Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) held an end of session press briefing.
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 . Yeah. Take a lively group-.
00:14 Terrific well good morning and
00:16 thank you all for joining us as
00:17 we close out another historic
00:19 and highly productive spring
00:21 session of the Illinois General
00:23 Assembly I'm genuinely proud of
00:26 our major accomplishments and
00:28 the work we've done in the past
00:30 year. We didn't shy away from
00:32 addressing the immediate
00:34 challenges that face Illinois
00:36 families or the long term ones
00:38 our state has begun to overcome.
00:40 And we didn't let extremists or
00:43 self serving special interests
00:45 get in the way of finding real
00:47 solutions. It took hard work
00:50 compromise and creativity but
00:52 that's what's required to make
00:54 transformational progress for
00:56 Illinois. And in the first
01:01 consecutive year I introduced
01:03 and the legislature passed a
01:05 balanced budget that invest in
01:07 our future while putting money
01:09 back in the hands of hard
01:11 working Illinoisans. It seems
01:13 like every year there have been
01:15 the usual naysayers with their
01:18 false narratives about our
01:20 budget but this is your six not
01:23 six. We increased our state's
01:26 pension fund to over two point
01:28 three billion dollars we
01:30 increased our state's pension
01:32 funded ratio. We paid off our
01:35 overdue bill backlog we
01:37 eliminated nearly all short
01:38 term debt in the state all while
01:40 surpassing a one trillion
01:43 dollar economic GDP output. Our
01:47 record of fiscal responsibility
01:49 and responsible investments is
01:51 the highest in the country.
01:53 I want to thank those who
01:55 independently evaluate our
01:57 state's credit worthiness over
01:59 the last three years Illinois
02:00 has received nine credit
02:02 upgrades and attracted more and
02:05 bigger investors than ever
02:07 before. Our state is in its
02:09 strongest fiscal position in
02:12 decades. This FY twenty five
02:15 budget continues that progress
02:17 that starts with our youngest
02:19 Illinoisans and their families.
02:21 This budget will help to
02:23 strengthen our state's
02:25 financial system with a four
02:26 hundred million dollar
02:28 investment in preschool access
02:30 child care workforce early
02:32 intervention and home visiting
02:34 shot sorry home visiting
02:36 programs across all of Illinois
02:38 this budget also creates the new
02:40 department of early childhood
02:42 which will make it easier to
02:44 serve. Children parents and
02:46 providers. We also continue our
02:49 efforts to increase the
02:51 funding for our K. twelve
02:53 public schools another year of
02:56 record reductions in teacher
02:58 vacancies and expansion of
03:00 career and technical education.
03:03 We expanded scholarships and
03:04 map grant funding bringing us
03:06 to a highest ever investment of
03:09 seven hundred and sixty one
03:11 million dollars in total to
03:13 make sure that every person who
03:16 wants to can access high
03:18 quality education. The FY twenty
03:21 five budget includes nearly
03:23 three billion dollars to
03:25 support people with intellectual
03:27 and developmental disabilities
03:29 their families and the systems
03:31 that support them. This is the
03:34 largest ever amount invested in
03:37 D. D. a testament to our
03:39 consistent commitment to
03:41 rebuilding supports for our
03:43 most vulnerable. One of the
03:45 challenges facing families
03:46 is the lack of funding for
03:48 families to raise their
03:50 children especially for those
03:52 trying to raise a family.
03:53 Rising prices have hit working
03:55 families the hardest so we
03:57 focused on finding ways to
03:59 reduce costs and put more money
04:01 in their pockets. That's why we
04:03 eliminated the state sales tax
04:06 on groceries and then created
04:08 the first ever Illinois child
04:10 tax credit providing as much as
04:12 three hundred dollars for
04:14 Illinoisans to receive. This
04:16 would have cost us a billion
04:18 dollars in medical debt for
04:20 more than three hundred
04:22 thousand Illinoisans in
04:24 financial peril because of an
04:26 injury or illness totally
04:28 outside of their control.
04:29 Healthcare needs to be more
04:32 affordable and accessible so we
04:34 took on predatory insurance
04:36 practices and put power back in
04:38 the hands of doctors and
04:39 patients through the health
04:41 care protection act. For too
04:43 long Illinoisans have been
04:45 paid or denied because of an
04:47 insurance executive hundreds of
04:49 miles away who knew that they
04:51 could make an extra buck for
04:53 the insurance company.
04:55 Illinois has now prohibited
04:57 that. In fact we have put into
04:59 law a nation leading package of
05:01 reforms that makes it easier
05:03 and more affordable for people
05:05 by banning step therapy,
05:07 banning prior authorization for
05:09 crisis mental health care,
05:11 banning junk insurance plans
05:13 and banning the use of
05:15 insurance companies that
05:17 directly affect rate increases
05:19 for large group insurance
05:21 companies. All of those things
05:23 improve affordability and access
05:25 to health care. I told you last
05:27 February that I'd put my
05:29 shoulder to the wheel to get
05:31 this done and I'm very grateful
05:33 to the many advocates who helped
05:35 get it across the finish line.
05:37 I'd especially like to thank
05:39 the chief sponsors of the
05:41 bill, the federal government,
05:43 the state and local governments
05:45 who helped get this done.
05:47 We also want to thank the
05:49 federal government for a fine
05:51 who got Democrats and Republicans
05:53 together to give this a strong
05:55 bipartisan majority.
05:57 Comprehensive health care access
05:59 means fully protecting
06:01 reproductive health care. This
06:03 session we set out to not only
06:05 affirm that fundamental right
06:07 but build an infrastructure
06:09 for robust birth equity
06:11 initiatives in the entire nation
06:13 aimed at closing the tragic gap
06:15 in maternal mortality and
06:17 morbidity between black women
06:19 and other new parents.
06:21 It invests in birth centers
06:23 and providers in underserved
06:25 areas, expands home
06:27 visiting and establishes a pilot
06:29 program for women who cannot
06:31 afford diapers.
06:33 Illinois' new birth equity
06:35 initiative will save lives,
06:37 address the unfairness in health
06:39 treatment at the beginning of life
06:41 and build a foundation for a better,
06:43 more critically competent
06:45 community-based care.
06:47 I'm deeply grateful
06:49 to all of my General Assembly
06:51 partners, especially Majority
06:53 Leader Robin Gable and Senator
06:55 Lakeisha Collins for being chief
06:57 sponsors of this legislation.
06:59 And I want to make sure to
07:01 recognize the tireless advocacy
07:03 of this from a champion of women
07:05 and our Lieutenant Governor Juliana
07:07 Stratton. Finally, this budget
07:09 invests in revving up the engine
07:11 of economic growth in Illinois
07:13 and creating well-paying jobs
07:15 of the future. Since I took office
07:17 we have attracted business investment
07:19 in cutting-edge new industries,
07:21 invested millions of dollars in
07:23 capital projects to improve our
07:25 infrastructure, and made Illinois
07:27 more competitive with other states
07:29 when companies are looking for a new home
07:31 or to build a new facility.
07:33 In FY25, on a bipartisan
07:35 basis, we created new incentives
07:37 to attract private investments
07:39 to Illinois, and we have set
07:41 aside matching funds to aggressively
07:43 compete for federal research and
07:45 development dollars.
07:47 That includes investment in a quantum
07:49 computing campus to make
07:51 Illinois the undisputed leader for
07:53 an industry that can attract billions
07:55 of additional dollars in private investment
07:57 and create tens of thousands
07:59 of jobs. We passed
08:01 transformational legislation that
08:03 promotes development and a
08:05 diverse array of industries
08:07 that includes
08:09 electric vehicles, quantum companies,
08:11 manufacturing, film and
08:13 television production, and
08:15 R&D, diversifying and
08:17 strengthening our economy.
08:19 Through it all, we maintained our commitment
08:21 to sustainability and fighting climate
08:23 change. No place
08:25 was that more evident
08:27 than in our historic bipartisan
08:29 framework for safe carbon
08:31 capture and sequestration,
08:33 which balances our promise to
08:35 promote industry development while
08:37 protecting our environment.
08:39 Finally, to briefly recap,
08:41 we lowered costs for
08:43 working families. We invested in
08:45 our children. We secured
08:47 transformational economic development
08:49 and job creation opportunities,
08:51 all while strengthening our
08:53 state's fiscal health.
08:55 Thank you very much, and
08:57 now I'd like to introduce my
08:59 partner in governance, our great Lieutenant
09:01 Governor, Juliana Stratton.
09:03 Good morning,
09:05 everyone. I am Lieutenant Governor Juliana
09:07 Stratton. She/her pronouns.
09:09 I'm thrilled to be here celebrating
09:11 the passage of our administration's
09:13 sixth balanced budget.
09:15 To our fearless leader, Governor
09:17 J.B. Pritzker, thank you.
09:19 Time and time again, you prove that
09:21 good leadership can be effective
09:23 without sacrificing compassion.
09:25 To Speaker Welch,
09:27 President Harmon, the lead
09:29 budget negotiators, and all of our partners
09:31 in the General Assembly, thank you
09:33 for your support and commitment to getting
09:35 the job done. I know it's been
09:37 a long couple of weeks, but it was worth
09:39 it, and we celebrate your
09:41 efforts. And finally, to
09:43 all of our state agencies and staff,
09:45 including, of course, Gombe
09:47 Director Alexis Sturm,
09:49 thank you for your tireless dedication.
09:51 You carry the weight of
09:53 this work, and because of you,
09:55 Illinoisans are waking up to a brighter
09:57 future. For years
09:59 now, you've heard me say, "If you want to go
10:01 fast, you go alone, but if you want to go
10:03 far, you go together."
10:05 I cannot think of a time when those
10:07 words were not more applicable than
10:09 they are today. The passage
10:11 of the FY25 budget is a
10:13 testament to this administration's
10:15 vision for a more prosperous
10:17 and equitable Illinois.
10:19 We are standing here today because
10:21 everyone came together to get this
10:23 done. Our collective aim
10:25 has always been to uplift
10:27 working families in every corner
10:29 of the state. From combating
10:31 homelessness, to stopping predatory
10:33 insurance practices,
10:35 to expanding access to holistic
10:37 birthing care, this
10:39 budget was steered by
10:41 a shared moral compass.
10:43 It prioritizes the
10:45 humanity of all and reflects
10:47 our belief that every individual
10:49 deserves the chance
10:51 to live a full life.
10:53 I'm immensely proud to
10:55 serve alongside Governor Pritzker,
10:57 whose principled leadership has put
10:59 our state on a path of fiscal
11:01 stability and inclusivity.
11:03 The transformative
11:05 investments made in this budget will
11:07 have a profound and lasting impact,
11:09 paving the way for
11:11 future generations to dream
11:13 even bigger. Thank you, and
11:15 with that, I'll pass it back to the governor
11:17 to answer questions.
11:19 Thank you very much, and I want to add my thanks to
11:21 our budget director, Alexis Sturm.
11:23 She really does amazing work. She works
11:25 24/7, and I really mean that.
11:27 Her phone is on next to her bed
11:29 if in the middle of the night
11:31 there are questions, and
11:33 she spends all year helping
11:35 us put a great budget together,
11:37 and then helping the legislature through the
11:39 process of getting it passed and
11:41 on my desk. So, thank you very much,
11:43 Alexis, and happy to take any questions
11:45 from Jeremy.
11:47 [inaudible]
11:49 It sailed overwhelmingly
11:51 through the Senate. Once it
11:53 got to the House, it had more than 70
11:55 sponsors. These were ranging
11:57 from conservative Republicans to
11:59 progressive Democrats. It sailed through
12:01 the House Committee yesterday. It was never
12:03 called on the House floor, and we know that you've been
12:05 opposed to the bill. I know that you wanted
12:07 to issue an
12:09 executive order with some of what
12:11 some of the substance that was in this bill.
12:13 Did you speak, did you talk to Speaker
12:15 Welch about this, perhaps
12:17 before it
12:19 could have been perhaps considered on the floor?
12:21 Any insight into why it wasn't called on?
12:23 I can say
12:25 that we were not opposed to the bill.
12:27 We were opposed to aspects of the bill,
12:29 and remember that we did, actually,
12:31 over the last couple of days, issue an executive
12:33 order to do exactly what I said we were going to do.
12:35 And so,
12:37 the processes
12:39 of the House, especially late at
12:41 night, early in the morning, unknown
12:43 to me, but I can tell you that
12:45 there are aspects of that bill that are
12:47 fine, and some aspects of it, frankly,
12:49 that are just unacceptable.
12:51 It's not about transparency,
12:53 to be honest with you. It's about what's
12:55 actually possible, what's doable,
12:57 and also
12:59 funding. There was no funding for any of the things
13:01 that they suggested that we should
13:03 do. So,
13:05 as to what the process in the
13:07 House was, I can't tell you.
13:09 People make the best decisions
13:11 when they're sleep deprived. Why is it
13:13 responsible to pass a budget before we vote on it?
13:15 Well, the budget came out about a
13:17 week ago, so people have had almost
13:19 a week to look at, you know,
13:21 every aspect of it
13:23 Thursday, but
13:25 whatever. I mean, there are days and days,
13:27 people who like to say, "Oh, it came to my desk
13:29 an hour before we had to vote on it." That's
13:31 not true. That didn't happen this year.
13:33 The fact that they voted on it early in the
13:35 morning was really a function of everybody who wanted to go
13:37 home. It had been a pretty long
13:39 couple of weeks, I think, for the legislature.
13:41 Governor, what contributed to the
13:43 old poll situation on the Revenue Bill?
13:45 Sorry, what
13:47 contributed? The old poll situation on the Revenue Bill
13:49 where they couldn't keep 60 people on the board?
13:51 I don't know. I mean, I watched
13:53 it, I hate to say, like many of you
13:55 at four in the morning, but I can't
13:57 tell you what the process was that led to that.
13:59 Why didn't you tell me why seven Democrats didn't vote
14:01 for the budget? Well, good
14:03 news, there are 78 Democrats.
14:05 You're welcome.
14:07 And in fact,
14:09 it was a great budget, and
14:11 the fact that there are some who
14:13 disagreed on aspects of the budget is
14:15 just a function of what
14:17 Will Rogers once said, which is, "I don't
14:19 belong to an organized party. I'm a Democrat."
14:21 Governor, what's the budget?
14:23 Hannah. Before Fred Crespo
14:25 voted no on the revenue package,
14:27 he stood up and said,
14:29 "I'm a Democrat, but this
14:31 makes me worry. I think that
14:33 next year we're going to be facing this cliff,
14:35 and I'm worried that we're going to be asking
14:37 even more taxpayers."
14:39 I mean, can you respond to that criticism?
14:41 Well, every year we
14:43 start the year with challenges
14:45 looking ahead, you know,
14:47 what are we going to do in the next year?
14:49 How do we pay for the necessary things
14:51 for working families across Illinois?
14:53 And we spend the year working
14:55 through that until we get to the budget
14:57 address in February,
14:59 and then there are months for the legislature
15:01 who already are aware of many
15:03 things that are in the budget before I actually
15:05 introduce it, for them to debate
15:07 it for months until May.
15:09 And so it's hard to say
15:11 why somebody would all of a sudden wake up
15:13 and decide that the budget isn't quite right
15:15 for them, but you'd have to ask him.
15:17 And the question is that you would have to
15:19 ask for a service tax or
15:21 an increase in the income tax.
15:23 Every year, particularly Republicans,
15:25 say things like that. They say,
15:27 "Oh, we're careening toward a brick wall."
15:29 It hasn't happened.
15:31 Six years in a row,
15:33 we have balanced this budget, and we have
15:35 made sure that we're thinking
15:37 about and lowering costs for working
15:39 families every time we put a budget together.
15:41 So, you know, I'm
15:43 pleased with how the budget ultimately came
15:45 out. Six years of balanced budgets
15:47 for Illinois, that's a record.
15:49 [inaudible]
15:51 and specifically address the concern
15:53 of a new member who ran twice
15:55 around the floor, saying there was less funding
15:57 for veterans than new arrivals
15:59 and migrants in the state.
16:01 Well, you could find all kinds of things to compare
16:03 one piece of the budget to another
16:05 and say, "Well, we spent more
16:07 on education, for example, than we
16:09 did on veterans."
16:11 That's true. We spent
16:13 billions and billions of dollars on education,
16:15 and that's what we should be doing.
16:17 And, by the way,
16:19 dealing with a humanitarian crisis is not
16:21 something that's like a regular line in the budget.
16:23 Let's hope that we don't have
16:25 more crises. Ever since I've been in office
16:27 every year, there's been some crisis
16:29 that we've had to deal with, whether it was my
16:31 first year with a fiscal crisis that I
16:33 inherited, or in the subsequent couple of years
16:35 with COVID,
16:37 and then, you know, migrants being
16:39 shipped here from Texas.
16:41 So, you know, that's not something I think
16:43 will be repeated in any way,
16:45 but it is something we needed to address, because
16:47 you know, we're human beings
16:49 in Illinois especially. We care
16:51 when people are suffering, and
16:53 that's why there was funding available
16:55 for us to give basic, basic
16:57 care for people who happen to be
16:59 shipped here by a
17:01 Republican who wants to cause chaos
17:03 across the United States.
17:05 Yes, sir.
17:07 Yeah, sorry, let me.
17:09 Well, speaking of, you know,
17:11 the funding and money that's going to
17:13 combat the migrant crisis, obviously the big
17:15 edge factor in that is, over the next year
17:17 we don't know how many more migrants
17:19 the government of Texas is going to send up here.
17:21 How prepared are you
17:23 and how prepared is this budget
17:25 to handle whatever number who says?
17:27 Well, we prepared
17:29 appropriate to what we think might happen.
17:31 Can't tell you exactly,
17:33 but it has been clear to me that
17:35 the Republican governor of Texas
17:37 is taking the
17:39 advantage of the fact
17:41 that Illinois
17:43 is going to host the Democratic National
17:45 Convention, and so, you know,
17:47 why else would you send busloads
17:49 of people who aren't asking to be
17:51 sent to Chicago
17:53 to the state, to the
17:55 city, but I would
17:57 bet you when the political spotlight
17:59 is off of Illinois,
18:01 there'll be some different choices
18:03 that he and others will make.
18:05 Honestly, Republicans
18:07 have been completely irresponsible
18:09 when it comes to border security
18:11 and comprehensive immigration reform.
18:13 They need to come to the table
18:15 as they did before Donald Trump
18:17 told them all to walk away,
18:19 and we actually had a bill that
18:21 nobody was thoroughly happy with, but it
18:23 was probably the right thing to do,
18:25 and yet
18:27 Donald Trump told them, "Don't vote for
18:29 it because we want to cause
18:31 political problems." They
18:33 thought for Democrats, they're really causing political
18:35 problems, not just political, other problems
18:37 for the people of the United States by not
18:39 voting for a border security bill.
18:41 [inaudible]
18:43 ...did not get across the finish line
18:45 to get called in the House... The bill to what?
18:47 Regulate the hemp industry.
18:49 In addition to a bill,
18:51 a cannabis bill,
18:53 neither of them got called in the House.
18:55 Your thoughts on that and
18:57 what needs to happen forward there.
18:59 I think, obviously, there are lots of things
19:01 that didn't make it to the finish line,
19:03 but we got,
19:05 as far as I'm concerned,
19:07 everything that was a priority for me, if you look
19:09 back at the things that I talked about and put in my budget,
19:11 my budget address,
19:13 all the priorities
19:15 that I put in got passed
19:17 and once again, we have
19:19 a responsible balanced budget.
19:21 [inaudible]
19:23 Can you speak to the interchange
19:25 fee prohibition and how businesses
19:27 should react to this?
19:29 Maybe I'll turn it over to a
19:31 budget expert here.
19:33 [inaudible]
19:35 That was a request from the
19:37 retail merchants and so
19:39 we'll be working through the
19:41 legislation that passed.
19:43 I think,
19:45 to be clear, there
19:47 were things that we
19:49 thought were probably the best
19:51 outcome in order to make
19:53 sure that we were right-sizing
19:55 what
19:57 retailers get in
19:59 a payment from the
20:01 state in a world where
20:03 most of it is pushing a button on a computer
20:05 to get a result.
20:07 We had
20:09 essentially one of, if not
20:11 the highest percentage
20:13 that was going back to retailers, so it made
20:15 sense to right-size that
20:17 and there were a few things that needed to be changed
20:19 in the process, so I don't think there's anything
20:21 hyper unusual about it.
20:23 [inaudible]
20:25 [inaudible]
20:27 You'll
20:29 have to ask members of the legislature. I mean, that was
20:31 something that got decided last,
20:33 a year ago, and I know
20:35 that there are people who'd like to bring it back and I
20:37 had meetings with many of them, heard them
20:39 out. This is something the legislature
20:41 decided to do and
20:43 I think there's a real need
20:45 to make sure that we're focusing on funding public
20:47 schools properly and
20:49 very importantly, and I talked about this and maybe
20:51 this is too much detail for you, if
20:53 you're going to have a tax credit like that,
20:55 we ought to let the federal government
20:57 cover much of the cost of it, which
20:59 we weren't doing. This was all done,
21:01 as you know, in the kind of dark of night,
21:03 I guess is the way to say it, from
21:05 2017, when this
21:07 program was created and it was
21:09 created in a simplistic fashion
21:11 in a way that
21:13 cost Illinois taxpayers more than it should
21:15 have. So if you were going to re-up it,
21:17 it needed to be changed.
21:19 Anyway, they decided not to and
21:21 the change never took place either.
21:23 Yeah.
21:25 Sorry, interchange.
21:27 [inaudible]
21:29 [inaudible]
21:31 [inaudible]
21:33 [inaudible]
21:35 [inaudible]
21:37 [inaudible]
21:39 [inaudible]
21:41 Well, I don't think so, but that doesn't
21:43 mean that the legislature might not revisit it.
21:45 I have no idea.
21:47 [inaudible]
21:49 [inaudible]
21:51 I would like to call
21:53 on the lieutenant governor, who really, she championed
21:55 this and I mean, it was something that I talked about
21:57 in my state of the state, but the lieutenant
21:59 governor, day in and day out, talked to
22:01 members of the legislature to get this thing done.
22:03 Thank you, governor.
22:05 Yes, so the birth equity
22:07 initiative, as you know, was proposed
22:09 by governor Pritzker. It started
22:11 by talking to women
22:13 in communities, especially black women
22:15 doulas and midwives,
22:17 who a year ago told us and pointed
22:19 to the data that the Department
22:21 of Health shares, which is that
22:23 black women are three times more likely to die
22:25 from pregnancy related complications.
22:27 But it's not just about black women. We think about
22:29 women in rural communities and
22:31 so many ways where all women deserve
22:33 access to affordable and
22:35 accessible health care. And so the
22:37 birth equity initiative does that. It's
22:39 affordable by eliminating the cost
22:41 sharing. It is affordable
22:43 because it allows things like the child
22:45 tax credit and other aspects
22:47 to give people the resources
22:49 to make the best birthing choices
22:51 for them and their families.
22:53 And it is accessible.
22:55 And so we are making it accessible, just
22:57 as we did with Medicaid coverage.
22:59 It is now applying to private insurance.
23:01 And that's good for
23:03 Illinois families. It's good for
23:05 Illinois women. It is something that
23:07 will be life saving for many
23:09 and also family saving. And so
23:11 I'm really proud of the work that's been done
23:13 and I'm grateful to not just governor
23:15 Pritzker's leadership, but certainly the leadership
23:17 of leader Robin Gable as
23:19 well as Senator Lakeisha Collins.
23:21 I don't know
23:23 that we've heard you take a stand on
23:25 Delta 8. Do you think it
23:27 should be banned? Is it unacceptable
23:29 in the cannabis industry? I think it should be
23:31 regulated. In what way?
23:33 Should certain products
23:35 be red-collared in?
23:37 I believe that an unregulated
23:39 product like this, which clearly has caused
23:41 some health problems, ought
23:43 to be regulated by the state. How
23:45 the implementation of specific parts
23:47 of regulation, I wouldn't jump
23:49 into myself. I'm not an expert, but
23:51 what I would say is that it's
23:53 clear that it is a
23:55 not for medicinal purposes,
23:57 it's not regulated the way the
23:59 cannabis is, and yet it ends up
24:01 on the market and people don't really
24:03 have, you know, there's
24:05 no restriction on who gets it,
24:07 how much they can get, etc.
24:09 So I really believe that we need
24:11 to step back and ask what is in
24:13 the best interest of the health
24:15 of kids and adults
24:17 across the state, and I think regulating it
24:19 is proper.
24:21 Last night we heard
24:23 plenty of talks about upcoming budget
24:25 for the fiscal year of 2026, with more
24:27 spending pressures. The RTA obviously
24:29 has a big gap that they need to fill.
24:31 I mean, how challenging, I guess, is it,
24:33 especially given that some Democrats
24:35 were also expressing concerns that maybe
24:37 we're going to, perhaps, too quickly
24:39 increase the spending too quickly in this current year
24:41 and it's going to make next year more challenging?
24:43 Well, let's take the RTA
24:45 and the transit issue aside
24:47 just for a moment, because it is
24:49 an unusual thing that we're all
24:51 going to have to deal with. Let's just
24:53 talk about the main budget here.
24:55 And the truth is, the
24:57 Republicans every year come up and
24:59 complain, they complain and complain
25:01 and complain, and every year
25:03 they have fewer things to complain about.
25:05 We balanced the budget for six years
25:07 in a row now, we paid down all
25:09 of our short-term debt,
25:11 even outside agencies,
25:13 credit rating agencies, and, you know,
25:15 the Civic Committee,
25:17 Civic Federation, others, that look
25:19 at what the state is doing, what we've been
25:21 doing in our administration, say,
25:23 "We're in a much better situation now
25:25 than we've been in many years,
25:27 and certainly since
25:29 before I took office."
25:31 So, I'm proud of that,
25:33 I think we're, again, headed in the right direction.
25:35 Once again, very
25:37 responsible things being done, the pensions
25:39 are being paid, money's being put into
25:41 a rainy day fund, think about all those
25:43 responsible things that were done this year.
25:45 We cut taxes on small businesses,
25:47 in ways that I don't think
25:49 everybody has noticed yet,
25:51 but that is a true
25:53 fact that gets ignored.
25:55 So, the complaints of Republicans
25:57 on the floor, you know,
25:59 I think, you know,
26:01 one out of every, I don't know,
26:03 twelve things that get said
26:05 is true, and
26:07 maybe we should look at,
26:09 and I have had meetings,
26:11 many meetings, and you can ask
26:13 leaders, with Republicans,
26:15 to ask,
26:17 "Okay, what kinds of things do you
26:19 think we ought to be putting in the budget?
26:21 What are the, here are the things that I think that
26:23 your members, your
26:25 colleagues would agree with
26:27 that I put in the budget myself, the
26:29 franchise tax cut, for example,
26:31 was my idea, I've been pushing
26:33 it every year, the Republicans actually have
26:35 not been asking me every year
26:37 to do that.
26:39 I think it's the right thing to do.
26:41 I started doing that back in 2019,
26:43 and other than the, you know,
26:45 bad year of COVID, where we had to
26:47 stop that, every year we've been
26:49 lowering that tax. So, I'm
26:51 focused on making sure that we're
26:53 doing the right things, working across the aisle,
26:55 and getting things done. The complaints of
26:57 Republicans, frankly, are,
26:59 you know, every year they get sort of
27:01 crazier and crazier
27:03 because things have been going in the right direction
27:05 for our state.
27:07 500 million per plot ton,
27:09 there's been reported
27:11 that the state is in the running
27:13 for major anchor tenants,
27:15 I think Cy Quantum has been reported.
27:17 How contingent
27:19 is this project on getting that major
27:21 anchor tenant
27:23 for this campus?
27:25 What do the next steps look like for Quantum?
27:27 Well, 200 million of
27:29 that is matching funds
27:31 to match the federal
27:33 dollars that we expect
27:35 that we might be able to receive
27:37 from the Chips and Science
27:39 Act in Washington, or the
27:41 IRA.
27:43 And so that's 200 of it
27:45 is just contingent dollars.
27:47 The other part is
27:49 a campus that is hyper unusual.
27:51 There really are only a couple places in the country
27:53 that have even thought about doing this,
27:55 and we're way ahead in terms of trying to
27:57 actually get something done.
27:59 And I've had many, many meetings
28:01 with companies whose names you would know.
28:03 You may not have heard of Cy Quantum
28:05 before you read that story, but it is
28:07 one of the largest startups,
28:09 literally like a
28:11 billion dollar funded startup
28:13 in the Quantum
28:15 field. But many companies that you
28:17 have heard of that are
28:19 focused on
28:21 science and technology,
28:23 and Fortune 100 companies,
28:25 have had conversations with us about
28:27 locating a portion of their
28:29 work on this campus. So I'm very
28:31 optimistic about what we're
28:33 going to be able to do in Quantum,
28:35 and I want to give credit here to
28:37 the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign,
28:39 to UIC, and
28:41 especially to the University of Chicago,
28:43 which has one of the best
28:45 quantum development teams
28:47 and research that
28:49 you can find anywhere in the country.
28:51 [inaudible]
28:53 ...you met with Mayor Johnson
28:55 here at the Capitol less than
28:57 a month ago.
28:59 It's pretty well known what some of his priorities were
29:01 going into the meeting. Obviously he didn't get the billion
29:03 dollars that he wanted through the EDF
29:05 like the Chicago teachers even wanted
29:07 as well. But
29:09 specific to Mayor Johnson's priorities, can you
29:11 talk specifically about
29:13 what made it into the budget from
29:15 him, the city of Chicago, anything
29:17 that you know that you can take away?
29:19 Look, I think that
29:21 some of what got reported was
29:23 kind of a misinterpretation
29:25 in my view of differences.
29:27 The truth is that we all
29:29 think that education should be
29:31 better funded. And the fact that
29:33 the mayor was willing to come down
29:35 here and make a case to people
29:37 about it, and that others were
29:39 here to make a case about it,
29:41 was, you know, it's their
29:43 priority, it ought to be our priority
29:45 to put more money into education, but not just
29:47 for the city of Chicago. The city of Chicago
29:49 is 20% of the population
29:51 of the state, so we have a lot of other
29:53 people, a lot of other kids across the state
29:55 going to school. We need to fund
29:57 their schools better too. So
29:59 I thought that that was an
30:01 appropriate message
30:03 to be sending for a mayor.
30:05 And I was
30:07 you know,
30:09 there are so many things that I think
30:11 people who come and meet
30:13 with me and I agree
30:15 on. You know, for example,
30:17 I really believe that
30:19 our local and county
30:21 governments, our municipalities
30:23 across the state, are important
30:25 front line providers
30:27 for the people
30:29 of Illinois. And that's why
30:31 we send LGDF money, that's
30:33 why we provide opportunities
30:35 for more road
30:37 money to go to local governments
30:39 for, you know,
30:41 building infrastructure like water,
30:43 sewer, etc.
30:45 to help them build it
30:47 when they can't afford to do it.
30:49 And so I really think that it was
30:51 appropriate for him to come. I think mayors from all
30:53 over the state come to the state,
30:55 he comes to the
30:57 capital rather, and he just happens to get
30:59 a lot more attention than anybody else.
31:01 Yeah, hi Isabel.
31:03 Building revenue was a big point during
31:05 budget discussions this year.
31:07 Was enough made?
31:09 Is this...
31:11 Were Democrats
31:13 able to get enough revenue for
31:15 future budgets, this budget?
31:17 What were your expectations on that?
31:19 Well, again, the principle,
31:21 you know, there were basically
31:23 you know, one
31:25 and a half things that we were
31:27 asking for that were
31:29 relatively new. One was
31:31 you know, the sports book
31:33 change, which by the way, got improved
31:35 upon because it was turned into
31:37 a graduated tax, which
31:39 works better, and that's how we do
31:41 casino
31:43 revenue as well.
31:45 And that was really the largest
31:47 piece of tax increase.
31:49 And then, and that is
31:51 paid for by sports
31:53 book companies, and mostly by
31:55 companies that don't reside in
31:57 the state of Illinois. So,
31:59 there's some advantage in many ways
32:01 for companies that are based here in Illinois
32:03 as against those outside.
32:05 And
32:07 so, you know, did we get
32:09 the revenues? Yeah, we balanced the budget.
32:11 That's actually the goal.
32:13 And I know there was a lot of talk on the floor
32:15 last night at, God, was it
32:17 2.30 or 3 in the morning?
32:19 But by Republicans about,
32:21 you know, "Oh, wait till you see what they're going to
32:23 tax you on next." Well, they've been saying
32:25 this for every year that I've been in office, and it
32:27 hasn't been true. I mean, in fact, if you
32:29 look at what we did, really
32:31 our focus was on
32:33 asking people who can, companies
32:35 that can pay more, to pay
32:37 more. And indeed, we kept the tax on
32:39 sports book lower than
32:41 the top states
32:43 in that arena. We are third,
32:45 and there are,
32:47 we're talking about third in terms of revenue
32:49 in that industry, and yet
32:51 we had one of the lowest tax rates at 15%.
32:53 [inaudible]
32:55 Delta A. Delta A.
32:57 That bill passed out of the Senate
32:59 54 to 1.
33:01 Yeah. It gets over to the
33:03 House, and I know that House Democrats
33:05 got pulled seeing how they would go for it.
33:07 And it wasn't brought up
33:09 because they didn't have to
33:11 do the thing that so
33:13 many House Democrats like the status
33:15 quo of being unregulated.
33:17 I mean, everyone knows
33:19 how harmful Delta A is
33:21 to kids and parents. You know, everything has its
33:23 time. I wish that one, you know,
33:25 I think, like I said earlier to
33:27 Hannah's question, you know, I think it
33:29 should be regulated, but sometimes
33:31 things have to work their way through people's
33:33 minds. They have to listen to people in their
33:35 districts, to think about it more,
33:37 hear an argument that makes
33:39 more sense to them than the one they heard last.
33:41 And so I'm
33:43 not, I mean, I'm disappointed in a way
33:45 that the bill didn't go through, but not
33:47 surprised. As you
33:49 saw, there are many, many bills, thank goodness
33:51 because I think 5,000 get introduced
33:53 or more. There are many, many
33:55 bills that get, you know, pushed
33:57 aside or, you know, pushed to the next year
33:59 to consider. I hope that
34:01 there's some movement and thought about
34:03 what this might look like in the
34:05 veto session or in the new session,
34:07 but not surprised
34:09 really. Yep. Thank you.
34:11 [BLANK_AUDIO]