As things stood Thursday afternoon, the Illinois General Assembly was still working to move forward with its upcoming fiscal year budget.
In its totality, the budget language seen in an amendment filed to Senate Bill 250 included more than 3,400 pages and has revenue estimates exceeding $50.7 billion while expenditures topping $50.6 billion for the fiscal year starting on July 1. This number surpasses recent figures from the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget by more than $300 million and approximately $1 billion more in expenditures than the governor's proposed budget from February.
The first budget bill from Senate Democrats lead budgeteer Sen. Elgie Sims, D-Chicago, dropped a little after 9 p.m. on Wednesday. Still not seen at this point is the needed companion piece of the budget: the Budget Implementation Bill.
Debate appeared to be imminent when the Senate resumed floor action late that evening until Senate President Don Harmon announced no vote would not take place until Thursday.
The reason for this, Harmon, D-Oak Park said, was due to a lack of agreement between the Senate, House, and governor. With the clock approaching 11 p.m. and the House still being in caucus regarding the budget, he said the conversation would take-up starting Thursday morning allowing for public testimony in the Senate Appropriations Committee before a full floor vote.
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