Results tagged “johncullerton”

After a lot of hootin' and hollerin', it's finally done: we have a state budget. And one without an income tax hike. But with the state facing somewhere in the neighborhood of a $9 billion budget gap, how will the state actually manage to make ends meet? In a word: borrowing. The $26 billion spending plan depends on borrowing $3.5 billion to pay state worker pensions and around $3.2 billion in bills is pushed off to next year's budget, but the move means that most of the state services that were on the brink of getting cut will now remain. For now, anyway, as Gov. Quinn has the option to cut any additional money as he sees fit. Still, Quinn said the budget still puts the state between $4 billion and $5 billion down.

Fox 32 is reporting that House Minority Leader Tom Cross has said a tentative agreement has been reached on the state budget, which has been in limbo for weeks after the last legislative session ended without a new budget in place. There's no income tax increase in the budget, though State Senate President John Cullerton said that an increase of some kind was inevitable in the future. Gov. Quinn backed off his push for an income tax hike last week in a bid to increase the chances of a speedy resolution.

With a major deadline to vote on his controversial new budget approaching, Gov. Quinn has made some adjustments he hopes will help the plan get an easier passage. According to the Sun-Times:

Governor Quinn said Wednesday that he plans to reopen several state historic sites that former governor Rod Blagojevich closed late last year. At the time, Blagojevich said that cutting nearly $3 million from the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency was necessary to plug a hole in the state budget. Quinn has already reopened several state parks that Blagojevich closed along with the historic sites. Although the state is facing an unprecedented budget crisis this year, the governor says that merging state agencies will offset the cost of the reopenings.

In the state where we tax the shit out of everything, there's a new gas tax proposal just waiting to raise our ire. State Senate President John Cullerton and Speaker of the House Mike Madigan are co-sponsoring a bill that would raise the tax on a gallon of gas to 27 cents a gallon; motorists currently pay 19 cents a gallon. The reason? To help fund "Grow Illinois", which would pay for debt services and capital improvements the wake of the state's budget shortfall. Another co-sponsor, State Rep. Luis Arroyo, (D-Chicago) said, "No tax for the taxpayers of Illinois is easy. We need infrastructure and we need jobs. Everybody's crying for jobs. There's a lot of people getting laid off. We have to do a capital bill." That raises taxes on people who can't afford to travel to their jobs as it is?

Shortly after meeting with President Barack Obama and the other big wigs in D.C. today, Governor Pat Quinn announced that he will focus on passing the much needed, (and much delayed) capital spending bill. Setting April 3 as the date, Quinn told the press that "it will give us a target to shoot at and keep an urgent approach," and mentioned that while he planned to present the date to the legislature Wednesday, he had already discussed it privately with some members of the General Assembly. "We will (pass a capital bill)," said Quinn, adding that he will present the bill, along with the rest of his budget, to the public and the legislature on March 18.

The long, arduous impeachment process has given way to a long, arduous deliberation in the state senate. Sen. Rickey Hendon (Chicago), who has voiced his opposition to the impeachment, requested the separation of the health care charges from the articles of impeachment, a motion that State Supreme Court Justice (and presiding trial judge) Thomas Fitzgerald denied. With that, Justice Fitzgerald left and allowed deliberations to begin.

Never one to make a fuss about anything, impeached Governor Rod Blagojevich will today make his first appearance at the State Capitol since his arrest on December 9. Blago is on hand to preside over the swearing in of newly elected state senators, something he is required to do by law. Still, we're expecting him to receive a chilly reception at the high noon ceremony. Also occurring at noon will be the swearing in of new House members by Secretary of State Jesse White; the House will then re-vote on the impeachment of Blago, a technicality because of the newly sworn-in members. After the new senators are sworn in, Blago will then preside over the roll call vote for the Senate President, who we already know will be Chicago's John Cullerton. Cullerton will then address the senate and it's expected Blago will exit stage left, though without the traditional escort of senators.

AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast