State Reports                                          

The following report has been received by the Documents Unit, Illinois State Library, Springfield, and is usually available from public libraries in the state through interlibrary loan. Issuing agencies may have copies available.

Ideas for creating jobs
Illinois New Technologies Board: Final Report, Office of the Governor, 100 W. Randolph, Chicago 60601 (June 1994), 24 pp. plus appendices.

Following almost six months of study on tax incentives as a means of creating new and higher-paying jobs, the 20-member New Technologies Board recommended that the governor ask for a longer-term study by the Illinois Coalition, a not-for-profit group of science and business leaders.

In addition, it made recommendations for the short-term:

• since state tax incentives do not seem to be effective, other forms of technology promotion should be tried;

• favorable federal tax policies should be identified and adopted;

• linkages between entrepreneurs and such institutions as Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Illinois should be encouraged;

• the shortage of venture capital for entrepreneurs needs to be addressed;

• successful training programs need to be a top priority in the budget-making process;

• the Illinois Coalition should develop a strategic plan for technology policy; and,

• ensuring a quality education is the best thing the state can do to promote technology.

Two members of the board, former Comptroller Dawn dark Netsch and state Sen. Alice Palmer, a Chicago Democrat, did not concur with all of the recommendations. Their letters are included in the report. Netsch argues that three important issues are not adequately addressed in the study: funding for schools, the effects of burdensome property taxes and the key role of public and private colleges and universities. Palmer is concerned that the recommendations do "not adequately address the breadth of what is needed," and cites as an example the emphasis on a favorable climate for business without equal attention to the needs of labor.