Governor Not Backing Down From Pro-Business Agenda

Friday, February 24, 2017 | 0

Gov. Bruce Rauner reaffirmed his commitment to workers’ compensation and pension reforms Wednesday, and said he will not sign off on new taxes without them, despite a nearly 20-month budget impasse.

Gov. Bruce Rauner

“It’s frustrating we don’t have a budget,” Rauner told the Herald & Review. “When I started this job, I was 6-8 and had a full head of hair. It’s hard.”

Illinois has not had a budget since June 30, 2015, shortly after Rauner, a Republican, was elected governor and butted heads with a Democrat-dominated General Assembly.

Appearing before the Illinois Movers’ and Warehousemen’s Association’s annual meeting in Normal, Rauner criticized “a rigged workers’ comp system that’s full of fraud and abuse” and pledged his continued support for a pro-business agenda that includes term limits, legislative redistricting and a property tax freeze, the newspaper reported.

The Illinois Senate will reconvene Tuesday and restart negotiations over a 12-bill compromise package that includes a number of items, ranging from workers’ compensation reform to a personal income tax increase.

Since fiscal 2016 began, the state has funded basic services through stopgap spending measures, court decisions and consent decrees. Meanwhile, Illinois has racked up more than $11 billion in unpaid bills and an unfunded pension liability of $130 billion.