CHICAGO (AP) — A stalemate over the Illinois budget has tied up payments to compensate people who were wrongfully incarcerated.

The Chicago Tribune reports the payments are based on a formula that considers how long inmates were in custody. The payments can help them with job training and medical care. About half the states have similar systems to compensate the wrongly imprisoned. In Illinois, former inmates must first get certificates of innocence from a court.

One exonerated man, 41-year-old Christopher Coleman, hoped to use his payout to start a business in Peoria. He tells the Tribune “so many people in our state are hurting and I am one of them.”

There’s no sign that legislative Democrats and Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner are close to a deal after months without a spending plan.