Latest news with #JBPritzker
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Illinois lawmakers pass $55B budget with new taxes, no transit or Bears stadium funding
The Brief State lawmakers passed a $55 billion budget just before the midnight deadline over the weekend. The budget includes new or increased taxes on sports betting and tobacco products. Lawmakers did not pass plans to address a fiscal cliff facing the state's public transit system or funding for a new Bears stadium. SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - State lawmakers passed the budget for the next fiscal year, meeting their midnight deadline. Leaders worked late into the evening with just minutes to spare last night to pass the $55 billion budget that now goes to Gov. JB Pritzker's desk. What they're saying The governor said in posts on X, the social media site, that he will sign it. "I'm grateful to Speaker Welch, President Harmon, the budget teams, and all the legislators and stakeholders who collaborated to shape and pass this legislation. I look forward to signing my seventh balanced budget in a row and continuing to build a stronger Illinois," Pritzker wrote. The budget includes just over $1 billion in new taxes and revenue changes, Capitol News Illinois reported. Republican lawmakers in the minority blasted the Democratic majority for the increase in taxes. "Speaker Welch said the quiet part out loud: tax and spend Democrats are thriving in Illinois…at the expense of Illinois families," said House Minority Leader Tony McCombie in a statement. "Rather than pursuing meaningful structural reforms to secure our state's future, Democrats chose to prioritize politician pay raises, steal from the rainy-day fund, and funnel money into their own pork projects." By the numbers The new taxes include: A 25-cent tax per wager for sports betting licensees' first 20,000 wagers and 50 cents per wager after that Increase in tobacco products from 36% to 45% Subjecting businesses that move profits to other countries to the state's corporate income tax Republican lawmakers and business entities like the Illinois Chamber of Commerce were critical of the new taxes. "This breaks the commitment to avoid new taxes and sends the wrong message to employers across the state," the Chamber said in a statement. Lawmakers also decided to cut a controversial program to provide health insurance for more than 30,000 noncitizens between the ages of 42 and 64, which would save about $330 million. A $110 million program for seniors will remain in place. The proposal to cut the program had come under fire from Latino lawmakers and activist groups, as well as progressive groups. The new budget will also not add $43 million to a property tax relief program. The $307 million in mandated additional K-12 education funding was approved. The final budget plan was passed without some key issues addressed, including added funding to prevent a fiscal cliff facing the region's public transit agencies and funding for a new Bears stadium. The transit funding was an especially big issue as the Regional Transit Authority faces a $770 million shortfall in 2026 and warned of possible significant service cuts as pandemic funding ran dry. Transit officials and union groups were pushing for lawmakers to approve more funding to avoid such a cliff. The Labor Alliance for Public Transportation said in a statement: "Last night's failure to pass a comprehensive transportation bill to avert a fiscal cliff jeopardizes Illinois transit systems with expected cuts, massive lay-offs, and service disruptions for the Chicago Transit Authority, Pace, and Metra. As the General Assembly adjourns with neither reform or revenue, transit riders and workers alike are left concerned about the future of our communities."
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Illinois bill aims to lower prescription costs, rein in pharmacy benefit managers
A bill that seeks to control the rising cost of prescription drugs while also offering financial help for many small, independent pharmacies in Illinois cleared the state Senate on Thursday and awaits action in the House. The bill, known as the Prescription Drug Affordability Act, contained in House Bill 1697, would put new regulations and impose new fees on a large but little understood segment of the prescription drug industry — pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs. 'This really restricts the ability of PBMs to extract large amounts of money out of the prescription drug system,' Sen. Dave Koehler, D-Peoria, the bill's chief Senate sponsor, said in an interview. PBMs act as a kind of third-party intermediary in the insurance industry who manage prescription drug benefits on behalf of insurance plans. They do that by negotiating prices with drug manufacturers, setting reimbursement rates paid to pharmacies, developing formularies, or 'preferred drug lists,' and maintaining pharmacy networks where insured individuals get their prescriptions filled. But they have also come under criticism in recent years for being too closely integrated with some of the nation's largest retail pharmacy chains and for helping drive up the cost of prescription drugs, often at the expense of smaller, independent community pharmacies. 'They extract extra profit from patients through opaque and often predatory tactics,' Gov. JB Pritzker said in calling for the legislation during his State of the State address in February. 'Not only are they driving up health care costs for Illinois families by hundreds of millions of dollars per year, but they are also putting small, local, independent pharmacies out of business.' Many large PBMs, such as CVS Caremark, a subsidiary of CVS Health, also either own or are affiliated with large retail chain pharmacies. Critics of their practices argue they use their position to steer patients to their own pharmacies, often to the detriment of smaller, independent pharmacies. That has resulted in what some people call 'pharmacy deserts' in many small towns, rural areas and low-income urban communities. 'PBMs routinely reimburse my pharmacy below cost for brand name prescriptions, medications where they're already pocketing massive rebates from drug manufacturers,' David Bagot, an independent pharmacist from Petersburg who is also president of the Illinois Pharmacists Association, told a Senate committee Wednesday. 'Meanwhile, they pay their own affiliated pharmacies – including PBM-owned community, mail-order and specialty pharmacies – much higher rates for the same medications.' The bill would prohibit PBMs from 'steering' insured patients to their own affiliated pharmacies, either by requiring them to use a particular pharmacy or by forcing the patient to pay more for their medications if they use a different outlet. It would also prohibit the practice of 'spread pricing,' or charging an insurance plan one price for a given drug while reimbursing pharmacies at a lower rate for that same drug and pocketing the difference. In addition, the bill calls for levying a fee on PBMs based on the number of patients they insure. Money from that fee would go into a fund for the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to award up to $25 million a year in grants to independent pharmacies and pharmacies located in rural counties, medically underserved areas, low-income communities and pharmacies that serve high concentrations of Medicaid patients. It also would require PBMs to remit all the money they receive in the form of rebates from drug manufacturers to the insurance plan sponsors. And it would require them to disclose to state regulators how much they receive in rebates each year. Pharmaceutical industry lobbyists argued many provisions of the bill, including the fee levied on PBMs, will actually end up being passed on to insurance plans and consumers, thus resulting in higher prescription drug prices. 'This is not a prescription drug affordability bill,' said Lori Reimers, lobbyist for the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association. 'Costs will rise. When you give more money to pharmacies, when you restrict tools that lower cost, the cost of insurance and health plans are going to go up on your constituents.' Reimers noted that since 2016, Illinois lawmakers have enacted 20 new laws pertaining to PBMs including laws granting the state Department of Insurance regulatory powers over PBMs, all with the intent of bringing down drug prices. 'And I don't think anybody's here saying that drug prices have gotten lower yet,' she said. 'But here we are with a much bigger bill.' The bill passed the Senate with bipartisan support, 56-1. Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Cherry Valley, cast the only no vote. The language the Senate passed was an amendment to a House bill that originally dealt with training for 911 dispatchers. The bill now goes back to the House for concurrence with the Sente amendments.
Chicago Tribune
8 hours ago
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Illinois lawmakers pass budget with tax hikes on tobacco, gambling — but adjourn without transit, Bears stadium
SPRINGFIELD — Democratic state lawmakers voted late Saturday, just minutes before their midnight deadline, to send Gov. JB Pritzker the final piece of a $55 billion budget balanced with a combination of spending cuts and an estimated $800 million plus in tax increases, including hikes on tobacco products, vaping and online sportsbooks. The governor's office touted the spending plan as Pritzker's 'seventh consecutive balanced budget that continues to get the state's finances back on track.' The General Assembly adjourned its spring session without passing legislation to address the $771 million fiscal shortfall faced by Chicago-area mass transit, and also took no action on proposals to help the Bears relocate to a new stadium in the northwest suburbs. The session's final hours were marked by a rush to pass the budget and revenue package before June 1, when the required vote threshold rose to a three-fifths majority. Ultimately, House Democrats approved the three main components of the plan by that margin or greater. The $55.2 billion spending portion of the budget passed the House by a 75-41 margin, with two Democrats — Reps. Larry Walsh of Elwood and Stephanie Kifowit of Aurora — joining Republicans in opposition. A short time later, the Senate approved the measure on a 34-23 vote, two votes shy of what would have been needed after midnight. Four downstate and suburban Senate Democrats voted against the spending plan: Sens. Christopher Belt of Swansea, Suzy Glowiak Hilton of Western Springs, Mike Halpin of Rock Island and Doris Turner of Springfield. During the House debate, Rep. Dagmara Avelar, a Democrat from Bolingbrook and member of the legislative Latino Caucus, said she was supporting the plan even though it was 'not a perfect budget,' noting her opposition to the elimination of funding for a Medicaid-style program for noncitizens aged 42 through 64. 'In fact, it's painful. It eliminates a program that has been a lifeline for many, including people that I have fought alongside for years,' she said. 'But I'm voting 'yes' because leadership requires hard choices. And this budget protects more than it cuts.' Majority Leader Robyn Gabel of Evanston, the chief budget negotiator in the House, said the budget made $400 million in spending cuts, including $193 million in operational cuts across state agencies. A big reason for those reductions, she said, was the uncertainty over whether Republican President Donald Trump's administration would deprive Illinois of critical federal funding for Medicaid and in other areas. 'I want to emphasize that these were not decisions made lightly or made hastily. These are strategic efficiencies so we can invest in the needs of our working families and seniors on fixed incomes,' Gabel said. 'Of course, we do not know the full extent of the cuts Washington is preparing. But we do anticipate that health care access and infrastructure will be most directly impacted.' Pritzker also took shot at Trump in his post-budget statement. 'Even in the face of Trump and Congressional Republicans stalling the national economy, our state budget delivers for working families without raising their taxes while protecting the progress we are making for our long-term fiscal health,' Pritzker said in a statement. Illinois House passes bill allowing terminally ill people to end their lives with physician's helpRepublicans criticized what they called a bloated budget and said the Democrats' attempts to lay blame on Trump Republicans in Washington are misguided. 'The tax-and-spend Democrats … are so unfamiliar with cost-cutting, they call it chaos,' said GOP Rep. William Hauter of Morton. 'They wasted billions. And they are prepared to waste billions more. Wake up, Illinois. Vote 'no.'' Pointing to the $40 billion budget approved after Pritzker first took office in 2019 and last year's roughly $53 billion plan, Sen. Chapin Rose of Mahomet, a GOP budget negotiator, said Democrats must shoulder the blame for the state's fiscal issues. 'Let's be clear: $15 billion over six years, that's on you,' Rose said. '$2 billion increase over last year, that's on you. Billions of dollars in tax increases that are driving working families out of Illinois, that's on you.' Senate Republican leader John Curran of Downers Grove faulted Democrats for once again pushing their budget package through in the final hours of the legislature's spring session without sufficient time for review, particularly on the tax side of the ledger. Democrats 'introduced a bill, $880 million in tax increases, we were told — nearly $1 billion — and six short hours from introduction of what it was to passing in both the House and the Senate,' Curran said. 'That's not transparent. That's not being upfront with the people of Illinois.' Sen. Elgie Sims, Democrats' budget point person in the Senate, said, however, that the plan largely reflected what lawmakers had been discussing since Pritzker laid out his proposal in February. 'If there's one thing I do agree about with the other side of the aisle, it is that a budget is a statement of our priorities,' Sims said. 'And our priorities are being fiscally responsible, preparing for the future and facing the challenges that are coming our way head on.' Heeding Pritzker's warning that he would veto a plan that relied on increases to the state's sales or income taxes, legislators approved a package that would employ one-time tactics, such as an amnesty for delinquent tax filers. The revenue package also included increased taxes on tobacco products to 45% of the wholesale price. Starting in July, that higher tax will also apply to nicotine pouches, which have exploded in popularity in recent years, and e-cigarettes would be taxed at the same rate as other tobacco products for the first time. The revenue would go to tobacco health initiatives and the state's Medicaid program. Democrats also approved a new per-wager tax on online sportsbooks, which would generate an estimated $36 million. Overall, the spending and tax package would result in a slight surplus, Democrats said. Amid the late push to approve a tax-and-spending plan, the Senate also narrowly approved a proposal to overhaul governance and increase funding for Chicago-area mass transit. The plan included a $1.50 fee on retail deliveries, which replaced an earlier proposal to increase tolls on Chicago-area toll roads. But the House adjourned without taking up the measure, meaning the transit issue remains unresolved. A late push for legislation to aid the Chicago Bears with the team's proposed move to a new stadium in Arlington Heights failed to come to a vote in either chamber. The spending package Democrats approved stuck closely to the broad outlines Pritzker presented to lawmakers in February. However, with revenue projections for the budget year that begins July 1 dimming in the months since the governor made his proposal, legislators approved some new ideas to bring in more money, including changes that would allow Illinois to tax offshore and out-of-state corporate profits. One new funding stream would come from taxing 'large transnational corporations' that store assets overseas, Democratic Rep. Will Guzzardi of Chicago said. 'Those are the revenue sources we're contemplating to balance a budget that supports investments in children and families and seniors and people with disabilities,' he said. The budget package included a tax amnesty program aimed at boosting revenue that was part of Pritzker's proposal. The program is expected to bring in $228 million, Guzzardi said, which is $30 million above Pritzker's initial estimate. The spending proposal lawmakers approved, negotiated among the Democratic House and Senate leaders and the governor's office, deviates from Pritzker's original plan in certain areas, including funding for elementary and secondary education. Pritzker proposed a $350 million increase as required under a 2017 school funding overhaul. But the final plan would boost funding by only $307 million over the current year, cutting $43 million that normally would go to a grant program designed to help school districts with high property tax rates and low real estate values. The grant program was paused to provide 'the ability for us to have a study that talks about the efficacy of that program, making sure it is having the desired impact and reducing property taxes for hardworking homeowners across the state,' Sims said. Democrats managed to gather enough support for their plan despite ongoing tension over the elimination of funding for the health insurance program covering noncitizens ages 42 to 64. When Pritzker proposed the cut in February, his office estimated it would save the state about $330 million from its general fund. The approved budget would preserve the portion of the program for those 65 and older, allocating $110 million for their coverage. Eliminating funding for the younger group, which would end coverage for more than 30,000 residents, was unpopular among Latino lawmakers and progressives, but those blocs didn't end up withholding their votes from the final budget package. Democratic Rep. Lilian Jiménez, one of the champions of the program, stressed the importance of making sure the health care networks in low-income communities that are often used by immigrants are adequately funded in the face of the cut. 'What we're trying to do is make sure that those communities have the resources they need to brace for the impact of having 30,000 uninsured throughout the state of Illinois,' said Jiménez, whose district includes heavily Latino portions of Chicago. While many immigrants living in Illinois without authorization pay state and federal taxes that support the program and other services for which they are ineligible because of their citizenship status, a state audit released in February found that over three years the insurance program for older immigrants cost nearly double what was expected. The budget would eliminate funding for a relatively new state program providing free test preparation to students at public universities and some community colleges, launched in late February after receiving $10 million in the current state budget. Supporters said in early May that the program had already saved more than 200,000 students a total of roughly $8 million in just two months. When Illinois launched the program, it became the first state to offer free comprehensive test preparation for college students. Democrats also followed Pritzker's recommendation to pause one of his key priorities: a $75 million annual increase to boost the number of seats in state-funded preschool programs. The budget would keep that spending level with the current overall plan also would cut back on another Pritzker priority, suspending monthly contributions to the state's 'rainy day' fund for a year. Instead, about $45 million would be held in the general fund. At the same time, some lawmakers pushed to boost funding for health facilities that serve low-income patients and communities, asking for $160 million for safety-net hospitals, though settling in the end for $118 million. 'There are significant increases, investments in our hospital systems. Our safety-net hospitals are on the front lines,' Sims said. 'They are caring for our most vulnerable. And we are making sure that we made investments in those safety-net hospitals because they carry a large volume of Medicaid clients. So, we want to make sure they have the resources necessary to be successful.' The Democratic plan also included an 80-cent-per-hour wage increase for direct support professionals who work with people with developmental disabilities, but reduces the hours the state would pay for by 35%, which Gabel, the House majority leader, characterized as 'rightsizing.' Advocates and unions have said wages needed to be raised by $2 an hour to meet recommendations that those workers be paid 150% of minimum wage. At a Senate committee hearing on the plan Saturday afternoon, Rose, the Mahomet Republican, said the reduction in hours was a 'cynical sleight of hand.' Republicans also criticized the use of one-time revenue streams to fill shortfalls, including the diversion of money from road projects by again delaying a shift of revenue from the sales tax on gasoline from the state's general fund to the road fund, freeing up $171 million to spend on operations. 'Last year … we described that as a one-time, special occurrence. Now, we're doing it again,' Republican Rep. Ryan Spain of Peoria said during a Friday night House committee hearing. 'What happened to the one time occurrence?' 'We're in difficult times,' Gabel said. 'This is a hard budget. We felt like we needed to do it one more time.' Both Republicans and Democrats pointed to the uncertain federal funding picture, with Republicans questioning spending in a 'doomsday budget' and Democrats blaming Trump for creating confusion for states. Gabel said 'this budget is based on the information we have at this time.' Despite the fiscal challenges the state faces, the Democratic plan included $8.2 billion in new spending on infrastructure projects, which are separate from the operating budget and funded by dedicated taxes and borrowing. Republicans accused the majority party of once again hoarding that money for projects in their own districts.'Let's hide this stuff. Let's hide it so that the public doesn't see it until it's too late. Let's blame everybody but ourselves. The Trump administration did this. The Trump administration did that. I call B.S.,' GOP Rep. John Cabello of Machesney Park, who was a Trump delegate during last year's Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, said during the House debate late Saturday. 'Start looking at these pages, people. There is so much pork in here,' C, lamenting that Republicans weren't given a chance to fund projects on behalf of taxpayers in their districts. While House and Senate Democrats dodged Republican questions about the so-called pork-barrel spending, their legislation included funding for a number of large projects in Democratic districts. For instance, Proviso Township High School District 209, which is in House Speaker Emanuel 'Chris' Welch's district and where he previously was school board president, would receive $40 million for 'costs associated with capital improvements and an outdoor sports complex at Proviso West High School.' Members of the GOP also criticized proposed pay raises of about 5% — to a base salary of $98,304 — for lawmakers, though in the past they've largely accepted the pay increases even when voting against the budget. The raises are cost-of-living adjustments included in state law, though past legislatures have voted to freeze their own pay — a move that has drawn legal challenges. The plan includes similar increases for the governor, other statewide elected officials and the heads of state agencies. Pritzker, a billionaire Hyatt Hotels heir, does not take a state salary. The Senate-approved plan to address a looming $771 million fiscal cliff for the Chicago area's mass transit system and to overhaul the system's disjointed board structure moved away from a proposed increase on Chicago-area toll roads in favor of a new $1.50 fee on retail deliveries. That came after labor groups and suburban officials criticized the proposed toll increase. The so-called 'climate impact fee,' which also was introduced late Saturday just hours before winning approval in the Senate, would kick in on Jan. 1 and could increase with inflation in future years. It would be imposed for each order, regardless of the number of items, but would not apply 'to the delivery of groceries and prescription and non-prescription drugs and medications.' Retailers with total sales of $500,000 or less in the preceding calendar year would also be exempt. Even before the proposal was officially filed, the fee had drawn opposition from business groups, including the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Illinois Chamber of Commerce, the manufacturers', restaurant and retail associations, and the big-tech interest group TechNet. 'This new, regressive tax will undermine consumer savings from the recent elimination of the grocery tax and would disproportionately impact communities that rely on delivery services to receive vital items,' the groups said in a statement.
Yahoo
21 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Utah Democratic Party elects new leadership, Brian King
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Delegates gathered at the Utah Democratic Convention in Ogden on Saturday, May 31– and with all eyes on the race for the new chair of the party, the results are in, with Brian King winning with 52% of the vote. As the newly elected party leader, King is a seasoned politician with 16 years of experience as a state legislator. He is the former House Minority Leader and ran for governor last year. 'This is a new era and this is our moment. As Chair, I'm ready to lead the charge to hold out-of-touch Republicans accountable, to connect with voters across the state and political spectrum, and to flip seats from the top of the ballot to the bottom. Monopolies, in politics and otherwise, aren't good for anyone and Utahns deserve better,' said King. Former Democratic Chair Diane Lewis said she was 'delighted to pass the torch' to King, and is excited to see how new leadership moves forward together for the future of Utah. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, who was anticipated to speak at the convention and is thought by many to be preparing for a presidential run, shared a message in a recorded video: 'Utah Democrats know a thing or two about showing up to the fight,' he said. 'You know how to stand up against the odds and get things done.' Over 1400 votes were counted in the race — a record number and over 600 ballots more than last year. This year's race for chair included former executive director of Salt Lake Democrats Ben Peck, former congressional candidate Jonathan Lopez, and perennial democratic hopeful Archie Williams III. Considered a fresh face among the group, Peck, at just 25 years old, has already ran two successful campaigns for democratic candidates — one in Salt Lake County and another in Murray. Many delegates were convinced he may have been elected as the new party chair, but Peck came up short with 45% of the vote. Election results are as follows: Chair: Bring King, 52% Vice-Chair: Susan Merrill, 52% Secretary: Brad Dickter, 56% Treasurer: Catherine Voutaz, 77% In addition to electing new leadership, the party adopted a new platform, which 'remains grounded' in their 'collective core values of economic security, equality of opportunity, and investing in the common good,' according to the party. Utah Democratic Party elects new leadership, Brian King Mama and baby bear cool off in California family's pool Last living grandson of 10th U.S. President John Tyler, dies at 96 How did white-tailed deer come back from near-extinction? Florida mother of dead 6-year-old was trying to 'exorcise demons': sheriff Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
21 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Illinois Democrats propose tax hikes on tobacco, vaping and gambling to balance $55B budget
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — With only hours remaining before their midnight deadline, Democratic state lawmakers on Saturday still were finalizing various components of a more than $55 billion budget balanced with a combination of cuts and tax increases. The spending portion of the plan was unveiled late Friday, but a package of tax increases and other revenue measures had yet to surface by early Saturday afternoon. Heeding Gov. JB Pritzker's warning that he would veto a plan that relied on increases to the state's sales or income taxes, legislators produced a package that employed one-time tactics, such as an amnesty for delinquent tax filers, coupled with increased taxes on tobacco products and gambling, according to Democratic budget negotiators. 'What we're trying to do is make sure that this budget is balanced, and it is balanced, it is responsible, and it's a statement of our priorities,' Sen. Elgie Sims, a Chicago Democrat and budget point person, told reporters late Friday. Sims didn't go into specifics about the sin tax increases included in the plan, nor did his House Democratic counterparts, who told Republican lawmakers at a late-night committee hearing that those measures would be discussed in detail at a later time. Overall, the package would result in a slight surplus, with $55.4 billion in expected revenue offsetting $55.2 billion in proposed spending for the state's day-to-day operations, House Majority Leader Robyn Gabel told members of the Executive Committee, which voted 8-4 along party lines to send the measure to the full chamber. Aside from wrangling over spending and taxes, lawmakers continued to work on a plan to overhaul governance and increase funding for Chicago-area mass transit. It also remained to be seen whether there would be a late push for legislation to aid the Chicago Bears with the team's proposed move to a new stadium in the northwest suburbs. The proposed spending package stuck closely to the broad outlines Pritzker presented to lawmakers in February. However, with revenue projections for the budget year that begins July 1 dimming in the months since the governor made his proposal, legislators also were considering some new ideas to bring in more money, including changes that would allow Illinois to tax offshore and out-of-state corporate profits. One new funding stream will come from taxing 'large transnational corporations' that store assets overseas, Democratic Rep. Will Guzzardi of Chicago said at the late Friday hearing in explaining the proposals to raise revenue. 'Those are the revenue sources we're contemplating to balance a budget that supports investments in children and families and seniors and people with disabilities,' he said. Guzzardi said the budget package will include a tax amnesty program aimed at boosting revenue that was part of Pritzker's proposal. The program is expected to bring in $228 million, Guzzardi said, which is $30 million above Pritzker's initial estimate. The legislative budget proposal, negotiated among the Democratic House and Senate leaders and the governor's office, deviates from Pritzker's original plan in certain areas, including funding for elementary and secondary education. Pritzker proposed a $350 million increase as required under a 2017 school funding overhaul. But the measure introduced late Friday would boost funding by only $307 million over the current year, cutting $43 million that normally would go to grant program designed to help school districts with high property tax rates and low real estate values. The grant program was paused to provide 'the ability for us to have a study that talks about the efficacy of that program, making sure it is having the desired impact and reducing property taxes for hardworking homeowners across the state,' Sims said. The proposal surfaced several hours after Pritzker met in his statehouse office with the legislature's top Democratic leaders, House Speaker Emanuel 'Chris' Welch of Hillside and Senate President Don Harmon of Oak Park. The trio emerged from the meeting expressing confidence they'd reach a deal before the calendar turns to June but offering no details. Welch, whose House Democrats last year had to suspend chamber rules to round up the votes needed to pass a tax-hike package, said he didn't anticipate similar issues this time. 'We're getting close to a budget that I believe our caucus can support,' Welch said after the meeting. It remains possible, however, that certain factions of the Democratic Party could dig in their heels over aspects of the proposed deal. For example, the plan would make good on Pritzker's recommendation to zero out funding for a state program that provides Medicaid-style health insurance for noncitizens ages 42 to 64. When Pritzker proposed the cut in February, his office estimated it would save the state about $330 million from its general fund. The proposal would preserve the portion of the program for those 65 and older, allocating $110 million for their coverage. Eliminating funding for the younger group, which would end coverage for more than 30,000 residents, is unpopular among Latino lawmakers and progressives, but it was unclear whether they would withhold votes on the broader budget over the issue. 'We'll see,' Rep. Elizabeth 'Lisa' Hernandez of Cicero, a member of House Democratic leadership and chair of the state Democratic Party, said when asked if she would support the budget that included the cut. 'We're doing all we can, and it's not over until it's over,' Hernandez said. While many immigrants living in Illinois without authorization pay state and federal taxes that support the program and other services for which they are ineligible because of their citizenship status, a state audit released in February found that over three years the insurance program for older immigrants cost nearly double what was expected. The budget proposal would eliminate funding for a relatively new state program providing free test preparation to students at public universities and some community colleges, launched in late February after receiving $10 million in the current state budget. Supporters said in early May that the program had already saved more than 200,000 students a total of roughly $8 million in just two months. When Illinois launched the program, it became the first state to offer free comprehensive test preparation for college students. Democrats also proposed following Pritzker's recommendation to pause one of his key priorities: a $75 million annual increase to increase the number of seats in state-funded preschool programs. At the same time, some lawmakers are pushing to boost funding for hospitals that serve low-income patients and communities. Sen. Lakesia Collins, a Democrat whose district includes a swath of Chicago's West Side, said Mount Sinai Hospital in her district is facing financial troubles but she was hopeful the hospital and others like it, collectively, would be able to get more than $160 million from the state budget to operate. Collins also noted the uncertainty over how much federal health care funding Illinois will receive under President Donald Trump's administration. 'Right now, as a state, we're trying to figure out how do we maneuver around all of the challenges that we're facing from the federal government while making sure that they're sustainable here in Illinois,' Collins said. The plan includes $118 million in special grants for the safety-net hospitals, which typically treat the uninsured or Medicaid patients, often in low-income communities. 'There are significant increases, investments in our hospital systems. Our safety-net hospitals are on the front lines,' Sims said. 'They are caring for our most vulnerable. And we are making sure that we made investments in those safety-net hospitals because they carry a large volume of Medicaid clients. So, we want to make sure they have the resources necessary to be successful.' The Democratic plan also proposes an 80-cent-per-hour wage increase for direct support professionals who work with people with developmental disabilities, but reduces the hours the state would pay for by 35%, Gabel said, which she characterized as 'rightsizing.' Advocates and unions have said wages needed to be raised by $2 an hour to meet recommendations that those workers be paid 150% of minimum wage. Republicans criticized the use of one-time revenue streams to fill shortfalls, including the diversion of money from road projects by again delaying a shift of revenue from the sales tax on gasoline from the state's general fund to the road fund. 'Last year … we described that as a one-time, special occurrence. Now, we're doing it again,' Republican Rep. Ryan Spain of Peoria said. 'What happened to the one time occurrence?' 'We're in difficult times,' Gabel said. 'This is a hard budget. We felt like we needed to do it one more time.' Both Republicans and Democrats pointed to the uncertain federal funding picture, with Republicans questioning spending in a 'doomsday budget' and Democrats blaming President Donald Trump for creating confusion for states. Gabel said 'this budget is based on the information we have at this time.' Despite the fiscal challenges the state faces, the Democratic plan includes $8.2 billion in new spending on infrastructure projects, which are separate from the operating budget and funded by dedicated taxes and borrowing. Republicans accused the majority party of once again hording that money for projects in their own districts. 'That capital is paid for by the taxpayers. It's paid for by my constituents and your constituents. All of our constituents,' said Rep. Norine Hammond of Macomb, a top budget negotiator for House Republicans. While Democrats dodged Republican questions about the so-called pork-barrel spending, their legislation includes funding for a number of large projects in Democratic districts. For instance, Proviso Township High School District 209, which is in Welch's district and where he previously was school board president, would receive $40 million for 'costs associated with capital improvements and an outdoor sports complex at Proviso West High School.' Members of the GOP also criticized proposed pay raises of about 5% — to a base salary of $98,304 — for lawmakers, though in the past they've largely accepted the pay increases even when voting against the budget. The raises are cost-of-living adjustments included in state law, though past legislatures have voted to freeze their own pay — a move that has drawn controversy. The plan includes similar increases for the governor, other statewide elected officials and the heads of state agencies. Pritzker, a billionaire Hyatt Hotels heir, does not take a state salary. With the clock running out on the legislature's scheduled spring session, there also was a sense of urgency to address a looming $771 million fiscal cliff for the Chicago area's mass transit system and to overhaul the system's disjointed board structure. Lawmakers, advocates and transit officials were working through competing House and Senate proposals Friday, with negotiations possibly moving away from a proposed increase on Chicago-area toll roads toward a new $1.50 fee on retail deliveries. That came after labor groups and suburban officials criticized the proposed toll increase. While it hadn't been formally proposed, the delivery tax by Saturday had already drawn opposition of business groups, including the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Illinois Chamber of Commerce, the manufacturers', restaurant and retail associations, and the big-tech interest group TechNet. 'This new, regressive tax will undermine consumer savings from the recent elimination of the grocery tax and would disproportionately impact communities that rely on delivery services to receive vital items,' the groups said in a statement. Kirk Dillard, chair of the Regional Transportation Authority that oversees train and bus service across the city and suburbs, on Friday criticized the initial Senate plan to close the transit budget gap, saying in a statement that it would lead to 'significant service cuts' next year. Dillard suggested that less than half of the new revenue in the Senate proposal would actually go toward funding transit operations, with the majority of the money going toward nonoperational and capital causes. 'While the bill also requires the regional entity to take on additional costs for new initiatives like a police force without dedicated funding, which could further limit available funding, our focus today is closing the budget gap to avoid service cuts in 2026,' Dillard said Friday. Sen. Ram Villivalam, a Chicago Democrat, said Friday the Senate is committed to addressing transit funding and that lawmakers were working to address the pushback from critics. 'Our focus in the Senate is funding and reform. We always said, 'No funding without reform,'' Villivalam said. ——— (Tribune reporter Talia Soglin contributed.) ———
