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Gov. Bruce Rauner urged Democratic and Republican lawmakers on Tuesday to unite and pass a balanced budget that will fund Illinois and get it back on its feet.
“Today we’ve seen a complete dereliction of duty by the majority in the General Assembly,” Gov. Bruce Rauner said after the 100th session of the General Assembly closed. “Once again, a tragic failure to serve the people of Illinois. A tragic failure to pass a balanced budget along with critical structural changes to protect taxpayers and grow more jobs.”
Illinois did something this week that no state has ever done: received a downgraded credit rating to near-junk bond status.
DuPage County taxpayers would see a total of $557 million in state income tax increases if a tax hike measure passed by the Democrat-controlled Illinois State Senate becomes law.
Sen. Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill) is demanding a state investigation after the Kankakee Times reported on the anticipated district-by-district financial impact of his Senate Bill 1, which promises to change the state's formula for dispensing money to public schools.
The buckling stops here, Gov. Bruce Rauner said during a call-in radio show recently.
Illinois can't grow unless its small businesses grow, Gov. Bruce Rauner told owners and employees of several of the state's 1 million such businesses on a brief tour recently.
"From Egg Harbor Cafe in Elmhurst to Tuscany Grill in Robinson," Gov. Bruce Rauner told Illinoisans that he plans to remove the duct tape that has been covering holes in the state budget.
Several Republican representatives will announce their support for a comprehensive pension reform bill that is meant to improve the pension problems in the state, including the pension crisis in Chicago, Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner said on Friday.
Gov. Bruce Rauner signaled he is ready to jump on board with several parts of the proposed "grand bargain," yet remains staunchly opposed to other elements of it.
In a public statement, state Rep. LaShawn Ford (D-Chicago) recently said term limits would be one way to help bridge the gap with GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner on his calls for reform and possibly help end the budget impasse -- a rare departure from the usual Democratic Party protocols in the General Assembly.
Not all Illinois public employees who are members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) are gung-ho and in lockstep with the government-worker union's negotiating tactics.
For the past two years, Gov. Bruce Rauner’s message has been consistent: Illinois needs major reform to avoid complete financial devastation.
Illinois House Democrats may be coming to the end of a “comfortable" era working alongside Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago), with longtime mutual back-scratching among the statesman’s elected cronies possibly diminishing soon, according to the News-Gazette.
With 2017 just days away, Illinois is set to welcome the new year the same way it did last year – without a state budget.