Kankakee Times

In a March 17 post on his official website, Rep. Jason Bunting (R-Grundy) wrote that he is cosponsoring a balanced budget amendment to the Illinois Constitution. 

“For too long Illinois has passed budgets that appear balanced, but turn out to be anything but," Bunting said. "Accounting gimmicks and other tricks have led to the passage of large, unbalanced budgets that have driven the state deeper into debt and caused us to have one of the worst credit ratings in the nation. We need to reform our budgeting process to require that all state budgets are truly balanced. To try to make this a reality, I am co-sponsoring an amendment to the Illinois Constitution which would require exactly that."

HJRCA0012 was filed with the clerk by Rep. John Egofske on Feb. 22. On March 2, Rep. Bunting joined as co-sponsor. The constitutional amendment seeks to: amend the Finance Article of the Illinois Constitution. Provides that the General Assembly shall pass a balanced budget that makes appropriations based on funds estimated to be available by the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability. Effective upon being declared adopted."

In his State of the State address, Gov. J.B. Pritzker promoted the early education Smart Start Illinois program. The program has four elements: pre-K, childcare, early intervention, and home visiting. The four-year program will, he says, will increase the state's funding for the Early Childhood Block Grant Program by $75 million.

Pritzker said that he wanted to see that every 3- and 4-year-old in Illinois had access to pre-kindergarten services by 2027, and that there would be a $400 million investment to bring 5,000 children into the program this year.

Bunting was selected to represent the 106th House District after Thomas Bennett was selected to join the Senate to fill the seat of former Sen. Jason Barickman, who stepped down before the legislative session began. 

Bunting was previously elected as the highway commissioner of Broughton Township, and as president of the Livingston County Farm Bureau. According to his official biography, he is a director for the Illinois Corn Growers’ Association.