Lawmakers approved a $55.2 billion state budget package for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 minutes before the May 31 constitutional deadline. The FY26 budget increased spending $2.1 Billion over this year, using tax increases on smoking-related products, gambling and big out-of-state companies to help fill revenue shortfalls.
Important Budget Items for Corn Farmers
In a tight budget year, retaining these funding levels for these programs is a win. Additionally, during the final weeks of session, IL Corn worked with fuel marketers and other agricultural groups to protect the state's biodiesel tax incentive, which certain lawmakers had proposed rescinding to help pay for shortfalls in public transit budgets. Finally, estate tax reform, known as the
Family Farm Preservation Act was unfortunately not included in this year’s budget. The proposal led by
Illinois Farm Bureau and supported by IL Corn,
Illinois Beef Association, and
Illinois Pork Producers had widespread bipartisan support and was close to inclusion but ultimately fell short. IL Corn appreciates the widespread membership outreach to lawmakers on the subject. Our agriculture industry will need to regroup after this outcome and continue to push forward on solutions to reform the antiquated estate law in Illinois.
Carbon Capture & Sequestration Activity
Last year, the state legislature passed a comprehensive bipartisan law related to carbon emissions reduction from manufacturing through carbon capture and sequestration technology (CCS). The law included nation-leading safety regulations and landowner protections, while also giving the ethanol industry the opportunity to produce low carbon fuels for markets around the world and develop sustainable aviation fuel. IL Corn has worked with the renewable fuels industry on the law's implementation and engaged with two pieces of legislation this year in the state legislature that impacted the 2024 law.
First, the legislature passed a bill related to CCS that gave landowners additional protections during construction of CO2 pipelines, including language on compensation protections for damages to the surface of landowner's property and agricultural productivity impacts that result from the construction of pipelines. IL Corn and
IL Renewable Fuels Association (ILRFA) worked with the bill sponsor to amend the introduced bill, removing language that would have worked to inhibit our local ethanol industry from moving forward with CCS projects.
Second, the legislature also passed a bill that will prohibit carbon sequestration activity within a sequestration facility that overlies, underlies, or passes through the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) designated
Mahomet Sole Source Aquifer. The coalition of CCS supporters, including IL Corn and the IL RFA, opposed the bill because existing law already contains nation-leading safety requirements to protect drinking water, and the bill departs from the bipartisan agreement that passed in 2024. In addition, legislation like this that is not based on science adds uncertainty into the marketplace and could negatively impact investment in our renewable fuel industry. Our coalition worked to adjust the bill to protect local ethanol plant projects as much as possible in the legislation. The bill also calls for a study to be performed on the safety of sequestering carbon through and under the aquifer to be completed by 2031.
On the Horizon for Biofuels
Negotiations over a low carbon fuel standard here in Illinois continued this spring without legislation moving forward. IL Corn has engaged on the issue to have a seat at the table, making sure that any proposal that moves forward will have the best interests of agriculture and renewable fuel present. Also, IL Corn and the fuel retailers association have worked together on legislation that would create a grant program for fuel stations to modernize their fueling systems and retail fuel with higher blends of renewables. The funding for the grant program would come from extra dollars that exist in the
Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST). That bill received a hearing this year in Springfield but did not move forward.
Continuing Education Credits for Pesticide Licensing
Finally, the legislature passed an initiative of
Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association to change current procedures for pesticide licensing for applicators. At the present time, applicators are required to meet certification and licensing standards in order to legally handle and supervise the use of pesticides. In Illinois, the current process involves passing an
Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA) pesticide general standards competency exam. To maintain pesticide certification and licensing, applicators are required to retake the exam once every 3 years. The bill will adopt a
Continuing Education Credits (CECs) program, allowing holders of a current valid pesticide license to renew their license by seeking continual educational pesticide knowledge. The CEC program will have an option where a licensed applicator completes a certain number of hours/credits per year for a 3-year re-certification/license period.
