Legislative Update -- August 13, 2020
August 13, 2020
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Census
As of 8/11/2020, Illinois is holding steady at #7 in the nation for self-response rates, at 68.4%, compared to 63.4% nationally. As reported last week, the deadline for data collection has been moved earlier to September 30 from October 31, so there is urgency to continue to promote the census in your communities.
Mask Mandate
On August 7, 2020, a statewide mandate for people over age 2 to wear face coverings in public and maintain social distance of six feet where possible was announced, with penalties assessed to the business or institution if the rule is broken. On August 11, the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, a bipartisan committee of the Illinois General Assembly, voted to allow the rule to proceed. Libraries are once again not explicitly named in these rules, but a recent post on Ancel, Glink's Municipal Minute notes that the rule applies to "Any business, service, facility, or organization open to the public or to employees."
State Budget
The state of Illinois has recorded its July 2020 revenue numbers and, after the first month of FY2021, they are positive, largely because the federal and state income tax filing deadline was moved from April to July 2020. Put another way—FY2021 will have two federal and state income tax collections instead of one, artificially inflating the first 31 days of tax collection during this fiscal year.
Last month, the state realized $4.19 billion in revenues, which represents 9.5% of the state's FY2021 total revenue projection. For comparison purposes, historically the state collects 7.3% of its annual revenue in July. However, subtracting the amount of estimated revenue that was produced because of the July 15 income tax due date, the state only collected $2.9 billion, which is about $200 million less than the average collection rate for the first month of the fiscal year.
The contracting economy and significant decrease in consumer purchasing and associated tax revenue reductions have personal property replacement tax collections being estimated between 23-26% below last year’s distribution amount.
All of these reduced revenue sources indicate the importance of the November graduated income tax referendum to the current and future state budgets. COVID-19 economic ramifications and the success or failure of the income tax referendum question will influence potential spending reduction decisions.
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