{"id":2227932,"date":"2024-04-23T08:36:03","date_gmt":"2024-04-23T12:36:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/legislator-warns-of-subject-to-appropriation-blank-checks-audit-findings\/"},"modified":"2024-04-23T08:39:57","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T12:39:57","slug":"legislator-warns-of-subject-to-appropriation-blank-checks-audit-findings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/legislator-warns-of-subject-to-appropriation-blank-checks-audit-findings\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmaker cautions against &#8216;blank checks&#8217; subject to appropriation, citing audit results"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Flegislator-warns-of-subject-to-appropriation-blank-checks-audit-findings%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2227932&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Lawmakers in Illinois are cautioned about the implications of passing bills labeled &#8220;subject to appropriation,&#8221; potentially leading to unchecked taxpayer expenses and audit issues\u2063 for state agencies.\u200d Recent legislative sessions saw the approval of various \u2064programs funded \u200dvia tax\u2063 dollars, including farming initiatives, arts research, web portal upgrades, and support for \u200delectric vehicles and recreational trails, raising concerns about funding\u2064 sources and budget transparency.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>(The Center Square) \u2013 Some are warning their fellow Illinois state legislators that passing bills that are \u201csubject to appropriation\u201d could lead to taxpayers covering \u201cblank checks\u201d and to audit findings for state agencies.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, amid the 324 bills passed by the Illinois House, several included programs and initiatives for state agencies that are \u201csubject to appropriation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One measure would create a new program to help fund certain farm programs with tax dollars. Another dealt with researching the impacts of arts programs. Another measure allows a state agency to rework a web portal for a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/white-house-will-move-rental-assistance-money-to-states-with-greatest-demand\/\" title=\"White House Will Move Rental Assistance Money To States With Greatest Demand\">state-run program<\/a>. There were even measures dealing with electric vehicles and recreational trails that were \u201csubject to appropriation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Some legislators couldn\u2019t answer whether new programs were going to be funded through <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-admin-concedes-its-unfair-to-let-men-compete-in-womens-sports-with-new-rules-allowing-men-in-womens-sports\/\" title=\"Biden Admin Concedes It\u2019s Unfair To Let Men Compete In Women\u2019s Sports With New Rules Allowing Men In Women\u2019s Sports\">federal tax funds<\/a>, state tax funds or other funds. Some also couldn\u2019t answer how much things may cost taxpayers, or disregarded cost estimates.<\/p>\n<p>Over the span of several legislative days last week in the Illinois House, legislators discuss measures that are \u201csubject to appropriation.\u201d State Reps. Fred Crespo, D-Hoffman Estates, Steven Reick, R-Woodstock, and Patrick Windhorst, R-Metropolis, are featured.\u00a0BlueRoomStream<\/p>\n<p>State Rep. Fred Crespo, D-Hoffman Estates, who is co-chair of the Legislative Audit Commission, warned lawmakers of such actions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt becomes a line item. If you don\u2019t put any funding, it will be an audit finding for the agency and not only that, once you create the line item you\u2019re leaving this at the hands of a few to determine whether it gets funded or not and we have no control,\u201d Crespo said.<\/p>\n<p>Legislators are off this week. They return next week with an eye on appropriating an annual state spending plan with an estimated taxpayer cost of $54 billion. Crespo said having bills stack up that are \u201csubject to appropriation\u201d makes new programs compete with other priorities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would ask my colleagues on both sides at a minimum try to identify how much you think a project is going to cost and whether it\u2019s going to be paid for through other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/president-trump-please-pardon-jon-woods-a-victim-of-process-crimes-like-michael-flynn\/\" title=\"President Trump, Please Pardon Jon Woods, a Victim of Process Crimes Like Michael Flynn\">state funds<\/a>, [general revenue funds] or federal dollars as we move forward,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>State Rep. Steven Reick, R-Woodstock, stopped to highlight the rare occurrence he sees of legislators recognizing they don\u2019t know how much taxpayers will be on the hook for new programs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI sat here aghast and agog at the fact that someone actually said, \u2018hey, how much is this going to cost,\u2019\u201d Reick said. \u201cI\u2019m flabbergasted, I\u2019m thrilled.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Crespo even had a bill that was cleanup for something subject to appropriation 20 years ago when legislators created an arsonist database for Illinois State Police.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe program was never promoted statewide, so we never had that and unfortunately the state police needed like a million dollars to implement this and when it did pass 20 years ago, guess what, it was subject to appropriations,\u201d Crespo said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cImagine that,\u201d responded state Rep. Patrick Windhorst, R-Metropolis.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Recent warnings to Illinois state legislators highlight the risks of passing bills &#8220;subject to appropriation,&#8221; potentially burdening taxpayers with unchecked expenses. Within the 324 bills approved by the Illinois House, various programs for state agencies were included, raising concerns about accountability and financial oversight<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2227933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP23293582244211-1-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2227932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP23293582244211-1-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2227932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2227932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2227932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2227933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2227932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2227932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2227932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}