FY24 Budget
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The Fiscal Year 2023 budget features many efforts to support Illinoisans who need it most. With continued pandemic stress and the strain of inflation, consumers need relief, stability, and fiscal responsibility from their State. That’s why this budget focuses on funding crucial social services and relief for working families. The FY23 budget appropriates $1 billion for the Illinois Family Relief Plan. This plan is a program that seeks to curb the impacts of inflation by providing tax relief on groceries and gas to Illinois consumers, expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit to more people, as well as providing property tax rebates for low and middle income families. Additional budgetary focus was directed to funding human services, bolstering the hospitality sector, and supporting our education systems, where an increase of over $350 million in evidence-based education funding was designated for all our state’s public schools. early childhood education, and childcare assistance services. The Monetary Award Program was also renewed and revitalized in funding, so that 24,000 more of our college students can receive financial aid towards their education. We even made an extra pension payment—which will save the State money in interest payments—in addition to putting $1 billion into our “rainy day” fund.
Graphic description: the Fiscal Year 23 budget funded $3 billion in IL childcare assistance, froze the gas tax to combat inflation, and allocated $350 million to evidence-based education funding.
Housing insecurity was another important issue that demanded attention in this budget. FY23 has allotted $275 million in funding from the American Rescue Plan Act towards the Illinois House Development Authority to provide grants, forgivable loans, and cover other expenses associated with increasing affordable housing options in Illinois. $130 million on top of that is going towards legal assistance for those under threat of eviction resulting from the financial pressures of COVID-19. Also noteworthy is the budget’s focus on increasing public safety. $250 million goes to the implementation of the Reimagine Public Safety Act, which puts forward a holistic approach to reducing gun violence. An additional $48 million is allotted towards preventing carjacking.
Graphic description: the Fiscal Year 23 budget funded $50 million to restaurants employment and stabilization funds, allotted relief checks to Illinois families ($50 per adult, $100 per child for up to 3 children), and $450 million for community healthcare needs.
I am happy to share that this budget contains a crucial increase for domestic violence service providers. We have seen a major increase in domestic violence calls since the start of the pandemic. This is a safety and public health crisis, and we must continue to fund these services that advance justice. The Governor’s introduced budget only provided for a minuscule $400,000 increase back in February. I made it my sole budget priority to ensure that the agencies and staff serving survivors of domestic violence were allocated the resources they need to respond to the dramatic increase in demand for service they’ve seen during the pandemic and beyond. Along with colleagues in the Senate, the House Progressive Caucus, and the House Democratic Women’s Caucus and amazing advocates from service providers all over the state, we were able to secure $70 million!
The FY23 budget, like all budgets, is a statement of our values as a state. As such, there were opportunities where I was able to stand up for my values, and the values that represent our vibrant, forward-thinking district. I don’t always agree with every piece that passes, but I welcome the opportunity to engage in these discussions and I’m proud of my advocacy on the General Assembly floor. Overall, the FY23 budget emphasized the objectives we need in order to collectively succeed, like funding our teachers and schools and taking nuanced approaches to increasing safety. We also stepped up to our responsibility to protect vulnerable communities, like survivors of domestic violence and those facing housing insecurity. With this budget, we expect Illinois to continue down the path of fiscal discipline, while promoting public safety, easing the toll of inflation, and giving our communities the resources they need to thrive.
For a comprehensible breakdown of financial sources and outputs for the Fiscal Year 2023 state budget, please see the charts below.
Graphic description: the first image shows the highlights of the FY23 budget such as inflation relief, public safety, human services, education, and general services as pieces to a whole. The second graphic shows a chart of the enacted FY23 budget breakdown, with expenditures of $45.986 billion and a surplus of $458 million.