If Pritzker decide to run for president, an announcement would likely come at some point in 2027 during what would be the first year of his third term if he’s reelected.
by Ben Szalinski
Capitol News Illinois
SPRINGFIELD - Gov. JB Pritzker began his third campaign for governor on last week, but much of the buzz around his 2026 campaign announcement focused on 2028.
Pritzker made four stops around the state to launch his campaign, fielding questions about any future interest in the presidency and what is driving him to run for what would be a historic third term. In his final stop in Springfield on Thursday evening, he was toasting personally branded “JBeers” – his own craft beer product he unveiled at last year’s Democratic National Convention – with a group of about 100 people at a small event venue just outside the Capitol and talking about his motivations.
“Every day I’m going to wake up going forward thinking about what I am going to do that’s going to help the people of Illinois,” Pritzker told reporters in Springfield when asked how many years of a third term he would serve. “So that’s the reason I’m running for reelection, it’s why I announced today, it’s what I’m going to do every day going forward no matter what decision I make.”
The 60-year-old Democrat’s national profile has grown significantly over the last year. He was a finalist to be former Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate last July, and weeks later, introduced himself to the country on the stage of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. In the months since President Donald Trump took office, Pritzker has emerged as one of his most vocal critics.
Photo: Capitol News Illinois/Jade Aubrey
Gov. JB Pritzker takes a picture with Mike Lopez, mayor of nearby Jerome, after announcing his reelection campaign in Springfield on Thursday, June 26.
At news conferences throughout the state, Pritzker did not directly commit to serving a full four-year term if he is reelected and sidestepped questions about his rumored White House ambitions.
But while staying tight-lipped about what he thinks about his prospects in the 2028 presidential election, he said any decision he makes about his future would be Illinois-centric.
Speculation shows Pritzker ‘capable and competent’
In the meantime, Pritzker said he believed his inclusion in the national conversation is good for Illinois.
“When I ran for governor in the first place in 2017 and 2018, never, never could I have imagined that anybody would talk about me as the potential vice-presidential nominee or as a candidate for president of the United States,” Pritzker said.
While Republicans have frequently criticized the governor for his tendencies to criticize Trump rather than work with him to Illinois’ benefit, the governor spun his rising national profile as a positive.
“Having the state of Illinois’ leaders viewed as capable and competent and potentially able to run the entire country and being talked about in that way, allows us, I think, to get more for the people of Illinois because there’s an understanding that, you know, maybe in Illinois we’re doing the right things,” he said. “Maybe in Illinois we have leaders that can competently execute on what states really need.”
Pritzker said his experience last summer being vetted for the vice presidency has not played any role in the decisions he has made about his political career.
Should Pritzker decide to run for president, an announcement would likely come at some point in 2027 during what would be the first year of his third term if he’s reelected.
Pritzker’s goal: ‘Protect’ Illinois and his legacy
Pritzker said at his announcement Thursday that his goal in 2026 is to preserve his legacy and “protect” the story of Illinois that’s been written under his leadership. Pritzker didn’t outline a bold vision for his third term but rather pledged to build off what he has already accomplished.
He said his third term would focus on grappling with artificial intelligence, addressing the rising cost of living, continued spending on infrastructure and growing the state’s economy.
Pritzker reflected on his decision to seek reelection despite growing challenges facing the state.
“I don’t shy away from a fight, and we’re going to have to protect the people of Illinois,” Pritzker told reporters in Springfield. “And I feel like we’re in a moment when backing away from public service when things are hard doesn’t feel right. So that’s one of the reasons I chose to run for reelection.”
Pritzker was asked whether he would have run had Trump not been elected last year.
“I think I would, but I have to say that in this moment, it feels like walking away is the wrong thing to do given who is in the White House and given how this administration is attacking people all across this country,” Pritzker said.
The governor must also choose a new running mate as Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton has decided to run for U.S. Senate. Pritzker said he will choose one by the end of July so his campaign can start circulating nominating petitions in early August. Pritzker said in Chicago that he is looking for someone with enough experience to take over as governor if required.
Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth, D-Peoria, may be an early front-runner for the job. Pritzker specifically referred to Gordon-Booth as qualified at a stop in East Peoria on Thursday when asked about potential running mates, WGLT reported. The assistant House majority leader has been in the General Assembly since 2009.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
Uphill battle for legislation this session comes as Israel faces protests for its war in Gaza.
Photo: Mohammed Abubakr/PEXELS
Protestors demonstrate for Palestinian human rights. Lawmakers in Springfield supporting human rights for Palestinians have increasingly signed on to legislation opposing the decade-old anti-boycott law, penalizing companies that boycott Israel to protest its policies toward Palestinians.
by Simon Carr & Sonya Dymova Medill Illinois News Bureau
SPRINGFIELD - A growing number of state lawmakers are moving to repeal a 2015 Illinois law penalizing companies that boycott Israel to protest its policies toward Palestinians.
Amid concerns about Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, lawmakers in Springfield supporting human rights for Palestinians have increasingly signed on to legislation opposing the decade-old anti-boycott law. But so far, these bills have stalled.
Illinois’ 2015 law prohibits state pension funds from investing in companies engaging in the Boycott, Divest, Sanction, or BDS, movement against Israel, making Illinois the first U.S. state to enact such legislation, with dozens of other states following suit. The measure, signed into law by Gov. Bruce Rauner, a Republican, was modeled after similar post-9/11 measures restricting Illinois’ pension funds from investment in companies that engage in business with the governments of Iran and Sudan.
Medill Illinois News Bureau/Simon Carr
Students at DePaul University’s Gaza Solidarity Encampment face counterprotesters in May 2024. This encampment was one of at least 130 similar campus protests last year, which highlighted concerns that Israel was engaging in human rights violations.
When boycotting Israel became grounds for blacklisting, Illinois lawmakers established the Illinois Investment Policy Board, tasked with investigating companies' investment choices. Opponents of the laws have warned they curtail free speech. Israel is the only country for which boycotting is penalized in Illinois by the board.
To repeal this policy, Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid, D-Bridgeview, introduced House Bill 2723, and Sen. Mike Porfirio, D-Bridgeview, introduced Senate Bill 2462 earlier this year. Since then, some 22 co-sponsors were added in the House and Senate, while two of those later had their names removed.
“This is about the right for people to advocate for what they believe — in this particular case, for human rights advocacy — without the state telling you what you have to believe and how you have to act,” said Rashid, the first Palestinian-American to serve in the Illinois House of Representatives. “It is a matter of making sure that Illinois is on the right side of history — not participating in the oppression of the Palestinian people – but it is also about making sure the Illinoisans and companies that do business in Illinois are not being forced and bullied and retaliated against because they chose to stand for human rights.”
Thirty companies are currently on the Illinois Investment Policy Board’s prohibited entity list for boycotting Israel.
In 2021, Unilever, for example, was added to that list after its subsidiary — ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s — announced it would stop selling its products in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as defined by the United Nations. While remaining a supporter of Israel, the company said it did not support “an internationally recognised illegal occupation.”
Thousands of bills, the vast majority of those proposed, get stuck in the Rules Committee every year for various reasons.
Chicago-based investment firm Morningstar narrowly avoided state divestment in 2022, when the Illinois Investment Policy Board accused the firm’s subsidiary, Sustainalytics, of having an anti-Israel bias. The company then commissioned an independent report that found evidence of anti-Israel bias in Morningstar’s standalone product, Human Rights Radar.
Morningstar agreed to accept a series of recommendations, including discontinuing the Human Rights Radar and no longer taking input from the United Nations Human Rights Council, in order to avoid state divestment.
Wavering support
While President Trump-supporting Republicans and right-wing activists rail against a bipartisan national bill that would toughen penalties for boycotting Israel’s government, Illinois’ Democratic supermajority legislature appears hesitant to put an end to its 2015 anti-boycott law, which passed unanimously in both houses.
Rashid’s and Porfirio’s bills have stalled in committee despite the initial support from about one-fifth of the Democratic caucus, including the leaders of the Latino, Black and Progressive caucuses.
Thousands of bills, the vast majority of those proposed, get stuck in the Rules Committee every year for various reasons. In HB 2723’s case, the holdup can be attributed in part to the political costs of supporting the bill, advocates said.
Deanna Othman ... said HB 2723 is urgent, citing both a humanitarian crisis and a crisis of free speech.
Sen. Napoleon Harris, D-Harvey, was listed as a cosponsor on March 20, and Sen. Adriane Johnson, D-Buffalo Grove, signed onto the bill on April 2, but both had their names removed on April 8. Neither senator responded to a request for comment on their reasoning.
Porfirio, the Senate bill’s chief sponsor, said “I will continue to discuss the measure with my colleagues, to ensure that our pension system is well-informed, equitable and responsible” in an email. Its chief cosponsors — Karina Villa, D-West Chicago; Graciela Guzmán, D-Chicago, and Rachel Ventura, D-Joliet — all declined or failed to respond to requests for comment.
“Even though it had quite an impressive list of sponsors and cosponsors, it's a controversial piece of legislation that is likely to engender a lot of debate that most legislators don't want to vote on, because they either have Jewish or Palestinian constituents, or both,” said Dick Simpson, a professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago and former Chicago alderman. “Why should they vote on something that isn't going to pass and then cause some constituents to be mad at them?”
But Deanna Othman, member of the Chicago chapter of American Muslims for Palestine, said HB 2723 is urgent, citing both a humanitarian crisis and a crisis of free speech.
“Unfortunately, it's more relevant now than ever, because we've seen all of the crackdown on student protesters and people who engage in boycott and people who are just voicing their First Amendment rights,” Othman said. “If I cannot stand up for the rights of my fellow Palestinians, whose rights can I stand up for?”
‘It’s impossible to tell if this bill will ever pass’
Activists say they are hopeful a repeal of the anti-BDS law will pass in 2026 if it continues to stall this year. But it remains an uphill battle, even as they point to a steady decrease in American popular support for Israel.
About 53% of Americans express an unfavorable opinion of Israel, according to a Pew Research Center study conducted last month. This is an increase from March 2022, when that figure was 42%.
The survey found the share of Americans with little or no trust in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “do the right thing for global affairs” increased significantly from 2023 to 2024. Since Oct. 7, over 52,000 people in Gaza have been killed in Israeli attacks, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza. An estimated 1,200 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas’s attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, and around 250 Israelis were taken hostage.
The pro-Israel, pro-peace advocacy group J Street does not oppose boycott initiatives “that explicitly support a two-state solution and recognize Israel’s right to exist,” according to a statement of its policies. “It is critical to maintain the distinction between boycott efforts that work against the interests of Israel, and initiatives which are limited to opposing the occupation. We neither oppose nor call for these initiatives,” the group said in a statement.
But J Street does oppose the broader Global BDS Movement, which advocates for three tenets: That Israel should stop policing the border on and occupying legally Palestinian land, that Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel should have full equality with Jewish citizens and that Palestinians be allowed to return to their homes, as stipulated in UN Resolution 194.
Lesley Williams, an activist with Evanston Ceasefire who has been lobbying to repeal Illinois’ anti-BDS law, said the three tenets don’t mean “Israel needs to stop existing.”
“That doesn't mean that non-Palestinians should be forced to leave Israel,” she said. “It just says the Palestinians should have equal rights in that territory and that Israel should be following United Nations resolutions.”
Pritzker is going to try to run for president in 2028, and he doesn't want anything to happen in the GA that could be used as an albatross on his neck ...
The original sponsor of the 2015 anti-BDS law in the House, then Rep. (now Sen.) Sara Feigenholtz, D-Chicago, declined several requests for comment. However, when a 2022 Crain’s Chicago Business op-ed criticized Feigenholtz’s legislation, arguing it was “raising the specter of McCarthy-like scrutiny.” Feigenholtz issued a statement defending her law.
“Israel is the singular democracy in the Middle East that has historically been a consistent ally to the United States,” Feigenholtz said at the time. “Boycotts of Israel, like Ben & Jerry’s/Unilever, are intended to harm and weaken Israel.” She added, “No one’s free speech is curtailed.”
Ben and Jerry’s co-founders Bennett Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, who no longer run the company, denied the boycott was anti-Israel or antisemitic in a 2021 op-ed. They said it was merely a rejection of Israeli policy, and that Ben and Jerry’s was in fact advancing justice and human rights, both “core tenets of Judaism.”
Given the controversy surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian divide, many political obstacles to these current bills passing will probably remain next year. Politicians are less likely to discuss controversial issues like the BDS movement when there’s a supermajority of one party — in Illinois’ case, Democrats — for fear of factionalizing, said Ryan Burge, a political science professor at Eastern Illinois University.
Even if a repeal of the anti-BDS law makes it through the legislature, Gov. JB Pritzker may still be an obstacle, Burge added.
“Pritzker is going to try to run for president in 2028, and he doesn't want anything to happen in the GA that could be used as an albatross on his neck when he runs for the primary in a couple years,” Burge said. Should anti-BDS legislation reach Pritzker’s desk, “The Governor will carefully review this piece of legislation,” the governor’s press secretary, Alex Gough, said in an email.
“It’s impossible to tell if this bill will ever pass, and the reason for that is it's impossible to predict where the Israeli and Palestinian war will be next year,” Simpson said. “I don't know, if Israel does carry through on its threats to move all the Palestinians out of Gaza and to permanently take control, that might provide enough anger to cause it to pass. But it is just predicting.”
Simon Carr and Sonya Dymova are students in journalism with Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications, and are fellows in its Medill Illinois News Bureau working in partnership with Capitol News Illinois.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
Editor's Note:
This story has been updated to include a comment from Sen. Mike Porfirio that was received before publish and inadvertently omitted from a previous version. Capitol News Illinois regrets the error.
The programs have been controversial since they were first proposed. Republicans have been especially critical, saying the programs serve as an incentive for immigrants to cross into the United States illegally and settle in Illinois to receive taxpayer-funded health benefits.
by Peter Hancock Capitol News Illinois
SPRINGFIELD – Two state-run health care programs that extend Medicaid-like coverage to noncitizens may have provided significant financial benefits for Illinois hospitals.
That’s according to preliminary results of an ongoing study at the University of Chicago that suggests the programs corresponded, at least in part, to a 15% reduction in the amount of bad debt Illinois hospitals incurred each year since the programs have been in full effect.
Photo: Capitol News Illinois/Peter Hancock
Demonstrators outside the Illinois Statehouse rally for immigrant rights during the 15th annual Latino Unity Day on Thursday, May 8, 2025.
“The number that we find is a 15% reduction,” Aresha Martinez-Cardoso, an assistant professor and researcher at U of C’s Embodying Racism Lab, where the study is being conducted, said in an interview. “We think that that might be a high estimate, given what we know about perhaps other things that are going on that we can't entirely rule out, but we do think that part of that reduction is associated with the policy.”
That translates to an average of $1.5 million per year, per hospital, according to the report, although the exact amount would vary greatly depending on a hospital’s size and the volume of patients it treats who are covered by the programs.
“Our early findings show that this landmark policy isn’t just about access — it also serves as a strategic investment in our hospitals and the health of entire communities,” Martinez-Cardoso said.
Those findings come as Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration is preparing to shut down the larger of the two programs as part of his budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year. The Health Benefits for Immigrant Adults, or HBIA, currently covers more than 31,000 eligible noncitizens aged 42-64, at a cost of about $21 million per month, according to the most recent data from the Department of Healthcare and Family Services.
The other program, Health Benefits for Immigrant Seniors, covers eligible noncitizens aged 65 and over. That program currently covers about 8,900 individuals at a cost of about $10 million per month. Pritzker has not proposed eliminating it.
The programs were launched in 2020 and 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, as a means of extending health coverage to individuals who did not qualify for other publicly funded health care programs solely due to their immigration status. Those include individuals who are in the United States without legal authorization as well as certain legal permanent residents who have not yet been in the country long enough to qualify for Medicaid.
The programs have been controversial since they were first proposed. Republicans have been especially critical, saying the programs serve as an incentive for immigrants to cross into the United States illegally and settle in Illinois to receive taxpayer-funded health benefits.
With the state facing slow revenue growth and a projected budget deficit in the coming year, Pritzker surprised many of his supporters in February when he proposed closing the HBIA program.
Eliminating the program for middle-aged adults is projected to save the general revenue fund about $330 million, according to the governor’s office. Pritzker told reporters after his address in February he expects the federal government will stop reimbursing states for costs associated with programs providing services to noncitizens.
A week after the governor’s budget address, the Illinois Auditor General released a report that said enrollment in both programs and their eventual costs had far exceeded their original projection. The cost for the two programs, the report said, exceeded $1.6 billion over the course of four fiscal years.
Read more: Audit finds Illinois’ noncitizen health care programs far outstripped original cost estimates
Unlike Medicaid, which is jointly funded with state and federal funds, the health programs for noncitizens are funded almost entirely with state dollars.
The study looked at publicly available hospital financial reports to analyze changes in the amount of uncompensated care they provided from 2017 to 2023. It also looked at similar data from hospitals in Indiana and Wisconsin, neighboring states that do not provide health benefits for noncitizens.
“We tried to flip it a few different ways,” Martinez-Cardoso said in an interview. “There could be a lot of other things happening. But when we test a bunch of different models … we kind of see a consistent pattern that the policy timing is associated with bad debt.”
She said the results so far are only preliminary and that analysis of the data is continuing. But she said the analysis so far shows a strong link between the enactment of the programs and an overall reduction in uncollectable debt.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
During his recent budget address, Gov. JB Pritzker pretentiously proclaimed, "We don’t have kings in America – and I don’t intend to bend the knee to one," referring to President Trump.
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Ironic when you consider it was Pritzker who issued at least 41 consecutive disaster proclamations related to COVID-19 between 2020 and 2023, and over 100 specific executive orders tied to the pandemic. These orders included stay-at-home mandates, school and business closures, mask requirements, and vaccination mandates for certain workers.
Pritzker’s unilateral rule in Illinois disqualifies him from making public complaints about kings, fascists, and tyrants in America.
Moreover, his repeated attempts to redefine and paint political opponents as “Nazis” is getting very old.
Pritzker and his allies want the public to believe that “Nazis” are on the right side of the political spectrum. They are being deceitful. The National Socialist German Worker’s Party (Nazi) was organized to advance socialism. They advocated big government policies, putting them on the left side of the political spectrum. Think "Medicare for all," "universal Pre-K," and "universal free college," among others. Sound familiar?
The governor doth protest too much, methinks.
David E. Smith, Executive Director
Illinois Family Institute
Got something you want to get off your chest? Send us your letter to the editor today. Here is how: Read this.
Dieterich – State Representative Adam Niemerg (R-Dieterich) says it is time for state leaders to prioritize the needs of Illinois citizens. In Niemerg's opinion, Governor Pritzker's presentation of a "balanced budget" is nothing more than the usual, deceptive schemes.
"It is baffling to me that we cannot have bipartisan support for managing our resources better and preventing these constant gaping budget holes that are a staple for all of these so-called 'balanced' budgets," he stated, criticizing how Illinois budgets are determined. "For years, the state has been using creative accounting gimmicks to create the illusion of a 'balanced' budget."
Niemerg says the state needs to do a better job of managing Illinois finances. Calling for an Illinois version of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), he said state budgets usually show increased income and lower spending projections. However, when the bills are presented to the state, the payment cycle "is stretched out longer and longer and, in the end, taxpayers take it on the chin because there is a monthly penalty for delayed state payments."
"High taxes, poor state leadership, and rising crime are the culprits for the outbound migration."
"Not once did the Governor mention property tax relief. Not once did he mention pension reform. Not once did he mention public safety concerns in Chicagoland," Niemerg said in a statement on Wednesday. "He did, however, mention Donald Trump at least six times in his speech. Instead of focusing on President Trump, the Governor should focus on the issues Illinois residents actually care about."
Niemerg stressed that Governor Pritzker's remarks about President Trump during the State of the State Address do nothing to solve the very real problems facing our state.
He points out that Illinois had the second-highest outbound moves in 2024 – second only to New Jersey. He said the combination of high taxes, poor state leadership, and rising crime are the culprits for the outbound migration. He also noted the Governor did not address the issue of illegal immigration and the amount of money being spent on programs and services for people not legally supposed to be here. A recent Pew Research poll showed 59% of Americans approve of President Trump's immigration policies.
"The vast majority of Americans support President Trump's efforts to secure our borders and deport criminals here illegally," Niemerg said, who believes the Governor and the Democratic majority in the House are out of touch with the majority of American people. "Instead of prioritizing the needs of our own citizens, they are continuing to pour money into programs for illegal immigrants. We have a responsibility to address the concerns of our own citizens. It is not the job of the state of Illinois to solve the immigration crisis."
Stacy Davis Gates, CTU president, reaffirmed the state's sanctuary status and the union's fight to uphold it.
CHICAGO - As Illinois parents and children continue to be on high alert amid fears of school immigration raids, school officials are publicly advocating for the rights and safety of students. Circulating reports of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents showing up to some schools across the state continue. School attendance is dropping in some areas. This week, the Chicago Teachers Union staged walk-ins at several schools and teachers at more than a hundred others joined them as part of a national day of action against the Trump administration's deportation sweeps.
Photo: Erik Mclean/Unsplash
Stacy Davis Gates, CTU president, reaffirmed the state's sanctuary status and the union's fight to uphold it.
"We are the only school district in the state that has any policy protocol regarding sanctuary to date," she said.
Last month, State Superintendent of Schools Tony Sanders issued a directive to schools across the state reminding them of their obligation to protect students' rights within their buildings. It outlined protections of students regardless of their immigration status and how to prepare if ICE agents show up.
During a recent school visit, Governor J.B. Pritzker called the increase in empty desks a big concern.
Gaby Pacheco, CEO of Dream.US, a national scholarship fund for undocumented students, says the policies and statements coming from the Trump administration are inciting ongoing trauma with dire consequences.
"The stress that these children are facing is unimaginable. With the constant threat of raids and the cruel scare tactics being used, their young lives are being consumed by fear. We've heard horrifying words from the Trump administration, words that claim there is no mercy for them," she said.
U.S. border czar Tom Homan accused Pritzker of scaring children after misinformation circulated about ICE showing up at a predominantly Latino elementary school in Chicago. Residents, however, continue to push back against the Trump administration's immigration policy changes. On Monday, some businesses and restaurants across Chicago closed, and some students stayed home from school as part of a nationwide boycott known as "A Day Without Immigrants."
A new report looks at children's well-being in every state and finds in Illinois, the outcomes vary greatly depending on race.
In its Race for Results report, the Annie E. Casey Foundation analyzed indicators of child well-being, from early childhood education and reading achievement, to family resources.
One indicator needing attention is fourth-grade reading proficiency. One in three Illinois students is reading at grade level, but only 13% of Black fourth graders.
Katelyn Jones, vice president of policy research and evaluation at YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, explains the need to correct the discrepancy early.
"We know for a fact, based on lots of research, that reading proficiency levels at the fourth grade level are really strong indicators for high school graduation rates, college enrollment, income," Jones outlined. "All of these benchmarks for success later in life."
On the Casey Foundation's scale of 1,000 points, white children got the highest score for well-being in Illinois, at 740 points. Hispanic children saw a score of just over 500 points, and Black children, 341 points. Jones noted parents working long hours and the cost of early childhood education programs are additional factors in the education disparities.
The report suggested expanding the federal Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit could help narrow the gaps for children of color, along with targeted programs and policies. Jones pointed out the need for continued support for early childhood education to help set kids up for success in school. She acknowledged one resource is showing promise to achieve the goal.
"Illinois is doing a pretty good job of that," Jones noted. "The governor's Smart Start Illinois program, as that goes into effect, I'm sure that will work to address many of the challenges."
The Smart Start Illinois program is a multiyear plan to provide every child with access to preschool, increase funding to child care providers and reach more vulnerable families with early support.
Dear Editor,
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is back grandstanding for the news media, complaining about the immigration crisis trickling up to Illinois.
In October, Pritzker sent an open letter to President Biden begging for federal tax resources to deal with the so-called “asylum seekers” being bussed to Illinois. Not once in his appeal did Pritzker ask the administration to shut down the border or reinstate the successful “Remain in Mexico” policy of the Trump Administration.
This month, Pritzker paid the Austin American-Statesman newspaper to publish another open letter, this one addressed to Texas Governor Greg Abbot. Referencing the freezing temperatures of a typical Illinois winter, Pritzker pleads for mercy, pointing out that many lives are vulnerable to the cold weather.
Ironically, not one word was written to Biden about the critical need to secure the border. Wouldn’t it be nice to see an open letter in the USA Today in which Pritzker could appeal to the Biden Administration for serious enforcement?
And while Pritzker laments the lives at stake because of the season’s “dangerous winter storm and subzero temperatures,” there is not one mention of the tens of thousands of American lives being destroyed by fentanyl and other deadly drugs flowing into our cities.
If Gov. Pritzker were serious about this crisis, he’d speak out about the dangers of open borders and the failure of the executive branch to uphold federal immigration laws to protect the citizens of this great nation.
David E. Smith, Executive Director
Illinois Family Institute
In 1999 the Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa, the Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska and the Sac and Fox Nation, Oklahoma, repatriated the remains of 34 of their ancestors held by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
ProPublica - America’s institutions maintain control of more than a hundred thousand remains of Native Americans as well as sacred items. A federal law, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, was meant to help return them, but decades after its 1990 passage, many tribes are still waiting.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law in August sweeping reforms that for the first time will give tribal nations — not state agencies, universities or museums — final say over how and when the remains of their ancestors and sacred items are returned to them.
“With the Governor signing these bills into law, Illinois is proving that a government is capable of reflecting on its past injustices and planning for a future that respects and celebrates our interconnectedness,” Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation Chairperson Joseph “Zeke” Rupnick said.
The newly signed Human Remains Protection Act was shaped by tribal nations over more than two years of consultations with the Illinois State Museum and the state Department of Natural Resources. The legislation unanimously passed the state House and Senate this spring and follows publication of ProPublica’s “The Repatriation Project,” an ongoing investigation into the delayed return of Native American ancestral remains by universities, museums and government agencies.
“Here in Illinois we believe in justice, and we won’t hide from the truth,” Pritzker said. “It’s up to us to right the wrongs of the past and to chart a new course.”
The law makes it the state’s responsibility to help return ancestral remains, funerary objects and other important cultural items to tribal nations, and it compels the state to follow the lead of tribal nations throughout the repatriation process. It also establishes a state Repatriation and Reinterment Fund to help with the costs of reburial, tribal consultation and the repair of any damage to burial sites, remains or sacred items.
Tribal nations have pointed to the lack of protected places for reburial in Illinois as among the highest barriers to repatriation.
Existing law to protect unmarked cemeteries in Illinois failed to create a pathway for tribal nations to rebury ancestral remains that had been disinterred. That law, passed in 1989, deemed most Native American remains to be property of the state.
The new law increases criminal penalties for the looting and desecration of gravesites, while adding a ban on profiteering from human remains and funerary objects through their sale, purchase or exhibition. Moreover, it mandates tribal nations be consulted as soon as possible when Indigenous gravesites are unintentionally disturbed or unearthed — such as during construction projects.
The failure to repatriate expeditiously, as required by NAGPRA, is rife in Illinois, where more than 15,461 Native Americans have been excavated — more than from any other state, the ProPublica investigation found. The vast majority of those ancestors are still held by Illinois institutions. Previous policies at the Illinois State Museum, which holds the remains of at least 7,000 ancestors, favored the scientific study of remains over their return to tribes for reburial.
Sunshine Thomas-Bear, the cultural preservation director for the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, said, “It has been a rough road in trying to get the protection and rights that non-Natives have in protecting our ancestral burial sites and homelands.” She added that many Illinois gravesites have been desecrated and destroyed.
“This bill cannot remedy the damage that has been caused thus far, but perhaps it will protect the sites that remain in our homelands,” Thomas-Bear said, though she emphasized that the law is “a step in the right direction” for rebuilding relationships.
Significantly, the law empowers IDNR to set aside and maintain land solely for the reburial of repatriated Native American ancestors and their belongings. Tribal nations have pointed to the lack of protected places for reburial in Illinois as among the highest barriers to repatriation.
For example, in 1999 the Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa, the Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska and the Sac and Fox Nation, Oklahoma, repatriated the remains of 34 of their ancestors held by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, records show. The tribes wanted to rebury their ancestors at or near the site where they were originally interred: a former Sauk and Meskwaki village in Rock Island County along the Mississippi River. But the state wouldn’t allow the tribes to use the land, said Johnathan Buffalo, the tribal historic preservation director of the Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa. They had to rebury the ancestors in Iowa — west of the Mississippi River, the same borderline used by the U.S. government when it expelled all Native American tribes from the state during the 1830s.
“That old wound opened when Illinois did that to us,” Buffalo said.
More than 30 tribal nations are recognized by the state museum as having cultural and historic ties to Illinois. The consultations, which are ongoing, began with discussing the repatriation of more than 230 ancestors unearthed from what today is known as Dickson Mounds.
“The need to rebury and to think about a different way of being in relationship with land from the state side was reiterated to us from just about every tribal nation,” said Heather Miller, the director of tribal relations and historic preservation for the Illinois State Museum. Miller is also an enrolled citizen of the Wyandotte Nation.
The new law is part of a broader effort to recenter Native voices in Illinois and within state institutions, a commitment brought to the Illinois State Museum in part by its former director, Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko, before her death this year. It was signed in tandem with two other laws; one requires the history of Native Americans in the Midwest be taught in Illinois public schools and another that bans school boards from prohibiting students from wearing cultural or tribal clothing and regalia in schools and at graduation ceremonies.
Interim Director Jennifer Edginton said the museum and IDNR, which oversees the institution, have “been looking very inward” to address the previous absence of Indigenous worldviews in their programs, collections and exhibits.
“We don’t want to continue that erasure, or stereotypes, or things that the museum field in general, unfortunately, has done since the inception of museums,” Edginton said.
The Legacy of Forced Removal
Today, no federally recognized tribes reside in Illinois, though Chicago is home to one of the largest urban communities of Indigenous people in the country. The absence of an organized political presence and tribal government has in part led to the state having among the worst repatriation track records in the nation.
“Forced removal affects everything,” said Miller, referring to the expulsion of Native American tribes from Illinois throughout the 1800s. “There was the physical removal, but that also removed [tribal nations] from being able to have a say in law, to have a say in voting, and from participating in all the ways the state operates and functions.”
With passage of the new Illinois law, that balance of power will for the first time tip toward tribal nations whose ancestral lands became the state of Illinois.
That legacy has also contributed to Illinois museums designating many of the ancestral remains in their collections as “culturally unidentifiable” under the federal repatriation law. That designation has been misused by some institutions to avoid repatriating remains under NAGPRA, giving museums outsize power in consultations with tribal nations.
With passage of the new Illinois law, that balance of power will for the first time tip toward tribal nations whose ancestral lands became the state of Illinois.
“We have the ability to now bring those communities that were forcibly removed in violent ways back here,” Miller said. “Rather than being a ‘removal state,’ Illinois could be known as a ‘new relations’ state instead.”
The Future of Funerary Items
Another significant aspect of the new law is that it prohibits institutions from charging admission to view human remains that are Native American and any items that were originally buried with those individuals. Although the public display of Native American ancestral remains by museums fell out of practice after the passage of NAGPRA in the early 1990s, the public display of their funerary items has not.
After Dickson Mounds Museum in the early 1990s closed a burial exhibit that displayed the remains of more than 230 Native Americans, the institution still maintained a permanent exhibit that featured items taken from Indigenous gravesites across the state. As ProPublica reported this year, in September 2021, curators dismantled much of the exhibit at the request of tribal partners, who wished to see the items reunited with the ancestors they were buried with before their repatriation. Those funerary items made up about 40% of the exhibit.
State museum officials told ProPublica they’re not sure how many museums in Illinois still display funerary items. The law applies to every museum, university and historical society in the state — far more than the 15 institutions in Illinois that have reported their Native American holdings under the NAGPRA.
When asked about what he would say to museums that may push back against the law, Illinois State Rep. Mark L. Walker said: “Too bad.”
Walker, a Democrat who represents part of Chicago’s northwest suburbs, sponsored the legislation. He said he’s already received interest from other states looking to adopt similar laws.
“I think we can be a model for other states,” Walker said. “Whether we can change [Illinois’] image to such an extent that these communities actually trust us? I don’t know. That may take 30 years.”
ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.
The Illinois Supreme Court stayed the controversial no-cash bail provisions of the SAFE-T Act Dec. 31, halting the elimination of cash bail statewide while the lower court’s decision is heard on appeal.
The order targeting the pretrial provision of the Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equality-Today Act came just hours before the omnibus bill was set to take effect Jan. 1. Illinois would have been the first state to end cash bail as a way for defendants to go free until trial, considered as unfair to low-income resident who are often held in jail as wealthier defendants go free.
The high court’s temporary order was made after a Kankakee County judge ruled against the pretrial release portion of the act for 65 Illinois counties Dec. 28 on the grounds it violated the Crime Victims’ Bill of Rights and separation of powers sections of the Illinois Constitution.
The justices ordered the stay to "maintain consistent pretrial procedures throughout Illinois" counties while they consider the state’s appeal to the Kankakee County ruling.
No hearing date has been set but justices announced plans for an "expedited process" to review the appeal on the merits. All other provisions of the criminal justice reform bill went into effect as anticipated Jan. 1. The act phases in police body cameras by 2025, regulates police training and discipline, among other things.
In his ruling, Circuit Judge Thomas Cunnington sided with 65 of Illinois’ 102 state’s attorneys, citing the importance of the separation of powers between the legislative and judicial branches. Cunnington said, "The appropriateness of bail rests with the authority of the court and may not be determined by legislative fiat."
But Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul disagreed. He appealed the lower court decision on behalf of the state, arguing "a judge’s discretion with regards to pretrial detention is expanded" under the new reform.
Despite the disagreement, legal experts on both sides lauded the Illinois Supreme Court for moving to pause the reforms and prevent unequal enforcement of the new law across Illinois.
"We are very pleased with the Illinois Supreme Court’s decision," wrote the DuPage and Kane County state’s attorneys in a joint statement. "The equal administration of justice is paramount to the successful and fair administration of our criminal justice system."
Patrick covers Criminal Justice the Illinois Policy Institute. In this role, he focuses on creating and analyzing content to support our published research and experts in the media. Illinois Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research organization that promotes responsible government and free market principles. This story was originally published on January 2, 2023.
SPRINGFIELD - Illinois House members gave themselves a nearly 16% raise during a late-night vote Jan. 6 after many had left for the weekend.
The move still needs Illinois Senate approval and Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s signature.
In a lame-duck session that included a scramble to pass bills on abortion and gun control, state representatives put through a bill for mid-year spending adjustments that included the pay raises. They added $11,655 per lawmaker, raising the base to $85,000 annually for a legislature that is technically part-time and as of 2019 was the fourth-highest paid in the nation.
In reality, many state representatives will get more than $85,000 if the bill becomes law because of salary bonuses for committee responsibilities and leadership positions ranging from $10,000 to $16,000.
The bill passed the Illinois House 63-35, with about 20 members not voting, some of them already gone for the weekend.
The raise in base pay is in addition to 2.4% annual cost-of-living increases lawmakers gave themselves in 2019 during another secretive move. Those increases have lawmakers making about $73,345 and hit every July 1.
“Wages aren’t keeping up with inflation, but we’ve locked in inflation bumps each July, and now, late at night, with no one here, we’ve ensured our pay goes up well beyond what the private sector sees,” state Rep. Mark Batinick, R-Plainfield, told The Associated Press. Batinick is retiring when the 103rd Illinois General Assembly is sworn in Jan. 11.
Statewide elected leaders got raises in base pay, ranging from $205,700 for the governor to $160,900 for lieutenant governor. Pritzker, a billionaire heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune, has not taken his salary since taking office. The bill created a position of Illinois House speaker pro tempore and gives the Senate another leadership position for attaining a supermajority, which adds a five-figure bump to those two $85,000 lawmaker salaries.
Illinoisans who object to the 16% pay bumps as inflation rages and threatens another recession should contact Pritzker and urge a veto of Senate Bill 1720.
Joe Tabor is a senior policy analyst at the Illinois Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research organization that promotes responsible government and free market principles.
CHICAGO -- With the spread of the Coronavirus and hospitalizations numbers going downward, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker announced today the state's indoor mask mandate will come to an end at the end of this month.
"If these trends continue, and we expect them to, then on Monday, February 28, we will lift the indoor mask requirements for the State of Illinois," Pritzker said at his 2pm press conference in Chicago. Currently, Illinois is one of nine states that still required masks inside public places.
After the 28th, masking will then be optional in grocery stores, bars and restaurants, public buildings, and non-scholastic sporting events - vaccinated or not.
There will be some indoor areas and venues where masks will still be required until further notice.
Schools.
Day cares.
Health care facilities.
Congregate care facilities.
Public transportation, including buses, trains and airplanes.
Federal buildings in areas of high of substantial risk of transmission.
Long-term care facilities when in communal areas.
In businesses that privately require mask use.
When in municipalities, like cities or counties, that have mask mandates.
Local business and places of employment
As far as metrics to end the current mask mandate that started August 30 last year, the governor announced those earlier during the day in Champaign.
"My intention is as we've seen these numbers peak at about 7,400 hospitalizations, and heading downward significantly — we're now I think under 2,500 hospitalizations, so that's almost a third of where we were at the peak and heading even further downward — to lift the mask mandate in the indoor locations by February 28," he said at morningn news conference in the downstate college town.
Gov. Pritzker also said businesses and private organizations can enforce their own indoor mitigations, which includes wearing masks.
"I want to be clear, many local jurisdictions, many business and organizations have their own mask requirements and other mitigations that must be respected. Having stricter mitigations than the state requirements is something that must be adhere to. Doing what is right for your private business or for your local communities is encouraged.
"The lifting of the state's mask mandate should not invite people not wearing mask disuade those who chose to wear masks."
This week, Governor J.B. Pritzker will propose that state lawmakers pass legislation that would put a few extra greenbacks in the pockets of Illinoisans.
The upcoming proposal outlines three tax breaks for residents. It includes suspending the 1% sales tax on groceries for one year. State motor fuel taxes were set to increase this year. That rate hike would be frozen at 39 cents per gallon. The biggest savings in the governor's play would come by way of a property tax rebate of up to $300 for homeowners.
Homeowners will still be able to deduct the normal 5% rate of their property tax bills up to $300 from their income taxes, but the new plan would double the value of that deduction with a direct one-time payment. This rebate will apply to workers making $250,000 annually or less or to couples making $500,000 or less.
Taxpayers will get that in the form of either a check or an electronic deposit after filing a state income tax return. A return must be filed even if the individual does not owe anything in taxes.
Collectively, Illinois consumers would save about 1 billion in taxes if legislators advance the proposal. With inflation at 7% and mid-term elections on the horizon, the abatement would be paid by the nearly 1 billion currently in surplus thanks to marijuana tax revenues and federal Covid relief monies the state has received.
The reduction in tax levies would last one year. However, there is scuttlebutt that they could remain in place a bit longer.
Pritzker is not the only governor looking to cut taxes for their residents. Indiana and New York are also attempting to advance proposals aimed at lowering taxes for their residents.
Op-Ed by Darren Bailey
Gov. J.B. Pritzker's lie about taking politics out of reapportionment and pushing "fair and independent maps" wouldn't be so shocking if he hadn't said it so often and with such conviction and sincerity.
All through his 2018 campaign for governor, Pritzker said he supported an amendment to the state Constitution to take congressional map-drawing out of the hands of state legislators and into those of an independent commission.
He went so far as to say he'd veto legislative maps, "in any way drafted or created by legislators, political party leaders and/or their staffs or allies." Instead, he said, he would hand it over to an independent panel.
This is not some new, untried experiment. Neighboring Missouri has instituted an independent map-drawing commission, and so have Michigan, Colorado, and Utah.
With Pritzker facing reelection next year, though, it appears he's willing to allow his Democratic allies in the legislature one last go at picking their voters by drawing Republicans into concentrated and ludicrously configured districts.
"We need a governor who keeps his promises."
Lying isn't leadership. And J.B. Pritzker has broken his word more often than he spends his money to buy elections.
Last week, Pritzker said he "trusted" the Democrats in the House and Senate to send him a fair map.
"I look to the Legislature for their proposal," Pritzker said. "I'll be looking to it for its fairness."
The governor might want to invest in a microscope because he's going to have to look hard.
This is Illinois, a state where corruption and cynicism compete with one another as the political class builds its power base and their special-interest handlers line their pockets.
Let me be clear. I'm a conservative Republican. But I also know that there are some things bigger than politics – things like honesty, transparency, and fair play.
I'm committed to seeing an end to the inside-dealing that has dominated our redistricting process. Voters should pick their elected officials, not the other way around. That's why, as governor, I'll use the bully pulpit to reform the system by which we draw our districts.
Illinoisans deserve better than the current, worn-out system.
We were asked, by this very governor, to expect better. And it was all a lie.
Pritzker will argue that a constitutional amendment is absolutely necessary to take politics out of partisan hands and into those of a bi-partisan, or even non-partisan, commission. He should read his state's Constitution.
While the law assigns the power to redistrict to the legislature, it does not prohibit them from assigning the work of map-drawing to a less-partisan body. The legislature's job is to enact the maps.
And remember the governor's pledge to veto any partisan plan?
The Constitution provides for a commission, appointed by the legislature, to handle the task. And if that commission deadlocks, there's even language providing for the Supreme Court to pick a ninth member – by lottery if need be – to break deadlocks.
Let's not forget that after each of the past four censuses, the legislature proved itself unable to come up with a plan for new districts. As ever, it ended up in the courts because hardline partisans showed themselves incapable of governing legislatively.
We need a commission. And we need a governor who keeps his promises.
That doesn't sound like much, and it's far from perfect. Still, it's considerably better than the unpalatable task before us now that J.B. Pritzker has broken his word and made this process about partisan politics instead of how we can best provide Illinoisans the representation they deserve.
Darren Bailey, currently the Representative from the 109th District, is a Republican candidate for the 2022 Illinois gubernatorial election.
Southern Illinois farmer and State Senator Darren Bailey, who has been outspoken about Governor J.B. Pritzker's handling of the state's pandemic policies, announced last Monday that he will seek the state's Republican nomination for Governor.
Bailey, who is a third-generation farmer and with his sons, owns and operates Bailey Family Farm. The Republican lawmaker from Xenia, was born and raised in Louisville. He has an A.A.S. in Agricultural Production from Lake Land College in Mattoon.
In a press release he said he "has always lived by the motto of faith, family, and farming."
In front of a crowd of hundreds of supporters at the Thelma Keller Convention Center in Effingham, he said that Governor Pritzker and Illinois Democrats have failed the people of Illinois and it was time for it to stop.
"There’s nothing that’s wrong with Illinois that can’t be fixed by some conservative common sense. I’ll fight for the working people, not the political elites. Today, there is a political class that is ignoring our values and harming American families. Illinois needs a leader that is one of us," said Bailey, confident that his conservative approach to governing will cure the state's ills.
Bailey is known as a pro-life, pro-Second Amendment conservative, his campaign announcement highlights his previous fight against tax hikes, reckless spending, abortion access expansion, and sanctuary state legislation. Elected to the state legislature in 2018, he is making the reopening of Illinois' economy and schools among his top priorities.
"Illinois is in trouble. We have a massive deficit, some of the highest tax burdens in the entire nation, and skyrocketing unemployment. Add to that career politicians who have used a pandemic to destroy our local economy," he said. "The same people on both sides of the aisle have failed us for decades. They are the elites—the rich and powerful—who have put their interests in front of us; the farmers from downstate, the mechanics from the south side, the hard-working families that have built this state. We can do better."
Endorsed by Republican U.S. Rep. Mary Miller - who was in the political hot seat and forced to issue a public apology after telling the audience at a rally supporting now ex-president Donald Trump that "Hitler was right on one thing — that whoever has the youth has the future", Bailey is being strategically positioned as the Downstate Messiah. Sworn in as state senator in January, he previously served as a state representative from 2019 to early 2021.
Meanwhile Miller's husband, Republican state Rep. Chris Miller, told the crowd at the rally, "If Darren Bailey is governor of Illinois, then there is a God in Heaven."
Bailey's name became known nationally while challenging Governor Pritzker’s statewide stay-at-home order almost a year ago last May. With the help of a sympathetic court, Bailey won a temporary restraining order freeing himself only from the restrictions. The decision was later overturned and the case eventually dismissed by a Sangamon County judge in November after it was consolidated with several other challenges to the state's emergency management and public health directives.
The father of four and grandfather to 10 said:
For far too long, citizens of Illinois have been left without a voice. People in Illinois have been divided. We’ve been used. We’ve been mocked. We’ve been marginalized. People in Illinois have been ignored based on their race. They’ve been ignored based on their class. Their ZIP Code. Or by special interests. All while a political class has done absolutely nothing but enrich themselves, while destroying our state and robbing our children and our grandchildren of our future. Friends, this has got to change. And it has got to change today.
The Republican primary election for Illinois Governor will be held on March 15, 2022.
by Adam Schuster, Senior Director of Budget and Tax Research Illinois Policy
In the annual governor’s budget address on Feb. 17, Gov. J.B. Pritzker presented a $41.6 billion budget for fiscal year 2022 that holds spending flat for education as well as most state operating spending.
Pritzker was tasked with closing a $4.8 billion deficit reported in November 2020, which would have grown to $5.5 billion including a $690 million payment towards recent borrowing from the Federal Reserve.
Pritzker’s budget relies heavily on nine different tax increases, mostly targeted at businesses, to raise $932 million in revenue. In his speech and in documents from the governor’s budget office the tax increases are branded as "closing corporate tax loopholes." However, none of the exemptions or credits Pritzker is proposing to limit or eliminate can be fairly described as "loopholes." Several do not apply exclusively to corporations.
For example, one Pritzker proposal would reduce the value of a tax credit scholarship program that helps disadvantaged students afford private school education through donations from both corporations and individuals. Another of the proposals does not pertain to any type of credit or deduction, but rather reimposes the states’ arcane “corporate franchise tax,” which is scheduled to phase out through 2024 under current law. And another is a new tax on gasolines that is expected to hurt Illinois farmers and add 20 cents per gallon of diesel.
The state budget law requires the governor to propose a budget that is balanced using only revenues in law at the time the budget is proposed. That requirement was ignored in Pritzker’s first and second budget proposals, and these nine new taxes mean it is in his third budget as well.
We urge the governor to stop championing policies that will put Illinoisans on the unemployment lines
Even with these tax increases, Pritzker’s budget proposal is not truly balanced. It includes no reforms to pensions or other structural overspending that would address the state’s long-term deficit. Instead, the budget makes liberal use of budget gimmicks such as changing the timing of payments – moving some debt service back to fiscal year 2021 while pushing other payments farther into the future – and sweeping $565 million from other state accounts. Instead of going to the road fund and capital projects, Pritzker would redirect sales tax revenue from gasoline sales and cigarette tax receipts to the general fund.
Changing the timing of payments allows Pritzker to avoid counting nearly $1 billion in costs toward this year’s budget – $276 million in interfund debt service that was delayed and the $690 million federal reserve borrowing that was moved forward. However, changing the timing of payments does not improve the state’s overall financial condition. It’s an accounting shell game to make the budget appear balanced on paper.
The rest of the deficit is covered by spending freezes worth $1.27 billion and significantly more optimistic revenue assumptions compared to those the governor’s office released in November 2020. Those spending changes are not actual cuts compared to prior-year spending, but rather canceling automatic spending growth that is assumed as part of the state’s baseline budgeting method.
More optimistic revenue projections account for the largest reduction in the deficit, on paper, at $1.88 billion. The governor’s office also raised revenue projections by $2.3 billion for the current fiscal year 2021, which “closes” this year’s $3.9 billion deficit if December’s $2 billion in borrowing from the federal reserve is counted as revenue. Illinois has a history of counting debt as revenue and relying on optimistic revenue projections to cover deficits on paper, but this optimism is often wrong. That helps explain why politicians claim to pass a balanced budget each year, but the budget has not actually ended a year in the black since fiscal year 2001.
While state and local revenue collections in Illinois and across the country have been beating estimates made early in the pandemic, the November revenue projections from the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget were already $2.2 billion higher than projected in April 2020. It’s unclear that economic conditions since November have changed enough to justify another large upwards revision.
All together, Pritzker’s budget proposal fails to offer the significant financial reforms needed to protect Illinois taxpayers, preserve services for the vulnerable in the long term and ensure the state has a strong recovery from COVID-19. Illinois’ personal income growth was the second worst in the nation following the Great Recession, in part because of tax hikes that hurt the recovery. Pritzker’s various proposed tax increases on businesses threaten to hold back Illinois’ ability to create good-paying jobs and grow wages for its residents as the state recovers from a pandemic-induced recession.
Lawmakers are largely expected to receive $7.5 billion in unrestricted aid for the state budget from the federal government under the $350 billion state and local bailout proposed by President Biden’s administration. This lifeline provides Illinois with breathing room to make the long-term changes necessary to stabilize state finances, starting with pension reform. The General Assembly should also use that aid to cancel all nine of the pandemic tax increases from the governor’s budget proposal.
Here are Pritzker’s nine tax increase proposals:
Cap, delay credits for business operating losses by three years: $314 million
When a company loses money in a given year, known as a net operating loss, federal and state tax laws generally allow at least some portion of that loss to be carried forward to future years as a proportional offset to future tax liability. In other words, if a business loses money in 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic, but earns a profit in 2022, it can deduct the two years of losses from its earnings in 2022 and pay taxes only on the difference.
For purposes of state taxes, Pritzker wants to limit losses carried forward to $100,000 for the next three years. Businesses would still be able to carry forward losses above that amount but couldn’t claim the deduction until three years from now.
This change would reduce businesses’ cash on hand to make investments in equipment, new jobs or raises for employees. It would therefore hurt Illinois’ ability to recover economically from COVID-19. Because the full value of the credits is only delayed, it has the potential to create a significant revenue drop in the future when businesses try to collect on the full value of the credits.
Delay expensing of business investments: $214 million
Illinois automatically adopts certain changes in federal tax law as part of Illinois tax law through what’s called “rolling conformity,” meaning state law points back to the Internal Revenue Code and automatically updates certain provisions to match. Pritzker wants to decouple from federal provisions intended to promote pro-growth investments.
Federal tax reform in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act included several changes intended to bolster business investments and promote economic growth. One of these changes was to allow full and immediate expensing, meaning companies can deduct the entire cost of an investment in the year it was made, rather than dragging out the expensing over the lifecycle of an asset.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act applied this concept, also called 100% bonus depreciation, to investments with a useable lifetime of 20 years or less, such as machinery and equipment. Long-term investments in buildings must still be expensed over time. The changes for short-term investments are scheduled to phase out beginning in 2022 and expire in 2026. The nonpartisan Tax Foundation has argued for making these changes permanent, because delaying deductions for investments increases the cost to businesses and discourages investments that help grow the economy.
"Stretching depreciation deductions for capital investment over time means a business can’t fully recover the cost of making the investment. This discourages businesses from making productive investments that would otherwise be worthwhile to pursue," the Tax Foundation stated.
Pritzker’s proposed change would immediately revert to the prior system of stretching out the deduction for Illinois taxes, discouraging the very investments that will help Illinois recover from the COVID-19 economic downturn.
Double-tax profits U.S. companies earn abroad: $107 million
Another aspect of federal tax reform in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was to move from a “worldwide” towards a “territorial” corporate tax system, in part to encourage companies to repatriate money held overseas. One of the most important aspects of this reform was to end double taxation on profits U.S. companies earned overseas by allowing a 100% deduction for foreign dividends paid to the parent company. Those profits would have already faced taxation in the country where the income was earned.
Pritzker proposes eliminating the credit for foreign dividends, which could discourage those profits from being repatriated and brought to Illinois if the profits would receive more favorable tax treatment overseas.
New sales tax on biodiesel gasoline: $107 million
Under current law, fuel with a biodiesel content greater than 10% or ethanol content of at least 70% is exempt from Illinois sales taxes. The exemption is scheduled to expire in 2024, but Pritzker would eliminate the credit immediately.
Illinois Fuel and Retail Association CEO Josh Sharp responded: “This change would add approximately 20 cents to a gallon of diesel fuel and is especially egregious considering that Illinois is one of only six states that already imposes a sales tax on motor fuels. Ending this incentive would also be incredibly damaging to our vital agriculture community in Illinois and hurt my small business members at a time when it’s so easy for customers to drive across state lines to fill up their vehicles.”
Limit retailers’ reimbursement for collecting state sales tax: $73 million
Retail stores in Illinois collect and remit sales tax on behalf of the state, which has an administrative cost. To reimburse retailers for this service to the state, current law allows retailers to keep 1.75% of the sales taxes they collect as compensation. Pritzker wants to limit retailers’ reimbursement to $1,000 per month.
The Illinois Retail Merchants Association said the current 1.75% amount already “only partially reimburses” store owners for their cost. The statement continued, “Shifting more of the cost of administration and collection onto retailers does nothing to support struggling businesses and indicates the governor fails to fully appreciate all that retail contributes to our state, which prior to the pandemic employed one-fifth of all workers in Illinois and served as the second largest revenue generator for state government and the largest revenue generator for local governments.”
Limit manufacturing equipment sales tax exemption: $56 million
The purchase of manufacturing machinery and equipment is generally exempt from Illinois sales taxes. In 2019, this exemption was expanded to include “tangible personal property” used in the manufacturing process, such as fuels, coolants and oil consumed in the manufacturing process. Pritzker is proposing to reverse that recent change.
According to the Sales Tax Institute, the expansion brought Illinois’ manufacturing credits more in line with nearby states.
Illinois’ manufacturing industry has consistently lagged other Midwest states since the Great Recession. Even before COVID-19, Illinois lost 13,100 manufacturing jobs in 2019 – the largest percentage loss of any job sector.
Steve Rauschenberger, president of the Technology and Manufacturing Association, singled out the elimination of this expanded exemption in his reaction to Pritzker’s budget proposal. "We urge the governor to stop championing policies that will put Illinoisans on the unemployment lines and force our job creators and innovators to leave our state to survive," Rauschenberger said.
Cancel phase-out of costly corporate franchise tax: $30 million
Only 16 states still have "capital stock taxes" which tax businesses on their net worth regardless of whether the business is profitable, according to the Tax Foundation. "These taxes impair economic growth in the best of times, but during an economic contraction they are particularly harmful to businesses struggling to remain viable," the Tax Foundation said.
Illinois confusingly refers to its capital stock tax as the “corporate franchise tax,” even though it has nothing to do with franchise businesses. Complying with the tax law is complicated and comes with high compliance costs that are particularly difficult for smaller businesses to manage. The cost of complying with the tax is more than many businesses owe to the state.
The tax was scheduled to phase out over four years before being fully eliminated in 2024 under a law passed in 2019.
Though Pritzker touted the elimination of this tax as an accomplishment of his first year, he is now proposing to reverse the change.
Eliminate credit for creating construction jobs: $16 million
The Blue Collar Jobs Act passed in 2019 created new tax credits to incentivize the creation of construction jobs. Eligible businesses would be able to take a credit worth 50% of the new payroll taxes withheld as the result of a construction job created. That credit rose to 75% if the job was created in an economically distressed area.
Reduce tax scholarship credit for disadvantaged students: $14 million
State lawmakers passed the Invest in Kids Act in 2017 as part of an overhaul of the education funding formula. The program is the state’s first-ever school choice program, and among the largest in the nation. It gives disadvantaged students a chance to go to private schools by giving scholarship donors a 75% tax credit for their donation towards state taxes, incentivizing those donations.
Only students within 300% of the federal poverty line are eligible for the scholarships, and the neediest students are prioritized first.
Pritzker wants to reduce the value of the credit to 40%, which would inevitably mean fewer scholarships available for low-income students.
Empower Illinois, a non-profit that helps match students with scholarships and the appropriate school, responded: "During this challenging time, kids need more quality education options, not fewer. And while Illinois’ financial challenges are significant, the State should not balance its budget on the backs of children from low-income and working-class communities or the schools that serve them so well."
Adam Schuster is the Senior Director of Budget and Tax Research at the Illinois Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research organization that promotes responsible government and free market principles. This story was originally published on February 24, 2021.
Six ways Trump's budget will damage rural Americans' way of life
Right now, Congress is working on a giant, fast-track bill that would make historic cuts to basic needs programs to finance another round of tax breaks for the wealthy and big corporations.
PONTIAC - People everywhere are conquering their cabin fever and are enjoying the great outdoors after a long, bitter winter. But before you head out for that hike, health care experts remind you to take precautions to avoid tick bites. Read more . . .
by Ben Szalinski
“Every day I’m going to wake up going forward thinking about what I am going to do that’s going to help the people of Illinois,” Pritzker told reporters in Springfield when asked how many years of a third term he would serve. “So that’s the reason I’m running for reelection, it’s why I announced today, it’s what I’m going to do every day going forward no matter what decision I make.”
The 60-year-old Democrat’s national profile has grown significantly over the last year. He was a finalist to be former Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate last July, and weeks later, introduced himself to the country on the stage of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. In the months since President Donald Trump took office, Pritzker has emerged as one of his most vocal critics.
"If these trends continue, and we expect them to, then on Monday, February 28, we will lift the indoor mask requirements for the State of Illinois," Pritzker said at his 2pm press conference in Chicago. Currently, Illinois is one of nine states that still required masks inside public places.
After the 28th, masking will then be optional in grocery stores, bars and restaurants, public buildings, and non-scholastic sporting events - vaccinated or not.
There will be some indoor areas and venues where masks will still be required until further notice.
