Read Gov . Pritzker state of the state and budget address

wglt.org · Feb 18, 2026 · Collected from GDELT

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Gov. JB Pritzker delivered his combined FY 2027 budget and state of the state address during a joint session of the Illinois General Assembly Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026. The $56 billion dollar budget plan limits new spending, but Pritzker called for several changes.Below are the governor's remarks as prepared for delivery. ******************Speaker Welch and President Harmon, Leader McCombie, Leader Curran, Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton, my fellow constitutional officers, members of the 104th General Assembly, Chief Justice Neville and Justices of the Supreme Court, First Lady MK Pritzker, honored guests, and all the people of the great state of Illinois, I’m pleased to be here to share with you a message about the State of the State and introduce another balanced budget proposal. This year is special. We celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States of America.Two hundred and fifty years this democracy has stood – imperfect at times, struggling at others, but always with pride in our people’s enduring aspirations to steer this nation toward unity, freedom, and justice. During that quarter of a millennia, Illinois has played a unique role in helping our country bridge the fractures that inevitably emerge in a young nation.It’s also the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Black History Month, set in February to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass and to “honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans.” Yesterday, we lost a giant who spent his life on the front lines of the Civil Rights Movement. He broke down barriers, inspired generations, and kept hope alive. I ask all of you to stand and join me in a moment of silence for the passing of Reverend Jesse Jackson.Throughout my time in office, I’ve tried to bring attention to Illinois’ important role in history. I’ve told you stories about the Great Chicago Fire, about the uniqueness of our handwritten copy of the Gettysburg Address, about the heroes of the pandemic we faced a century ago, about our predecessors in these offices who confronted unexpected crises and who found solutions they previously didn’t think were possible. I’ve told you stories about Illinoisans whose names loom large in American history — and some whose names history forgot.I think, to lead, it’s important to be a student of history. If you have the courage to confront all of our past – the good and the bad, the hopeful and the messy – history has the power to inform a better future.I have particularly enjoyed reaching into the state archives to see the State of the State messages that past Governors have delivered to this body. I admit there is a particular comfort in reading the words of people that preceded me by generations and hearing their frustration with problems remarkably like the ones we confront today. I also like the idea that some poor Governor 100 years from now will read these words looking for comfort.I’ve always been intrigued by Governor John Peter Altgeld, and I discovered his State of the State message to the 39th Illinois General Assembly all the way back on January 9, 1895.Altgeld’s State of the State lasts for 60 pages – I assure you mine today is considerably shorter. During his, he talked about: the need to ensure that science would govern the practice of medicine in Illinois; the high cost of insurance; the condition of Illinois prisons; the funding of state universities; a needed revision of election laws; the concentration of wealth in large businesses; and a section entitled “Women in Public Service.”That last part starts with Altgeld’s pride about appointing women to positions in state government, well before women had the right to vote. And he concludes by saying: “The army of women who are obliged to earn their own bread is constantly increasing…Justice requires that the same rewards and honors that encourage and incite men should be equally in reach of women in every field and activity. And I am glad to report that they have met every reasonable expectation. As a rule they have done their work well.”I bring up Governor Altgeld’s words on the subject of equal rights to highlight one enduring human truth – injustice can become a genetic condition we bequeath on future generations if we fail to face it forthrightly.When we gathered here a year ago, President Trump had just taken office. To be perfectly candid, as Illinois is one of the states whose taxpayers send more dollars to the federal government than we receive back in services, I was hoping that his threats to gut programs that support working families was the kind of unrealistic hyperbole that fuels a presidential campaign but then is abandoned when cooler heads prevail. Unfortunately, there are no cooler heads at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue these days.$8.4 billion dollars. That is how much the Trump administration has cost the people of Illinois.Alongside many other states, Illinois is fighting more than 50 cases in court where the federal government is illegally confiscating money that has already been promised and appropriated by the Congress to the people of Illinois.These are not handouts. These are dollars that real Illinoisans paid in federal taxes and that have been constitutionally approved by our elected Democratic and Republican representatives in Washington.Unlike the federal government, every year Illinois must balance its budget. When Donald Trump is taking resources away that are rightfully ours, none of us — Democrats or Republicans — should be ok with that. So as we embark on this journey of maintaining our state’s now re-established record of fiscal responsibility, I want to say to anyone on either side of the aisle: If you want to talk about our FY 2027 budget, you must first demand the return of the money and resources this President has taken from the people of Illinois.On top of the cost inflicted on this state’s residents — billions in illegally withheld funds — our state is also forced to spend enormous time and taxpayer money going to court and fighting to get what is rightfully ours. A heinous example of the government’s waste and fraud if I have ever seen one.For his work expertly wielding his legal sword to protect our state, I want to ask you to join me in recognizing our outstanding Attorney General Kwame Raoul.It is impossible to tally the hours, days, and weeks our state government has spent chasing news of Presidential executive orders, letters, and edicts that read like proclamations from the Lollipop Guild.Here’s just one glaring example: The Trump administration — out of the blue — asked the Illinois Department of Transportation to spend state money getting rid of rainbow crosswalks in Chicago. That was happening while victims of severe storms, flash floods, and tornadoes were waiting months for a response to their requests for FEMA to help their devastated communities. Those requests for relief were then denied by the President — at great cost and pain to the communities affected. But hey, I’m glad someone in Washington is focused on what color our crosswalks get painted.Meanwhile, the President is making life harder and less affordable with tariff taxes on working families and small businesses, trade wars devastating farmers, cuts to healthcare, food assistance, and education, imposing increased bureaucracy on states, lower job creation than any year since Trump’s first term. You get the idea.Here is the good news: Illinois has suffered through similar hardship before, and we know the way out. Since 2018, our state’s credit rating has gone from near junk bond status to getting 10 consecutive credit upgrades, our 8-billion-dollar overdue bill backlog has been paid, our pension funded ratio has gone from nearly an all time low to now the highest in 17 years, and our rainy day fund has grown from $4 million to $2.4 billion.We’ve done all of this while balancing the budget every year and making historic investments in education, child welfare, disability services, and private sector job creation. We’ve been building a fiscal foundation to ensure that – come hell or high water, including the turbulence of Donald Trump – we can manage through the hard times and nevertheless make progress for a brighter future.Despite the headwinds, the Illinois economy has proven remarkably resilient — forging ahead on our path toward accelerating growth and expansion.This year, our state’s GDP surpassed $1.2 trillion dollars, up from $881 billion dollars when I took office. We are among the top 20 economies in the world and a top five state for electricity production. We are now number 13 in CNBC’s Best States for Business – up a whopping 17 spots since 2019. For the third year in a row, Illinois ranked as the number two state in the nation for corporate expansions and relocations into our state. And in 2025, our Department of Commerce and the Illinois Economic Development Corporation attracted a record-setting amount of investment across all of our regions.Site selectors and companies looking to move to Illinois consistently tell me our high quality skilled workforce sets us apart nationally. And skilled workers are choosing Illinois because they earn more here. In fact, Illinois ranks 4th nationally for college graduates seeing a return on investment in their education. And for earnings in the trades, like construction, Chicago is #1 in the country for large metro areas, and Peoria is #1 for mid-size metro areas. And for small metro areas, Decatur, Champaign, and Rockford are numbers #2, #3, and #4 respectively.And while Donald Trump says it’s a “hellhole” here, 113 million domestic and international visitors still flock to Illinois – spending a record $48.5 billion, driving an all-time high in hotel tax revenue and restoring O’Hare as the busiest airport in the nation.I want our economy to grow faster, and now that we’ve turned this state in the right direction, a growing number of companies are choosing Illinois to m