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Sen. Brady supports job development program,
hopes funds are not misused
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[APRIL 25, 2005]
SPRINGFIELD
--
State
Sen. Bill Brady,
R-Bloomington, says he voted for legislation creating a $200 million
venture capital investment program, but he's also skeptical about
misuse of those funds because of recent practices involving the
awarding of state contracts.
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Senate Bill 14 creates the Illinois Opportunity Fund Act to
encourage the investment of private capital in Illinois. The
legislation allows the state to issue up to $200 million in
contingent tax credit certificates (no more than $40 million per
fiscal year, redeemable beginning in 2010) to raise private capital,
which will be allocated to venture capital funds located within the
state. "In the past two years,
our state has lost about 45,000 jobs and the opportunity to create
200,000 more, so we need to do anything we can to encourage
investment in Illinois," Brady said "The issue is: How do we know
who is going to receive the benefit of this tax credit, and what are
we doing to safeguard the public against this money just going to
campaign contributors?"
The 44th District senator says he
was told the investments are going to be received by a private,
not-for-profit corporation managed by a board that is approved by
the Senate.
[to top of second column in this article]
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 Senate Bill 14 was approved on a
49-6 vote and sent to the House of Representatives, where Sen. Brady
hopes the legislation can be amended to ensure that taxpayer dollars
are protected.
"We are nationally known as the 'pay
to play' state," Brady said. "We must make sure that this board is
equal and it is judicious in its allocation of these limited funds
so that everyone benefits fairly and we are not just paying back
campaign contributions."
Senate Bill 14 now moves to the
House of Representatives for further consideration.
[News release from Illinois
Senate Republicans]
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