Sangamon Sun

Illinois State Rep. Randy Frese (R-Paloma) took to social media to plead fellow legislators to pass a budget, while criticizing Democrats for their spending.

Frese recently shared a link to a news release from WTTW on his website in a Facebook post saying “Where’s the budget?” The WTTW piece on the budget process notes that it was not the first time the state has failed to produce a budget in a timely manner.

"All eyes this week are on the state budget for fiscal year 2024,” he said in the post. “Democrats have to face reality and get their spending habits under control before it’s too late. We have to be responsible with taxpayer money if we want to get Illinois on a path toward growth and help families thrive here at home.”

The last week of the session is not quite the hard deadline it could sound like. According to WTTW, the Illinois lawmakers have through Friday to pass the budget. However, they technically have until July when the new fiscal year starts. It is customary for the General Assembly to have the budget ironed out by May 31 so they can work to get super-majority votes needed to be passed in June.

It was noted in the WTTW story that the state felt the negative effects when not passing the budget in a timely manner back in July 2017 when there was a two-year political standoff. They saw loss of jobs, universities being at risk of losing accreditation, human services at risk, construction work being stopped and credit downgrades.

Frese was elected to represent the people of the 99th district and has served since 2015. He was raised on his family’s farm in the rural area of the state of Illinois and has been married to his wife Ronda for more than 30 years. They have three daughters, Laura Jana and Sara. Frese is a small business owner and was the Adams County Circuit Clerk for eight years.