Funding for the asbestos removal project at the University Health Services passed the Illinois General Assembly June 30 and now waits for the governor’s signature.

“Getting the bill through the General Assembly is a necessary step, but not the last step,” said Anne Kaplan, executive assistant to John La Tourette.

The governor might approve the funding soon. Gov. James Thompson usually acts on budget bills in mid-July, said Mary Frances Fagan, assistant press secretary to the governor.

“This is very important money for NIU. Our inability to use that space is a serious problem,” Kaplan said.

University Health Services Director Rosemary Lane said she was happy to hear the news, but “my anxieties (about the project) were relieved about 25 percent.”

“We still don’t know the status of the bill vis-a-vis the governor,” she said. “We’re waiting,” Lane said.

State Sen. Patrick Welch, D-LaSalle/Peru, sponsored the funding. Welch said the funds are the result of his efforts to cut $27 million out of the budget for a U of I campus in DuPage County.

“It was clear then and it is now that another campus for the U of I was not needed in the Cook County area,” he said.

“The funding will allow NIU to remove asbestos from the current health center and take away a major health threat,” Welch said.

The asbestos removal project is scheduled for completion in the summer of 1991.