Amid a proposed record budget, lawmakers should put price tags on their bills

Legislators should use fiscal notes to show taxpayers the economic impact of their proposals.

Illinois taxpayers should know how much proposed legislation would cost them.

Lawmakers can provide that information via fiscal notes, which allow for the assessment of a bill’s cost-effectiveness.

These notes, brief explanatory statements of the introduced bill, are critical to a well-functioning and transparent deliberative process.

With Gov. J.B. Pritzker having proposed a record-high $56 billion budget for fiscal 2027, taxpayers should know what additional costs may be passed onto them that aren’t appropriated in the budget.

Patching budget problems using shortsighted fixes with long-term consequences — which Pritzker’s current proposal does — puts Illinois last in the nation for financial transparency.

Most states require fiscal notes on all or substantially all bills, according to a 2015 study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The study measured state compliance with five rules of best practice:

• Requiring fiscal notes on all proposals.
• Having fiscal notes prepared by a nonpartisan entity.
• Projecting the long-term impact of the proposal.
• Revising estimates with changes to the proposal.
• Posting the fiscal notes online.

Illinois was one of five states that complies with only one of these: The few fiscal notes the state does produce are posted online. But state law allows a bill’s sponsor to determine whether it needs a fiscal note. A lawmaker who disagrees must gain the support of a majority of members to generate the price tag.

Legislators’ habit of omitting fiscal notes limits their ability to make well-informed decisions about what will fall onto taxpayers.

Almost 10,000 bills were filed in the 103rd Illinois General Assembly. Only 44 included a fiscal note to calculate the estimated cost to taxpayers.

In the first year of the 104th Illinois General Assembly, when a record-high $55.2 billion budget was passed that’s riddled with waste, only 10 of 3,859 bills included a fiscal note.

During the second year of this session, taxpayers should at least know how much legislation would cost.

Illinois residents weighed down by $144 billion in pension debt, the highest property taxes in the country and the seventh-highest sales taxes should know how much proposals in Springfield would cost them. Lawmakers should be open about otherwise hidden costs in legislation by including fiscal notes.

Ensuring responsible budgeting, adopting pro-growth policies that boost the economy and reduce harmful taxation is a way to solve Illinois’ fiscal and economic problems.