Okawville, Ill. - Senate Republicans are looking forward to Gov. Pat Quinn’s annual “State of the State” address on Feb. 1, which State Sen. Dave Luechtefeld (R-Okawville) hopes will provide insight into the Governor’s priorities for the upcoming legislative session. 

State budget forecasts recently released by the Quinn Administration and Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka underscore the importance of addressing Illinois’ multi-billion dollar deficit and burgeoning bill backlog. But while the state’s budget woes remains a top priority for lawmakers, media reports indicate the Governor will likely turn his attention to other important—and contentious—issues like public pensions, taxes, and the Medicaid system. 

Okawville, Ill. –    In advance of next week’s Spring Session and Governor’s annual State of the State Address, State Sen. Dave Luechtefeld (R-Okawville) spoke with local media outlets about what to expect as legislators head back to the Capitol on January 31.

On the topic of taxes and the state budget, “We are not much better off than we were at this point last year even with the legislative majorities’ $7 billion tax increase,” Luechtefeld said. “The majority has failed to significantly rein in spending and Comptroller Judy Barr Topinka estimates the backlog of bills at $8.5 billion.”

Okawville, Ill. - This week, Jan. 13 marked the one year anniversary of the state’s 67 percent tax hike passed by Democrat lawmakers during the 2011 lame-duck session. State Sen. Dave Luechtefeld (R-Okawville) said that while the increase was packaged as the way to pull Illinois back from financial collapse, a year later the state is still faltering financially.
    
Just last week, Gov. Quinn released budget projections showing that even with the tax increase, the Fiscal Year 2012 budget is on target to spend more money than state will generate.  In fact, according to the Governor, Illinois will still see a $500 million shortfall at the end of this fiscal year—not including $2 billion in deferred obligations.