Chambana Sun

State Rep. Mike Marron (R-Fithian) said that it’s time to bring transparency in the budgeting process.

He also questioned the errors on Senate Bill 2880, which Marron dubbed a “midnight budget.”

“I was appalled after being in county government and seeing how business was conducted in Springfield. My shock has now turned to shame,” he said. [There are] major errors in Article 999 regarding effective dates and now we are going to have to address that and fix that. This process is the complete opposite of transparency. How are we as lawmakers supposed to make a good decision on a budget when we haven't been given adequate time to evaluate that bill, much less read the entire thing.”

The bill was over 3,000 pages long, dropped 10 minutes before midnight, and was allegedly created without the Republican caucus’ inputs, behind closed doors.

“For my three-year tenure here in Springfield, I've been calling out the ridiculous budget process that plays out every year,” Marron said. “We need to start reinjecting some faith into the system. This will require transparency and we must allow for proper debate on the most important thing we do all year long. If Speaker Welch, President Harmon, and Gov. Pritzker really believe in transparency and they really believe in a new day in the state of Illinois, they need to give these ideas a fair hearing and an up-or-down vote. It’s time to fix the broken system that is Springfield.”

Sharing his experience as a Vermillion County chairperson for four years, he mentioned how they were required to demonstrate full transparency in their budget process.

“When I was a county board chairman, I was required to put my budget on display for 30 days,” Marron continued. “I'm currently working on legislation that will be filed shortly, that will require the general assembly to put the proposed state budget on display for 30 days prior to passage to allow proper vetting and transparency. It will also allow for at least five speakers on each side — for and against the budget — to speak during debate.”

According to the governor’s amendatory veto message to the Senate, “it is evident from the language in the bill, some articles were assigned the incorrect effective date, and many articles of the bill were not referenced in Article 999 and thus were not assigned a specific effective date.”

Subsequently, Pritzker recommended replacing the effective date provisions of the bill, with provisions giving supplemental appropriations an immediate effective date and FY22 appropriations a July 1, 2021 effective date.

Both chambers accepted the amendatory veto and the bill was returned to the governor. Pritzker certified the changes on June 17.