SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois lawmakers approved a new state budget Saturday as the Legislature wrapped up a whirlwind four-day session that resulted from the coronavirus pandemic.
Beyond the budget, lawmakers approved other legislation aimed at providing relief during the pandemic, including a bill that allows bars and restaurant to sell cocktails to go.
Legislators approved a bill changing the tax structure for the new Chicago casino. A study last year said the tax rates in the original gambling expansion bill were too high for the Chicago casino and would deter companies from wanting to operate it.
The House voted 68-44 to approve the budget. The Senate followed with a 37-19 vote.
The $42.8 billion is larger on paper than last year’s budget, but Sen. Heather Steans, D-Chicago, a lead budget negotiator said much of the increase is to repay short term borrowing that was needed to keep the state afloat.
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“It’s very much of a status quo budget. To keep it where it is now,” said Steans. “There’s a few places that there’s some increases for critical areas that couldn’t keep up, like DCFS. But it is pretty much keep everything as is.”
Steans’ House counterpart, Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, said it was “an incredibly difficult year for budget making in Illinois.”
“The budget is a series of tough choices,” Harris said. “We want to do all we can as a state to assist those who are struggling and to do no more harm.”
One option to balance the budget was to cut 35% across the board. That would have resulted in even more economic hardship, he said, throwing even more people out of work and closing more businesses.
Harris said he also didn’t want to just pass a lump sum budget and have Gov. J.B. Pritzker decide how the money should be spent.
The solution was to craft a budget that relies on borrowing money from the Federal Reserve to keep things in balance. The state will borrow up to $5 billion and use anticipated future aid from the federal government to repay it.
Although Pritzker won’t be handed a lump sum budget, he will be given broader authority to move money around in the budget to meet needs. Some Republican lawmakers objected to that saying it gives Pritzker too much authority. Many Republicans are still unhappy with Pritzker's stay at home orders and the resulting business closures.
They also were upset that the budget relies on billions of dollars or borrowing and does not cut expenses.
“What we’ve heard today is a budget that is balanced only on a wing and a prayer,“ said Rep. Tom Demmer, R-Dixon. “It relies on $5 billion in borrowing, or magical revenue that comes from the government with no strings attached. We filed a budget that ignores even the cuts that were proposed during normal operating times. We’re also seeing unprecedented levels of authority over Illinois taxpayer dollars being granted to one person, being ceded from the Legislature to the governor.”
“We have done nothing to try to cut anything,” said Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer. “I feel we are using COVID as a reason to continue to be irresponsible. Anyone who votes for this is voting for irresponsibility.”
Republicans also complained that the budget doesn’t prevent them from getting a cost of living raise this year. The raises are automatic unless the Legislature votes to stop them. Nothing in the budget documents specifically stops the raises.
Steans, though, said there isn’t money in the budget to pay the raises and that Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s office told her that would be sufficient to stop them.
Additional details about the budget have emerged, including that there is no additional money being put into the revised school aid formula.
When the formula was implemented in 2018, the understanding was that it would take 10 years of steady increases to the general aid formula to bring all Illinois schools on an equal footing when it comes to resources to educate children. The state had made that requirement until now.
The budget does make the full payment to the state’s pension systems. There is no money in the budget for cost of living increases for legislators.
In addition to the budget, lawmakers were passing other bills needed to clean up loose ends of the session.
Lawmakers gave initial approval to a bill that changes the tax rates for a casino to be located in Chicago. It was needed to entice a company willing to operate the facility.
Lawmakers also approved a bill that makes it a felony to assault a retail worker who is giving instructions on wearing a mask and taking other precautions in a store. The same bill also gives racino workers the right to collective bargaining and give rehabilitating first responders an extra 60 days if their treatment is interrupted by the COVID-19 virus.
A bill failed to pass the House that would have given the General Assembly permission to meet remotely in a crisis situation. It also would have given governments more time to respond to certain open records requests.