A capital renewal appropriations bill that would fund about $1.6 million in maintenance projects at SIUC may not come through because of the legislature’s focus on education funding.

Garrett Deakin, SIU’s legislative liaison, said the $111 million appropriations bill would go toward various state institutions, including prisons and education.

The bill would contain the following provisions for SIUC:$891,900 for roof replacements for Neckers Hall, Quigley Hall, the Lesar Law Building and Altgeld Hall;

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$455,000 for asbestos removal on the first and second floors of Morris Library;

$200,000 for sewer repairs at the Carterville campus; and

$50,000 for structural repairs to the north overpass, which is over the train tracks and leads to Brush Towers.

Deakin said the House had hearings on the bill about three weeks ago and that it is in a House rules committee. He said that no move has been made to vote on the bill yet.

The issue is being talked about by members, but we just don’t know what’s going to happen, he said. If they don’t tackle education funding, it’s going to be harder to appropriate funds for other projects.

We are hoping the General Assembly does come through on those appropriations, but there are no guarantees.

Deakin said he hopes the bill will pass during the veto session, which began Wednesday and extends through Friday. He said the bill could be tabled until regular session in the spring.

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Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, said House Republicans and Democrats need to meet and negotiate with Gov. Jim Edgar prior to any vote.

The bill will happen if we have a supplemental appropriations agreement, he said. I’ve never seen a time when it’s not, but because of the school funding thing, it may not go. But I am doing everything I can to get to the point of voting on it.

Last spring, Edgar proposed more money for needy school districts by increasing income taxes 25 percent and decreasing property taxes. The proposal was quashed by Senate Republicans later that spring.

Another plan that would draw funds from taxes on cigarettes, telephone use and casinos among other things, also was stymied this summer after legislators said there were too many taxes and no property tax relief. Legislators are scrambling to devise yet another plan.

Deakin said the funding for SIUC’s repair projects was slated for approval in last spring’s session, but it was not approved by the legislature.

Part of that may have been that they had just passed two years’ worth of projects bottled up in the General Assembly, he said. They likely said, You can’t possibly do all this work,’ and so now we come back six to eight months later and need to get this money appropriated so we can get started with these projects.

Jim Fox, associate dean for Morris Library’s public and collection development services, said the asbestos removal that the bill will partially fund will be done in phases. He said the bill will allow the library to remove asbestos, thus making technology enhancements easier.

We have to do most upgrades at night when no one is around, and there has to be extensive protective measures, he said. This increases the cost of trying to modernize the building.

We’d like to have every dollar the bill will provide and get the asbestos out of here to make our work a lot easier in the long haul.

Steve Brown, press secretary for House Speaker Mike Madigan, D-Chicago, said he does not think school funding will delay the appropriations bill but that such projects may not receive funding because Edgar may not be interested in signing the bill.

I don’t believe any final decision has been made by the governor, but he has expressed concerns with extra spending and has been guarded on extra spending ideas, he said. If he’s not interested in signing a bill, the legislature is not likely to waste their time on it.