Illinois budget

Illinois Democrats, who hold supermajorities in the House and Senate, pushed through a spending plan with little time to spare before the May 31 midnight deadline.

The finding comes after Gov. JB Pritzker proposed to defund the larger of the two programs at his Budget Address last week.

The Democratic governor also peppered his seventh budget blueprint — which Republicans derided as the largest in state history — with key policy proposals for the upcoming fiscal year.

It’s not unusual for annual projections to show deficits in future years. Projections could change by the time Pritzker delivers his budget proposal on Feb. 19.

Illinois’ largest-ever spending plan increases education, human services and infrastructure funding.

In order to boost infrastructure spending and avoid a projected fiscal cliff facing the state in the next couple of years, Democrats who control Illinois' government are betting on two of its most rapidly growing revenue sources: sports wagering and video gambling.

The standard exemption increase will mean an extra $69 or so for families of four. The tax credit will once again be tied to inflation after lawmakers last year quietly untied it.

Democrats needed three tries to pass $1.1 billion revenue plan just before 5 a.m.

The fiscal year 2025 spending plan spends $400 million more than what Gov. JB Pritzker proposed in his February budget address.

Illinois' state agency heads received a letter this week instructing them to identify $800 million in collective budget cuts if lawmakers don’t deliver on Gov. J.B. Pritzker's tax requests.