Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash once sang "another day older and deeper in debt."  He was talking about working in the coal mines, but the same can be said for the budget of the State of Illinois.  With the legislature still at an impasse on whether to raise the income tax, sources say Governor Quinn may be forced to lay off 8,000 state workers.  To make matters worse, the bill the legislators passed weeks ago to fund capital projects is hung up in procedural errors and the House of Representatives may have to vote on it again.  This is the bill that also contains the 80,000 lb highway access provision.  Until the Governor signs the bill, the various fee increases on licenses, liquor etc are on hold and so are the highway improvement projects.  Illinois' debt is also such that we don't have enough cash on hand to access federal matching funds for Medicaid.  Gov Quinn continues to push legislative leaders to approve the income tax increase and more meetings between the Governor and the leadership are expected this week.