June 2026 Minutes

Board Attendees:

Chicago:

Jim Argionis

WebEx/Phone:

Meg Bates

Joanna Webb-Gauvin

Noah Finley

Christelle Khalaf

Pat Devaney

Rick Terven

Harish Patel

MINUTES

With a quorum of the members present, the meeting was called to order by Chairman Argionis.

1.  Introductions (Jim Argionis)

IDES continues to participate in media briefings, and to that extent, if you are a reporter or member of the media with a media request or question, please submit those to the Department’s PIO, Rebecca Cisco.  She can be reached at Rebecca.Cisco@Illinois.gov.

2.  Minutes from Prior Meeting (Jim Argionis)

The minutes from the March 2026 ESAB meeting were reviewed. Pat Devaney called for a rollcall vote to approve the minutes as final. Noah Finley seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.

3.  ESAB meeting dates for FY 2027 (Jim Argionis)

Per operating resolution number one, the Board must determine the meeting dates for the next fiscal year.  For the past few years, we have had them on the third Thursday of the last month of each calendar quarter, save the fourth quarter where it is the second Thursday of the month to accommodate Winter holidays.

If there are no objections, I move that we maintain the same process and schedule the meetings of Fiscal Year 2027 on the following dates: September 17th, 2026; December 10th, 2026; March 18th, 2027; and June 17th, 2027.  Pat Devaney seconded the Chair’s motion to approve the dates for FY 2027, and the rollcall vote of members in favor was unanimous.

4.  Director’s Comments (Ray Marchiori)

Thank you, Chairman Argionis. Good morning and thank you to all the board members.  Welcome to the quarterly Employment Security Advisory board meeting. As always, we appreciate the opportunity to meet today.

I am joined here today with some my IDES colleagues and in a moment, you will be hearing from our Chief Financial Officer, Brett Cox as well as Marty Johnson, the department’s Director of Labor Market Information to provide updates on the financials, Trust Fund, and economic outlook activities.

As many of you know, the Illinois General Assembly has completed its Spring Legislative Session.  Since we last met the Department successfully completed the budget and appropriations season, and I am happy to note that the Governor signed the state budget earlier this week.  The past few months were busy, and the Department wants to thank stakeholders for their continued willingness to work with the Department during the legislative session.  We appreciate you reaching out to the Department regarding bills that potentially affect the Department and its programs, and we are especially grateful for all the support throughout the process.

I want to highlight one bill, SB807, which passed both Houses last month and amends the UI Act, but it has not yet been signed into law.  If signed, it will have an effective date of January 1, 2027.  The Department continues to monitor this bill’s journey and, assuming it is enacted, we will present it in detail during the Board’s next meeting, along with any other enacted bills that interact with unemployment insurance issues.  So stay tuned, we will be updating you all in the future and share any details on how this legislation will make changes to the UI Act.

In conclusion, as always, I would also like to express my deep appreciation to all my IDES colleagues across the state and recognize them for the work they do each day on behalf of our Department.  We remain committed, as a Department, to the work we do in the programs we administer, and for services we deliver, as well as continue to strive through innovation to make necessary improvements for people throughout our state.

Thank you again for your time today and with that, I will hand it over to Chairman Argionis.

Board member Pat Devaney echoed the Director’s comments regarding the hard work and dedication of stakeholders, legislative leaders, and IDES staff in working to put together an agreed bill to strengthen the unemployment insurance system.  He thanked the Director and IDES staff for their responsiveness and the support they gave to parties in negotiations over the bill.

5.  Revenue Update (Brett Cox)

Activity in the Trust Fund is in line with projections discussed in our last Board meeting.  As we have mentioned in the past, employer contributions for the first quarter of each year is the largest amount of contributions we receive annually.  Last month, we received the 2026 first quarter contributions, bringing the Trust Fund balance to just over $2 billion at the end of May.  We have begun the process to pay this year’s $45 million repayment from the Trust Fund to the State’s Budget Stabilization Fund.  This relates to a $450 million loan from the State’s General Revenue Fund during the pandemic.  This will be our third of ten $45 million payments to repay that loan.

6.  Quarterly Financials Presentation (Marty Johnson)

The state’s UTF account ended the 1st quarter of 2026 with a positive balance of $1.04 B.  As the projections provided today indicate, the account is expected to run a revenue deficit in the first two years of the forecast (2026 and 2027), shifting to a slight surplus for the remaining two outbound years (2028 and 2029).  With regard to the final net trust fund balance, under the baseline projection, the year-end balance is projected to be a positive balance of $1.22B in 2026 and a positive balance of $1.11B in 2029 – the extent of the forecast horizon.

Pat Devaney asked Marty Johnson why the total annual State UI benefits paid in 2010 was $3.19 billion and the total paid in 2020 was $6.70 billion, when the average annual Illinois civilian unemployment rate was over a percentage point higher in 2010 than in 2020.  Marty replied that while there were several contributing factors to this disparity, the principal one was that wage growth in the intervening years had significantly increased the weekly benefit amount that eligible UI claimants were paid.

7.  Open Discussion

Board member Meg Bates asked Marty Johnson what impact that the growing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) by employers was having, or was projected to have, upon unemployment in Illinois and nationally, and whether the financial projections spoken about took AI into account.  Marty replied that while the Department was closely following the economic implications of widespread AI adoption, thus far it has been difficult to statistically separate layoffs attributable to AI from those stemming from different causes, and the overall economic impact of AI is not well enough understood to fully be reflected in Department projections.  Marty then mentioned that IDES has made it a priority to better understand this evolving dynamic and she believes that over time statistics will better understand the impact that AI has upon the economy.

8.  Adjournment

A motion was made by Pat Devaney to adjourn the meeting, and Joanna Webb-Gauvin seconded.  The rollcall vote found unanimous support to adjourn.

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