Reporter: This budget relied on a few one-time fixes. You’ve tried in the past to fix the structural deficit in 2020. Is that something that you’re going to be looking to spend political capital on going forward? Something a little bit more long-term? So we don’t have to do this every year—the one-time moving stuff around?
Pritzker Well, I remind you, Olivia, that there are a lot of one-time expenditures that occur in a budget as well. And so what we tried to do was make sure that any one-time revenues that you’re referring to really matched up with [the] diminishing of the one-time expenditures that we have to make. So we’ve gotten really much closer than ever before to balancing that structural deficit, to getting rid of the structural deficit.
As you remember, when I came into office, we did a study in early 2019 that showed a structural deficit of $3.2 billion and we have whittled away at that year after year after year. And the fact is that we’re getting closer and closer. We’ve been, I think, prudent this year about making cuts to government where we thought we could, and there are hundreds of millions of dollars of cuts that we made. While at the same time addressing needs that we knew that we had to.
One last thing, just to remind everybody about the state budget. As you know, there was an Edgar ramp put in back in the mid 90s to deal with pensions. It increases the amount that goes into pensions from the state budget, roughly by $400 to $500 million a year. Add on top of that that we have the evidence-based funding model that requires about $350- $300 million to schools every single year in addition to the existing budget. So you start really $800 million in the hole, so to speak as you’re trying to balance the budget every year from year to year. And so we have that to take into account. So when people talk about increased spending from one year to another. You’re already talking about $800 million—and there’s more: interest and other factors that are, as we say, above the line.
Reporter: Governor, you got a lot done this session, you passed a budget, you passed a Medicaid omnibus, PBM reform, on and on, but your community college bill didn’t make it, the cell phone ban in schools stalled. Township consolidation, cannabis equity, energy bill, ect. What happened?
Pritzker: You don’t get everything done in one year. I think that maybe the Senate President will back me up on that. And lots of people in the General Assembly—sometimes they spend two years, four years, six years trying to get something big done. I think we’ve been hyper-successful at getting things done in a shorter period of time than they’re expected. I have said for a long time about the community college bill, for example, that this was introduced back when Andy Manar was Senator. Manar and years before he came to work for our administration. Be was, I think, the Senate sponsor at one point. And so this is years old, and something that it takes a lot of work to get people together on. Energy-let’s take that as an example. [The lCimate and Equitable Jobs Act] was about a year and a half in the making. Longer, really, if you take all the pre-work that was done. But a year and a half in working groups to try to get all the various interests at the table and try to address their concerns in order to put together a package that everybody felt was going to address the problem that we had in the state. So things take sometimes longer than one session to get done.
Reporter: Do you think you should have met with more members one-on-one or taken the time to meet with small groups?
* Pritzker: I don’t know that that’s possible. I met with an awful lot of members. I mean, I certainly continue to find time for people whenever they want. But no, I meet with an awful lot of organizations and individuals and enjoy those individual meetings. Sometimes it’s two or three at a time, sometimes one, sometimes with cold caucuses. But it’s important to me to have a good relationship, not only within the Democratic caucuses, but also on the other side of the aisle. Sometimes we don’t agree on things, but it’s good to have dialogue.
Reporter: Governor, can you reflect on transit not getting across the finish line? And there was a proposal that was in the amendment yesterday that would have put a delivery fee to fund transit across the whole state. Would you support that?
Pritzker: I didn’t introduce the proposals that [would have] paid for the transit bill, and didn’t see them, actually, until all of you saw them—maybe a day and a half before they were introduced on the floor yesterday.
I can say this, that we need transit reform. We need to make sure we’re addressing the needs of commuters, and not just in the city of Chicago or in Cook County or in the collar counties, but all across the state. I think you’ve heard me say that every single time I’ve talked about transit. The entire state relies upon transit. So whatever solution we have has to address them.
And I have to give some credit to the people who are working in those working groups, that they took that seriously, and there was a significant focus on the amount of money that would go to downstate transit systems. So I’ll continue to work with them. We were not the leaders of that endeavor, but we were at the table, listening and helping whenever we were asked to. And again, I think there’s significant work that will need to be done over the summer and in the fall to make sure that it gets across the board.
Reporter: Just to follow up, a few days ago you talked about you would not support broad based tax increases, sales and corporate income, but delivery tax. A lot of people get deliveries on Amazon or DoorDash that would hit a lot of people. Would that fall into that category of a broad based tax you would not support?
Pritzker: When I think of the broad-based tax in the state, I think of the largest sources of tax revenue. And those are the individual income tax, the corporate income tax, the sales tax. I obviously want to make sure we’re lowering, not raising, taxes whenever we can. And so again, I think the decisions that will get made at the working group table over the next bunch of months that’ll get surfaced.
I hope Republicans will help. They have not helped so far with what sources of revenue might help to address the transit challenges [in] their communities. Republicans that live in their areas, Democrats in their communities—need them to step up to the plate, too.
Reporter: Governor, on Friday, as things were wrapping up here in Springfield, federal prosecutors recommended a 12.5 [year] prison sentence for former Speaker Mike Madigan. They talked about the stain his records left on government, and in their filings they talked about the letters of support he received from current and former government officials that are still strong allies, despite the evidence of illegal conduct. And yet, here in Springfield, the House never held its promised hearings on ethics legislation. And what we saw from the Senate was an 11th-hour proposal that appeared designed to address an issue that the Senate President had with his campaign finances at the State Board of Elections—that would have allowed the Lieutenant Governor and others who are running for federal office to fundraise on session days outside of Sangamon County. Why weren’t ethics a stronger priority this session? And why haven’t things like a stronger revolving door provision and more transparency about what’s spent on lobbying in Springfield, which are common across the country—why aren’t those on the agenda here?
Pritzker: I think you’re aware that nearly every year that I’ve been governor we have addressed ethics. I talked about it a lot, with regard, for example, to the utilities that have been accused in those cases that you’re referring to. I think in 2020, in my State of the State speech, I talked about the fact that we’re not going to let utility companies make decisions for the majority of people in the state of Illinois. They’re not going to be the ones who are directing the legislation that addresses energy. But rather the voices of the people would be heard. And that happened. And indeed, we included within CEJA, ethics legislation. People don’t pay a lot of attention to that. They think that ethics legislation has to sit as a separate thing. But actually within a lot of the major issues that we’re addressing, we addressed ethics. Once again, ethics [are] hugely important to me. We try to address them whenever we can. We had a very busy session. There were, in fact, discussions with the Chair of the Committee in the House about his ideas for this. So we’re going to continue to address it wherever we can. And I don’t think you can ever stop talking about how do you make sure that we have a corruption free and
an honest government?
* Reporter: Governor, Illinois still has among the lowest credit rating in their country. Republicans say that’s not Donald Trump’s fault. Why are they wrong?
Pritzker: They’re not wrong. Donald Trump didn’t cause the problem that occurred before Donald Trump became president in 2017. In the 20 years before I became governor, Illinois, I think, had 21 credit downgrades. Consistently, not a single credit upgrade, and eight of those occurred during my predecessor’s term. This has been a problem for many, many, many years. I’ve never blamed the credit challenges that the state of Illinois has had on Donald Trump. I blame a lot of other things on Donald Trump. I mean, he has made it difficult for working families in Illinois, and now, even worse than ever before as a result of the budget that he’s proposing.
Reporter: And then to follow up, how does this budget help the states catch up with the rest of the country? We traditionally lagged the country in economic rebound after the Great Recession, even after COVID. So what in this budget is actually going to make us competitive?
Pritzker: I’m so glad you asked that question. As you know, Greg, I made it a hallmark of our administration and worked very closely with the General Assembly to try to speed up economic growth in the state by making the kinds of investments that are required for us to leap ahead. We are a traditional economy that’s got large agriculture sector, large manufacturing sector, those sectors [are] hugely important, and we want to make sure we maintain those and grow those. But we also need to make sure we have some very high growth sectors that we’re investing in. And that we’re doing everything we can to make Illinois a welcoming state for businesses that want to move. Whether they want to move from one place in the United States to another, or businesses that are outside of the country and wants to move to the United States.
So example, the Surplus to Success program that is in the budget. That’s a program where we’re taking state owned properties. We’re talking about prisons that have been closed, facilities that have been owned but closed many years ago. That just sit idle and frankly, rotting in their communities or to try to either reform the properties themselves so that they’re sale-able and usable, or to to tear down whatever’s there and make sure that-because remember, these are properties that have utilities. They’ve got water, they’ve got power. These are all the things that a business is looking for often when they move to Illinois. And the more of those properties available in great communities like Lincoln, the better off we are. So that’s an example, but I could go through many examples for you about how the General Assembly has introduced and we’ve worked with them on this incentives to bring businesses to the state. So that is something we work on all the time.
I think great news for people in Illinois, in part, is that when there’s a downturn, Illinois really doesn’t suffer quite as much often as other places. In part because we have a very stable and quite diverse economy, as compared to some other places. You see a state like, I don’t know, I guess I’d pick Oklahoma, where they’re dependent on oil and gas. And if the oil and gas economy is terrible, their state is in terrible shape. In Illinois you can weather the storm in one industry or another, because we have such a diverse economy. We want to continue that way, but also make investments in biotechnology and quantum technology and and things that will leapfrog us ahead
of other states.
Reporter: Lawmakers approved a delay of the prohibition on the tax for the swipe fees. Why was that done? Is it because of the legal challenges that are happening right now for the interchange fees?
Pritzker: I think that’s right. I can’t tell you what’s not my initiative. But I can say I think this is still sitting in the courts. I think the uncertainty is probably why it was brought up. But I think it was a one year push of the implementation date. So this will be something that will probably get resolved over the next year.
Reporter: Governor, can you talk about the Bridge fund that was created? It, because I know that’s something unique, instead of using the rainy day fund more. Why was that done?
Pritzker: Think about the challenges that we saw in February from the Trump administration, when all of a sudden, the systems that operate Medicaid, the systems that operate Head Start, were shut down by DOGE or by the Trump administration. We don’t exactly know who did it. But in that period of time- and they had intended to keep them shut off for some time-but the huge outcry from around the country had them turn it back on. But that doesn’t mean they’re not going to come back at it. And so what we wanted to do, wanted to do is to have a Bridge fund, for example, to deal with a situation like that. We’ve seen this kind of chaos out of the federal government that causes real dislocation for people, for working families in Illinois, and we want to try to keep those level and available of services for working families and and the Bridge fund allows it.
Reporter: Governor, the Chicago Bears have said that on any move to Arlington Heights would be contingent on legislation that would basically allow them to negotiate property tax assessments with local municipalities. How would you feel about a plan like that? And are you aware of any legislation that passed through the spring session or in the final days of the spring session to that effect, for the Bears?
Pritzker: As you know, just on a personal level, I would like them to stay in the city of Chicago. Having said that, this is a private business, they’ll choose to do what they like. There’s legislation that I’ve seen. I don’t think that anything, at least not that I’m aware of anything passed that would address that right away.
But I’m quite interested to make sure that-not for the Bears-but for developments all across the state of Illinois, that we have available things like, this is not direct to Bears, but STAR bonds. Which is a great idea when implemented properly, and it is being implemented properly in Marion, Illinois right now, but we think that’s something that should happen across the state. There are other proposals like that that we’re all kind of anticipating.
Again, this is about making this a business friendly, job friendly state, and not specifically about the Bears.
Reporter: Governor, what are your currently thoughts on the state commutation for Larry Hoover potentially?
Pritzker: We have a process in the state of Illinois, if you want to seek commutation or pardon, you go through a process. First, you apply through the Prisoner Review Board, and then the [PRB] makes a recommendation to the governor. They put together during that process, and this is why it’s so important. They put together a record where they’re interviewing not only the incarcerated person, but also they have family and friends that speak on their behalf the victims or the victims families also are heard in that process. And record is kept at that and taken to that. And that whole record is put together, a recommendation is made by the [PRB] to me that includes that entire record, and I review the entire record when that happens. I have had pardons and commutations, hundreds of them during the course of my administration, and they all, every single one of them has involved that kind
of a record.
Reporter: Governor back to transit. RTA says they need money now. Is there enough time to be able to send them a bailout in veto session before they would have cuts to service on busses and trains and they would lay people off. Or do you think, in fact, a little chaos, service disruption might help both chambers agree on legislation?
Pritzker: I think the group should be working expeditiously to try to get to a conclusion on transit funding. I also would say that they’d have more money in their coffers if they hadn’t spent money advertising here in Springfield to try to convince people something that they really should be leaving to the legislators to decide. But the fact is that we need to address transit funding as fast as possible, and no doubt the legislators will be meeting over the course of the summer. Our office will be present in those and be helping in any way that we’re asked of.
Reporter: The budget you’re being sent is roughly the same amount that you proposed. Do you believe that properly is prepared for potentially revenue being lower than what’s expected, since we’ve already seen revenue projections decline in the last three months?
Pritzker: Well, again, it’s all a projection, right? And what we would rely upon S&P, one of our advisors, to tell us what is the economy likely to look like over the next year. And then you put that through an equation that helps you come up with the revenue. To determine sales tax revenue and income tax revenue and so on. We’ve also seen JP Morgan and other large banks, economists, lower their projections for the coming year. So we try to follow all of that and incorporate that into our budget projections. It’s the best we can do. We have also people who work for state government that are experts, but we like to look at an awful lot of other information.
So we don’t know. I mean, the answer is, it’s so chaotic. If you talk to business people, and I’m talking about Republicans. Democrats and Republicans, and people who voted for Donald Trump, right? Who will tell you at a minimum, in private, if not in public, that the chaos that they see, that the uncertainty, the turbulence, is really causing them to kind of step back and wonder, where is this all going? Should I shut down a line that I have operating in my manufacturing facility, because I’m not sure if those customers will be ordering because of the tariffs, for example. Or not invest in the next line.
And so that all is not good for the economy, and that’s why the ‘Trump Slump’ is really having a terrible effect on income to states—not to mention, more importantly, businesses and jobs that people hold. All of that affects, again, revenue to a state or local government.
Reporter: Governor, what do you say to taxpayers waking up this morning saying, oh my gosh, there they go again. They pulled a fast one. We didn’t see the revenue bill until like five hours before the deadline. The budget bill didn’t come out until about 24 hours or so. But they’re waking up this morning, seeing the largest state spending plan in state history, a billion dollar tax increase.
Pritzker: That’s not true.
Reporter: What do you say to those who see that-
Pritzker: Let me correct you. As you know, revenues for a state budget consists of a lot of different things. One of the things they consist of is collections. Not new taxes, collections. And in this budget, half of that number, it comes from just collections that are owed to the state of
Illinois.
Reporter:Like the amnesty programs?
Pritzker: Yes, but I’m also talking about, for example, there is a hospital assessment program where there’s a payback from hospitals over the course of time. They owe us, and we are collecting from them in part, as part of the revenue that you’re referring to, and that the Republicans have been saying, ‘Oh, that’s some kind of a tax increase.’ It’s not a tax increase. These are literally owed to the state of Illinois, and they have to be put into the budget as revenue.
You remember the fake revenue that my predecessor put into two, I think, of his budgets—where they were supposedly selling the Thompson Center. And that was revenue in his budget—$350 million, I think, for two years in a row. These are collections. It’s not fake revenue. They are not operating taxes that are ongoing. So I just want to be clear with you about that.
Second, the budget that we passed yesterday, that the legislature passed, is not that much different than the budget that I introduced. So the idea that anybody is pulling a fast one, I think it’s pretty obvious that we have a state budget that’s pretty stable. That we had a tough budget year and so we made sure that we were moderating spending in the state. You’ll see those hundreds of millions of dollars of cuts and keeping any increases down to sometimes 1 percent or even zero, wherever we felt we could
Reporter: Going back to Olivia’s question. You’re talking about revenue, and just—does the state need to look at a more comprehensive, long-term plan so then you don’t have to balance the budget by doing things like pausing things that are important to you, like expanding preschool programs, taking away healthcare from undocumented immigrants?
Pritzker: We need more stability out of Washington, D.C., is my answer to you. We would not have suffered this problem had we not had the ‘Trump Slump’ affecting us—the $500 million of reduced revenues to the state of Illinois as a result of what Donald Trump has done to a booming economy.
