Peoria Standard

State Rep. Dan Caulkins (R-Decatur) is criticizing a bill that would establish the Central Illinois Regional Airport Authority in McLean County and dissolve any existing airport authority already located in the county.

Caulkins, who's served in the state legislature since 2019, slammed the legislation titled Senate Bill 0684 in an April 17 Facebook post.

"I attended the McLean Country Mayors' meeting. This Bill, SB684, is an end run around the voters," Caulkins wrote in the Facebook post. "The B-N Airport Authority should have placed a referendum on the March ballot."

In his post, Caulkins shared a link to a news story about the negative response and opposition to the proposed legislation by leaders in McLean County. The article noted that Lexington Mayor Spencer Johansen told the county board no one from the airport had reached out to him or any of the county's 19 rural mayors about the proposal, nor was he aware of it until about a month ago. Johansen spoke to the board during a meeting where he said, “in a world where we want transparency, in my opinion there has been absolutely none on this bill.” 

Alan Sender, Bloomingtom-Normal Airport authority chairman, told WGLT that during a meeting with the mayors and CIRA Director Carl Olson, the mayors said they were aware of the proposal.

Senate Bill 684 was sponsored by state Sen. David Koehler (D-Peoria). In addition to establishing the Central Illinois Regional Airport Authority and dissolving any existing airport authority in McLean County, it would give that new authority all of the rights to property plus the assets and liabilities of the dissolved authority which would go into effect immediately upon passage.

In his Facebook post, Caulkins encouraged his constituents to express their opinions about this proposal by registering their thoughts through the General Assembly's website.