The $500B error in Illinois’ budget

SZALINSKI’S SUMMARY: Gov. JB Pritzker used his item and reduction veto powers to eliminate $500.4 billion of spending mostly erroneously included in Illinois’ fiscal year 2027 budget. The majority of that came from a single mistake that would’ve given more than $500 billion to an NAACP branch in Chicago.

WHY IT MATTERS: Pritzker made the changes in consultation with the General Assembly’s budget leaders, Rep. Robyn Gabel, D-Evanston, and Sen. Elgie Sims, D-Chicago. The constitution gives the governor authority to veto portions of bills or amend appropriations without rejecting the whole bill, which saves the General Assembly from having to rush back to Springfield before the budget takes effect on July 1 to correct costly mistakes. Pritzker’s changes keep the budget from being nearly nine times larger than it is supposed to be.

Pritzker said in his message to the General Assembly that they “identified a number of individual appropriation lines included in the enrolled bill sent to me for consideration that either contain errors or are duplicative of other appropriation lines already contained in the bill.”

WHY IT HAPPENED: Things get missed in the middle of the night, especially when it is in a 3,700-page document. The Senate approved the spending plan shortly after 3 a.m. on June 1, with the House following about an hour later. Despite three amendments to House Bill 111, the spending plan, quite a few errors made it to the governor’s desk.

MASSIVE TYPO: The biggest error can be found on page 430 of the bill, where $500,250,000,000 was allocated to the Chicago Westside Branch NAACP for operating expenses in a grant from the Department of Human Services. But that typo didn’t appear until the third and final amendment was filed some time after midnight on June 1.

“I note that the total dollar amount of item and reduction vetoes reflected in this message appears unusually high due in large part to a single typographical error,” Pritzker said in his message.

In the original budget amendment, which was 200 fewer pages and filed on the evening of May 30, there is no appropriation specifically for operating expenses at the branch. In amendment two filed on May 31, the grant appears for $500,000. In the third amendment, it appears the budget drafters wanted to reduce that grant to $250,000 but didn’t delete the other numbers. It’s one example of how the massive budget can significantly change over the final 24 hours from amendment to amendment with little time to vet it for errors.

ADVERTISEMENT

Here is the full list of the spending lines Pritzker eliminated:

• Page 224: $300,000 to the Department of Agriculture for the Crop Insurance Rebate Initiative.
• Page 252: $2.9 million to the Hispanic American Construction Industry Association for job training and operational expenses
• Page 291: $5 million for NSC Events, LLC for operational expenses. No business matches that exact name on the Secretary of State’s database.
• Page 292: $250,000 for the Black Star Project for operational expenses.
• Page 414: $450,000 for the Chicago Westside NAACP for operational expenses.
• Page 414: $900,000 for Phalanx Family Services for operational expenses.
• Page 426: $2 million for the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning for operational expenses.
• Page 429: $250,000 for Beautiful Angels for operating expenses.
• Page 430: $500.25 billion for the Chicago Westside Branch NAACP for operating expenses.
• Page 435: $500,000 for the Magnificent Mile Association for operating expenses.
• Page 438: $17.5 million for the Resurrection Project to implement the Access to Justice Program.
• Page 438: $17.8 million for the Department of Human Services’ Teen REACH after school programs for operational expenses.
• Page 438: $1 million for the Statewide 2-1-1 service.
• Page 439: $250,00 to the Department of Human Services for operational expenses for the Human Services Loan Repayment.
• Page 440: $250,000 for the Asian American Chamber of Commerce for operational expenses.
• Page 440: $500,000 for Kids Above All for operational expenses.
• Page 440: $250,000 for the South Asian Chamber of Commerce for operational expenses.
• Page 440: $250,000 for the Assyrian American Chamber of Commerce for operational expenses.
• Page 649: $20 million for the Southwest Organizing Project Parent Mentoring Program.
• Page 649: $4.5 million for the National Board of Certified Teachers for operational expenses.
• Page 649: $30 million for the State Board of Education for after school programing.
• Page 885: $1.5 million for Valley View Community School District 365-U for special education services.
• Page 890: $2 million for the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning for operational expenses.
• Page 890: $1 million for the Illinois Prison Project for operational expenses.
• Page 897: $250,000 for the Department of Early Childhood for “operational costs associated with the Niles Township Early Childhood Alliance.”
• Page 897: $636,000 for Harper College for the Hanover Park Education and Work Center.
• Page 899: $1 million for the Fox Waterway Agency for flood control.
• Page 900: $250,000 for High Jump for public safety, economic development and administrative expenses.
• Page 900: $100,000 for Belvidere Consolidated Unit School District 100 for career and technical education.

Here’s the full list of spending Pritzker reduced:

• Page 93: The Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity will receive $1.7 million rather than $17 million for seven grants for violence prevention, youth employment and operational expenses.
• Page 99: The Department of Human Services will receive $1.7 million rather than $17 million for 10 grants for violence prevention, youth employment and operational expenses.
• Page 107: The offices for the General Assembly’s majority and minority leaders will receive $35.6 million rather than $38.1 million for staffing costs.
• Page 115: The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability will receive $4.8 million rather than $6.3 million for operational expenses.
• Page 117: The Legislative Information System will receive $6.7 million rather than $8.3 million for operational expenses.
• Page 416: DHS’ Division of Family and Community Services will receive $45 million rather than $60 million for grants and administrative expenses for youth employment programs.
• Page 433: United Builders will receive $300,000 rather than $650,000 for operating expenses.
• Page 642: The State Board of Education will receive $30 million rather than $35 million for after school programing.