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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The whole people of Illinois - who pay for a
3General Assembly to plan for the long-term affairs of the State -
4 deserve to have a budget planning document in place that
5considers medium-term and long-term spending pressures in the
6setting of State spending priorities; and
 
7    WHEREAS, No budget has been enacted for fiscal year 2016,
8the fiscal year that began on July 1, 2015; as a result, the
9overall economic climates of many sections of Illinois are
10threatened, endangering jobs in the private and public sectors
11alike; as a result of these threats, local consumption of
12private-sector goods and services must drop; and
 
13    WHEREAS, Central Illinois, with its traditional
14orientation towards the maintenance of State of Illinois
15operations is one of these threatened areas; and
 
16    WHEREAS, With no budget enacted for fiscal year 2016, soon
17the State of Illinois will have operated under 4 different
18budgets in the span of 2 years - the fiscal 2015 budget signed
19by former Governor Quinn, the revised fiscal year 2015 budget
20containing necessary "fixes" to the original, flawed FY15
21budget, the fiscal year 2016 non-budgeted State spending cycle
22being carried out right now under a series of State and federal

 

 

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1court orders, and an enacted budget that will cover the
2remainder of FY16; and
 
3    WHEREAS, Under the fiscal year 2016 non-budgeted State
4spending cycle, State spending is continuing without
5legislative participation, putting Illinois on the financial
6brink and setting our State on a path to utter financial ruin
7and economic devastation for our taxpayers; and
 
8    WHEREAS, Political pressures associated with the 2016
9election cycle will only increase with time, further tainting
10the budget process with politics and raising the possibility
11that, in the absence of corrective action, a repetition of this
12dismal pattern will occur as the spring 2016 deadline nears to
13craft and enact a budget for fiscal year 2017; and
 
14    WHEREAS, The General Assembly needs to re-establish a
15budget cycle and re-establish the credibility it needs in order
16to shift its attention to pension reform, property tax relief,
17crime and violence, the jobs climate, the outmigration from
18Illinois of younger and highly-educated workers and
19professionals, and other urgent issues; and
 
20    WHEREAS, Many states such as Nebraska, Ohio, and Texas, and
21including the neighboring state of Indiana, practice 2-year
22spending plans or full-scale biennial budgeting; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, The Constitution of Illinois directs the Governor
2of Illinois to present an annual budget proposal to the General
3Assembly, but, as we have come to know all too well, nothing
4constrains the General Assembly's actual responses to these
5proposals, and nothing prevents the General Assembly from
6adopting a planning process that faces the fact that we, as a
7State, are on the financial brink, and responds to it in a
8professional manner and in keeping with our identity as
9legislators and our oaths of office; and
 
10    WHEREAS, In these times, moving toward a long-term budget
11planning cycle will enable State agencies performing essential
12services, third-party service providers whose services are no
13less essential, and institutions and entities of higher
14education to obtain the information that their leaders have
15testified is essential to carrying out their duties; therefore,
16be it
 
17    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
18NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
19declare that it is expedient for the General Assembly to adopt
20a 2-year budget planning document to cover revenues in all of
21fiscal years 2016 and 2017, take account of moneys already
22spent, and control spending in the remainder of fiscal year
232016 and all of fiscal year 2017; and be it further
 

 

 

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1    RESOLVED, That this planning document should rely upon an
2honest estimate, without false promises or shoddy planning, of
3the actual financial income (especially general funds income)
4that the State will take in during fiscal years 2016 and 2017;
5and be it further
 
6    RESOLVED, That we urge the Commission on Government
7Forecasting and Accountability and the Governor's Office of
8Management and Budget to work together to develop an
9extraordinary consolidated revenue estimate for fiscal years
102016 and 2017, this estimate to be presented to both chambers
11of the General Assembly no later than 30 days after the
12adoption of this resolution; and be it further
 
13    RESOLVED, That we, the sponsors of this resolution, pledge
14to use this consolidated 2-year revenue estimate to work with
15our colleagues to develop a 2-year State budget and financial
16planning document; and be it further
 
17    RESOLVED, That our goal, as we develop this budget planning
18document, will be to end the current political cycle of
19reactive emergency measures and budget court orders; and be it
20further
 
21    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be

 

 

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1presented to Michael J. Madigan, Speaker of the House of
2Representatives, John Cullerton, President of the Senate, and
3Bruce Rauner, Governor.