By TIM ALEXANDER
Illinois Correspondent

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Hundreds of people associated with agriculture and conservation groups facing $40 million in budget cuts attended a legislative hearing at the Illinois state capitol April 16 to urge Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration to release funds essential to their programs.

Those groups affected include the University of Illinois extension, Soil and Water Districts (SWCD), the Illinois Council for Food and Agricultural Research (C-FAR), the Fertilizer Research and Education Council, the Grape and Wine Resources Council and AgriAbility, a program that lends a “hand up” to disabled farmers.

Some angry Illinois lawmakers, including State Sen. Jeff Schoenberg (D-Evanston), accused the administration of political blackmail, insisting Blagojevich announced the funds would be withheld so lawmakers would support his plan to divert money from “special-purpose” funds.

“This promise has been broken and needs to be fixed,” said Jerry Hicks, an advocate with Extension Partners, to a joint hearing of a Senate appropriations committee and agriculture committee.
“That’s not leverage, that’s blackmail,” Schoenberg was quoted as saying, by The Associated Press.

Pam Weber, also a lobbyist for Extension Partners, was encouraged by the commitment of legislators and advocates who attended the meeting.

“House and Senate Democrats and Republicans came together at the hearing to listen to our concerns, and that in itself is a milestone,” Weber told Farm World.

“Yes, there was anger there, especially among some of the legislators. In our instance, (extension) has 450 people who are going to lose their jobs, and every day they work the university is incurring debt in order to keep their programs going.”

Weber was impressed by legislators’ awareness of extension and other programs’ importance to the state – in particular by State Rep. Bill Black (R-Danville), who told the committees that robbing the programs of their funding is like “going to the bank and being told you can’t have the money from your savings account.”

A 10-year-old girl and her sister from Homeschool Clovers 4-H Club in Midlothian addressed the committees, saying that budget cuts to extension would mean their chapter would have to close.

Blagojevich has said the state can’t afford to fund local SWCDs, C-FAR’s food and ag research and the many programs offered by extension, which include 4-H, nutrition and agriculture.

The groups are facing a combined budget reduction of around $40 million in order to help trim a $750 million deficit from Illinois’ budget before the fiscal year ends June 30, according to the administration.

Extension’s entire $17.9 million allocation is being withheld, along with $13.3 million for SWCD and $4.5 million for C-FAR. Hundreds of layoffs are expected as a result of the budget freeze. In addition, the action could cause the state to forfeit millions of dollars in federal matching funds.

The administration is blaming legislators for not allowing enough money in the budget to fund the ag programs, while also citing a shift in priorities and a slow housing market as reasons for slashing funding.

Ginger Ostro of the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget told the Illinois Farm Bureau that a stumbling national economy is partly to blame for the budget deficit.

State Sen. Gary Dahl (R-Peru) said the frozen funds are “in the bank” and won’t come close to helping the state’s growing budget deficit, so they should be released.

Weber said Extension Partners will continue to work to increase awareness regarding extension’s importance to the state.
A letter-writing campaign, media outreach and personal contact with legislators and the public is planned for the coming weeks.

The bottom line for many of these groups – especially SWCD – is that if they don’t get their funds soon, their doors will close by summer. The axe has already fallen on the Scott County SWCD office, which closed last week due to lack of operating funds.
Tom Hardy of the UoI office of university relations said anyone concerned about the cuts to extension and other services should call their lawmakers and urge them to immediately restore funding to the groups.