Illinois Governor JB Pritzker met in front of the Illinois General Assembly in Springfield on Wednesday to deliver his 6th State of the State address. The Governor focused on education, healthcare, and the immigration crisis. Gov. Pritzker described his budget ahead of the start of the fiscal year on July 1st as “focused and disciplined.” The budget proposed would see roughly a 2% raise in spending.
Last year Governor Pritzker introduced a new multi-year plan called Smart Start that was started as a way to invest into preschool and child care. He says that the program is doing better than what was expected.
Governor Pritzker is asking to increase funding for Smart Start by 150 million dollars heading into year 2 of that plan. He also invested 45 Million dollars into the teacher pipeline grant program last year and is looking to continue with that investment with 45 million more dollars this year. According to the governor, that program brought 5,384 new teachers into the field, reaching more than 730,000 students in 170 districts with the highest need.
There was also discussion about public higher education facilities. Governor Pritzker is looking to add more than 30 million dollars in the proposed budget plan to help support public higher education institutions.
The Healthcare Consumer Access and Protection Act was also introduced. This act is a 3 part act and Governor Pritzker says it “will curb predatory insurance practices putting power back into the hands of patients and their doctors”.
Governor Pritzker then spoke about the migrant crisis in Illinois, voicing his frustrations over the federal immigration bill, and stating that the crisis will eventually come to an end. He also stated that they are still working on the migrant crisis and asked for $181.7 million to help support the city of Chicago and Cook County.
Governor Pritzker is looking to cut the grocery tax in its entirety in Illinois to help Illinois families.
The budget also includes relief coming for Illinoisans in medical debt, a plan for 10 million dollars in funding is a part of the governor's budget plan
Listen to the whole speech here.
