The most important aspect of the state having a budget for the first time in two years is that it puts parameters or some limitations on the obligations that the state of Illinois is going to incur in the coming fiscal year.

 

For two years, the state has operated without a budget, which is not the same thing as operating with a limitation on expenses. We’re still spending money. It’s not the same thing as being fiscally conservative, not paying your bills. Not paying your bills on time is driving an extremely large amount of expense for the state of Illinois.

 

The most important part is that even though the governor did not sign the budget, the General Assembly overrode his veto to establish a limitation on the obligations that the state will incur. So for the first time in two years, there are actually appropriations for employee health insurance and retired employees’ health insurance. That means the state should not have to pay the 12 percent interest penalty that it has been paying in recent years, even without appropriations. So the most important part of the state having a framework of a budget—and it’s only a framework because it remains in question whether it can be implemented now that the booby trap issue of education funding reform has been established.

 

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