Two bills that could bring capital funding to renovate Cole Hall and the Stevens Building have passed in state legislature, but are not final.

The main capital bill includes $30.5 million in capital funding for projects at NIU, including $22 million for renovating and expanding the Stevens Building, and almost $2.8 million for planning a new Computer Sciences Technology center at NIU, according to Senate Bill 312 from the 96th Assembly. A second capital bill includes over $8 million in capital funding to renovate Cole Hall, according to House Bill 313 from the 96th Assembly.

Though both bills passed, they are under a motion to reconsider, said Ken Zehnder, NIU associate director of external affairs, at the June 4 Board of Trustees meeting. State legislatures will be looking at the bills in June.

“The motion to reconsider says we’re going to hold on to these,” he said. “We’re not going to start the clock on the time frame to release these to the governor.”

The funding for Stevens Building renovations and for planning a new Computer Sciences Technology building are in both the Illinois Board of Higher Education recommendations and the governor’s budget, according to literature at the BOT meeting.

Gov. Pat Quinn says he will try to allocate money in the state budget to fund the capital projects, Zehnder said. July 1 is the last day to pass the budget, he said.

“The capital [money] could go and bills have passed, but [state congress hasn’t] released them so we’ll have to watch where they go,” Zehnder said.

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