THE ILLINOIZE: Our first look at the budget
Good morning, Illinois. We sent paid subscribers three different newsletters with breaking budget news yesterday, including one that has some pretty high ranking politicians and their crabby staff even more mad at me than normal.
We’ll have more throughout the day so you should subscribe to stay in the loop.
The Senate did not pass their budget bill last night. Senate President Don Harmon got up around 11:00pm and said he did not have a final agreement from a late House Democratic caucus meeting, so they won’t move the budget until tomorrow. That means session will run into at least Saturday, because the House can start a new session day at, essentially, 12:01am Saturday morning.
The House and Senate are back at 10. The Governor does not have anything on his public schedule.
Let’s get to it.
WHAT’S IN THE BUDGET?
Late Wednesday afternoon, Governor JB Pritzker, Senate President Don Harmon, and House Speaker Chris Welch announced a deal on a new FY24 budget. It paved the way for passage through the Senate yesterday and adjournment by Friday, but that’s now how it played out.
The FY24 was filed late last evening by Sen. Elgie Sims (D-Chicago). But the House Democrats hadn’t given the plan a thumbs up by nearly 11pm last night, so the Senate went home and won’t vote on a budget until at least this morning. That guarantees the House won’t be able to take final action until at least early Saturday.
The budget bill is over 3,400 pages long and this quick run through won’t include everything, just my first impressions:
Double the amount to the pension stabilization fund $400 million from $200 million last year.
$455 million to pay off tobacco settlement bonds
Paying off another $3.5 billion in bonds
$80 million in new spending for “welcoming centers” for immigrants and refugees
$100 million in new spending on AIDS/HIV services
School funding up to around $8.3 billion from around $7.5 billion
Allows school voucher program to sunset
I couldn’t specifically find the controversial healthcare for immigrants program that has ballooned in costs in the last couple of years. It’s also late while I’m searching for it, so fresh eyes and a few phone calls may help me out in the morning.
I’ll have more for subscribers throughout the day.