By TIM ALEXANDER

Illinois Correspondent

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The $45 billion “Rebuild Illinois” Capital Plan contains planned upgrades to infrastructure and education that are of interest to farmers, including upgrades to roads, bridges, ports, locks and dams, rural broadband availability, and early-childhood learning.

By fixing the state’s crumbling roads and bridges, the plan will support and create an estimated 540,000 jobs in every corner of the state, according to bipartisan lawmakers who signed on to the bill and others in support of the plan.

Rebuild Illinois officially kicked off on July 1, when a 19-cent increase per gallon on gasoline and 5 cents on diesel fuel was imposed on motorists. The increase, which doubled the previously set state fuel tax for Illinois drivers, is the primary funding vehicle behind Rebuild Illinois.

“With this historic $45 billion capital plan, we’re fixing decades-long problems, creating good jobs, improving communities for the next generation – and doing it together across party lines,” Gov. JB Pritzker said of the legislation, which he signed into law June 28. “This is more than an infrastructure plan. This is a job creation plan, the likes of which our state has never seen.”

Rebuild Illinois (state House Bill 62) establishes a $33.2 billion budget for transportation upgrades, including some $25 billion for new roads and bridges. Another $3.5 billion is allocated for education infrastructure improvements and early childhood education, and $1 billion is budgeted for environment and conservation projects, including renewable energy.

In addition, $1.8 billion is set aside for economic and community development, $465 million for health care and human services, and $420 million for statewide broadband expansion through H.B. 62.

Funding for the ambitious capital plan – the first in more than a decade in Illinois – will come from increases to the state motor fuel tax, which will be sent to a “lockbox” that exclusively funds transportation projects.

Many of the state’s agricultural commodity and producer organizations did not immediately offer comment on the passage of Rebuild Illinois, which also allocates money for upgrades to veterans’ homes, state crime labs, and other “decrepit” state facilities.

However, the Illinois Corn Growers Assoc. warned members in June that in addition to the state fuel tax increase, truck registration will increase by $100 per year, automobile registration by $50 per year, and driver’s license and transfer of registration will also increase under Rebuild Illinois.

Though many drivers around the state were shown on local newscasts griping at the pump about the July 1 increase, leaders in Illinois’ transportation, manufacturing, and trades industries say the sacrifice should be worth the end result for all Illinois residents.

“Manufacturers need a modern infrastructure system to compete in today’s global economy, and this capital infrastructure program builds a bridge to the future,” said Mark Denzler, president and CEO of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Assoc. “Infrastructure creates jobs and allows for the efficient movement of people and products around the world.

“Rebuild Illinois also funds important career and technical programs to help address the skills gap and workforce challenges facing manufacturers across Illinois.”

The investment the state will be making in capital construction projects will have deep and lasting effects across Illinois, predicts Michael Carrigan, president of the Illinois AFL-CIO.

“Fixing and improving the state’s vital infrastructure is the obvious direct benefit, but the economic boost creating tens of thousands of jobs in our communities, small and large, will put us on a path to prosperity. Additionally, the investment will reverberate for many years into the future with the education and economic development opportunities a highly-functional infrastructure provides,” he said.

“One of the most important things we can do for the future of Illinois is to maintain our place as America’s transportation center,” said state Rep. Margo McDermed, a Republican from Mokena, a Will County community that serves as a major Amtrak and transportation hub. “This capital bill ensures we remain a vital hub in the nation’s network of highways and bridges by injecting much-needed resources to bring Illinois’ infrastructure into the 21st century.”

Critics of the Rebuild Illinois capital plan – the first in Illinois since former Gov. Pat Quinn’s “Jobs Illinois” capital plan in 2009 – say that funding for the program is too heavily reliant on the state motor fuel tax increase.

But in a packaging of legislation, Pritzker also approved bills that will raise the tax on tobacco products and legalize sports gambling in Illinois. These are two other revenue streams that will be used to help fund the Rebuild Illinois plan, according to legislators.