Southern Illinois News

State Sen. Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro) is weighing in on Gov. J.B. Pritzker's proposed budget.

"The governor had a lot of new and expanded programs. We’ve talked a lot about the need, if we’re going to get our fiscal house in order, to make sure we don't have new and expanded programs right now," Murphy said in a statement. "I like some of the things he said about getting our fiscal house in order. It’s time to pass some of that on to taxpayers. … I hope that you’re going to give a seat at the 'grown-up table' for those of us that have good ideas. I think Republicans have some excellent ideas on how to make permanent changes and permanent tax relief to the taxpayers to the state rather than election-year gimmicks. If we want to make changes, we need to make those changes in a permanent way."

Pritzker's state budget totals $112.5 billion. Of that, $45.5 billion would be from the state's general revenue fund and the rest is from federal funds. Public employee pensions make up a large part of the budget. 

Pritzker is proposing $1 billion in tax relief as part of his Family Relief Plan. The proposal would provide a temporary freeze of the annual gas tax increase for a total of $135 million. Also proposed is freezing the grocery tax, totaling $360 million. Another proposal is up to $300 in property tax rebates for a total of $475 million.

Senate Minority Leader Dan McConchie (R-Lake Zurich) was also critical of the governor, saying, "Money from COVID, that's what he's going to be using to quote-unquote kind of patch the budget instead of doing the real fundamental reforms that need to take place in this state,"