WQUB Local
House Oversight Could be Challenged in Court
Members of the Illinois House are livid that Blagojevich used his veto pen to strip a half-billion dollars out of the state budget. Arguing that the funds pay for important human services, and not for "pork" as the Governor's argued ... the House voted overwhelmingly this week to restore most of the money.
But ... oops ... 13-million dollars was mistakenly left out of the legislation.
Democratic Representative Gary Hannig says it wasn't on purpose.
"There had just been a technical oversight, some of these items had simply been omitted. 'Human error?' Human error."
Realizing the problem .. the House has since voted to put back the forgotten money.
But the timing of it makes for some tricky territory.
By the time that second vote was taken ... it was past the House's deadline to act on the budget vetoes.
That could lead to a lawsuit challenging the legality of that second round of overrides.
It may never become an issue, if the Senate does not likewise override the budget vetoes.
But if it does ... money for faculty raises at many state universities, student loan dollars, and funds for the state's wine council ... could be at stake.
I'm Amanda Vinicky.
© Copyright 2009, wqub
(2007-10-04)
SPRINGFIELD, IL
(wqub) -
The Illinois House bungled its effort to restore some of the money Governor Rod Blagojevich cut from the budget. Amanda Vinicky reports:Members of the Illinois House are livid that Blagojevich used his veto pen to strip a half-billion dollars out of the state budget. Arguing that the funds pay for important human services, and not for "pork" as the Governor's argued ... the House voted overwhelmingly this week to restore most of the money.
But ... oops ... 13-million dollars was mistakenly left out of the legislation.
Democratic Representative Gary Hannig says it wasn't on purpose.
"There had just been a technical oversight, some of these items had simply been omitted. 'Human error?' Human error."
Realizing the problem .. the House has since voted to put back the forgotten money.
But the timing of it makes for some tricky territory.
By the time that second vote was taken ... it was past the House's deadline to act on the budget vetoes.
That could lead to a lawsuit challenging the legality of that second round of overrides.
It may never become an issue, if the Senate does not likewise override the budget vetoes.
But if it does ... money for faculty raises at many state universities, student loan dollars, and funds for the state's wine council ... could be at stake.
I'm Amanda Vinicky.
© Copyright 2009, wqub

