SPRINGFIELD– State Senator Mike Simmons (D-Chicago) is pleased to see a budget that will provide permanent tax relief to low-income households and increase mental health funding.

“A permanent expansion of the earned income tax credit is long overdue and will be felt by low-income households. I am proud to have cosponsored, rallied for and pushed for this policy change in the budget that has just passed. We did the right thing for households who have struggled since long before the pandemic with this expansion.”

“I am also pleased to see a cash infusion of $39.4 million for mental health. This will provide a necessary boost to support mental health professionals who have been overstretched by a pandemic that has revealed and deepened a mental health crisis in this state.”

“Overall, we should celebrate several components to this year’s budget that I am personally happy to see come to fruition. I look forward to working with my colleagues to quickly get these funds out the door to support the excellent and worthwhile components in the FY23 budget that touch on public safety and violence prevention, health and hospitals, relief for restaurants and small businesses, higher education, human services, and infrastructure.”

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