Approximately four months after former governor Rod Blagojevich authorized $9.25 million to be pulled from six of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources’ dedicated conservation funds, newly sworn-in Governor Patrick Quinn overturned the decision.

Signed into law February 5, SB1132 will restore the funds for use in managing the state’s wildlife and natural resources. Restoring the diverted funds will prevent an additional $16 million loss of matching federal funds from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

Governor Quinn also named Marc Miller as the new director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources in a press conference after the bill signing.

In the fall of 2008, the Illinois Legislature passed SB790, later signed by Blagojevich, which authorized sweeping $18 million in funding from the IDNR. The former governor planned to reduce the state’s budget deficits by redirecting funds originally intended for use in managing Illinois’ natural resources.

Add to Technorati Favorites

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 17th, 2009 at 9:52 pm and is filed under Outdoor News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.