Senator Sally Turner calls for
transparency of state migrant program spending
Send a link to a friend
[March 07, 2024]
Members
of the Senate Republican Caucus are once again asking for greater
fiscal transparency about the Governor’s Administration’s migrant
crisis, so lawmakers have a clearer idea about how much is really
being spent on state programs for non-citizens.
State Senator Sally Turner joined Senate Republican Leader John
Curran (R-Downers Grove) and Senator Dave Syverson (R-Cherry Valley)
at a March 7 Capitol press conference to talk about legislation
filed by Senate Republicans to require an annual report to the
General Assembly identifying all state spending on services and
resources for migrants.
“Instead of coming to the Legislature to negotiate funding for
migrant programs, the Governor has time and time again issued
executive orders to circumvent the General Assembly completely,”
said Senator Turner. “This has allowed him to move huge sums of
taxpayer dollars with little-to-no accountability.”
Over the last several years, the Governor has issued numerous
emergency declarations, using his executive power and transfer
authority to divert funding from existing state programs with
little-to-no scrutiny to cover costs associated with the migrant
population. Despite repeated inquiries from the Senate Republican
Caucus, the Governor’s Administration has failed to answer simple
questions about the spending.
“Ultimately, because of the way he’s moving money
around with zero transparency, we don’t really know how much the
Governor is spending on the migrant crisis,” said Turner. “If
Pritzker is going to ask for $1 billion in new taxes, the people of
this state deserve to know how it will be spent.”
Senate Republicans’ Senate Bill 3170 would require the Illinois
Department of Human Services to work with relevant State agencies,
to prepare an annual report to the General Assembly identifying all
state spending on services and resources for migrants. It would also
be made available to the public on the department’s website.
“There is no doubt that Governor Pritzker’s non-citizen welfare
policies have exhausted state resources and helped create the
largest migrant crisis in the Midwest,” said Illinois Senate
Republican Leader John Curran (R-Downers Grove). “Illinois taxpayers
deserve to know how much of their money is being spent on Gov.
Pritzker’s non-citizen welfare programs before they begin shelling
out more than $1 billion in tax increases he proposed to fund this
crisis he created.”
[to top of second column]
|
The report would include details
of services and resources provided by various state entities,
including but not limited to the State Board of Education,
Department of Human Services, Department of Public Health,
Illinois Emergency Management Agency and Office of Homeland
Security, Department of Central Management Services, Department
of Labor, and Department of Healthcare and Family Services.
The report is required to include the following
information concerning expenditures:
* Total amount spent on non-citizen and asylum-seeking populations
in the previous fiscal year.
* Specific appropriations authorizing the spending.
* Any transfers among line-item appropriations associated with
non-citizen and asylum-seeking populations.
* Total number of families or individuals impacted by each service
or resource.
* Funding sources of the service or resource.
* Contracts awarded to organizations providing services or resources
in various categories such as emergency shelter, food, health
screenings, legal services, job readiness support, enrollment in
public schools, long-term housing, mental health assessments, and
other related spending.
Further, the legislation requires the Governor to include a detailed
accounting of all proposed spending on non-citizen populations in
future state budgets, providing an additional layer of transparency
to the people of Illinois.
The legislators argue that as the process of putting a state budget
together begins in earnest, it’s critical to know how much is being
spent on services for migrants and where the money is coming from.
“On Feb. 20, Senate Republicans called on Governor
Pritzker to release a budget that prioritizes the needs of Illinois
citizens over a migrant crisis of his own making. One day later, he
delivered a Budget Address that shockingly includes nearly a billion
in new taxes, to be paid by Illinoisans. To add insult to injury,
Pritzker’s proposed budget will spend nearly a billion dollars on
programs for non-citizens he has encouraged to come to Illinois,”
Syverson said. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see the
connection.”
[Marcus J. Durrett
Senior Communications Strategist
Communications and Public Affairs
Illinois Senate Republican Staff] |