“On April 23, I warned that it was a strong possibility that Illinois would over take California for the nation’s worst credit rating,” Rutherford said. “Our credit rating is only slightly better than foreign nations who have had years of financial instability.”

The lowering of the credit rating means a bondholder must pay over 3% of the bond’s face value per year to be insured against default, which will cost Illinois taxpayers more money. This latest downgrade officially places Illinois as the worst credit risk of any state in the nation.

Senator Rutherford also noted the Illinois financial instability is directly related to the Administration’s fiscal mismanagement and unwillingness on the part of legislative majorities to include the minority party in budgetary and long-term debt discussions.