Illinois families deserve a state government that is transparent, accountable, and careful with their hard-earned tax dollars. Unfortunately, the Fiscal Year 2027 budget process and the budget itself fail that test.
On the final day of the legislative session, House and Senate Democrats passed a record-setting $55.9 billion budget in the middle of the night. Rather than following a transparent process, House Democrats suspended their own rules to fast-track their revenue bill containing multiple tax hikes, giving lawmakers little time to review thousands of pages of spending proposals before voting. As House Republican Floor Leader, I rose to voice my strong opposition to these heavy-handed and irresponsible legislative tactics.
I’ve always said that bad process produces bad products, and unfortunately, the result of Illinois Democrats’ parliamentary shenanigans was predictable, albeit disappointing.
Just weeks after the budget passed, Governor JB Pritzker was forced to make line-item vetoes and corrections to remove a typographical error that mistakenly appropriated more than $500 billion to a single Chicago organization (yes Billion, with a B). That amount is nearly nine times larger than the entire state budget.
While supporters may point out that the mistake was ultimately caught and corrected, that misses the larger issue. A budget process that forces lawmakers to vote on a 3,700-page spending plan in the early morning hours is a process that invites errors, oversights, and unintended consequences.
Adding insult to injury, the record spending FY 2027 budget was balanced with $800 million in new taxes and fees on Illinois families and businesses. Taxpayers are being asked to pay more while receiving less transparency and accountability from their government.
Illinois deserves a budget process that respects taxpayers, follows the rules, and gives lawmakers adequate time to review what they are voting on. The $500 billion mistake should serve as a wake-up call. When legislation is rushed through in the dead of night, costly and embarrassing mistakes happen, and in the end, working families and businesses are left with the bill.