Central Illinois lawmakers had mixed reactions to Gov. JB Pritzker’s State of the State budget address.
Some lawmakers said they came to the Illinois House expecting more transparency about the budget and were disappointed by Pritzker’s focus on the federal government and his critique of the Republican Party.
Budget expectations
Coming into the speech, Republican Rep. Travis Weaver of Pekin said he was open-minded to seeing the governor’s budget proposal but was skeptical about the increased revenue Pritzker cited.
“Revenue on paper is a lot different than actual revenue,” Weaver said. “And so as far as I'm concerned, we still have a $3 billion budget deficit that we haven't gotten serious about fixing. We use gimmicks to try to make up the shortfall.”
Republican Rep. Dennis Tipsword from Metamora said he was also expecting a deficit but was disappointed to see the budget top $55 billion.
“I don't care what side of the aisle you're on,” Tipsword said. “Everybody understands we can't keep going in this direction. But for whatever reason, our governor continues to push these kinds of budgets, and the majority party in both chambers are supporting it.”
Democratic Sen. Dave Koehler, who represents parts of Peoria and Bloomington-Normal, says the budget is balanced and expects there will be no tax increases that directly affect all Illinoisians, referencing the estimated increase of revenue in cannabis and gaming sales.
“The budget increase is very small, and he's got some revenue enhancements that are going to make up some of the difference,” Koehler said. “The good news is no tax increase for any citizens in Illinois, and I think that needs to be emphasized very strongly. This does not increase our taxes in Illinois.”
Education
Democratic Rep. Sharon Chung of Bloomington said increases in funds for K-12 and higher education will benefit schools in her district, including Illinois State University and Heartland Community College.
“Higher ed is one of those things that I love to see (funded) again, because we have so many great higher institutions of higher education in the 91st district,” Chung said. “And I want to really make sure that students are able to go to college, that we're able to provide really great educations to students, research facility, all these sorts of things, and job creation.”
The budget laid out an additional $10 million for the Monetary Award Program and increased the maximum amount of money a student could earn for a MAP grant from $4,869 to $8,604. This also comes with an additional $46 million for college and universities, a 3% increase.
“MAP grants have been transformative to so many people,” Chung said. “(They) have really helped a lot of first-generation college students to be able to afford to go to college. So, it's something that I've been always really supportive of. I've seen it firsthand with students that I've personally taught throughout the years when I used to teach at the university. So, I've been able to see how this has helped them to be able to get that college degree.”
Weaver said education was the only bright spot of the budget. He agreed with funding increases for higher education and the continuation of evidence-based funding for K-12.
“Education funding is an investment as opposed to a cost,” Weaver said. “Building a brand new building, that's a cost, right? You're buying a depreciating asset. Investing in somebody's education makes them a better taxpayer in the future, because you increase their earning potential. So, when we're investing in kids, I'm all for it.”
Immigration
As part of the budget proposal, the Health Benefits for Immigrant Adults program was removed. The program provided free insurance for undocumented and documented immigrants ages 42-64. A similar program for noncitizen seniors will continue to be funded.
Republican Sen. Sally Turner, who represents parts south of Bloomington-Normal and Peoria, said ending the program would be good for the state.
“No, we are glad that he's taken our advice and reduced that health care cost,” Turner said. “That's extremely important to my constituents, and that's something they've been asking for a long time.”
Turner was not completely against also ending the Health Benefits for Immigrant Seniors program but said there should be a calculation of whether the program is expensive for hospitals.
Tipsword went a step further and said both should be cut because they are using state funds on undocumented immigrants.
“No, I think it should be cut,” Tipsword said. “They're here illegally. Citizens who are senior citizens don't have free health care. They don't get the benefits that these illegal folks get here. So, no, absolutely not. That's money that should not be spent for free health insurance for anybody who's here illegally.”
The budget also reduced funds for the state’s Welcoming Centers program that helped shelter immigrants from $120 million to $40 million.
Homelessness and crime prevention
The budget also proposed $282.7 million to address homelessness. This would include money for shelters, services and homelessness prevention programs. The funding would mark a decrease of nearly 3%, at a time when advocates are seeking a substantial increase to meet a growing demand for services.
Tipsword said homelessness is a complex issue that cannot be solved with just funds.
“This is going to be a heavy lift,” Tipsword said. “There's going to be tough decisions to make. Until we get to that point as a group here in Springfield, we're not going to fix anything. We're going to throw a band-aid here and a band-aid there and get us down the road for a short time, but we're not fixing anything.”
Tipsword pointed to resolving mental health issues and addiction as the first step in combating homelessness.
When asked about funds going to programs to prevent gun violence, Tipsword, a chief deputy for the Woodford County Sheriff's Office, said the effort should be placed on enforcement.
“We need to address the criminal element in society who are repeat gun offenders, and we just continue to make it easier for them to keep offending and give them a slap on the wrist,” Tipsword said.
Tipsword said recidivism should be addressed through a long discussion with mental health and addiction experts.
Pension
Weaver said he was fine with the pension increase of $78 million for Tier 2 since it is the state's minimum requirement to fund.
“That may be signaling from the governor, all we're going to do on pensions is get in line with where the IRS is going to make us be, which is great, because the alternative to that is to do sweeteners across the board, which would cost us, well, one estimate had it in the $30-plus billion range.”
Federal government
Pritzker, a second-term governor, critiqued President Donald Trump for his tariffs and attempt to overhaul the government in his State of the State address. He then mentioned his identity as a Jewish man and his work with the Illinois Holocaust Museum.
Pritzker said Trump showed signs of being an authoritarian, echoing the past of the Nazi regime.
“The authoritarian playbook is laid bare here: They point to a group of people who don’t look like you and tell you to blame them for your problems,” Pritzker said.
Republican lawmakers were furious about this part of the speech. Weaver said he was disgusted and almost left the room when the governor critiqued the president.
“I did not expect the governor to use the word Nazi six times talking about the leader of the free world” Weaver said. “You can disagree with somebody without calling them a Nazi. You can have a problem with somebody without referring to them as the worst human who's ever been alive in world history. I thought it was disgusting.”
Tipsword agreed, saying the governor’s comments about the president were in pursuit of a presidential run.
“He spent his time bashing President Trump and Republicans to the point where he actually called President Trump Hitler and all Republicans Nazis,” Tipsword said. “So, take away any good faith and working together-type relationship. He's not interested in that. He's not interested in unity.”
Chung said if Republican lawmakers are uncomfortable with these comments, they might to need to reflect.
“He never once mentioned our folks here,” Chung said. “And so, I haven't spoken to any of them since the since the speech. It's only been a couple hours, an hour or so.... I think everybody's sort of knee-jerk reflex is to be, ‘Oh, that's not me.' But I think at the same time, it's always good to do some looking within, some self-reflection.”
Proposed bills
Pritzker also announced two new proposals: one to ban phones in K-12 and expand community colleges to have four-year programs.
Chung said she is completely behind a phone ban in schools.
“We're just trying to set up students to be focused and focus on learning, not being drawn away from their studies at school, to look at what's on their phones. I just see it as a way to really help set up students for success,” Chung said.
She also said it may be possible for Heartland Community College to take advantage of the four-year degree option.
“We're really lucky in Bloomington Normal, that we've got Heartland Community College, and we've got Illinois State,” Chung said. “So I think this is one of those things I'm going to have to look at the legislation like how it's written, hopefully that it won't take too much away, take anything like significant away from Illinois State, and that Heartland will be able to sort of help fill in some of those needs.”
Hopes for the budget
Lawmakers on opposing sides had different ideas of how the budget will get passed.
Chung said the budget will be difficult but will be a friendly debate. She said everyone has their projects which will be a struggle to cut but they will compromise.
“I don't want to say it's a fight, but it's a there's a healthy debate and healthy discussion about it,” Chung said. “And so, it's one of those things, again, the governor sort of signaled that he's sort of willing to sacrifice some of his pet projects, again, with the early childhood block grant. And so that sort of piece setting an example for how maybe we should look at this budget year going forward.”
Turner said the discussion will likely be difficult, even among Democrats who hold a supermajority.
“There's different factions in the House and in the Senate, so I don't think it's ever easy when they're trying to manage a supermajority. So, there's different factions. So I don't think it'll be all easy for them,” Turner said.
Tipsword expects a battle to get this passed.
“There'll be a fight within the majority party,” Tipsword said. “The governor has over a $2 billion deficit to bring together. So, he did have some cuts in there. Now, I will say there were a lot of sleight of hand tricks on where he's getting money from and how he's going to close this, this budget deal."
The legislature will have until the end of May to pass a budget,, otherwise a supermajority would be required for approval.
