Democrats dominate both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly, but Republicans were able to get some of their measures passed in the final days of the legislative session.
Republicans had reservations, or even opposition, to several Democratic bills, such as the legalization of recreational marijuana. But House Deputy Minority Leader Tom Demmer says his party was able to get support from across the aisle for reforms in conjunction with the budget.
“Eliminating the Franchise Tax, which is a tax that a lot of small businesses pay right now and has a large cost of compliance," he said. "We also reinstated the manufacturers purchase credit, which is a credit that helps Illinois manufacturers make large equipment purchases and new investments in their business.”
This also included new bills to help state businesses.
“The Blue Collar Jobs Act incentivizes the creation of jobs in large construction projects, and the other is a data center incentive act," he said. "We see data centers popping up all over the country, becoming a more and more central part of our economy, and Illinois was losing many of those investments because we didn’t have an incentive structure in place.”
Demmer says the passage of these bills and other measures is an example of legislative bipartisanship. He made the remarks onThe 21st Show.