During the more than two years that Illinois went without a state spending plan, hospitals, dentists and other health care providers waited months or even years to get paid for services to state employees and Medicaid patients.

The state budget impasse has left Illinois months behind in payment to downstate mass transit agencies. That’s led to cuts in service from Kankakee to Jacksonville. Now lawmakers are looking to remove them from the fight.

It's been nine months since Illinois' income tax rate dropped when a temporary tax hike rolled back on January first. And though the state is operating without a budget, Illinois is already spending over 90 percent of what it spent last year...which has already led to a cash shortage.