100th District State Representative C.D. Davidsmeyer is reminding his General Assembly colleagues that they are dealing with the people’s money when it comes to the state budget.
Illinois’s legislative session in Springfield is scheduled to adjourn on May 19th, giving the General Assembly just over a month of scheduled days to complete its work, including passing a budget.
Davidsmeyer says no office or department at the state is entitled to the budget’s money: “As we are going through the budget process right now…We were in the Human Services Appropriations Committee [Wednesday] morning and I think Representative [Rita] Mayfield did a very good job of making the point that we are dealing with taxpayer dollars. So, when I hear people on the [House] floor talk about these are our dollars to spend, it’s a little bit frustrating because we are just returning these dollars to the people of the State of Illinois. I want to ensure that we all remember that as we go through all this. These grant dollars are not the Secretary of State’s dollars. They are not the Treasurer’s dollars. They are not the whoever’s dollars. These belong to the people of the State of Illinois.”
So far this week, the House has passed over 100 bills to the Senate. Illinois Democrats have not indicated yet when they plan on presenting their 2023-24 budget bill.