Illinois Supreme Court asked to decide if workers can be paid

Attorney General Lisa Madigan wants the Illinois Supreme Court to take up the issue of whether state employees can be paid without a state budget.

Madigan filed a motion Wednesday asking the state's high court to quickly take up the issue, bypassing a ruling from the state appellate court.

"It is detrimental to the people to allow the timing of the normal appellate process to run its course because the impacts of this situation are dire," Madigan's office said in the filing. "Illinois is in an ever-deepening crisis due to the lack of a complete budget for the last two years, and lasting economic damage is being wrought on the state."

State workers have continued to be paid even without a state budget because of a preliminary injunction issued in 2015 by a St. Clair County judge. Last year, though, the state Supreme Court ruled in a separate case that state workers owed previously denied wage increases could not be paid without an appropriation in place.

Read more: http://www.sj-r.com/news/20170308/illinois-supreme-court-asked-to-decide-if-workers-can-be-paid