Illinois is infamous for political corruption and has a bad reputation for fiscal malfeasance.
Backers of a new state budget say they're turning that around with a balanced plan crafted in cooperation. Republicans, however, say the measure that passed the state House of Representatives around 2:30 a.m. Friday — while most Illinois residents were kicking off a sunny holiday weekend — largely ignores their input and sets the state up for obligations it won't be able to meet.
The spending plan doesn't increase taxes, but it will cost people $10 more for a new car title. That means come July, it will cost $165 for a certificate of title, with the additional funds to be used to update the Illinois secretary of state's IT infrastructure, which an external assessment found to be very outdated. The secretary of state's office said the increase "won't come close" to raising the $200 million needed to overhaul the "archaic" system "to better protect personal information, increase cybersecurity and prevent outages … but is a decision the GA (General Assembly) made to help generate more for modernization."
That's a small portion of the $50 billion spending plan approved by lawmakers and that Gov. J.B. Pritzker is expected to sign in advance of July 1, when the new fiscal year begins.
One freshman lawmaker, Rep. John Egofske, R-Lemont, a former mayor and company CFO, said watching how the $50 billion plan was put together was "enlightening and frightening."
Lawmakers behind the plan promised it contains no gimmicks, but Barrington Hills Republican Rep. Martin McLaughlin said "there's more hiding, shifting, obfuscation of stuff that would make a three-card monte dealer blush," and Rep. John Cabello, R-Rockford, said projected savings are "straight out of fantasy land."
More here.
No comments:
Post a Comment