The Illinois Senate could begin voting Wednesday on a plan to reverse a smattering of state grants recently eliminated by Gov. Bruce Rauner.
Democratic legislators say they were caught off guard earlier this month when Rauner suddenly took $26 million in funding away from programs, including ones that support autistic children and people with epilepsy.
Sen. Dan Kotowksi, a Park Ridge Democrat, says Illinois should restore at least a portion of the money. He proposes getting it by sweeping special state funds that have reserves.
"It's 15,000 who have autism. There's literally thousands of people who have epilepsy in the state," Kotwoski said. "Thousands dealing with addiction, and we needed to look at at way to make sure those resources were available, and these funds were available. And I appreciate the solution that we've come up with."
Rauner's office is cooperating with Kotowski. The governor's budget chief testified about it at a Senate hearing Tuesday, but it's unclear if the plan will ever make it to Rauner's desk.
Rauner has said he had to cut the grants in order to balance the state budget, which his predecessor had left in a deficit.
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