Senate Minority Leader John Curran (R-Downers Grove). [Illinois Senate Republicans]   

Senate Minority Leader John Curran (R-Downers Grove) believes Illinois Republicans took a “big step forward” this spring to win over voters in November as Republicans pushed to move the needle on Prisoner Review Board reform and growing dissent among Democrats over the budget.  

“I’m looking forward to the upcoming election,” Curran told The Daily Line. “I think Republicans, we have a lot to run on, we put forward a lot of positive initiatives — some moved, many did not — that we’re going to take to the voters. I think we took a big step forward in laying out our platform for how Republicans would improve the state of Illinois.”  

Like most years, Republican bills on major issues saw little movement. But success in the General Assembly is measured differently for the super minority party and watching Democrats recognize Republican positions on the budget and Prisoner Review Board reform, as two examples, have Senate Republicans starting summer happy with their accomplishments.  

Republicans for years now have been calling for reform to the Prisoner Review Board (PRB) after several instances of the board taking controversial votes to grant people release from prison. In March, it culminated in the murder of an 11-year-old Chicago boy after the board failed to obtain all the information related to one man’s case for release that quickly spiraled into a deadly domestic violence situation within 24 hours of his release.  

In response, the Senate unanimously passed a bill to make numerous reforms to the board though the plan stalled in House amid an all-night final day of session and opposition from Gov. JB Pritzker.   

“The Democrats in the Senate have recognized and shared concerns for quite a while,” Curran said. “In the Senate that’s not a recent trend.”  

Senate Republicans and Democrats have previously joined to oppose some of Pritzker’s nominees to the board that senators believed could be too inexperienced or lenient toward inmates.  

Related: Prisoner Review Board reform stalls 

“I think we worked out a very good step forward. It is not completely comprehensive, there is more to do and that’s why there’s a task force to do a deeper dive and further study the issues, but we must bring transparency to the workings of the Prisoner Review Board,” Curran said.   

Pritzker is opposed to a requirement that many of the board’s hearings, likely thousands, would have to be livestreamed.   

“There are aspects of that bill that are fine and some aspects that are frankly just unacceptable,” Pritzker told reporters last month. “It’s not about transparency, to be honest with you. It’s about what’s actually possible and what’s doable. And also funding — there was no funding for any of the things that they suggested that we should do.”   

Pritzker plans to issue an executive order that is expected contain many pieces in that bill, but the governor did not have an update on when that order would be issued when asked by reporters last week. Curran said he isn’t sure the executive order will accomplish everything legislators in both chambers and both sides of the aisle put in the bill.   

Though the PRB reform failed to move out of the House, Curran said the bill is a good example of a positive working relationship between Senate Republicans and Democrats.   

“[Senate President Don Harmon (D-Oak Park)] took our concerns that we had in our proposals as he said he would, he was good on his word on this, and he reviewed them and gave serious consideration and worked them in,” Curran said.   

On the Senate side, it’s not uncommon to find Democrats and Republicans working together on key pieces of legislation, including the state budget. Curran said Senate Republicans were at the table for budget talks once again this spring, though he said the upcoming election and proposed tax hikes made discussions a little different.   

“I would say we were just as involved, maybe we didn’t get as close [to voting for the budget],” Curran said. “Last year we were very close to a bipartisan budget, we really didn’t get close this year.”  

While the House saw almost a dozen Democrats oppose tax hikes, opposition was more muted among Senate Democrats. However, some did express concerns about this year’s tax increases and spending priorities. Three Senate Democrats voted against the revenue plan while two voted against the spending.   

“This year they were dealing with a lot of, I think concern, on their side of the aisle for that,” Curran said. “I would expect if next year is another tax and spend budget, that concern is only going to grow.”  

The Fiscal Year 2025 won’t take effect for another three and half weeks but talk has already begun about the challenges Illinois lawmakers will face making the Fiscal Year 2026 budget that is expected to have more pressures and demand for state spending and require lawmakers to find more revenue to support it.   

Curran said he will be watching closely for any supplemental appropriation bills later on in FY25.   

“We’re going to start in a place of a deficit next year to begin with and if there is any increased supplemental appropriation throughout this year which would be based upon, really, bad management, that’s only going to further this hole,” Curran said.   

Illinois is set to get more transparency about state revenue and spending throughout the fiscal year. The budget implementation bill requires the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget to publish a revenue and expenditures report each month discussing how they compare to what was anticipated. Transfers greater than 2 percent must also be disclosed.   

A Governor’s Office of Management and Budget report last November projected Fiscal Year 2026 is expected to run a $1.4 billion deficit without lawmakers making any changes. About $1 billion of new taxes passed to support the FY25 budget have likely shrunk that deficit to a few hundred million. A new report on the state’s fiscal policy and future budget years is expected to be released in November.