Editor: Rauner misses opportunities with veto of debt-transparency law

We can understand why Gov. Bruce Rauner senses a whiff of political partisanship around a bill that would enable more of a real-time look at the state's debt picture. But his decision to veto the law is an unfortunate overreaction that misses two not-insignificant opportunities.

One is the chance to demonstrate some spirit of collaboration on a significant bill that, although not preponderantly bipartisan, at least attracted notable Republican support from legislators as diverse as moderate David Harris from Arlington Heights and conservative Jeanne Ives from Wheaton.

The other, even more important, missed opportunity was the chance to stand behind a process that would give Illinoisans more up-to-date reports of the state's financial picture and help the person responsible for paying the estimated $15 billion backlog of past-due bills prioritize which agencies to pay first.

House Bill 3649, known as the "Debt Transparency Act," was an initiative of Democratic Comptroller Susana Mendoza, sponsored by Hoffman Estates Democratic state Rep. Fred Crespo. It would require state agencies to report monthly - instead of yearly - what bills they are holding and estimate the amount of interest and penalties that will be paid on them. That, presumably, would give the comptroller, who writes the state's checks, a more realistic picture of who is waiting to be paid and whether any payments could be made to reduce interest and penalties.

In a statement defending his veto, Rauner said the bill "more closely resembles an attempt by the comptroller to micromanage executive agencies than an attempt to get the information most helpful to the monitoring of state government."

But in truth, micromanaging payment of the state's bills, within the context of the law and court orders, is precisely the job of the comptroller. Regardless of party, whoever is in that role needs to have a financial snapshot more frequently than once a year. What's more, lawmakers need a more definite picture of the state's financial status as they contemplate legislation, and taxpayers need to have that as they evaluate lawmakers and the actions of government.

The past-due balance of bills on the state's ledger is an unqualified embarrassment for everyone in state government. It is reported to have produced $800 million - and constantly counting - in penalties alone.

No action is going to get such a huge backlog under control immediately, but no opportunity to make the process more manageable should be overlooked. This one could have been undertaken while simultaneously demonstrating the governor is not reflexively opposed to any meaningful legislation Democrats support.

Unfortunately, that leaves it to lawmakers to override the governor in yet another show of contention and discord. We're disappointed by the appearances, but agree that lawmakers should take it on themselves to create a more reliable and up-to-date system of accounting for the state's bills.