The Taxpayer Fiscal Charter Act would demand funding transparency before spending bills make their way out of Springfield.

Illinois House Bill 3868 would give Gov. Bruce Rauner the authority to trim costs and reorder the state’s spending priorities to balance the budget.

The Senate’s “grand bargain” contains a one-year spending “cap” that won’t improve fiscal responsibility. A real cap must come with structural spending reforms to return spending to a level that taxpayers can afford.

Temporary, unbalanced budget now moves to the governor’s desk for approval – Rauner has said he will veto the measure.

Money flowing to Illinois’ state and local governments grew much faster than the average Illinoisans’ paycheck from 1969-2012.

Illinois’ state-government compensation ratio – in other words, what state employees are paid relative to the state’s private-sector workers – is two-thirds higher than the national average.