(CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Lawmakers and the governor have a week and a half to get a budget together before the scheduled May 31 adjournment of the Illinois General Assembly.

“I want to use the resources we have in the wisest possible way. I’ve believed for a long time that there ought to be a fairer tax system that pays for the things we need for the state and is fair to taxpayers,” Gov. JB Pritzker said at an event in Litchfield Wednesday. “Can the legislature get something on the ballot or move something forward?” Pritzker’s own push to change the state income tax system from flat to graduated failed at the ballot box in 2020. The Illinois Constitution decrees that the state income tax be flat, so voters would have to approve a constitutional amendment for a graduated tax.

Asked about a war of words via the media in which Pritzker said Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson is ineffective at lobbying state government, with Johnson responding that the governor is an out-of-touch billionaire, the governor said, “The mayor and I are friends, even if we disagree on things.” Johnson has been persistent in stating there is a solution for a new football stadium in Chicago, while Pritzker said he and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell agreed in a Tuesday phone conversation that the only viable sites for the Bears to have a new stadium are in Arlington Heights and in Indiana.