Illinois House Floor Debate — February 15, 2017

"Almighty God, as I come before your throne of grace at this mahogany podium where powerful and great men and women have spoken elegant prose that has steered and guided this great state on this piece of ground for nearly a hundred and fifty years. I accept and I know by faith that You are the true top executive, You are the speaker, and You are the chief justice in this state. Lord, Your word says that there is no authority except that which You have established and no authority exists without Your establishing it. So Lord God, I just got to trust that every person that has been appointed to this General Assembly is here because you have… you've picked them and you've chosen them. And I've got to also assume that You want them to do Your will. And You want them to work for Your Kingdom, and to do things that reflect Your character like love and peace and compassion and righteousness and justice. Lord, God, I ask that You would bring healing to Illinois and start at this place and this General Assembly. Please give those whom You have appointed to serve in these halls of government wisdom, discernment, and a spirit of compassion and cooperation. Scripture warns us that every king… kingdom divided against itself is headed for destruction and no city and no house divided against 10000016.docx 1  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 16th Legislative Day 2/15/2017 itself can stand. Please heal and close this great divide in this city and in this House. Lord, I ask that You would bring wholeness out of division as only You can. That You would bring unity out of brokenness as only You can. Faith out of fear and beauty for ashes in a way that only You can. Lord, You taught us when you showed us how to pray, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on Earth, as it is in Heaven. Please press upon the hearts and minds and souls of those in this General Assembly to do the work of Your kingdom and Your will in contrast to personal kingdom building. Let us love our neighbor as ourselves. Do unto others as we would have done to us. To get along with others and the wisdom to know when to compromise where appropriate and when to hold fast when necessary. But most importantly, Lord, let us seek first Your kingdom and righteousness and when we do we truly place this government upon your capable shoulders, and when that happens we will know real blessing and true prosperity and the favor of heaven that comes exclusively from Your hand. And Lord, I pray that You would not only bless Illinois and this General Assembly, but God, I pray that this state and this General Assembly would do the things that You have blessed for a long time. You've blessed love and joy and peace. You have blessed gentleness and goodness and kindness and self-control and truthfulness. And I ask all these things in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen."

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, 10000016.docx 2  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 16th Legislative Day 2/15/2017 one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

"House Bill 40, a Bill for an Act concerning abortion."

"Second Reading of this House Bill. No Committee Amendments. No Floor Amendments. Notes have been requested, but not filed at this time."

"Agreed Resolutions. House Resolution 125, offered by Representative Durkin. House Resolution 129, offered by Representative Evans. House Resolution 134, offered by Representative Welch. House Resolution 136, offered by Representative Ammons. House Resolution 141, offered by Representative Chapa LaVia. House Resolution 143, offered by Representative Unes. House Resolution 144, offered by Representative Bourne."

"President Cullerton and the Members of the Senate are at the door and seek admission to the chamber."

"A quorum of the House is present."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A quorum of the Senate is present."

"Joint Session Resolution #2 RESOLVED, That a committee of ten be appointed, five from the House, by the Speaker of the House, and five from the Senate, by the President of the Senate, to wait upon Governor Bruce Rauner and invite him to address the Joint Assembly."

"The appointments from the Senate are Senator Don Harmon, Senator Donne Trotter, Senator Heather Steans, Senator Jil Tracy, and Senator Paul Schimpf." 10000016.docx 8  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 16th Legislative Day 2/15/2017

"Mr. Speaker, the Governor of the State of Illinois, Bruce Rauner, and his party wish to be admitted to this chamber."

"All right. Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to our guests in the gallery, thanks for joining us today. Welcome to members of the media, thank you for joining us today. It's an honor to be with all of you. President Cullerton. Speaker Madigan. Leader Radogno. Leader Durkin. Lieutenant Governor Sanguinetti. Attorney General Madigan. Secretary White. Comptroller Mendoza. Treasurer Frerichs. Members of the General Assembly. Ladies and Gentlemen. 'The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. We must think anew and act anew.' 'We must think anew and act anew.' Abraham Lincoln. Two years ago, our first budget address began with these same words. Though it’s taken us two years to get here, the events of recent weeks make clear that together, Democrats and Republicans, are now thinking anew. For the first time, Legislators from both Parties are standing together to say that Illinois must have structural change to grow our economy and create good jobs in every part of our state. That budgets must be truly balanced for the long term and that to achieve balanced budgets, changes must be made to fix our broken system. On this, we all now agree. And that is real progress. Thank you. But 10000016.docx 9  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 16th Legislative Day 2/15/2017 it’s not enough to just think anew, we must also act anew. For decades, our state passed unsustainable budgets, spent money we didn’t have, borrowed and taxed to chase the spending and drove job creators out of our state. Citizens in every community of Illinois know that we have been on the wrong track for years. The numbers speak for themselves. Since the year 2000, America has added more than 14 million jobs while Illinois has lost jobs. Our neighboring states of Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri have added on average more than 100 thousand jobs in that time period. They’ve been pulling ahead while we’ve been falling behind. Our unbalanced budgets, our crushing tax burdens, our restrictive regulations, they’ve held back the Illinois economy for decades. For years now, families in Illinois have been voting with their feet. In just the last six years, we’ve seen a migration loss of more than 540 thousand people. Think about that. They’re leaving for jobs, higher wages, and lower costs of living. If we had the right policies, if we’d made changes to fix our broken system, if we had just grown our economy at the national average since 2000, we’d have 650 thousand more jobs than we have in Illinois today. Think about that. Let me repeat that for emphasis. If Illinois were more competitive, if we had just grown Illinois’s economy like an average state, today, we would have 650 thousand more jobs here. Just as important for our budget discussions we're having right now, if we had grown at the national average since 2000, even keeping our actual historic spending and taxing in place, we would have run budget surpluses, we would not have any unpaid bill backlog now, and today we would have $8.5 billion more 10000016.docx 10  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 16th Legislative Day 2/15/2017 in cash to put into our schools, into our human services and to reduce our tax rates. Think about that. Think about it. We would have good jobs in every community. We would have employers competing to hire workers. Our households would have more income. And we could have the best funded schools in America. And let’s be clear, Illinois should never settle for being average. We are not average. We're the best. We should be one of the top ten fastest growing states in America. We have the best people. We have the best location. We have the best agriculture. We have the best transportation. We are the heart of America. We have every reason to thrive. We can do this together. It’s… it's why I ran for Governor, to deliver a better future for our children, to change the direction of our state, to put us back on the right path toward a growing economy, world-class schools in every community, not just some, every neighborhood and restored trust in government. It’s why we’ve been working for two years to pass a truly balanced budget, to create equal access to strong schools and good jobs. For two years now, we’ve been asking the General Assembly to help us unlock our state’s unfulfilled potential. Today, we finally all agree that economic reforms must be part of a balanced budget solution. That is great news. Now is the time to seize the moment, build on the progress made in recent weeks, and right our ship of state. Together, we can make Illinois more competitive and more compassionate. We can make the necessary changes to fix our broken system. Two years ago, our administration proposed a balanced budget. It contained more than $6 billion in cuts, spending only what the state could afford at current revenue. 10000016.docx 11  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 16th Legislative Day 2/15/2017 But the majority in the General Assembly simply ignored our proposal, didn’t discuss it, didn't debate it, didn't vote on it, just passed their own, your own, $4 billion out-of-balance budget. And so our current impasse began. Then we offered to work with Members of the General Assembly, all Members of the General Assembly, to find common ground on a mix of cuts, revenue increases, and reform. We convened bipartisan working groups, doing our best to find a way forward together, but the possibility of compromise fell victim to partisan divides. Last year, we proposed two paths to a balanced budget, two very different financial plans under which expenditures would not exceed available revenue. Our preferred option was once again to work together to reach consensus on a mix of spending cuts, revenue increases, and changes to grow our economy, which is the most important thing we've got to do. We offered more compromises. We took things off the table in hopes of getting an agreement. Our budget director convened a bipartisan working group to craft a balanced budget. I want to say thank you, personally, I want to say thank you, to the courageous and principled Members of the General Assembly, Democrats and Republicans, in both chambers, who worked together to find a grand bargain, get a balanced budget with changes. They, you, nearly reached an agreement last spring, but once again, the possibility of compromise fell victim to partisan divides. By the end of the last Legislative Session, the Majority in the General Assembly couldn’t agree on any kind of budget, balanced or not balanced. This isn’t about pointing fingers or assigning blame. We are where we are. It’s not about the past, it’s 10000016.docx 12  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 16th Legislative Day 2/15/2017 about how we move forward together. It’s not going to help us move forward together if right after this speech, Democrats run to the media claiming we’ve never proposed a balance to the budget. And it’s not going to help us move forward if Republicans run to the media to point out that the Democratic Legislature Majority never has passed a balanced budget. It's not going to help. People want to see us get something done. To get a balanced budget… to get a balanced budget that changes our broken system. To grow more jobs and better support our schools so they’re the best in America in every community. So today, we're here once again with our hand outstretched to Leaders and Members of the General Assembly. Between ongoing budget negotiations in the Senate and all of our Leaders acknowledging the need for change, there is good reason for optimism. I am deeply optimistic. Now is the time to take the next step and get the job done. Some people… some people argue we should just cut our way out of our budget problems. Others believe we should simply raise taxes and declare the budget crisis solved, but we can’t tax our way to prosperity. It's not possible. Nor can we just cut our way to a better future. We must grow our way to the future that we want. Growth is the solution. Growth means jobs. Growth means expanding revenues. Growth means the economy expands faster than government spending. Growth means a sustainable future where job creation surges and our schools are the envy of the world. Some people think spending cuts are too hard, that economic changes are too difficult. Just raise taxes and call it a day. Let’s be clear. We cannot tax our way to a long-term balanced budget. It won't happen. Illinois 10000016.docx 13  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 16th Legislative Day 2/15/2017 residents and job creators are already saddled with the highest property taxes in America and the fifth highest overall tax burden in the country. We’ve tried raising taxes to balance the budget before without making structural changes to control spending and grow the economy. It has never worked. Taxing our way to a balanced budget only increases the speed, the exodus of jobs and families leaving Illinois. This is an unacceptable option for any of us, for Members of either political Party. Now, I have said many times that I will consider new revenue, revenue increases, if we stand together to make the job-creating changes that we need. But structural changes to spending are absolutely essential to balance the budget and keep it balanced. Today, over 60 percent of the state’s general revenues, roughly $20 billion, are locked up by statute. No Governor can effectively reduce spending until we address automatic spending categories like pensions, Medicaid, and transfers out. Ultimately, it’s all about jobs. Our future depends on offering strong schools and vast job opportunities, thousands of new job opportunities across our state in every county, in every community. By becoming more competitive with our neighbors, by creating good jobs not only in Chicago, but in Rockford, Moline, Peoria, Decatur, Galesburg, Quincy, Carbondale, every community across our state. By giving our families and our job creators good reason to come and stay in Illinois. If we do those things, if we grow our economy, if we become more competitive, more attractive, Illinois will see immediate results. And I've talked to dozens of firms that want to come here. They would love to come here if we change our direction. 10000016.docx 14  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 16th Legislative Day 2/15/2017 Our state will be a destination for families and employers from across the country and around the world. Today we present to you with a balanced budget that shows what is possible if we all come together on a comprehensive approach on our finances and on our job creation, on our competitiveness. Our proposal for the coming fiscal year focuses on the future. It shows how Illinois can be more compassionate if we become more competitive. While proposing economic changes, it also focuses on the fabric of our society, investing in schools, public safety, criminal justice reform, and human services. We propose record level of funding for our schools. We supported our K-12 schools at an unprecedented level the last school year, and then we came back and did even more for this school year. Let’s begin to implement the recommendations of the School Funding Reform Commission to make sure every child gets a shot at the American dream, no matter where they live. Let’s increase our general state aid and funding to other programs that benefit all schools. Education is the cornerstone of our future and this investment will pay great dividends in the long run. We propose that for the first time since 2010, the state fully fund regular transportation costs for schools around the state enabling them to get kids to and from career and technical education programs. School districts shouldn’t have to scramble to find a way to pay for transportation costs. Our budget ends this proration once and for all. Our proposal increases funding for English learners and early childhood education. It maximizes important federal dollars that build technology infrastructure in our schools. When it comes to higher education, we understand the hardship 10000016.docx 15  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 16th Legislative Day 2/15/2017 being felt by students who rely on state assistance to go to college. That’s why we’re proposing a 10 percent increase to MAP Grant funding, so those students can focus on learning and not on their next tuition bill. Our budget prioritizes public safety and proposes funding for two Illinois State Police cadet classes, adding new Troopers to our law enforcement ranks. Those officers will allow us to send more patrols to the Chicago area, to the expressways to counter the violence that has spilled over on to the highways there. Today… today, we're very fortunate. We're joined by Illinois State Police Director Leo Schmitz, Captain Chris Campbell, and Lt. Freddie Outlaw of the Illinois State Police. Please join me in thanking them for their great service. They're the best State Police in America. Best police in America. We owe the wonderful police officers of Illinois every support, every confidence, the incredible public service, putting their safety on the line to keep our families safe. We recognize the growing danger of opioid abuse across our state. And we highlight the need for a comprehensive strategy, prevention, interdiction and treatment, education, law enforcement and human services, state, local and federal partnerships. This is a crisis and we need to confront it head-on before we lose more young lives. We look to build upon our recent accomplishments in criminal justice reform that we've done together on a bipartisan basis and thank you for that. We propose full funding for the Kewanee and Murphysboro Correctional Life Skills and Reentry Centers so that they can offer educational and job readiness courses to help better prepare offenders to leave custody, find jobs, 10000016.docx 16  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 16th Legislative Day 2/15/2017 live on their own, and get a second chance at life. We fully fund mental health facilities in Joliet and Elgin and provide the necessary support for residential treatment centers in Pontiac, Logan, and Dixon. We know the challenges facing human services. It's why our proposal increases support for child care and other programs that assist children, senior citizens, and our other most vulnerable residents. We continue to support our efforts to reduce children's exposure to lead in paint and drinking water and financially support those efforts. We recommend full funding for home visiting and early intervention programs. We propose a continued transformation of the Department of Children and Family Services by hiring additional employees to work solely on child protection and compliance monitoring of programs. And we look to strengthen services for the men and women who have put their lives on the line for our nation by delivering startup funding for a new Illinois Veterans' Home in Chicago. Our transportation network is one of Illinois’s greatest assets, and it is a primary reason why job creators choose to make our state home. This year we propose increasing the road program at the Illinois Department of Transportation by $200 million so that we can continue to be a leader in moving people and products throughout America and reinforce the message that Illinois is a great place to invest and expand. At the same time, we look to fund long-overdue maintenance and repairs at state facilities and invest in our technology transformation to ensure that State Government becomes more efficient, responsive, and transparent for the people we serve. Our spending proposals are significant, but if we came 10000016.docx 17  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 16th Legislative Day 2/15/2017 together under our proposal, if we came together on a grand bargain together on a bipartisan basis, we’d actually spend $3 billion less every year than government is currently spending. In order to achieve those results, we propose a number of changes inside State Government to improve services and save taxpayer money. Pension reforms, in addition to President Cullerton’s consideration model, can save us a billion dollars right off the bat. A new hybrid pension Tier III plan could give new employees more options while saving the state money. If we do nothing, if we… we can expect our pension costs will grow by more than $1 billion in just this next year alone. Those payments put an unsustainable strain not only on our pension systems, but our state’s ability to pay for our schools and our critical human services. We must act, and time is of the essence. We will continue to pursue improvements in our state employee contracts, to make reasonable changes like moving state employees from a 37 and a half hour to a 40-hour work week before overtime kicks in. And we’ll base employee pay on merit not just seniority. We have successfully negotiated contracts with similar parameters with 20 labor unions in State Government and will continue to seek these commonsense changes throughout our State Government. We must address the accelerating cost of state employee and retiree health insurance. It's a big problem. Most Illinois families have seen their health insurance premiums skyrocket over the years. Business owners across Illinois and around the country are forced to make hard decisions to manage soaring health care costs. So, imagine what Illinois families think when they hear our state 10000016.docx 18  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 16th Legislative Day 2/15/2017 employees get 'Cadillac' or 'platinum' coverage but barely pay more than bronze rates for it. We cannot continue to ask taxpayers to pay more to subsidize state employee health care, when they’re seeing their own premiums go up and coverage go down. Our state employees should have good health care options just like everyone else and it is reasonable that they pay for those options in line with everyone else with the tax- paying families across Illinois. Bringing the state employee health insurance program more in line with the private sector would save our state more than half a billion dollars. There are other opportunities for budget savings. We need to cut the red tape in how the state buys goods and services. It’s time to implement best practices and take advantage of cooperative purchasing opportunities to ensure taxpayers get the biggest bang for their buck. Procurement reform could save us hundreds of millions of dollars next year alone. Together, we can move forward… we must move forward with selling the James R. Thompson Center. The JRTC occupies an entire city block of prime real estate in the Chicago Loop. And for years, the state has failed to properly maintain the building. We now face deferred maintenance costs in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Everyone in the state would benefit from the sale. The City of Chicago would gain major new property tax revenue and jobs… thousands of jobs that come from a massive new development. The state could see a net gain of over $200 million from the sale of the property, helping us close the budget deficit in the next fiscal year. Every day, we’re implementing efficiencies in education, criminal justice, health and human service programs and 10000016.docx 19  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 16th Legislative Day 2/15/2017 information technology that improve outcomes and save us money. These savings are significant. These efficiencies will make a difference. But nothing, I repeat, nothing is more important than creating more jobs, more good-paying careers in the State of Illinois. We’ve made our top priority clear from the very beginning, driving real change to move the needle on job creation in our state. The only way to keep budgets balanced in the future is to ensure economic growth outpaces growth in government spending. Together, let’s look at each regulation that we have, at every law we pass, and ask ourselves a simple question, how does this impact job creators? Is the benefit of this rule worth the cost in lost jobs? That’s the essential question that can guide our decisions, here in this chamber in our government, every day. Job creators and relocation firms tell us that rooting out fraud and abuse from the workers' compensation system and getting our highest in the country property taxes under control are two of the most important ways to make Illinois more competitive, more attractive for job creators. Very high workers’ comp insurance costs in the private sector continue to drive businesses out of our state, and in the public sector in government, high workers' comp costs contribute to higher property taxes. Changes are necessary to attract employers, create new jobs and save taxpayers money. We will never stop working to get term limits and redistricting on the ballot in Illinois. To send a message to job creators across the country that our state is doing things differently than we have in the past. These changes are necessary to producing long-term balanced budgets and long-term financial stability. They are 10000016.docx 20  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 16th Legislative Day 2/15/2017 the items that can ensure Illinois not only survives, but thrives for generations to come. As we’ve said many times, there is no one single bullet, no one single 'must have' for our administration. But for the future of our state, change must be real not just a newspaper headline. Senate President Cullerton, Leader Radogno, and Senate lawmakers have shown tremendous leadership in bringing all parties together to find common ground on a combination of spending cuts, new revenue and changes that will create jobs and ensure long- term balanced budgets. Thank you, thank you for that. Standing here three weeks ago, I encouraged them, I encouraged you, to keep working, to never give up and you've done just that. The people of Illinois owe you a debt of gratitude for your persistence to try to get a compromise done. We’ve made it a point of letting the Senate move forward, trying not to disrupt the momentum, disrupt the process, but I’d like to take a few minutes now, today, to help guide the negotiations to a place where Democrats and Republicans hopefully can reach agreement very soon. and I can affirm my support for the package. First and foremost, the final result must be a good deal for taxpayers and job creators. A grand bargain that fully, truly balances the budget once and for all and really moves the needle when it comes to job creation. A good deal for taxpayers lays the foundation for balanced budgets for years to come. The budget must truly balance by the end of fiscal year 2018 and it must balance in a way that doesn’t send us right back into deficit a few years from now. That means a hard cap on spending that for… a real cap on spending that forces State Government to live within its means, balance 10000016.docx 21  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 16th Legislative Day 2/15/2017 the budget and pay off the state’s debt. Spending reductions in the budget need to be real not smoke and mirrors. Long- term pension reform needs to maximize savings in all our pension systems not just a few. As for revenue, we’ve always said that we’d consider new revenue if it comes with changes that create jobs and grow the economy. The current Senate proposal calls for a permanent increase in the income tax but offers only a temporary property tax freeze in exchange. That’s just not fair to hard-working taxpayers across the State of Illinois. We need a permanent property tax freeze here, just like the one the House passed last month. Over time, as our economy grows and revenues expand, any increase in the income tax… Oop, just lost my words there. We got a paper copy? Thanks. Wow, I don't have my reading glasses for this, thank you. I'm a little old for this type. I think… I think we're cranking down to it… he's coming back. Anybody got a good story? I'm not a good singer, so I won't try that. I would clear out the chamber really fast if I tried that. Speaker said it's the Russians. There you… you've gone too far, I think. Okay. All right, recess is over. As for revenue, we've always said that we'd consider revenue if it comes with changes that create jobs and grow the economy. The current Senate proposal calls for a permanent increase for the income tax but a temporary property tax freeze. That's not fair, not a reasonable thing to do. We need a permanent property tax freeze in Illinois, just like the one the House passed last month. Over time, as our economy grows and revenues expand, any increase in the income tax could be stepped down, dedicating future surpluses to taxpayers not more government 10000016.docx 22  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 16th Legislative Day 2/15/2017 spending. The current Senate proposal would expand the state’s sales tax to cover everyday services and raise taxes on food and drugs. We’re open to a broader sales tax base to mirror neighboring states like Wisconsin, but let’s make sure it’s best for the people of Illinois not for the lobbyists here in Springfield. We cannot raise taxes on people’s groceries and medicine, just… just as we cannot tax people’s retirement income. We… we can find a way to balance the budget without hurting low-income families and fixed-income seniors. We must all support raising the Earned Income Tax Credit to help low-income families. And we must support making the Research and Development Tax Credit permanent to encourage innovation and job creation in Illinois. Most importantly, a good deal for taxpayers comes with economic and regulatory changes that are significant enough for job creators to get excited about the future of Illinois. Term limits get job creators excited. Passing term limits… you should ask them, I have… passing term limits is one of the most important things we can do to send a positive recruiting message to job creators. It’s a new day in Illinois, we’ve turned the corner. Workers' comp changes get job creators excited. We must get our workers' comp… we must get our workers' compensation costs in line with other states. We’re asking for a workers' compensation system that’s like Massachusetts. Massachusetts is a blue state with a strong middle class and it’s growing. And they've changed their workers' comp so they're now average in the country for cost. This is doable, Ladies and Gentlemen, and it's reasonable and it protects employees and employers. Now, these parameters 10000016.docx 23  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 16th Legislative Day 2/15/2017 aren’t controversial or they sure shouldn’t be, they’re right in line with what Democrats and Republicans have said they agree with. And while the Senate package is still evolving, it wouldn’t be that hard to reach a good deal for taxpayers. I firmly believe that we can come to agreement on these issues. And I pledge to you that I will sign that good deal for taxpayers the minute it arrives at my desk. This is now a question of political will. I know I’m willing; I hope you are too. As we discussed last month, Illinois faces incredible challenges, but those challenges also provide unprecedented opportunity for a better future. We are at a crossroads. If we work together and make the right decisions now, the potential of our state is unlimited. Let’s put Illinois back on the road to prosperity. Let’s do what we were sent here to do. Thank you. God bless you. Thank you for your public service. God bless our great State of Illinois and may God continue to bless the United States of America. Thank you."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move that the Joint Session do now arise."

"House Perfunctory Session will come into order. Introduction of Resolutions. House Resolution 121, offered by Representative Lang. House Resolution 122, offered by Representative Greenwood. House Resolution 123, offered by Representative Moeller. House Resolution 124, offered by Representative Currie. House Resolution 126, offered by Representative Evans. House Resolution 127, offered by Representative Mayfield. House Resolution 128, offered by Representative Harper. House Resolution 130, offered by Representative Feigenholtz. House Resolution 131, offered by Representative Feigenholtz. House Resolution 132, offered by Representative Harper. House Resolution 133, offered by Representative Andersson. House Resolution 135, offered by Representative Phelps. House Resolution 139, offered by Representative Ives. House Resolution 140, offered by Representative Mussman. House Resolution 142, offered by Representative Morrison. House Joint Resolution 26, offered by Representative Winger. House Joint Resolution 27, offered by Representative Andrade. These are referred to the Rules Committee. There being no further business, the House Perfunctory Session will stand adjourned." 10000016.docx 26