Illinois has been without a state budget since 2015, and the wait goes on after no action was taken by the House at today’s session.
Members of the Illinois House of Representatives met for less than a half-hour today before adjourning without votes to override Governor Rauner’s budget-deal veto.
The House did schedule a session for tomorrow, which is expected to feature votes to override Rauner’s veto of the budget deal. Local State Representative C.D. Davidsmeyer informs WLDS/WEAI News that there were only 54 of Illinois’ 118 state representatives present yesterday, and only 58 at the Capitol today, thus prompting the delayed vote.
On Monday, the House took a significant step towards ending the country’s longest-running state budget impasse by approving a $5 billion dollar tax increase Rauner vetoed a legislation package yesterday that would raise the state income tax by $5 billion in order to finance the $36 billion budget plan.
The House’s initial vote on the tax hike passed 72-45, giving it one vote more than the required number to override a veto from the Governor. And as reported previously, fifteen of those 72 “yes” votes came from minority House Republicans, one of which being Representative Davidsmeyer.
In the wake of Sunday’s vote, Davidsmeyer expressed his reasoning behind voting “yes,” saying that while he is opposed to the idea of a tax increase, the reality is that Illinois has to pay its bills.