Katz Muhl Passes Smart, Responsible Budget and Legislative Agenda Focused on Accountability, Affordability

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Working to support area families struggling in the wake of the turmoil resulting from reckless and callously indifferent federal policies, state Rep. Tracy Katz Muhl, D-Northbrook, passed a package of smart, targeted legislation with a focus on affordability and accountability with no new taxes and no cuts to services families depend on. 

“Too many families in our state have, over the last 18 months, been forced into difficult discussions about how to make ends meet—not because they lost a job or suffered a run of bad luck—but because of an administration more focused on ideology, partisan spite and petty political gamesmanship; than they are on good administration, the economy or taking care that the laws be faithfully executed,” Katz Muhl said. “We can’t completely stop the federal government from running amok, but we can find leverage in some of the areas where we do have control, and soften the landing for the families being failed by Washington.”

Facing rising prices for almost everything: from food to fuel to energy, Katz Muhl is delivering a balanced budget designed to be responsible and compassionate—identifying $65 million in operational cost savings to shore up the services and programs that we rely on most. 

Amid the chaos and uncertainty spawned by federal funding instability or elimination, Katz Muhl has also voted in solidarity with working families, supporting key votes to send the governor legislation with the potential to cut costs and crack down on price gougers and unscrupulous or profiteering businesses.

On the budget side, one major provision would allow modest-income individuals and families affected by reckless cuts to federal food assistance programs to receive a one-time credit of up to $500 on their existing benefit card. Another creates investments in accessible school lunches.

Additional highlights of the FY27 budget include:

• No new taxes on working families.
• Full funding for the Local Government Distributive Fund, improving local control
• Another investment of $300 million in Illinois’ K-12 schools, for a total of $1.8 billion since 2021.
• Fully funding safety-net hospitals.
• Additional support for Federally Qualified Health Centers.
• Fully funding public safety initiatives including homelessness prevention and community-based violence prevention.

On the legislative side, Katz Muhl put affordability and accountability front and center. Key legislation includes:

• Senate Bill 3487, which Katz Muhl led through the House, and which requires improved public health planning for flu and pneumonia treatments for older Illinois residents;
• House Bill 4160, which Katz Muhl introduced and sponsored, and which protects and empowers vehicle owners to demand neutral appraisal when there is a dispute with their insurer over the value of a loss;
• Senate Bill 3496, which would create a Prescription Drug Affordability Board empowered to set maximum prices for lifesaving medications;
• House Bill 4248, which bans companies from abusing AI to charge some consumers more than others for the same goods or services;
• Senate Bill 3020, which updates the definition of harassment to allow the law to better protect survivors given advances in technology;
• Senate Bill 714 and House Bill 4273, which would make automobile and homeowners insurance less expensive and more transparent.

The spring legislative session concluded on June 1.