A.G. Madigan Files Suit To Ensure Court Funding
From the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin
Illinois can still fund its courts even without an overall spending plan, the state’s top attorney has argued.
Attorney General Lisa M. Madigan filed a complaint in Cook County Circuit Court arguing a law passed last year authorizes judicial and legislative salaries to be paid. In addition, she maintains, a 2004 Illinois Supreme Court case says general court payments can continue during a budget impasse.
Her suit also says federal law requires some state expenditures in the absence of a budget. As a result, she is seeking an injunction requiring the comptroller’s office to process payments.
Madigan’s claim, filed on Thursday, comes as a budget stalemate between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Democratic-controlled legislature has carried over into a new fiscal year.
“It is my hope that by securing a court order clarifying these expenditures, the legislature and the governor can enact a budget to fund state government for the new fiscal year,” Madigan said in a statement. “If not, I fear those who need the state’s services the most will suffer the greatest.”
Her suit names Comptroller Leslie Munger, a Rauner appointee, as the defendant and cites the State Budget Law as giving Munger the power to authorize salaries for legislators and judges.
That law was changed last year — after then-Gov. Patrick J. Quinn vetoed lawmaker salaries in 2013 in an attempt to force action on sweeping pension-system reforms — to allow for a “continuing appropriation” for legislative and judicial salaries as well as General Assembly functions.
Read more in our daily News Update...
From the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin
Illinois can still fund its courts even without an overall spending plan, the state’s top attorney has argued.
Attorney General Lisa M. Madigan filed a complaint in Cook County Circuit Court arguing a law passed last year authorizes judicial and legislative salaries to be paid. In addition, she maintains, a 2004 Illinois Supreme Court case says general court payments can continue during a budget impasse.
Her suit also says federal law requires some state expenditures in the absence of a budget. As a result, she is seeking an injunction requiring the comptroller’s office to process payments.
Madigan’s claim, filed on Thursday, comes as a budget stalemate between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Democratic-controlled legislature has carried over into a new fiscal year.
“It is my hope that by securing a court order clarifying these expenditures, the legislature and the governor can enact a budget to fund state government for the new fiscal year,” Madigan said in a statement. “If not, I fear those who need the state’s services the most will suffer the greatest.”
Her suit names Comptroller Leslie Munger, a Rauner appointee, as the defendant and cites the State Budget Law as giving Munger the power to authorize salaries for legislators and judges.
That law was changed last year — after then-Gov. Patrick J. Quinn vetoed lawmaker salaries in 2013 in an attempt to force action on sweeping pension-system reforms — to allow for a “continuing appropriation” for legislative and judicial salaries as well as General Assembly functions.
Read more in our daily News Update...