Rauner Delivers 2018 Illinois State Of The State Address

SPRINGFIELD, IL — Gov. Bruce Rauner will deliver his fourth State of the State address at noon Wednesday. With a theme of "Bringing Illinois Back," the speech offered few details about his preferred budget while broadly calling for bipartisanship. Rauner recommended "rolling up our sleeves" and cooperating across the aisle cutting regulations, taxes and public spending to start attracting more talented workers and make the state a job-creating "powerhouse."

“Today, we have an opportunity to turn yesterday into tomorrow," the governor said.

"Throughout our history, Illinois has been a magnet," Rauner said. "If you wanted to till the soil, lay a brick, build a building, make a deal, super compute, you name it...you could find work in Illinois, afford a home, and rely on the public schools to educate your children."

Rauner repeated his call for new restrictions on lawmakers doubling as property tax appeal attorneys. That measure would target the Democratic leaders of both houses of the General Assembly, Senate President John Cullerton and House Speaker Mike Madigan, who each run Chicago-based firms.

Crain's reports Rauner will continue advocating for legislative term limits. He will also call for undoing the income tax hike that Democrats passed by a single vote to override his veto ahead of the passage of last year's budget — the state's first in three years.

At Monday's forum before the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board, Rauner rejected the suggestion from his primary challenger, Rep. Jeanne Ives, that she was more capable of producing legislation with House Democrats. He said it would not work to build "a relationship with a crook who's out to make money and become rich from his power."

Watch Gov. Rauner's complete 2018 State of the State Address (begins around 28:30 in video):