Illinois House Floor Debate — January 8, 2019

"Will the Sponsor yield?"

"Representative, I was under the impression the tollways, once they are paid off, the tolls were supposed to go away. What is the date that the tolls will go away?" Mitchell, C.: "Representative, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"So, you know, rumor has it that in a promise back in the 50's and 60's, that once the roads are paid for, the tolls would come down." Mitchell, C.: "No. Representative, I can't speak to your age. I can say that I was not around at that time. So, I can't… I would be conjecturing. I can't speak to that."

"Okay. Well, to the Bill. I think we owe the taxpayers and the motorists of Illinois a promise on this one. You know, rumor has it that the tolls were supposed to go away when the road were paid off. We've refinanced the bonds, extended the bonds, raised tolls, and now we have some of the most excessive tolls in the State of Illinois. Personally, I spent $533 on tolls last year and I try to avoid the tollway when I can. I would love… and you know what, I have a Bill sitting in Rules Committee right now that would require payments from the bonds to be paid in a priority and that once the bonds 10000153.docx 5  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 1/8/2019 are paid off, the tolls would go away. So, if you want my vote on this Resolution, let's actually fix the tollway, let's remove this burdensome tax on motorists in Northern Illinois and… and move forward with a plan to actually get rid of the tolls. So, if you want my support on this, let's amend it and take down the tolls."

"Will the Sponsor yield?"

"First, I would like to know, what actually is the conflict of interest that’s been alleged that necessitates the legislation today?" Mitchell, C.: "Well, thank you for your question. Oh, there you are. I found you, Representative. So, I would say there are a couple. So, there was an award… and this has been documented by the Daily Herald, by Crain's Chicago Business and others… of a… awarding of about $150 million, 10-year contract to firms that have links to three members of the board. There have been a million dollars in contracts to three outside PR firms, two of which have political connections, despite them having a very large communications department already. There have been a series of no-bid contracts, as well, Representative. I could sort of run down continued examples, but those are sort of three off the top of my head."

"Right. But I'm just trying to understand who… who exactly on the board has the conflicts of interest?" Mitchell, C.: "So again, Representative, this has been well documented in the press. I don't want to sort of, you know, get into name calling and litigating this here.”

"Well, it… and let me explain the reason why it's important to me, is the reason why it's important to me is because my understanding is that the Governor has yet… Governor-Elect has yet to ask any of the members of the Tollway Board for their resignations. My understanding is that some have even offered to give the Governor their resignations. So, I'm questioning why we need to actually pass new legislation, if in fact, the very people who are the 10000153.docx 8  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 1/8/2019 source of the conflict of interest are willing to give their resignations?" Mitchell, C.: "Representative, I'm not aware of those offers, so I can’t speak to that."

"Right. But don't we need to know whether that’s true or not before we vote on it?" Mitchell, C.: "I don't think we do, Representative. This Bill has the force of law and I think that… we've got bipartisan support for it. As you know, your Leader on that side has announced his support for the measure because people understand that we need to make sure we send a message that we are going to be ethical and that this agency is going to live up to high standards. That's what we're doing here today."

"Well, if we're going to be asking agencies to live up to high standards, and this is a methodology by doing that, why aren't we applying it to all of the other agencies?" Mitchell, C.: "Because… Representative, a couple things. First of all, this is an agency that is unique. It lets billions of dollars in roadway contracts every single year. When those contract are, for any reason, not potentially being led in the best interest of the people, this is a different agency in terms of the level of… basically, the stakes that are at issue here. And so, that’s why we believe this agency, especially given how well documented it's been, is a place to send a message that this is not how the new Governor-Elect's government is going to operate."

"Alright. Well for… I would actually disagree with that, in that there's lots of agencies that distribute a bunch of 10000153.docx 9  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 1/8/2019 money. But since you did bring up the road construction work, one of the concerns that I have is that because you're calling for this to happen immediately, you're also calling for an appointment not to occur until perhaps February… and who knows when we actually manage to actually approve those appointments. What you're now doing is you're going to cost the State of Illinois a considerable amount of money because the road contracts that are ready for bid to go out for this spring and summer season are now going to have to be inevitably delayed until March, April, May, June, which means that our construction bidders are not going to be able to give us optimal pricing. We're going to have to pay for rushed pricing. It's going to cost more. So, have you even done the budget analysis of what this is going to do?" Mitchell, C.: "Representative, there's… We haven't done the analysis because the way you have presented it simply isn't true. The Governor can appoint acting directors immediately, including a chairperson who can sign for the authority. I believe that's going to be the intention of the Governor- Elect to do this expeditiously. There will still be staff in place that are going to be making sure that projects are continuing at pace. So, respectfully, that's just not a true characterization of what would happen here."

"Well, no. My understanding is, in fact, is that there are bids that are ready to go and the board is ready to approve them, but because of all of this going on with the legislation, they actually are not sending them out to finalize…" 10000153.docx 10  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 1/8/2019 Mitchell, C.: "Based on… so again, Representative, this speaks to the problem. Approve them based on what? Based on the best interest of the public? Based on the best pricing? We don't know that. And based on the directly revealed behavior of this board, we can't be sure that's true. Which is why we need to take this step, get a new acting board in place, and make sure that going forward there are higher ethical standards for this board.”

“Right.” Mitchell, C.: “That's what this legislation does."

"Now, it is the competitive process and that's the whole point, is that if what you're suggesting is that you're going to restart the competitive process, practical realities being what they are, you will run out of time in order to get these contracts out in a timely manner. Which means that we're to potentially have a whole summer's worth of construction that will be more expensive or…" Mitchell, C.: "Represent… Representative, I'm… I… this is our first time having a debate, so I… I'm sorry. What you're saying is just not true. There is no need to restart anything, right? There is going to be an acting board in place rather soon. There is staff to continue the day to day operations of the Toll Board. The talking points are good, but they're just not accurate."

"No… I'm sorry, your response is not accurate because that's just not how our procurement process works. Thank you very much."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will Sponsor yield for questions?" 10000153.docx 11  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 1/8/2019

"Representative Mitchell, you delineated a few of expenses that you thought were not justified. Can you go through those numbers again? Was it $6 thousand and $9 thousand? Can you tell me exactly what you used in your opening statement?" Mitchell, C.: "Sure, Representative. So, many places, for example, the Illinois Department of Transportation, sends folks to places like the City Club of Chicago. And they go and they take tickets that are offered, generally, pro bono to those agencies to hear about, from great Executives, et cetera. Most agencies don't pay for those. The Toll Highway Authority, however, does. So, in the last, I want to say year, they spent about $9 thousand on these tickets as opposed to the 6 years prior, where only a thousand were spent. Since there was a new board put in place they just sort of had all of these issues."

"Okay." Mitchell, C.: "I also noted, for example, a 10 year contract with links to three members of the board worth $157 million, as well as over a million dollars in contracts, over 9 months, to outside PR firms with connections to the board. So, those were the three examples I used, Representative."

"Okay, so do you know how much those outside contracts potentially cost the taxpayers?" Mitchell, C.: "I… so, I think I just listed them, Representative."

"Oh, okay. Alright. Well, we don't have exact figures there. Well, you have $157 million, but we don't know if… if that overlay or that additional… there was additional costs just because those contracts went to… 10000153.docx 12  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 1/8/2019 Mitchell, C.: "There could be."

"…what you are saying, are conflicts of interest." Mitchell, C.: "Yeah. There Representative, there… I would be speculating to answer that question. I would say that you could be right. I just don’t know."

"Okay. Thank you. Next question is, did you… did any of the Democrat Members of the board, 'cause it is a bipartisan board, did they approach you to get this legislation passed?" Mitchell, C.: "No."

"Okay. Are you aware that James Banks is one of the Democrats and he's the longest serving member since 1993? Do you know whether or not he approved or voted for these contracts that you say were in a conflict of interest?" Mitchell, C.: "I don't know that off the top of my head, Representative. I would also just note in the reconsti…"

"No, I'm just asking. Do you know whether or not he voted for those contracts or were these contracts unanimous among the board that you're saying went forward?" Mitchell, C.: "I don't have that information, Representative."

"I didn't think you did. How about the other longest… there's two… the two longest serving members of the board. The other one is a Democrat. His name is David Gonzales. He's been on the board since 2011. Do you know whether or not he voted for these contracts that are obviously in conflict… or what you're saying is a conflict of interest?" Mitchell, C.: "Same answer, Representative."

"Okay, you don't know whether or not they voted for it? Okay. Mr. Speaker, to the Bill. Look, I have been very outspoken about the Tollway. You can check my… my comments in 10000153.docx 13  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 1/8/2019 the Daily Herald. Marty Pike, who covers the Tollway for the Daily Herald, texts me all the time to comment on tollway issues, and I freely text her back all the time. I'm just as disgusted about nepotism. I'm just disgusted about hiring communications teams that are outside of the agency. I've commented on this in public. It makes me mad, but what you're talking about doing here with this Bill is nothing than a craven, political agenda being put in place. That's what it is and here's why. There's actually 11 members on the board. One is the Governor, the other one is the Department of Transportation Secretary. Those two members go away within a week. There are five other members whose actual term ends May 1 of this year. So, the entire board, seven members, a majority of the board, will actually turn over by May 1. Nothing is going to get done between now and May 1 on the tollway that is going to be that impactful to taxpayers that can't be handled with new members. And as the Sponsor of this Bill just told you, he can't even tell you whether or not the Democrat members voted for or against these same contracts that he says are in conflict. So, you've got… you know what I'm sorry, this is only being done for political purposes. There's no need for this legislation. The new administration, I'm sure, can handle this. He can put all his new appointments in. He can own the majority of the board and then that'll be done. But for the record, I've been very outspoken about the tollway. I… this is just a political statement. It's a political Bill. Vote 'no'."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"

"Representative, I intend on voting for your Bill. I have one question for you. Is the administration going to be as eager to wipe out boards in the future if corruption waste is exposed via the press or any other sort of way? Or is he going to focus on this tollway? Mitchell, C.: "Representative, I can't… I’d be… again, I'd be speculating. I would say that this is a particular example that's gotten particularly out of hand. And when something gets this bad, I would imagine that all of us, whether it's General Assembly or the Executive Branch, would want to look at it with fresh eyes. That's speculation but that’s what I would say."

"So, would… I guess I want to ask you another question, I apologize. With all due respect, you're going to be part of the administration?" Mitchell, C.: "Sure." 10000153.docx 16  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 1/8/2019

"As Deputy Governor, would you like to see boards that have examples of corruption and waste in the press, that aren't covered, be expunged as quickly as we… are you guys going to be as eager about that as you are with this particular board?" Mitchell, C.: "Again, Representative, it's going to be a case by case basis. I would say, again, this is a particular example that's gotten particularly bad that, by the way, to respond just slightly to the previous question, deals with rolling contracts let over the beginning of a construction season. Which is why what happens between January and May is actually incredibly important. When we have something that is this serious with billions of dollars in implications for toll payers that would be something we would have to consider. So, I can't speak to a specific example, Representative, unless you have one. But I just don't… I can’t speak to that."

"Okay. Well, to the Bill. Like I said, I'm going to support the Bill. I'm a little disappointed that we're not taking this as an opportunity as a new beginning that, yes, we are clearly… when there's waste, fraud, abuse, corruption, when something is clearly done wrong, that we aren't going to be comforted that we have an administration that's… going to want to do this on an ongoing basis. Thank you."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Point of personal privilege, please."

"This last Saturday, we also laid to rest the Mayor of Johnson City. He passed away on January 1. Mayor Jim Mitchell, he was a veteran of the United States Army, he was a Boy Scout Eagle, he was a great advocate of Southern Illinois, and served his… his town with great passion, and I just wanted to share those thoughts. And Southern Illinois loved the man, he loved Southern Illinois. And again, with Representative Slaughter putting to rest his father on Saturday, it was another day in Southern Illinois that we mourned the passing of Mayor Mitchell. So, at this time, I'd like to ask for a moment of silence please. Thank you."

"Will the Sponsor yield?"

"Repre… Representative, there was a lot of chatter. We're talking how many agencies would be affected or the agency directors that would be affected by this?" Mitchell, C.: "Thank… Thank you for your question, Leader. There are about 49 individuals, 27 departments."

"This would apply also to assistant directors as well? Mitchell, C.: "Yes, Sir."

"Do we have anything… anybody referred to as a deputy director in these agencies?" Mitchell, C.: "So…"

"I think they're used interchangeably but I just… for purposes of…" Mitchell, C.: "So, I think… I think, for example, when I think of an assistant director, I could also think of it as a first deputy director, depending on the department. So, yes."

"All right. And when was the last time… when was this… this 150 thousand, or this cap, in placed into law that we currently… that currently exist with these directors?" 10000153.docx 23  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 1/8/2019 Mitchell, C.: "So, Representative, there has been… there has been no cost of living adjustment for these agency directors since 2009, and for many of them their… their pay was set at a state statute. I don't know the exact year."

"My… I think I knew the answer. I think it's been about 10 years…" Mitchell, C.: "I think that's right."

"…since these salaries have been adjusted. Question. For new directors or assistant directors that will be brought in with this new administration, would they qualify under Tier I or Tier II for purposes of pension benefits?" Mitchell, C.: "I believe the answer is Tier II, Leader."

"If there is a director that will be employed by this Governor and is currently in the Tier I system, will they continue to participate as a Tier I beneficiary?" Mitchell, C.: "If they… Representative, if they've previously been in Tier I, the answer is yes."

"If there is an individual who previously has served in the General Assembly prior to 1994, would their pension… their retirement be based upon the… their last day salary or would be a combination of… or an average out of four years, I think that currently is under Tier I?" Mitchell, C.: "Representative, I hate to make you do this. Could you… could you repeat that question? Just want to make sure we get it all?"

"Certainly. If there is an individual who is a Tier I director, as I just asked, if they were… if a director… if they were currently in Tier I, and if that individual had served in the General Assembly prior to 1995, would their 10000153.docx 24  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 1/8/2019 pension benefit be based on the average of the last four years or it would be based on their last day of salary… your last salary… last day of their salary?" Mitchell, C.: "Give us one second, Leader."

"Thank you." Mitchell, C.: "The answer, Representative, is if they're Tier I, it would be four of the last eight years."

"Okay. I think the question… maybe I'll be more specific. I think that some individuals might come in and they will receive their Tier I pension benefit… would be their based on their final salary. I'm not sure if I'm making it clear." Mitchell, C.: "Yeah, Representative, I'm struggling a bit with what you're getting at. I think I might know. I'm not sure."

"All right. Okay. Well, all right, I just wanted to make that clear for individuals here. To the Bill. Ten years is a long time, and I know that under the previous administration, I've heard that it is very difficult to find qualified and good talent to serve in these important positions within State Government. I've had a conversation with the Governor-Elect. I want the state to succeed. I want our agencies to succeed. And I believe we will have a new day in Springfield, and I told them that I would support this initiative. Most importantly, is that this is a sign of good faith that I am offering to this new administration, to work with them, him and also agency directors, to get off on a good foot. So, with that being said, I plan to support this Bill and I would ask my colleagues to support this as well. And as I said earlier, starting tomorrow, it will a new day in Springfield where I hope that we can continue cooperative measures working 10000153.docx 25  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 1/8/2019 with the Minority Party on major issues. And as we are… as we wrap up today, you'll see that our support for the previous Bill, and also support we're going to be giving on this current Bill, is the first sign of good faith that we're prepared to work with the Democrat Majority and also this new administration coming in. Thank you."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"

"Representative, I just had a few questions about the way this particular measure was drafted. As I read it, the current salaries of all agency directors will immediately be bumped up 15 percent under your Bill. Is that correct?" Mitchell, C.: "To be clear, Representative, it is for new terms. So, for terms beginning next year, after the effective date of the Bill."

"But then the… but the actual salary gets increased from wherever it is today, for every… and I'm assuming you're going to replace everybody or most of everybody, maybe a few. Hopefully, you'll keep Director Bellock, but I don't know. For those folks, they will increase 15 percent on day one. So, that’s just an immediate 15 percent increase across the board, right?" Mitchell, C.: "For the… for the agencies delineated, yes. The answer’s correct." 10000153.docx 26  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 1/8/2019

"Right, for all the 49 or so offices?" Mitchell, C.: "Forty-nine people, twenty-seven departments."

"Now… help me out here now. Does the Governor… in your reading of your Bill, does the Governor still have the ability to adjust the salary down or up if they are still below the 85 percent threshold?"

"Really? So, all of these salaries are, no matter whether we need the money to get the new person or not, everything's just going up 15 percent and we… the Governor doesn't have the ability to set a salary?" Mitchell, C.: "It's 15 percent above the salary it was in 2018, which is Leader… as the Leader just pointed out, has been the same for 10 years."

"Okay, I just… I had seen the line before your Amendments in Section 5-300 said that if set by the Governor, these annual salaries may not exceed 85 percent of the Governor's annual salary." Mitchell, C.: "That's historical, Representative. They used to be set by the Governor. We changed that and set them by statute."

"Fair enough. So, there's… there's not really then, with this… I just wanted, again, get that amendment there. Now, presuming… I mean this is likely going to pass today, then will it go to Governor Rauner to sign or to veto?" Mitchell, C.: "Representative, I… I don't know the answer to that question. I'm trying to get the Bill passed. That's going to be a determination of the Legislature."

"Fair enough, but wouldn't you… wouldn't you agree that the Legislature ends tomorrow at noon. So, if the Bill doesn't 10000153.docx 27  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 1/8/2019 get passed to the Governor, then it would die with the Legislature?" Mitchell, C.: "Well I… look, Representative, it's a… it's first of all… we're getting a little bit ahead of ourselves. It's a Senate Bill. The Senate's going to determine, ultimately, what happens to it. We got to… our job is to pass it out of this chamber. Hopefully."

"I… I know that. I'm a little worried. We're passing a lot of Bills that apparently are not being intended for this Governor but maybe for the next one who doesn't actually take office until well after this General Assembly concludes and the officers of this General Assembly conclude their terms. So, I'm wondering what you are planning here? Is this intended to go to Governor Rauner or intended to go to Governor Pritzker?" Mitchell, C.: "So again, this has to go to the Senate. It's a Senate Bill. What I would also say is with every Bill we pass, as you well know, Representative, being the Floor Leader, we have 30 days to transmit it. And that's up to the will of the General Assembly."

"We have 30 days to trans… well, we're required to transmit within 30 but the General Assembly concludes. And so, I… I'm also, I guess I… the reason I ask is I'm a little worried that you may be passing a Bill whose legality may come under question down the road. And so, we've passed a bunch of Bills whose legality may come under question down the road, and so I'm a little concerned about it. I'd imagine the current Governor would probably sign this Bill since I know there was some issues with salaries that were brought up under the 10000153.docx 28  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 1/8/2019 current administration. So, I think other colleagues wanted to speak about it. I would just use that, maybe, as a word of… I don’t know… caution, or I'd raise that for consideration by the administration. Thank you."

"Thank you, Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"

"Representative, a couple more questions, a follow up to help clarify for everybody what's actually going on here. Up through 2009, these salaries were governed by increases set by the Compensation Review Board. Is that correct?" Mitchell, C.: "Yes, Representative."

"And in 2009, we froze that. We stopped that practice, which is why they have the same salary's that they did 10 years ago, correct?" Mitchell, C.: "Correct, Representative."

"I took the liberty of going through the inflation calculator and saying suppose they had continued to apply the CPI over the last 10 years. It turns out that that would be a 17.5 percent higher salary than what they've been getting. So, the 15 percent, from that perspective, is actually lower than what it would have been had we simply followed the inflationary adjustments that the Compensation Review Board would perhaps have taken. Is that reasonable?" 10000153.docx 29  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 1/8/2019 Mitchell, C.: "I haven't done the math, Representative, but I generally find your math to be right. So, I'm going to assume that's probably correct."

"And you've already mentioned that this only applies for those terms that begin after this year. There is another provision that provides for an increase on July 1, 2019 and years going forward and that would be governed by, again, the Federal Cost of Living that was established back in, I think, the 86th General Assembly." Mitchell, C.: "Yes, Representative, that's correct."

"So, there would be, potentially, another bump but, again, it would be governed by, essentially, the rules that were in place prior to 2009." Mitchell, C.: "So, the answer to that question is yes, Representative. I would just note, for purposes… for information of this Body, every single year when we as Legislature reject our COLA increases, we're also rejecting them for agency directors. So, that same process remains an open option for this Body if…"

"Yeah, I just wanted to make sure… one last point then along that line. And that is… it is potentially possible… so, this just effects those 49 positions. The 85 percent, as you pointed out, is historic and would no longer apply to these positions. So, if the Governor's salary were increased by a future General Assembly, these positions are actually still governed by the language in this Amendment and it would not be affected, should the Governor's salary be increased by a future General Assembly. Is that correct?" 10000153.docx 30  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 1/8/2019 Mitchell, C.: "That's correct, Representative."

"Thank you very much. I will be supporting your legislation."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"

"Great. Does this address any employees other than these 49 directors, Representative?" Mitchell, C.: "No, it does not."

"So, even though their director has… or these directors, their salaries will go up if this passes but other employees, other people, will not receive an increase. Is that correct?" Mitchell, C.: "That's correct, Representative, because as you may well know, and this is a rough number, but like 92/95 percent of folks are covered by our ASCFME contract, so that can't be modified by statute."

"Okay but, you know, 94/95 percent isn't everyone, right?" Mitchell, C.: "Yes, Representative, I suppose that's correct."

"Okay. What is your thoughts of income inequality?" Mitchell, C.: "Excuse me?"

"What is your opinion on income inequality?" Mitchell, C.: "Objection? Relevance?"

"I think it's very relevant because we're raising the salaries for department heads but… it sounds like people below that aren't getting the same consideration." 10000153.docx 31  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 1/8/2019 Mitchell, C.: "Well, Representative, I appreciate your new found attention to income inequality. What I would say is this is about making sure that we have the proper leadership for the department to make sure that they can execute upon the mission. As we've seen over the last eight years, leadership matters. That's what this Bill speaks to, is our ability to be competitive in finding the right leaders for departments. The rest of… of folks, we'll consider on down the line, I would say."

"To the Bill. You know, I think that there are some concerns here. You know, we… I look at… we might be able to agree on the quality of representation matters. We might be able to agree that value in position matters. But we do need to look at hard working state employees that matter too. But there's a bigger picture to this. Currently, COGFA revenue estimates are significantly lower than the budget that was passed. My own office… and I know people are chattering, can't hear this… my own legislative office has its phone turned off because the Comptroller can't pay the damn…"

"Yes, it's… it’s a consideration that Illinois cannot pay its bills. It's behind many, many months of bills, yet we're going to dole out raises for appointees. Thank you."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Bill. When I showed up six years ago, I came down here to protect taxpayers. I came down 10000153.docx 32  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 1/8/2019 here to work on good legislation. When I showed up, we had a $100 billion in unfunded pension liability. Now, we have a $134 billion in pension liability. Just last year, this Legislative Body, the majority of you, not me, passed the eighteenth unbalanced budget in a row. We have lied to everybody about everything in this chamber. We have lied about revenue streams. What are you going to do this year? Are you once again going to say that you're going to sell the Thompson Center for $300 million and count that as revenue? We have a spending problem here. And as much as I want to work on good Legislation, and I came here to work on good legislation with you on a bipartisan way, and in some cases we were able to do something, I will tell you that just simply getting more money for your directors is not going to change a damn thing in this building. Not a darn thing. Nothing's going to change because you give them a 15 percent pay raise. You don't need directors being paid more. You need this Legislative Body passing legislation that makes a difference; on our pension debt; on our spending. So what if you spend more for Director of Education when we still have school districts that have their student population with under five percent, working and… doing work at grade level, and yet then saying that those same students are graduating. Over 70 percent of the students, passing them on. Just paying those folks 15 percent more will do nothing for childhood education. Nothing. What a farce. The highest paid… the one who really runs the Springfield… Springfield and the State of Illinois hasn’t had a pay raise since 2009 either and he doesn't seem to be asking for one. Why? 'Cause everybody knows that the power rests…" 10000153.docx 33  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 1/8/2019

"So, if you think this is a cure-all for the State of Illinois, you're wrong. The cure-all sits right here and it rests in this Body. This Body needs to change its policy and the direction of this state, and you can do it. And it's not by just simply passing on higher salaries that taxpayers cannot afford."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A question of the Sponsor."

"Thank you. Representative, I just want to follow up on a couple of things we talked about earlier. But first of all, I'd like to ask… I'm looking at the current statute for the budget for this year and can you tell me why some directors salaries, and I hate to use the term are offshored into the Comptroller's Office instead of under the agency that they actually represent? So, by statute, they… their salaries are actually in the Comptroller's Office?" Mitchell, C.: "Representative, I can speak to the offshoring issue generally, but I'm not quite sure I understand your exact question."

"This is like reverse offshoring, it looks like. Well… we can talk about that later." Mitchell, C.: "Sorry, it's just… forgive me."

"It's certainly something that’s unique, I think. The other thing is, where's… what is the pot of money that will pay for this in the Comptroller's Office?" 10000153.docx 34  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 1/8/2019 Mitchell, C.: "Thank you for asking this question, Representative. I should have this in my opening. So, the Comptroller has a line for the shortfalls in State Officer salaries. We have about $1.6 million in it right now. So, this will not require a new appropriation."

"So, this is money that has been appropriated already?" Mitchell, C.: "This has already been appropriated, Representative, and it would be, at tops, $700 thousand and probably less than that."

"Okay, I just… I just want to follow up to get this on the record for the floor, things that I talked about yesterday. We have merit comp employees in the State of Illinois that have, basically, had a salary freeze since the Ryan administration, except with the… except with some… few exceptions, that have had a salary freeze since the Ryan administration. And I think these are the mid-level managers that do the day in and day out work a lot of times. We have it very hard, due to a lot of the rules and regulation we have in place through union contracts and some of the other things, for people to come in from the outside and get a job with the State of Illinois. If you’re a mid-level person that wants to get into the State of Illinois at a mid-level similar position, it's very difficult to come in. I think we need to take a good, hard look at our hiring practices in the State of Illinois as our workforce ages and as we're going to continue to have problems moving forward. We need to really dive into this and find out. And I hope that the new administration will be committed to helping us look at this to find some of the answers on this when… when they get into 10000153.docx 35  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 1/8/2019 office come later this month. This is a big issue for the state 'cause we're going to run into some real problems down the road hiring talent. I appreciate what you're trying to do. I understand we want talented people to come in. I'm going to begrudgingly support this Bill due to Leader Durkin's asking of us to support it, but I would hope we get assurance from the new administration that they're going to look this to make sure that we're having new people come in the door, talented people at a lower levels as well." Mitchell, C.: "Well, thank… Representative, you raised this in Executive Committee yesterday and as I said there, I will take that feedback back. I think you've raised a legitimate issue. We want to do it the right way but I've think you've raised an issue that deserves consideration. We'd love to have your ideas."

"Thank you."

"Thank you. Will the Sponsor yield?"

"All right. What was the median income in Illinois in 2008 compared to today?" Mitchell, C.: "I don't have it, Representative. I'm betting you do based on the question."

"It's gone down. So, when our median household income has been decreasing, I really don't see a justification to start saying we're going to take our government employees and start giving them increases. Certainly not along the lines of 15 percent and certainly not when we've already passed legislation, more recently, that has frozen all of our other 10000153.docx 38  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 1/8/2019 state and local government employees to 3 percent or less. Now, do we also know how many people the Governor-Elect has identified who have applied for those jobs who he hasn’t been able to hire because of salary?" Mitchell, C.: "So, let me just have one piece of pushback on your previous point and then I'll get to this, which is I'm betting we probably didn’t adjust that for the fact that we had a rather large recession in 2008. So, everyone was sort of down from 2008 numbers. I'm not sure it's a fair comparison. To your second point. Representative, I'm involved on the personnel side, I don't want to sort of get into specifics. I'll give you examples though and I've highlighted them up front. When you look at places like Department of Corrections, large departments that require a specialized expertise, or Transportation, or Innovation and Technology, these are places where it's difficult to get people in for the salaries we currently offer when they can make more money in a New York, in a Pennsylvania, et cetera."

"All right. Well… but the fact of the matter is is that… well, actually, let me ask you this. Did any of our public employees take salary decreases during the recession? No, they did not. Right?" Mitchell, C.: "I… other than the Legislature, Representative, I don’t know the answer to that question."

"Right. So, here's another question. If, in fact, you're trying to attract particular people to particular positions, maybe you don't need to actually give them an additional salary increase. Why not simply ask for a particular pool of money that the Governor can use as a hiring bonus? And then 10000153.docx 39  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 1/8/2019 that way that's not baked into their salary, it's not baked into a pension formula, so that the million dollars plus that you're asking for isn't going to get magnified exponentially over time as these people start moving into pension positions?" Mitchell, C.: "Well, Representative, the…"

"Thank you. I just want to say I took a pay cut to take this position, and it was certainly more than 15 percent. And we should be looking for people who are going to come to these jobs, who are actually going to be willing to do the work of the people of Illinois. I really don’t think that… until the Governor can actually establish that there's particular positions he can’t hire to from qualified applicants, we shouldn't be increasing government salaries."

"Inquiry of the Chair. Mr. Speaker, I had my light on for a point of personal privilege to thank my legislative aide of 34 years…"

"Will… will I be able to afterward?"

"Thank you." 10000153.docx 42  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 1/8/2019

"Thanks very much, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"

"Representative, yesterday in committee I asked this question and I just want to put it on the record again and follow up with it. In particular, is the legislation… directs the excess funds, if you will, and the AIM HIGH Program, which many of us and yourself have worked on, solely for the purpose of carry over for grants to students? Is that correct?" Burke, K.: "That's correct. That’s all it can be used for."

"Okay. And so, there is no potential for a university to transfer funds from there, no possibility for a university down the road that we hear about, that these funds were switched and used for some type of operational expense or some other areas not intended for. Correct?" Burke, K.: "That's correct. It's explicitly laid out in page seven of the legislation."

"Thank you very much."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Bill and really to the issue. We need to do more in higher education about getting Illinoisans into Illinois schools. I've had a number of conversations, as I also have a high school senior at this point. And a number of his classmates, very high ACT scores, great GPAs, great overall record, did not get into our flagship school, University of Illinois. And it goes on and on. Many of those parents purchased College Illinois programs, hoping that they would have the money available for their kid to go and attend an Illinois school for which they 10000153.docx 43  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 1/8/2019 have… were born and raised in Illinois and have to spent a lot of money in taxes here. Illinois continues to disappoint many of the residents in my district by not accepting them, by still having 20-50 percent higher tuition costs than its conference peers, by not allowing those same parents the ability to use College Illinois to its fullest extent. It's a problem and I think that it's something that this Legislative Body should take up and investigate fully. It's a land grant based institution. Its mission is to educate Illinois citizens. Its mission is not to take out an insurance policy in case its Chinese population, foreign Chinese population, drops. It's lost its way. It is rejecting very well qualified Illinoisans from the school. And this merit based scholarship… it’s not all merit based by the way. It's not. And it's doing little to nothing to then educate Illinoisans when that is their mission as a land grant institution. So, I suggest that this Body take a very serious look at higher education, its overall costs, which are the problems. Just throwing more money at the system is not the answer. It's reducing the spending level so all Illinoisans can afford to attend college there. Thank you."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And to the Bill. This Bill is a perfect example of what we can achieve when we work collaboratively, not just on both sides of the aisle in this chamber, but both chambers. And we have heard from our universities, who are very excited about this program. But we have also heard from them that they would like to be able to take some precautionary measures and they have brought this to us as a suggestion that this, indeed, is a precautionary measure, so that we are able to fulfill the promise to our Illinois students that we have given to them. So, thank you, Representative Burke, and I look forward to supporting it."

"Thank you, Speaker. I want to speak to one of the Agreed Resolutions which is House Resolution 1367, which recognizes the passing of former State Representative Tom Johnson early in December. Thank you, Speaker. Back on December 3rd, Tom Johnson, who served 10 years as State Representative here in this Body, as well as 2 years later as a State Senator, lost his battle with cancer. And though I know Ginger Johnson, his wonderful wife, couldn't be here, so I expect the… another formal Resolution will come up in the 101st General Assembly. However, for myself and others who will not be in that General Assembly, who knew Tom Johnson, I wanted to make sure we had a chance to remember him. Tom Johnson was a tireless public servant. He had served in Vietnam, worked as a State Prosecutor and used his knowledge of the criminal process to 10000153.docx 47  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 1/8/2019 really start many of the types of criminal reforms underway, even the 1990s, through a long service on the Prisoner Review Board. And even up until this last year, continued working on things to continue to improve our criminal justice system. But I also want to speak to Tom as a very close personal friend. Tom was my State Representative when I was first getting involved in local politics, and he had an amazing, ironic wit. He could always look at whatever was going on and had a way of putting it a way to bring a smile to ones face to say, yup, I get what you see and I get what's going on. And I was able to take that advice through all my years in local government as Alderman and as Mayor of West Chicago. And his guidance on many issues was very important to me and it is with great loss that I see his passing. I would ask for a moment of silence at the conclusion of remarks in memory of Tom Johnson."

"Point of personal privilege, Mr. Speaker."

"Thank you. I just want to put a thank you in the permanent record of the Illinois House for someone who richly deserves 10000153.docx 53  STATE OF ILLINOIS 100th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 1/8/2019 it. My Legislative Aide and District Director Lydia Kryrochenko who retired this past December 31. Lydia faithfully served the people of Illinois for over 34 years beginning with Representative Tom McCraken back in 1984, who then became Senator Tom McCraken. And then she worked for Senator Kirk Dillard for 18 years and when he concluded his service Lydia was good enough to allow me to have her serve as my Legislative Aide and District Director for these past four years. She was incredibly generous with her time and talent. She served as a mentor to other districts legislative aides. Godspeed in your retirement Lydia and thank you for giving so much to the people of DuPage County and of Illinois."