People of Ill V Munger Verified Complaint
People of Ill V Munger Verified Complaint
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accounts and order payments out of the funds held by the Treasurer.
Venue
4. Venue is proper in the Circuit Court of Cook County because it is a county
in which the transaction or some part thereof occurred out of which this cause of
action arose.
Factual Allegations
5. The State of Illinoiss 2015 Fiscal Year ended on June 30, 2015.
6. The 2016 Fiscal Year started on July 1, 2015.
7. The General Assembly passed appropriations legislation for the 2016 Fiscal
Year and the Governor vetoed most of that legislation. Once a veto message is
returned to the originating house of the General Assembly, that house has 15
calendar days to override the veto. If it does so, the other house of the legislature
then has 15 calendar days to override the veto.
8. As a result of the Governors vetoes, and as of the writing of this complaint,
the State has not enacted appropriations statutes for the 2016 Fiscal Year, other than
statutes providing education funding.
9. Payments for state obligations for the 2016 Fiscal Year are coming due
imminently and before completion of the veto override timeframe.
10. The Comptroller must process vouchers for payments to be made from
state funds.
11. Without enacted appropriations statutes or other lawful expenditure
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authority, the Comptroller is not permitted to process vouchers for payment of state
funds.
12. An actual controversy has arisen in light of substantial uncertainty
regarding which, if any, payments may be authorized by the Comptroller in the
absence of annual appropriations statutes.
Count One Declaratory and Injunctive Relief
13. Plaintiff repeats and realleges the foregoing allegations as though they
were contained herein.
14. The Appropriations Clause of the Illinois Constitution provides that The
General Assembly by law shall make appropriations for all expenditures of public
funds by the State. ILL . CONST. art. VIII, 2(b).
15. The State Comptroller Act provides that no payment may be made from
public funds held by the State Treasurer except by warrant from the Comptroller. 15
ILCS 405/9(a).
16. That statute further provides that no warrant for the payment of money
may be drawn by the Comptroller without presentation of a voucher indicating that
the expenditure is pursuant to law and authorized. 15 ILCS 405/9(b).
17. Additionally, the Comptroller shall examine each voucher and determine
whether appropriations or expenditure authority other than appropriations are
available to make the expenditure of funds. 15 ILCS 405/9(c).
18. There are, however, instances in which an annual appropriation is not
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required.
19. Payments made pursuant to continuing appropriations, including without
limitation payments for debt service, judicial salaries, salaries of legislators, and
legislative operations (see, e.g., 15 ILCS 20/50-22), do not require an annual
appropriation and may be authorized by the Comptroller in the absence of an annual
appropriation. See Graham v. Ill. State Toll Highway Auth., 182 Ill. 2d 287 (1998).
20. Payments from non-appropriated funds do not require an annual
appropriation and may be authorized by the Comptroller in the absence of an annual
appropriation.
21. Payments for operations of the judicial branch may be authorized by the
Comptroller in the absence of an appropriation. See Jorgensen v. Blagojevich, 211 Ill.
2d 286 (2004).
22. The Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution provides that
federal law is the supreme law of the land. U.S. CONST . art. VI, cl. 2. Payments
mandated by federal law thus are not limited by state law restrictions concerning
legislative appropriations.
23. Federal consent decrees enforcing federal rights are federal law for the
purposes of the Supremacy Clause.
24. By virtue of the Supremacy Clause, the Comptroller must authorize
payments necessary to comply with federal consent decrees in the absence of an
annual appropriation.
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34. The People will suffer irreparable harm in the absence of an emergency
injunction.
35. The balance of the equities weighs in favor of granting injunctive relief.
WHEREFORE, Plaintiff People of the State of Illinois respectfully prays for
the following relief:
a. A declaration that the Comptroller, in the absence of an annual
appropriation, is authorized to process payment vouchers for continuing
appropriations;
b. A declaration that the Comptroller, in the absence of an annual
appropriation, is authorized to process payment vouchers for non-appropriated funds;
c. A declaration that the Comptroller, in the absence of an annual
appropriation, is authorized to process payment vouchers for operations of the
judicial branch;
d. A declaration that the Comptroller, in the absence of an annual
appropriation, is authorized to process payment vouchers to meet obligations
required by consent decrees;
e. A declaration that the Comptroller, in the absence of an annual
appropriation, is authorized to process payment vouchers to meet obligations
required by the States participation in federal programs;
f. A declaration that the Comptroller, in the absence of an annual
appropriation, is authorized to process payment vouchers for the payment of the
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federal minimum wage and overtime requirements of the FLSA, or in the alternative,
a declaration that the Comptroller, in the absence of an annual appropriation and
payroll vouchers that comply only with the minimum requirements of the FLSA, is
not authorized to process payment vouchers for the state employee payroll;
g. A temporary and permanent injunction requiring the Comptroller to
process payment vouchers for continuing appropriations, non-appropriated funds,
judicial branch operations, consent decrees, and federal statutory mandates, in the
absence of an annual appropriation;
h. A temporary and permanent injunction requiring the Comptroller to
process payment vouchers for payrolls that meet only the minimum requirements of
the FLSA or in the alternative an injunction enjoining the Comptroller from
processing payroll vouchers until the enactment of appropriations statutes; and
i. Any and all other relief that this Court deems just.
Respectfully submitted,
LISA MADIGAN
Attorney General
State of Illinois
BY: /s/ Khara Coleman Washington
KHARA COLEMAN WASHINGTON
Assistant Attorney General
BRETT E. LEGNER
Deputy Solicitor General
100 West Randolph, 12th Floor
Chicago, Illinois 60601
(312) 814-2146
Attorney Code 99000
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VERIFICATION
Exhibit
A