SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — Governor JB Pritzker signed the fiscal year 2025 budget into law Wednesday, a $53.1 billion spending plan that will be the largest budget in state history.
Democratic leaders told reporters in Chicago that the budget will prepare Illinois for the next generation with investments in education, health care and human services.
The 2025 budget includes $14 million to establish the Illinois Office of Early Childhood Education and an additional $75 million in early childhood block grants to increase kindergarten capacity statewide by 5,000 seats.
“Millions of working families with children under 12 will receive up to $300 in Illinois’ first-ever child tax credit,” Pritzker said. “A total of $50 million will go back to those who need it most.”
Democratic lawmakers allocated $20.3 billion to K-12 education, including a $350 million increase for the evidence-based funding formula. The FY25 spending plan also includes a $10 million increase in funding for MAP grants to help more low-income Illinoisans attend college.
“This is not a budget for the approximately 8.5 million Illinois residents that the Senate Democratic Caucus represents,” said Sen. Elzie Sims, D-Chicago. “This is a budget for the more than 13 million residents across the entire state of Illinois.”
Democrats approved more than $290 million for the Home Illinois program to combat homelessness, including $75 million for rental assistance and $42 million to maintain current funding for supportive housing.
The ruling coalition allocated $182 million in emergency funding to support services for asylum seekers in Chicago and Cook County, on top of a $440 million increase in Medicaid payments for migrants sent from Texas to Illinois.
“There’s no denying that this budget is complicated, but the message the Governor is sending with it couldn’t be clearer,” said Republican Senate Majority Leader John Curran of Downers Grove. “The Governor is raising taxes on Illinoisans who are already struggling to cover basic costs of living and on the many job creators who are fighting to keep their jobs in order to pay for the immigration crisis he’s created.”
Pritzker told WAND News that Illinois will continue to provide basic care to people who are sent to the state without resources.
“For us as Illinoisans, this is an issue that needs to be addressed,” Pritzker stressed. “We’re concerned about people suffering.”
Illinois Democratic Party leaders celebrated Governor J.B. Pritzker signing the fiscal year 2025 budget on June 5, 2024.
The proposed budget includes roughly $1 billion in revenue increases to fulfill Democrats’ wish list. Under the plan, Illinois would eliminate the cap on businesses’ net operating loss deductions and triple taxes on sports betting companies. A coalition of Illinois banking and credit union organizations urged Governor Pritzker to veto the bill to prevent Illinois from becoming the first jurisdiction in the U.S. and the world to ban sales and excise tax interchange.
“Payment system changes of this magnitude, which touch and affect more than seven million Illinois cardholders, hundreds of thousands of Illinois merchants, and thousands of card-issuing banks, credit unions and processors, cannot be implemented in just 13 months,” the group said. “Implementation of this legislation is a complete unknown, as it has never been tested anywhere else.”
But leaders noted that no one got everything they wanted.
“As a mother who has to balance the family checkbook every day, I’ll tell you, doing it for my 78-year-old son is a little tough,” said Rep. Jehan Gordon Booth (D-Peoria), “but I will tell you, if you understand what it means to make a decision, make a choice and live by it, it makes no difference.”
Governor Pritzker and Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton said they were proud of the $4.4 million investment to analyze the state’s maternal mortality rate and a $5 million increase to the state’s home visiting program to improve birth equity. Their proposals also included increased funding for safety net hospitals and nursing homes.
“This budget is more than just a fiscal plan,” Stratton said. “It’s a commitment to investing in kids, supporting families and strengthening communities.”
The Pritzker administration also called for Illinois to eliminate its 1% grocery tax through a phase-out plan starting in 2026. But lawmakers gave local governments the power to impose their own grocery taxes to raise that revenue.
With Illinois facing potentially tough fiscal decisions over the next two years, lawmakers approved investing $198 million in the state’s rainy day fund, a budget Pritzker said helped meet annual pension obligations and eliminate nearly all of the state’s short-term debt.
House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch (D-Hillside) said the spending plan prioritizes fiscal health, reflects the state’s values and meets the needs of our most vulnerable people.
“Getting there hasn’t been easy, but I believe this budget will continue to make Illinois a great place to live, work and play,” Welch said. “This budget reduces debt, saves for the future and improves Illinois’ credit while making smart investments that will benefit generations to come.”
Senate President Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) thanked his Senate colleagues, Welch and Pritzker, for their work on the budget, which he noted provides meaningful investments in the state’s priorities and goals.
“Today, Illinois is stronger than ever before,” Harmon said. “Over the past six years, we have overcome unprecedented challenges to truly rebuild Illinois and set the course for a better tomorrow.”
The 2025 budget will come into effect on July 1st.
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