Political Recap: Illinois Budget, Gaming Progress; Pension Treads Water
It's always good to be caught up on state politics. Here's an easy guide to what happened last week.
The Illinois General Assembly passed a budget — almost on time — Thursday, with the Senate ending about 1:30 a.m. Friday. The budget spends $33.7 billion for the 2013 general fund — the result of months of negotiations, hearings and a dizzying array of spending and appropriations bills with last-minute amendments upon amendments. The budget, made up of several bills in the House and Senate, includes $6.5 billion for K-12 education, $1.9 billion for higher education, $5 billion for health and human services, and $1.6 billion for public safety. In a testament to how Springfield does math, Democrats say the budget represents a spending reduction; Republicans say the opposite. “Two years in a row, spending is going up,” said Sen. Matt Murphy, …
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