Illinois FY2013 General Fund Enacted Budget Analysis

The FY2013 Enacted Budget was signed by Governor Pat Quinn on Saturday, June 30. The state’s FY2013 General Fund Budget promised to be unique for a number of reasons. First, the Governor and House of Representatives made two very different spending proposals, based on different estimates of how much revenue would be available to spend. The FY2013 General Fund budget enacted into law, as modified by certain line-item vetoes and reduction actions made by the Governor closely follows the House proposal, by appropriating a maximum of $23.539 billion to public services. This is just $81 million more than the House’s initial spending proposal and fully $786 million less than the Governor’s. Second, FY2013 is the first year that total expenditures under the General Fund were made subject to a hard cap established under the Taxpayer Accountability and Budget Stabilization Act (P.A. 96-1496) that passed in January, 2011. Last, the Budgeting for Results Act, which implemented a number of changes from prior budget practices, became fully effective for the first time in FY2013.