Will County Gazette

Senate Bill 2803 will allocate $2.7 billion to pay down Illinois' Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund debt, which currently stands at around $4.5 billion. Rep. Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield) recently criticized Democratic lawmakers for not paying down the debt in its entirety.

"Our plan for a year has been to plug the $4.5 billion hole that is in unemployment insurance," Batinick said March 24 from the House floor. "For a year we've worried about this. [...] Your plan, we're being told, is we have to pass this by midnight! By midnight - it's 8 pm! We've been saying this for a year. 'Oh and by the way, we don't fix all the problem, we fix a little bit more than half of the problem with $2.7 billion, because we're going to take the other billion and use it for projects.' Oh, only for your side of the aisle, not for our side of the aisle. That's the plan." 

Batinick told his colleagues the shortfall would have to be made up somehow.

"We're being told about taking food off the table - there's a $1.8 billion shortfall. There is no magic money fairy here in Springfield. I think we figured that out," Batinick said. "It has to be plugged by either tax increases on jobs, or benefit cuts of people who get unemployment insurance. Aren't those the people we're supposed to be here fighting for? One of those two things needs to happen. It's not in this bill, it's the effect of this bill. [...] I do not like being lectured on fiscal responsibility between these two particular plans. Vote no."

SB2803 will allocate $2.7 billion from the State Coronavirus Urgent Remediation Emergency Fund to pay down the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund debt. State Sen. Linda Holmes (D-Aurora) and Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago) are chief sponsors of the legislation.

The total debt of $4.5 billion is due to the federal government by Nov. 10, but there is an interest payment of almost $80 million due on Sept. 30, according to WIFR. SB2803 passed by a partisan vote of 68-43 on March 23.

Illinois Department of Employment Security Director Kristin Richards told the Illinois Senate that more than 18% of unemployment insurance payments were paid "improperly," The Center Square reported. Richards did not provide an estimate of the dollar amount of fraud, but stated that Arizona, Michigan, and Pennsylvania have estimated between $4 and $6 billion in fraudulent payments.

If the plan passes the Senate, Gov. Pritzker will need to approve it promptly in order to meet a federal spending deadline.

House Republicans supported using federal relief dollars to pay off the debt in its entirety. Illinois received more than $8 billion from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) in 2021, according to NBC.