In his annual budget
address, Quinn said both issues must be studied by committees that
will present their recommendations later this spring.The
Democratic governor also formally announced his plan to close 14
major state facilities, including two prisons. Dozens of other
smaller offices around the state, such as a state police laboratory,
will also be closed or consolidated, he said.
"They impact every region in our state, but the need for lower
spending in our budget gives us no choice,'' Quinn said to a joint
session of the Illinois House and Senate.
Lawmakers were virtually silent throughout Quinn's speech, which
lasted less than 30 minutes. They did not interrupt with applause
even when he delivered a bit of good news, such as proposing a small
increase in education funding or adding staff at homes for aging
military veterans.
A governor's budget proposal can be significantly changed by
lawmakers, which happened last year when legislators felt Quinn
wanted to spend too much.
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Quinn said decades of poor decisions have left the state's
government pension systems in a mess. The pension funds for public
school teachers and other state workers are about $83 billion short
of the money they'll eventually need to pay out. Each year, Illinois
must pay more to help close that shortfall, eating up scarce state
dollars.
"We must repair this broken system and we must do it now,'' Quinn
said.
But he did not spell out a plan. Instead, he said a "pension
working group'' will study the problem and come up with
recommendations by April 17.
Similarly, he said Medicaid, which provides care for 2.7 million
people in Illinois, "is on the brink of collapse.''
Quinn called for cutting Medicaid spending by $2.7 million next
year, saying it could be done by cutting payments to doctors and
hospitals, halting some services, and restricting eligibility for
the program. Quinn did not say what mix of those options he thinks
would work best. He said another working group is studying the
issue.
The idea of closing prisons and mental institutions is likely to
be particularly unpopular with the General Assembly.
The facilities Quinn wants to close include the supermax prison
at Tamms, a maximum security prison for women at Dwight and six
halfway houses for inmates nearing release, aides said. Quinn will
also call for closing two juvenile prisons, four mental institutions
and various smaller facilities.
Illinois prisons are already overcrowded. In November, 48,620
people were squeezed into space designed for 33,700. The Corrections
Department has begun counting areas like gymnasiums when calculating
the space available for housing inmates.
Closing facilities would further complicate the situation. The
two prisons and six "adult transition centers'' on Quinn's list
house 2,648 inmates.
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House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, applauded Quinn for
laying out the state's financial crisis in stark terms.
"The message was very clear, concise for the members of the
Legislature. He topped it off by saying, 'Don't expect to go home
until we get our job done,' which is a legitimate request for the
governor to the Legislature,'' Madigan said.
Republicans were less impressed.
"Gov. Quinn's matinee performance today was just rearranging the
deck chairs on the Titanic,'' said Pat Brady, chairman of the
Illinois Republican Party.
All this comes after years of belt-tightening and a 67 percent
increase in state income taxes. Despite those moves, the state's
expenses continue to overwhelm revenues. The administration expects
revenues to climb $729 million in the upcoming fiscal year, but
pension contributions alone are going up by $1 billion, soaking up
all the new money available.
Quinn's staff said discretionary spending in his budget -- which
doesn't include pensions, Medicaid and other costs that are largely
set by statute -- would total $24.8 billion in the coming year, down
1.7 percent from this year. When all costs are included, general
funds spending totals $33.8 billion, up 1.5 percent.
"The governor seems to be trying very hard to spin an impression
that they're actually cutting spending ... when in fact the budget
is going up,'' said Sen. Matt Murphy, R-Palatine. "So the idea that
somehow fiscal responsibility has come to the Quinn administration
is patently false.''
One of the few areas where Quinn wants to increase spending is
education. His budget proposes a $90 million increase, or about 1
percent, to help early childhood programs and college scholarships.
[Associated Press]
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
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