On Wednesday, Governor J.B. Pritzker will deliver the State of the State and Budget Address from the chambers of the Illinois House of Representatives to a joint session of the Illinois General Assembly.
In his address, the Governor will signal his spending priorities for the 2025/2026 fiscal year. However, it will ultimately be up to the members of the General Assembly to appropriate the funding for those priorities. The budget vote in the General Assembly typically occurs in the final weeks of the Legislative Session. Ideally, the budget will be vetted through the Legislative Appropriation Committees giving the public an opportunity to weigh-in. But in recent years, because of one-party rule in Springfield, the Democrats have debated the budget among themselves and not only have left out Republican lawmakers from the process, more egregiously, they have stifled public input. We sincerely hope this year will be different and Republicans as well as the general public will be included in productive budget discussions.
You will be able to watch the Budget Address on Wednesday, February 21 starting at noon on the General Assembly Website (the link goes live at noon on Wednesday).