A new report says the State of Illinois’ stack of unpaid bills could quadruple over the next five years to $35 billion. The Civic Federation is urging quick action to prevent the debt explosion. The group expects health care and pension costs to keep climbing and to eat up a bigger share of the state budget. Meanwhile, revenues will fall when the temporary income tax expires. With less money to pay bills, the backlog is likely to explode from $9.2 billion now to $34.8 billion. And that figure doesn’t include tens of billions of dollars owed by state pension systems. Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, says there has been some progress in cutting state spending, including pension reform. He suggests cutting retirement benefits for government employees, reducing Medicaid costs and taxing retirement and Social Security income, and is OK with a plan by the governor.

Kelly Kraft, budget spokesperson for Governor Quinn says closing those facilities, starting with Jacksonville and Tinley Park, will start to reduce the state’s unfunded Medicaid liability.

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Governor Quinn may have more to say in the State of the State Address tomorrow at noon in Springfield which, for the first time in years, is separate from the governor’s budget message.

“Governors want to project a sense that they’re in charge, and that the state’s moving in the right direction, and there are things to talk about besides huge budget deficits and financial crisis. That’s been pretty hard to do,” says Kent Redfield, a political science professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield.

Quinn in the spotlight, though, does not evoke images of predecessors Jim Thompson or Jim Edgar, says Redfield. “You had a sense of someone being in charge and being able to use the office … This governor has not, up to this point, been able to use the office in ways that build public confidence – or confidence within the members of the legislature.”

In a number of recent years, governors have chosen to combine the State of the State and budget messages. Redfield says those are years in which there has not been much good news.

An e-mail from the governor’s office reminds us there are two speeches by law, and combining them is supposed to be the exception and not the rule. Last year’s inauguration address, the e-mail continues, substituted for the State of the State.

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Governor Quinn wants to boost the student dropout age from 17 to 18, but one education official says there’s more to it than meets the eye. Sangamon County Regional Superintendent Jeff Vose says Quinn must consider how to pay for it.

The State’s Regional Offices of Education coordinate Truancy Programs across the state. Vose says they assisted about 15-thousand-800 truant students during the 2010-2011 school year. Sixty of those were in Sangamon County. He says the boost in age may not have a large impact on the number of potential truants in his region.

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Rural Illinois communities are suffering financially and according to a recent report, things may not get better for awhile. Timothy Collins, Assistant Director of the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs, says the problem will likely start to spur state legislation soon.

Food banks and faith-based groups are a big help but state lawmakers may have to step in.

The report indicates a potential drop in employment opportunities and economic development in rural areas because younger people are leaving.

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Campaign committees run by Illinois’ legislative leaders haven’t suffered much since new campaign contribution laws took effect in January 2011. The House Republican Organization and Democratic Party of Illinois both received more money than in the previous two non-election years, 2009 and 2007. The Republican state Senate committee received about the same amount in 2011 during the same time periods. The Senate Democratic committee took a significant hit going from $2.6 million in 2009 to $2 million in 2011.

Party leaders will have more power than in previous elections because they are still allowed to contribute unlimited amounts to candidates during general elections while other donors are now limited. That has David Morrison of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform worried. “Our concern there is that parties and caucuses themselves may become conduits for groups who want to funnel money to a candidate and they can’t give any more than they’ve given so they’ll give it to the party or the caucus and then they’ll pass it through. It’s certainly the most glaring risk and weakness in the current law,” Morrison says.

Morrison says the caucuses may be raising similar amounts as they did in years past because the base of contributors is broadening. “President Obama, for example, when he ran federally (he) ran under limits but raised more money than anybody because he broadened his base of donors. It’s very possible to run under limits you just can’t take it all from one person or a small group of people,” Morrison says.

However, despite the lack of change in overall contributions, the law is still historic for Illinois, which was once considered the “Wild West” of campaign finance, Morrison says.

“Limits in Illinois are much higher than they are in other states. But we went without having limits at all much longer than other states went without having limits. Our culture of politics is much different than cultures in other states,” Morrison says.

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Gasoline is more expensive now than it has ever been in January. The Illinois average price for gasoline this month is $3.51. That’s according to the monthly survey released today (Monday) by the Triple-A Chicago Motor Club, where spokesman Beth Mosher says the price has never before been this high in January.

“Right, which is a little bit foreboding I guess because last January we were saying the same thing, and prices are way up over even last January, so it doesn’t spell good news for the consumer, unfortunately,” she said.

The price is up 16 cents from December ($3.35) and 29 cents from January of last year ($3.22). Mosher says it’s hard to say why, since demand is down, other than the price of oil is volatile. Crude oil is now around $100 a barrel.

Mosher says there’s no magic solution. Just drive efficiently and try to use less gas.

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Obituaries today: Eileen E. Hamilton, 87, of Ava; and Mary Juliett Rader, 88, of Ava