Legislators share good news at annual breakfast

State legislators and community leaders convened and filled the house at the annual Grundy Economic Development Council (GEDC) Legislative Breakfast.

GEDC Chairman Pete Brummel and Nancy Norton, the agency’s president and CEO, welcomed the nearly 170 guests to the event that featured remarks from Illinois Senators Tom Bennett and Sue Rezin and Representatives Jason Bunting and Jed Davis.

The legislators discussion business issues affecting Grundy County and the state of Illinois during the April 13 event at the Morris Country Club.

The Legislative Breakfast started off with some great news about Illinois.

• In less than two years, Moody's Investor Services has upgraded Illinois' credit rating eight times.

• Illinois has paid down its backlog of bills from a high of $16.7 billion during the budget impasse to an accounts payable today of $2.4 billion.

• State vendors used to wait up to 210 business days to get paid. Today the oldest general funds bill in the comptroller's office is 17 days old.

• Illinois is the only state with all seven Class One railroads.

• Illinois has the third largest interstate system in the US.

• The University of Illinois graduates more engineers each year than Stanford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT] and California Institute of Technology [Caltech] combined.

Other topics that were discussed included the recent bill sponsored by Senator Rezin that lifts a moratorium on building new nuclear plants in Illinois. That bill passed the Senate and now goes to the House for consideration.

The crowd also learned about legislation to address the teacher shortage in Illinois and the unemployment insurance fund.

Norton moderated the event and commented, “This has been one of the largest crowds we've ever had. It is so important that our legislators hear from the business community about issues of importance, and in turn, participants can hear firsthand what is happening in Springfield. I am grateful for the hard work and commitment demonstrated by our legislators and appreciate their willingness to listen and support our local businesses. It is an important, valued partnership.”