Illinois Budget Crisis

The state of Illinois is one of the biggest state’s in the Union if one were to rank the state’s by population. There is around 12 million people who are residents of Illinois which means the government that is in charge of making sure social services are provided to these people have a huge responsibility. You would think that this would mean that the people who are elected to govern would take their jobs seriously and try to make sure the state runs smoothly as possible and to avoid petty drama. It is amazing how wrong this assumption is.

The last time the state of Illinois had a budget was mid-2015. This means the state has gone nearly a year and a quarter without having a spending plan because of the hard headed partisan approaches of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. Governor Bruce Rauner and the Democrat-controlled legislature have not been able to see eye-to-eye on anything with every move made by one blocked by the other and vice-versa. The inability of both to overcome their troubles and put the people who elected them into the forefront has meant that the general population has suffered as education and social service spending is almost non-existent and most spending that is done by the government is due to court orders. Though they did seem to come to a conclusion that they can still receive their paychecks on time unlike some state employees who have to wait to receive their paychecks. The budget crisis has created an opinion in the minds of almost every single citizen in the state and many have begun to call for reforms and for the politician’s in office to be ousted. Recently the Independent Maps coalition had a ballot initiative ruled unconstitutional but the group has asked the Supreme Court of Illinois to rehear the issue. This is the second time in as many years that a voter initiative to redistrict the state has been struck down and is very evident of the mood of the citizenry that the way the state is district currently is setup in a way to keep the same people in office for many years which prevents the change that many young and old voters are calling for. The citizens are sick of having to suffer because of corrupt politicians and politicians that rather be in a stalemate than try to actually find a solution to problems.

How will this rehearing turn out? The author assumes that it will probably be struck down because this would actually change things and there can’t ever be change for the good in politics anymore because that means somebody is probably going to lose their jobs and in the old boys club that is American state politics that just simply can’t happen.