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Pat Quinn on Technology
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Largest infrastructure construction program in IL history
Exactly five years ago this day, I was sworn in as Governor, at Illinois' darkest moment. We were facing an unprecedented triple crisis of government corruption, economic collapse, and financial instability. We had one former Governor in jail and
another on the way to jail. Our economy had plunged into the worst recession since the Great Depression, brought to its knees by greedy and corrupt financiers. And our financial house was on fire, set ablaze by decades of mismanagement and an utter lack
of willingness to make the tough calls.
But over the past five years, we've rebuilt one hard step at a time. And we've been getting the job done. Illinois is making a comeback.
When I took the oath of office, state government hadn't properly
invested in our infrastructure in 10 years. Within 10 weeks, we passed the largest construction program in Illinois history. So far, we've built and repaired 7,595 miles of road, 1,311 bridges and 978 schools.
Source: 2014 State of the State speech to Illinois legislature
, Jan 29, 2014
Create next-generation jobs with "1871" digital hub
To create 21st century jobs, we're investing in innovation. We helped create 1871, a digital hub that has become home to more than 200 startups. But there's more to be done. Now is the time to take that same innovative, public-private approach to
advanced manufacturing.In the last 3 years, manufacturing has been one of our state's leading growth sectors, creating nearly 40,000 new jobs. We're at the cutting edge of advanced manufacturing, and we need to stay there.
That's why we're
partnering with the University of Illinois and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications to create an advanced manufacturing hub where companies--big and small--come to learn and use the world's most sophisticated tools and software.
The Illinois Manufacturing Lab will make our manufacturers more competitive.
Now, in our Illinois, we leave no worker behind. As we create next-generation jobs, we must ensure that our workers are equipped for them. We're closing this "skills gap."
Source: 2013 State of the State speech to Illinois Legislature
, Feb 6, 2013
Pay backlog of $280M for mass transit
Illinois' backlog of payments to the state's transit systems is now more than $280 million. Millions of people living and working in Illinois rely on our mass transit systems, including 2 million trips per day in Northeastern Illinois alone.
Delayed payments to the Regional Transportation Authority for CTA, for Metra, and for PACE harms the ability of our people to get to work. In addition, the state has been forced to pay more for procurement contracts, simply because we do not pay on time.
Vendors are not bidding competitively--our bids are 6% to 10% higher than they should be--because those contracting with the state expect long delays in payment. This is not insignificant; we pay $700 million to 1$ billion extra per year as a result.
Even with our new revenues, if we do not restructure our debt it will take decades for us to return to the prompt payment cycle of a fiscally responsible government.
Source: Illinois 2011 State of the State Budget Address
, Feb 16, 2011
Ban texting while driving
There's a passage in Scripture that says, if you save one life, you save the whole world. And this year in Illinois, a historic year, 2009, for the first time since 1921 we had less than 1,000 deaths on the highways of Illinois.
Now that took a lot of work. It took State policemen on the highways, the Department of Transportation. We passed a law this year, a very important law that will ban texting while driving.
Source: Illinois 2010 State of the State Address
, Jan 13, 2010
Page last updated: Jul 23, 2017