(inspiring music) - The spring session of the Illinois General Assembly drew to a close in the very early morning hours of April 9th, a few hours after the scheduled April 8th adjournment date.

Hi, I'm Jak Tichenor, along with Amanda Vinnicky of WTTW's Chicago Tonight.

Amanda, there's a new budget for the state of Illinois for the year that starts on July 1st, the fiscal year.

And there's nearly $2 billion in temporary, for the most part, tax relief for Illinois citizens.

- Yeah, Jak and wouldn't you kno that this comes during an electi Surprise!

Who'd a thunk it?

I really do think that you can not talk about all of those tax breaks being of without tying it into an electio You can not separate the two.

That's not to say that some of t might be healthy practices for t and for individuals who are stru but it most certainly is the sort of tax relief that is catered to voters, catered to commercials, campaign And so we're talking about everything from letting go of a 1% tax on grocer a bit of property tax relief, and then also, of course, there's going to be a little bit of relief at the pump.

That said, by the way, this is relief at the pump that is coming because the whole point of tying the gas tax to inflation was to make sure that Illinois was going to build up its reserves so we didn't get into many of the places that you have pocketed throughout the budget, where there are, let's call 'em because in this particular case, that gas money is supposed to repair roads and bridges, which are still dilapidated.

You have money coming from the f money coming from the state and still not enough to do all the construction work.

- Will that in fact, will this pause in the increase actually impact the amount of work that's gonna in terms of building roads and b in the state of Illinois?

- Well, this was negotiated so that right now, it won't, and that's in a sense why it pas and why unions backed off of their opposition.

It's taking money from the LUST that's the Leaking Underground Storage Fund.

When you have gas stations and s that are no longer an operation, you have to do a bunch of environmental remediation.

So, no, money won't be taken away because this is, oh wait, only for six months, starting in July going 'til Janu So you're going to hear politicians talking about it as they pitch voters ahead of the June 28th primary.

And then you've got the November general election, then this goes away.

So no, but again, this is still LUST fund money that would therefore not be going toward that cause, toward that u So whenever you think about this it is all a choice.

This money is going toward a tax What else could it have been going toward?

Again, you have a lot of politicians saying that when people are hurting with inflation high, this is the appropriate use.

Some others, they might not wanna say it vocally with an election on the horizon, but would say, okay, we have sti the nation's worst underfunded pension debt, you have problems in the unemployment insurance fund as a recession potential looms, and also, a whole bunch of consent decrees that the state is not complying with right now because you're not putting enoug into things like, say, hiring workers for DCFS or the care for the disabled.

So it's all a choice.

- Democrats wanted to demonstrate, of course, that they were in touch with people who were feeling, you know, the constraints of inf everything from higher gasoline prices and the like.

This is going into a very tough midterm election for Democrats.

Will this actually focus their b and get the voter turnout they think they need?

- You know, it is hard to say because we really haven't seen a lot of polling at this point.

And in a way, Democrats have certainly had a lock on state government despite dealing with corruption at the top levels.

And so, is it going to be tough?

The map was designed by Democrats for Democrats.

Then again, you've got national that lead us to believe that it is going to be very diff for the Democratic Party.

Again, however, Illinoisans have particularly inclined to get on board with Republicans, particularly since there is the tenor of Trump within the party.

And you have, you know, more moderates versus conservati So, hard to say.

(Jak laughing) - We will certainly see come Nov Amanda Vinnicky, thank you so much for your time on Illinois Lawmakers.

- Sure thing.

- Democratic Senate President, Don Harmon of Oak Park, joins us now on Illinois Lawmake Leader, thank you for doing this I know it's been an incredibly busy weekend, a lot of long hours hammering out the budget in Springfield before things wrapped up very early on Saturday morning.

- Always happy to be with you, J I've had a chance to unwind a li after our late night, but we were able to meet our April 8th deadline and come out with a good run of important measures taken up.

- So it's about a $46.5 billion for the new fiscal year starting on July one.

And there's upwards of 1.8, almost $2 billion in mostly temporary tax relief for Illinois residents.

Why was that such a big issue for Democrats in both houses to push through here in this ses - Well, I think it's important to take a quick look at the budg We were able to pass another responsible, balanced budget, one that continues our fiscal responsibility in paying the state's bills.

We have wiped out all of the short-term debt obligations on our balance sheet that should not have been there.

We were able to put extra money into the pension funds, up to $500 million, plus a billion dollars into the rainy day fund.

We were able to do all that while still putting more money into education and healthcare and human service and college affordability, and have $1.8 billion left to provide tax relief to Illinois residents who sent the money to Springfield in the first place.

We balanced our budget, now we are able to send a little bit back to people so they can balance theirs.

- Let's talk a little bit about some of the tax relief that's in There's a one year suspension in the state's 1% tax on groceri You kind of hit the pause button on the scheduled increase in the state's motor fuel tax and there's property tax rebates for homeowners.

- Yeah, those are the three initial principles outlined by the Governor.

And I think that in a time of inflation and price uncertainty, it's a fair way to give people a little bit of relief.

We're not gonna change the world with them, but we're gonna help people out a little bit.

And I think that matters to folk who are wrestling with higher prices at the pump and in the grocery aisle.

- What about the earned income t for lower income families?

- I think that might be the most significant thing we did on tax policy this year.

It's a permanent expansion of the earned income tax credit.

It's a actually an instrument designed by Republicans in Washington a few decades ago and has proved to be one of the single best ways to lift people out of poverty and into the working class on the path to the middle class.

So to be able to expand that scope permanently, to make more people eligible, we really can help people climb up the economic ladder.

- You Republican colleagues are not a fan of the new budget, there's no question about that.

The Senate Republican leader, Dan McConchie basically said, "Let's call it what it is.

"It's an attempt to buy your vote with temporary tax rebates "before the November election."

- People say a lot of things in Springfield, Jak, and then they vote.

And if you look at the roll call Republicans joined us in voting 'cause they know it's good polic We're not the only state to be doing this.

We're taking it one budget at a We had extraordinary revenues that were not anticipated and we don't expect they'll be repeated next year and in the year after.

So one time tax relief based on one time revenue surplus is good economic policy, good fiscal policy.

If the revenues keep rolling in like this, we can revisit the nature of that tax relief.

- You said a little earlier in t on Chicago Tonight, in an appearance there, that the spending is actually down for the next fiscal year that starts on July one, to the tune of what, two to $3 b - That's right.

Again, the extraordinary influx of revenue really peaked in the current fis the year we're wrapping up now that closes out at the end of Ju Because of those revenues, we were able to do a lot of that to payment of bills and putting additional money into both the pension funds and the rainy day fund.

We're gonna do some of that next but the total budget, the total is gonna be about two and a half to $3 billion less next year than it is this year, a recognition of the way the revenues have been flowing.

- Now, talk about the rainy day if you will for a moment, Mr. Pr There's a billion dollars that's being set aside for that.

You know, this is a marked contr to when we were sitting here a few years back, doesn't seem that long, when we were talking about a $17 billion backlog in the state's expenses, overdue - It really is a sea change, and I'm very proud of the work we've done.

Governor Pritzker has certainly set the tone for fiscal responsibility, but the House and the Senate have rallied to that.

And we've put our fiscal house i As you said, in the depths of the budget standoff under the prior administration, we had $17 billion in unpaid bil Today, it's there are really zero bills past due.

We pay our bills in about 15 day faster than most people pay their Visa bill.

And we are able to put some money in the rainy day fund.

It's good fiscal practice.

We could put in a little bit more, but at the same time, while we're balancing our budget we're cognizant that people at h might be having a hard time balancing their budget in an inflationary era.

So send some money back to the t - Switching topics a little bit, Republicans have been working ve over the last few months to portray Democrats as being weak on crime and anti- They say the package that was approved by Democrats here in the last few days basically steps in the right dir but they only nibble around the edges of true crime reform and true public safety reform.

- Republicans have seized on a political narrative for the campaigns.

It just isn't borne out by reali There's been a surge in crime across the country, probably related to the pandemic Illinois is no different, but at the same time, the initiatives we passed this year, we should take a meaningful bite out of that crime.

We addressed carjacking and gave police new tools, in particular, an expansion of the highway cameras to track carjackers in real time We recognize that this new phase of smash and grab robberies at shopping centers and shopping districts across the state is real.

And we wanted to give law enforcement the tools to pursue those criminals aggres We banned ghost guns, these new breed of guns that you can print on a 3D printer or assemble from a kit you order that never has a serial number, that never enters the legitimate stream of commerce.

Those are just some of the tools but even more importantly, we're funding the police.

We're providing resources to local police departments, to the state police.

We authorized three cadet classes at the state police, the largest ever, to put 300 new State Troopers on the road.

We're providing money for body c and other resources that police need to do their jobs.

We have great police officers in this state.

We want them to believe that they have good jobs to go to.

- Senate President, Don Harmon, thank you so much for taking the to talk with us on Illinois Lawm Always appreciated, Sir.

- Always a pleasure, Jak.

Thanks.

- Up next on Illinois Lawmakers, were joined by Senate Republican Dan McConchie of Hawthorn Woods.

In the last hours of the spring session, Leader, the majority Democrats passed a $46.5 billion budget for the state for the new fiscal And there's upwards of 1.8, $2 b in mostly temporary tax relief.

- I'm very happy that the Democrats are finally willing to have some form of discussion around tax breaks.

What's really disappointing is the fact that they're tempora Almost all of them are temporary in nature.

And they're designed, it appears to be, you know, help them at the ballot box coming up at the election.

You know, you have checks that'l right before the election.

You know, they're slated to arrive in early October, and then, oh, shortly after the election's over, almost all of these tax cuts exp And so at the end of the day, it does appear like the majority is trying to buy votes with some of the extra surplus m that came from the federal gover rather than providing substantive tax relief or addressing the long term fiscal problems that the state continues to have - So the federal government ARPA were a big part of the budget, but the state's economy seems to be rebounding.

There's actually a budget surplus in the new fiscal year, as forecast thus far.

- Well, yes.

And thanks to COVID, you know, and all of the money that came in from the federal go we're looking at about $16.8 bil either in direct relief to the s or that came to the state, you k because money was sent to busine money was sent to individuals.

They went out and spent that mon and tax revenue was generated of $16.8 billion in the last two years that we didn't expect.

And unfortunately, some of that money has been wasted.

For example, you know, one of the big problems that we have right now is our unemployment insurance tr Remember, the Governor closed down the economy, sent lots of people home and forced people to go on unemp which really drained the reserve that are in the employment insurance trust fund.

We had a $4.7 billion deficit, one of the largest in the nation We only spent, you know, 2.7 or so billion dollars in ARP You know, not ignoring the fact that 41 other states either used their ARPA money to fully pay off that deficit or didn't need to do so because, you know, their governors didn't shut down their states, we still have an nearly $2 billion deficit in the unemployment insurance tr And that's necessarily gonna be rate increases on businesses, which is gonna affect employees, giving employers less money to help out with their employees and benefit reductions for those who have to go on unemployment.

And it's a real shame that even after all of the suppo from the federal government, we're still have this massive ho the fourth largest in the countr The vast majority of other states took ARPA funds, those COVID relief monies that c and completely paid off the defi so that employees and employers were held harmless by the effects of the pandemic.

We didn't do that.

And so what's gonna necessarily is benefit reductions for employ and tax increases on employers, perhaps the biggest tax increase we've ever seen.

That is a real problem, especially given the fact that some of the money was spent.

There was a billion dollars, for that was spent on port barrel projects last year, ARPA funds going to capital proj in Democrat-only districts.

I mean, this is a real shame when we still have people out th suffering from the pandemic, and this could have been address - When will this become a major When's the tripping point?

- So it was supposed to happen on July 1st.

That was when what we call the speed bumps were gonna go into effect on these unemployment insurance, you know, related issues, you know, tax increases as well as benefit reductions.

Legislators delayed those 'til after the election.

They'll kick into effect on Janu and along with the temporary tax appears to be yet another gimmic just designed to really push them beyond the election before some of the hard decisions have to be made.

- Going into the Democrats' proposal a little more deeply, let's talk about the major eleme There's a one year suspension on the state's 1% tax on groceri kind of hitting the pause button on the scheduled increase in the motor fuels tax and doubling the state's propert tax rebate for homeowners.

- Yeah, so these were all temporary measures.

You know, the Senate Republicans put forward similar kinds of measures, actually, before and made them permanent.

You know, we believe that this inflation problem that is existing right now, over 8% in inflation, we just saw this in the past month, is a significant issue.

So for example, we put out a proposal to cap the sales tax on gasoline.

We're one of only 10 states to actually levy a sales tax on And the vast majority of that money does not go to roads.

It just goes into the general revenue budget.

And we said, look, let's just ca at what everybody, you know, was expected gasoline to be, what the price was last fall, 'cause otherwise what we're doing by not doing that is we're seeing the state get a because the more people have to pay at the pump, then the higher that sales tax i and the more receipts that come into the state.

The majority refused to do so, I think because it was such a ca At the end of the day, they're looking forward to other to be able to spend your money coming up in the months and year - Looking forward, one of the things that has been a major issue in this last year has to do with the rise in viole The Democrats last year put forth the Safety Act, which will, in a few more months actually remove cash bail for certain offenses.

Republicans on both sides of the wanted to completely do away wit That was not something the Democrats would do.

Democrats put forth their own raft to public safety and anti-crime issues.

Will that give them the political cover they need going into the November election - I don't believe so.

People are very upset about the rise in violent crime, how it is expanded, you know, really beyond the city where it was there for, you know it's been in the city for a whil and we haven't been able to addr And now it appears to be spilling out in the suburbs and other areas downstate.

This is a real problem.

When I have a town hall, I'll always ask people, "How many of you in the last year have avoided," 'cause I live in the suburbs, "how many of you have avoided going to downtown Chicago "in the past year "out of concern for you or your family's safety?"

And every single person's hand goes up in the room.

You know, when you have shootouts between gang bangers in, you know, suburban malls, carjackings at a mall in the sub that people are like, this is a real problem.

This is out of control.

And the nibbling around the edges that were done during the legislative session on these small bills, throwing some money here, making some small changes there, I don't believe is gonna have the fundamental fix that I think voters are looking for right now.

- Senate Republican Leader, Dan McConchie of Hawthorn Woods.

Thank you so much for your time on Illinois Lawmakers.

- Thanks, Jak.

- We wanna spend some time now on Illinois Lawmakers to talk about how the human services area will fare under the new budget.

To discuss that, State Representative LaToya Gree of East St. Louis joins us.

She is the Democratic Majority Conference Chair.

Representative, great to have you back on the program.

- Thank you.

Thank you so much for inviting m It's really a pleasure to be here, and an honor.

- We talked a couple of weeks ba about how Democrats were focused on trying to repair the state's shredded social service safety net after decades of funding problem How does this new budget reflect your spending priorities for the human services?

- Well, like you said, you know, under our previous Governor, we had such a devastating impact on social services around our state.

You know, facilities were closin services were not being met to our most vulnerable populatio And so, in this year's budget, I'm happy to see that we are funding just all areas to help.

You know, we went through the pa we're trying to help working fam we're trying to lift up those working poor individuals a with some of the social safety n that we've put in place.

You know, funding programs that deal with education, funding programs that deal with healthcare services, looking at our DCFS programs, safety net hospitals, education.

It's just a wide variety of money being poured in to help address some of those ro that we know that have affected and impacted families across our - You mentioned the Department of Children and Family Services.

There's an increase in there of, I believe, around $87 million to upgrade the DCFS provider network, another $15 million to hire something like 360 additional staff and trying to build in more capacity for residential youth who are in need of assistance.

- Yes, we know that these childr who are under our care are some of the most vulnerable in our state.

They've experienced some horrifi been separated from their families as well during this whole process.

And so we are trying to figure out a program of how do we get back on track w How do we get back on track and making sure and ensuring that the children and those families impacted receive the necessary resources and services that they need?

We believe that it's a good star in having the funding amounts at the amounts that they are at and giving the director and his some of the resources they need to continue to move the department forward.

It's certainly been some challen and it's not going to happen ove that we see positive impact, but hopefully we'll start to see incremental changes in that department for the betterment of the children who are there.

- There's a big impact on additi early childhood education fundin another $54 million there that would cover another 7,100 children or so, and another $300 million to strengthen and grow childcare while continuing investments in rate increases for childcare providers starting July one.

- Mm-hmm.

Well, Jak, we know that early education is absolutely a key to how children will progress during their entire educational And so the earlier that we start again, provide those resources and the programming that is needed to set that foundation, the strong foundation, especially in disadvantaged comm then we know that those children will start on the road of succes And that's what we should all be concerned with, making sure we have all of the necessary resources and supports to ensure that all of our kids in Illinois, regardless of their zip code, are successful.

- Representative Greenwood, thank you so much for your time on Illinois Lawmakers.

We certainly appreciate it.

- Thank you so much, Jak.

And if I may, I just wanna say that we could not have done any of th without the leadership of majority leader, Greg Harris, and his leadership and as well as Speaker Welch.

And so I thank them tremendously for the work that we've done with our budget in helping move Illinoisans forw - Thank you so much, Representat We appreciate it.

- Thank you for having me.

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