State Sen. John Curran, chair of the ethics committee, said the changes will hold elected officials to higher ethical standards. “Let’s face it, with the indictments brought forward in the last several years, the people of Illinois continue to lose faith and trust in their government. We are well past the point where we can just point to those who have betrayed their oath of office and not move forward with ethical reforms.”

It’s unclear how HB562 would work at cutting down a persistent backlog of FOID card applications.

“We have a billion [dollars] of new capital projects that have been available but it appears that it was only known that those projects were available or eligible for requests from Senate Democratic and House Democratic caucus,” state Rep. Tom Demmer said.

The budget keeps the Local Government Distributive Fund, tax dollars the state collects and shares with local governments, whole. There’s also another $1 billion for capital projects, and pays down $2 billion in borrowing – something that could save $100 million in interest.

The bill also includes a provision allowing bars to provide one free drink to customers who can show they’ve been vaccinated against COVID.

There are currently 10 members of the 15-person PRB serving without Senate confirmation. Gov. JB Pritzker’s press secretary, Jordan Abudayyeh, said the governor has no objection to his appointees to the PRB receiving a vote by the committee or the Senate. “He does object to the GOP playing games with appointments to a board that is responsible for undertaking a difficult and complex mission. These members must be able to make parole determinations entirely independently and free from political interference.”

After high profile cybersecurity breaches involving the Illinois State Board of Elections and the Attorney General’s office, the omnibus will also require election authorities to beef up cybersecurity measures including monthly vulnerability scans, risk assessment every two years and use protection from the Department of Innovation and Technology or a third-party vendor within one year of its passage.

“This is the last day of this year’s legislative session, and lawmakers are divvying up tens of billions of dollars in state and federal revenue while small businesses — the engine driving Illinois’ economic comeback – are about to be stuck with a nearly $5 billion tax bill in the form of huge hikes in unemployment taxes brought on by the pandemic shutdowns,” National Federation of Independent Business Illinois State Director Mark Grant said.

Several Prisoner Review Board members were a no-show at a committee hearing Monday. “How much longer is the state legislature going to sit by, while Governor Pritzker, the most dangerous governor in America, has appointees unaccountable to the legislature?” said state Sen. Jason Plummer.

Anybody wishing to make such a bet in Illinois would need to do so in person at a sports book, rather than on an online application. The legislation also prohibits municipalities from taxing video gambling machines or bets placed on the machines.

The budget plan was released this morning, containing 704 pages worth of plans amid an effort to decrease a deficit that has already decreased substantially from a peak of $1.3 billion.