Rockford Register Star
Roadblocks remain for capital plan
Some lawmakers say $31 billion plan won't be enacted until fall
By ANDREA ZIMMERMANN
5/26/08
SPRINGFIELD — It was Friday when state leaders stopped in Rockford as part of a statewide tour touting the newly created capital construction plan, which could promise $100 million in local infrastructure projects.
However, many hurdles remain before the $31 billion plan becomes reality. Champions of the proposal say the state and its residents stand to see a windfall of money and jobs with its passage, but getting lawmakers to agree on the details of the massive plan is far trickier than simply garnering votes.
Passing the plan this spring is impossible because the complex plan was dumped in lawmakers’ laps with two weeks before the formal end of session, said Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Rockford. He said a capital plan would likely happen when the Legislature returns in November.
“There’s not a chance that it can be done next week,” Syverson said. “There are a lot of complexities in this, where they make it sound like a simple plan. … Well, these are concepts, but none of the details have been worked out to anyone’s satisfaction.”
Time is not the only complicating factor. Lawmakers also must agree on a funding proposal and overcome longstanding trust issues with Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
The governor has said he wants lawmakers to approve a capital plan and next year’s operating budget before leaving Springfield this spring, but time may not be on the Legislature’s side.
Lawmakers have not been able to pass a massive construction plan since 1999.
Almost a decade later, most lawmakers agree the state desperately needs a capital plan, which would start major road building projects in the Rock River Valley and across the state.
The Blagojevich administration, which crafted the Dennis Hastert and Southern Illinois University President Glenn Poshard, has not said how it would spend the money.
However, previous versions of the capital plan have included major reconstruction of North and South Main Street through Rockford and widening Illinois 173 through Machesney Park to the Interstate 90 interchange.
The newest plan has some pitfalls — mainly in how the plan would be funded.
The proposal relies on leasing the state lottery and expanding gambling. For the past three years, the governor has tried and failed to persuade lawmakers to lease or sell the lottery, which the state owns and devotes much of that money to fund education.
Senate President Emil Jones, who is Blagojevich’s chief ally in the Legislature, largely embraced the plan. However, it remains unclear whether House Speaker Michael Madigan, the governor’s nemesis, approves. Republican leaders were also skeptical.
Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, D-Chicago, was Madigan’s surrogate in meetings about the capital plan. She said House Democrats would consider “every item on the list,” but expressed some doubt about money from leasing the lottery, $10 billion, to pay for the plan.
Expanding gambling is the second facet of the funding proposal. This repeatedly fails in the Legislature under pressure from competing interests. Syverson said if one of the funding proposals in this plan dies, “then the capital plan falls apart.”
He said marginally raising the income tax is a safer way to ensure enough money will be available.
Even if lawmakers find an agreeable funding plan, “it’s that trust factor,” that still stands in the way of a solution, said Rep. Chuck Jefferson, D-Rockford.
Jefferson was one of several lawmakers who met with Blagojevich last week to talk about the capital plan. They asked how they could trust he wouldn’t divert this money to other interests such as expanding health care. Blagojevich told them that he always follows through on his promises.
Jefferson said it would take more than a meeting to assuage his concerns, but it is promising that there is a dialogue about the capital plan occurring between the governor and lawmakers.
“I do feel good that we are talking about a capital plan,” Jefferson said.
GateHouse News Service contributed to this report.
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