CAPITOL NEWS ILLINOS PHOTO BY ANDREW ADAMS
Gov. JB Pritzker enters the Home Chamber on Feb. 19 for his annual price range handle.
Gov. JB Pritzker has proposed rising spending by about $2 billion with out new revenue or service taxes within the upcoming fiscal 12 months – although his administration acknowledged coverage modifications by the Trump administration might drastically alter the fiscal panorama.
Spending and revenues would every develop by about 3% underneath the proposal laid out Wednesday throughout the governor’s annual price range handle, with complete basic income fund spending rising to $55.2 billion.
The proposal is balanced, partially, as a result of the governor’s budgeting workplace expects to gather about $1.5 billion extra in base tax income than it did when it issued its first fiscal year 2026 forecast in November. The governor additionally proposed spending about $1.1 billion lower than what was projected in that November estimate.
That November forecast from the Governor’s Workplace of Administration and Finances had projected revenues to stay flat, driving a deficit of $3.2 billion. However it relied on a September financial forecast from the monetary companies firm S&P International. The governor’s workplace says S&P has since revised its forecasts – however the numbers launched Wednesday are finally more likely to fluctuate amid the speedy tempo of coverage modifications taking place in Washington, D.C.
The governor’s proposal would improve Ok-12 funding by $350 million and enhance larger training funding by 3%. He’d preserve funding flat for the Early Childhood Block Grant, nonetheless, which is a serious driver of his effort to extend entry to publicly supported preschool in Illinois.
Finally, lawmakers and the governor should come to an settlement on a spending plan by the top of Could. However the governor’s opening salvo might meet opposition from Democratic lawmakers within the Basic Meeting – particularly members of the Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus – due what it doesn’t fund.
The proposal would remove a well being care program for low-income noncitizens aged 42-64 who’re within the U.S. with out authorized permission. The Well being Advantages for Immigrant Adults program, which was applied in 2022, supplies Medicaid-like advantages and prices the state basic income fund roughly $330 million, or lower than 1 p.c of the general price range.
“As at all times, I stand able to work with members of the Basic Meeting to deliberate and negotiate the ultimate price range, however let’s be clear, I’ll solely signal a steadiness price range. When you come to the desk, seeking to spend extra, I’m going to ask you the place you need to reduce,” Pritzker mentioned in his handle.
Advocates say that program is a key public well being measure that drives down emergency room care prices and finally saves cash. The governor’s workplace says its determination to not suggest funding displays the state’s fiscal actuality.
The price range proposal maintains funding for the same program serving immigrants aged 65 and older, handed by the legislature throughout the early months of the pandemic in 2020.
The governor’s plan would increase one other $469 million in income by way of different modifications to regulation, together with adjusting tax charges on digital playing and desk video games at casinos to generate $100 million in income. The plan additionally requires pausing the switch of $171 million in gross sales tax collected on motor gasoline to the street fund, and elevating $198 million by offering short-term amnesty for people making delinquent tax funds.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan information service that distributes state authorities protection to a whole lot of reports retailers statewide. It’s funded primarily by the Illinois Press Basis and the Robert R. McCormick Basis.
