Illinois House Floor Debate — July 6, 2017

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Please let the record reflect that Representatives Ives, Wehrli, Pritchard, Sauer, and Winger are excused."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do have a Page today and I wanted to welcome him; it's my district office intern, Jason Zyck, from Downers Grove. He is going to be sophomore at Indiana University and would want to thank him for coming down to visit us in Springfield. Let's welcome him today."

"Mr. Speaker, to the Motion. This is a very important day for the State of Illinois. We're going to decide, are we going to continue the status quo or are we going to change. Forty-seven percent of the people in a poll before the crisis say I wouldn’t leave the State of Illinois. One Hundred and fifteen thousand people left, and I think a lot of that has to do with high taxes and high property taxes in this state. The thing that really interests me is that we have a whole bunch of rating agency experts here in the chamber, it seems. People believe that they know what's going to happen and it's very simple. The rating agencies look at one thing: the ability to pay back the debt. They don’t care if you raise taxes. They don’t care if you cut spending. In fact, they would actually prefer though you cut spending because there's more certainty. We see what's happened in states like Connecticut when you raise taxes, you actually reduce the economic output of those states, and you ultimately bring about less revenue. And what we're seeing now is that if we pass this tax increase, Moody's is telling us that were going to junk. They're giving us a road map that this state is going to junk, because this budget is full of blue smokes and mirrors, and this budget is not going to accomplish the 10000075.docx 3  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 75th Legislative Day 7/6/2017 fundamental reform. It's going to change pensions. It's not going to change Medicaid. What we do know for sure is that this budget is going to hurt people. We've all heard from our constituents. They're wondering how they're going to pay their high property taxes. They're wondering how they are going to pay their living expenses because we're raising their income tax rate by 32 percent. And what do we get? Nothing. Nothing. We get nothing but more taxes, more of the status quo. There's an alternative. We could stay here and we could do our job. We could adopt pro-growth economic policies. We could make Illinois a state that people want to stay in. So, I ask everyone to please do the right thing. Stand up for the taxpayers of this state and vote 'no' for this tax increase."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Motion. I appreciate the previous speaker's comments, especially the comment that this is historic day for the state. I believe it’s a historic day because it’s a day where we decide the fate of our state. Do we want to save it or do we want to let it go into meltdown? I think that is sincerely the options that we faced. Now, since about… I lost track of the days since Sunday, I think, when we took the original vote. It's been kind of brutal for me. Hate mail, death threats, my personal cell phone being giving out, it's been… been tough. But you know what I reflected on, what I thought about? Was the last two and a half years of people suffering because we can't get pass impasse. So, if I have to take a couple days of that, I will be happy to do so because I'm thinking about those people. The people who are most needy, who are most vulnerable, the 10000075.docx 4  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 75th Legislative Day 7/6/2017 autism funding, the members of the mental health community, the developmentally disabled, the at-risk youth, our higher education system, our education system. They have been suffering far longer and far worse than I ever have. So, if I have to take those swings and arrows for a while to help them, I gladly will. Now, what you've heard today, of course, is that… or yesterday, is that Moody's is indicate that they might downgrade us. They have not indicated that they will. They have indicated that they might. And two of the things that they said would be important in that are 1) our ability to pay our back-bills. Representative Harris, Greg Harris, went through that process and explained that that is a part of the Bill. When they review it in more detail, I'm confident they will see that. And there's also money to improve our pensions there. Are we done? No, we're not done, but we're moving in the right direction. But the most interesting thing I learned from the Moody's report was the characterization that their concern was the lack of bipartisan support in this Capitol. Who knew that the old kindergarten check box of 'plays well with each other' would affect our bond rating? And that’s the reality, Ladies and Gentlemen, the lack of bipartisanship, the bitter infighting that we've been experiencing for two and a half years. This impasse has affected our bond rating like nothing before. So, let me tell you, I've said it before, I'll say it again, impasse politics do not work. They do not work for the State of Illinois. They have never worked. So, Mr. Speaker, Governor, I implore you. We need to work together to get this done and we have to do that now. Now, we have a budget in front of us and don’t 10000075.docx 5  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 75th Legislative Day 7/6/2017 forget what happens if we don’t pass it. It's not just the certainty of the bond downgrade, because that’s what's going to happen if you vote 'no'. We're also out of money. The Comptrollers have told of us we're out of cash. Our state employees are going to get laid off, we're going to have disaccreditation of our universities, our bonds are going to default. We are going into freefall if we don’t do this. So, for those of you who say there's a better option, great. Do you have the votes? You do not have the votes. Our options are this or financial meltdown. So, my 'ask' is that we vote for this, that we give our state a chance, and that we continue to work on the reforms. I believe that this side is ready to work, and I also believe that your side is ready to work to continue to develop those reforms to make the state great. So in the end, I want to start where I was about a week ago which is I asked for all of us, together, to save this state. But more importantly, we have to save it… save it together because now everyone has told us that’s the only way it's going to get done. Thank you very much."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Motion. This is a historic day here in this state and I've, like you, talked to a lot of constituents lately and what they are demanding is reforms. They've had enough. It's true that if you compare the income tax rates in states around us, if you look at just that silo, sure, you can say that Illinois's flat rate will still be competitive. But that’s not the only thing that our constituents are looking at. That’s not the only thing that businesses look at. When you look at a high property tax and 10000075.docx 6  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 75th Legislative Day 7/6/2017 that… without reforms will just continue to climb. My district is in Cook County. For many of you, you live in your… constituents are in Cook County. It's just more and more and more. And while certainly we do need a budget and, yes, people do want predictability, but you know what they're getting? They're getting another predictable outcome. When the State of Illinois and all of our local governments run out of money, what do they do? Go back to the well, go back to the taxpayers, squeeze a little more, squeeze a little harder, and we all know it. We're squeezing so hard, we're squeezing them out. We're reducing our base of taxpayers, which means if this passes, we go right back to them again. Who knows: a month from now, six months from now, a year from now. It's not going to solve our problems unless we address the fundamental reforms. In the Wall Street Journal this morning, there was a great commentary. America once led the world on tax reform and it concludes this way: lower tax rates do not guarantee economic growth, but they help. So, we're doing the opposite and it will hurt. We're taking more money out of the private economy and allowing the public sector to grow. We cannot have a healthy state, we can't even have healthy government if you're squeezing out the entities that actually provide the tax revenue. We can thrive again as a state, but we have to do things differently. This is the wrong path. I urge you to vote 'no'."

"Thank you, Speaker. To the Motion. We've had a budget impasse now for over two years, and I thought since we're looking at a set of probably three votes that together make 10000075.docx 7  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 75th Legislative Day 7/6/2017 up the package for the 2018 budget before us, that's worth putting in context what those numbers are and asks two questions. Is it an appropriate fair budget for where we should be today? And does it balance based on what it means to have a balanced budget? I'm going to take up the second one first because so often we hear about how we failed to balance our budget year after year. And we have certainly put forth some unbalanced budgets over the years, admittedly so, by the times they were done. But there have also been balanced budgets by what it means to be a budget. A budget is a prospective document, not a retrospective document. So, if at the end of the day when you do your audit report, it says, it didn’t line up, yes, it wasn’t balanced, but none of us have they kind of crystal ball to know that in advance. So, we have to ask is it balanced based on what is going forward for 2018. And yes, in the appropriate… appropriation Bill SB6 that we may see an Override Motion for as well, in that Bill, there are appropriations appropriate to fiscal 2017, over a billion dollars of those. Those are for services that have been rendered and, yes, they will be added to the stack of unpaid bills like so many of the other things that we have accumulated, because we are accumulating at a rate of around $39 billion over the last year. Due to a combination of what we have to spend, court orders, constitutionally required payments, they add up. Yet we've… we're taking in, I would of thought about 32 billion, but we just saw a report from COGFA today that number's probably even less in terms of what we took in. That’s a big gap. So, now let me turn to the budget before us for 2018. In that document, to try and get a handle 10000075.docx 8  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 75th Legislative Day 7/6/2017 on it back in April, I spent my Easter recess trying to pour through some spread sheets with the help of our very expert staff on this side, using numbers from COGFA, the group that we rely on to put together numbers, using numbers from the Governor's Office of Management and Budget. I went through and looked at the different spending plans that had been out there, and what I found was that where we probably should be, if I took the last time the four caucuses came together on agreement, which was in May of 2012, and project that forward, the number you get is $36.3 billion for fiscal '18. What we have here is 36.1 billion, which is certainly… it's actually under the number I would've predicted, but it's certainly very close to that. And more importantly is well below the 39 billion we are spending at. Furthermore, the revenue, the Motion we are considering at this point, exceeds that budget by a few hundred million dollars, and that’s important because we need to be addressing the 15-plus billion dollars of back bills we have accumulated. And having some additional revenue is necessary, because there's otherwise all we would do is we'd just manage the cash flow but do nothing for the back bills. We have to have that extra revenue. It's the only way to start moving down on the back bills as well. And between what we have in the bimp Bill, what we have in the revenue Bill, the pieces are there. Are they as much as I would like to see things payed down? No. But they're what we have that brings 2018 into balance. With my last little bit of my time, let me talk about reforms because I would certainly agree there aren’t as many reforms out here right now as I would like to see. Things like works compensation. Things like the 10000075.docx 9  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 75th Legislative Day 7/6/2017 property taxes. We need to address those. But that doesn’t diminish some of the reforms that we have worked on. Parts dealing with procurement, some of the local government work that has passed and moved forward. There are real reforms that have gone forward and I certainly hope that everyone in this chamber will continue working and lets wrap up based on a lot of good negotiation that has gone forward and get those other pieces done as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, there's a lot of talk of this Moody's and what they wrote and they just don’t sound very impressed with what we did here. And unfortunately, we passed a massive tax hike and we passed this budget. And if you look at that letter, it still appears that a credit downgrade is looming over our great state. This budget is junk. Let me… let me read a quick note from someone in King County. And he… he says, I'm already being forced to sell my house that I so desperately want to keep. I already canceled phone and TV service to cover these past increases. Maybe they propose I stop volunteering for boy scouts and other charities so I can pick up a second job. I'd love to know what they think. That’s the reality that people are thinking. And that person, like me, thinks that this budget is junk. Illinois currently has unfunded pension liability of over $100 billion. This budget, these massive tax hikes, don’t address that. Ten years ago, Governor Blagojevich shorted our pensions. This budget doesn’t address that. Twenty years ago, Governor Edgar refinanced our pensions, he called it the 'ramp'. Today, our pension payments balloon every year, after 10000075.docx 12  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 75th Legislative Day 7/6/2017 year, after year. This budget doesn’t address that. Ladies and Gentlemen, this budget is junk. I urge a 'no' vote so we can get back to work and work on the real compromise that had been started. A few days ago negotiations stopped, I call for the continuation of that negotiation, because I believe we're close. And I think that red and blue can be purple, and we could work something out. And we don’t have to pass this along to the tax payers of the state, and we can actually solve our problems. Thank you very much."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Bill. I've been sitting here listening to a lot of talk and I wasn’t going to speak, but there's a couple of things I wanted to point out. First of all, if I decided to press my button to override the Governor, doesn’t make me any less of a conservative Republican than the rest of the people that stand in here. It makes a person decide he has to vote for his district, he has to think about all the people in his district to best of his ability. Now, whatever way I decide to go, I'll have to live with and I certainly am tortured by it. I guarantee you that. My district happens to border Indiana which is a very competitive business district, and I… I hate to see more businesses run to Indiana. I'm every bit just as strong for business reforms and I'd like to see us continue to work as everybody speaks to those business reforms. But I feel like we're in a juncture. Two in half years into it, and 15 or 20 billion dollars of unpaid bills that maybe at this particular point in time we're at a spot where we need to, you know, stop reform and take some analysis of exactly where we're at. 10000075.docx 13  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 75th Legislative Day 7/6/2017 I have a secretary that works for me and I was looking at her income. She makes $34,743 a year. Her actual income tax rate for the State of Illinois is 2.7. And you ask why and how could she can get 2.7 when it's actually 3.7 out of 5 in the State of Illinois. But with deductions that she currently has, it ends up she pays 2.7 percent. So, I filled out her tax reform underneath this new 4.95 percent and tried to figure out exactly where would her tax rate be. And the reality of it is, she's going to raise it by .0086 percent less than 1 percent of the 1.25. So, it's less than the 32 percent based on the deduction that she'll be able to take as a single mother of two children and so on and so forth. So, you know, we can spin it anyway we want to, it's going to cost her $4… 5 dollars and 70-some cents more a week, and I don’t like her having to pay $5.74 a week and… what we’re trying to work with my employees to see if we can't do something better for them. And I think that’s what we're all going to have to try to do. But the reality of the spin is, is if it's some huge, massive, you know, crazy going to drive people under the ground, I think is a little bit hysterical and maybe we should calm down take a look at it. I think and I'm hoping, and that’s where the prayer comes in that maybe after this we can really, truly work on some reforms for businesses. Because I think both sides understand, without bringing in new people and increasing new jobs, this state is going to go in a direction that none of us really want. So, I implore all of us to work towards that end. The politicalness has to come to a stop. Transparency needs to be 10000075.docx 14  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 75th Legislative Day 7/6/2017 more open. And… I wish us all the best when we get through all this. Thank you."

"Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. To the Bill. Ladies and Gentlemen of the House, many of you have been here for a lengthy period of time, such as myself, and you've seen a lot of things that caused you to stress in a process that, I think we would all agree upon, I needs a major overhaul. But I think for me the focus… my vote today is going to be that I cannot be convinced. I cannot be convinced that the priorities need to be set in this particular Bill when it comes to our spending. Our priorities of public education, public infrastructure, public safety, and the most vulnerable. I'm not convinced that those dollars are going to go to those priorities in this budget. If you look at it, there's so many other places where dollars are going to go that simply we have no business funding. We've lost sight of our priorities, thus, I will not be in favor of this Bill today. I will not vote to override. Thank you."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Motion. As I've debated in my mind how to cast my vote on this override, and I have debated. I have struggled over the last several weeks with this. I've heard from many friends and advocates on both sides of today's vote, but it’s the stories I've heard from the citizens of the 87th District, combined with my own family's story, that underpinned my vote today. Over two centuries ago my ancestors came to the Illinois territory for economic 10000075.docx 17  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 75th Legislative Day 7/6/2017 opportunity. Today, my siblings have moved from this state because of our economic decline. On September 17, 1818, almost 199 years ago, a gentleman named Lewis Barker was elected the first State Senator from Pope County. Barker served in the first four Illinois General Assemblies helping to create the initial laws of our then brand new state. Senator Barker was my 4th great-grandfather. Barker's lineage runs through the years to me because of my mother Harriet, and gives me the great privilege of bridging the 1st and 100th General Assemblies. My mother was born in Centralia, raised in the small Marshall County town of Lacon, attended the University of Illinois and settled in Peoria to raise her seven children. My parents' business was a small manufacturing company that was forced out of business under the weight of the 1980's Peoria recession. It was Harriet, actually, who is 51 percent owner of that business. My parents' seven children, with our deep roots in the very foundation of this state, tell the current story of Illinois. My sister, Kathy, raised in Peoria, educated at the University of Illinois, who worked for the City of Peoria and was an elected member of the Peoria Park District Board, has lived in Olympia, Washington, a state with no income tax, for the past 21 years, where she's now retired. My brother, Pat, raised in Peoria, who began his professional career working for my parents business, and was the one most likely to take over the company before it was driven out of business, has lived for many years Kingston, Tennessee, a state with no tax on wages, where he is now retired. My brother, Jim, raised in Peoria, educated at Western Illinois University and the University of Illinois, 10000075.docx 18  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 75th Legislative Day 7/6/2017 has not lived in Illinois most of his adult life and currently resides in Austin, Texas, a state with no income tax, where he is now retired. My brother, Mike, raised in Peoria, a tremendous basketball player who's a stand out, careers for both Lincoln College and Eureka College, now makes his home in Milton, Wisconsin. My brother Tom, raised in Peoria and educated like me at Eastern Illinois University, lives in Suwanee, Georgia. His two sons, my nephews, have rarely set foot in the state of both their parents. The reason my siblings have left, that’s pretty easy. Economic opportunities and states with lower overall tax burdens than Illinois. But as my sister, Sue, as my only sibling who remains in our once proud state, she lives in the district of Mr. Wehrli. When I hear Grant talk about the enormous burden of property taxes in the 41st district, I know all too well what he means. My sister and brother-in-law will pay almost $14 thousand this year in property taxes, $14 thousand. My sister has been very keen of following the happenings here since I've been in the House. She's by no means a right wing ideologue. She has no extreme right wing agenda. In fact, she's probably the most ardent anti-Trumper that I know. But as I've been updating her during this Special Session, including today, she's growing increasingly frustrated. After informing her of House passage of these Bills a few days ago, she told me that maybe, just maybe, it's finally time for them to move out of state. My last sibling in Illinois. And today, I see President Cullerton's remarks that more taxes will be needed after approval of this Bill. What am I supposed to tell my sister? Why do I tell you the history of my 10000075.docx 19  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 75th Legislative Day 7/6/2017 family? Because it is the story of Illinois up to this very moment. It is a story similar to many I hear throughout the 87th District of families exiting our state for greener pastures. The Representative from Arlington Heights, my friend that sits in front of me, gave a very impassioned defense of this Bill the other day. I have a great deal of respect for him, and I agree with the point he made. I, too, was not sent to the Illinois House of Representatives to oversee the destruction of this great state. But my family's history is example A of the need not for incremental change in our state, but for monumental change in our state. Ladies and Gentlemen, raising the taxes of our friends and neighbors by 32 percent without making monumental change to the way our state functions does not solve our problems. It only continues them. Today, I stand facing the future of our state with fear that my family's over two century legacy in the lane of our ancestors, a legacy that crosses the state from the Ohio to the Fox, from the Mississippi to the Wabash…"

"…spans every single day that Illinois had been a part of our union. Today, I'm afraid that legacy will be snuffed out in the near future. Today, an override of these pieces of legislation will only add to the sins of General Assemblies over the past half century. We continue to pass laws that drive people from our state. And with this override, we will contribute to my family's exodus from Illinois. I cannot in good conscious support that direction. And that is why I'll be 'no'."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Motion. As many of you know, I do not usually speak on any of the Bills that come before us, whether it be for or against, but I feel strongly that I need to make sure that the people back home have their voices heard. If we can take inventory, we can talk and prove to everyone back home exactly what we have been lacking in this chamber. We’ve lacked doing our jobs. We have lacked meeting. We've canceled Session days. We have not been here near enough as what we should be to do the right job. I'm hearing from everybody back home, do what you need to do but do not raise my taxes. Maybe if we met, we could of done some priority spending. Maybe we could of prioritized the elderly, the children, and the disable. Maybe we could of prioritized in a budget who gets what first. But no, the urgency wasn’t there. We met sometimes for an hour, negotiation were going on. I say, BS. They were not. We have a job that we're supposed to do. We're honored enough to stand and sit in this chamber to make sure that all voices are heard, that taxpayers who pay for all this have not been heard. The will of the people want to make sure that our vulnerable are taken care of, but they want them to be taken care of first. I hope that everybody back home and everybody across this state will rise up, let everyone in this chamber know exactly how they feel after this vote is taken. I hope that they let us know that they want us to prioritize this, they want us to repeal this after we do that prioritization. Ladies and Gentlemen, there are good people on both sides of this aisle. I will not berate you for how you vote. But for God sakes, we've got to prioritize. We've got to make sure that we do our jobs in 10000075.docx 21  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 75th Legislative Day 7/6/2017 committee. As an Appropriations' Chair, we use to have working groups. We don’t have those working groups meet any longer. What the hell are we doing? We wait. We make sure that there's a manufactured crisis because we didn’t do what we were supposed to earlier. How come we couldn’t of come to this resolution a year ago? Because we didn’t want to, we didn’t meet, we canceled days, we didn’t have our working groups, and now were punishing the people that have to pay for it all. Ladies and Gentlemen, you know that I will, along with a lot of others here on this side of the aisle and on that side of the aisle, will work together to find the compromise. Unfortunately, we didn’t start early enough. So, Ladies and Gentlemen back home, please rise up, make sure you hold us accountable, and make sure your voices are heard."

"Good afternoon. To the Motion. Ladies and Gentlemen of the Illinois House of Representatives and for all Illinoisans who are watching us today and listening in, is this the best that we can achieve? Is this the best that we can deliver? Is this the best we can accomplish for the some 13 million residents of the State of Illinois? We've heard about the different responsibilities and the obligations of this state. Yes, I understand that, but it should not always be predicated upon more taxpayer sacrifices. These votes will be over soon and I will not be supporting the Override Motions today. I do 10000075.docx 24  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 75th Legislative Day 7/6/2017 ask this question. Does today's votes reflect the desires of our citizens on how we spend their money? Yes, their money. The money from their hard work and sweat. But no matter the outcome of today's votes, we all know that our work is not done. Our legacy must not be determined on today's action. My desire is that it will be determined on what we must do together as a Body in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead."

"Thank you, Speaker. House Bill 1955 is the trailer Bill for Senate Bill 1417, which was the update for the e-waste Act. At that time, we mentioned that we knew there would have to be a trailer so that there would be the previsions to make sure that we EPA could implement it and other concerns by industry were addressed. After negotiations, this Motion will allow us to pass a Bill that meets and is agreed by all the parties. I'd be happy to answer any other questions." 10000075.docx 28  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 75th Legislative Day 7/6/2017