What the governor proposed
New projects
Widen and resurface 1,300 miles of highway-Replace more than 100 bridges
Construct over 200 miles of new bikeways ($2 million).
Improve airports ($7 million)
Rehabilitate more than 30 Amtrak stations
Improve more than 50 commuter rail stations
(The above to be financed by a $565 million highway reconstruction bond authorization)
Add 150 new sewage treatment facilities
($170 million in new anti-pollution bond funds)
Construct or improve at least 125 schools
($375 million to local school districts)
Make added funds available to industries to install pollution control equipment ($250 million) 18,000 new multifamily and 8,000 single family housing units ($600 million)
New community facilities for the developmentally disabled ($15 million)
Improvements at state mental institutions ($12 million) Improvements at state correctional institutions ($5 Million)
Improvements at facilities of the Department of Children and Family Services ($3 million)
Buildings at state universities and community colleges ($30 million) Improvements at private colleges and universities ($12 million)
Insulating state buildings to save energy ($10 million)
Three new state parks, park improvements, three new state trails, two new marinas, and three new nature study centers ($25 million) Industrial development projects ($25 million)
Other — state fair buildings, waterways, etc ($36 million)
Existing projects
Supplemental freeways 500-bed University of Illinois hospital in Chicago Loop Junior College building in Chicago Springfield Capital Complex, new State Office Building, and five new neighborhood state buildings in Chicago Civic Center projects in Aurora, Madison-St. Clair County area, Peoria, Rockford, and Springfield Bicentennial building at the State Fair
Walker's building program TO OFFSET a recession in the Illinois economy, Gov. Dan Walker in a special message to the legislature (1/22/75) proposed an "Accelerated Building Program" which he anticipated would involve the expenditure of $4.5 billion in 1975 and 1976. He said this included $1.879 billion in new initiatives, more than $2.1 billion in existing programs, and the rest in federal and local matching.
The governor proposed major new bond authorizations as follows:
Highway
reconstruction...$565 Millions
Housing Development
Authority Capital Development Board . . .$600 Millions
School construction ..........$288 Millions
Pollution Control
Financing Authority .................$250 Millions
Industrial Development
Authority ................................$ 25 Millions
Total....................................... $1,963 Millions
"The cost of this program is the interest and principal on the additional bonds necessary to finance it," he said. "These costs can be financed, without a tax increase, out of revenue growth in future years."
He said Illinois' "state supported debt" as of the end of fiscal 1974 was $1.1962 billion, lower than the debt of California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania; also lower than Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania on a per capita basis. About 2 per cent of Illinois revenues are currently devoted to debt service, he said.
The program drew criticism. Lester W. Brann, Jr., president of the State Chamber of Commerce, objected that it would be physically impossible to get the funds on massive construction projects (lowing in a short period of time, and that a massive sale of bonds by the state could disrupt money markets when capital funds are needed to stimulate housing, for utility plant expansion, and for normal industrial expansion. He also took issue with the governor's contention that the program could be financed in future years through revenue growth, without a tax increase.
Brann said the state has some $2,285 million in bond authorizations that have not been issued covering state building, ami-pollution grants, school construction, highways and other transportation, and coal development. The state should get on with the work already on the books, he said.
A veto they couldn't override
The 78th General Assembly expired at noon on January 8, but not until January 24 did Gov. Dan Walker veto two of its bills — House Bills 2715 and 2716, providing increased grants to senior citizens to offset property taxes or rents. As a result, there was no way to override these vetoes, but the sponsors did the next best thing and re-introduced them into the 79th General Assembly (H.B. 225 and 226 and S.B. 62 and 63). The Senate passed S.B. 62 by a vote of 52-2, and its companion appropriation measure, S.B. 63, passed 53-0, both on February 6. House action was expected in late February or early March.
New coal use process to be tested
The state has conditionally agreed to participate in testing the application of a new coal-using process for electrical energy production at the Illinois Power Company's Wood River site (1/29/75). This is the so-called "pressurized, fluidized bed process" which forces dolomite or limestone into a boiler bed to convert sulfur into mineral wastes. Because of the high sulfur content of much Illinois coal, its use in ordinary combustion processes is objecttionable.
122/Illinois Issue/April 1975