State Workers May Go Without Pay As Illinois Budget Impasse Continues

The state of Illinois is in its second week without a budget, and thousands of state workers may soon be taking home much smaller paychecks - or no paychecks at all.

A Cook County judge ruled yesterday that the state cannot pay public employees in full until a new budget is in place. Instead, Judge Diane Larsen ruled that the state may only pay some employees - those covered under a federal labor law - the minimum wage, plus overtime, something the state's comptroller says will be nearly impossible to implement quickly.

Governor Bruce Rauner had pledged that state employees would not see any disruption to their pay, as he and Democratic lawmakers continue to try to hash out a 2016 budget. But it is now unclear if he will be able to keep that promise.

Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson gets the latest on the state's budget stalemate from Amanda Vinicky, statehouse bureau chief for Illinois Public Radio.