Calling it a setback for Illinois infrastructure, road, bridge, and highway construction industry groups are pushing back against Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s (D) proposal to temporarily freeze an automatic gas tax increase scheduled to go into effect July 1.

As part of his Illinois budget proposal presented Feb. 5, Pritzker, who is seeking re-election in November, touted a $45.4-billion proposal that, among other proposed tax freezes, would provide $135 million in relief to consumers by stopping a planned increase in the gas tax, which is slated to go up by 2.2 cents on July 1.

Representatives of road and bridge contractors say the proposal is an about-face from 2019 when Pritzker supported Rebuild Illinois, a bipartisan infrastructure law that laid out $45 billion in investments in roads, bridges, railroads and other capital projects that supporters said had been long neglected.

作为重建伊利诺伊州的一部分，汽油税翻了一番，每加仑38美分，未来的增加与通货膨胀率有关。该计划的运输基础设施部分总计332亿美元，由包括汽油税在内的各种运输收入来源资助。

伊利诺伊州路与运输建筑商协会总裁兼首席执行官迈克·斯图诺（Mike Sturino）表示，拟议的天然气税冻结将使伊利诺伊州的基础设施问题更加严重。

"The Illinois Department of Transportation is playing catch up all of the time,” he says. "This is folly to keep ignoring or short-changing our infrastructure. We fought for the inflation index for this very reason...So we wouldn't have to go back year after year (to the state legislature) for an increase."

Kevin Burke, executive vice president of the Illinois Asphalt Pavement Association, agreed.

“重建伊利诺伊州的一个关键组成部分是指数能够按照通货膨胀的成本保持一致。这项建议将使我们更远。”他说。

普里兹克说，在当前水平上冻结汽油税将节省驾驶员，并使该州耗资1.35亿美元的收入。

“Even with the $135 million, we’d still have 22% of highways that would be in unacceptable condition, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation’s Asset Management Plan, which looks at where we want to take highways in the future,” Burke adds.

In a letter introducing the proposed budget, Pritzker said the freeze does the opposite of shortchanging infrastructure.

“它进一步加强了基础设施，并在我们的多年基础设施计划的伊利诺伊州重建第四年创造了就业机会。尽管对我们作为州和人民的成功至关重要，但它继续改善了整个州政府的资金不足和被低估了数十年的服务。”他说。

州长的新闻秘书乔丹·阿布达耶（Jordan Abudayye）没有回应置评请求。伊利诺伊州立法机关由普里特克（Pritker）的两院同胞控制，必须通过某种形式的预算，而普利兹克（Pritzker）将不得不在7月1日之前签署，以避免增加汽油税。