SIU president is leading campaign to get the funding bill passed this session

By DOUG WILSON

Herald-Whig Senior Writer

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Longtime Illinois politician and educator Glenn Poshard hopes the Legislature will pass a capital construction plan of between $25 billion and $35 billion by the end of May.

Poshard, the president of Southern Illinois University, along with former Speaker of the U.S. House Dennis Hastert, is leading the campaign for a capital program.

On Wednesday, Poshard told members of the Corridor 67 group that progress has been made in repeated talks with legislative leaders. He's also attended close to 20 meetings with people around the state and learned that the list of construction needs is huge.

"We've had no capital bill in nine years," and every part of the state has highways, school projects, water or sewer problems that need to be addressed, Poshard said.

Leaders have talked about construction programs of $25 billion, $30 billion and $35 billion as possibilities. In each case, those figures include access to about $9 billion in federal funds that require a cost-share from the state.

"The economic impact of a $30 billion construction program for the state would be $69.8 billion" according to economics experts at SIU, Poshard said.

Two government forecasting agencies have said the construction work would percolate through the economy, creating 535,000 jobs. Retention of existing jobs would bring the number to about 700,000. Tax revenue for governmental units would climb an estimated $2.9 billion through increases in income tax, sales tax and fee collections.

"Everybody wants a capital bill, but how do you pay for it? It's the revenue stream" that makes it difficult to get the bill passed, Poshard said.

Three state senators who attended the meeting are optimistic that constructive talks are under way.

"If you had asked me 60 days ago, I would have said the chance of passing this was low," said Sen. John Sullivan, D-Rushville. "So I'm very impressed with the job Glenn Poshard and Denny Hastert have done."

Sullivan has sat in on the capital bill meetings as a member of the caucus team of Senate President Emil Jones, D-Chicago.

One of the funding sources that's under consideration is to lease 80 percent of the Illinois Lottery for the next 50 years. The goal is to get at least $10 billion upfront from a private sector operator. The $600 million the lottery currently provides each year for schools would have come from a trust fund established with the initial payment, Sullivan said.

Some legislators would prefer to see an increase in the income tax rather than leasing the lottery. Poshard said he has not seen support for an income tax increase to fund a capital plan during his meetings around the state. Gov. Rod Blagojevich also has pledged to veto any increase in income taxes or sales taxes.

Sen. Deanna Demuzio, D-Carlinville, said the nine-year delay since the last capital bill "is inexcusable," and she drew applause from the Corridor 67 group when she pledged to support the $35 billion construction program to catch up on infrastructure needs.

Thomas A. Oakley, chairman of the Quincy Highway Committee, described the deterioration of the state's infrastructure as a crisis and he said that with each passing year, the cost of projects climbs by at least 10 percent and maybe more.

Oakley said a $25 billion version of the capital bill passed by the Senate several months ago calls for $50.6 million to help start work on the Macomb west bypass, but it will probably take more than $100 million to build it and that should be included in any capital bill.

Another area highway priority is the completion of a four-lane U.S. 34 between Gulfport and Monmouth. That project has been slated for $74.6 million in the capital budget.

Mary Lamie, deputy director of the Illinois Department of Transportation's Division of Highways and chief engineer in IDOT's District 9, gave an update on U.S. 67 work. The Senate's previous capital bill called for $42 million in improvements and engineering between Macomb and Jacksonville.

Lamie described U.S. 67 as a patchwork of two-lane and four-lane highway stretching from Alton to the Quad Cities. She said federal funds have helped with small sections of the highway. IDOT's goal with U.S. 67 is to complete projects as funds become available.

Representatives of Illinois congressional members urged the legislators to come up with a capital plan or risk losing the billions of dollars set aside for Illinois projects in the federal highway bill passed several years ago.

-- dwilson@whig.com/221-3372