Sangamon Sun

Sen. Sally Turner (R-Lincoln) recently made a statement reacting to Gov. J.B. Pritzker's (D-IL) new budget proposal in his State of the State address.

According to Patch, Pritzker’s state budget totals $112.5 billion, with $45.5 billion from the state’s general revenue fund and the rest from federal funds.

"First of all, there were many parts of his address that I was appreciative of, such as increases for public safety, our needed crime lab in Decatur, Human Services increases to hone in on mental health issues and programs," Turner said in the statement. "Also the map grant funding as well as Educational Funding for K through 12 and our higher education. These are all important things that concern me after the Biden Bucks stop. Are we going to have enough money to fund these $3 billion of increases? Are they sustainable? Those are things that are really, really important that we need to look into."

Public employee pensions are a big part of the budget, according to Patch.

"I felt like there wasn't any discussion between both sides of the aisle so that we could all offer good ideas and thoughtful plans on how to address things that are helpful to the citizens of Illinois," Turner said in the statement. "I think it's very important that we all work together in order to create a budget that's sustainable for all of us, so that people want to come and live in Illinois, and people want to stay in Illinois and raise their families here."

Turner is hopeful that there will be more discussion surrounding taxes being lifted on groceries and gas saying, "Both sides need to talk about those things and come up with better plans for the citizens of Illinois."