SPRINGFIELD, Ill., March 12 (UPI) -- Gov. Rod Blagojevich Wednesday proposed $88 million in new initiatives despite a $5 billion budget deficit, saying it's time for Illinois to start dreaming "big dreams" again.
In a state of the state speech delivered before the General Assembly, Blagojevich also pledged to continue the state's moratorium on executing condemned prisoners until the system can be reformed.
Blagojevich called for job creation initiatives, improvements in education, improved access to health care and prescription drug cost reductions, safer streets and restoration of government integrity.
Blagojevich, the first Democrat elected governor in a quarter century, cited the state's unofficial motto: We make no small plans.
"This has always been a state and we have always been a people (who dreamed big dreams)," Blagojevich said. "We didn't just build skyscrapers, we built the tallest building in the world. We didn't just produce a president, we gave the world Abraham Lincoln ... We didn't just stand with working people, we gave a labor movement that raised living conditions around the globe.
"We can still dream big dreams and try daring solutions."
Both House Republican leader Tom Cross of Plainfield and Senate GOP leader Frank Watson of Greenville praised the speech but said they were disappointed in the lack of specifics.
Watson took issue with Blagojevich's proposal to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.50.
"We have to understand what that does to the future of jobs and the jobs climate in this state," Watson said.
"We've got to make Illinois a friendly place for businesses to be," Cross added. "We're for working families. Certainly we have to look at the minimum wage ... (but) businesses have said to me they'll pick up and leave."
Among Blagojevich's job creation proposals were establishment of nanotechnology centers, expansion of O'Hare International Airport, and adoption of new technologies to encourage use of Illinois coal and create new products and new markets for state crops.
On education, he proposed $5,000 and $10,000 scholarships for college juniors and seniors who agree to teach in Chicago Public Schools for five years and are willing to go to parts of the state where there are teacher shortages. Blagojevich said he wants companies to give parents three days leave annually to give them time to deal with their children's education and said he would implement the policy immediately for state workers. Currently, parents are allowed eight hours under state law.
The governor also pledged to expand both the KidCare and FamilyCare health care initiatives and proposed a prescription drug card for seniors.
"The phrase 'sticker shock' doesn't begin to describe what so many people feel when they go to the pharmacy with a prescription," he said. "We are going to bring down the price of prescription drugs once and for all."
In addition, Blagojevich said he would appoint a special advocate to renegotiate $2 billion in contracts with drug companies from which the state now purchases prescription drugs.
Blagojevich called for tighter supervision of parolees, especially sex offenders, and said though he still supports the death penalty, he is appalled so many people apparently ended up on death row for crimes they did not commit. As a result, he said he would continue the moratorium on executions imposed by his Republican predecessor, George Ryan.
Blagojevich also talked about the drivers-license-for-bribes scandal that has ensnared dozens of secretary of state employees and might yet lead to the indictment of Ryan. Blagojevich pledged to restore government integrity.
"No one is going to get in the way of our quest to clean up state government," the former prosecutor and congressman said.
Blagojevich said despite the budget deficit, the state must move forward.
"These are investments we cannot afford not to make," Blagojevich said. "We will balance the budget without an increase in income or sales taxes because we cannot burden the taxpayers with the full weight for fixing the mess created by those who led them astray ... We cannot use it (the fiscal crisis) as an excuse for inaction.
"We must move forward. It won't be easy to balance the budget but we will. Being governor means making tough choices. Being governor means not being able to make everyone happy all of the time. The citizens of this state called for change and that's what I'm going to deliver."
