Illinois' Republican governor and Democratic lawmakers are doing the postmortem on the Spring legislative session that ended this week.
Gov. Rauner is traveling the state declaring the Democratic controlled legislature is a “stunning failure.”
But Peoria Senator David Koehler says there is still room for negotiation.
“I am hopeful that before July first we are going to see an educations bill that going to be supported in a bipartisan way," Koehler said. "And that we are going to see some funding for higher ed and social services. Those are the three funding areas that are key.”
Koehler says education has to be a full-year budget so schools can adjust their spending plans, but it doesn’t have to be paid for in advanced. He says they can come back and work on a revenue plan. Koehler says education funding is imperative and it’s one area the Governor hasn’t attached his “turnaround agenda” requirements.
Meantime, Gov. Rauner is traveling the state to report on the spring legislative session and to ask for help.
Rauner calls the legislative session a "stunning failure" and a dereliction of duty, listing things he says the House and Senate didn’t do.
On Wed., the Governor asked for residents in Pekin to call Democratic Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth and Sen. Dave Koehler.
“Ask them to stand up and vote for you, the people in Tazewell County and Peoria County and Central Illinois, not vote with the Chicago machine and hold our state hostage for a bailout for the City of Chicago and a massive tax hike without reform,” Rauner said.
Governor Rauner says people should tell their Democratic lawmakers to “do the right thing.” He’s calling on the Democratic controlled House and Senate to send him what he’s calling a “clean” K-12 funding plan as well as a fiscally responsible stopgap budget.
Definitions of both are the likely sticking point to meaningful progress.