SPRINGFIELD – State Rep. Karen
Yarbrough (D-Maywood) convened a
special hearing of the House
Appropriations-Public Safety
Committee that she chairs at the
state capitol on Thursday to assess
the wide array of construction
needs, including roads, bridges and
schools, that would be addressed if
the General Assembly is able to pass
a capital spending plan this year.
“No
one disputes the fact that our state
is long overdue for a capital
program to fix our aging
infrastructure; the disagreement
comes in how we pay for it,”
Yarbrough said. “With the governor
steadfastly refusing to raise the
income or sales tax, we are left to
consider increasing the number of
casinos in Illinois, and many
legislators have reservations about
such a large expansion of gambling.”
In
September, the Illinois Senate
approved parts of Gov. Rod
Blagojevich’s capital spending
plan. The capital package, which
consists of House Bill 2035, Senate
Bill 785, and Senate Bill 1110, is a
$25 billion plan that includes $15.6
billion for roads and bridges, $4.8
billion for K-12 schools, and $2.5
billion for public transportation.
Illinois has been without a capital
spending plan for eight years, and
many of the hearing’s attendees
spoke about crumbling roads and
schools. Representatives from
several organizations attended
Yarbrough’s hearing, including the
Regional Transit Authority, the
Laborers’ International Union and
the Illinois Department of
Transportation.
Yarbrough’s hearing comes on the
heels of a hearing of the House
Gaming Committee in Chicago on
Wednesday to discuss House Bill
2035, the legislation that would
provide the major revenue source for
the proposed capital plan.
“With
a capital program this big and this
important, we need to proceed
carefully and make sure we get it
right,” Yarbrough said. “Today’s
hearing was more about finding out
what kind of spending we need and
whether we can make it a reality
given our state’s fiscal
constraints.”
For
more information, please contact
Yarbrough’s constituent service
office at 708-615-1747.
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