It was another long night in Springfield as lawmakers passed the budget a little after 4 a.m. Monday.
The $55.9 billion budget contained a social media tax, a 1% increase in higher education funding and a program to keep people on SNAP even if they lose benefits because of changing federal regulations.
Democratic state Sen. Dave Koehler, representing Peoria and Bloomington-Normal, supported the budget. He said this year's budget tried to maintain existing programs without making significant cuts.
Koehler said they focused more on funding programs that had been cut by the federal government like SNAP, which received $70 million for people who might lose their benefits.
“We've had to backfill some things. There's uncertainty at the federal level that makes a big difference. So this budget is the best that we could do in this time, given the circumstances that we face,” Koehler said.
This was once again another late night of passing the budget, as Democrats face complaints that they are not transparent with the budget process.
Koehler said they have discussions throughout the day, which is why it goes into the night, and there are frameworks of a budget weeks before it is filed.
“This is something that we have worked very hard on for a number of weeks, and it starts again with the budget, with the governor's budget address that sets the framework, and then we have our discussions after that,” Koehler said.
The budget was filed Saturday evening, with all three parts of the budget being heard in committees Sunday and passing at 4 a.m. Monday.
“There were so many additions, but we're always going to be here late at night, because this is a tough thing to do, and you work until you get it done,” Koehler said.
Republican state Sen. Chris Balkema voted against the budget. His district includes parts of northeast McLean County and communities such as Lexington, Pontiac and Chenoa.
Balkema said there is a leadership problem because they passed the budget late at night when most of the public is not awake and did not present a final draft before Saturday.
“If we had several weeks to review this spending diversion as an example in the light of day, there would have been a lot more eyes on the numbers, and most likely we would have come to a different conclusion with a whole lot of different input,” Balkema said.
Republican Sen. Sally Turner, whose district includes parts of the WCBU and WGLT listening areas, voted against the budget. She said "this budget continues to grow spending while many Illinois families struggle with rising costs and an economy that continues to lag behind much of the nation."
“Important education reimbursements, including school transportation, special education transportation, and special education tuition reimbursements, remain significantly underfunded, leaving local school districts and taxpayers to make up the difference," Turner said. "Those costs do not simply disappear. They are pushed onto local communities and local taxpayers. At a time when Illinois families are already struggling with some of the highest property taxes in the nation, state government should be helping reduce that burden."
Comments from House lawmakers
Democratic state Rep. Sharon Chung, representing Bloomington-Normal, supported the budget. She said that there have been working drafts of the budget for weeks.
“For people to sort of say that we're dropping on people in the middle of night, yes and no, I guess, I mean, it is really late. We've had a lot of bills to move,” Chung said.
Chung said they stayed so late because they still had bills to pass, and when the legislature has to leave is when they get their best work done.
Chung said she was glad the budget kept funding for local governments intact and gave the required $325 million for the Evidence-Based Funding for K-12 education. She added next year there might be more financial issues.
“The investments that we've made this year, I think are great for this year, and again, next year's going to be worse,” Chung said.
Chung said it is cuts made by the federal government that have created financial problems for this year's budget.
Republican state Rep. Ryan Spain of Peoria said he had good talks with Democrats about the contents of the budget but wanted Republicans to be part of the budget-making process instead of learning about the details when it is introduced.
“We've had much better communication this session about the contours of the budget, and, and I hope it leads to better conversations,” Spain said.
Republican state Reps. Regan Deering from Decatur and Dennis Tipsword from Metamora also opposed the budget. Their districts include parts of the WGLT and WCBU listening areas.
“Families are being crushed by higher taxes, higher utility bills, higher grocery prices, and rising property taxes,” said Deering. “Instead of delivering relief, Democrats passed another record spending plan with benefits for non-citizens and pay hikes for politicians. This budget shows exactly where their priorities are, and working families are not at the top of the list. That is not affordability. It is the opposite.”
Added Tipsword: “Democrats promised affordability this year. Instead, they once again delivered the largest state budget in history well past the midnight deadline and deep into the early morning hours of June 1. The $55.9 billion budget contains $800 million in new taxes and fees, higher costs for families, and no meaningful taxpayer relief. More money was set aside for Democrats’ pork projects, illegal immigrants, and legislator pay raises, among other expenditures. Also, the Local Government Distributive Fund [LGDF] was frozen at the same level as last year, providing no relief to local communities. This will likely result in higher property taxes and less funding for critical services. The bottom line is clear: Illinois families need lower taxes, lower costs, and responsible spending. This budget does the exact opposite."
How they voted
Here's how Central Illinois lawmakers voted on all three bills involving the budget (budget, revenue and implementation).
House
- [R] Jason Bunting - No
- [D] Sharon Chung - Yes
- [R] Regan Deering - No
- [D] Jehan Gordon-Booth - Yes
- [R] Bill Hauter - No
- [R] Ryan Spain - No
- [R] Dennis Tipsword - No
- [R] Travis Weaver - No
Senate
- [R] Neil Anderson - No
- [R] Li Arellano - No
- [R] Chris Balkema - No
- [D] Dave Koehler - Yes
- [R] Sally Turner - No
