On February 2, 2022, Governor Pritzker presented his proposed budget for the fiscal year 2023 beginning on July 1st. The proposed budget seeks to spend a total of $45.4 billion (an estimated $1.6 billion less than the current fiscal year) from general revenue
funds with the following investment priorities:
· Early Childhood Programs (Birth to Age 5) ✓K-12 Education
· Health care System
· Higher Education
· Social Service Programs
· Public Safety and Violence Prevention
· Economic Development and Infrastructure
· Environmental and Cultural Resources
Amongst the above listed investment priorities, the largest allocations remain k-12 Education and Pensions; 21 percent and 20.1 percent respectively. Other allocations include Health care (17.4 percent), Human Services (18.2 percent), Government Services (7.7 percent), Statutory Transfers (5.2 percent Higher Education (4.7 percent), Public Safety (4.6 percent), Economic Development (0.3 percent), Environment and Culture (0.2 percent).
A notable allocation is the proposed contribution to the “Rainy Day Fund” at $279 million from FY 2023 and $600 million from FY 2022, bringing the balance up to $879.
Notable Allocations for Health care
Governor Pritzker’s budgetary priority for health care is to “rebuild and expand healthcare workforce”. To do this, the budget contains the following allocations:
· $25 million: Pipeline for the Advancement of the Healthcare (PATH) Workforce Program to develop high-demand healthcare positions through Illinois Community College Board
· $2 million: Increase funding for existing scholarship programs to help rebuild the healthcare workforce; Nursing Education Scholarship program
· $2.5 million: Community Health Worker Certification Program; The Illinois Department of Public Health and education agencies will collaborate to certify academic-based training programs for community health workers
· $180 million: Reinvestment funds to preserve and grow the healthcare workforce through the Healthcare Workforce Initiative; Eligible providers will include hospitals, clinics, behavioral health providers, home health workers. This funding will also be directed towards staff bonuses, continuing education training and staff retention and recruitment.
· $500 million: Proposed changes to the nursing home rate structure, including workforce enhancement, creating a wage scale for certified nursing assistants, and increased payments to nursing homes for hiring and retention of direct care staff.
· $10 million: Department of Public Health will receive an additional allocation to hire 175 staff for the purposes of surveillance and monitoring nursing homes and assisted living facilities, as well as infections disease specialists and epidemiologists.
· $140 million: Increased funding support for behavioral health services
A further breakdown of allocations and commitments to health can be found here and our member interview taking a deeper look at behavioral health with Jud DeLoss, CEO of the Illinois Association for Behavioral Health(IABH) can be found here.
Proposed Illinois State Budget Fiscal Year 2023 links:
News Update Links:
Here's what's missing from Pritzker's budget (Crain's | 2.4.2022)
Pritzker's budget puts Illinois on best fiscal footing in years, but ... (Crain's | 2.7.2022)
Pritzker Unveils $45.4 Billion Dollar Budget with Focus on Healthcare Workforce, Behavioral Health (Health News Illinois | 2.3.2022)
New Illinois budget aims to address the healthcare worker shortage (Modern Healthcare | 2.2.2022)
Capitol Recap: Pritzker touts fiscal record in proposing $45.4 billion budget (The Southern | 2.6.2022)