Better check that sticker: Jesse White says office won’t send renewal reminders

In East Moline, for example, state Rep. Mike Smiddy, D-Hillsdale, said city officials are frustrated that the Illinois Department of Corrections can not pay for water and sewer service to the minimum-security prison there.

And Secretary of State Jesse White says he’s anxious the lights might be turned out at the Capitol and other state offices if he can’t convince utility companies to hold on much longer without being paid. They’ll be able to mail renewal stickers, titles and license plates for a few more months before the postage account is depleted, and that will have to stop as well. White is determined to prioritize hard cuts to ensure his office can provide core services to the public for as long as possible.

That implies that “personal important information of virtually every Illinoisan is likely to be jeopardized”, White said.

Months later, they’ve come to no resolution.

Exhausted of gridlock and wary of another potential government shutdown, U.S. House Speaker John Boehner opted to resign from the speakership last week.

The first-term Republican governor and legislative Democrats haven’t agreed on a spending plan for the fiscal year that began July 1. That would affect motorists seeking drivers’ services, his office’s computer operations and upkeep of the state’s Capitol complex in Springfield, he said.

Rauner spokeswoman Lyndsey Walters said in a Monday statement that there are similar operational issues throughout state government and the governor’s office is willing to help find solutions. We may have had the worst credit rating of any state, an incalculable pension problem and, at the time, almost the highest unemployment in the nation, but at least things weren’t as bad as in Washington.

“We hope he will also join us in encouraging his friends in the Legislature to fulfill their constitutional obligation to pass a truly balanced budget”, she said of White.

Democrats argue Rauner and GOP legislators have been unwilling to work on the budget with them until the governor gets movement on his agenda items, which Democrats do not support and do not consider directly related to the annual budget.