SPRINGFIELD — Illinois lawmakers approved a $55.2 billion state budget package minutes ahead of a key constitutional deadline Saturday night, relying on tax hikes that would hit smokers, gamblers and big out-of-state companies to help seal an estimated $1 billion shortfall.
Democratic leaders cut it down to the final seven minutes on the clock of May, but avoided the public intra-party squabbling that marked the chaotic conclusion of last spring’s legislative session. The main budget bill cruised through Democratic supermajorities despite strong progressive opposition to slashing a state health care program for immigrants without legal status.
“It’s not perfect, but vote yes,” state Rep. Eva-Dina Delgado said on the House floor before a 75-41 budget bill vote that saw only two suburban Democrats defect. Several more Senate Democrats voted against party lines on the other budget measures.
Delgado is part of the Latino Caucus that opposed slashing the Health Benefits for Immigrant Adults to help cut $400 million from the spending plan as recommended by Gov. JB Pritzker. The reduction would yank coverage from nearly 33,000 people in Illinois, including 22,000 in Cook County.
State Rep. Lisa Hernandez, D-Cicero, said she had still considered withholding her vote in the waning hours of the session, but the deputy majority leader ended up on board with the plan advanced by Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch and state Senate President Don Harmon.
“It's a budget that's gonna hurt,” Hernandez said. “The investment that we put in really brought down a lot of costs when you're talking about charitable care at hospitals.”
In a statement, Harmon said, “We all wish we could do more. But this is a responsible, balanced budget that continues our work to improve the lives of the great people of the great state of Illinois.”
Pritzker said in a statement he would sign the budget plan.
“Even in the face of Trump and Congressional Republicans stalling the national economy, our state budget delivers for working families without raising their taxes while protecting the progress we are making for our long-term fiscal health," he said.
Legislators did retain $110 million in the budget for a similar program limited to adults 65 or older without legal status, but Hernandez said it could be the last year of such funding as the state grapples with the looming specter of deep federal funding cuts under President Donald Trump’s administration.
That uncertainty compounded the billion-dollar shortfall lawmakers ended up bridging in part by slapping taxes of a quarter or 50 cents on every online sports wager — a measure that would hit DraftKings and FanDuel just a year after legislators imposed a hefty graduated tax system on the booming industry.
Taxes were also set to be boosted up to 45% on cigarettes, e-cigarettes, nicotine pouches and chewing tobacco.
And while legislators dropped a proposal to impose a 10% digital advertising tax on tech companies like Facebook, a new method of taxing large out-of-state companies for their Illinois presence was expected to churn out an additional $72 million while a tax amnesty program was expected to claw back some $198 million from delinquents.
“We're presenting a budget that meets this moment. It is balanced through smart cuts and through smart revenues, not balanced on the backs of working families,” said state Rep. Robyn Gabel, an Evanston Democrat and one of the top House budget negotiators. “It uses the best information we have at this uncertain time to make the best decisions for our state.”
Last year, it took House Democrats three last-minute tries to pass a spending bill. This year, members in the lower chamber toed the party line closer than their Senate colleagues. Even state Rep. Fred Crespo, D- Hoffman Estates, voted in support of the budget weeks after being booted from the caucus by Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch for floating alternate proposals.
Superminority Republicans, boxed out of budget talks as usual, roundly bashed the Democratic plan.
“You know how it’s a bad budget? When it starts out with at least $1 billion in taxes,” said Senate Minority Leader John Curran, R-Downers Grove.
House Minority Leader Tony McCombie, R-Savanna, slammed Democrats for including nearly 5% pay raises for General Assembly members, increases that are tied to inflation under state law.
“Speaker Welch said the quiet part out loud: tax-and-spend Democrats are thriving in Illinois — at the expense of Illinois families,” McCombie said.
While state legislators routinely pass budgets in the wee hours of spring sessions in the Capitol, Democrats were under the gun to get it all done before the clock struck midnight into June 1, when bills constitutionally require a three-fifths majority to pass, not just a simple one.
The final bill was approved by the House at 11:53 p.m., little more than a day after the first spending details were publicly unveiled after months of negotiations behind closed doors.
“We're supposed to be vetting this stuff. We're not doing our jobs,” said state Rep. John Cabello, R-Machesney Park.
