State lawmakers have increased annual K-12 funding by more than $2.5 billion since 2017. More state funding should mean easing the burden locally, Pritzker said. “But you know what? School boards didn’t take the hint,” he said Monday. “And so they’ve continued to ratchet up property taxes over and over and over again, and that has led to a continued very high property tax burden on homeowners across the state.”

Sponsors said lawmakers, state agencies and the public should have accurate and consistent information when making decisions about criminal justice policy, corrections funding and public safety programs.

llinois’ bond sales would total $3.2 billion in fiscal year 2027 under provisions of Gov. JB Pritzker’s executive budget, the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability found in its analysis of the spending plan. The state’s outstanding principal would climb to $29.9 billion and debt service would hit $3.8 billion for general obligation bonds and $435 million for Build Illinois bonds, CGFA said in its analysis, released last week.

On March 31, President Trump signed an executive order attempting to establish a national list of eligible voters and directing the U.S. Postal Service to transmit mail ballots only to those on the list. In the order, the president threatens states and election officials with criminal prosecution and the loss of federal funding if they do not comply with his demands.

One of the key issues the union won’t accept is the proposal for a 1 percent raise.

The Traveling Animal Acts bill would ban circuses traveling through Illinois from featuring specific wild animals, including big cats like lions and tigers, bears, and primates. Illinois was the first state to ban elephants in traveling shows back in 2017.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, joined by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, filed the petitions for judicial review against U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright. Ellison argued the U.S. Department of Energy “unlawfully” invoked emergency powers to keep the plants operating, a move he said will increase costs for ratepayers throughout the Midwest.

While lawmakers have appropriated $30 million to the State Police for vehicle replacement each year since fiscal year 2024, the actual revenue that goes into the fund is about a third of that amount or less. In fiscal year 2025, for example, lawmakers gave ISP $30 million in spending authority, but the agency ultimately spent about $7 million due to the fund’s slower revenue pace.

The proposed incentive package, HB 910 House Amendment 1, would be devastating for Illinois’ property tax crisis. Although approved megaprojects would pay steeply discounted property taxes, a clause in the bill allows a taxing body to count the cash value of the megaproject in its total assessed value.

“If government is going to ask taxpayers to contribute, it has a responsibility to protect and manage that money wisely.”

Illinois consumers who bought health insurance on the state’s Affordable Care Act exchange are paying 26% more for coverage, on average, than they did last year, and the number of people who enrolled in the plans dropped nearly 4%, according to the state. Though that 26% average increase in monthly premiums is surely tough for many, it’s a far cry from the 78% average jump that state regulators previously said could occur if the federal government didn’t renew enhanced premium tax credits and people stayed on their plans from last year.

Since 2020, the state has gotten $15.6 billion in federal aid related to the COVID-19 pandemic. While that funding was temporary, Illinois has permanently increased what it spends. That has caused a fiscal problem for the state, with projected budget deficits totaling nearly $21 billion during the next five years. Expenditures are forecasted to grow nearly 20 percent in that time, but revenues only 11 percent in that time.

“In every state — except Wyoming and Illinois — regulators have the authority to stop excessive, inadequate or unfairly discriminatory rates before they hit consumers’ wallets. Not here. Illinois requires drivers to purchase car insurance coverage, yet the state fails to provide the basic consumer safeguards that residents in other states take for granted. In other words, Illinois families get left holding the bill first and asking questions later. That would end with this legislation.”

In the ruling, the unanimous panel said Illinois is allowed to ban people from carrying loaded, unsecured weapons on trains and buses and in stations, bus stops and “adjacent parking areas,” because firearms are particularly dangerous in such crowded and confined public environments