S&P cited Illinois lawmakers’ failure to pass a budget and the lengthy budget impasse as reasons for its one-notch credit downgrade. Over the years, Illinois’ state credit rating has been downgraded multiple times due to massive spending and excessive borrowing.

Illinois needs to enact structural spending reforms to avoid following Puerto Rico down the path to insolvency.

Another Band-Aid budget deal won’t fix the financial problems that plague Illinois or stop the state’s credit rating from falling to junk.

Credit rating agencies have warned Illinois’ credit could slide into junk territory if the legislative session ends in May without a budget deal to get the state’s finances back on track.

Illinois lawmakers should heed Moody’s Investors Service’s warnings about the state’s precarious economic health and dire fiscal situation and enact major structural spending reforms to balance the budget.

The New York-based credit agency cited the lack of action on a budget as the primary reason for the downgrade.

Standard & Poor’s sent Chicago Public Schools’ credit rating deeper into junk territory in the wake of the new $9.5 billion teachers’ contract. The ratings firm said the new contract will make the district’s financial crisis worse.

The ratings agency also warns that another downgrade could be coming if the state doesn’t enact serious reforms to improve its fiscal condition.