•February 22, 2023•

Calls for new investments in education, efforts to combat poverty
By Peter Hancock
Capitol News Illinois
phancock @ capitolnewsillinois.com

Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday laid out a $49.6 billion spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year that calls for significant new spending for early childhood education and efforts to combat homelessness among other areas.
He also claimed credit for putting the state back on more secure financial footing.
Speaking to a joint session of the General Assembly, Pritzker delivered a combined State of the State speech and budget address in the House chamber since his pre-pandemic address in February 2020.
Pritzker’s proposed budget appeared to signal a transition to a post-COVID kind of normalcy, with a focus on typical state issues like education, health care and social services as opposed to grappling with a public health disaster and the economic calamity that came with it.
“The last time I stood here seems like a lifetime ago,” Pritzker said. “So many fiscal challenges laid ahead. And so much progress has been made.”
Pritzker came into office in 2019, succeeding Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, whose single term was marked by a two-year budget impasse that resulted in a nearly $17 billion backlog of past-due bills and multiple credit downgrades. But with those old bills paid and credit rating agencies now giving the state upgrades, Pritzker appeared to revel in pointing out the contrast.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.