Illinois Rainy Day Fund Almost Nil While Other States Hit Record
- State last contributed to rainy day fund more than decade ago
- U.S. states held record $74.9 billion total in 2019: Pew
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While many states used the longest U.S. economic recovery to boost rainy-day funds to record levels, Illinois hasn’t contributed to this safety net in more than a decade. Now, Governor J.B. Pritzker wants to catch up.
The billionaire Democrat proposed putting $50 million from an expected surplus into the state’s so-called budget stabilization fund this year and the same amount again in fiscal 2021 if voters approve a graduated income tax referendum in November. The fund was almost depleted in 2017 amid a budget impasse between then Governor Bruce Rauner, a Republican, and Illinois’s Democrat-controlled legislature.