Open Illinois.org

Yesterday, Governor Quinn signed a $31 billion capital bill dubbed the “Illinois Jobs Now!” plan (colleague Jack McNeily explains the details).

This bill is a mixed bag, in terms of both its various projects and its approach to capital investment. Granted, this bill will likely help Illinois’s economy, but there are still many reasons to be skeptical of this spending.

First, $31 billion is a huge sum of money; some perspective is necessary.  Just last week, our attention was fixed on an $11.6 billion deficit that has yet to be resolved.  The proposed income and corporate tax hikes last month would have generated approximately $3.2 billion a year, only a tenth of the capital bill’s cost.  Moreover, this bill is about the size of Illinois’s 2009 yearly operating budget ($31.487 billion), a budget including all state human services, healthcare, law enforcement, and education. Many weeks were spent debating a tax hike, budget deficits, and spending cuts that are only a fraction of the size of this capital bill, yet it flew through the General Assembly straight to Quinn’s desk.  Don’t be surprised if this debt plagues future state budget debates.

Second, this bill is loaded with discretionary and special interest spending, raising the risk of waste, corruption, and pet projects. For instance, $500,000 will be spent to “attract waterfowl and improve public migratory waterfowl areas,” and $6 million will be spent on “grants and contracts to conduct research, planning, and construction to eliminate hazards of abandoned mines.” The News-Gazette reports, “About $500 million has been set aside for legislators to divvy up for their pet projects, but all those projects are supposed to be spelled out rather than kept secret.”  Let’s hope so.  An additional $1 billion is left to Quinn’s discretion, and “it’s not clear how he intends to spend it.” Reserving sums of money to the whims of lawmakers risks backdoor political deals and waste. The risk is greatly and easily diminished by making the entire process transparent.  The state’s JobsNow website vaguely tells us the projects (many are titled “general infrastructure”) and their anticipated costs, but it must stay current to the spending that is actually happening.

Third, this bill begins the process of funding a high-speed train system, a proposal with holes so big that you could drive…well, why don’t you just read about it in our recently released Policy Point on the issue. Capital investment is great, but let’s make sure the projects are wise.

We’re all hoping that this bill kick-starts an ailing economy and revitalizes necessary government services.  However, spending such a great deal of money requires complete transparency and careful, honest consideration of all projects involved. We hope to help with both.