ILLINOIS BUDGET

2/20/25

Governor JB Pritzker proposed growing spending by about $2 billion without new income or service taxes in the upcoming fiscal year – though his administration acknowledged policy changes by the Trump administration could drastically alter the fiscal landscape.

Spending and revenues would each grow by about 3% under the proposal laid out Wednesday during the governor’s annual budget address, with total general revenue fund spending growing to $55.2 billion.

The proposal is balanced, in part, because the governor’s budgeting office expects to collect about $1.5 billion more in base tax revenue than it did when it issued its first fiscal year 2026 forecast in November.

That November forecast from the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget had projected revenues to remain flat, driving a deficit of $3.2 billion.  But it relied on a September economic forecast from the financial services company S&P Global.  The governor’s office says S&P has since revised its forecasts – but the numbers released Wednesday are ultimately likely to fluctuate amid the rapid pace of policy changes happening in Washington, D.C.

Ultimately, lawmakers and the governor will have to come to an agreement on a spending plan by the end of May.  But the governor’s opening salvo could meet opposition from Democratic lawmakers in the General Assembly, especially members of the Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus, due what it doesn’t fund.

The proposal would eliminate a health care program for low-income noncitizens aged 42-64 who are in the U.S. without legal permission.  The Health Benefits for Immigrant Adults program, which was implemented in 2022, provided Medicaid-like and costs the state general revenue fund roughly $330 million.  The budget proposal maintains funding for a similar program serving immigrants aged 65 and older, passed by the legislature during the early months of the pandemic in 2020.

GOP leaders on Tuesday said the budget has grown beyond what Illinois taxpayers can afford.  Senate Minority Leader John Curran said the budget has increased to just under $13 billion since Pritzker took office.  Deputy Minority Leader Sue Rezin said more than $3 billion has been spent on non-citizens from fiscal year 2021 to 2025.  That burden should not be placed on the backs of Illinois taxpayers, said Senator Chapin Rose.

State Senator Jason Plummer released the following statement following Governor JB Pritzker’s budget address.

“I’m not sure how anyone can trust what the Governor is saying right now.  Just a couple months ago, his budget office was projecting a $3.2 billion deficit.  Now, just in time for his budget address, he claims they found another $2 billion.  Seriously?  Let’s remember this is the same man that has claimed all of his budgets have been balanced when they weren’t even close.

State Rep. Blaine Wilhour had this to say after Illinois Governor JB Pritzker gave his State of the State and Budget address.

“Well, you know you are losing when you have to resort to calling your political opponents Nazis.  That’s completely disgusting and unfortunately par for the course for JB Pritzker.  He is proving more and more every day that he’s just a disgusting loser.  He’s having a lot of trouble coming to grips with the fact that he will never be the president, and that really troubles him.  But the American people reject the stupid “B.S.” that he puts out.  “If we are going to get things going in this state, we’ve got to change the way we are doing business.  We need massive deregulation, especially with energy.  That is key to lowering inflation.  We need to lower the cost of doing business including reforming workers compensation system and corporate taxes.