Rauner, Madigan feud means state’s unpaid bills could reach $13.5 billion
Monique GarciaContact ReporterChicago Tribune Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner‘s budget office estimates the state’s backlog of unpaid bills will hit a record $13.5 billion by July if the governor and Democrats who control the General Assembly remain deadlocked over a complete spending plan, a bleak reminder of what’s at stake as negotiations begin anew. The projection […]
Critical Senior Services Bill Vetoed by Governor Rauner
AARP IL Urges General Assembly to Override Veto SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Aug. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Over 40,000 Illinois vulnerable seniors will face reduced services and potentially daunting waitlists in obtaining in-home care due to Governor Rauner’s veto of the Community Care Program Protection bill. Last Friday, the Governor vetoed a measure which safeguards in-home and […]
Uptown Restaurant with Mission to Help Homeless Closes
Hunter Clauss WTTW Chicago Tonight A North Side restaurant employing people grappling with homelessness closed its doors for good on Sunday. Inspiration Kitchens had been a fixture of the Uptown neighborhood for 11 years. But owners of the restaurant say a loss of federal funding and the state’s historic budget impasse made it difficult to […]
Illinois women hit ‘disproportionally hard’ by record state budget impasse
by Monique Garcia and Kim GeigerContact Reporter Chicago Tribune As Illinois government has lurched along for nearly a year without a formal budget, women who rely on state services have been among those suffering the most. Frozen out of the haphazard funding system that’s emerged during the impasse are social service providers, many of them not-for-profit organizations […]
Proposed legislation a $700 million ‘stop-gap’ for various human service agencies
By Doug Finke GateHouse Media Illinois SPRINGFIELD — An Illinois House committee has given preliminary approval to legislation to spend $700 million to help out financially strapped human services. The House Human Services Appropriations Committee OK’d the measure on a unanimous vote Wednesday. However, Rep. Patti Bellock, R-Hinsdale, cautioned that Republicans were given late notice […]
House panel backs social services funds, but Rauner noncommittal
Monique Garcia and Celeste Bott House lawmakers advanced legislation Wednesday that would pump roughly $700 million into the state’s network of social service providers, a stopgap plan aimed at curbing layoffs and closures as agencies that care for the vulnerable struggle to keep the lights on after going nearly a year without funding. While the […]
Gov. Rauner’s FY17 Budget Speech
Rep. Greg Harris • 13th District Springfield Update • February 19, 2016 Gov. Rauner’s FY17 Budget Speech Wednesday, Governor Rauner delivered his budget speech to the General Assembly for our next fiscal year, despite having no budget for the current fiscal year. Typically, the House and Senate budget staffs and the news media […]
Rauner end run to cut budget another flashpoint in impasse
Monique Garcia Contact Reporter Chicago Tribune Thwarted by lawmakers in his efforts to dramatically cut state spending, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner has turned to a workaround, using an obscure rule-making process to repeatedly tighten eligibility requirements for numerous social service programs for children, the elderly and the disabled. The tactic is another front in his ongoing battle […]
Rauner, lawmakers focus on smaller projects in budget mess
BY JOHN O’CONNOR AP Political Writer Illinois legislators and Gov. Bruce Rauner bickered over potholes, airplanes and other smaller-ticket items Tuesday as officials prepared to answer a contempt charge in federal court alleging the cash-strapped state missed a deadline to pay some service providers. A court hearing was scheduled Wednesday for the state to […]