South West Illinois News

Democrats were compelled to change House rules and required three attempts to pass their $1.1 billion revenue plan just before 5 a.m. After an all-night session to conclude the General Assembly’s spring term, supermajority Democrats in the Illinois House secured final legislative approval for the state budget as dawn broke on Wednesday.

"Not only did the Democrats change the procedural rules on bills that don’t receive the requisite votes, it took them three times to pass their own tax package even though they hold a supermajority. To make matters worse, they decided to do so in the middle of the night when most Illinois citizens were fast asleep," Rep. Friess said. "The included billion-dollar tax hikes do not help but hurt the hardworking people of Illinois as they struggle with the reality of inflation. The fact that seven Democrats went against their own proposed budget package shows just how harmful and irresponsible it is."

Despite holding 78 seats in the chamber, it took Democrats three tries to reach the 60 votes needed to approve more than $1.1 billion in revenue increases, including a tax hike on sportsbooks and businesses, to balance the $53.1 billion spending plan for fiscal year 2025.

The spending plan passed 65-45, with seven Democrats joining Republicans in opposition.

The revenue plan that capped voting on budget-related bills proved more challenging. House Bill 4951 fell one vote short of passage twice after 4 a.m., due to attendance issues. At that time, according to House-adopted rules, the bill should have failed. However, Democrats moved to suspend House rules and made a third attempt. On this third try—after about an hour of procedural maneuvering by Republicans—the bill passed at 4:43 a.m., securing exactly 60 votes.