The governor is calling for round-the-clock budget negotiations and says he is open to meeting with all four legislative leaders, but it’s still unclear when or whether that will happen.
In an opinion column published last week in Springfield’s State Journal-Register, Gov. Bruce Rauner wrote that negotiations should start immediately on a, quote, “bipartisan, balanced budget with a mix of reforms, cost reductions and revenue.”
Leading Republican state Rep. Jim Durkin said last week the governor has requested meetings with the four legislative leaders but hasn’t heard back. John Patterson, Illinois Senate President John Cullerton’s spokesman, said they’re open to meeting.
Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s spokesman, Steve Brown, said there haven’t been any dates scheduled. Lawmakers are back in Springfield on Tuesday, which will be more than nine months into the budget impasse with no resolution in sight.
In other State news: An effort to save Illinois taxpayers money and reduce the size of government looks to have buckled under public pressure.
Department of Public Health Director Dr. Nirav Shah has been working with downstate Illinois Senator Bill Haine to abolish the 17-member State Board of Health. A spokeswoman for the department told Illinois Radio Network the advisory board created unnecessary delays in getting administrative rules into place and cost taxpayers thousands of dollars every time it meets. Haine said in March that the board may have been useful when it was formed in the 1990s, but no longer.
But recently Haine amended the bill to keep the board intact but no longer have it approve department rules. Board members would no longer be paid a per diem fee.
Senator Haine has not responded to repeated requests for comment and the department refused to comment as well. Senate Bill 2416 is due back in committee Tuesday afternoon.
