Inside:
- Governor delivers State of the State Address
- Illinois ‘sanctuary state’ law is the target of a federal lawsuit
- Free income tax preparation assistance available
- More news
Governor delivers State of the State Address
This week we heard from Governor Pritzker as he delivered his annual State of the State message. The Governor also laid out his proposed budget for next year. The budget the Governor proposed spends $55 billion, making it the largest spending bill ever proposed in Illinois history. The previous record was also held by Governor Pritzker who spent over $53 billion last year.
I was shocked that the Governor chose to conclude his speech by comparing half the people to Nazis. Illinois would have been better served had the State of the State and budget address been focused on solutions to the state’s many problems and on fixing previous bad economic and fiscal policies.
The Governor’s proposal this week spends $2 billion more than last year, even though we were just recently expecting a budget deficit. Once again it seems the Governor plans on more new taxes, transfers and other budget gimmicks to balance out even more spending. This is unsustainable.
While the Governor says he wants to pull back on some of the funding for undocumented immigrants, he still proposes to spend more than $100 million on these services next year. This budget does not reflect the priorities of Illinois taxpayers and families. I will continue to advocate for a balanced budget without tax increases.
Illinois ‘sanctuary state’ law is the target of a federal lawsuit
Illinois is being sued by the U.S. Department of Justice over its ‘sanctuary state’ policies which make it harder for federal immigration authorities to enforce the law within the boundaries of the state of Illinois.
The federal lawsuit focuses on some state and local laws in Illinois, namely the state’s Illinois Way Forward Act and TRUST Act, the city of Chicago’s Welcoming City ordinance, and Cook County’s “Policy for Responding to ICE Detainers” document.
At the state level, the TRUST Act prohibits state and local law enforcement from detaining a person based solely on their immigration status. Those agencies are also barred from detaining someone because of an immigration detainer or a civil immigration warrant. In most other states, if an immigrant is picked up for a crime, the federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency can issue a detainer which asks local officials to hold that person for an additional 48 hours to allow ICE agents to arrive and take them into federal custody.
But in Illinois, law enforcement is not required to abide by these federal orders and is further banned from helping ICE with civil immigration matters. They cannot set up a traffic perimeter around and ICE operation, release an arrested individual into ICE custody or share any information with ICE about an arrest.
The lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice asks a federal judge to rule that the Illinois law is invalid because it violates a clause in the U.S. Constitution which places federal laws over state laws.
The TRUST Act was enacted in my first year in the House of Representatives. I voted No.
Free income tax preparation assistance available
Many Illinoisans may be eligible for free tax preparation assistance in advance of the April 15 tax filing deadline.
The Illinois Department of Revenue, in cooperation with the Internal Revenue Service and private sector coordinators, will have volunteers available to assist eligible Illinoisans with filling out and electronically filing their returns. State and federal tax refunds are sent out on a first-return, first-refund basis, so many taxpayers who are eligible for a refund might want to file as soon as possible so they can get their refunds sooner.
Those eligible for free tax preparation assistance include persons who making $67,000 a year or less or persons with disabilities. You can find out more here.
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