State Representative Ryan Spain on Illinois Budget
As the new state budget is set to take effect on July 1st, Gov. JB Pritzker recently used his item and reduction veto powers to eliminate $500.4 billion of spending, most of which was erroneously included in Illinois’ fiscal year 2027 budget.
$500 billion of that came from a single mistake that would’ve been given to an NAACP branch in Chicago. Pritzker made the changes after consulting with the General Assembly’s Democrat budget leaders after the errors made it to the governor’s desk for his signature.
However, State Representative Ryan Spain (R-Peoria) pointed to errors during debate in the final hours of the legislative session.
Because the Senate passed the spending plan after 3 a.m. on June 1st, and the House shortly after, the 3,700-page document lacked proper review. The fast-tracked nature of the process has drawn heavy criticism regarding transparency, as lawmakers only had a few hours to review the sprawling legislation before the vote.