Update, 4:25 p.m. - The full Senate has just voted 47-12 to approve the tax hike and other revenues. As Senate President John Cullerton noted in introducing the bill, that’s the toughest part, politically. They’re now moving on to the more fun part about how the money will be spent (which will include millions for the Metro East — we’ll have a project list in our coverage later tonight).

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - The Illinois Senate is poised tonight to give first approval to a massive state construction budget that will legalized video gaming and Internet lottery sales, increase driver’s license fees and hike the state’s tax on alcohol.

The idea would be to use that income to raise about $12 billion through bonds, which would then be matched by the federal government to fund the first major rebuilding program in the state in more than a decade and created tens of thousands of jobs.

The measure passed the Senate Executive committee a little while ago on a 12-0 vote, demonstrating the bipartisan support for the thing. A full Senate vote will come tonight, and it’s widely expected to pass, despite strong lobbying against it by the liquor and anti-gambling lobbies.

Both those groups normally carry some sway around here, but not in the face of a chance for lawmakers to create legions of construction and spinoff jobs during a recession, while repairing roads, bridges and schools statewide. They’ve been trying to put a deal like this together for years, but the near-collapse of government under ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich mired it repeatedly.

“We’ve seen years and years and years of dysfunction around here,” Senate Republican leader Christine Radogno said during committee debate, urging her fellow Republicans to support the Democrat-sponsored bill. “This is the best opportunity we have had in a long time to get something done.”

Assuming the measure passes the Senate tonight (we’ll update it here), it still has to go through the House, where it’s likely to pass. Gov. Pat Quinn has been a big booster of the thing, so he’ll likely sign it.

(This is separate from the main revenue portion of the new state budget — the one that may include Quinn’s proposed increase in the state income tax to help pay off the state’s massive budget deficit. That issue hasn’t hit the floor yet, and will create far more fireworks when it does.)