Illinois lawmakers discuss the latest stimulus bill

Posted on March 12, 2021
Budget director Alexis Sturm during a virtual hearing Thursday afternoon. (Dave Dahl/WJBC)

 

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – The ink wasn’t dry on the President’s signature of the ARP bill Thursday afternoon when the chairman of the Illinois House Revenue and Finance Committee was talking about how to spend it.

“I think the legislature would like a say in appropriating money,” State Rep. Mike Zalewski (D-Riverside) told budget director Alexis Sturm during a virtual hearing, also Thursday afternoon. “So my hope is that you can convey that to the governor’s office and then we can develop a framework to work together on that.”

The state is expected to bring in more than $40 billion. Sturm says the projected deficit is less than it was.

“We had estimated back in November that the shortfall was about $4.8 billion for Fiscal Year 22,” said Sturm. “It widened a little bit when we issued borrowing in December of 2020, but then as the outlook became more positive in the last few months, that did narrow quite a bit, and so $3 billion is the right number as far as the overall revenue drop.”

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]

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