Springfield – At Governor J.B Pritzker’s seventh state of the state address, he took aim at federal budget cuts, the pharmaceutical industry, talked about education in Illinois and reflected on the rise of authoritarianism in the U.S.
NIU FUNDING
The proposed budget recommends the state of Illinois to provide NIU $103.7 million in funding for general operations in FY ‘26. This is a $3.01 million increase from the FY 2025 appropriation and a $4.9 million increase from FY ‘24. The University had $434 million in expenses in FY’24.
The funding is recommended by the governor and needs to be approved by the Illinois General Assembly.
The budget requests $488 million in funding for Downstate Public Transit. This funding includes the Downstate Operating Assistance Program (DOAP) grant money being used by the city of DeKalb for bus system operations.
In Illinois, revenue is expected to increase by 2.9%.
In FY ‘26 the Health Benefits for Immigrant Adults (HBIA) program will not be funded.
The program was offered through Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services and offered Medicaid style benefits to certain low income immigrant adults who do not qualify for traditional medicaid due to their immigration status.
There were 50,377 adults enrolled in the program in 2024, an estimated 34,485 enrolled for 2025, and zero will be enrolled in 2026.
Health Benefits for Immigrant Seniors will continue to be funded with a $110 million allocation from the state general fund.
In this program there were 15,685 enrolled in 2024, 8,906 estimated to be enrolled in 2025 and 8,398 projected to be enrolled in 2026.
COMMUNITY COLLEGE BACHELOR’S DEGREES
Pritzker recommended that the state allow community colleges to grant Bachelor’s degrees for nursing, advanced manufacturing and early childhood education.
Illinois has the third largest community college system in the country, according to Pritzker.
The proposal would need to be approved by the Illinois Board of Higher Education.
PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY PROGRAMS
Pritzker focused on the role of pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) in driving up drug prices and forcing small pharmacies out of business. The three largest PBMs, CVS Health, Cigna Group, and UnitedHealth Group, accounted for 79% of the drug sales market.
Pritzker said the Prescription Drug Affordability Act would require the Illinois Department of Insurance to annually audit and report on PBMs.
Pritzker also announced a second round of the Medical Debt Relief Pilot Program which aims to purchase debt portfolios and then forgive individual’s debt. Through this program $128 million in medical debt was forgiven at a cost of $10 million to the state. The proposed budget has $15 million appropriated for the second round of the program.
DEMOCRATIC BACKSLIDING
Reflecting on interwar Germany and the rapid decline of the Weimar Republic, Pritzker said “it took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic.”
His final message invoked anti-authoritarianism: “we don’t have kings in America – and I don’t intend to bend the knee to one,” Pritzker said. The governor referenced the pro-democracy character of Illinois, citing a 1978 march by 20 Nazis in Chicago where 2,000 anti-fascist protesters responded.
The full proposed budget can be found on the Illinois budget website.
