Now presenting the 2010 capital budget proposal

Rep. Hans Dunshee says the 2010 capital budget includes a mini-Jobs Act of $200 million and an extra $100 million for the Housing Trust Fund that – when leveraged with local matching and other funds – will create 19,500 jobs.

“The energy work in schools is a three-to-one match,” Dunshee said, “so you get $800 million in total projects. The housing money gets you an even better match of four-to-one, so there’s $500 million in projects for a total of $1.3 billion. A very conservative estimate is 15 jobs per million in projects of this kind, and that gets you to 19,500 jobs.”

That’s not including the rest of the capital budget.

Dunshee’s proposal includes more than $200 million in savings due to lower construction costs and projects not being built. Otherwise, the local projects from the 2009-10 budget are funded.

“But if we don’t get new revenue for the operating budget, the capital budget gets cut $800 million,” Dunshee said. “If that happens, we go around the state stopping construction projects.”