$55.2 billion budget plan passes out of IL House committee, heads to floor

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — Democratic leaders on the House Executive Committee approved their $55.2 billion spending plan late Friday night.

House Majority Leader Robyn Gabel (D-Evanston) told her colleagues that this is a very difficult budget year due to uncertainty from Washington D.C.

She said the spending plan includes nearly $400 million in cuts to the cost of government below the governor's budget proposal in February. Democratic budgeteers agreed with Pritzker to end the state's free healthcare program for immigrant adults ages 42 to 64.

"I want to emphasize that these were not decisions made lightly or hastily," Gabel said. "These are strategic efficiencies so we can invest in the needs of our working families and seniors on fixed income."

Sponsors explained their budget includes significant investments in safety net hospitals, free and charitable clinics, and federally qualified health centers.

Gabel said Illinois will continue commitments to frontline healthcare workers with an 80 cent per hour increase for direct service professionals and a 75 cent per hour increase for community care workers.

Democrats noted that they will include a budget reserve, or bridge, in the budget implementation bill that will be filed Saturday. They stressed that the bridge will be necessary to respond to cuts of healthcare access and infrastructure caused by President Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans.

Although, House Republicans did not appreciate the fact that Democrats described hard decisions they made while increasing spending by $2 billion. The majority's spending plan features $1 billion in tax increases, commonly referred to as revenue enhancements. While some options such as a hotel operators occupation tax, tax amnesty program, and digital wager tax have been discussed publicly, Democrats did not respond to multiple requests for a full list of new taxes.

"Our state has been in an uncertain time for decades, and the controlling power in this state has been the same for decades," said Rep. Ryan Spain (R-Peoria). "We've been behind and in last place again, and again, and again. So, spare me the lecture that now something has happened here that's brand new that's preparing us for a whole new world."

The budget plan features an additional $307 million for the K-12 evidence based funding model. While that is less than the annual requirement of $350 million, Democrats explained they cut the $43 million due to a pause in a property tax relief program for schools.

Democrats also included a $10 million increase in MAP grant funding and $6 million specifically for veteran college scholarships. Sponsors said there will be no reduction in the Local Government Distributive Fund. However, Republicans realized Democrats are sweeping a significant amount of funding from the state's road fund to help pay for other services.

"Our state is facing profound economic headwinds as a result of the erratic and unstable policies that are coming to us from Washington," said Rep. Will Guzzardi (D-Chicago). "The stock market has been all over the place in the last months. Our businesses don't know whether they will have to pay staggering taxes on the products that they're importing from other countries."

Local Republican leaders said they had no chance to review the budget proposal, as most negotiations happened behind closed doors with no GOP members at the table. Rep. CD Davidsmeyer (R-Jacksonville) criticized Gabel and other budgeteers for not providing clear answers on tax increases and fund sweeps that could impact critical services in every corner of the state.

"I feel like you guys either really don't know what's in the budget or you're really trying to hide what's in the budget," Davidsmeyer said. "I'm not trying to ask a gotcha question, but we may have to."

Davidsmeyer and other GOP members on the committee said Democrats are wasting taxpayer funds on pork projects in their own districts.

Senate Bill 2510 passed out of the House Executive Committee on a partisan 8-4 vote. It now moves to the House floor.