As you know, Illinois is experiencing a fiscal crisis unlike any the state has ever seen, but even in times of economic uncertainty, I believe we can be a state where everyone who is willing to work hard has the opportunity to earn a decent, honest living.

As part of my economic program, I have introduced legislation to create the Illinois Opportunity Fund to attract private investment to the state. The fund will help to jumpstart industries and focus on new technologies that have the potential to put people back to work and create the sort of jobs and opportunities that will attract young people to either stay or relocate to our state.

To assist with launching this fund, my plan calls for the creation of six new Centers for Entrepreneurship. The centers will draw on public and private sector resources and expertise available through universities and colleges to assist people wanting to start a business obtain legal resources, expert accounting and financial services and access to investors. People looking to expand or create businesses would also be eligible to benefit from 400 business planning and development assistance grants worth $5,000 each.

The first of the centers will be located at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is expected to be operational next month. The other five will be located at Rock Valley College in Rockford, the University of Illinois-Chicago, Western Illinois University in Macomb and at Southern Illinois University campuses in Carbondale and Edwardsville.

More businesses equal more jobs, which creates a stronger economy for the people of Illinois. There are countless entrepreneurs across the state with good ideas who simply need an opportunity to showcase their ideas.

Another plan is to use state incentives to persuade businesses to invest in advanced technology that would enable companies to burn coal mined in Illinois without endangering the environment. Illinois is home to the second-richest coal reserves in the nation, yet because of high contents of sulfur and other materials, the coal is considered "dirty" and federal environmental standards have forced power companies to use out-of-state coal. As a result, the state's coal mining industry has suffered tremendously.

I have set a goal to build five new power plants that burn Illinois coal cleanly. These plants would create 20,000 new jobs — mostly in central and southern Illinois — including positions in mining and construction, as well as jobs at the power plants.

The first plant to be built using these new incentives will be in Will County on the grounds of the former Joliet Arsenal. The $1 billion, 660-megawatt power plant will incorporate clean-coal technology to reduce emissions and use as much as two million tons of Illinois coal per year. The plant, which is slated to begin operation in 2006, will employ at least 80 workers in high-paying technical positions and create about 200 coal-mining jobs. During construction, the union labor force is expected to peak at more than 1,200 jobs. This is the kind of growth that Illinois needs to experience in order to revitalize communities across the state.

To help workers on the brink of poverty obtain economic independence, I also have announced my support of legislation to increase the minimum wage from the federal standard of $5.15 per hour to $6.50 per hour. A person who works 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year and is paid minimum wage, earns $10,712 a year. You cannot raise a family, put food on the table or put shoes on your children's feet on that kind of salary. In addition, it is time for women to receive equal pay for equal work. Women make up more than half of our workforce and there is no reason why they should earn just 69 cents for every dollar a man makes.

There are some tough times ahead, but we will overcome these obstacles and become a state people can believe in and offer a future they can look forward to.

Rod Blagojevich is Illinois' 40th Governor. Prior to being elected Governor, he was a Congressman, State Representative and a Cook County Assistant States Attorney.

The opinions and views of guest commentators are their own and may not represent those ot the Association of Illinois Electric Cooperatives or the electric co-ops of Illinois.

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