Illinois begins this week without a new budget --- though one is due by Wednesday.
Last week, Governor Bruce Rauner revised his plan. He's now offering Chicago and other municipalities some pension relief.
The Illinois House rejected a plan to let Chicago Public Schools wait 40 days to make a $634 million pension payment for teachers due next week. Now, Rauner proposed a swap, or having the state start paying the costs of Chicago teacher pensions going forward, in a Chicago Tribune editorial.
In exchange, he says he would end a major state grant program that sends hundreds of millions of dollars toward Chicago Public Schools.
In exchange for picking up pension payments - Governor Rauner wants to end a grant program designed for Chicago special needs students. But Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan isn’t on board with that idea.
Madigan’s spokesman Steve Brown says the Speaker wants local school districts across Illinois to pay for their own pensions, instead of the state.
"I’m not sure a policy that would extend the free lunch to Chicago is really the way to go," Brown said.
Early on, Rauner made clear that his willingness to talk about the budget is contingent on what he calls "structural change." Since the end of May, that has included five items:
- A property tax freeze (combined with changes he says will lower costs for municipalities but which unions see as an attack)
- Making businesses culpable for fewer employee injuries
- Putting limitations on lawsuits aimed at lowering businesses' costs
- Changing how legislative districts are drawn
- Passing term limits
Rauner updated those demands within his opinion piece. He's back to saying a two-year freeze on local property taxes, rather than an indefinite one, will count.
Rauner says legislators don’t need to pass term limits and redistricting right away, but he wants a promise they'll be voted on. The pro-business parts of the platform -- workers' compensation and what he calls "tort reform" -- remain.
Democrats' did not appear keen on the latest offer. They say his insistence on non-budget items comes at the expense of middle class families.
- WUIS's Amanda Vinicky and WBEZ's Tony Arnold contributed to this report.