Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, a Republican, spent more than half of his budget address for the coming fiscal year criticizing the Democratically controlled legislature Wednesday afternoon for not passing his so-called "Turnaround Agenda" or providing a balanced budget for the current fiscal year.
The governor did propose a windfall for education, with what he called record funding for kindergarten-through-high school programs.
His disdain for the state's status of being without a budget for eight months was clear, however, and he repeated his insistence that lawmakers follow his lead.
"There’s a perception among some of you that the Turnaround reforms we’ve put forward won’t help our budget crisis," the governor said. "That they’re “non-budget” items. That they don’t matter enough to move the needle. That they’d do more harm than good. Well, nothing could be further from the truth."
He said that Workers’ Compensation reform, tort limits, relief from unfunded mandates, government consolidation, local control of bargaining and bidding to drive down property taxes will provide "many billions of dollars every year in government cost savings."
"Even if we only implemented a portion of these recommendations," Rauner said, "in a few years we’d have a balanced budget without a tax hike, and we’d have billions of dollars in surplus funds to invest in our schools, our human services, and our infrastructure."
He told lawmakers they had to choose between passing an acceptable balanced budget or giving him "the flexibility to reallocate resources and make reductions to state spending as necessary."
Rauner said that minority leaders Christine Radogno in the Senate and Jim Durkin in the House would be introducing a standalone appropriations bill to cover his plans for education.
"The greatest investment we can make as a community is in our children," he said, "and the earlier we begin, the bigger the return. That is why our budget for early childhood education increases state support by $75 million, a nearly 25 percent increase. With that level of funding, we’d keep more than 85,000 kids in preschool and create 2,900 more full-day preschool slots."
Rauner said his $393 million budget proposal for early childhood education is the most in state history.
He added that his budget also proposes fully funding the General State Aid foundation level for the first time in seven years.
"This will mark the most state money we’ve ever invested in our school funding formula and eliminate the need for any proration," he said, "a practice that has forced teachers, administrators and school boards to make cuts that negatively impact our kids."
State Representative Bob Pritchard (R-Hinckley) says he was pleased with the governor's "bipartisan approach" as opposed to his focus on changes and reforms last year.
"This time around, he was very cordial, I think, following the guidance President Obama gave just a week ago -- that we need less partisanship here and more bipartisanship."
Pritchard says he wishes there were specifics about the 2016 budget, but he says he understood why Rauner probably left those out of his address.
"You know, he's given proposals, he's made statements since the last budget proposal, he's compromised some things, and yet the legislature just doesn't seem willing to take up the issue."
Pritchard says it's unlikely a state budget will be passed before the Illinois primary election.
State Representative Litesa Wallace (D-Rockford) said in a news release the governor’s proposals hurt the economy, as well as the people depending on social service agencies.
"As social service agencies across the state continue to close doors and face uncertainty, it was disappointing to see the governor double down on an agenda that has and will continue to hurt families in Rockford. Despite his emphasis on economic development, the governor’s insistence on non-budgetary items has led to an unnecessary impasse that has hurt growth and shaken faith in the ability of our state to move forward."
State Senator Steve Stadelman (D-Rockford) calls the lack of a state budget eight months into the fiscal year "crazy" and "shocking." He says he shared the collective feeling of frustration during Governor Bruce Rauner's speech.
Stadelman says he supports the early education and K through 12 funding the governor mentioned in his speech, but didn't hear a plan to pay for it from Rauner.
"I don't think we should forget about colleges and universities and MAP grants for students. I think they should be a priority as well. I didn't hear him say much about that, however."
State Senator Dave Syverson (R-Rockford) says the governor's speech was a call for compromise -- and it's up to House Democrats to turn the budget crisis around.
“We are just a couple of adult decisions away from having the state take off economically. It’s just simple job reforms like every other state has done, it’s putting the temporary tax back on, and then sitting back and watching the Illinois economy take off.”
WNIJ's Victor Yehling, Katie Finlon, and Susan Stephens contributed to this report
