Illinois General Assembly continues to ignore the basics of good public policy

by Ben VanMetre Illinois has a spending problem. State government spending has grown at three times the rate of inflation since 1990. Despite Illinois’ existing balanced budget requirement, the state hasn’t had a balanced budget since 2001. That’s because political leadership in Illinois has been ignoring the basics of good public policy for decades. Lawmakers had the...

by Ben VanMetre

Illinois has a spending problem. State government spending has grown at three times the rate of inflation since 1990. Despite Illinois’ existing balanced budget requirement, the state hasn’t had a balanced budget since 2001. That’s because political leadership in Illinois has been ignoring the basics of good public policy for decades.

Lawmakers had the chance to change this trend during the recent legislative session.

State Rep. Jeanne Ives, R-Wheaton, introduced a real balanced budget requirement. One that simply requires spending incurred during a fiscal year to be paid for with revenue from the same fiscal year. It also eliminates the many loopholes that make the current requirement ineffective.

And state Rep. Tom Morrison, R-Palatine, introduced a sensible spending limit that ties spending to the growth in population and inflation.

Instead of using these pieces of legislation as an opportunity to begin righting Illinois’ fiscal ship, a majority of state representatives punted on reform and chose not to support these efforts.

Continuing to ignore these principles will only worsen the state’s already fragile fiscal position. For Illinois to become a leader in economic growth and job creation, lawmakers must modernize the way they budget and spend. That means Illinois’ political leadership needs to discern what government can and should be doing, and return to the basics of good public policy – balancing the budget and limiting spending.