IVCA Provides Updates for State Legislative Issues – 07/20/22

Illinois Venture Capital Association Illinois Legislative Report
David Stricklin / Stricklin & Associates
Wednesday, July 20, 2022CALM BEFORE THE STORM

The Illinois General Assembly is in recess. Governor Pritzker, diagnosed this week with COVID, is taking a break from public activities after highly publicized visits to New Hampshire and Florida, which have put his name in the conversation about presidential candidates in 2024.

The primary election results offer Illinois voters clear choices for where they want to steer the state in the future. Republican primary voters generally chose more conservative candidates just as Democratic primary voters chose more liberal candidates as their nominees.

RACE FOR GOVERNOR
 
Illinois was part of a national trend where Democratic groups and candidates funded campaigns to help Republican voters nominate the more conservative, Trump-adjacent candidate, betting that nominee would be easier to defeat in November. Of course, that’s also what the Clinton campaign though in 2016. Governor JB Pritzker and his allies at the Democratic Governors Association spent considerable sums making sure voters knew State Senator Darren Bailey was the choice of the former president.

Bailey ran in the primary against a candidate backed by Citadel CEO Ken Griffin. Griffin has subsequently moved much of the Citadel footprint from Illinois to Florida. Bailey was funded to a degree by Republican donor and packaging executive Richard Uihlein. With the governor prepared to spend as much of his personal fortune as is necessary, Illinois political observers and insiders are asking if Bailey will have the money to compete:

BAILEY CASH CRUNCH
PE AND PENSIONS
 
One of the highlights of the FY 23 budget approved in the spring legislative session is additional hundreds of millions of dollars in contributions to the state’s pension funds above and beyond the $10 billion already budgeted.

Legislators and the executive branch are watching closely to see if it’s going to make a dent in the unfunded liability and are preparing to do the same in the 2023 session if possible.

Meanwhile, IVCA members should know this story about the value of PE investing by pension funds is being shared with policy makers across the state:


The Illinois State Board of Investment was the top-ranked public pension unit in the country in the year ended June 30, 2021, racking up a nifty 19.8% annualized return over the past 10 years on its private-equity investments, net of fees.

PE PUNCH FOR PENSIONS
For a snapshot on the state’s balance sheet:

ILLINOIS FINANCIAL STATEMENT