Giving almost no time for public review, Illinois Democrats pushed through a $55.2 billion budget for next fiscal year late Saturday, bolstering coffers with new taxes on sports bets, nicotine products and businesses.

The $55.2 billion spending plan is supported by $55.3 billion of revenue, including just over $1 billion in new taxes and revenue changes.

The four bills making up the budget and capital spending plan, were part of a flurry of thousands of pages of legislation that went from introduction to passage in the final 48 hours of the legislative session.

The budget marked a roughly 3.9% spending increase from the current year, while Republicans criticized it for containing few cuts. It raises about $500 million more in new revenue than what Gov. JB Pritzker proposed in February t

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