Gary Cameron / Reuters Attorney General for the State of Illinois Lisa Madigan hopes that stopping payment to state workers will push lawmakers to end a 19-month budget impasse. The order has “removed much of the urgency for the legislature and the governor to act on a budget,” Madigan said in a statement. “This filing seeks to directly harm thousands of employee families and even more who rely on our dedicated state workers everyday,” the statement said. The motion filed by Madigan asked the judge to terminate his order on Feb. 28 to give state lawmakers time to enact a budget. State Comptroller Susana Mendoza, a Democrat, said on Thursday that her office was working on a plan to meet technical adjustments that a payroll stoppage would require and to partially pay some state workers.

Source: Huffington Post January 27, 2017 10:52 UTC