By Greg Halbleib
SPRINGFIELD – As lawmakers returned to Springfield, State Sen. Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) introduced a series of bills he said would end the 21-month budget impasse.
Brady said his measures would build on plans already introduced.
“I am introducing into the Senate seven bills that I believe in accordance with the ‘grand bargain’ create the first balanced budget that we’ve seen in a long time,” Brady said during a news conference at the capitol.
“Those seven bills include two capital bills, a budget implementation bill, an appropriation bill, a budget management and control bill, bonding for a backlog of unpaid bills and bonding authority for continuation of capital projects that this state very much needs for public safety and job creation,” Brady added.
Brady’s proposals include five percent cuts across the board outside of education, $6 billion in revenue bonds to reduce the state’s unpaid bills and a hard spending cap of about $36 billion in general funds. Brady said the bonds would allow the state to roll back to the June 2015 bill backlog level of about $4.4 billion. The measures would fully fund the school aid formula, restructure state employees’ insurance and hold MAP grants to their current level.
