Gov. Pritzker Celebrates 2024 Executive and Legislative Accomplishments

CHICAGO - Throughout 2024, Governor JB Pritzker enabled success for Illinois by growing our economy and creating jobs, addressing affordability for working families, and protecting individual freedoms.

From expanding access to free preschool for all kids to lowering the cost of job training so workers can get higher-paying jobs, Gov. Pritzker has been investing in the state’s future. With new industries coming to Illinois like clean energy, quantum computing, and advanced manufacturing, Gov. Pritzker’s economic agenda is attracting private sector investments in Illinois and raising workers’ wages – all while maintaining his commitment to make healthcare, housing, and groceries more affordable.

Gov. Pritzker’s work with the General Assembly has restored fiscal responsibility in Illinois: paying down debt, balancing budgets, and making smart investments for the future.

“My mission as Governor has always been to make Illinois the best state in the nation to live, work, build a business, and raise a family,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “This year, we’ve improved K-12 education and made college more affordable, expanded access to healthcare, and strengthened our economy with forward-looking investments in industries of the future. With responsible fiscal leadership, we’ve continued improving Illinois’ credit rating, which lowers costs for Illinois’ taxpayers.”

2024 Executive and Legislative Accomplishments

Responsible Fiscal Management

• Passed the sixth balanced budget since Governor Pritzker took office.
• Ended FY24 with the state’s highest ever General Funds balance of $4.67 billion.
• Continued paying down debt and increasing the state’s Rainy Day Fund to protect the state’s taxpayers.

Turbocharging Economic Growth

Securing Generational Private Investments that Position Illinois as a Global Economic Powerhouse

• Launched the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park (IQMP) – a first-of-its-kind quantum industry campus with an estimated $20 billion in long-term economic impact. IQMP will be home to PsiQuantum, IBM, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the National Quantum Algorithm Center.
• Attracted Rivian’s new $1.5 billion investment to Central Illinois, creating more than 550 new full-time jobs over the next five years and bringing the production of its highly anticipated R2 model to the company’s Normal facility.
• Secured a $500 million capital investment from Weiland North America – reinforcing its long-term commitment to six facilities across the state and the future of advanced manufacturing in Illinois. The company’s investments retain over 800 jobs.
• Spearheaded technology that will attract new life science businesses to Chicago, such as the Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub discovering a way to monitor inflammation in real time using sensors implanted under the skin – thanks to their $250 million investment in Chicago.
• Made Illinois one of the top five data center markets in the world.
• Brought Illinois to 15th in the nation on CNBC’s 2024 Best States for Business – up from 30th just before Governor Pritzker took office. Ranked Illinois among the top ten states for tech and innovation, education, access to capital, cost of living, and infrastructure.

Creating and Retaining Jobs in Communities Across Illinois

• Bushnell: Assisted Marshalltown Hammer in acquiring the Vaughan & Bushnell facility, saving over 100 jobs and supporting economic growth in the Bushnell community.
• Decatur: Supported by the EDGE tax credit program, Primient is investing $400 million more and retaining nearly 540 full-time jobs.
• Monee: Attracted Voortman Steel Machinery’s $51 million expansion through the EDGE tax credit program.
• Sauget: Supported by REV Illinois, Crysalis Biosciences Inc. is investing $240 million in a first-of-its-kind Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) plant, creating 35 jobs and positioning Illinois as a leader in the growing SAF industry.
• Multiple Locations: Secured Sysmex America’s expansion in Northeastern Illinois, attracting a $21 million investment, creating 110 new jobs, and retaining nearly 550 positions.
• Aurora: Illinois’ Data Center Investment Program supported the new $350 million CyrusOne Data Center, driving technological growth while creating hundreds of jobs.
• Rockford: Opened Rockford’s Hard Rock Casino, bringing 900 jobs to the community with 300 more on the way, while generating revenue to ease the burden on local taxpayers.
• Chicago (Humboldt Park Community): Illinois’ EDGE incentives and INVENT programs supported EeroQ’s Quantum Hardware Headquarters in Chicago and have positioned Illinois as a leader in quantum computing, earning global recognition from the International Chamber of Commerce.

Investing in the State’s Workforce

• Created a new downstate Electric Vehicle Manufacturing Training Academy.
• Expanded Clean Energy Jobs Programs on the South and West sides of Chicago.
• Funded the Illinois Works Pre-Apprenticeship Program to build a pipeline of talent and increase access to good-paying jobs for historically underrepresented communities.
• Launched the ‘Make It In Illinois’ campaign to attract new talent and strengthen the state’s manufacturing sector.
• Awarded funding through the Job Training and Economic Development Program (JTED) to deliver workforce training and job opportunities for underrepresented Illinoisans in sectors hit hardest by the pandemic.

Supporting Small Businesses

• Grew the Made in Illinois Grant Program to support more small and mid-sized manufacturers across the state.
• Attracted and supported numerous small clean energy businesses including community solar company Nexamp, which opened its second nation headquarters in Chicago.
• Provided tourism grants benefitting small businesses to continue attracting record numbers of visitors to Illinois from around the world.
• Expanded small business access to government contracts by assisting economic development centers, academic institutions, and private nonprofit organizations.
• Reached $1 billion in cannabis retail sales with 59% of licenses awarded to minority or women-owned businesses.

Improving Affordability for Working Families

• Gave local governments the ability to freeze or lower property taxes by increasing state funding for local schools and maintaining income tax credit for property taxes.
• Created Illinois’ first-ever Child Tax Credit to put money back into the pockets of working families with young children.
• Lowered the cost of groceries by eliminating the statewide grocery tax, providing relief to working families.
• Supported the startup of new grocery stores and expansion of existing ones, giving families in food deserts more options to buy groceries locally.
• Banned junk insurance plans that take advantage of families and small businesses and charge exorbitant premiums while delivering little to no value.
• Launched a statewide program to ensure economically disadvantaged children have access to nutritious food in the summer, the first of its kind to launch in Illinois in over 50 years.
• Promoted lower housing costs by launching a statewide effort accelerating plans to expand the supply of housing for working families and the middle class who have been priced out of the market.
• Launched Smart Start Illinois to lower the cost and raise the quality of child care for working families.

Driving High Quality Learning from Cradle to Career

• Recorded the largest increase in community college enrollment in 15 years, while most of the U.S. saw a decline.
• Achieved the highest public university enrollment for Illinois in eight years.
• Made higher education more affordable by increasing grants and scholarships, so now virtually all community college students at or below the median income level can have their tuition and fees fully covered.
• Established a new Department of Early Childhood to bring efficiencies to state government and improve equity and accessibility for families and caregivers.
• Grew Career Technical Education programs and increased the number of students served while upgrading technology and equipment in schools.
• Launched Illinois’ bilingual ‘The Answer is Teaching’ campaign to recruit more teachers, addressing shortages in special education and other key areas.
• Awarded 353 scholarships to current or former youth in the care of DCFS, providing access to higher education through tuition assistance.

Making Health Care Affordable and Accessible

• Preserved new healthcare coverage for roughly 2.8 million people, giving Illinois one of the best coverage rates in the nation.
• Proposed and signed legislation that will automatically relieve up to $1 billion in medical debt for over 300,000 mostly working and middle-class Illinoisans. In its first few months, it has already erased over $72 million in medical debt for 52,745 Illinois residents.
• Enacted the Birth Equity Initiative designed to support new mothers and close the Black maternal mortality gap.
• Created a plan to make new cell and gene therapy cures affordable for those suffering from debilitating diseases.
• Reformed predatory health insurance practices and curbed abuses by insurance companies.
• Achieved first-time federal approval to use Medicaid to prevent illness and address root causes of health disparities.
• Partnered with Google Public Sector to create BEACON, an online portal that improves access to children’s behavioral healthcare resources for families across Illinois.
• Banned junk insurance plans to protect patients from predatory tactics.
• Supported Chan Zuckerberg BioHub Chicago’s groundbreaking research on real-time inflammation monitoring with implanted sensors, paving the way for earlier detection and more effective treatment of most diseases.

Standing Up for All Illinoisans

• Strengthened child labor laws to protect health, access to education, and opportunities for minors to obtain safe, age-appropriate work.
• Established a Multi-Sector Plan on Aging to address the needs of Illinois’ aging population.
• Streamlined juvenile expungement to ensure eligible records are addressed automatically, clearing the path for them as adults to access education, housing, and jobs.
• Passed the Dignity in Pay Act, a groundbreaking civil rights law that will expand employment opportunities for people with disabilities and gradually phase out the practice of paying disabled workers sub-minimum wages.
• Opened a new residential facility to transition youth from hospitals to foster homes.
• Signed the Veteran’s Consumer Fraud Bill into law, safeguarding Illinois veterans from predatory claim sharks that charge for consultation and filing services. Those services are free and are provided by accredited services statewide.
• Protected workers’ rights by signing the Worker Freedom of Speech Act, which bans mandatory ‘captive audience’ meetings where political or religious topics are discussed and can be used to dissuade workers from unionizing. ?
• Extended SHIELD laws to protect health care providers from predatory out-of-state entities that are conducting criminal investigations pertaining to health care services that are legal in Illinois (e.g. abortion or IVF).
• Protected Illinoisans' right to life-saving care, including for abortions, by codifying the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) in state law.
• Expanded reproductive rights by prohibiting employment, credit, or housing discrimination based on reproductive health decisions. ?
• Leveraged historic funding to deploy 40 conservation planners to support the Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy (NLRS), which includes efforts to improve water quality at home and downstream by reducing nitrogen and phosphorus levels in our lakes, streams, and rivers.
• Deployed Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreements with 168 underrepresented and disadvantaged farmers in Illinois for their local products – donating to over 757 distribution sites for underserved populations at no cost to the recipients.

Rebuilding Illinois

• Launched IDOT’s largest Multi-Year Improvement Program in state history, including projects in all 102 counties of Illinois.
• Expanded Community Development Block Grants to support critical repairs to water, sewer, and drainage infrastructure, enhancing safety and quality of life for 52,000 Illinois residents.
• Secured massive federal, state, and local investment, the largest in CREATE’s history, to improve the efficiency of railway infrastructure on the South Side of Chicago. This program is expected to create thousands of private-sector jobs, attract businesses to Illinois, and speed up the movement of goods and people throughout the United States.
• Opened Pace’s new Markham campus to enhance the agency’s workforce, improve safety, and support the expansion of EV buses.
• Transformed the Longmeadow Parkway Bridge Corridor into a safer, more efficient route, projected to support 50,000 new jobs by 2040 and generate significant business sales.
• Opened the new Madison County Transit headquarters, made possible by Rebuild Illinois, to enhance public transit and create jobs. Completed the Illinois Beach State Park Shoreline Stabilization Project in Lake County, preserving several miles of natural shoreline.

Expanding Clean Energy

• Achieved #1 in the nation ranking for energy democracy and utility accountability by the Institute for Local Self Reliance. ?
• Reached double the renewable energy production in Illinois in 2024 from the time of the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act passage in 2021.
• Made Illinois the second leading state in the Midwest for installed renewable power capacity.
• Announced Southwest Illinois will be home to Avina Clean Hydrogen’s sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) project with an $820 million investment that will grow the state’s clean energy economy while creating 150 jobs and supporting 1,000 construction jobs.
• Opened a new advanced EV manufacturing training center at Heartland College.
• Installed hundreds of new EV charging stations throughout Illinois, bringing the state’s total number to nearly 4,000.
• Installed the first set of EV charging stations at four Illinois state parks.
• Attracted $1.5 billion investment to expand Rivian’s EV manufacturing operations in Normal.
• Enacted new Carbon Capture and Sequestration law to create nation-leading standards for safety and environmental protections for carbon capture, transport, and sequestration projects.
• Secured over $500 million in grants to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and deploy zero-emission vehicles and infrastructure at water ports across Illinois.
• Secured over $430 million in federal funding from the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program to implement projects across the state that will move Illinois toward a clean energy future.

Bolstering Public Safety

• Achieved a new high of new state troopers in 2024 compared to a decade ago, with a total addition of 565 since Governor Pritzker took office.
• Reduced firearm violence in Illinois with shooting victimizations in Chicago dropping by 35% as compared to 2021. Gun-related injuries in hospitals have also declined in the communities and neighborhoods supported by the Reimagine Public Safety Act.
• Partnered with Google Public Sector to create real-time ‘Move Over’ crash notifications in Waze and Google Maps, making the Illinois State Police among the first law enforcement agencies to enhance officers' safety by warning drivers using these apps to slow down and move over for stopped emergency vehicles.
• Launched the Help Stop Hate helpline to provide support and resources to victims and witnesses of hate acts.

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