During my second eight years in the Illinois House of Representatives, Democrat Mike Madigan was in charge for all but two years.
Budgets would be downloaded to our computers and I would immediately start scanning the pages from back to front. (I figured, correctly, that the worst stuff would be at the end where most people wouldnot find them.)
Now comes Lilly Riossi of Illinois Policy with information about how much time members have received to review the budget from Fiscal yeat 2017-26.
Bucking the practice of recent years, lawmakers introduced the proposed budget more than three weeks before the May 31 end of the session.
The short time for a budget to be reviewed can deter debate and largely eliminates opportunity for scrutiny from taxpayers and even lawmakers themselves. The tactic is used despite laws that outline how a budget bill should be passed.
Under the Illinois Constitution, the governor must submit a recommended budget to the General Assembly no later than the third Wednesday in February. Lawmakers can amend the proposal in an appropriations committee in either the House or Senate.
The state constitution also requires that bills be read on three separate days before they are passed. That provision is intended to give lawmakers — and taxpayers — a chance to know what is in the bill before it is passed.
But lawmakers regularly insert hundreds or thousands of pages unrelated to the original bill [read pork] and pass it the same day.
The time available this year to review, vet and debate the budget is refreshing. Will lawmakers respect taxpayer dollars, or will last-minute shenanigans happen behind closed doors?
The short time for a budget to be reviewed can deter debate and largely eliminates opportunity for scrutiny from taxpayers and even lawmakers themselves.
The tactic is used despite laws that outline how a budget bill should be passed.
Under the Illinois Constitution, the governor must submit a recommended budget to the General Assembly no later than the third Wednesday in February.
Lawmakers can amend the proposal in an appropriations committee in either the House or Senate.
The state constitution also requires that bills be read on three separate days before they are passed.
That provision is intended to give lawmakers — and taxpayers — a chance to know what is in the bill before it is passed.
But lawmakers regularly insert hundreds or thousands of pages unrelated to the original bill and pass it the same day.
The time available this year to review, vet and debate the budget is refreshing.
Will lawmakers respect taxpayer dollars, or will last-minute shenanigans happen behind closed doors?
