"The House… the House will be in order. Members will be in their chairs. Members, we shall be led in prayer today by Rabbi Shlomo Soroka who is with the Agudath Israel of Illinois in Chicago. Rabbi Shlomo Soroka is the guest of Representative Kalish. Members and guests are asked to refrain from starting their laptops, turn off all cell phones, and rise for the invocation and Pledge of Allegiance."
"Master of the Universe, look down favorably upon this gathering of men and women who work with dedication on behalf of humanity that you created in your own image. For the last 32 days, Jews have been counting the Omer as you commanded in your Holy Torah. Many observe the laws of mourning during this period and refrain from haircuts, shaving, and listening to music. We mourn the loss of 24 thousand Jewish scholars and framers of Jewish law who perished 2000 years ago because they failed to accord the proper respect to one another. The scourge ended on the thirty-third day of the Omer, which we celebrate tomorrow. And mark the beginning of a new era as we internalize the lesson that leaders can debate and even disagree, but we must always respect their fellow human beings created by you in your divine image. King of all kings, bless the Members of the House… of the Illinois House of Representatives. They strive to work together through difficult issues but accord respect to one another and pursue the mutual goal to make Illinois a better place for the poor, the hungry, the oppressed, and the next generation. Bless them, their families, and all of those gathered here today with health, happiness, and prosperity. Bless them with the resources, 10100054.docx 1 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 wisdom, and courage to continue their efforts. May you crown their efforts with true success. And to that, let us say, Amen."
"We will be led in the Pledge of Allegiance today by Representative Costa Howard."
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
"Roll Call for Attendance. Representative Harris is recognized to report any excused absences on the Democratic side of the aisle."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are no excused absences on the Democrat side today."
"Thank you. Representative… Butler is recognized to report any excused absences on the Republican side of the aisle."
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. The Republicans also have no excused absences which means both Representative Frese and Meier are here today after a late night watching the St. Louis Blues get into the Stanley Cup Finals."
"Congratulations to the Blues. Have all recorded themselves? Mr. Clerk, please take the record. There being 118 Members answering the roll call, a quorum is present. Mr. Clerk, Committee Reports."
Clerk Hollman: "Committee Reports. Representative Zalewski, Chairperson from the Committee on Revenue & Finance reports the following committee action taken on May 22, 2019: do pass as amended Short Debate is House Bill 833, Senate Bill 158, 10100054.docx 2 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 Senate Bill 1591, Senate Bill 1595; recommends be adopted is House Resolution 381, Floor Amendment #1 to Senate Bill 1464. Representative Jones, Chairperson from the Committee on Insurance reports the following committee action taken on May 22, 2019: do pass as amended Short Debate is Senate Bill 653; recommends be adopted is Floor Amendment #1 to Senate Bill 1377. Representative Welch, Chairperson from the Committee on Executive reports the following committee action taken on May 22, 2019: do pass Short Debate is Senate Bill 1814; do pass as amended Standard Debate is Senate Bill 222, Senate Bill 1569, Senate Bill 1881, Senate Bill 1932, Senate Bill 1939, Senate Bill 2140; recommends be adopted is House Resolution 387. Introduction of Resolutions. House Resolution 397, offered by Representative Gabel. House Resolution 398, offered by Representative Williams. And Senate Joint Resolution 40, offered by Representative Batinick. These are referred to the Rules Committee."
"Representative Swanson, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you, Madam Chair. It is indeed my privilege to announce, today, that we are going to be provided nourishment by the Illinois Pork Producers. So, in the back, you are more than welcome to go enjoy a BLT that possibly could have been grown on Edwards Valley Pork, which is our farm. And please enjoy that. And also, let your staffers know that there are free pork sliders on Monroe Street. Just look for the pork trailer. So, what a great day, we get to enjoy some wonderful BLTs. Thank you." 10100054.docx 3 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019
"Representative Butler, for what reason do you seek recognition?"
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. Point of personal privilege please."
"Please proceed."
"Today I've got two Pages here with us at the Illinois House of Representatives. We've got Sarah Melton here. Sarah goes to Grant Middle School here in Springfield. She's in eighth grade. Likes to play volleyball and be outdoors. And I also have Anna Moffitt, she's in sixth grade. She lives in Cantrall. She goes to Athens Intermediate School, which is in Cantrall. I like to… she says she likes to play soccer, dance, and likes to fish, right? Representative Meier, we have a fisherman here, right here. So please welcome Sarah and Anna to the Illinois House of Representatives."
"Representative Moylan, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. A point of personal privilege, please."
"Please proceed."
"Yes, the special announcement. The IBEW and the Solar Energy Association have the IBEW solar semi-trailer truck on display from noon to two right in front of the Capitol. Thank you."
"Representative Spain, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. Point of personal privilege, please."
"Please proceed." 10100054.docx 4 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019
"Thank you. Ladies and Gentlemen of the House, it's my honor to introduce two Pages here from my district today. I'll start with Alayna Ruach who is to my right here. Alayna, thank you for being here. She's an eighth grader at Riverview. So she's graduated and away from school now. She's active in track, in cross country, and has been top of her class, honor roll all year long. Congratulations, Alayna. And then also to my left, Brandon Collins who is a sophomore at Midland in my district in Marshall County. And he is active in FFA, bass fishing, basketball, golf, scholastic bowl. He paged in the Senate last week and so he's coming over here, today, to see how the real work gets done here in the House. Please give them both a very warm welcome."
"On page 25 of the Calendar, under the Order of Resolutions, we have House Resolution 305, offered by Representative Mah. Representative Mah."
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. This is the Resolution that I spoke about last week commemorating the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. It's a feat that transformed our nation. And it was completed because of the work of immigrant workers who toiled and, in many cases, lost their lives completing this job. So, I would appreciate your support in passing this important, historical Resolution to commemorate the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. Thank you."
"Seeing no discussion, Representative Mah moves for the adoption of House Resolution 305. All those in favor vote 'aye'… excuse me. All those in favor say 'aye'; all those opposed say 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'ayes' 10100054.docx 5 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 have it. And the Resolution is adopted. Representative Keicher, for what reason do you rise?"
"Point of personal privilege."
"Please proceed."
"I'd like to welcome in the gallery, today, a teacher who lives in my district in Hampshire and teaches at Geneva High School, Mr. Kevin Gannon. He's the President of the Geneva Education Association and he recently led Geneva's Association through their recent struggles. My sister is a teacher and a member. And I'd just like to welcome them to Springfield and give them a nice round of applause."
"Representative Kalish, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you, Madam Chair. Point of personal privilege."
"Please proceed."
"Thank you so much. I'd like to, again, welcome some constituents down from my district up here in the Democratic side of the gallery. They are here from Legacy, Heritage, Alden, and Saba, long term care facilities. As well as, a personal mentor of mine, someone who's so involved in my professional and personal development, Mr. Shell Bellows. He said to me before I got on the floor today, he said, we're here making sure we have enough staffing in our facilities. He said, make sure we have that staffing. So thank you guys for coming. Thank you for advocating, and we really appreciate having you here."
"Representative Ramirez, for what reason do you seek recognition?" 10100054.docx 6 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019
"Good morning, Madam Speaker. Point of personal privilege."
"Please proceed."
"I would like for my entire family on the House Floor to help me congratulate one of our own who's celebrating her birthday today. And one of the best rows to… she's working so hard, she doesn't realize we're about to celebrate her. But help me say happy birthday to Representative Villanueva. A round of applause. And… and all of you are invited to celebrate with us tonight. So see me or Representative Villa for details on how we continue to celebrate the life of our very own, Representative Villanueva. Thank you."
"Representative Welter, for what reason do you rise?"
"Point of personal privilege."
"Please proceed."
"Madam Speaker, Members of the General Assembly, I have with me today Josh Rossi, from Morris in Grundy County. Josh is 17 years old and has recently graduated high school, actually just a couple weeks ago. He enjoys playing baseball, volunteering at his church, and traveling. Josh is quite active in the 4-H. Many of you have probably saw him around here the last couple of weeks. Very active at the state and local level. He's part of the Illinois State Youth Leadership team and is speaking for the Illinois 4-H Program. This fall he will be attending North Central College and majoring in business administration. He's joined here in the gallery by his mother and sisters. If you could please give them a warm Springfield welcome." 10100054.docx 7 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019
"Representative Chesney, for what reason do you seek recognition?"
"Point of personal privilege, please."
"Please proceed."
"Could Members of the House please join me in welcoming my wife Kelly Chesney in the Assembly today? She wants to see the well-oiled machine."
"Welcome. Representative Bryant, for what reason do you seek recognition?"
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. For a point of personal privilege, please."
"Please proceed."
"I have joining me in the gallery, today, Annette James. Annette lives in Murphysboro, is a member of the IEA. She teaches fourth grade at Lewis School. What is unique about Annette is that she serves both on the school board and has been organizer for IEA, so she's seen both sides of the aisle, very much like I did in my time in working in Department of Corrections. It's a good place to be so you can see both… both avenues. But in addition to that, we've got a lot of individuals here today… I think Representative Crespo may speak on this a little bit later… who brought about 60 thousand petitions today to encourage us, again, to move back to 6 percent rather than the 3 on teacher retirement. I think there were some true, unintended consequences that happened last year when that took place. And certainly now that we are very much aware of them, we want to fix them, support that 100 percent. And please help me in welcoming Annette and other individuals who are here today." 10100054.docx 8 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019
"Representative Welch, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. Two points of personal privilege, if you don't mind."
"Please proceed on both."
"Let me first begin by welcoming my distinguished Page today, Osezuwa Ativie. He's a nine year old fourth grader from St. Benedict in Chicago. His favorite subjects are gym, grammar, and social studies. He says he is destined to be a future Governor of the State of Illinois. He's also joined here today in the gallery, his mom Shelita and his grandmother, Sheila. So, let's all give a warm Springfield welcome to Osezuwa. And also, joining us today, a very distinguished guest in her own right. I was honored to serve as cochair of Governor J.B. Pritzker's Educational Success Transition Committee with this distinguished guest. Let's please welcome the President of the Illinois Education Association, Mrs. Kathi Griffin, who's up in the gallery. Give her a warm Springfield welcome, please."
"Representative Bristow, for what reason do you seek recognition?"
"Point of personal privilege."
"Please proceed."
"I also have a constituent from IEA here, Andrew Frye. He lives in Godfrey but teaches in Representative Meier's district at Triad Middle School. He's the IEA Local President at Triad."
"Representative Halpin, for what reason do you rise?" 10100054.docx 9 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. I also want to welcome a great teacher from my district, Jarrin Williams. Lives in Rock Island and teaches in at Rock Island High School. He is also a member of the Rock Island Education Association. I'd like to welcome him, along with the other teachers that are down here today."
"Representative Kifowit, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. Point of personal privilege."
"Please proceed."
"I am following my colleagues to give a wonderful shout out to the teachers of the State of Illinois. I, too, join them in welcoming an individual who has my utmost respect for teaching middle school children. So, we have Sandra Fuller in the gallery. She teaches at West Aurora… in West Aurora at Washington Middle School. And as I said before, my utmost administration… my utmost admiration for middle school teachers. Thank you very much."
"And Representative Brady, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Point of personal privilege."
"Please proceed." Brady: "I, too, also have a constituent that is part of the IEA group today that is up in the gallery, Mr. Ben Stires, who lives in Bloomington. Stires and… is the Illinois State University Liaison Illinois Education Association President. So, please welcome Ben and all the IEA members and teachers that are here with us today in Springfield." 10100054.docx 10 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019
"Welcome to the Capitol. We are going to proceed to the Order of Senate Bills on Third Reading. On page 6 of the Calendar, we have Senate Bill 1321, Representative Halpin. Out of the record. Senate Bill 1332, Representative Meyers-Martin. Please proceed, Representative Meyers-Martin. Excuse me, Clerk, please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 1332, a Bill for an Act concerning State government. Third Reading of this Senate Bill."
"Representative Meyers-Martin.
"Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. Senate Bill 1332 creates a Bank On program housed within the Illinois House of the Comptroller's Office. Many Illinoisans are currently unbanked or underbanked and are targeted by predatory lenders which costs them more over their lifetime. The Comptroller's Office, under Bank On, will connect this underbanked and unbanked population with equitable financial products at banks. For example, if a bank offers a checking account that can be opened remotely with a low minimum deposit, that bank can apply to have that product certified by the Comptroller's Office. The Comptroller would maintain information about these products in her website and do outreach, along with banks, to connect consumers to these products. This legislation creates a commission made up of local officials, bankers, community, and social service groups and financial regulators to advise the Comptroller's Office about certification of financial products and helps promote Bank On. So I ask for the support of this House for Senate Bill 1332."
"Representative Batinick." 10100054.docx 11 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"She indicates she will."
"Representative, real quick clarification for… for our side here. So, it looks like the proponents are the Illinois Bankers Association, the Illinois Credit Union. They're working with the Comptroller's Office to promote banking in underserved areas or underserved populations. Is that correct?"
"Yes."
"Okay, that's what we're doing here. Thank you very much."
Speaker Burke: "Representative Halbrook, are you seeking recognition on this Bill?"
"Yes I was, Madam Speaker."
"Please proceed."
"So, will the sponsor yield?"
"She indicates she will."
"So, just a question. Is there other states doing this similar program and if so what ones would they be?"
"There is another city doing this program. We, Illinois, would be the first state to have this program."
"Yeah, I was under the assumption Indiana maybe did. I just want to be clear on that."
"I'm not aware of other states, just other cities."
"And the other question also is, I just want to make sure that there's no taxpayer obligation here from the citizens of Illinois in any shape or form or matter?"
"No, there's no taxpayer obligation. This is a program that is run through the Comptroller's Office. And 10100054.docx 12 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 they would only be responsible for certifying products that banks could participate in along with the underbanked or unbanked population."
"All right. Thank you for your answers. Thank you."
"Seeing no further questions… sorry. Representative Meyers-Martin to close."
"Again, this is a great program that will assist many located in the State of Illinois, including rural communities that have thus far been unable to participate with traditional banking products. So, I ask for support of Senate Bill 1332."
"Question is, 'Shall Senate Bill 1332 pass?' All in favor vote 'aye'; all opposed vote 'nay'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Clerk, please take the record. On a vote of 113 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no', 0 voting 'present', Senate Bill 1332, having received a Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Senate Bill 1343, Representative Yednock. Mr. Clerk, please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 1343, a Bill for an Act concerning transportation. Third Reading of this Senate Bill."
"Representative Yednock."
"Thank you, Speaker and Members of the House. This is a simple Bill that fixes a quirk in legislation concerning heavy duty trucks. IDOT has a neutral position on it. And I would urge an 'aye' vote."
Speaker Burke: "Representative Feigenholtz, are you seeking recognition on this Bill? No, I'll get right back to you. Seeing no discussion, the question is, 'Shall Senate Bill 10100054.docx 13 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 1343 pass?' All in favor vote 'aye'; all opposed vote 'nay'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Clerk, please take the record. On this question, there are 117 voting in 'favor', 0 voting 'against', 0 voting 'present'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Representative Feigenholtz, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. I rise on a point of personal privilege. I have a very special quest, Zoey Jay from Oak Park. She goes to Lincoln Elementary School. She's in third grade and she is here with WE WILL helping us pass our Bills. Let's give her a warm Springfield welcome, Zoey."
"Next, we have Senate Bill 1344, Representative D’Amico. Mr. Clerk, please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 1344, a Bill for an Act concerning the Secretary of State. Third Reading of this Senate Bill."
"Representative D’Amico, please proceed."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Senate Bill 1344 is an initiative of the Secretary of State, consumer protection Bill. Basically, it protects the personally identifying information that's contained in the documents when you submit for a REAL ID. Appreciate an 'aye' vote."
"Representative Batinick."
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"He indicates he will. Please proceed."
"Representative, just when we're… just so I can find where to go when we're talking about these Bills. Do you 10100054.docx 14 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 technically office at the Secretary of State? Is that where your office is?"
"Part time, yes."
"Okay. Thank you."
"Representative D’Amico to close."
"I'd appreciate and 'aye' vote."
"The question is, 'Shall Senate Bill 1344 pass?' All in favor vote 'aye'; all opposed vote 'nay'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Clerk, please take the record. On this question, there are 118 voting in 'favor', 0 voting 'against', and 0 voting 'present'. And this Bill, having received a Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Senate Bill 1371, Representative Brady. Mr. Clerk, please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 1371, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Third Reading of this Senate Bill."
"Representative Brady."
"Thank you very much, Madam Speaker and Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. Senate Bill 1371 simply seeks to amend the School Code and provide that a school district may install and purchase a security locking device that would… in emergency situations, lock school doors from inside the building if certain criteria is met via the school district, school board. And the Office of the State Fire Marshal and the State Board of Education are neutral on the Bill. It stems from schools that have doors in hallways that can only be locked from the outside with a key, outside in that hallway. And as one of the superintendents noted, until this 10100054.docx 15 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 legislation clarifies the purchase of these type of locks, they were not able to do so. And I'd be happy to answer for any questions. Thank you."
"Seeing no questions, the question is, 'Shall Senate Bill 1371 pass?' All in favor vote 'aye'; all opposed vote 'nay'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Clerk, please take the record. On this question, there are 118 voting in 'favor', 0 voting 'against', and 0 voting 'present'. And this Bill, having received a Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Senate Bill 1378, Representative Didech. Mr. Clerk, please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 1378, a Bill for an Act concerning courts. Third Reading of this Senate Bill."
"Representative Didech."
"Senate Bill 1378 amends the Jury Act to provide that no person who is qualified and able to serve as a juror, may be exclude from jury service in any court in the state on the basis of sexual orientation. Currently, you cannot be excluded on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or economic status. This Bill will add sexual orientation as a protected class for the purpose. I'm happy to answer any questions."
"Representative Thapedi."
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. Will the sponsor yield?"
"He indicates he will."
"Representative, are you essentially codifying Batson for the purposes of civil actions?"
"Yes, Sir, that’s exactly what we're doing." 10100054.docx 16 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019
"Excellent. I urge an 'aye' vote."
"Representative… Representative Didech to close."
"I would appreciate an 'aye' vote. Thank you."
"The question is, 'Shall Senate Bill 1378 pass?' All in favor vote 'aye'; all opposed vote 'nay'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Clerk, please take the record. On this Bill, there are 115 voting in 'favor', 0 voting 'against', and 0 voting 'present'. And this Bill, having received a Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Senate Bill 1381, Representative Unes. Mr. Clerk, please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 1381, a Bill for an Act concerning transportation. Third Reading of this Senate Bill."
"Representative Unes."
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. Senate Bill 1381 is cleanup language and very simply improves the legal movements of trucks on Illinois roadways. I know of no opposition. I ask for an 'aye' vote."
"Seeing no question… discussion, the question is, 'Shall Senate Bill 1381 pass?' All in favor vote 'aye'; all opposed vote 'nay'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Lilly, Hernandez… Ramirez. Mr. Clerk, please take the record. With 100… on this question, there are 118 voting 'yes'… voting in 'favor', 0 voting 'against', and 0 voting 'present'. And this Bill, having received a Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Representative Gabel, for what reason do you rise?" 10100054.docx 17 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. A point of personal privilege."
"Please proceed."
"So, I would like to introduce my Page for a day. His name is Eitan Mann. He's from Chicago. He's a first grader at Blaine School. And his mom, Susan and his brother, Ezra are here to be with him today. So, please let's give them a warm Springfield welcome."
"Representative Robinson, for what reason do you rise?"
"Personal point of privilege."
"Please proceed."
"I would like to introduce my Page to the Body, Maxwell Abbott. If we can please take a moment and wish Maxwell an early graduation. He is graduating from Nicholas Elementary School in Evanston Township on May 30. Can we give him a round of applause? Maxwell will be headed to Evanston Township. He will be playing tennis. I played tennis at Mount Carmel High School. And very happy to have him with me today. I would also like to announce a very good friend and colleague who is in the gallery, Sheila Stennis, who is an Allstate agent in Chicago. If she can please stand and wave? And we can welcome her to the gallery. Thank you so very much."
"Representative Gabel, for what reason do you seek recognition?"
"Point of personal privilege."
"Please proceed."
"Thank you. I would just like to announce for the Members that the Outdoor Caucus is having a legislative reception at Kidzeum where we can check out the traveling exhibit of bees, 10100054.docx 18 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 butterflies, and blooms. This is going to be Thursday evening, 5:30 to 7:30 at the Kidzeum Museum which is at 412 Adams Street. Please come and join us."
"Representative Moeller, for what reason do you rise?"
"Point of personal privilege."
"Please proceed."
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. I am happy to welcome Maya Lessem Elnecave from Ravenswood Elementary School. She's in second grade and she is my Page for the day. Let's give her a warm Springfield welcome."
"Returning to the Order of Senate Bills on Third Reading. Senate Bill 1392, Representative Batinick. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 1392, a Bill for an Act concerning safety. Third Reading of this Senate Bill."
"Representative Batinick."
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. Senate Bill 1392 is an important initiative of the Illinois Environment Council, working with the Prairie Research Institute to study the effects of small plastic, microplastics in our water supply. I urge an 'aye' vote. Take any questions."
"Seeing no discussion, the question is, 'Shall Senate Bill 1392 pass?' All in favor vote 'aye'; all opposed vote 'nay'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Clerk, please take the record. On this question, there are 118 voting in 'favor', 0 voting 'against', 0 voting 'present'. And this Bill, having received a Constitutional Majority, is hereby 10100054.docx 19 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 declared passed. Senate Bill 1411, Representative McDermed. Mr. Clerk, please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 1411, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Third Reading of this Senate Bill."
"Representative McDermed."
"Thank you. Ladies and Gentlemen, we passed this Bill out of House earlier in the Session but the Senate beat us. And so, the version that's going to proceed is Senate Bill 1411. You may recall, this is the recommendation of the Sexual Assault Evidence Tracking Commission. And what is important about this Bill is that it mandates that everyone who touches the kit, reports its progress through the system with mandatory reporting. And this is the Illinois State Police Evidence Tracking System that we're talking about. And it also provides a FOIA exemption for this information, which of course we would very much like to do. And once again, I ask for your 'aye' vote on this Bill."
"Representative Carroll."
"Thank you, Madam Chair. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"She indicates she will. Please proceed."
"Representative, how long have you been working on this Bill?"
"Three years."
"Great. And what's happened in the past with it? What have been some of the hold ups?"
"Well, the commission… first we had to commission the commission. Then the commission did its work. And then they made a report about a year ago. And so, getting the report… the recommendations of the report into Bill form and getting 10100054.docx 20 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 the Bill through, you know, it takes a little while to do this work."
"Great. Thank you. To the Bill. I want to commend my colleague on her hard work on this Bill, the effort she put into it. And I think this Bill strongly deserves an 'aye' vote. Thank you."
"Representative Parkhurst."
"Thank you. Representative McDermed, I just wanted to thank you for all your hard work on this Bill. It really fills a need that was missing, especially for survivors. And I would urge and 'aye' vote. Thank you."
"Thank you."
"Representative McDermed to close."
"This Bill has been the work or a bilateral commission… bipartisan commission that took more than a year to study the process. This is a good outcome and I would urge everyone to put this process into place. And next Session, we'll look at putting this process into place for victims and survivors and family members of other crimes. Thank you."
"The question is, 'Shall Senate Bill 1411 pass?' All those in favor vote 'aye'; all those opposed vote 'nay'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Turner. Mr. Clerk, please take the record. On this question, there are 118 voting in 'favor', 0 voting 'against', 0 voting 'present'. And this Bill, having received a Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Senate Bill 1425, Representative Stava- Murray. Mr. Clerk, please read the Bill." 10100054.docx 21 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019
"Senate Bill 1425, a Bill for an Act concerning health. Third Reading of this Senate Bill."
"Representative Stava-Murray."
"Thank you. So, Senate Bill 1425 is a Bill that deals with suicide prevention. All too often, in almost every single one of our districts, we are met with tragedies where people have lost their battle with mental illness. And when we're looking at suicide prevention initiatives in Illinois, there's a lot of room for us to do better. So, currently there's only one statewide agency that deals with this and it's actually not an agency, it's a volunteer board. And so, this Bill asks for one person at the Department of Public Health… and this Bill was negotiated with the Department of Public Health… to be fully staffed on suicide prevention initiatives. So a lot times when there is a suicide that occurs, there might be some prevention that takes place at a local level, a lot of times at a township levels. And right now those are all disparate and so this person would bring those together. Further, this person could lobby or apply for grants and federal funding and lobby us for additional suicide prevention services in future years. I urge an 'aye' vote."
"Seeing no questions… discussion, the question is, 'Shall Senate Bill 1425 pass?' All in favor vote 'aye'; all opposed vote 'nay'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Clerk, please take the record. On this question, there are 115 voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no', 0 voting 'present'. And this Bill, having received a Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Senate Bill 1449, Representative Carroll. 10100054.docx 22 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 Senate Bill 1449, Representative Carroll. Mr. Clerk, please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 1449, a Bill for an Act concerning regulation. Third Reading of this Senate Bill."
"Representative Carroll."
"Thank you so much. I do have the right Bill in front of me this time, in case everybody's wondering. SB1449 creates a task force to study and compare coverage on behavioral health conditions for individual and group short term or long term disability income insurance. The findings of this task force must be reported to the Governor and the General Assembly by December 31, 2020. I am happy to answer any questions."
"Seeing no discussion, the question is, 'Shall Senate Bill 1449 pass?' All in favor vote 'aye'; all opposed vote 'nay'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Clerk, please take the record. On this question, there are 118 voting in 'favor', 0 voting 'against', 0 voting 'present'. And this Bill, having received a Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Senate Bill 1460, Representative Stuart. Mr. Clerk, please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 1460, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Third Reading of this Senate Bill."
"Representative Stuart."
"Thank you. Senate Bill 1460 simply provides for us to prioritize funds for national board certification for teachers to districts that are designated as Tier 1 or rural schools and there's incentives for National Board certified 10100054.docx 23 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 teachers in there. It's subject to appropriation. I'm really happy to see that is has support from lots of regions of this state as well as bipartisan support. And I'd appreciate an 'aye' vote."
"Seeing no discussion, the question is, 'Shall Senate Bill 1460 pass?' All in favor vote 'aye'; all opposed vote 'nay'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Clerk, please take the record. On this question, there are 110 voting 'yes', 1 voting 'against', and 2 voting 'present'. And this Bill, having received a Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Senate Bill 1473, Representative Ford. Clerk, please read the Bill. We're going to move this Bill back to Second Reading for the purpose of adopting the Amendment."
"Senate Bill 1473, a Bill for an Act concerning transportation. This Bill was read a second time on a previous day. No Committee Amendments. Floor Amendment #2, offered by Representative Ford, has been approved for consideration."
"Representative Ford."
"Thank you, Madam Speaker and Members of the House. House Floor Amendment #2 simply made the Bill effective immediately if it becomes law. What… House Bill 1473, it's an initiative of the Department of Healthcare and Family Services. And it amends the Illinois Public Aid Code and the Illinois Vehicle Code and the Code of Civil Procedures. The Bill revises the Illinois Vehicle Code to address the suspension of driver's license for nonpayment of support and the Public Aid Code that determines how the Department of Health Care and Family Services assess interest on cases which they are involved in. 10100054.docx 24 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 So, the current law unnecessarily ties the hand of HFS and they're asking the Body to amend the law so that they have the discretion to allow negotiations so that the department could bring more money in for the custodial parent. We move for the passage of Senate Bill 1473 as it is an initiative of the State's HFS Department. I'll take any questions from Members."
"Representative Parkhurst on the Amendment."
"Not on the Amendment. I'm sorry."
"We'll get back to you. Representative Ford moves for the adoption of Floor Amendment #2 to Senate Bill 1473. All those in favor say 'aye'; all opposed say 'nay'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'ayes' have it. And the Amendment is adopted. Any further Amendments, Mr. Clerk?"
"No further Amendments. No Motions are filed."
"Third Reading. Please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 1473, a Bill for an Act concerning transportation. Third Reading of this Senate Bill."
"Representative Ford."
"The Bill also gives the department the ability to negotiate the interest that’s being charged on delinquent child support payments. Right now the interest can be as high as nine percent, that’s very high. The department believes that it needs this legislation to pass so that it has the discretion to better provide revenue to custodial parents. I move for the passage of Senate Bill 1473."
"Representative Parkhurst?"
"Thank you. Does the Speaker yield?"
"He indicates he will." 10100054.docx 25 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019
"The ability to suspend a driver's license is important in child support enforcement, would you agree with that?"
"I agree with you."
"And your Bill does not take away the ability to suspend a license does it?"
"That's right, Representative. The department was very clear that it would not be a permanent release of driver's license, it just gives them the discretion. And if they release the driver's license they have a right to go back in, if nonpayment takes place, to suspend the license again."
"So the goal of this Bill is to actually increase the collection of child support. Is that correct?"
"That’s… that's correct."
"So people that have had their driver's license suspended that now are in a position to have employment and be able to pay child support but need a driver's license to do that, would give the department the authority to get their driver's license back so they would able to work and pay child support?"
"That's right."
"And, if for some reason they… they did not… they got their license back and after a while they did not pay into the system, they would be able to be resuspended."
"That's exactly right."
"I think that this is a good Bill. And I urge an 'aye' vote."
"Thank you, Representative."
"Representative Bryant." 10100054.docx 26 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. To the Sponsor. So when DHS gives the person their license back, it's for a temporary amount of time, I believe you said. How do they petition to get that person's… if they don't pay who's responsible for petitioning to get the driver's license revoked again in order to get the person paying again?"
"That's a good question. Also, for the record, what the department will do, the names will be inputted into an electronic database and it will always be monitored. So if there's ever a time where the payment is not received, it automatically suspends the license."
"Okay. So… so the custodial parent, at their expense, does not have to go back in and repetition to make sure that this is done? It'll happen automatically?"
"It will happen automatically. That's right."
"Thank you."
"Representative Ford to close."
"Thank you, Madam Speaker and Members of the House. I just want to thank HFS for the hard work that they've done on this legislation and Senator Hunter. In my opinion, this will be one of the most important laws that I could pass in the State of Illinois to help support custodial parents and children. So, I urge an 'aye' vote, pressing the green button. Thank you so much."
"Question is, 'Shall Senate Bill 1473 pass?' All in favor vote 'aye'; all opposed vote 'nay'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Clerk, please take the record. On this question, there are 75 voting in 'favor', 35 voting 10100054.docx 27 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 'against', and 0 voting 'present'. And this Bill, having received a Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Senate Bill 1495, Representative Didech. Mr. Clerk, please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 1495, a Bill for an Act concerning business. Third Reading of this Senate Bill."
"Representative Didech."
"Thank you. This is an initiative of the Illinois Institute of Business Law. It makes a number of changes to the Limited Liability Company Act. Some are technical. It also makes explicit that there is a cause of action if an LLC wrongfully denies a request for record inspection. It clarifies that more than one person may be designated a member if a company ceases to have any members. And it overrules court cases which expanded the scope of protections offered by LLCs to include tortious conduct. The attempt of the LLC Act was not to create a safe haven for fraud and other tortious conduct. This will return that Act back to its original purpose. I'm happy to answer any questions."
"Representative Batinick for a question."
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"He indicates he will."
"Representative, you said this returns the Act back to its original… original intent. Okay, so you listed a bunch of things, it was really loud, and we were going crazy trying to… trying to catch it all. Can you talk about the points that it does… 'cause our concern is, you know, people start an LLC, obviously, for protection and we keep passing Bills that are bad for job creators in this state. And we, frankly, 10100054.docx 28 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 kind of have this on our list of Bills that are bad for job creators. So why is this Bill not bad for a job creator?"
"Well this Bill, it maintains the protections offered to members and managers of LLCs that have always been included. On page 10, line 9, it says, 'A member or manager is not personally liable for a debt, obligation, or liability of a company solely by reason of being or acting as a member or manager.' That protection will continue to remain in place. The only thing that this Bill does, it removes the protection for fraud or other tortious conduct that was committed by the member or manager of the LLC."
"Aren't they charged under normal… I mean, if somebody commits fraud under an LLC they've still committed fraud. That's still… that's still a chargeable offense."
"Correct. And under these court rulings that have been very problematic, they have interpreted the LLC Act to create a… essentially a safe haven where they could not be charged in the event that they commit fraud."
"When has that happened?"
"Yes."
"So the LLC has created a safe haven for somebody who breaks the law? And they haven't been charged criminally?"
"Well, no. I'm talking about civil actions. If somebody commits fraud under the current court's interpretation of the LLC… if they commit fraud in their personal capacity, the LLC creates a safe haven and protects them from personal liability." 10100054.docx 29 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019
"Okay. So what we're talking about here is personal liability for actions that… that a business does. Where do other states fall on this issue?"
"Illinois is currently the only state in the country where the LLCs have been interpreted to create a safe haven for fraud committed by members and managers of the LLC."
"Okay, I mean that… you're absolutely positive about it? Now when you're saying fraud, you're saying fraud civilly, not criminally, I assume, correct?"
"Civilly, yes. And courts across the country have come to different results than the courts in Illinois has. It… in Montana, South Carolina, Michigan, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, New York, Utah, New Jersey. Illinois is the only court that has interpreted the Uniform LLC Act to create a safe haven."
"For civil. Okay. Thank you for answering my questions. I'm going to be listening to the rest of the debate."
"Representative McDermed."
"Thank you. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"He indicates he will."
"Who are the supporters or who brought this Bill to you?"
"So this is an initiative of the Illinois Institute of Business Law. It's a… essentially a trade group that acts on behalf of lawyers who represent the business community."
"So are these trial lawyers or are these more in the nature of defense lawyers?"
"I would categorize them as more of a corporation council. They represent businesses, you know, in… in business creation 10100054.docx 30 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 disputes that arise in the normal course of doing business. I think it would be… they would fall more in the category of defense counsel than as trial lawyers."
"Okay. So this isn't like that mesothelioma Bill where we were creating new causes of action for the benefit of plaintiff's lawyers? This is not that case?"
"This Bill has support of the business community. There's no opposition."
"This is… also, we've had some testimony in committee from the Illinois State Bar Association, correct?"
"Correct. The Illinois State Bar Association is supportive of this Bill."
"And, this Bill takes us back to the law which was… the LLC law which was in place for decades in the State of Illinois, correct?"
"Yes. So Illinois adopted the Uniform LLC Act, I believe, in 1991. And, this will return Illinois to the interpretation of the law from 1991 to, I believe, 2013."
"And bring us into consistencies with other states who are using this law?"
"Correct. Right now, Illinois is the only courts that have interpreted the LLC Act to create this safe haven. And this will bring Illinois back in a line with every other state that has interpreted this Act."
"To the Bill. This Bill came to Judiciary - Civil Committee, where I'm spokesman, and it created a fair amount of consternation because of the way that it seems to be dealing with fraud. However, this is bringing us into consistency with the LLC code before a couple of odd cases 10100054.docx 31 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 and bringing us into consistency with other states, with respect to LLC. Not to shield folks from civil fraud, who are members of the LLC, but to clarify that it does not, in fact, do that. It… it shields their contribution to the LLC in other cases where liability should be limited to just their contribution to the LLC. So, I am a supporter of this Bill. Thank you."
"Representative Mazzochi."
"Thank you, Madam Chair. To the Bill. I, actually, am opposed to this Bill for a variety of reasons. While I'm certainly not in favor of corporate entities creating fraud or individuals trying to use a corporate entity to shield themselves from committing fraud, the problem is that the language that is actually in the Bill… because, you know, I like to actually read what the statutory text says… the statutory text actually isn't bringing us in line with the other 50 states. What the statutory text is doing is essentially eliminating all of the corporate protections that an LLC is supposed to provide to individual members. So what this ultimately has the ability to do is not just override some very narrow instances, which I don’t actually think were that compelling. In one instance, there was no statutory… there was no liability imposed on the individual member because that was considered to be a very narrow situation where the statute of limitations had expired. And in the other case that was referenced as the excuse to overturn the Illinois law, the only reason why the individual person wasn't help liable is because no LLC had been formed at all. So there's a whole lot of things that we are potentially changing 10100054.docx 32 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 with extraordinarily broad language in the text as it is drafted. And I would urge this Body to not just listen to the intention behind the Bill but to actually read the statutory provisions because when you look at the actual subsections and the scope of what it's actually doing and the protections that it's taking away from LLC members, it is essentially eviscerating the whole point behind an LLC. Which is to immunize people from liability for acts that they take while they are acting in and on behalf of the LLC. And for that reason, with all due respect to my spokesperson on the committee, I remain an extraordinarily, hard 'no'. Thank you."
"Representative Thapedi."
"Thank you, Madam Chair. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"He indicates he will."
"Mr. Didech, I think that you heard two divergent views on what occurred in committee and with respect to what this Bill does in terms of the case law that's at issue. Essentially, the two cases that we looked at were Dass v. Yale, a 2013 1st District Illinois Appellate Court opinion. Could you talk a little bit about that case, please? What were the facts there?"
"Yes, so in Dass v. Yale, essentially there was a condominium owed by an LLC. The manager of that LLC made fraudulent representations in the context of a sale. The buyer relied on those fraudulent representations and the buyer ended up incurring losses as a result. The court determined that because an LLC was created the manager of the LLC was shielded from personal liability and it limited the… the 10100054.docx 33 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 buyer's ability to recover the losses that she incurred as a result of the fraudulent conduct."
"So, what does the Bill do to the decision and that Dass decision? Is it overruling it? Is it clarifying it? Is it distinguishing it?"
"Yes. So it is explicit in the Bill what it will do to that Dass decision. It overrules it to the extent that Dass determined that the member and manager of an LLC is not subject to personal liability by the sole basis of… for fraudulent conduct. In Dass, they actually did not even get to the question of whether fraudulent conduct occurred. It wasn't litigated. They determined that the member or manager was not even subject to personal liability, whatsoever."
"And so, Dass wasn't a case that was tried, it was actually decided on some rejudgement, correct?"
"Correct. And the buyer actually… I would argue they didn't even get their day in court to determine whether or not that person could be liable for fraud because of this unusual interpretation of the LLC Act."
"So essentially what happened is the court looked at the pleadings, the depositions, the affidavits on file, it viewed the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party and made the determination that judgement, as a matter of law, should be entered in favor of the defendants in this case, correct?"
"Correct."
"All right. Now with respect to the entity or at least the organization that brought this Bill to you, would you explain a little bit more about the Institute for Business 10100054.docx 34 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 Law? What they do, how they operate, and where else they actually advance legislation?"
"Yes. So they… it is… this Bill was brought to us by the Illinois Institute of Business Law. They are a nonpartisan organization. They monitor developments in the business law community. They advocate on behalf of business lawyers and they actually were involved in drafting the original Limited Liability Act… Limited Liability Company Act. That's why they were so alarmed by these court cases because, they themselves, drafted this… this Act and now it is being interpreted in a way that was not the intent of how they drafted it. And that’s why they came to us with this Bill."
"All right. Now finally, my last questions is, with respect to the position taken by the Illinois State Bar Association. The lawyers for the entire State of Illinois, not the trial lawyers for plaintiffs or the trial lawyers for defendants, but the Illinois State Bar Association itself. What position is it taking on this particular piece of legislation?"
"So the Illinois State Bar Association is supportive. My understanding is that this language was vetted, not only by the Illinois Institute of Business Law but also the Business Law Division of the Illinois State Bar Association. And they are comfortable with this language and that it is narrowly tailored to accomplish the goals of the group that has brought this language to us."
"Thank you very much. Thank you, Madam Speaker. I urge an 'aye' vote."
"Representative Didech to close." 10100054.docx 35 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019
"Thank you, and I would ask for an 'aye' vote. Thank you."
"The question is, 'Shall Senate Bill 1495 pass?' All in favor vote 'aye'; all opposed vote 'nay'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Clerk, please take the record. On a vote of 77 voting 'yes', 40 voting 'no', and 1 voting 'present', this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Senate Bill 1468, Representative Stuart. Mr. Clerk, please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 1468, a Bill for an Act concerning veterans. Third Reading of this Senate Bill."
"Representative Stuart."
"Thank you. Senate Bill 1468 simply adds spouses and dependents of veteran's and military personnel to those who can receive a discount under the existing Veterans' and Military Personnel Discount Program. I'd appreciate an 'aye' vote."
"Seeing no discussion, the question is, 'Shall Senate Bill 1468 pass?' All in favor vote 'aye'; all opposed vote 'nay'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Clerk, please take the record. On this question, there are 118 voting in 'favor', 0 voting 'against', 0 voting 'present'. And this Bill, having received a Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Senate Bill 1496, Representative Carroll. Mr. Clerk, please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 1496, a Bill for an Act concerning transportation. Third Reading of this Senate Bill."
"Representative Carroll." 10100054.docx 36 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. I stand, today, to present to you SB1496. Currently, this Bill will increase the fines in a construction zone from… of hitting a worker from $10 thousand to a maximum fine of $25 thousand. And I ask for your support. And I'm sure there will be questions from the crowd, so. Thank you."
"Representative Wehrli for a question."
"Thank you… thank you, Madam Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"He indicates he will."
"So, Representative, it is apparent to us on this side of the aisle that we're not doing any penalty enhancements for various reasons. Is this a penalty enhancement?"
"It is."
"How were you able to get this through this chamber while other penalty enhancements are put… have brakes put on them?"
"It might be my charm, I don't know. But I think that this is a Bill…"
"It may be your bow tie."
"Yeah, could be that, Sir. But I would suggest that this is a Bill that keeps state workers safe on the highways and in work zones."
"Thank you. To the Bill. So, this is a Bill… we're all going to support it but, once again, we're selective in our penalty enhancements. There is legislation that's been filed from both sides of the aisle that has bricks on it because of the penalty enhancement prohibition. So let's at least be honest with ourselves in the application of how we're going 10100054.docx 37 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 to define what a penalty enhancement is. If this Bill can move, others should be able to move too. Thank you."
"Representative Carroll to close."
"I ask for an 'aye' vote. Thank you."
"The question is, 'Shall Senate Bill 1496 pass?' All in favor vote 'aye'; all opposed vote 'nay'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Clerk, please take the record. On this issue… on this Bill, there are 115 voting 'yes', 1 voting 'against', and 1 voting 'present'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Senate Bill 1498, Representative Reitz. Read the Bill please, Mr. Clerk."
"Senate Bill 1498, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Third Reading of this Senate Bill.
"Representative Reitz."
"Thank you, Madam Speaker and Members of the House. Today, I'm presenting Senate Bill 1498. It creates an Agricultural Education Pre-Service Teacher Internship Program. The program would provide grants to students interested in agricultural education who would meet proper qualifications and attend institutions of higher learning. This initiative is of the Illinois Association of Vocational Agricultural Teachers. In a time when we face a shortage of agricultural educators. Agriculture's extremely important, not only in my district, but all in downstate Illinois. And I'm open to questions and ask for your support."
"Representative Wehrli."
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?" 10100054.docx 38 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019
"He indicates he will."
"So it was a little loud in this chamber and I could not hear what this Bill does. Could you please explain, again, what this Bill does?"
"I would love to. It creates Agricultural Education Pre- Service Program… Internship Programs and it provides grants to those interested in agricultural education. Something very important to my district and several others throughout the state."
"And who's paying for these grants? Which by the way, grants… I get a little… when I hear grants I get a little jumpy."
"It's subject to appropriation."
"Is this your first Bill by chance?"
"It is."
"Okay. Thank you for indulgence."
"Representative Bryant."
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. Appreciate Representative Wehrli pointing out that this is your first Bill, is that right?"
"That's correct."
"And… you have a lot of farmers in your district?"
"We have a lot of farmers in both of our districts."
"A lot of coal miners, too?"
"We do."
"You know any coal miners?"
"Several."
"Were you a coal miner?"
"I was not." 10100054.docx 39 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019
"You were not. Were you a farmer?"
"I am not."
"Are you an agricultural teacher?"
"I am not, but agriculture is very important to our area."
"And you do support those agricultural teachers?"
"Absolutely."
"I do too. I urge an 'aye' vote."
"Representative Reitz to close."
"I ask for an 'aye' vote."
"The question is, 'Shall Senate Bill 1498 pass?' All in favor vote 'aye'; all opposed vote 'nay'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Clerk, please take the record. On this… on this question, there are 118 voting in 'favor', 0 voting 'against', 0 voting 'present'. And this Bill, having received a Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Senate Bill 1504, Representative Parkhurst. Clerk, please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 1504, a Bill for an Act concerning civil law. Third Reading of this Senate Bill."
"Representative Parkhurst."
"Thank you. The original Bill was a 355 page bipartisan effort for a Bill to increase access to justice. This is an ISBA initiative because one of the paragraphs in the original Bill actually provides an impediment to access for justice. So it's basically a technical change to eliminate that language. The original Sponsors of the Bill, Elaine Nekritz and Steve Andersson, agree that this language should be removed. So I ask for an 'aye' vote." 10100054.docx 40 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019
"Seeing no discussion, the question is, 'Shall Senate Bill 1504 pass?' All in favor vote 'aye'; all opposed vote 'nay'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Clerk, please take the record. On this question, there are 118 voting in 'favor', 0 voting 'against', 0 voting 'present'. And this Bill, having received a Constitutional Majority, is hereby passed. Senate Bill 1506, Representative McAuliffe. Mr. Clerk, please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 1506, a Bill for an Act concerning State government. Third Reading of this Senate Bill."
"Representative McAuliffe."
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. Senate Bill 1506 would allow facilities that provide dense… dense breast imaging to update their language due to advancements in science and new technology. I'd be happy to answer any questions and ask for the passage of Senate Bill 1506."
"Seeing no discussion, the question is, 'Shall Senate Bill 1506 pass?' All in favor vote 'aye'; all opposed vote 'nay'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Clerk, please take the record. On this question, there are 118 voting in 'favor', 0 voting 'against', 0 voting 'present'. And this Bill, having received a Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Senate Bill 1514, Representative… Leader Gordon-Booth. Leader Gordon-Booth. Out of the record. Senate Bill 1518, Representative Costa Howard. Mr. Clerk, please read the Bill." 10100054.docx 41 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019
"Senate Bill 1518, a Bill for an Act concerning civil law. Third Reading of this Senate Bill."
"Representative Costa Howard."
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. Senate Bill 1518 makes substantive changes to the Adult Guardianship Statute. It clarifies and makes the opportunity to have co-guardians for both person and the state and addresses several other issues regarding temporary guardianship and guardianship fees that are often paid throughout this process. I ask for an 'aye' vote."
"Seeing no discussion, the question is, 'Shall Senate Bill 1518 pass?' All in favor vote 'aye'; all opposed vote 'nay'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Clerk, please take the record. On this question, there are 118 voting in 'favor', 0 voting 'against', and 0 voting 'present'. And this Bill, having received a Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Senate Bill 1524, Representative Ammons. Mr. Clerk, please read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 1524, a Bill for an Act concerning finance. Third Reading of this Senate Bill."
"Representative Ammons."
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. It appears that we have an Amendment that needed to be adopted on this Senate Bill. Do you have that?"
"Mr. Clerk?"
"Floor Amendment #1 was previously adopted to the Bill."
"Thank you very much." 10100054.docx 42 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019
"Please proceed."
"This is the same Bill that we voted out already once. This allows the Treasurer to invest up to five percent of the State Investment Portfolio on education loan products, such as income sharing agreement and low interest loans to help Illinois students finance higher education expenses. And the Amendment that was adopted on it has two clarifying provisions. One of them simplifies the Amendment of the Student Loan Servicing Rights Act and prevents the creation of a loophole for loan servicing and the second updates the title of the Act and updates the language and fining section. We already voted for this as a House Bill and this is the Senate Bill where the Amendment was adopted on. And I urge an 'aye' vote."
"Representative Batinick."
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"She indicates she will."
"Representative, you went through a lot there real quick. Can you basically… can you highlight the differences between this version of the Bill and what passed earlier, I believe, without our support?"
"I don't know why I didn't have your support for such a good cause as lowering interest rates for students…"
"There's a lot of good causes that I would like to take on…"
"This is one of them."
"…that the state doesn't have the money for."
"This is one of them. But this one simply simplifies the Student Loan Servicing Rights Act. I remember there was 10100054.docx 43 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 question about whether there was some loopholes for servicing on these loans. So, we addressed that in the Senate. And we also simply updated the title of the Act itself so that the Treasurer has the bandwidth to invest up to five percent of the portfolio."
"Last part that you said, you updated the name…"
"Just the title, just the title."
"Okay."
"Just the title of the Act."
"So, the new title of the Act is… Illinois Student Loan Investment Act?"
"Yes, Student Investment Act."
"So five percent of proceeds. What's the… what's the aggregate of that?"
"It's about $600 million."
"Six hundred million dollars. How many states do this, Representative?"
"I can't answer that question."
"How many student loans have been in default in the United States in the last 5, 10 years?"
"I don't think that is relevant to the passage of this Bill."
"Why not?"
"Because, we're doing it for Illinois. And if you want Illinois's default rate, I think it was about… I think it was 5 or 10 percent last time we talked about this. I don't know what it is for the entire country."
"Okay. That's fine that you have it for Illinois. That was a witty response. So 5 to 10 percent is it… so we're going 10100054.docx 44 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 to invest $600 million, we're going to start a new program. What is the administrative costs on this? What are the estimated administrative costs?"
"So on there, there is… first of all, there would be no additional fees on this. And I believe that the… and I do have that as part of my answer soon as I find it… let me… let me clarify it. Yeah, there aren't any additional costs. And there was a question about fees, and there will be no additional fees on that. The Treasurer's Office is going to work in the process of getting which loans that they… the portfolios that they are going to invest in so they can make sure that there is low or no fees at all paid on this."
"Okay. I guess… there must be an administrative cost to the Treasurer. When you're saying no fees on this, I'm not even sure what fees you're referring to…"
"Yeah, the Treasurer's Office…"
"…referring to letter fees, student fees, or… there has to be an administrative cost to this."
"Meaning the investment costs, right? The Treasurer's Office already does investments. That's what they do. And so, they don’t record, right now, any additional administrative fees on the operation of this program."
"So, they're going to set up a student loan program where our current default rate is somewhere between 5 and 10 percent and they're going to become a lender. The state's going to become a lender in something that has a pretty high default rate, correct?"
"I don't think the default rate is pretty high. I disagree with that. And I also want to clarify that they are investing, 10100054.docx 45 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 as they are obligated to invest in all kinds of things, and this just one of them."
"Okay. So do you have any projected return rates to these, Representative?"
"It is projected to be up to three percent return rate."
"Projected three percent return rate, okay. I'm going to go ahead to the Bill. Go straight to the Bill. The Treasurer's been pretty active, I understand the intent of what we are trying to do here. Probably the most frustrating thing for me is the fact that the type of Bills that we pass in this Body that make it expensive to run business also make it expensive to run government. We rank third in the funding of higher ed, yet… I just saw a stat, I think we're forty- seventh cheapest tuition. So, we're third or fourth highest tuition. The issue isn't that we need to give students more loans, the issue is that we have to provide a cheaper education for those people. Our in-state people… I have two kids at out-of-state universities. I've got friends and family all talking about all kinds of different universities around the state. And our solution is to lend them more money and get them more in debt and find a way… and all this access to money for students that's happened in this state hasn't solved the problem. It's put students in situations where they have more debt. Students are graduating or not graduating with more debt. The solution here isn’t for us to get into a risky loan business. The solution here is for us to address the regulatory climate that is strangling our institutions. And we hear from them constantly about the cost of doing business in this state, in terms of providing an education 10100054.docx 46 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 because of all the mandates, rules, and laws we put on them. I strongly urge a 'no' vote."
"Representative Hammond."
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. To the Bill. This is, once again, another example where our Treasurer wants to get further and further into the banking business that, certainly, a program like this does not do anything to help our students in any way that currently cannot be done through our financial institutions. What it does do, however, is it creates another program that looks great on a flyer. Where are we going with that? Your imagination is as good as mine. Once again, we're creating a program with at least a minimum cost of $150 thousand to the state for operations and we don't need to do this. It is an absolute oxymoron to think that the State of Illinois can do a better job of investing for our students than our financial institutions than our financial institutions can. Please vote 'no'."
"Representative Wehrli."
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"She indicates she will."
"Representative, our analysis says that the… this provides that the Treasurer may charge and collect insurance premiums and deduct salaries, wages, commissions, and bonuses of any employee in the state, under this Act. Is this to pay back the issuance of debt to them or is this in case they go into default, we are… we're giving the Treasurer the ability to garnish these revenue streams?"
"That's correct."
"Which?" 10100054.docx 47 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019
"It's in the event of the small percentage of people that may default."
"So then we… it’s a claw back, basically. If you can't pay, then we're going to track you down and make you pay. Is that correct?"
"That's… it's in the event that a person defaults."
"Okay. And do you know what currently the Treasurer's Office invests in? When I heard a 3 percent return, I think of a 10 year note's about 2.5, 2.6 right now. What other investments would this have gone and would it be earning a higher interest rate?"
"You said, would require a higher interest rate?"
"No, could they invest in things that may return a higher rate of investment if they invested it elsewhere? Or are they otherwise restricted to a 10 year note or something like that for these funds?"
"Yeah, I… of course they invest in lots of bonds. They invest in other things in a portfolio that, I believe, three percent is pretty standard on the return. It can be between three and six percent. But this is an investment portfolio like any other portfolio. And so, it has a rate of return on this one at about three percent."
"I guess what I'm trying to get at is if this money is not invested with these students at the 2.5, 2.6 percent, what interest rate would it be earning? A commensurate level or would it be earning a higher rate of return elsewhere?"
"It would be commensurate."
"Thank you."
"Representative Flowers." 10100054.docx 48 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. To the Bill. Representative Ammons, I want to commend you for bringing forward this legislation, for quite a few reasons. When you think about the banks, I'm kind of reminded of it was we the people of the State of Illinois that bailed out the banks. We did that with our money. And the banks only obligation is to their shareholders. They have to make money… they use our money to make monies to pay their shareholders. And this Bill will give our young people an opportunity to borrow from the state at a lower rate. And so, again, we will be investing into our future by investing into our children. So I stand in support of this legislation. I think it’s a great Bill. And, Representative, at the proper time would you please add me as a Sponsor. And I urge an 'aye' vote. Thank you."
"Representative Halpin."
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"She indicates she will."
"Thank you. Representative, we had a couple of questions from Members regarding like the default rate in the State of Illinois and nationally. There are people or businesses out there right now that are giving loans to Illinois students, correct?"
"Yes."
"And some of these are for profit and some might argue predatory lenders for people with bad credit, correct?"
"Yes."
"And when these companies are deciding on how to loan to these students, they're taking into account the knowledge 10100054.docx 49 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 that some of these students will default on their loans, correct?"
"Yes, it's standard practice."
"And so, when… if the State of Illinois were to do it, am I correct, that we would also take into account the default rate but we would also not need to build in more than a reasonable rate of return as far as profit goes to the State of Illinois?"
"That's correct."
"And I think I asked this before on the House Bill, but it's my understanding, at the Treasurer's Office or at least manager's that the Treasurer's Office hires, do have the skill sets to actually determine what the default rate is and determine what a reasonable rate of return on these loans are, correct?"
"I believe the Treasurer's Office has demonstrated that they have the capacity and the knowledge to do this."
"Thank you. And to the Bill. The Treasurer's office and the people that they contract with to run these kind of numbers, they know what they're doing. They have not… they have certainly not failed us in the past and we're trying to move forward to aid people that are most at risk of being exploited by… for profit, predatory lenders. We're stepping in, this is a good public service. And I'd encourage a 'yes' vote."
"Representative Pappas."
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"She indicates she will." 10100054.docx 50 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019
"I don't have any questions. I just want to speak right to the Bill. I am a big proponent of this program. I believe that it will assist Illinois students by offering them lower cost student loans that they can obtain elsewhere. It also assists Illinois higher education institutions by giving students the funds to be able to pay for these institutions, thus allowing our students to stay within the state. It assists Illinois families by reducing their debt load of the participants and also by getting a good return on an investment that benefits this state. We are investing in our own state and we're getting a good return on that investment right here in Illinois. And finally, I believe that it will assist the Illinois economy by helping to educate our future work force, which is more likely to attract the kind of high paying businesses who need a well-educated work force here in Illinois. So I believe that there are multiple wins available in connection with this win and I'm a strong supporter. I would love to be added as a cosponsor and I urge everyone to vote 'aye'."
"Members, we've had quite a bit of questions on the opposition side of this, so if you could keep your remarks to novel questions we'd appreciate it. Representative Keicher."
"Thank you. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"She indicates she will."
"Okay. Can you share with me, Representative, what the default rates are on the current notes that we hold in the Treasurer's Office?"
"No." 10100054.docx 51 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019
"Can you share with me whether the default rates on student loans are improved or worse than those rates? I don't need to know the number. I need to know whether they are reduced default rates or increased default rates when comparing student loan default levels versus our current bond default levels for the securities that the Treasurer's Office holds our taxpayer resources in, please?"
"Let me just clarify that this program doesn't currently exist but to the point of the question, the Treasurer's Office has a strong track record in investing performance. Since 2015, the office has increased investment earnings for the state investment portfolio from 4 million per month to 27.4 million per month, an increase of approximately 7 times. So, although this program doesn't exist, if you ask this question that you are asking right now, in another year we may be better able to compare those two things."
"Representative, what I'm asking about…"
"What we really want to do…"
"…on the current deposit products that we hold…"
"We're not on a timer so I just want to finish this sentence."
"…what is the default rate, please?"
"I don't have that answer for you."
"Okay. And what is the national default rate on student loans?"
"Don't have it."
"So what we're doing is, we're taking our state taxpayer resources and we're putting it in potentially higher default rate instruments…" 10100054.docx 52 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019
"False."
"…and calling a good… good thing."
"That’s not true."
"Help me understand that."
"I can't."
"Wait. I'm sorry. You can't help me understand why the default rates won't be worse?"
"Nope. No, because, once again, this program is only asking to invest up to five percent with a three percent return rate. We don't know what that is, as of yet, 'cause it doesn't exist."
"Okay. If I'm not misunderstood, the Treasurer's Office is standing next to you there, can you ask them for some assistance on what those rates may or may not be?"
"I don't have a rate number on here. I have, again, that all investments carry a degree of risk."
"Agree."
"Every single one of them that we currently do."
"Agreed."
"The Treasurer's Office already has a high track record of investment in multiple portfolios with very good returns. So this would not be any different from the other ones that we already have."
"Agreed, Representative. And what you shared with me is a dollar return, you did not share a degree of risk. It's easy to say that we've increased that by $4 million. What it isn't speaking to is the rate of default or the rate of return. And that is what's most critical right here, because we have a fiduciary obligation to the taxpayers of the State 10100054.docx 53 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 of Illinois to make sure that we're putting their money where that resource is going to do the highest and best good. It could potentially be with student loans. It absolutely could be a fantastic idea but what I don't think we've had vetted is I don't think that the Treasurer's Office, who's seeking another marketing plan to insulate his office for the next election cycle, has done enough research into. It's faulty for… to the core. I urge an 'aye'… a 'nay' vote on this. A down vote. Thank you."
"Members, this Bill is on order of Short Debate and we're moving to the debate timer of three minutes per speaker. Representative Guzzardi."
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. To the Bill. I appreciate the debate on this subject and the Gentleman from Sycamore raised concerns about the default rate. But I think that it's important to place that number in context and… my colleague, Representative Halpin, mentioned this earlier but I want to reiterate it because it's very important. The default rate on student loans in this country is so high because there are so many predatory, bad actors in the student loan industry, taking advantage of students, charging them exorbitant interest rates. This is an issue that I've been working on since I came into this Legislature. And so, the idea that we're going to have a national average of student default rate on a program like this, it's just comparing apples to oranges. The whole purpose of this program is to create a student loan program that will have lower default rates because the terms will be more favorable to students. They won't be taking outrageous advantage of borrowers the way 10100054.docx 54 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 that so many others in the industry have had. So, to say that because the national rate is x, that means that the default rate in this program will be the same, that's just a logical fallacy. This program is well intentioned. It's good policy. It's been thoroughly thought out and vetted. And I think it's not only critical for the students of the State of Illinois but for all of those in this state who are challenged by the high cost of student loans. This is a crisis in Sycamore and it’s a crisis in Chicago and it's a crisis in communities around our state. I appreciate Representative Ammons taking this issue on and I urge an 'aye' vote."
"Representative Ammons to close."
"Thank you. Thank you to all the speakers. I want to remind our Members, as I do agree with one of my colleagues here to my right, that if we were not charging students outrageous tuition, perhaps they could afford, like generations before us, to attend college without the amount of debt that they are incurring. And it is impacting their ability to return and pay back those dollars. This Bill simply authorizes the Treasurer's Office to invest in financial products that could lower the cost. We are simply trying to lower the cost for students and their families about their student loan debt. That's what we'd like to do with this. We'd like to give the Treasurer the ability to do the investments. And with the track record of the Treasurer's Office, I believe that there is a demonstrated… not only need, but there is a demonstrated knowledge base in the office to succeed in this program. And I encourage you all to support, not only this program, but I encourage my colleagues to the 10100054.docx 55 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 right to certainly work with us. We would love to pass a Bill for Illinois that would allow students to go to college at our community colleges for free. We don’t want to charge them anything to earn what we know our industry and our world needs, is an education. And so, I'm open to anyone who wants to do that with me but on this Senate Bill, Senate Bill 1524, I urge an 'aye' vote."
"The question is, 'Shall Senate Bill 1524 pass?' All in favor vote 'aye'; all opposed vote 'nay'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Clerk, please take the record. On this question, there are 72 voting in 'favor', 44 voting 'against', and 1 voting 'present'. And this Bill, having received a Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. The Clerk is in receipt of Motions in writing to waive the posting requirements for several Bills. If there is leave we will take these Motions together in one Motion. Is there leave? Leave is granted. Leader Harris on the Motion."
"Madam Speaker, I move the following Bill… the posting requirements be waived so the following Bills can be held this week in committee. In House Energy & Environment, Senate Bill 1852. In House Executive, Senate Bill 138 and Senate Bill 2090. In House Higher Education, Senate Joint Resolution 22. And in House Revenue & Finance, Senate Bill 527."
"Leader Harris has moved to waive the posting requirements. All those in favor say 'aye'; all those opposed say 'nay'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'ayes' have it. And the posting requirements are waived. Leader Harris for an announcement." 10100054.docx 56 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019
"Madam Speaker, upon the close of Caucus, Democrats will… immediately, immediately Democrats are going to caucus in Room 114."
"Thank you. Mr. Clerk, Agreed Resolutions."
"Agreed Resolutions. House Resolution 396, offered by Representative Bennett. House Resolution 399, offered by Speaker Madigan. House Resolution 400, offered by Representative Demmer. And House Resolution 401, offered by Representative Ugaste."
"Leader Harris moves for the adoption of the Agreed Resolutions. All those in favor say 'aye'; all those opposed say 'nay'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'ayes' have it. And the Agree Resolutions are adopted. And now, allowing for perfunctory time for the Clerk, Leader Harris moves that the House stands adjourned until Thursday, May 23 at the hour of 11 a.m. All those in favor say 'aye'; all those opposed say 'nay'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'ayes' have it. And the House stands adjourned."
"House Perfunctory Session will come to order. Introduction of Resolutions. Senate Joint Resolution 24, offered by Representative Moylan, is referred to the Rules Committee. Second Reading of House Bills. House Bill 827, a Bill for an Act concerning education. House Bill 833, a Bill for an Act concerning revenue. House Bill 2437, a Bill for an Act concerning domestic violence. Second Reading of these House Bills. They'll be held on the Order of Second Reading. Second Reading of Senate Bills. Senate Bill 37, a Bill for an Act concerning public employee benefits. Senate Bill 62, a Bill for an Act concerning local government. Senate Bill 104, 10100054.docx 57 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 a Bill for an Act concerning finance. Senate Bill 158, a Bill for an Act concerning revenue. Senate Bill 194, a Bill for an Act concerning public employee benefits. Senate Bill 222, a Bill for an Act concerning business. Senate Bill 244, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Senate Bill 416, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Senate Bill 449, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Senate Bill 453, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Senate Bill 456, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Senate Bill 584, a Bill for an Act concerning local government. Senate Bill 653, a Bill for an Act concerning regulation. Senate Bill 654, a Bill for an Act concerning regulation. Senate Bill 657, a Bill for an Act concerning regulation. Senate Bill 659, a Bill for an Act concerning regulation. Senate Bill 664, a Bill for an Act concerning regulation. Senate Bill 727, a Bill for an Act concerning State government. Senate Bill 1035, a Bill for an Act concerning local government. Senate Bill 1167, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Senate Bill 1221, a Bill for an Act concerning regulation. Senate Bill 1272, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Senate Bill 1300, a Bill for an Act concerning public employee benefits. Senate Bill 1377, a Bill for an Act concerning regulation. Senate Bill 1418, a Bill for an Act concerning local government. Senate Bill 1456, a Bill for an Act concerning revenue. Senate Bill 1464, a Bill for an Act concerning civil law. Senate Bill 1467, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Senate Bill 1507, a Bill for an Act concerning civil law. Senate Bill 1525, a Bill for an Act concerning State government. Senate Bill 1529, a Bill for an Act concerning State government. Senate Bill 1557, a Bill for 10100054.docx 58 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 an Act concerning regulation. Senate Bill 1558, a Bill for an Act concerning gaming. Senate Bill 1569, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Senate Bill 1573, a Bill for an Act concerning public aid. Senate Bill 1591, a Bill for an Act concerning revenue. Senate Bill 1595, a Bill for an Act concerning revenue. Senate Bill 1609, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Senate Bill 1624, a Bill for an Act concerning business. Senate Bill 1639, a Bill for an Act concerning State government. Senate Bill 1669, a Bill for an Act concerning State government. Senate Bill 1670, a Bill for an Act concerning public employee benefits. Senate Bill 1671, a Bill for an Act concerning public employee benefits. Senate Bill 1684, a Bill for an Act concerning regulation. Senate Bill 1758, a Bill for an Act concerning regulation. Senate Bill 1784, a Bill for an Act concerning government. Senate Bill 1797, a Bill for an Act concerning children. Senate Bill 1798, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Senate Bill 1814, a Bill for an Act concerning finance. Senate Bill 1847, a Bill for an Act concerning safety. Senate Bill 1863, a Bill for an Act concerning government. Senate Bill 1881, a Bill for an Act concerning local government. Senate Bill 1890, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Senate Bill 1899, a Bill for an Act concerning regulation. Senate Bill 1901, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Senate Bill 1909, a Bill for an Act concerning health. Senate Bill 1918, a Bill for an Act concerning finance. Senate Bill 1932, a Bill for an Act concerning State government. Senate Bill 1934, a Bill for an Act concerning transportation. Senate Bill 1939, a Bill for an Act concerning finance. Senate Bill 1966, a Bill 10100054.docx 59 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 for an Act concerning criminal law. Senate Bill 1968, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Senate Bill 2038, a Bill for an Act concerning transportation. Senate Bill 2052, a Bill for an Act concerning local government. Senate Bill 2117, a Bill for an Act concerning transportation. Senate Bill 2128, a Bill for an Act concerning regulation. Senate Bill 2135, a Bill for an Act concerning government. Senate Bill 2140, a Bill for an Act concerning safety. Second Reading of this House… correction, Second Reading of these Senate Bills. They'll be held on the Order of Second Reading. Introduction and First Reading of House Bills. House Bill 3841, offered by Representative Ramirez, a Bill for an Act concerning revenue. House Bill 3842, offered by Representative Parkhurst, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. First Reading of these House Bills. Committee Reports. Representative Mayfield, Chairperson from the Committee on Appropriations-Elementary & Secondary Education reports the following committee action taken on May 22, 2019: do pass as amended Short Debate is Senate Bill 2096. Representative Moylan, Chairperson from the Committee on Transportation: Regulation, Roads & Bridges reports the following committee action taken on May 22, 2019: recommends be adopted is House Joint Resolution 76, House Joint Resolution 77. Representative Thapedi, Chairperson from the Committee on Judiciary - Civil reports the following committee action taken on May 22, 2019: do pass as amended Short Debate is Senate Bill 1780. Representative Mussman, Chairperson from the Committee on Elementary & Secondary Education: School Curriculum & Policies reports the following committee action taken on May 22, 2019: recommends be adopted 10100054.docx 60 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 is Floor Amendment #1 to Senate Bill 456. Representative Kifowit, Chairperson from the Committee on State Government Administration reports the following committee action taken on May 22, 2019: recommends be adopted is House Resolution 382. Representative Yingling, Chairperson from the Committee on Counties & Townships reports the following committee action taken on May 22, 2019: recommends be adopted is Floor Amendment #2 to Senate Bill 1236. Representative Scherer, Chairperson from the Committee on Elementary & Secondary Education: Administration, Licensing & Charter School reports the following committee action taken on May 22, 2019: recommends be adopted is Floor Amendment #1 to Senate Bill 1901. Representative Slaughter, Chairperson from the Committee on Judiciary - Criminal reports the following committee action taken on May 22, 2019: recommends be adopted, is a Motion to Concur with Senate Amendments #1 and #2 to Senate… correction, to House Bill 1579, Motion to Concur with Senate Amendment #1 to House Bill 1583, Motion to Concur with Senate Amendment #3 to House Bill 2987. Representative D'Amico, Chairperson from the Committee on Transportation: Vehicles & Safety reports the following committee action taken on May 22, 2019: do pass Short Debate is Senate Bill 1602. Representative Williams, Chairperson from the Committee on Energy & Environment reports the following committee action taken on May 22, 2019: do pass Short Debate is Senate Bill 1852; recommends be adopted is a Motion to Concur to Senate Amendment #1 to House Bill 3440. Representative Flowers, Chairperson from the Committee on Health Care Availability & Accessibility reports the following committee 10100054.docx 61 STATE OF ILLINOIS 101st GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 54th Legislative Day 5/22/2019 action taken on May 22, 2019: recommends be adopted is a Motion to Concur Senate Amendment #1 to House Bill 2. Representative Evans, Chairperson from the Committee on Labor & Commerce reports the following committee action taken on May 22, 2019: recommends be adopted is a Motion to Concur with Senate Amendment #1 to House Bill 3101. Second Reading of Senate Bills. Senate Bill 1602, a Bill for an Act concerning transportation. Senate Bill 1780, a Bill for an Act concerning civil law. Senate Bill 1852, a Bill for an Act concerning safety. Senate Bill 2096, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Second Reading of these Senate Bills. They'll be held on the Order of Second Reading. There being no further business, the House Perfunctory Session will stand adjourned." 10100054.docx 62