SJ0044 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

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SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The State of Illinois has been without a complete budget since July of 2015 due to the continuing failures of the Governor and the General Assembly to do their jobs and pass a balanced budget; and

WHEREAS, Because of these failures, Illinois seniors have lost access to meals-on-wheels and transportation services; home healthcare agencies serving low-income seniors and people with disabilities have closed or reduced service areas; K-12 schools are struggling due to cuts to funding for transportation, special education, and school lunches; and services that help keep kids out of jail have closed in 24 counties; and

WHEREAS, Programs that provide shelter, counseling, and advocacy for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault were not funded by the six-month stop-gap budget, resulting in layoffs of counselors and case managers, and building waiting lists for services; and

WHEREAS, State vendors and community service providers who have unwittingly and willingly lent their services to the State have either received late payments or no payments at all, demonstrating a lack of ethics and dereliction of the duties of the Governor and the General Assembly; and

WHEREAS, This stalemate has placed an undue burden upon our higher education network, community hospitals, and other related service-providers that are valuable economic engines creating jobs, tax revenues, stability, and opportunities for the people of Illinois; and

WHEREAS, State-owned facilities all over Illinois are in need of maintenance and repair, whether it be the State Fairgrounds in Springfield and Du Quoin, the World Shooting Recreational Complex in Sparta, all State Parks, and the prisons, hospitals, license facilities, tourism bureaus, and more in every corner of the State; continued deferred maintenance will cost the State exponentially more in construction costs, lost revenue, diminished efficiency, and loss of good will; and

WHEREAS, Equitable contract terms need to be reached with all State employee unions, including the payment of back-pay and the full funding of employee health insurance to provide peace of mind for them and their families, and so that the State of Illinois can deliver services that have been promised and upon which the citizens rely; and

WHEREAS, Moody's Investor Service rates the State of Illinois the lowest among all of the states, only two levels above their "junk" rating, a singular travesty considering Illinois has the fifth largest economy; four Illinois universities have already had some or all of their debt rated junk, with downgrades of more universities anticipated this year; this decline must be reversed; and

WHEREAS, The Governor and the General Assembly are inching ever-closer to a more equitable PK-12 school funding formula; however, the full positive effects of reforming the school funding formula cannot be fully leveraged without the benefits of a complete and enacted State budget; and

WHEREAS, The Governor of Illinois is empowered with the line-item veto and should consider utilizing that power in order to facilitate a budget more acceptable to him; and

WHEREAS, The people are suffering and angry because the Governor and the General Assembly continue to play politics with their lives, ignoring the duties of the offices to which they were elected and foregoing their oaths of office; and

WHEREAS, The General Assembly has missed countless opportunities to address these problems by being in Springfield for less than half of the working calendar days while the State is in crisis; and

WHEREAS, Instead of being in Springfield and working with the General Assembly, the Governor spends session days in Chicago raising money for his re-election and campaigning all over the State; it is unseemly for anyone of either party to actively raise funds to campaign for office while the General Assembly is in session and while the State has a backlog of $13 billion in unpaid bills; and

WHEREAS, Further stalemate can and will be exploited for political benefit at the expense of those who can least afford the cost; and

WHEREAS, Right now the most important thing State government can do is to provide the predictability and stability that comes from having a balanced budget to halt the migration of residents and businesses from the State and encourage more to come to Illinois; and

WHEREAS, The sooner the Governor and General Assembly commit to in-person meetings and creating political solutions, the faster we can avoid the further digging of a hole of debt and taxes the burden of which future generations of Illinoisans will bear; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING HEREIN, that the Governor shall fulfill his responsibilities under Section 2(a) of Article VIII of the Illinois Constitution and deliver a balanced budget to the General Assembly; and be it further

RESOLVED, That once a balanced budget is received from the Governor, the General Assembly shall fulfill its responsibilities under Section 2(b) of the Illinois Constitution by passing a balanced budget, and until a balanced budget is passed, the General Assembly is to remain in session Monday through Saturday for at least 10 hours per day; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Governor shall remain in Springfield while the General Assembly is in session, actively engaged and working with the General Assembly to end the budget impasse; and be it further

RESOLVED, That under no circumstances shall the fulfillment of this resolution cost the taxpayers more money in legislative pay, per diems, or travel expenses; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Governor and the General Assembly should spend their energies leading and governing by working for the next generation and not the next election.