In recent years, the state has dedicated surpluses to paying down long- and short-term debt, making pension payments beyond the amounts required in law and providing one-time temporary tax relief. Gov. JB Pritzker indicated he’d continue to be cautious when considering spending priorities for one-time revenues, echoing his budget office, which noted that revenues have fluctuated wildly from month to month in recent years.

García weighed in on Gov. JB Pritzker’s decision to pause health care coverage enrollment for immigrants: “We are in dialogue with the governor, with legislative leaders as well, trying to get at whether or not the analysis that was done may have been overestimated or inflated and whether there is a lower true cost associated that would enable us to reach a better place in this.”