Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker unveiled his fiscal year 2025 budget proposal on Wednesday, pledging that the state will continue to grow social programs while retaining a balanced budget.
According to the governor, the new budget proposal would result in the fifth consecutive balanced budget for the state, continuing a recent trend that has seen officials reduce Illinois’ bill backlog and resulted in multiple credit upgrades.
“In the face of a pandemic and high inflation, we delivered historic tax relief, provided record levels of rental and mortgage assistance, and reduced interest costs by paying off more than $11 billion in debt,” he said.
Pritzker said he is open to ideas about how to improve efficiency in state spending, but said that his one requirement is that the budget remain balanced.
“My one line in the sand is that I will only sign a budget that is responsibly balanced and that does not diminish or derail the improving credit standing we have achieved for the last five years,” he said.
Much of the focus on the remarks was the governor’s handling of the ongoing migrant crisis in Chicago and its suburbs, with thousands of asylum seekers being bussed into the state from Texas and other areas.
Pritzker’s budget calls for more than $180 million in funding to help deal with the crisis, with a focus on moving asylum seekers from temporary shelters to permanent settlements in a timely manner.
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The governor also blasted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for his actions, which Pritzker says has exacerbated the crisis and caused harm to the state of Illinois.
“We didn’t ask for this manufactured crisis, but we must deal with it all the same,” he said. “We don’t have any clear idea how long Governor Abbott intends to hold the nation hostage, but his political stunt will eventually come to an end.”
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Pritzker says that part of the funding will also go toward shelter conversion grants, returning facilities to public use after their usage as temporary shelters.
Other elements of the budget include new funding for Smart Start programs, with $150 million in additional monies to increase the availability of seats in preschool classrooms, increased access to childcare, and providing early childhood services.
The governor also proposed $45 million to continue a pipeline grant program that aims to increase the availability of teachers in high-need districts across the state.
Pritzker also proposed a program to purchase medical debt on behalf of hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans, with $10 million earmarked to buy back up to $1 billion in medical debt from hospitals and debt collection companies.
The state will also seek to ban prior authorization for in-patient adult and children’s mental health care, and will aim to ban Short Term Limited Duration insurance plans, which Pritzker argues violate the federal Affordable Care Act.
Finally, the governor proposed the permanent elimination of the state’s 1% tax on grocery items, saying that the move would help families to lower their bills and to save more money.
“It’s important to note, that while this budget is tight this year, our fiscal house is in order, and we are able to keep our commitments to the people of Illinois,” he said. “This year’s budget proposal is focused and disciplined, and because of the responsible actions we took in the last few years paying off state debt and treating federal pandemic relief as one-time revenue, we are not facing the budgetary challenges that other big states are this year.”
