 Progress
is blocked by fundamental disagreements on how to solve the problem
and a lack of any sense of urgency among officials. Even with the
Legislature's fall session beginning next week, officials report
little or no discussion of what can be done to pay the bills, which
total billions of dollars.Gov. Pat Quinn did not list the issue
among his top three priorities for the session -- ending legislative
scholarships, passing a revised gambling expansion and sustaining
his veto of a "smart grid" energy system. The Senate's top
Republican doesn't expect progress any time soon. The speaker of the
House and president of the Senate say they're waiting for signs of
cooperation from Republicans.
Sen. John Sullivan, a proponent of borrowing money to pay the
backlog, said he won't bother calling for a vote on his plan. "I see
no reason to bring it up just to fail," said the Rushville Democrat.
While acknowledging the long odds, advocates for human service
groups still plan to push for action, hopefully this fall, but
perhaps in January. They're trying to build support for several
options: borrowing, taking money out of special-purpose funds or
simply devoting any extra income to the backlog.
"It's a moral, ethical obligation," said Judith Gethner, director
of Illinois Partners for Human Service.
Officials are split into two camps, largely along party lines, on
how to address the backlog.
Many Democrats want to borrow by selling bonds and using the
money to pay overdue bills. They maintain this would not be new
debt. State government already owes vendors who can ill-afford to go
without their money, they say, so it would simply be a matter of
changing things so the state owes money to a different, more willing
group -- bond-buyers.
"Debt restructuring is the very best way to have Illinois pay its
bills immediately," said Quinn, a Democrat, in an interview with The
Associated Press.
"Mainly the reason it hasn't passed is politics. It isn't
policy," he said.
Not true, say those in the other camp. They say it's bad
management to pay for everyday government expenses by borrowing
money over many years. They want to reduce the backlog gradually
with money saved by cutting spending and with higher revenues that
come in as the economy improves.
Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno, R-Lemont, criticized
Quinn for not doing more to overhaul government spending for the
long run.
"There is no plan here to dig out other than borrowing, and that
is the wrong answer," Radogno said. Any borrowing plan would require
a supermajority for approval.
One of the few people with a foot in each camp is Treasurer Dan
Rutherford, a Republican.
In May, Rutherford sharply condemned the idea of taking on more
debt and threatened to lobby credit-rating agencies to reject the
borrowing if Illinois were to go in that direction. But last month
he told the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce that not paying bills
is "criminal," and it might be feasible to borrow money to pay them.
"For those of you that are owed money from the state of Illinois,
I support the idea of looking at refinancing some kind of a package
to take the burden of the debt load off of you and put it on the
state," Rutherford said.
Republicans want to see major changes in government pensions and
Medicaid. They predict the changes would save huge amounts of money,
but they also acknowledge it would be a long process.
In his spring budget address, Quinn proposed borrowing $8.7
billion over 14 years. Lawmakers essentially ignored the idea. In
May, Sullivan proposed borrowing $6.2 billion for about half that
amount of time. It failed 19-23.
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Key figures report almost no discussion of alternatives or
compromises since then.
Republican legislative leaders say the governor's staff recently
approached them about possibly supporting a $4 billion borrowing
plan, but they rejected it.
Sullivan said he has had no contact with the governor, or with
the treasurer, and doesn't know of anything likely to change the
status quo in Springfield.
Spokesmen for Senate President John Cullerton and House Speaker
Michael Madigan, both Chicago Democrats, said they haven't pursued
the issue because there's no sign Republicans are willing to
cooperate.
The size of the backlog varies. As of Sept. 8, it was just over
$5 billion. Nearly half of that was more than a month old, and $1.4
billion was more than two months old.
State government owed the money to businesses that provided food
for prisons and gasoline for vehicles, to nonprofits that care for
the disabled and protect abused women, to local governments that
educate students and feed hungry children.
Illinois raised income taxes dramatically this year. The money,
along with budget cuts, was enough to bring revenue and spending
into balance, but not enough to pay off the old bills.
So far, money is flowing into the treasury faster than
anticipated in the state budget. But a weak economy means revenues
could still dry up, warns the Legislature's Commission on Government
Forecasting and Accountability.
For now, what to do with the additional money is likely to be a
major question for lawmakers meeting this month and next. Should
Quinn's plan to close facilities and cut jobs be blocked? Should
canceled government raises be restored? Should overdue bills be paid
off?
Gethner, of Illinois Partners for Human Services, is lobbying for
bills to be top priority. It won't be easy, she said, but it's still
possible.
"I'm certainly not 100 percent in the pessimistic camp," Gethner
said.
___
To explore a searchable database of the Illinois government's
unpaid bills from Sept. 8, go to
http://billpay.qconline.com/.
[Associated Press;
By CHRISTOPHER WILLS]
Christopher Wills can be reached at
http://twitter.com/ChrisBWills.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
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