After late-night discussions, Illinois House, Senate pass $40 billion budget for 2020 fiscal year
The Illinois House of Representatives came to an agreement on a $40.628 billion spending plan on Friday night, on the last day of regular session.
House members voted 83-35 on the measure.
The Senate followed a few hours later in a 40-19 vote, and the spending plan goes to governor for his signature.
The budget is balanced, said state Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, during Friday’s discussions.
Legislators agreed to pay $1.4 billion from the bill backlog, which includes $1.2 billion in borrowing to take advantage of lower interest rates.
It also includes meeting the full pension obligation for the 2020 fiscal year.
The budget was agreed to in a bipartisan vote.
“Our caucus will work with the majority party on any issue as long you respect our priorities and we will respect your priorities,” said state Rep. Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs.
While meeting with reporters earlier in the night, Durkin said there was agreement among Democrats to consider pro-business initiatives.
The vote came after an afternoon of negotiations among legislative leaders, along with Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
“I think we’re all figuring out how to work together and realize different parts of the state, different parts of view, have different needs. It’s our job to try to come to a compromise that best suits everybody,” Harris said. “We’ve got a governor who’s helping us with the budget process whose going to sign it and I think that’s a much better deal than the last one we had. “
How metro-east legislators voted
State Rep. Monica Bristow, D-Godfrey: Yes
State Rep. LaToya Greenwood, D-East St. Louis: Yes
State Rep. Jay Hoffman, D-Swansea: Yes
State Rep: Charlie Meier, R-Okawville: Yes
State Rep: Nathan Reitz, D-Steeleville: Yes
State Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville: Yes
State Rep. Blaine Wilhour, R-Beecher City: No
State Sen. Chris Belt, D-Cahokia: Yes
State Sen. Rachelle Aud Crowe, D-Glen Carbon: Yes
State Sen. Jason Plummer, R-Edwardsville: No
State Sen. Paul Schimpf, R-Waterloo: No
This story was originally published May 31, 2019 at 10:13 PM.
