Capital bill passes, signed by governor

Area legislators support measure despite concerns

[April 04, 2009]  SPRINGFIELD -- Recognizing the pressing need to capture federal funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, area legislators Sen. Larry Bomke, R-Springfield, Rep. Raymond Poe, R-Springfield, and Rep. Rich Brauer, R-Petersburg, hesitantly supported Thursday's $9 billion capital program despite reservations about the level of funding headed back to their districts.

"This wasn't a fun vote, but the fact of the matter is we couldn't put in jeopardy the federal stimulus money," Poe said.

Brauer added, "We've been talking about capital for some time now, and although I am disappointed at the level of funding coming back to our area, something had to give."

"It will be great to be able to get these needed projects started at the beginning of this construction season," Bomke said. "We will continue to work on a larger capital project to secure enough funding to adequately take care of our local infrastructure needs."

The $9 billion capital plan approved Thursday is designed to create jobs and spur construction of road, bridge and mass transit projects this spring. Of the nearly $9 billion in funding included in the plan, $3 billion comes from state funds, with the rest supplied from the federal government as part the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 approved by Congress in February.

In addition to the $450 million to initiate shovel-ready projects already planned by the Illinois Department of Transportation, downstate transit would also receive a portion of the $1 billion designated toward transit construction work. The plan also includes money to speed up reimbursement payments for state services such as health care for the poor and uninsured.

Despite their desire to stay positive, these legislators do have numerous concerns about the spending in this plan, not the least of which is the dollar amount coming back to their districts.

Mike Zahn, the State House chair for the Transportation for Illinois Coalition, doesn't see this plan as a solution of the state's problems. Along with his concern regarding the limited scope of this program, he singled out the Department of Transportation's 6th District, which encompasses Springfield, as a trouble area for the plan.

"As the details of this plan become clear, there doesn't seem to be a lot of dollars flowing back to this district for transportation," Zahn said. "I know this spending plan encompasses more than just transportation; however, I suspect there's some political angle to all this," he added.

Local legislators Bomke, Poe and Brauer nonetheless tried to remain positive.

"Out of this proposal, we're hopefully shoring up portions of our state spending that need to be addressed, and as this money is appropriated we'll keep fighting for our road dollars," Brauer said.

"We'll keep fighting, and the Democrats are starting to run out of places to point fingers at," Poe added.

[Text from file received from Illinois Senate GOP]