Lawmakers unveil $55.2 billion state budget as deadline looms

Yahoo

31-05-2025

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (NEXSTAR) — With just over a day to get it passed, lawmakers unveiled their state budget for the coming fiscal year.
It includes $55.2 billion dollars in spending, and is balanced using just over one billion dollars in new tax increases and revenue streams. The full details of the revenue plan have not been released, but the Senate's top budgeteer said there are no broad based tax increases — such as increases to the income tax and sales tax, or the creation of a service tax — in this budget.
'There are no broad based tax increases in this budget,' Sen. Elgie Sims (D-Chicago) said. 'It's not an increase in the in the individual or corporate income tax increase. What you'll see is there are there's a recognition that there are there are we try to make sure that individuals pay their fair share and the corporations who are the most prosperous but most profitable also pay their fair share.'
That falls in line with Governor Pritzker's wishes. He said earlier this week he would veto any budget that included broad tax increases.
Instead, the budget will rely on a mixture of one-time revenue streams and increases in certain 'sin taxes' on the sale of cigarettes and vapes. Full details of the tax plan will be released Saturday.
The budget dropped around 6 pm on Friday night, giving lawmakers about 30 hours to get it through both chambers. Governor Pritzker, Senate President Don Harmon, and House Speaker Emanuel 'Chris' Welch, met Friday afternoon to discuss the budget. In a break from tradition, however, Democrat leaders did not meet with Republican leaders before the budget was dropped.
That left Republican budget leaders to try and sort their way through the over 3,000 pages of spending details while in committee.
'This is a $55.2 billion budget in a year when we talk about a tough budget year and having to make cuts and I'm not hearing about any cuts to speak of in this budget and obviously my Democratic colleagues can't help themselves but include another $237 million in pork projects for their districts. If this is a tough budget year, don't do that,' Republican Deputy Minority Leader Rep. Norine Hammond (R-Macomb) said.
New republican members of the legislature were stunned with how the process has gone.
'This is a $55 billion organization,' Sen. Chris Balkema (R-Pontiac) said. 'I came from Caterpillar. We had about 60 billion in sales. There is no other organization that would ever run like this. The budget got dropped an hour ago. We're supposed to vote on it in 24 hours. They're in there in a hearing going through a 3300 page PDF file, like a show and tell in second grade. It's absolutely insane. It's no way to run the state.'
All year, lawmakers have talked about complexity of this budget negotiation. The state needed to address revenue shortfalls from last year, and many on the democratic side of the aisle were concerned about impacts that federal cuts from the Trump Administration could have on the budget.
House democrat Will Guzzardi said Friday night that the one time revenue streams used to balance this budget are meant to address what he described as the volatile actions of the Trump administration and how they impact the economy.
All week, details about the budget plan have been nebulous. It's not unusual for budgets to be dropped this close to the deadline, but members on both sides of the aisle were noticeably more in the dark about the direction were negotiations were going.
The spending plan would continue the state's increases in spending for the K-12 schools evidence based funding model. The additional dollars will be dispersed to schools that are furthest away from an 'adequacy target in the formula.
It also cuts the Health Benefits for Immigrant Adults program. The controversial program gave non-citizens between the ages of 42 and 64 access to state-sponsored health care. The program has come under fire by Republicans and moderate democrats, both because the costs for the program came in way higher than what was originally anticipated, and because of the actions on immigration from the Federal Government.
The Health Benefits for Immigrant Seniors Program, which gives the same access to non citizens over the age of 64, is still funded with a 110 million dollar appropriation.
House Democrat Leader Lisa Hernandez championed these programs when they passed. After the House budget hearing on Friday night, she talked about how disappointing it was to see the program cut.
'It's a budget that's going to hurt,' Hernandez said. 'It's going to hurt. I mean we're doing our best to get through and prioritize, but it's become very difficult. This was a priority of mine. But, you know, it's give and take and I'm happy that we got a 110 for our seniors.'
She did not say for certain whether she, or other members of the Latino Caucus, would support the budget.
'We'll see.' Hernandez said when asked about her vote.
Both the House and the Senate must pass the budget by a simple majority by the end of the day. If they do not get that done, the vote thresholds needed to pass go up to three-fifths of each chamber that hasn't passed it yet. Democrats have supermajorities in both chambers, so they could pass the budget without republican votes in either chamber.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.