With just one day left in fiscal 2016, lawmakers finally passed a temporary budget this week that was negotiated by all four legislative leaders and Gov. Bruce Rauner.
Illinois has been without a budget for 12 months, and fiscal 2017 starts Friday, July 1.
The governor called the leaders of the House and Senate together on Tuesday, in advance of lawmakers coming to the Capitol. For the first time in several months, the Democrat leaders emerged from the meeting appearing to be optimistic a deal was near. This is despite both sides engaging in heated rhetoric since lawmakers failed to pass a balanced budget by the May 31 deadline.
So what changed? Why now? Speculation is the threat of schools not opening in August, in addition to the significant angst of social service providers and a potential halt of all summer construction were just a few of the motivating factors.
The budget legislators passed is designed to get them, and the state, through the end of 2016 and through the general election. Under the plan, K-12 education will be fully funded for fiscal 2017. Higher education will be funded for all of fiscal 2016 and part of 2017 as will human services. Transportation projects will not be halted and state agencies will get the money they need for operations through the end of 2016.
One of the biggest hurdles in getting a deal was the Chicago public schools. Governor Rauner has been adamant that he would not provide more money to what he has called a failing system. In the end, the governor relented a bit and agreed to more money and allowing the city to raise property taxes on the condition that a major pension reform bill is passed in 2017.
What this stop-gap measure doesn’t contain are any of the governor’s economic agenda items or any tax hikes. Both items are major sticking points and are expected to be debated once the election is over. Also not addressed in this temporary budget is the $8 billion in unpaid bills the state has accrued. These are huge issues that will have to get addressed next year.
Lawmakers adjourned and will be back for the fall veto session scheduled for November.
