Democratic state Sen. Dave Koehler has started his sixth term seeking to advance legislation in several key areas including agriculture and the environment, but concerns about the state budget could overshadow much of lawmakers' work during the spring session.
The estimated $3 billion deficit has hung over the heads of many lawmakers. Koehler said the budget will determine many of the difficult decisions lawmakers make this spring.
Koehler also said the conversation will not only be about cuts but also whether the state will increase taxes and add programs that could increase revenue.
“What kind of revenue enhancements are we talking about?” Koehler said. “We're talking about the easy ones, where in the past, what we looked at is cannabis and gaming and all the things that that are more voluntary for the public. Are we talking about tax increases? And that's always a tougher vote. When you talk about trying to add taxes on whether it's sales tax, whether it's income tax.”
Koehler said he expects Gov. JB Pritzker to propose a budget that addresses both of these concerns.
“I expect to hear a combination of both,” Koehler said. “The governor is going to most likely suggest that we have some budget cuts, whether those will be across the board and whether they be equal in proportion, or whether we'll again go in and prioritize certain things, but he'll also have to talk about some revenue enhancements.”
Homelessness
Koehler said funding for homelessness is justified but also difficult due to the budget. This comes a week after the Illinois Shelter Alliance wrote on behalf of the unhoused community, asking for $100 million in addition to the $290 million it has allocated this year to help provide shelter.
According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, homelessness increased nationally by 18% last year. According to the Illinois Shelter Alliance, 4,000 beds are needed to address this increase in Illinois.
“Homelessness is something that not only affects Chicago and the suburbs, but it affects every community in Illinois,” Koehler said. “Peoria (and) Bloomington, so we do have to pay attention to this. There's an easy solution for homelessness, and that is to build housing, to provide housing, but that's expensive, that costs money. So, I can say with some degree of optimism that we are going to put some resources towards this.”
Koehler said the budget will be tight and it will be likely difficult to provide the entire $100 million but promises a portion will be worked on.
“Because everybody who comes through our doors and lobbies us about this program or that program, they're justified,” Koehler said. “They have legitimate concerns and needs. We just don't have as many resources this year to be able to satisfy all that 100%, so what we have to do is we have to prioritize and say, OK, this is what's most important. This how can we spread out what resources we do have to make sure that everybody is taken care of a little bit?”
Spring session legislation
Koehler said he is interested in passing bills related to agriculture and the environment this spring. His bill, the Clean Transportation Standard Act, would seek to limit carbon emissions in transportation by creating a credit marketplace advised by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. Companies could earn credits from this marketplace for using plant-based fuel or switching to electric vehicles. Airline, rail, ocean-going, and military fuel would not be included.
“We are creating a kind of a financial framework in which the fossil fuel industry helps to pay the bill,” Koehler said. “They buy credits from people that are trying to do the right thing, either by electrifying their transportation fleets, or by switching from fossil-based fuels to plant-based fuels. In Illinois, we're trying to do something different. We're trying to engage agriculture as a main component of this."
Koehler also said he is planning to reintroduce a bill to raise the threshold for the estate tax to prevent farmers from losing their land to estate taxes. The bill did not get out of committee last year.
“Generations have family farms in their family, and all of a sudden, the grandfather, the grandmother dies, and the family is stuck with an estate tax where they have to sell the farm just to pay the taxes,” Koehler said. “That really disrupts our tradition of having Illinois is basically being family farmers.”
Koehler also said he plans to sponsor a bill that would help fund soil and water conservation districts.
Immigration
Concerns over Immigration and Customs and Enforcement [ICE] agents have been surfacing over Bloomington and Peoria this week. There have been some false reports of immigration raids in the district, but Koehler said regardless, residents are fearful.
“The real idea is to create intimidation and fear within our communities, and we ought to recognize it for what it is,” Koehler said.
Koehler said immigration reform focused on naturalizing immigrants would have been better than mass deportation.
“I know families in my own community: They are taxpayers, they send their kids to school, they work hard (and) they contribute to the quality of life of our community. That's worth something,” Koehler said. “I can tell you of a family, a couple I know, whose grandparents have been naturalized. Their kids are citizens, but they are not, and they've been in the system since the middle 90s, trying to get, their papers straight so that they could become naturalized citizens. You know, this is an atrocity. This is an embarrassment.”
Koehler also said immigrants who commit crimes should be in jail, not deported.
“If they're convicted, they should be in prison,” Koehler said. “And for us to think that we're going to go into prison now and take them and deport them back to their country. No, you leave them in prison. If somebody committed a murder and they were found guilty and locked up, they should stay in prison.”
Koehler also plans to sponsor a bill with Rep. Sharon Chung to increase funding for Illinois State University through a change to the higher education funding formula.
"We still have a problem with ISU being inadequately funded by the state," Koehler said.
Koehler was assigned to the Agriculture, Higher Education, Energy, Public Health, Health and Human Services committees and appropriations for Health and Human Services.
Transgender rights
President Donald Trump signed an executive order this week restricting gender-affirming medical care for anyone younger than 19.
Koehler said the state will protect the LGTBQ+ community from any Trump administration policy.
“Whether it's anybody in the in the gay or transgender community that wants protection, we are going to be a safe harbor,” Koehler said. “We will continue that and that'll be a fight. Trump is doing what he said he was going to do all along. So, nobody needs to be surprised at this. But we've got to make sure that the most vulnerable are protected and we have a track record of proving that."
