SPRINGFIELD – Following the Senate’s passage of the Fiscal Year 2027 budget and spending plan, State Senator Karina Villa (D-West Chicago) issued the following statement:
“Budgets are moral documents. For families across Illinois, these investments can mean the difference between putting food on the table, accessing health care and keeping up with rising costs — or falling further behind.
“As Illinoisans continue to feel the strain of inflation and economic uncertainty, this budget maintains critical services that working families rely on every day. We restored many critical line items, including funding for safety net hospitals, after-school programming and homelessness prevention.
“The cuts that have occurred with the passage of federal H.R. 1 hit working families the hardest. Since then, a coalition of legislators and allies came together to propose revenue options that keep the tax burden off of working people. The Digital Ad Tax is part of that: Illinois will generate needed revenue to help safeguard essential services without raising taxes on working families.
“We must be clear about the challenges that remain. Illinois schools are still roughly $3 billion short under the state’s Evidence-Based Funding formula. Without greater investment, districts will continue to face difficult decisions that impact teachers, staff and students and property taxes will continue to increase.
“At the same time, maintaining flat funding levels is not the same as meeting the needs of our communities. When costs continue to rise, flat appropriations function as cuts in practice. Real investment means ensuring that the workers who sustain our communities can earn a living wage. That remains true for Community Care Program workers, whose essential contributions continue to be undervalued and underpaid in this budget.
“This budget is an important step at advancing revenue reform, which means protecting critical programs from harmful federal cuts. Yet, Illinois is still spending 14% less on public services today than it did two decades ago. Preserving what we have is simply not good enough. We must continue to ensure corporations and the ultra-wealthy contribute their fair share, while continuing to invest in our communities instead of directing public resources toward tax breaks and handouts for those already at the top.
“I voted for this budget because it protects essential services and moves Illinois in the right direction. We must continue building a state budget that fully meets the needs of working families and invests in the future of every community.”
