SPRINGFIELD -- Governor J.B. Pritzker and the Democrats who control the General Assembly passed a flurry of major legislation in the closing days of this year’s legislative session.
State Rep. Jehan-Gordon Booth (D-Peoria) said lawmakers were highly productive this year.
“This legislative session was historic. The Illinois General Assembly, in over a hundred years, have never worked on this many groundbreaking issues successfully - in one year," she said. "This year was absolutely historic. We’ve never had a year this significant, at least in my tenure being in the legislature.”
Some of the major legislation passed includes raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025, passing a $45 billion capital bill for infrastructure improvements and offering the voters a chance to amend the Illinois Constitution to shift the state to a graduated income tax.
She says that many of the progressive ideas passed this session are nothing new, but ultimately required needed votes in the legislature and the governor’s signature to become law.
“For years, you’ve had folks talking about the need to put a progressive income tax on the ballot. Let the people choose what they think is the right way to be funding the very functionality of our government. A balanced budget, what a novel idea. Fifteen dollar an hour minimum wage," she said.
After the 2018 midterms, Democrats now hold supermajorities in both houses of the legislature, and Democrat J.B. Pritzker defeated Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner in his bid for re-election to the governor’s office.
Gordon-Booth also spearheaded recreational cannabis legalization. She called Illinois' proposed legislation the "most equitable" in the nation.
She said she "could not be more proud" of what legislators achieved in the closing days of the session.