Pritzker signs final first-term budget for state of Illinois ahead of re-election push

[Sherman A1]

Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed his final first-term budget into law Tuesday, a roughly $46 billion spending plan buoyed by pandemic-driven revenue windfalls and a current-year surplus that helped the state pay down debts and offer temporary tax relief.

Between the three budget-related bills signed Tuesday — House Bill 900, House Bill 4700 and Senate Bill 157 — as well as a supplemental appropriations bill Pritzker signed last month — Senate Bill 2803 — the plan includes $500 million beyond statutory requirements to the state’s beleaguered pension funds; $1 billion to the state’s “rainy day” fund which currently has a balance of just $27 million; and an estimated $1.8 billion in tax relief, much of which is temporary.

At a signing event at Chicago State University, Pritzker touted the spending plan as proof of his fiscal leadership as he seeks a second term, contrasting the three-plus years under his leadership with that of his Republican predecessor, Bruce Rauner.

“Do you remember just five years ago when our state was held hostage by the former governor and the majority of the Republican Party?” Pritzker asked rhetorically. “Violence interruption programs were destroyed. DCFS shutdown 500 residential beds for our state’s most vulnerable children. The developmentally disabled were forgotten. Our state’s unpaid backlog of bills piled up to nearly $17 billion and our state suffered eight credit downgrades while sending five of our universities into junk credit status.”

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/government-politics-issues/2022-04-20/pritzker-signs-final-first-term-budget-for-state-of-illinois-ahead-of-re-election-push