In this issue:
- Still waiting for details on spending cuts
- Illinois Commerce Commission approves Ameren natural gas rate hike
- Digital driver’s licenses now available for iPhone users
- Visiting with Dwight Cub Scouts
Still waiting for details on spending cuts
Back in October Governor Pritzker issued an executive order instructing state agencies to identify areas of their current fiscal year budgets which could be cut. Agencies were given an October 23 deadline to do so. Thus far, the Governor’s office has not yet released any details on which cuts they plan to propose.
With no information forthcoming from the Governor’s office, House Republican Leader Tony McCombie filed a Freedom of Information Request on November 6 to attempt to pry loose some details. The request was denied, citing “internal deliberations.” So we are still just as much in the dark now as we were six weeks ago.
Earlier this year Democrats passed the biggest-spending state budget in Illinois history. The record-setting $55.2 billion budget raised taxes, swept funds and directed hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to pork projects in Democrat-held districts. The Governor quickly signed the bill into law, in spite of warnings from Republicans and fiscal watchdogs that the state was in danger of spending more than it was going to take in. Belatedly, the Governor seems to have realized that those warnings were correct.
The lack of details about the proposed cuts does raise some questions. Leader McCombie commented that, “it was a political move to gaslight Illinois families into thinking he’s suddenly serious about fiscal discipline. Weeks later, he still hasn’t released a single detail. No plan. No transparency. No accountability.”
We will continue to await details.
Illinois Commerce Commission approves Ameren natural gas rate hike
The Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) has approved a $150 million rate increase for natural gas from Ameren, a utility which provides services to 2.3 million customers, including many in downstate Illinois. Other Illinois natural gas providers include Peoples Gas, North Shore Gas and Nicor Gas, all of which have also filed requests for approval of natural gas rate hikes.
The ICC announced its approval of the Ameren rate hike on November 19.
Digital driver’s licenses now available for iPhone users
A new Illinois digital ID card is now available.
The new card supplements, rather than replacing, the familiar plastic driver’s license or ID cards which most Illinois adults carry. The new digital card can be loaded into Apple wallets for iPhone users, part of a move which Illinois and several other states are pursuing to make digital-stored identification information more available.
The digital ID app contains widget switches to allow the holder to turn some of the information on or off, a useful feature in situations in which not all the user’s identification information needs to be shown. For example, a person might wish to use their digital ID to verify their age without also showing their home address. Illinois residents will still be required to show their physical ID card, including all the information printed on it, in a law-enforcement setting, to enable law enforcement to complete an identification check.
Currently, the rollout applies only to Apple iPhones, but the Secretary of State’s office has indicated that it intends to spread this technology to Android devices in the near future.
Visiting with Dwight Cub Scouts
I was grateful for the awesome invitation from Cub Scout Pack 4877 in Dwight!
I had such a great time speaking with your club and seeing all the excitement you bring to community, service, and leadership. Hope our conversation helped you check off those badge requirements—keep up the amazing work!
Our current bill backlog
When a vendor provides the state with goods and services, they submit the bill to the Illinois Comptroller for payment. The Comptroller processes the paperwork and pays the bill when funds are available in the state’s checking account. Currently the total amount of unpaid bills is $1,698,409,683. This figure changes daily. Last year at this time the state had $2.1 billion in bills awaiting payment. This only includes bills submitted to the Comptroller for payment, not unfunded debts like the state’s pension liability, which is well over $100 billion.
Illinois headlines
These new Illinois laws go into effect on January 1, 2026
Human trafficking happening in Illinois
Governor Pritzker says he is open to amending SAFE-T Act
Pre-enrollment open for Illinois cover crop insurance incentive