. Elected in 2004
 
. District covers portions of St. Louis City, St. Louis County, and all of Jefferson and St. Genevieve Counties

. Member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the Foreign Affairs Committee, and the Science and Technology Committee
 
. Serves as Senior Majority Whip of House Democrats


. Founder of bi-partisan High Performance Building Caucus to develop policy to encourage sustainable building

John Sondag, Chair of the RCGA Public Policy Council and Vice President of External Affairs for AT&T joined Doug Sitton, Chair of RCGA's Illinois Public Affairs Committee and President of Sitton Consulting Group, to convene a discussion of the economic and public policy priorities in Illinois.  A panel of area legislators including Rep. Dan Beiser (D-Alton), Sen. James Clayborne, Jr. (D-East. St. Louis), Rep. Tom Holbrook (D-Belleville), and Sen. David Luechtefeld (R-Okawville) provided their perspectives on the upcoming session in Springfield. The legislators were optimistic that capital bill will pass this year to help start regional road and education projects. Several Southwestern Illinois regional projects are well-positioned to take advantage of a potential federal fiscal stimulus bill, according to the panel. 

Rep. Dan Beiser talks about the upcoming Illinois legislative session with (from left to right) Sen. James Clayborne, Sen. David Luechtefeld, and Rep. Tom Holbrook (from left to right) RCGA Public Policy Chairman John Sondag and Illinois Public Affairs Committee Chairman Doug Sitton

Madison County Chairman Alan Dunstan, and RCGA Board Member, updated the levee reconstruction project along the Mississippi River and said local funding has been approved for the repairs to begin in spring of 2009. Suzanne Butler, chair of the Leadership Council of Southwestern Illinois and President of Johnson Properties, and Patrick McKeehan, Executive Director of Leadership Council Southwestern Illinois, reported that a record $9.4 billion of private and public construction projects are underway or have been announced in the region over the past year, including a $3.6 billion investment at the ConocoPhillips refinery in Wood River and expansion of the coke plant at Granite City Steel Works.  Bruce Holland, RCGA Board Member and President of Holland Construction Services, spoke about plans for the I-255 Connector between Troy and Columbia and IDOT progress in obtaining land for the corridor. Vaughn Vandegrift, RCGA Board Member and Chancellor of Southern Illinois-Edwardsville closed the meeting with an encouragement that the St. Louis region - "Metro East and Metro West" should work together on top projects to promote to state and federal officials, including high speed rail between Chicago and St. Louis.

Madison County Chairman Alan Dunstan says the levee repair project is a "textbook case of how government should work."	Bruce Holland goes over the plans for the I-255 Gateway Connector from Troy to Columbia.
Patrick McKeehan reports that a record $9.4 billion of investments is occurring in Southwestern Illinois.	SIUE Chancellor Vaughn Vandegrift talks about regional cooperation to advance the bi-state St. Louis metropolitan area.

The RCGA Public Policy Council and the Illinois Public Affairs Committee each meet monthly to discuss public policy issues facing the St. Louis region. For more information or to participate, please contact Eric Schneider at the RCGA at eschneider@stlrcga.org.

St. Louis regional institutions will receive $3.8 million  from the Missouri Life Sciences Research Trust Fund to support plant science projects and assist in the commercialization of advanced technology companies. The funding will assist research projects and efforts at the Donald Danforth Plant Sciences Center, Washington University, University of Missouri-St. Louis, and the Center for Emerging Technology (CET) in St. Louis.

The Life Sciences Research Trust Fund receives an allocation of 25% of Missouri's share of the national tobacco settlement, estimated at $40 million annually.  However, in the last two years, only about $13 million was disbursed for plant and medical sciences projects. The remaining $27 million was diverted for other purposes in the state budget. An RCGA priority for the upcoming legislative session is to end the diversion of resources from the Life Sciences Trust Fund  to advance research and business creation for the State's biotechnology companies. The Life Sciences Research Board can fund initiatives in agricultural research, animal science, plant science, medical devices, biomaterials and composite research, nanotechnology related to drug development and delivery, diagnostics, clinical imaging, and information technology related to human health. This year, the Life Sciences Research Board allocated five grants and $3.8 million to the St. Louis region.

The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center received two grants totalling $1.5 million. The first grant will support a project in collaboration with the University of Missouri Delta Center to investigate developing Camelina sativa as a nonfood crop and for the production of biotechnology products such as biofuels and bioplastics.  The second grant will purchase a state of the art instrument that will establish a metabolomics platform technology. This technology will help scientists gain a more in-depth understanding of plans as sources of biofuels, enzymes, and biomedicinals. Donald Danforth Plant Science Center President Roger Beachy said, "The funds awarded will have great impact on the rate at which high quality research can be accomplished and will further stimulate new research efforts and commercial activities."

Washington University researcher Dr. Samuel Wickline received a three-year $1.5 million grant to support his work on nanotechnology. His research creates a more accurate imaging of tumors and focuses nano-sized particles at cancer tumor sites. The grant supplements a $16 million grant by the National Cancer Institute to establish the Siteman Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence, one of seven centers of excellence across the country. Dr. Sam Wang, Professor of Biochemistry at University of Missouri-St. Louis and a principal investigator at the Danforth Plant Sciences Center, received a $281,000 grant for equipment to further his research on plant growth, development and stress responses.

The Center for Emerging Technologies (CET) in St. Louis was awarded a $520,000 grant to create a Translational Acceleration Center (TAC) for life science pre-start-up and start-up companies.  The award will fund laboratory and office facilities to assist these early stage companies conducting life science technology development and proof-of-concept research.  The TAC will provide the much needed off-campus facilities to increase and accelerate the formation of bio-based firms in the St. Louis region. The award will fit-out and equip six modules of wet lab research and associated office space in a new CET building adjacent to CET's current facilities.

Missouri Life Sciences Research Trust Fund

. Board allocated $13.1 million to projects researching plant and animal sciences and medical devices, drug research, and human health technology

. St. Louis area projects received $3.8 million for research at Donald Danforth Plant Sciences Center, Washington University, UMSL, and the Center for Emerging Technologies

. Funding comes from dedicated revenue from tobacco settlement, but over $27 million has been diverted to other purposes.

The RCGAdvocate is published periodically to inform RCGA members and government officials about important public policy matters at the state, federal and local levels. It seeks to provide timely, in-depth coverage on regional issues, and, at times, to call RCGA members to action. We welcome your comments and suggestions.

Richard C.D. Fleming ~ President & CEO ~ (314) 444-1100 ~ dfleming@stlrcga.org
Chip Casteel ~ Senior V.P. of Public Policy ~ (314) 444-1107 ~ ccasteel@stlrcga.org
Susan Stauder ~ V.P. of Infrastructure & Public Policy ~ (314) 444-1155 ~ sstauder@stlrcga.org
Eric Schneider ~ Senior Director of Public Policy Research ~ (314) 444-1148 ~ eschneider@stlrcga.org
Kevin Riggs ~ Director of Illinois Government Affairs ~ (314) 444-1108 ~ kriggs@stlrcga.org
Christine Snively ~ Project Manager ~ (314) 444-1144 ~ csnively@stlrcga.org
Marlo Young ~ Executive Assistant for Public Policy ~ (314) 444-1134  ~ myoung@stlrcga.org