Conroy Passes Balanced Budget, Continues Work on Mental Health, Public Safety Initiatives, Middle Class Tax Relief

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – With the legislature’s adjournment from spring session on Thursday, state Rep. Deb Conroy, D-Villa Park, is highlighting the balanced budget approved by the General Assembly and her work to strengthen gun safety measures, invest in affordable healthcare and protect the middle class.

“The General Assembly passed a bipartisan, balanced budget that invests in local schools and restores some of the state funding that goes to local governments, both measures that will help pave the way for local property tax relief,” said Conroy. “Our budget does not contain any new taxes while creating a surplus that will help to pay down old bills and ensure that the state lives within its means.”

The budget approved by the House and Senate invests an additional $350 million into public schools and funds critical services for domestic violence survivors, higher education, opioid addiction prevention programs and affordable in-home care for senior citizens. The budget does not contain any new taxes, and Conroy successfully helped to block proposals to create a new retirement tax to balance the state budget.

As chair of the House Mental Health Committee, Conroy has advocated strongly for addressing the lack of mental health care in the state. She has worked on a number of measures, including House Bill 3502, which creates an advisory council to develop recommendations to address the barriers to early and regular screening to identify mental health conditions in children and adolescents.

To reduce the escalating incidents of gun violence across the country, Conroy supported measures to ban bump stock devices that turn semi-automatic weapons into fully-automatic weapons, require a 72 hour waiting period for all handgun purchases while closing the gun show loophole, raise the age to buy an assault weapon to 21 years of age, require Illinois gun dealers to obtain a license, and allow family members to petition the court to temporarily take away a person’s weapons if they pose a danger to themselves or others.

“In the past few years, we have seen more and more cases of senseless gun violence,” said Conroy, a member of the Legislative Public Safety Working Group. “I now hear from children who tell me they are scared to go to school. That is never acceptable, and as a mother, this pains me to my core. This year, I worked with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to pass commonsense gun safety measures that will help to keep our communities and schools safe from senseless violence. I am hopeful that the governor will join our efforts and will put politics aside to work with us to keep our kids safe.”