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Past Due: Rauner transition team avoids budget specifics

Bruce Rauner
brucerauner.com

Gov. -elect Bruce Rauner’s transition team took a pass on making any budget recommendations in a report the group issued today.

The bipartisan group’s report emphasized that the state’s dire fiscal situation is the most pressing challenge the soon-to-be governor will face. The document goes so far as to say that if the new administration cannot stabilize the state’s budget, it will not succeed with other items on its agenda, be they modest or ambitious.

The group reiterated the general wisdom that fixing the state’s budget will take a mix of cuts and tax changes: “To allay the concerns of taxpayers, executives, investors, and analysts, and to find the resources to finance our most important responsibilities for today and the future, the state must lay out a clear and credible plan to balance its budget. It took decades to create the current fiscal imbalance, and it will take time to put our financial house in order. An effective plan will include spending cuts, efficiencies, comprehensive tax reform, and many changes that, over time, will require difficult choices and shared sacrifice. However, such actions will send an important message that Illinois is serious about its long-term fiscal health.”

Given that Rauner will present his budget plan next month, it's no surprise that the transition team opted not to preempt him by recommending specific budgetary actions.

The nearly-90-page report, titled “Building a Better Illinois,” does make specific short-term and long-term recommendations for several areas of state government--including education, public safety, energy, human services and state government administration. Many of those proposals would carry budget impacts with them.

You can read the full report here.

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