Republican state Sen. Sally Turner is reflecting on the end of the spring session with the culmination of another passage of the budget late into the night.
Republicans criticized the speed with which the budget was passed. The budget bill that passed was filed 48 hours before the deadline, but Democrats said there were drafts of the budget before the final bill was filed.
Turner, representing an area between Bloomington-Normal and Decatur and a Republican budget negotiator, said the budget bill that passed should have been filed earlier so lawmakers could have time to review each amendment to the budget.
“It's important that we lay those things out there, so that people can actually see them and know what they say, not having a last minute thing thrown upon you that you read later to see who got specific money,” Turner said.
Turner said there was better communication this year compared to previous years, but there still was not enough time with the final budget to read every detail. Turner said there were appropriation hearings that Republicans were a part of, but with no budget to work from, they could not ask where the money was going.
"...No one told you that ahead of time in appropriations, so that you could have said, 'So, what are you doing with that? What are they doing with that money? How are they going to expend that?'" she said.
Turner said she was still reading the budget after it passed and is still looking into every detail.
Gas prices
The budget froze an increase on a state motor fuel tax that would have raised gas prices by around 1 cent per gallon. Gas prices continue to be high across the nation because of a disruption in the supply chain due to the uncertainty with the war with Iran.
Turner said she supports the freeze on the motor fuel tax but would also want to see a pause on a state sales tax affecting gas prices.
"If we took that away just for a period of time, even that would have been a big help to individuals, being able to pour gas in their tanks and going back and forth to work," Turner said.
Turner said pausing the 6% sales tax on gas would lower the price of gas a lot more than the current freeze on the motor fuel tax.
House Republicans supported a six month pause on gas sales taxes but the bill was never called for a vote.
Turner said rising gas prices have started to affect school buses in her district because they were already struggling to keep buses funded even without the high gas prices.
Property taxes
Illinois lawmakers were able to meet the requirements for funding the Evidence-Based Funding [EBF] formula in K-12 schools, which has a grant program to give property tax relief to a few school districts.
Turner said she does not fully understand how the program works, but knows that it does help reduce property taxes. She said not every school is able to receive the grants because there is only so much money the state can give out. Turner said this fund will only help a few districts and will not be a long term fix to high property taxes.
Turner also said lawmakers should look into raising property taxes on wind and solar because these are no longer emerging industries. She introduced a bill attempting to do that, among other reforms, saying the property tax rate on these industries has not changed since 2006 for wind and 2018 for solar.
“All that needs to be reviewed again now. If that amount was higher, and that they're taxed higher — and our homes are taxed higher every year — that needs to be looked at to see if maybe they can take a larger burden of the tax, so their value would be higher,” Turner said.
Turner said if the value is higher in these industries it could slow the rising property taxes in some communities.
The bill was not called for a vote.
Data centers
Turner said a bill was introduced to regulate data centers, the POWER Act, but it still needs work because it would require data centers to build their own renewable energy, which she does not think is a viable option.
Turner said she agrees with the environmental regulations in the bill like monitoring data center water and energy consumption.
“[Gov. JB Pritzker] also recommended that anyone that puts a data center in needs to take a good, hard look at how that affects power, how that affects your water, how it affects your community, where you place it. And I do agree with those things,” Turner said.
The bill did not get called for a vote.
As Illinois lawmakers fail to pass regulations, local governments have started enacting moratoriums on data centers or canceling projects because of a lot of local opposition to data center construction.
Turner said she has concerns that Illinois could take local control away when regulating data centers because they took away local control when regulating wind and solar.
“I believe it is because that some of those areas weren't allowing to have wind and solar come through, so instead they took that power away from local governments and gave that to the state,” Turner said.
Turner said local governments should be taking steps to zone and regulate data centers, with state regulations being implemented only when needed.
Turner said she also agrees with Pritzker’s pause on data center tax credits.
“I see no need for the tax credits, because those companies have plenty of money, and if they are going to build a data center, they don't need any tax credits,” Turner said.
Turner said data centers do not need state funding and that money can go to other areas that need an increase in funding.
