This is not the first appropriation-secured bond issue to run into the failure-to-appropriate issue. For example, Lombard, Illinois failed to fund an appropriation for debt issued through its Public Facilities Corporation for a hotel and conference center. In that case as well, the rating agencies were swift to act. Moody’s withdrew its rating; Standard & Poor’s dropped Lombard’s rating down to a speculative grade B.
A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.