![UPDATED: Lawmakers pass $42.3 billion budget after 2 a.m. UPDATED: Lawmakers pass $42.3 billion budget after 2 a.m.](https://southwestregionalpublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/img-HARRIS-BUDGET-0531-dYaYgt.jpeg)
UPDATED: Lawmakers pass $42.3 billion budget after 2 a.m.
By PETER HANCOCK
Capitol News Illinois
phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com
SPRINGFIELD – Illinois lawmakers worked into the early hours of Tuesday morning to pass a $42.3 billion state budget plan for the upcoming fiscal year that Democrats say would fully fund K-12 education and the state’s pension obligations while also paying down a sizeable portion of the state’s debt.
Lawmakers have been working on the budget since Gov. JB Pritzker delivered his proposal in February, and it passed on mostly partisan lines.
The job became easier with better-than-expected tax collections this year as well as passage of the federal American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, which will provide about $8.1 billion that the state can spend over the next four fiscal years.
Lawmakers said they plan to use the money for one-time projects such as affordable housing development, public health improvements, violence prevention programs and infrastructure projects.
Republicans, however, complained that the infrastructure spending was entirely directed by Democrats.
Presenting the budget to a committee Monday afternoon, House Majority Leader Greg Harris, D-Chicago, contrasted the situation Illinois faces now with the dire conditions it faced one year ago at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Here we sit today. We are back in our state Capitol,” he said. “We have vaccines. The world is beginning to open back up. We are seeing a bright, sunny day outside and there’s a lot to talk about that we have accomplished in the last year as a state that has put the state of Illinois in a far more stable place financially and a responsible place fiscally.”
Highlights of the proposed budget include increasing funding for the evidence-based funding plan for K-12 public schools by $350 million, bringing the total to $9.2 billion.
It also calls for spending about $7.5 billion in state general revenues on Medicaid, plus another $7.4 billion for other human services; $1.9 billion for higher education; another $1.9 billion for public safety; and $1.4 billion for general services.
In addition to those regular items, Harris said, the plan calls for spending about $2.5 billion of the ARPA money Illinois expects to receive. Of that, $1.5 billion would go for things like economic recovery programs to help businesses hardest hit by the pandemic, public health, affordable housing and violence prevention programs like after-school activities, and summer youth employment.
Another $1 billion of the ARPA funds would be directed into the ongoing Rebuild Illinois capital improvements program to accelerate some of the projects slated for construction.
That stirred controversy in a House committee when Rep. Tom Demmer, of Dixon, the Republican caucus’ chief budget negotiator, asked how the $1 billion in capital projects had been selected.
“Through the normal process by which all capital costs of projects are chosen,” Harris said. “Members make requests and departments make requests, and they are fulfilled within an order depending on the category. For instance, IDOT has a five-year plan, members might have a request where they have a first, second third priority. And as funds are available, they would be funded.”
Demmer then asked whether any of the requests had come from Republican lawmakers and Harris replied that he didn’t know of any.
“We have a billion dollars of new capital projects that have been available, but it appears that it was only known that those projects were available or eligible for requests from Senate Democratic and House Democratic caucuses,” Demmer said.
“Certainly would be happy to talk,” Harris replied.
Demmer raised the same concerns during the floor vote.
Harris also said the proposal calls for paying down about $2 billion of bonded indebtedness as well as paying off all of the state’s internal, or “interfund” borrowing.
Republicans opposed the plan because it also relies on eliminating or delaying the implementation of roughly $660 million worth of corporate tax cuts and business incentives, which Democrats have termed corporate “loopholes.”
One of those calls for delaying any further phase-out of the corporate franchise tax, which was a concession Democrats had made to Republicans in 2019 to reach bipartisan agreement on the budget and a $45 billion “Rebuild Illinois” capital improvements plan.
The budget bill passed the House minutes before midnight, 72-24. But it took until the early hours of Tuesday morning, June 1, for the package to come up for a vote in the Senate, thereby triggering a constitutional requirement that it pass by at least a three-fifths majority, or 36 votes.
It passed the Senate with 37 votes after a short debate during which Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, called it “an unparalleled spending spree of epic proportions.”
He specifically noted the limited contributions to the state’s unemployment trust fund, which he said had a deficit of about $5 billion due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while the budget only contributes about $100 million to that.
“You know who makes up that difference? I know your side of the aisle will say, ‘The employer. The businessman will eat that difference,’” He said. “Wrong. Who picks that up? The employee that doesn’t get rehired, that’s who picks it up. The employee that’s laid off. That’s who eats that sandwich.”
But Sen. Elgie Sims, D-Chicago, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, defended the spending plan for its investments in health care, youth employment and a host of other services.
“This budget absolutely funds our priorities,” he said, “because we are fighting for individuals who cannot fight for themselves.”
The budget package next goes to Pritzker for his consideration.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government and distributed to more than 400 newspapers statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
Local News
![GSWNH_OLSLincolnTomb_052424 GSWNH_OLSLincolnTomb_052424](https://southwestregionalpublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/GSWNH_OLSLincolnTomb_052424-1024x537.jpeg)
Learning history is fun, honest
Spread the love Seventh and eighth graders from Our Lady of the Snows School clamor to rub the nose of a bust of President Abraham Lincoln during a field trip to Springfield earlier this month. Rubbing the nose of the famous bust of Honest Abe–a part of the tomb of the nation’s 16th President–is said…
![CRRNH_QuinnShiftingSandsStory_113022 13th Ward Ald. Marty Quinn](https://southwestregionalpublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/CRRNH_QuinnShiftingSandsStory_113022.png)
Fight to save ShotSpotter is still alive
Spread the love. By Tim Hadac Editor Clear-Ridge Reporter & NewsHound (708)-496-0265 . As you have read several times in the Clear-Ridge Reporter & NewsHound, the people of Clearing and Garfield Ridge are clear in their support of keeping ShotSpotter technology deployed in Chicago, to help police fight crime. So I won’t go over old…
![GSWNH_ColdPlanerSpitsAsphalt_052424 GSWNH_ColdPlanerSpitsAsphalt_052424](https://southwestregionalpublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/GSWNH_ColdPlanerSpitsAsphalt_052424-1024x680.png)
63rd Street getting a facelift
Spread the love. Quinn hails federally funded resurfacing project . By Tim Hadac The old joke about there being not four seasons, but just two in Chicago each year—winter and construction—was apparent late last week as heavy equipment arrived in Clearing. As 13th Ward Ald. Marty Quinn and other city officials gathered for an outdoor…
![CRRNH_SilvanaTabaresOfficial_081121 23rd Ward Ald. Silvana Tabares](https://southwestregionalpublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/CRRNH_SilvanaTabaresOfficial_081121-1024x1024.jpg)
Tabares blasts Foxx over ‘no seizure’ idea
Spread the love. Brands State’s Attorney as ‘pro-criminal’ . By Tim Hadac Twenty-third Ward Ald. Silvana Tabares this week blasted outgoing Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx over a possible change in how crimes are—or are not–prosecuted.Foxx recently said she is considering a plan to decline to prosecute weapons and drug crimes detected by routine…
![GSWNH_OLSPrincipal_052424 GSWNH_OLSPrincipal_052424](https://southwestregionalpublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/GSWNH_OLSPrincipal_052424-1024x683.jpeg)
School can get messy
Spread the love Second grader Weronika Kozielec squirts ketchup on the head of Our Lady of the Snows School Principal Christina Avis at a recent gathering in the parking lot of the school, 4810 S. Leamington. But the condiment was not all that was dumped on the principal. Students, faculty and staff laughed and cheered…
![PeggyZabicki Peggy Zabicki](https://southwestregionalpublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/PeggyZabicki-1024x768.jpg)
Brother, what a day today is
Spread the love. By Peggy Zabicki Your correspondent in West Lawn 3633 W. 60th Place • (773) 504-9327 . May 24 is National Brothers Day. The word “brother” comes from the Latin root for “frater” and the Proto-Germanic word “brothar” which itself comes from the Proto-Indo-European root “bhrater.” I’m sure everyone already knows that, but…
![MaryStanek Mary Stanek](https://southwestregionalpublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/MaryStanek-768x1024.jpg)
May your Memorial Day be meaningful
Spread the love. By Mary Stanek Your correspondent in Archer Heights and West Elsdon 3808 W. 57th Place • (773) 517-7796 . I hope we all will have a meaningful Memorial Day. Let us remember that this day is set to honor military personnel who died in service of their country. Memorial Day also marks…
![volleyball volleyball](https://southwestregionalpublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/GettyImages-171252499-1024x681.jpg)
Boys Volleyball | Sandburg seeks 26th regional title
Spread the loveBy Randy Whalen Correspondent Coming off the worst season in program history in 2023, Sandburg was not going to settle for anything less than better results this year. Past the midway point of this season, however, the Eagles had a record of 11-8. But they closed the regular season strong, winning 11 of…
Neighbors
![CRRNH_NiegoStory_062624 Thanks to Niego Real Estate, block after block in Clearing and Garfield Ridge are decked out each year in red, white and blue. Residents are asked to volunteer to pick up flags and decorate their whole block—or even additional blocks. --Supplied photo](https://southwestregionalpublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/CRRNH_NiegoStory_062624-768x1024.jpg)
Niego Real Estate salutes America again
Spread the love. Popular flag program underway . By Tim Hadac Clearing and Garfield Ridge residents who want to decorate their blocks in red, white and blue this Independence Day are encouraged to contact Niego Real Estate and reserve a supply of U.S. flags at no charge. The popular program to promote patriotism and community…
![dvn 6-24-24 Alan_Morales Alan Morales](https://southwestregionalpublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/dvn-6-24-24-Alan_Morales.jpg)
Lyons Mental Health Commission pulls LeaderShop funding
Spread the loveExecutive director accused of harassment From staff reports The local nonprofit service community was jolted when nearly $300,000 in mental health funds was withdrawn by a Lyons Township agency from the Western Springs LeaderShop, a social service agency that has provided youth programs for nearly 40 years. The Lyons Township Mental Health Commission…
![SRP-IMAGE-Logo SRP-IMAGE-Logo](https://southwestregionalpublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/SRP-IMAGE-Logo-1024x560.png)
Mount Carmel, Marist and Oak Lawn among 84 teams at Riverside-Brookfield shootout
Spread the loveBy Xavier Sanchez Correspondent High school boys basketball does not stop in March and pick back up in late autumn. For many players, playing hoops is a year-round commitment. AAU ball is a big reason for, that there are summer camps, shootouts or other events at most schools during the summer. The…
![PeggyZabicki Peggy Zabicki](https://southwestregionalpublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/PeggyZabicki-1024x768.jpg)
Dog lovers to celebrate ‘Fur of July’
Spread the love. By Peggy Zabicki Your correspondent in West Lawn 3633 W. 60th Place • (773) 504-9327 . I’m starting out with some fun news. The West Lawn Dog Park Advisory Council will be hosting a Fur of July Pet Parade on Saturday, June 29 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at West Lawn…
![MaryStanek Mary Stanek](https://southwestregionalpublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/MaryStanek-768x1024.jpg)
Fourth of July not happy for everyone
Spread the love. By Mary Stanek Your correspondent in Archer Heights and West Elsdon 3808 W. 57th Place • (773) 517-7796 . Happy Fourth of July. Cannot believe I am already saying that, time sure goes. Hope it is safe and quiet for everyone and especially all of our house pets. For us its shutting…
![kathyheadley2021 Kathy Headley](https://southwestregionalpublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/kathyheadley2021-869x1024.jpg)
St. Rita’s transformation is worth a look
Spread the love. Kathy Headley Your correspondent in Chicago Lawn and Marquette Manor 6610 S. Francisco • (773) 776-7778 . St. Rita of Cascia Church, 63rd and Fairfield, continues to undergo its transformation from the sunflowery/harvest golds and browns of the 1960s and 1970s to the calming pastels of the 2000s. Since the basilica-style church…
![NAEHER Alyssa Naeher clears a ball at North Carolina on June 23 in a 3-1 Red Stars loss. IMAGN photo](https://southwestregionalpublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/NAEHER-1024x712.jpg)
Loss to Courage brings Red Stars’ winless streak to five games
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Correspondent The Chicago Red Stars historic start to the season is all but forgotten. In the last five matches, the Red Stars have failed to win, with the latest setback being a 3-1 loss on the road to North Carolina on June 23 in an NWSL battle. The Red Stars…
![SRP-IMAGE-Logo SRP-IMAGE-Logo](https://southwestregionalpublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/SRP-IMAGE-Logo-1024x560.png)
Summer League Basketball | Illinois powers compete at Riverside-Brookfield Shootout
Spread the loveBy Xavier Sanchez Correspondent School’s out for the summer, but high school athletes across Illinois are remaining active during the summer sports season. This includes basketball players, who can be found at camps, open gyms, camps and even weekend tournaments. Among the more high profile hoops action in the area was the Riverside-Brookfield…
![Dana RETTKE Dana Rettke, a graduate of Riverside-Brookfield High School, will play on the U.S. women's volleyball team at the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Paris.](https://southwestregionalpublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/RETTKE.jpg)
Dana Rettke and Ryan Murphy heading to Paris Summer Games
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Correspondent Area fans of the Summer Olympics will have extra reasons to cheer athletes from the United States in the upcoming Paris Games. Dana Rettke of Riverside is a member of the U.S. women’s volleyball team and Palos Heights native Ryan Murphy will represent the country in swimming. Rettke, a…
![kathyheadley2021 Kathy Headley](https://southwestregionalpublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/kathyheadley2021-869x1024.jpg)
Hope Church feeds the hungry at Marquette Park
Spread the love. Kathy Headley Your correspondent in Chicago Lawn and Marquette Manor 6610 S. Francisco • (773) 776-7778 . Last week on the way to our CAPS meeting at the Marquette Park Fieldhouse, I stopped in at the Tuesday Community Dinner hosted by Hope Church every week in the auditorium. Pastors Ben and Jordyn…