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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Legislature bumps right up against midnight deadline as they pass $55 billion budget
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (NEXSTAR) — It was a race against the clock as lawmakers tried to pass a budget package before the midnight deadline. Ultimately, they were able to get it done, getting the three branches of the budget package passed minutes before the start of June. The budget includes $55.2 Billion dollars in spending, and is balanced using just over one billion dollars in new tax increases. Democrats will also move money out of certain funds — like the road repair fund — to help fill some gaps in the budget. Ultimately, it's the same level of spending the governor proposed during his February budget address. Budget leaders warned of problems to come from potential federal cuts. 'This is a balanced budget,' Lead House Budgeteer Robyn Gabel said. 'This is a compassionate budget. This is a budget where we are planning and preparing for what we are afraid will be disastrous,' The budget fully funds the K-12 education obligation, but it will put a pause on a property tax relief grant program that was associated with K-12 funding. It only gave higher education a 1% increase instead of the 3% originally proposed. There is a significant cut to the number of state funded care hours that developmentally disabled people living in group homes get from the state. Experts in the field said the cut would amount to just over one less hour of care per person, per week. It also cuts the program which gives non citizens between the ages of 42 to 64 access to state sponsored health care. The version of the program for non citizens over the age of 65 is getting 110 million dollars to keep operating. Democrats went into budget negotiations having to fill a multi-billion dollar projected deficit, and they made a point of saying they would address potential cuts coming from Congress and the Trump Administration. Senate leaders said they did it without 'broad based tax increases.' 'There are no broad based tax increases in this budget,' Lead Senate Democrat Budgeteer Elgie Sims said. 'It's not an increase in the in the individual or corporate income tax increase. What you'll see is there are there's a recognition that there are there are we try to make sure that individuals pay their fair share and the corporations who are the most prosperous but most profitable also pay their fair share.' Instead, the budget will rely on a mixture of one-time revenue streams like tax amnesty programs and increases in certain 'sin taxes' on the sale of cigarettes and vapes, and sports bets. 'Pass taxes, crush people to the point where they want to leave our state or support the working men and women of Illinois?' Senator Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet) said during People are going to go packing, and my guess is they are going to send you guys packing.' Republicans were vehemently opposed to the budget, and they were incredibly frustrated with the process, as the full description of the proposed revenue plan did not come out until well into Saturday afternoon. 'They're going to pass it through the House and pass it through the Senate in less than 9 hours,' Senate Minority Leader John Curran (R-Lemont) said before the vote. 'That lack of transparency alone and that lack of being up with the people of Illinois should be more than enough reason for Governor Pritzker to veto.' The budget negotiations were slowed even further, as a totally separate revenue package full of tax increases was attached to the public transit reform legislation. In order to solve Chicago public transit's looming fiscal disasters and get downstate public transit systems the money to build out services further, Senator Ram Villivalam included a new delivery tax — referred to as an Environmental Impact Fee in the bill. The new tax would have charged a steady $1.50 Fee to all deliveries in the state, excluding deliveries of only medicine or groceries. They also considered a new rideshare tax on companies like Lyft and Uber in the transit fix. But the wheels fell off of transit talks, and the proposals did not pass. Ultimately, democrats were able to get the budget done, but there are still plenty of questions left to answer as they go into the summer. There is the possibility lawmakers come back later in the summer to address potential federal cuts, and that became even more likely now that they did not pass any form of transit reform. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CBS News
3 days ago
- Business
- CBS News
Clock ticking for Illinois lawmakers to pass state budget, transit funding before spring session ends
With just hours until a crucial deadline, Illinois state lawmakers were working to pass a $55 billion state budget plan for the next fiscal year. The budget plan unveiled Friday night by Democratic leadership would include new taxes on gambling as well as tobacco and vape products. Another source of new revenue in the budget proposal is a delinquent tax payment incentive program. The program is designed to help the state recover overdue tax payments. The program was proposed by Gov. JB Pritzker and is estimated to generate about $198 million in revenue. A health care program that provides benefits to undocumented immigrants in Illinois between ages 42 and 64 also appears to be eliminated. Pritzker proposed eliminating the program to save the state $330 million. The proposed budget also provides $307 million in additional funding for K-12 schools, but does not include $43 million in property tax relief funds called for under the state's evidence-based school funding model. Chicagoans also have been keeping an eye on additional state funding for the area's mass transit system. Transit officials have said the system is facing a $770 million budget deficit in 2026, and if state lawmakers don't come up with that funding by the end of the spring legislative session Saturday night, CTA, Metra, and Pace must start laying out plans for service cuts of up to 40% for next year. "I think right now, there's wide understanding that we can't have these draconian 40% cuts. I mean, it just would be very painful, disruptive for the city. The economy would really suffer at the same time," DePaul University professor and transportation expert Joe Schwieterman said. Lawmakers spent hours Thursday debating another bill that would overhaul the state's mass transit system, but that bill did not include provisions to address the looming RTA fiscal cliff. That bill, instead, focuses on reforming the structure and governance of the Chicago area's mass transit system, and would replace the RTA with a new organization called the Northern Illinois Transit Authority. Technically, the money doesn't run out until the end of the year, and there will likely be a veto session that could provide another shot at an 11th-hour rescue. But transportation officials say they'll have to start laying out the specific cuts next week if the funding doesn't come through by then. With no end yet in sight as of Saturday afternoon, Illinois Senate Republicans expressed their frustrations with the Democratic-led budget process. "In less than nine hours, the Democrats are going to file over $1 billion in tax increases. The public are not going to see it until it is filed. They are going to pass it through the House and pass it through the Senate," Illinois Senate Republican Leader John Curran said. The state's new fiscal year begins on July 1. If the House and Senate don't pass a balanced budget by midnight Saturday night, they will need a three-fifths majority to approve a budget plan, rather than a simple majority. Ben Szalinski and Jerry Nowicki of Capitol News Illinois contributed to this report
Fox News
4 days ago
- Health
- Fox News
Youngkin signs Virginia law limiting 'bell-to-bell' cellphone use in public schools
Print Close By Deirdre Heavey Published May 30, 2025 Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed a bill into law Friday limiting cellphone use for all Virginia public elementary, middle and high school students. Youngkin, who built his political career championing parents' rights in education, ceremoniously signed two versions of the bill, HB1961 and SB738, at the Carter G. Woodson Middle School in Hopewell, Virginia. Youngkin said it was a fitting location for a day filled with such "hope." "When we come together — elected officials, administrators, teachers, parents and all of you — we can move mountains, and we can change something that needs to be changed, and that is to find freedom, freedom from cellphones," said Youngkin, who was flanked by his wife, Virginia first lady Suzanne S. Youngkin; public school students; education advocates; and local politicians. "We come together in order to move a mountain," Youngkin said, as he highlighted the negative effect of cellphones in schools on mental illness, conduct in class, academic performance and interpersonal relationships. TEENS SPEND MORE THAN A QUARTER OF THEIR TIME AT SCHOOL ON PHONES, NEW STUDY FINDS The bill strictly limits the use of phones in classrooms to reduce distractions and disruptions, codifying Youngkin's executive order signed last year "to protect the health and safety of students in Virginia's K-12 public schools by issuing guidance on the establishment of cellphone-free education policies and procedures." DC COUNCIL PROPOSES BILL TO BAN CELLPHONES IN DISTRICT'S PUBLIC SCHOOLS "We are building on the foundation laid by Executive Order 33 to make Virginia the national leader in restoring focus, academic excellence in the classroom and restoring health and safety in our schools. This legislation ensures that every school division adopts a full bell-to-bell policy and removes cellphones from classrooms, creating a distraction-free learning environment," Youngkin said as he signed the bill into law. Research indicates using cellphones in the classroom can have a negative effect on students' grades, social skills, emotional development and mental health. In a 2024 Pew Research Center study, more than 70% of high school teachers said cellphones distracting students in the classroom is a major problem. "This wasn't just an issue. It's a crisis. And when we have a crisis, we have a unified call for action, and that's what this gathering is all about, this unified call for action," Youngkin said Friday. Hopewell City Public Schools adopted a "pouch system" in its secondary schools at the start of the 2022-2023 school year, which has been used as a case study and potential model for the Virginia Department of Education's cellphone-free education rollout. "I want to add my appreciation for Hopewell's leadership because it was your leadership that inspired the executive order that I wrote last summer," Youngkin said. The statewide legislation requires school boards to develop and public schools to enact policies to restrict student cellphone use during the school day. The law includes exceptions for students with individualized education plans, Section 504 plans or health conditions, so cellphones can be used when medically necessary. The law also prohibits schools from suspending, expelling or removing students from class for violating cellphone policies. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Florida became the first state to pass a law regulating cellphone use in schools in 2023. More than half of all states now have similar laws in place. Print Close URL
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Gov. Greg Abbott's moment: Key triumphs emerging from 2025 Texas legislative session
Gov. Greg Abbott, now in the second half of his third term, is barreling toward the June 2 closing of the 2025 legislative session with his most impressive list of victories of his long political career. This session has turned on its head the long-running truism that Texas is a weak-governor state. A Republican who was first elected in 2014 and twice comfortably reelected after that, Abbott was able to push to, and perhaps even stretch past, the constitutional limits of his executive office with his responses to the COVID-19 emergency of 2020 and an unprecedented surge of unauthorized immigration beginning early in 2021. But the legislative sessions, both regular and special, of 2023 demonstrated that executive muscle alone was insufficient for Abbott to fully implement his vision for Texas. Most notably, for all of his cajoling and arm-twisting, the governor was not able to cobble together a majority in the Texas House to enact a plan to offset the cost of private K-12 education. Abbott's critics labeled such a system "school vouchers." The governor and his supporters called it "school choice." Regardless of what it was called, the issue laid the groundwork for the legislative success that Abbott has enjoyed since lawmakers convened in Austin beginning Jan. 14. Because Democratic opposition to his school choice aim was deep-rooted and immovable, the governor proved he was not afraid to shed Republican blood to get his way. Abbott targeted several Republican House members, many of them dependable allies over a broad swath of conservative priorities but who voted against school vouchers, in the 2024 GOP primaries. Most of them went down to defeat. Others opted not to seek reelection. When the Legislature convened early this year, back-of-the-envelope math suggested school choice would pass, especially since the new House speaker, Dustin Burrows, was open to such proposal. And for some Republican members from rural districts who were still kind of squishy, all they had to do was look at what Abbott (and the millions in campaign funding he spent in the primary) was able to do with their now-departed colleagues. More: As heat turns up in Texas Legislature, here's how a senior Houston lawmaker keeps the House cool While Abbott earlier this month signed his coveted school choice legislation into law, the voucher program is not the only item in his 2025 win column. Less than two weeks after the voucher signing ceremony, Abbott made a show of signing legislation to further protect publicly traded corporations from lawsuits and shield corporate officers from most shareholder claims brought in the state's new business courts, except in extreme circumstances. Abbott has also promised more property tax cuts, generous pay increases for public school teachers and to expand judges' discretion to deny bail for suspects charged with such violent crimes as murder, aggravated sexual assault, aggravated kidnapping and other serious offenses. All are tantalizingly close to the finish line. Abbott is also poised to continue his streak of victories, unchecked, even after the session ends. But it won't be limited to taking victory laps as he signs his priority bills into law. Because so much legislation tends to hit the governor's desk in the waning days of the session, and having until June 22 to sign or veto bills, Abbott can kill any of the measures he doesn't like without fear that the Legislature will override him. That's because the session will have ended, and only he has the power to call lawmakers back to work for a special session. Lawmakers filed two measures this session to trim the governor's veto power. One passed the Senate but appears stuck in the muck in the House; the other never got off the ground. More: Why dysfunction is necessary for the Texas Legislature to actually function Perhaps the biggest measure of Abbott's success this year will come after all the bills are either signed or vetoed. And that's because the finger on the campaign money-raising pause button comes off. Abbott, who has made clear that he intends to run for an unprecedented fourth four-year term in 2026, is one of the nation's most prodigious fundraisers, excepting major-party nominees for president. By way of example, Abbott was not on any ballot in 2024 and yet he still managed to rake in $50 million into his well-stocked campaign account. So, when that pause button was pressed in January, he was sitting on a bankroll of $70 million. There's no reason to believe that his donors have grown tired of funding his political future. And because money is the main propellant of any campaign, Abbott will start the 2026 cycle in earnest with a strong wind at his back. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Gov. Greg Abbott is sealing key victories in Texas legislative session
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
When is the last day of school for students in Palm Beach County public schools?
That was fast, wasn't it? One minute Palm Beach County School Superintendent Mike Burke is opening the school year, and the next minute ... it's today. The 2024-25 school year is quickly drawing to a close. High school seniors are graduating and turning their thoughts to what's next in their lives. Juniors are embracing the reality that, sooner than they might have imagined, they'll be the next group ordering caps and gowns. And some pre-school parents are excited about the fall, knowing their child's K-12 journey is about to begin with the new school year. First, though, it's the Memorial Day weekend then the end of this school year and then summer. Let's look at some key dates on the school calendar for the rest of this year and on through the 2025-26 school year. Congrats Class of 2025! See photos from high school graduations across Palm Beach County Memorial Day is May 26. It's the last day off from school this academic year before it ends with the last bell on May 30. Let the family vacations and summer jobs begin. The nearly 2½-month summer break ends on Aug. 11, with the start of the 2025-26 school year. Talk of backpacks, bus stops and early get-ups fill households as some families fall back into the school routine and others embrace it for the first time. The Thanksgiving break begins on Nov. 24 and runs through the week, with students returning to school on Dec. 1. It's a three-week push until the next big break for the winter holiday, which begins on Dec. 22 and runs through Jan. 5, 2026, with school beginning the next day on Jan. 6. Spring break begins on March 16. School resumes on March 24. From there, it's on to the Memorial Day holiday, which is on May 25. The 2025-26 school year ends on May 29. There are random days off throughout the school year beyond the big breaks for Thanksgiving, the winter holidays and spring break. It's all on the Palm Beach County School District calendar. Wayne Washington is a journalist covering education for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at wwashington@ Help support our work; subscribe today. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: When is the last day of school for Palm Beach County students?
