Legislative Update -- October 15, 2020
October 15, 2020
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TODAY IS THE FINAL DAY FOR CENSUS 2020 DATA COLLECTION. Yes, you read that right, and may have seen it in the news. The Supreme Court this week upheld the Trump Administration's decision to halt data collection prior to the October 31 deadline, in order to meet the reporting deadline of December 31. The U.S. Census Bureau will conclude the 2020 Census self-response and field data collection operations Thursday October 15, 2020 at 11:59 Hawaii Time, which is Friday, October 16 at 5am CST. For more specifics, please refer to the Bureau’s full statement. There had been legislation pending to extend the reporting deadline to April 2021, but it has not moved forward. Please do what you can, TODAY, to encourage your communities to complete the Census!
Illinois is finishing with a self-response rate of 71.3%, tied for sixth in the nation with Virginia, compared to the national rate of 66.8%. The Census Bureau is reporting a 99.9% total enumerated average rate nationally, with two states slightly below (Mississippi and Louisiana).
Springfield Update: Illinois State Budget
September state revenue collections have been logged and there were a few unanticipated items found within this month’s revenue report, the first of which is a $281 million deposit from the Income Tax Refund Fund. Deposits from this fund benefit the state when it allocates more funding than necessary to pay tax refunds. This is likely a one-time occurrence (Refund Fund deposits are rarely included in the revenue base) but it will help to stabilize the FY2021 budget. The apparent strength of income tax collections is also unexpected; corporate and personal income tax collections are performing above expectations--separate and apart from the FY2021 July 15 tax filing deadline.
In September, the state collected $3.7 billion representing 8.6% of the $43 billion FY2021 revenue estimate, which meets the historical collection average for that month. To date, the state has collected $10.7 billion, or 24.9% of its FY2021 projection. This is ahead of the historic collection rate of 23.2% for the state’s first fiscal year quarter. However, please recall the state estimates it collected $1.2 billion in excess income tax due to the July 15 tax filing date extension. If those dollars are backed out of total revenue collection figures, the state has collected 22% of its annual projection to date.
Although the state continues to estimate units of local government will realize a 17.4% drop in personal property replacement tax (PPRT) revenues, a more accurate projection will come after the November 3 election, when the result of the graduated income tax ballot referendum is known.
Found within the FY2021 adopted budget package, the legislature created a "Budget Oversight Committee" composed of members from each caucus. This bicameral group is tasked with evaluating the manner in which the governor executes the budget that was approved by the legislature. We will continue to monitor what role this body will play in any potential budgetary reductions the governor may call for later this year, particularly if the November graduated income tax ballot referendum fails. To date, the Secretary of State's office has not been asked to make any cuts to library funding.
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