Correction: The Northern Star incorrectly reported that Keisha Dyson, director of Marketing and Communications at Governors State University, said Governors State University cannot plan for summer 2016 and fall 2016 without a reasonable operating budget.

Dyson actually said Governors State University needs a reasonable budget as they continue planning for the summer and fall.

After seven months of no state budget appropriations, Rep. Bob Pritchard (R-Hinckley) said higher education is in a financial “crisis” and his newly sponsored bill hopes to fix that.

Pritchard’s new bill, HB4539, introduced on Jan. 27, makes various appropriations concerning higher education and would be effective immediately if passed. The bill must be used in conjunction with HB4521 which would provide authority and procedures for the governor to establish emergency reserves of previously appropriated funds and to transfer balances between special funds in the state treasury and the general revenue fund. Pritchard said the bill will allow for the funding of higher education including 2-year and 4-year colleges and MAP Grant recipients.

“The state has 400 or more different accounts where money is collected and kept for different purposes this would allow the governor to take some of that money and use it for higher education,” Pritchard said. “This is a stopgap measure until we get a full budget with full appropriation authority … I had to agree to giving the governor that authority, which otherwise we probably wouldn’t give him, but this is an emergency.”

Gov. Bruce Rauner’s Fiscal Year 2016 proposed budget includes reduction in funds to public entities, and a lack of agreement on the proposed budget has resulted in a seven-month impasse. Without a finalized budget, funds such as state appropriations to higher education cannot be appropriated fully.

“[NIU] can get through the end of the fiscal year which takes us to June 30, but after that, if there is no budget, it gets a lot harder to predict things,” said NIU Spokesman Joe King.

Pritchard said he felt the bill was necessary because of recent news that schools, such as Chicago State University and Governors State University, are facing the possibility of closure at the end of the semester without state appropriations.

Governors State University cannot plan for summer 2016 and fall 2016 without a reasonable operating budget, said Keisha Dyson, director of Marketing and Communications at Governors State University.

Chicago State University’s cash position starts to get difficult as early as March at which the university’s future become uncertain. Possibilities include borrowing from a financial institution which must be approved by the state legislature, said Tom Wogan, director of Public Relations at Chicago State University.

HB4539 is in its beginning stages and has to pass through the Illinois House of Representatives and Senate and then will end up on the governor’s desk, Pritchard said.

“The speaker can write a bill, introduce it and it can pass both chambers within four or five days. The students ought to let [Speaker Michael Madigan] know that there is a crisis and they’re concerned about getting MAP Grants and they’re concerned about having a university that’s open come fall,” Pritchard said.