By Greg Bishop/Illinois Radio Network
SPRINGFIELD – Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner says he’s planted the seeds of growth in Illinois but not everyone sees that.
During his State of the State address Wednesday in front of a joint session of the General Assembly, Rauner said other Democrat dominated states like Rhode Island and California have reformed pensions, lowered workers’ compensation costs, and enacted other reforms he said are necessary for Illinois.
“We have the power to take similar steps,” Rauner said. “The question is whether we have the will to take them.”
“But there is no question about this, we have planted the seeds of growth in our economy,” he said.
Illinois has had slow jobs growth and a higher unemployment rate than the national average. One example is manufacturing jobs. President Donald Trump touted 200,000 new manufacturing jobs added across the county in all of 2017 during Tuesday State of the Union address, but Illinois only snagged 7,700 of those manufacturing jobs while neighboring states’ gains outpace Illinois’.
Rauner also urged lawmakers to act on several issues he said will restore trust in state government.
Rauner said the state has to change the way property taxes are assessed and challenged, because taxpayers are being crushed and connected interests are profiting.
“It is a vicious form of oppression,” Rauner said. “The system traps people within in their homes, vaporizes their equity, drives mortgages underwater and in some cases pushes people out of our state. It is time to put a stop to this corruption.”
Drawing off the outrage evident in the #MeToo movement, Rauner also said he’s signing an executive order to tighten up ethics reforms in executive agencies, including for employees under collective bargaining agreements. He urged lawmakers to pass similar legislation.
Rauner delivers his Budget Address in two weeks.
