One local lawmaker is calling for the state of Illinois to ground it's fleet of aircraft until the backlog of unpaid bills is paid off.

State Representative Bill Mitchell says Illinois has the largest air fleet of the 50 states and he is calling for them to be grounded until the eight billion dollar deficit has been paid off. Mitchell says the fleet costs $3-thousand per hour of use and is worth almost $22-million.

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The state pays for daily air shuttles between Chicago and Springfield; and back and forth in the morning and the evening. Mitchell feels this makes lawmakers look like "deadbeats" and "out of touch".

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Mitchell cites California, Florida and Texas as larger states than Illinois who do not provide daily shuttles via aircraft for their legislators. He also uses New Mexico as an example, who sold one of their state jets for $2.5 million. He believes if the Governor is truly a "green governor" he would not be flying himself back and forth each trip he makes to Springfield.