Lawmakers aim to address the budget, crime, and tax relief as the end of session nears

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WICS/WRSP) — Illinois lawmakers have just three weeks left in the session and lots of unfinished business.

Some of their key priorities for this session have yet to be introduced.

Lawmakers will leave the Capitol earlier than usual this year because of the state primaries.

The elections, usually held in March, were pushed to June as lawmakers awaited census data to redraw legislative maps.

The state budget is the top priority.

For the last two years, the budget has come down to the wire, discussed in the early hours of the morning

"And I suspect that probably will happen again," said Sen. Steve McClure, R-Springfield.

But Rep. Sue Scherer, D-Decatur, says committees are already working on the details.

"A lot of people try to say that it's just last minute," Scherer said. "If you're on an appropriations committee, you've been looking at these numbers for months."

Political expert Kent Redfield says this is an unusual session for more reasons than one.

There's a harsher time crunch now that the primaries have been moved. Lawmakers set the session end date as April 8.

"Generally, this kind of session before an election is, do nothing until the primary, come back, do the budget, don't take any risks," Redfield, a professor at UIS, explained.

But he says that's not the case here, with several large issues still waiting to be addressed.

One of those issues is the recent spike in crime across the state.

Both sides of the aisle are waiting to address it.

"We keep hearing that there's going to be some sort of a crime package, and we have yet to see language for that," McClure said. "So I still expect that will come, I just don't know when."

"We've got to do everything we can to push back crime," Scherer said.

Tax relief is another hot topic. Republicans have introduced a measure to cap the sales tax on gasoline amid rising prices, and the governor is looking to temporarily suspend sales tax on groceries.

"And now we've got a lot of pressure to get it done because the primary is in June," Redfield said.