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	<a href="/" class="small">&laquo; BACK</a>
    <p class='h1'>About Illinois Budget Clock</p>

	<p class='h2' id='why'>Why did this happen?</p>
    <p>The Illinois state constitution requires the governor and the General Assembly to pass a budget for the state. Since <strong>July 1st, 2015</strong>, they failed to do that, and we still have no budget.</p>

    <p>
    	Republican Gov. Rauner and the Democratically-controlled legislature each presented their own <a href="https://www.illinoispolicy.org/rauners-budget-a-line-item-breakdown/">wildly-different</a> <a href="http://wgntv.com/2015/05/26/il-democrats-proposing-budget-with-3-billion-worth-of-debt/">budget proposals</a>. The main fight is over Gov. Rauner’s <a href="https://www.illinois.gov/gov/Documents/CompiledPacket.pdf">Turnaround Agenda</a> which, among other things, strips collective bargaining rights from unions. Neither side has agreed to a compromise, and each side blames the other for the <a href="http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2015/10/07/rauner-madigan-trade-blame-over-damage-from-budget-impasse/">deadlock</a>.
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    <div class='headshots'>
    	<div class='thumb'><img src='images/rauner.jpg' alt='Gov. Bruce Rauner' title='Gov. Bruce Rauner' /><span class='small'>Gov. Bruce Rauner</span></div>
    	<div class='thumb'><img src='images/madigan.jpg' alt='Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan' title='Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan' /><span class='small'>House Speaker Madigan</span></div>
    	<div class='thumb'><img src='images/cullerton.jpg' alt='Illinois Senate President John Cullerton' title='Illinois Senate President John Cullerton' /><span class='small'>Senate President Cullerton</span></div>
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    <p>Read more about the Illinois budget crisis:</p>
    <ul>
        <li><a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois_Budget_Impasse' target='_blank'>Illinois Budget Impasse</a> Wikipedia</li>
        <li><a href='http://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/May-2017/IL-Budget-Explainer/' target='_blank'>The Illinois Budget Disaster, Explained</a> Chicago Magazine - May 23, 2017</li>
        <li><a href='http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/10/illinois-debt-deficit-budget-election-239384' target='_blank'>How Illinois became America's failed state</a> Politico - June 10, 2017</li>
    </ul>
    
    <p class='h2' id='why'>What is this website?</p>
    <p><strong>Illinois Budget Clock</strong> aggregated stories of the impact of the budget impasse in order to impose a greater sense of urgency and pressure Illinois politicians to act.</p>
    <p>To stay posted, follow ILBudgetClock on <a href="https://twitter.com/ILBudgetClock">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/IL-Budget-Clock-727226324079655/">Facebook</a>.</p>
	
	<p class='h2' id='team'>Team</p>
	<p>This is a volunteer, <a href="https://github.com/chihacknight/il-budget-clock/" target="_blank">open-source</a> project at <a href="http://chihacknight.org/" target="_blank">Chi Hack Night</a>.</p>

	<p>Contributors:</p>
	<ul>
		<li>Cathy Deng</li>
		<li>Kristi Leach</li>
		<li>Hunter Owens</li>
		<li>Derek Eder</li>
		<li>Matt Johnson</li>
		<li>Rene Marcelo</li>
		<li>Melanie Kruvelis</li>
		<li>David Bild</li>
		<li>Diana Hansen</li>
		<li>Sarah Brune</li>
		<li>Nate Hutcheson</li>
		<li>Claire Micklin</li>
	</ul>
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