By Greg Bishop/Illinois Radio Network
SPRINGFIELD – Illinois Senate Democrats passed their spending plan last month. Leading Republicans offered up their proposal earlier this month. And by the end of the day Tuesday, House Democrats, who hold a significant majority in their chamber, will finally offer up their plan on how to spend Illinois tax dollars in fiscal 2018.
It’s been two years since the state has had a full year’s budget. Several spending plans have been proposed, including one from Senate Democrats and another from leading Republicans. Both call for tax increases exceeding $5 billion. But House Democrats up to this point have yet to propose a full year’s spending plan for the coming fiscal year that begins Saturday.
House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, said he wants to see the House Democrats’ budget proposal.
“Mr. Speaker, show us the budget, and if we can work out and get to that budget, then it’s my job to get the [House Republican] votes,” Durkin said.
State Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, said things are coming together. While there are some items Democrats and Republicans can see eye-to-eye on, Harris said, on some of the reforms sought by Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, there are still differences.
“On issues related to pensions, there are some things I think Democrats and Republicans might be able to agree on and you can recognize some savings there,” Harris said. “I think on the group health savings that the governor had in his budget and the Republicans had in their budget, there would still be a disagreement because that has not been finalized in a collective bargaining setting.”
Leading Republicans expect more than $400 million in savings from state employee health-care plans, but that’s still tied up in court in an impasse between Rauner and AFSCME, the state’s largest public employee union.
House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, said Monday that Durkin and Republicans can expect House Democrats’ spending plan sometime Tuesday at a scheduled leaders’ meeting.
“Once that’s in place, the question is, can we work together to find the revenue to pay for that spending plan,” Madigan said.
Durkin said he’d work to find GOP votes for tax increases only if Democrats agree to certain reforms.
So far, Senate Democrats and leading Republicans’ plans rely on more than $5 billion in tax increases including a 32 percent income tax hike, which would mean an Illinois family making $60,000 a year would pay the state an additional $720 a year.
But there’s a group of rank-and-file Republicans that wants a cuts-only budget that won’t rely on any tax increases.
Both chambers are back for Day 7 of special session Tuesday.