After shooting down an income tax increase in May, state lawmakers have been the target of vigorous campaigning by human service groups, anti-poverty advocates, and state workers hoping to convince them to approve an income tax hike. Now that lawmakers are back in Springfield for a special session, the groups aren't relenting.  As we noted earlier, thousands trailed the General Assembly back to the capitol today and jammed the statehouse to protest upwards of $4 billion in proposed cuts to the state's operating budget.

Considering that these looming cuts would largely fall on human service providers, we've been tracking who exactly will feel the brunt of a doomsday budget.  For instance, 139,887 low-income parents will be affected if their state-backed child care is cut. Senior citizens and the disabled will have to begin packing their bags for more expensive institutional care if home health care workers are laid off. Furthermore, 24-hour residential care for patients with serious disabilities may soon be shuttered.  And no one is certain who will support the more than 116,000 abused women and children when they no longer have access to rape crisis services. Then there are the low-income students who depend on pre-awarded Monetary Award Program (MAP) grant money to help cover the increasingly high cost of college tuition.

With every passing day, reporters across the state are digging deeper into this scenario and finding other at-risk services. For example, public health programs that help stave off disease, as the Southern reports today:

With the prospect of a budget that is underfunded by 50 percent upon them, a crowd of administrators from Southern Illinois health departments gathered at the offices of Jackson County Health Department to urge state lawmakers to pass a fully-funded budget [...]

JCHD Administrator Miriam Link-Mullison said the state's cuts will go to core public health services, which include water, sewer and restaurant inspections, immunizations and monitoring communicable diseases.

Also joining the demonstration in Springfield today are busloads of immigrants who are protesting $5 million in potential cuts to immigrant support services, including a 57 percent cut to the New Americans initiative. Coupled with other supportive services, the New Americans program has been a national example for integrating immigrants into Illinois communities and the state's economy. The Tribune has more:

[New Americans] -- which provides English classes, citizenship courses and other services aimed toward better integrating Illinois' roughly 1.8 million immigrants -- has been a model for other states. Other suggested cuts in the ongoing debate over tax increases pushed by Quinn include mental health counseling for refugees, aid to rape victims, health prevention programs, youth counseling and child care for low-income families.

Aside from the devastating human toll of such cuts, there's a financial cost that lawmakers need to face squarely. They should be very concerned about the prospect of losing as much as $4 worth of federal matching funds for every $1 invested by the state (not to mention the private money it helps leverage).  Further, the cuts are certain to end up worsening the state's overall economic recovery as job losses mount and consumer demand flattens.

Image courtesy of Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.