February 21, 2013
After months of uncertainty, the date of Governor Pat Quinn’s budget address for FY2014 was officially postponed through action by the Governor on the same day it was originally required by law to be delivered.
Although the later date of March 6, 2013 has been included on the General Assembly’s calendars since November, the the Governor did not sign the bill amending the State Budget Law to push the day back by two weeks until earlier this week.
The State Budget Law requires the Governor to deliver the recommended budget for the coming fiscal year to the General Assembly each year by the third Wednesday in February unless the General Assembly approves a change in the date. This meant Governor Quinn was originally required to deliver what will be his fifth budget address since taking office in December 2009 on February 20, 2013. Instead the Governor signed Public Act 98-02 on that day, which pushes the budget deadline back two weeks.
As discussed here, the original bill requesting the change died at the end of the 97th General Assembly when it failed to advance out of the Illinois House of Representatives. The inaction on the bill raised questions about whether the Governor would be given additional time to prepare the budget for the coming year. House Bill 156 was introduced in the new session on January 15, 2013 but was not passed by both chambers until February 14, 2013, less than a week from the original deadline.
This is the third time since taking office that Governor Quinn has been given extra time to prepare the budget. The FY2010 budget address was moved to March 10, 2010 and the FY2012 budget address was delayed one week to February 22, 2011.
Now the Illinois General Assembly will convene a joint session on March 6, 2013 to hear the Governor’s budget address. Shortly after the speech the budget documents for the next fiscal year are typically made available on the website of the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget.