Next week, Governor Bruce Rauner will introduce a new spending plan for Illinois. But that’s supposed to focus on the next fiscal year; he also has to worry about the current budget.
State agencies are supposed to be running out of money at the end of the fiscal year, in June. Today, there’s no more money for a subsidized day care program or to pay prison guards. The budget lawmakers passed last spring–when Rauner was still a candidate–was intentionally incomplete.
House Speaker Michael Madigan says the legislature has previously given governors extraordinary authority to unilaterally manager budget situations.
“I agree with the governor that we’ve got a serious problem with the fiscal condition and it ought to be addressed. The first order of business ought to be the deficit in the current budget.”
Rauner has asked for the same sort of control. Discussions are underway to see whether Democrats in the legislature will agree to give it to him.
