Illinois Lawmakers Returning For Final Stretch Of 2019 Regular Season
Lawmakers are preparing to return to the Capitol following their two-week spring break. As work gets underway tomorrow, legislators will deal with Governor Pritzker’s budget proposal and calls for legalizing recreational marijuana. Democrat Pritzker faces a backlog of unpaid bills of roughly eight billion dollars. Legislators are being asked to consider a host of short-term revenue generators, including higher cigarette taxes, new taxes on shopping bags, a new privilege tax on certain kinds of health insurance companies, legalizing sports betting, and legalizing adult recreational use of marijuana. For the long term, Pritzker is proposing legislators reduce mandated payments into the state’s pension systems to free up funds for education and social services.