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Posted: Friday, 20 February 2009 6:35AM
What Does Stimulus Mean For Illinois?
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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (IRN) -- President Barack Obama signed a 787 dollar stimulus bill this week which means several billion dollars will come to Illinois.
Jack Lavin, Gov. Pat Quinn's Chief Operating Officer, says any federal dollars used for local projects will be meticulously documented and posted on a new website, http://recovery.illinois.gov.
That wasn't enough for at least one lawmaker however. State Sen. Martin Sandoval (D-Cicero) says he wants transparency not only when agencies have decided what projects they'll work on, but he also wants some input on what projects they choose. In other words, he wants transparency throughout the entire process. Sandoval called on Quinn to issue an executive order that every stage of spending the federal stimulus money be completely transparent.
About two billion dollars will go toward education projects. State School Superintendent Chris Cook says the state will have control over how it distributes the money, meaning they could give a certain amount to higher education but a different amount to elementary education. State Sen. Mike Jacobs (D-East Moline) expressed his displeasure that the federal stimulus package did not include any money for school construction, because some schools in his district are in dire need of repair.
Nearly a billion dollars will go toward road and bridge repair. Illinois Department of Transportation Secretary Milt sees says the agency will "work its tail off" to make it work, but he says less than a billion dollars is "woefully inadequate when it comes to infrastructure." IDOT has four months to plan what projects the federal stimulus money will fund and if they don't have a concrete plan within that time frame, the federal government will sweep the money away to other states that already have plans in place.
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