my Blackberry. Rich’s mobile version lists the last 10 posts, which is very helpful. On my desktop, I usually use the sidebar to move between posts, so I missed this until late.

Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Jun 1, 11 @ 7:02 pm