Quad Cities Chamber Applauds Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker For Budgets

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker delivered the State of the State address on Wednesday afternoon with a budget plan for the state of Illinois.

While there will be a projected budget deficit of $891 million the Quad Cities Chamber "applauds Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker for a continued commitment to balanced budgets, which creates stability and certainty for businesses and residents."

Where Will Illinois Spend Some Of The Money?

According to ABC 7 in Chicago Pritzker is asking lawmakers to appropriate $182 million to help with the migrant crisis.

Another long-term budget goal is the billion-dollar multi-year plan to retire the outstanding medical debt of some low-income Illinois residents.

A $10 million portion of the budget would help clear the debt of 364,000 residents. It's modeled after a similar program started by Cook County.

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What Did The Quad Cities Chamber Say?

The Quad Cities Chamber released a statement after Governor Pritzker's speech saying they "see areas for opportunity and collaboration as the State deliberates on final budget allocations and particularly in our focus areas of workforce and business and economic growth."

"We appreciate Governor Pritzker’s continued focus on workforce and talent development through investment in child care, K-12 schools, and higher education. Access to and affordability of child care remains a barrier to employment for many Illinois residents, and continued growth in the Smart Start program will make a meaningful difference in expanding the employable labor force."

"The Governor discussed the need to create pathways for permanent housing. The Chamber is actively supporting legislation to increase construction of middle-income housing, introduced by Senator Mike Halpin this year. This is one way to create a depth of housing options across the state and stabilize rents while driving new housing investment."

The Quad Cities Chamber says the Governor’s budget makes changes that both increase and decrease tax impacts on businesses with the following.

• Extending the sunset on caps for Net Operating Losses (NOL) and increasing that cap to $500,000 (Increase)
• Capping the retail discount on sales tax collections for retailers (Increase)
• Increasing sports wagering taxes (Increase)
• Increasing the franchise tax paid in capital to a $10,000 exemption (Modest Decrease)

You can read the Chambers Legislative Agenda here.