Illinois secretary of state wants nearly 2% budget increase

By Sean Reed | The Center Square contributor
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias wants nearly 2% more in taxpayer funds for his upcoming budget than the last one, while promoting millions in savings throughout the office.

Giannoulias, who wants $844.6 million in the upcoming budget, was the first state agency to appear before the House Appropriations Committee for budget hearings.

The majority of the money for the secretary of state would come from state general revenue and special revenue funds, alongside some federal funds. The requested allocation is a 1.68% increase from the previous budget.

Giannoulias noted the variety of services his agency provides to the committee, including Department of Motor Vehicle operations, security at the State Capitol, business registration, local and school library grants and a vehicle theft prevention program.

Giannoulias also promoted his commitment to cutting costs across his agency after acknowledging the requested funds as being “not insignificant.”

“From my part, I remain committed to continuing to find ways to create efficiencies and cut costs everywhere I can,” Giannoulias said. “We are continuously seeking ways to make budget cuts and seek efficiency savings. These amounts are over $2.6 million to date, including $1.3 million in savings by moving DMV facilities in Chicago offices to more affordable locations.”

The amount of revenue the secretary of state’s office brings in annually was reported to be about $3.3 billion annually, Giannoulias said.

Among the initiatives focused on in the coming fiscal year, Giannoulias spoke about the agency’s continued focus on the modernization of technology infrastructure and the large quantities of data and documents digitized by the agency.

“What we found out was that the infrastructure was so antiquated that we had to spend a lot of time dealing with cyber security – critical, emergency level, red alert cyber security concerns that we had,” Giannoulias said.

He said the agency is nearing $1 billion in revenue solely through online services this year, primarily made available to Illinoisans in recent years.

During questioning, Republican Rep. Brad Hallbrook pressed Giannoulias’ comments regarding a recent U.S. Department of Transportation decision last month, making standards stricter for non-citizens to receive a commercial driver’s license.

“I do believe there is evidence to the contrary of some of the statements you’ve made about drivers that are in the country illegally, the incident in Florida where a family–,” Hallbrook said.

Giannoulias cut Hallbrook off from mentioning details of a fatal 2025 incident in Florida involving a non-citizen truck driver, which led to the death of three people.

“I’m not the secretary of state of Florida, so there’s not much I can do about Florida,” Giannoulias said.

The committee also heard from the Illinois Liquor Control Commission on its proposed budget, which stands at $13 million for operational expenses and $824,600 – primarily for education programs – from the Dram Shop Fund, which includes revenue generated by liquor licensing fees.

The House Appropriations General Services Committee will meet for its next hearing March 18. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Natural Resources are expected to appear.