Another bill to fund universities

The Illinois Senate has passed a bill (SB 2059) that would fund public colleges and universities, among other things. Here's a Chicago Tribune story on the bill. (Note that the Tribune has a conservative slant, something clear from the headline to this story and also reflected in the comments.)

The Governor's reaction is that the state doesn't have the money to pay for this; a Democratic response is that this would at least allow universities and other unfunded parts of the Illinois government to "join the queue" with the 90% of the government that is being funded (thanks to court orders) and get some money.

The Governor has attacked the Democratic legislature for adjourning until April; but compromise on these issues will only occur through meetings of legislative leaders with the governor, something that hasn't happened for quite some time, as Rich Miller notes at Capitol Fax.

The bill passed on a party line vote and will presumably be vetoed by the Governor. Unless something changes in the House, I assume that the Democrats won't manage to override the veto.

Local partisan takes on this issue:

• Rep. Teri Bryant (R), who represents the western side of Carbondale (and points west), joins Sen. Leuchtefeld (R) in calling  'compromise', in this story from her website. (Compromise here means not funding universities et al. until a funding stream is required, which means taxes, which means, for Governor Rauner, the "Turnaround Agenda").
• Sen. Gary Forby (D), who represents from the center of Carbondale east, supports the bill.