Governor Quinn Releases Budget Proposal

On February 16^th Governor Quinn presented his budget proposal for fiscal year 2012As had been expected, cuts were proposed. Unfortunately, human services was hard hit by the proposed cuts, continuing the practice of placing the largest burden on Illinois' most vulnerable men, women and children. A few themes that are evident from a preliminary analysis conducted by Heartland Alliance and Illinois Partners for Human Service include:

Disproportionate cuts to human services - The Department of Human Services continues to carry the largest share of the cuts proposed in the Governor's Budget. IDHS received a cut of close to 10% while the total budgets of most other agencies reflected increases. To read more about the historical trend of underfunding human services in Illinois click here.

Further dismantling of the community-based service infrastructure - Many of the cuts proposed will result in the continued break down of the network of valuable and effective community services available to Illinois residents – mental health and addiction services, homeless prevention, domestic violence programs, aid to seniors and people with disabilities, teen programs. These cuts simply represent a cost shift to less effective and more expensive systems, such as jails, emergency rooms, and nursing homes.

Reduction in the Medicaid rate - The budget includes a 6% cut to the Medicaid rate. This cut impacts hospitals and nursing homes, but also providers of mental health and other services. It is still unclear how this cut this will play out for providers, and some providers may be protected from a rate reduction, but it is sure to impede access to services and threatens the base of providers who will accept Medicaid overall.

The full FY12 budget proposal (operating budget) and state agency fact sheets are online at www.illinois.gov/budget. Governor's proposal is an initial step in the budgeting process. Activity has now moved to the Illinois General Assembly where appropriations committees will begin their work. A revised budgeting process has been proposed this year.