SZALINSKI’S SUMMARY: Gov. JB Pritzker used his item and reduction veto powers to eliminate $500.4 billion of spending mostly erroneously included in Illinois’ fiscal year 2027 budget. The majority of that came from a single mistake that would’ve given more than $500 billion to an NAACP branch in Chicago.
WHY IT MATTERS: Pritzker made the changes in consultation with the General Assembly’s budget leaders, Rep. Robyn Gabel, D-Evanston, and Sen. Elgie Sims, D-Chicago. The constitution gives the governor authority to veto portions of bills or amend appropriations without rejecting the whole bill, which saves the General Assembly from having to rush back to Springfield before the budget takes effect on July 1 to correct costly mistakes. Pritzker’s changes keep the budget from being nearly nine times larger than it is supposed to be.
Pritzker said in his message to the General Assembly that they “identified a number of individual appropriation lines included in the enrolled bill sent to me for consideration that either contain errors or are duplicative of other appropriation lines already contained in the bill.”
WHY IT HAPPENED: Things get missed in the middle of the night, especially when it is in a 3,700-page document. The Senate approved the spending plan shortly after 3 a.m. on June 1, with the House following about an hour later. Despite three amendments to House Bill 111, the spending plan, quite a few errors made it to the governor’s desk.
Ben Szalinski
Ben joined CNI in November 2024 as a Statehouse reporter covering the General Assembly from Springfield and other events happening around state government. He previously covered Illinois government for The Daily Line following time in McHenry County with the Northwest Herald. Ben is also a graduate of the University of Illinois Springfield PAR program. He is a lifelong Illinois resident and is originally from Mundelein.
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