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State enters new fiscal year without a budget
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What if you were hired to do a job and just didn’t do it?
This is not a reference to Wall Street or U.S. automaker mismanagement that results in federal government bailouts. This is closer to a doorman that will not open a door or a bus driver that will not pick-up passengers. Those references relate to the inaction of Illinois’ state government officials who let the 2009 Fiscal Year end at 11:59 p.m. on June 30th, without a new budget that funds the entire 2010 Fiscal Year.
According to Article VIII. Section 2(b) of the Illinois Constitution, “the General Assembly by law shall make appropriations for all expenditures of public funds by the State.” Although it is the responsibility of the Governor to prepare and submit a budget to the General Assembly, it is the responsibility of the General Assembly to prepare the appropriation bills. Governor Quinn did his job on March 18, 2009 during his Budget Address. The General Assembly did not do their job last night.
The General Assembly did make some attempts to quell a potential July 15th doomsday when a large number of state employees are due to receive their first Fiscal Year 2010 paychecks. A partial budget was approved by the General Assembly that would have kept Illinois state government operating, temporarily. But, Governor Quinn vetoed that this afternoon, demanding a budget that provides for the entire fiscal year. In another example of creativity, the Illinois House tried to borrow $2.2 billion for a state pension payment that would essentially free-up funding for social services. But, that was defeated in the Senate by a bloc that opposed borrowing to pay for day-to-day expenses.
This “$9.2 billion budget deficit game of chicken” is either going to force Governor Quinn to back-up his threat of dire repercussions for Illinois social/human service recipients or force the General Assembly to propose an income tax increase. Either way, the citizens of Illinois will probably not be happy. So, the members of the General Assembly in particular are going to be forced to make some hard decisions because, if there was a “win/win/no-pain” solution, someone would have probably thought of it already.
The day of reckoning may occur on July 14th - the next scheduled joint session of the Illinois General Assembly. By that time, Illinois’ State Senators and Representatives will have received their performance evaluations via articles in their local newspapers and the “no holds barred” opinions they will get from their constituents during the 4th of July holiday weekend.
Then, on the next election day, they may meet the same fate as the doorman who will not open a door and the bus driver that will not pick-up passengers.
