SPRINGFIELD – Governor Rauner laid out a series of bold initiatives in his second “State of the State” address that State Sen. Dave Syverson (R-Rockford) describes as the type of ideas that will finally turn Illinois in the right direction.
“The Governor is continuing his push to improve our business climate and grow good-paying jobs, but he’s also working to improve the way our entire state government functions,” Sen. Syverson said. “This platform of bold reforms is how we can finally overcome a decade of mismanagement that ran our state into the ground.”
Governor Rauner continued to push for much-needed workers’ compensation reforms, to reduce what is generally acknowledged to be the single biggest issue hampering job growth in Illinois.
The state’s chief executive also laid out several moves which aim to make Illinois government more efficient and accountable to its residents. Some of these ideas include his creation of a new Department of Innovation and Technology to streamline IT systems, reforms to the procurement processes which would protect ethics standards while speeding up the processes and saving taxpayer money, in addition to criminal justice reform that would help reduce prison populations while keeping dangerous criminals off the streets.
“Illinois has been in the dark ages in how our IT systems function, how our government operates, and in a criminal justice system that has only served to breed more criminals who continually move through a revolving prison door,” said Sen. Syverson. “Nearly everyone agrees on the problems, but now we have real plans to change our broken systems.”
Governor Rauner also continued his push to create a more streamlined, privatized economic development program, improve the education system to help students grow from cradle to career, as well as a move to shift health and human services programs from reactionary treatments to a proactive approach to stop problems before they happen. Rauner also touted a recent agreement with the Senate President on a major pension reform program which could save taxpayers $1 billion per year.
“We have a clear path forward,” said Sen. Syverson. “Now it’s time for Democrat leadership to join us in our effort to turn Illinois around.”