SB3219 authorizes the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to provide grants for “equipment upgrades” for “farmer-owned grocery stores or markets.”
The Senate passed SB3219 on April 12, 2024, by a vote of 59 to 0. We have assigned minuses to the yeas because this bill allows the government to provide “financial assistance” to farmers’ markets. Taxpayer funds should not be used to subsidize grocery stores or any other business. It involves the government picking “winners” and “losers,” violating the principles of free-market enterprise. “Economic opportunity” is too often simply a cliché or code word used to finance various types of crony, corporate-sponsored “pork-barrel” projects that exist entirely outside the limited purpose and scope of government. The State of Illinois should reject such reckless spending of taxpayer money.
