Capital Bill: Here We Go Again

by Mark Cavers At the tail end of the legislative session the Illinois State Senate added $430 million in operating costs to this year’s capital bill, a move that was opposed by the House, which refused to consider the bill. Today Governor Quinn announced that capital and road construction programs will begin to shutdown as early as...

by Mark Cavers

At the tail end of the legislative session the Illinois State Senate added $430 million in operating costs to this year’s capital bill, a move that was opposed by the House, which refused to consider the bill. Today Governor Quinn announced that capital and road construction programs will begin to shutdown as early as June 17th due to the legislature’s failure to pass the capital bill. At the root of the problem is Illinois’s inability to make the spending choices necessary to create a sustainable budget. Rather than making these choices, the Illinois Senate tried to shuffle more spending into the capital bill.

Illinois needs capital construction but the last thing we need is for the capital bill to become another vehicle for legislators to increase spending. Already, the capital bill is stuffed with waste and questionable spending. Last year, the Institute released our Capital Piglet Book, which looked specifically at spending under the 2009 capital bill. Some of the highlights:

• $15.6 million for capital improvements to the Chicago Zoological Society;
• $3,291,528 for attracting waterfowl and improving public migratory waterfowl areas;
• $2.3 million for The Old Town School of Folk Music;
• $337,020 for conservation for furbearing mammals;
• $100,000 for the Anderson Japanese Gardens for construction of a new pavilion;
• $754.6 million for land acquisition by cities and various organizations;
• $585,000 to the Cicero Aquatic Center

If you want to see a full list of the wasteful spending we identified, click here.
If you want to see a plan to balance our budget without sneaking more spending into the capital bill,click here.