Budget, Tax Hikes Head to Governor After Late Night Votes
House Speaker Chris Welch acknowledges his staff on the House floor early Sunday morning after the House advanced an FY26 budget. (Photo: Capitol News Illinois)
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Around 10pm Friday night, Democrats were brewing with confidence about the chances of passing a state budget without the overnight drama that nearly derailed their budget plan a year ago.
While Democrats advanced a $55.2 billion spending plan for FY26 with plenty of votes to spare late Saturday night, they did come within minutes of the midnight deadline to pass a budget with a simple majority vote.
“See, piece of cake,” a House Democrat said while walking over with a smile after the bills passed late Saturday night.
The package of budget bills, the spending plan, the Budget Implementation, or BIMP, bill, and a package of tax increases all cleared both the House and Senate and were sent to the Governor JB Pritzker’s desk.
While the budget package may have looked like smooth sailing late Friday, but mid-afternoon Saturday, no BIMP or revenue package had been filed leading to speculation there were problems finalizing the deal. The revenue package wasn’t filed until 6pm, just six hours before the midnight deadline for simple majority passage.
The spending plan, which came in slightly under the Governor’s February proposed spending amount, includes about $2 billion in increased spending over the current fiscal year, and includes about $400 million in cuts. The controversial Health Benefits for Immigrant Adults (HBIA), a Medicaid-style health care plan for adults in the country illegally, was eliminated from the budget. Pritzker proposed ending the plan in his introduced budget. A similar program for seniors in the country illegally remained in the budget.
Democrats cleared the threshold to pass the bills in both chambers with a handful of defections, some from moderates and some from members facing potentially difficult races for re-election next year.
Every Republican opposed the budget package, criticizing Democrats for increased spending and tax hikes.
“Let’s be clear: $15 billion [increase] over six years, that’s on you,” Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet) said. “$2 billion increase over last year, that’s on you. Billions of dollars in tax increases that are driving working families out of Illinois, that’s on you.”
But Democrats defended the spending plan. Senate President Don Harmon called it a “good budget in a bad year.”
“We’re presenting a budget that meets this moment. It is balanced through smart cuts and through smart revenues, not balanced on the backs of working families,” said House Majority Leader Rep. Robyn Gabel, (D-Evanston). “It uses the best information we have at this uncertain time to make the best decisions for our state.”
Governor JB Pritzker praised the budget in a statement early Sunday. He will speak to reporters later Sunday morning.
The budget combined around $400 million in cuts with around $1 billion in new revenue and tax increases, including increases in taxes on tobacco and nicotine products and increased taxes on online sports betting.
The new budget takes effect July 1.
