Chicago City Wire

With days to go before Illinois enters the next fiscal year without a budget in place, Gov. Bruce Rauner recently took Democrats to task in Springfield, scolding the party for dragging its feet on compromise.

“The government is on the verge of shutdown, and our schools are on the verge of not opening,” Rauner said.

Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan canceled a scheduled House session for the third consecutive week — despite promising tangible results back in May — but indicated that bipartisan work groups will gather imminently to attempt a plan. He expressed appreciation for the governor’s support of the work groups but maintained that “until there is a compromise budget, lawmakers should not be brought back to Springfield.”

“I believe what’s being done is using the ‘working groups’ as an excuse not to do anything, to delay and create a crisis,” Rauner said.

Chicago-based law firm Keefe, Campbell, Biery & Associates LLC, which focuses on workers’ comp defense, stated that the epic impasse was triggered by the “governor’s reasonable demand that our goofy legislature [act to] reform workers’ compensation and government pensions, and freeze property taxes.”

July 1 may remain the action date, the firm said.