“The House shall come to order. The Members shall be in their chairs. We ask the Members and our guests in the gallery to turn off laptop computers, cell phones, and pagers, and we ask our guests in the gallery to rise and join us for the invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance. We shall be led in prayer today by the Reverend Dr. David Moffett-Moore of the St. Peter’s United Church of Christ in Frankfort, Illinois. Reverend Moffett-Moore is the guest of Representative Kosel.”
“I invite you to breathe in deeply and breathe out slowly as together we remember the divine presence in our midst. Almighty Eternal One, from before the beginning to beyond the end, You are the source of all being, the eternal word, the life-giving spirit. Before we begin our business on this day, we pause to remember You and Your business. Remind us again of Your eternal purpose upon us, Your presence amongst us, Your power within us, Your promise before us. Guide us in Your wisdom, unite us in Your love, inspire us with Your courage. Direct us according to Your own justice and fill us with peace. Grant that, as we consider the issues before us and deliberate our courses of action, as we endeavor to faithfully discharge our public duty for the people’s business, Your own eternal and divine business may also be fulfilled. As we remember You, dear Lord, may You remember us this day. Amen.”
“We shall be led in the Pledge of Allegiance by Representative Kosel.”
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, 09400094.doc 1 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
“Roll Call for Attendance. Representative Currie. Currie.”
"Thank you, Speaker. Please let the record show that Representatives Brosnahan, Kelly, and Patterson are excused today.”
“Mr. Bost.”
“Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Please let the record reflect that Representative Daniels is excused today.”
“The Clerk shall take the record. There being 114 Members responding to the Attendance Roll Call, there is a quorum present. Mr. Clerk.”
"Committee Reports. Representative Fritchey, Chairperson from the Committee on Judiciary I-Civil Law, to which the following measure/s was/were referred, action taken on February 15, 2006, reported the same back with the following recommendation/s: 'do pass Short Debate' is House Bill 4385, House Bill 4519, House Bill 4717, House Bill 4936, and House Bill 5330; 'do pass as amended Short Debate' is House Bill 4676, House Bill 4788, House Bill 4822, House Bill 4829, House Bill 4958, House Bill 5259, and House Bill 5267. Representative Burke, Chairperson from the Committee on Executive, to which the following measure/s was/were referred, action taken on February 15, 2006, reported the same back with the following recommendation/s: 'do pass Short Debate' House Bill 874 and House Bill 4748; 'do pass as amended Short Debate' House Bill 686 and House Bill 5227; 'do pass Short Debate' House Bills 5008 through 5030, House 09400094.doc 2 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 Bills 5032 through 5205, House Bills 5391 through 5401, and House Bills 5403 through 5512. Representative Scully, Chairperson from the Committee on Electric Utility Oversight, to which the following measure/s was/were referred, action taken on February 15, 2006, reported the same back with the following recommendation/s: 'do pass Short Debate' House Bill 4977. Representative Delgado, Chairperson from the Committee on Human Services, to which the following measure/s was/were referred, action taken on February 15, 2006, reported the same back with the following recommendation/s: 'do pass Short Debate' House Bill 4826, House Bill 4937, House Bill 5245, and House Bill 5295; 'do pass as amended Short Debate' House Bill 4799; 'recommends be adopted' Floor Amendment #6 to House Bill 4306. Representative Giles, Chairperson from the Committee on Elementary & Secondary Education, to which the following measure/s was/were referred, action taken on February 15, 2006, reported the same back with the following recommendation/s: 'do pass Short Debate' House Bill 4365, House Bill 4832, House Bill 5356; 'do pass as amended Short Debate' House Bill 4310, House Bill 4986, House Bill 4987, House Bill 5031; 'do pass as amended Standard Debate' House Bill 4614; 'recommends be adopted' House Resolution 770.”
Speaker Madigan: “The Chair recognizes Representative Chapa LaVia.”
"Thank you, Speaker and Members of the Body. It’s my honor to recognize in our stands today the mayor of the second largest city and his wife, Marilyn Weisner and Mr. Tom Weisner. If we could welcome them. Thank you.” 09400094.doc 3 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006
“Mr. Parke.”
“Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise, also, for a point of personal privilege. In the gallery today is the Mayor Al Larson, mayor of the great City of Chica… Schaumburg, one of the… one of the great cities in the State of Illinois. And with him is Bradford Townsend who’s the new director of convention center and construction operation for the new Schaumburg Convention Center that’ll be opening up, we think, around July 1. So, if we’ll all welcome them to the gallery today and we appreciate ‘em being here.”
“Mr. Clerk, Agreed Resolutions.”
Clerk Mahoney: "Agreed Resolutions. House Resolution 927, offered by Representative Reitz. House Resolution 928, offered by Representative Reitz. House Resolution 929, offered by Representative McGuire. And House Resolution 930, offered by Representative Black.”
“The Clerk has read the Agreed Resolutions. Representative Currie moves that the House adopt the Agreed Resolutions. Those in favor say ‘aye’; those opposed say ‘no’. The ‘ayes’ have it. The Agreed Resolutions are adopted. Mr. D’Amico. Mr. D’Amico, on page 12 of the Calendar, on the Order of Motions in writing, there appears a Motion on House Bill 4769. Mr. D’Amico, did you wish to move the Motion?”
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to table this Bill.”
“Yes. The Gentleman moves to table House Bill 4769. You’ve all heard the Gentleman’s Motion. Is there leave… is granted. The… the Bill is tabled. Mr. Franks. 09400094.doc 4 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 Mr. Franks on a Motion to Table. The Chair recognizes Mr. Franks on a Motion.”
“Mr…”
“House Bill 4122.”
“Mr. Speaker, I’d like to table House Bill 4122.”
“You’ve all heard the Gentleman’s Motion. Is there leave? Leave is granted. The Bill is tabled. The Chair recognizes Mr. Mathias.”
“A point of personal privilege. Mr. Speaker, I, also, would like to welcome three of my mayors from my district back up in the northwest suburban area. Mayor Elliott Hartstein of Buffalo Grove, Mayor Arlene Mulder of Arlington Heights, and Mayor Rodney Pace of Prospect Heights. If we could give them a warm welcome.”
“Mr. Stephens.”
“Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A point of personal privilege.”
“State your point.”
“Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to introduce from the oldest state capital, Vandalia, Illinois, Mayor Ricky Gottman and his wife Anita in the Republican gallery. Welcome.”
Clerk Mahoney: "An announcement for the Members. An announcement regarding committee schedule. A blue committee schedule with committee changes has been passed out. These reflect the committee additions for the week. It is an updated schedule; it’s a blue sheet.”
“The regular Session will stand in recess. The Chair recognizes the Doorkeeper for an announcement.” 09400094.doc 5 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006
Doorkeeper Crawford: “Mr. Speaker, your Honorable President Jones and the Members of the Senate are at the door and seek admission to the chamber.”
“Mr. Doorkeeper, please admit the Honorable Senators. As designated in House Joint Resolution #96, the hour of 12 noon having arrived, the Joint Session of the 94th General Assembly will now come to order. Will the Members of the House and our esteemed guests from the Senate please take their seats. Mr. Clerk, is a quorum of the House present?”
"A quorum of the House is present.”
“Senator Jones. Mr. President, is a quorum of the Senate present in this chamber?”
“Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A quorum of the Senate is present.”
“There being a quorum of the House and a quorum of the Senate in attendance, this Joint Session is convened. Now, we would ask the Members if they would take their seats and would our esteemed guests please be seated. Ladies and Gentlemen, please take your seats. Mr. Hynes, please sit down. Mr. Viverito, take a seat. Mr. Granberg, sit down. Mr. Quinn, please sit down. Mr. Hoffman, please take your seat. If everyone could please take their seats. We’d like to acknowledge the presence of some esteemed guests who have joined us today. First, the Lieutenant Governor of the State of Illinois, Pat Quinn. Pat Quinn. The Attorney General, Lisa Madigan. Secretary of State, Jesse White. Comptroller, Dan Hynes. The Treasurer, Judy Baar Topinka. The Auditor General, Bill Holland. The Superintendent of 09400094.doc 6 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 Education, Randy Dunn. My wife, Shirley Madigan. And the wife of Senator Jones, Lorrie Jones. The Chair recognizes the House Majority Leader, Representative Currie.”
"Thank you… Thank you, Speaker. I move to immediately consider and suspend the appropriate rules so that we can adopt Joint Session Resolution 5.”
“Well, you’ve all heard the Lady’s Motion. All in favor say ‘aye’; all opposed say ‘no’. The ‘ayes’ have it. And the Motion is adopted. The Chair recognizes Representative Currie.”
"Thank you, Speaker. Will the Clerk please read Joint Session Resolution #5.”
"Join…”
“Mr. Clerk.”
"Joint Session Resolution #5 RESOLVED, That a committee of ten be appointed, five from the House, by the Speaker of the House, and five from the Senate, by the President of the Senate, to wait upon his Excellency Governor Rod Blagojevich and invite him to address the Joint Assembly.”
“Representative Currie moves for the adoption of the Resolution. Those in favor say ‘aye’; those opposed say ‘no’. The ‘ayes’ have it. The Resolution is adopted. Pursuant to the Resolution, the following are appointed as a committee to escort the Governor. The appointments from the House will be: Representative Feigenholtz, Representative Munson, Representative Rose, Representative Verschoore, and Representative Eddy Washington.” 09400094.doc 7 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006
“The Senate Members are: Senator Don Harmon, Senator Wendell Jones, Senator Marty Sandoval, Senator Donne Trotter, and Senator Rick Winkel.”
“Will the Committee of Escort please convene at the rear of the chamber and await his Excellency, the Governor. The Doorkeeper is recognized for an announcement.”
“Mr. Speaker, the Honorable Governor of the State of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, and his party wish to be admitted to this chamber.”
“Mr. Doorkeeper, please admit the Honorable Governor. Mr. Governor.”
Governor Blagojevich: “Mr. Speaker, Senate President Jones, Ladies and Gentlemen of the General Assembly, thank you so much for being here and allowing me to come back. Before I begin, let me first make a quick acknowledgement. This is our fourth budget and I think it’s altogether fitting and proper that I acknowledge the architect of these budgets that we believe so much in, that have done so much to help so many people. I wanna acknowledge somebody who’s worked so hard and spent a lot of time away from his family, and I wanna thank him for his dedication and the men and women who work in the budget office. Ladies and Gentlemen, let’s give a round of applause to John Filan, our Budget Director, John. As I said, this is my fourth budget address, but instead of giving a speech I thought this would be a good time to walk through the numbers so you can see where we were, what we’ve done, but most importantly, what we need to continue to do to make progress in Illinois. First, let’s 09400094.doc 8 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 remember where we were, a record budget deficit $5 billion. Education was underfunded, health care was shortchanged, State Government was bloated and inefficient, spending was out of control, and too much of that spending was being spent on the wrong things. It was spending that fed the system here, but all too often shortchanged the people out there. Before we took office 3 years ago, spending was growing too fast. Between fiscal year ’03… between fiscal year ’93 and fiscal year ’03, spending was growing at 5.4 percent, even though inflation was only 2½ percent. The state’s payroll was way too big and that’s been a constant problem here in Springfield. From 1972 to 2002, from Presidents Nixon to Bush to Bush, one thing never changed, the size of the state’s payroll. Even though spending kept growing, education was consistently underfunded. Between 1993 and 2002, with an exception or two, education spending was basically flat. And then in fiscal year 2003, the year before we began our journey together, education spending actually went down. The health care system was failing children and failing families. Health care coverage was limited only to the poor and too many middle-class families were falling through the cracks. Middle-class families who didn’t have health care were left out in the cold and no one was doing anything about trying to help them. We inherited a recession that cost us over 200 thousand jobs. We inherited a pension system that was consistently underfunded. The pension plan that was passed back in 1995 only pushed the problem farther into the future. By the time we took office, the pension systems were funded at only 09400094.doc 9 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 48 percent. We inherited a $5 billion budget deficit. That’s more than 20 percent of the total general revenue budget for our first year together, fiscal year 2004. That budget deficit was so big that most experts said the only way out was to cut education, cut health care, or raise taxes or do a combination of all three. Now that’s what we inherited: uncontrolled spending, bloated payrolls, neglected schools, too many people without health care, a recession, massive pension shortfalls, and a $5 billion budget deficit. Now, here’s how we turned it around and started to make progress. First, we established five guiding principles: we weren’t gonna raise the income tax, we weren’t gonna raise the sales tax, we were going to invest in our schools, we were going to make sure that people got the health care they need, and we were going to make government smaller and more efficient. Then we took the budget apart and started reordering and reprioritizing how we spend the people’s hard earned money. Because what it really comes down to is making choices. We can have more three- and four-year-olds in preschool or we can have more state employees. We can help senior citizens pay for their medicine or we can keep corporate loopholes on the books. We can make sure that kids get health care or we can keep on treating special-purpose funds as sacred cows. We chose to dramatically change priorities. We chose to reduce headcount. Governor Ryan at his peak had almost 70 thousand state employees; we have 13 thousand fewer state employees, 57 thousand state employees today. This reduction saves us $800 million this year and it will save us $1 billion in 09400094.doc 10 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 fiscal year 2009. We downsized and consolidated agencies. We started to control spending. We slowed the spending, the rate of spending growth by 40 percent, and we managed our debt. Now, there’s a lot of confusion and misinformation on this and I’d like all of us to understand what the facts are. We have issued far less in bonds than Governor Ryan and just a little more than Governor Edgar. But did ya know that approximately two-thirds of the bonds that we are issuing go to pay off Governor Ryan’s Illinois FIRST obligations? We also have too many special-purpose funds sitting with huge balances and not being used to help people. We started using some of those funds to help pay for schools. And even with that, the balances in those funds are essentially the same today as they were 3 years ago. We eliminated the deficit. It was $5 billion when we came in, $2.3 billion in fiscal year 2005, $1.1 dol… billion last year, and now we have no deficit. Over the past 3 years… I thought it was time to wake you guys up. Over the past 3 years we increased education funding by $2.3 billion. We put more money in our schools than any state in the Midwest, more than any… more than 43 other states and more money in one term than any other administration in Illinois history. We also… we also increased high school graduation standards for the first time in 21 years, more money, and higher standards. And we believe that children need to start learning early. By investing in early childhood education, we are helping to make our $2.3 billion investment pay off. We’ve increased state funding for preschool by 50 percent, givin’ 25 thousand more three- and 09400094.doc 11 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 four-year-olds a chance to start school early. And in a little while… in a little while, I’m gonna ask you to give that same opportunity to every single child in the State of Illinois. Next we focused on health care. I believe that health care is a fundamental right and in Illinois we are putting our money where our mouth is. The Kaiser Foundation now ranks Illinois number one in the nation for helping working parents get health care. More than 180 thousand adults who work and didn’t have health care, before we came in, now have health care today. We’re now the only state in the nation to guarantee comprehensive health care coverage for all kids. This chart reflects the progress we’ve made. And now with AllKids we’re going to reach the remaining 250 thousand kids who are falling through the cracks. Before now, there were tens of thousands of children across Illinois who didn’t have access to health care. Today, all children in Illinois who need health care will have a way to get it. Health care is a fundamental right and that means providing health care coverage to more women, more mammograms, more cervical cancer screenings. Providing health care also means protecting our seniors. Washington’s Medicare plan actually makes things worse. Under their plan, if you’re somewhat sick, you’ll get some coverage. If you’re catastrophically sick, you’ll get some coverage. But if you’re just very sick, you’re on your own. That nearly $3 thousand gap that seniors are forced to pay is commonly called the doughnut hole. Here in Illinois we filled in the gaps protecting 230 thousand senior citizens. Thank you for helping us do that. When we first took office, we had the 09400094.doc 12 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 dual challenge of not only fighting crime but also protecting our state from terrorism. Violent crimes are down 9 percent, property crimes are down 6 percent. And I wanna thank the men and women in law enforcement who are making this possible and I’m joining with the men and women in law enforcement to call on the General Assembly to ban assault weapons. We now have one of the nation’s leading homeland security programs. We’re one of only three states in the nation to receive the highest rating for bioterrorism preparedness and emergency management. Crime is down, jobs are up. We inherited a recession but we’ve turned the corner. We held the line on income and sales taxes, it’s created a better climate for business, and it’s paying off. The unemployment rate has reached its lowest level since 2001. And we just had 11 straight months of job growth in Illinois; that’s the first time that’s happened in 13 years. Corporate profits are way up. You guys can clap, that’s a good thing. Corporate profits are up. In fact, they’re at their highest level since 1997. We completed 450 business deals and that means $5.3 billion in new private investment in Illinois. And just a few weeks ago, I had a chance to visit the Chrysler plant in Belvidere. At a time when the automotive industry in the United States is shrinking, here in Illinois it’s actually growing. General Motors cut 3… 30 thousand jobs across the country, Ford cut 30 thousand jobs across the country, but thankfully they left their plant in Illinois. And Chrysler just recently announced their decision to make the new Dodge Caliber at their plant in Belvidere. That means a second shift and it means 1 09400094.doc 13 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 thousand brand new jobs. Stop and think for a second about what we’ve done here. We dug ourselves out of the worst fiscal crisis in our state’s history. We did it while investing more in education. We did it while giving more people health care, and we did it without raising the income tax or raising the sales tax, leaving Illinois with the lowest average income tax rates in the region. And as for pensions, it is indisputable that we have strengthened our pensions over the last 3 years. I knew that was gonna wake you up, too. We have invested more money in our pensions than any administration in Illinois history. That’s a fact. Our pension obligation bond has get… generated significant investment returns, that was good financing. Our reforms reduced our long-term liability and by reducing headcount, we have shaved $5 billion off our long-term pension obligations. Three years ago, 3 years ago the pension systems were funded at 48 percent. Today, 3 years later, they’re funded at 60 percent. Three years ago, for every $100 we owed, $48 went into the pension system. Today, for every $100 in the pension system… for every $100 we invest in the pension system, $60 goes into the pension system. Now there’s more work to do, but we have made real progress. Now that brings us to today and where do we go from here. I’m purposing a budget that invests a lot more money in our schools, helps more money… helps more people get health care, helps our police fight crime, creates more jobs, strengthens our pensions, and streamlines our government. We have 57 thousand employees doing what 70 thousand did just a few years ago. But now we can leverage management 09400094.doc 14 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 expertise from the private sector and use technology to do even more with less. Ideally, State Government should have one payroll system, one human resources system, and one accounting system. Instead we have nine payroll systems, 38 human resources systems, and 104 accounting systems. Our efforts so far to streamline government have already saved us hundreds of millions of dollars, but we can streamline even more. That’s why I wanna combine our administrative functions and make government a lot less expensive and a lot less complicated. This is a big change but we can make it happen. And when we do, we can save the taxpayers of Illinois more than $115 million a year. There are four things I wanna achieve in this budget when it comes to health care. First, we are going to enroll all uninsured kids into our AllKids program. Next, our veterans’ care plan will begin to cover our uninsured veterans starting with those veterans below the poverty line who live the furthest from VA medical centers. And now let me tell you about two new proposals in the area of health care. By the year 2020, we’re going to need 21 thousand more nurses. Our current workforce of nurses is nearing retirement. We need more nurses. So, my plan to address the nursing shortage includes: more scholarships for nursing students, help nursing schools add more faculty to train more students, help nurses pay their students loan… student loans, and make sure we process nursing licenses faster. Stem cell research holds the promise of curing diseases, diseases that afflict our parents and our grandparents, diseases that afflict our children, diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and 09400094.doc 15 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 juvenile diabetes. If there’s an opportunity to cure those diseases, I believe we oughta seize it. Last year we became the first state in the Midwest to publicly fund stem cell research; we took a step forward. But if we wanna keep moving forward, we need to make a decision, all of us. Are we for stem cell research or not? If we are, then we oughta pass a Bill that funds it. Comptroller Dan Hynes and I have proposed… have a proposal on the table, $100 million over 5 years to fund stem cell research. We can pay for it from tobacco settlement proceeds. For anyone with a parent, for anyone with a grandparent, a child, a loved one, or a friend who suffers from a disease that can be cured by stem cell research, we can offer them more than just our hopes and our prayers. We can offer them the possibility that the… the disease they have can one day actually be cured. I don’t know about you but I say let’s keep creating jobs. We’ve added 64 thousand jobs in the past year but we can do so much more. Many of our cities have riverfront properties. Unfortunately, many of those riverfront properties are environmentally contaminated after years of industrial use. From Alton to Peoria, Rock Island to Elgin, we can do more with our riverfronts, clean the environment, and create new jobs. That’s why I’m proposing the River’s Edge Tax Credit that gives developers incentives to clean and develop brownfields along our rivers. By forming partnerships with riverfront cities, we can revitalize our riverfronts across Illinois and by the way, create thousands of jobs. We’ve already been working with the City of Aurora and with Mayor Tom Weisner. And I’d like to thank Mayor Weisner for his 09400094.doc 16 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 vision and for his good ideas. We passed a tax credit in 2003 that gave studios a reason to start making movies here in Illinois again. Since then… you like that, huh? Since then, Illinois has become a mecca for making movies and we now have the first TV drama filmed here in 6 years. But recently other states have passed tax credit that are far more generous than ours. If we are going to maintain our competitive edge, we need… we need our film tax credit to be expanded. And we can create over 230 thousand jobs all across Illinois if we pass our jobs plan. These are good jobs and they’re good paying jobs and they are jobs in every part of Illinois. They pay anywhere from 40 thousand to 120 thousand dollars a year. And these jobs will help us build new roads, build new schools, and build better mass transit facilities. If you wanna keep our economy moving in the right direction, we must put partisan politics aside, let’s pass a jobs Bill, let’s put people to work. We’ve been working to improve the regulatory climate for business. If you get a chance, check out our new business portal website at businessillinois.gov. Our business portal is one-stop shopping for licensing, regulations, permits, and grants. Now it’s time to take the next step. There are 1 million professionals who rely on the state for their licenses… for their… for their licenses or grants to be renewed. We’re going to speed up that process and we’re going to do what it takes to get those licenses issued faster from 4 to 19 weeks, which is what it is today, down to 1 to 4 weeks. Crime is down and we want that to continue. That’s why I believe we should add new front-line police officers, create 09400094.doc 17 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 the Prairie State DNA Institute and create a new prison… a new prison facility to help meth users break the cycle of crime and addiction. We should build the Prairie State DNA Institute. Over the last few years we’ve invested an additional $7.3 million to bring the DNA backlog down from 10 months to less than 3 months. Most of our forensic samples are processed in labs by other states. We brought the backlog down considerably but unless we bring the process fully under our control, we will always be at the mercy of labs in other states. The Prairie State DNA Institute means taking full control of that process, training forensic scientists at our own universities, and even developing a new cottage industry of forensic scientists here in Illinois. A little while ago, I talked about the progress we’ve made in strengthening our pensions. We have made progress but there’s a lot more to do. That’s why today I’m proposing four new steps to increase funding to help our pensions. First, dedicate the revenue from the sale of the tenth casino license to our pension systems. That’s a long-term solution that we need to begin thinking about now. Next, give incentives to teachers so it makes financial sense for them to teach longer and start collecting their pensions later. Third, use the proceeds from selling surplus state property for our pensions. And last, identify sources of revenue for this specific purpose, new sources of revenue, so that we can contribute to the state pensions systems and keep a steady flow of funding. We have to continue to invest in our pensions so that we can meet our responsibilities to the workforce of yesterday and 09400094.doc 18 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 the workforce of tomorrow. But we also have to meet our responsibilities to the workforce of tomorrow. So now, I wanna talk about our investments in education. The education budget I’m proposing today has four major components: $400 million in new funding for schools, a grant program to reduce class sizes, a $1 thousand tax credit to help pay for college, and universal preschool. The $400 million increase in education funding would come from three sources: increased revenue growth, transfers from special- purpose funds, and closing unfair corporate loopholes like the one that keeps the Department of Revenue from actually being able to crack down on businesses that cheat on their taxes. If we pass this proposal and invest another $400 million in new funding for our schools, we will have increased education funding by $3.8 billion over the last 4 years, $3.8 billion over the last 4 years without raising taxes on the hardworking people of Illinois. We’re not only providing more money for K through 12 education, this budget also increases funding for higher education by $40 million. Public universities would get $18 million to make sure they can offer competitive salaries to their faculty. Our community colleges would get $7 million in new grants and we’ve expanded our MAP financial aid program by $8 million to help more lower income and middle-class students afford college. This brings us to preschool. I’m going to ask us to take a break from the charts and graphs for a second and talk about preschool for all children. Children learn better when they have a chance to go to preschool. They learn how to read better. They do better in school. 09400094.doc 19 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 They’re 30 percent more likely to graduate from high school. They’re 41 percent less likely to need special education. And a study by the State Board of Education found that through the eighth grade nearly 80 percent of children who attended preschool rank as average or above average. How a child reads by the third grade is widely considered the single best indicator of how that child will do in school. Children who begin to learn by the age of three have higher reading scores by the third grade than children who don’t. And when you think about it, it makes sense. Scientists tell us that 90 percent of brain growth occurs before the age of five. So, giving children the opportunity to learn while their brains are still developing is far more significant than teaching them the same things later on. Now, for those of us who are parents, stop and think for a second about your own experiences with your kids. I see it almost every day with our little girl, Annie. She’s two and a half and every time I turn around, she’s discovered a new idea, learned a new word or two, or has something new to say. The opportunity for children to learn during these precious years shouldn’t be squandered, it should be embraced. But a three-year-old or a four-year-old can’t say, ‘Mom, send me to preschool.’ And a parent can’t do it if preschool isn’t available. This isn’t just a nice thing we should do, we have an obligation to make preschool available. It is up to a parent to decide whether their child should go to preschool but it is up to us to make sure they have that choice. So, I’m proposing that we make Illinois the first and only state in America to give every 09400094.doc 20 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 three-year-old and every four-year-old the chance to go to preschool. Every child should have access to preschool and every parent who wants to should be able to send them there. And that includes parents of low-income families. We should help them send their kids to preschool. This is the best way to start their kids on the right track. Why would we handicap the children of those in need when we instead can give them the tools to build a better life. And then there’s the middle class and here again, just like it was when it came to health care for their kids, it’s the middle- class who finds themselves left out. They do most of the work, they pay most of the taxes, but for middle-class families that earn less than $75 thousand a year, half of their children don’t attend preschool. We know preschool works. We know it pays off. We also know that the cost of private preschool is often out of reach for too many families. They simply can’t afford it. They shouldn’t be penalized for being middle class. Their kids should have the same opportunity as everyone else. That’s why I’m asking you to join me, let’s make Illinois the first state in the nation to offer universal preschool to every three- year-old and every four-year-old. Thank you. What I’m asking you to do is more than pass a Bill or pass a budget. I’m asking you to embrace a broader vision, a vision that all children oughta have access to health care and all children oughta have access to preschool. We are in the position we’re in today, where we can give every single child access to health care and every single child access to preschool, because for the past 3 years we have consistently 09400094.doc 21 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 worked to change the priorities of State Government. We stopped spending the people’s money on things that don’t really help people and instead, started investing in our children and in our future. Now, I understand… now, I understand some of you may not agree with this proposal. You’ve said things like, ‘Sometimes you just have to say ‘no’.’ I agree. But the question is, ‘Who do you say ‘no’ to?’ Are we going to say ‘no’ to giving a child the chance to go to preschool or are we going to say ‘no’ to a corporate loophole that protects tax cheats? Are we going to say ‘no’ to giving a child the chance to start learning early or are we going to say ‘no’ to the special interests wants… that wants to protect their funds? Are we going to say ‘no’ to a parent who gets up every single day and goes to work, who does a good job, and every day works as hard as she can, who plays by the rules and pays her taxes or are we going to say ‘no’ to those who would roll back the progress we’ve made in making government smaller and more efficient? You wanna hear me say ‘no’? Okay. I say ‘no’ to corporate loopholes that puts small businesses at a disadvantage. I say ‘no’ to special interests who put their funds ahead of everyone else. I say ‘no’ to returning to the old days of bloated state payrolls. But I say ‘yes’ to making sure every child gets health care. I say ‘yes’ to making sure every three-year-old and every four-year-old gets a chance to start school early. And I say ‘yes’ to the idea… I say ‘yes’ to the idea that government ought to be investing in its children, that government ought to be investing in its future. Thank you. I’m gonna try to say something that you 09400094.doc 22 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 guys might like. Now… now, we are all in the business of choosing. What you say ‘yes’ and ‘no’ to defines who you are, what you stand for, what values that you believe in, and whose side you’re on. So, I’m asking you, say ‘yes’ to our kids. I am asking you to say ‘yes’ to universal preschool. If we pass this budget, it means universal preschool. It means children will go to school with smaller class sizes. It means they’ll go to schools that will have benefited from an increase of $3.8 billion in state funding over the last 4 years. It means graduating from high school with tougher standards, more science, more math, more reading, and more writing. And it means a $1 thousand tax credit for college. This budget is about continuing to make progress for the people of Illinois. A few weeks ago, I unveiled a number of initiatives to do that. I’d like to conclude by giving you a clear sense of where we can take our state. We inherited a massive deficit. We balanced the budget by controlling spending, reducing the payroll, consolidating agencies, and setting the right priorities. Now, we can remake government even further by combining all of our administrative functions and eliminating the endless duplication of work across State Government. We inherited a deep recession and job loss. We turned that around and added 64 thousand new jobs last year. Now, we must take several more steps, including a jobs Bill that will create 230 thousand new jobs. Education was underfunded. We invested $2.3 billion, expanded preschool, and raised standards. Now let’s help every three- and four-year-old go to preschool, reduce class sizes, invest another $400 09400094.doc 23 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 million in our schools, and give students a $1 thousand tax credit for college. Not enough people had health care, we turned that around and became the number one state in America that gives people access to health care. More working parents than any other state, health care for every child, improved prescript… prescription drug coverage for seniors, and now we can begin to cover our veterans who don’t have health care. We can work to solve the nursing shortage and cure critical diseases through stem cell research. On public safety, we inherited the dual challenges of fighting crime and fighting terrorism. The crime rate is falling. Highway fatalities are at a 60-year low and we are recognized as one of the top states in homeland security preparedness. Now, we can add more police officers, build the Prairie State DNA Institute and end the cycle of crime and addiction for meth addicts. So, let’s take one final look at where we were, how far we’ve come, and where we need to go. Just a few years ago, we had a budget with a record deficit, a bloated payroll, and misplaced priorities. Since then, we’ve eliminated the deficit, done more for our schools than 43 other states and any administration in Illinois history, made Illinois the only the state to guarantee health care to every child, created new jobs, brought down the crime rate, and reduced the size of government. The budget I presented today builds on that progress. This is a budget that does more for the people of Illinois. Now, there are those who wanna take the line item we put into this budget to expand health care for kids and cut it. There are those who would pursue policies 09400094.doc 24 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 that would have us cut education. There are some who are tempted to protect a special interest loophole instead of providing a preschool slot for a child who needs it. There are those who would slash the funding we put in for stem cell research, for more nurses, or even for our efforts to protect seniors from Medicare cuts. The cuts some wanna make are not black ink on a white page. They are cuts that hurt people. They are cuts that abandoned our commitment to one another. We have found a way, not an easy way, but we found a way to balance our budget while staying true to our values and true to our principles. You have done the right thing. The gravitational pull of partisanship will say, cut, slash, burn, take us back. I say, let us continue to move forward. We are here to do good things for the hardworking people of Illinois and one of the ways we can keep doing that is to pass a budget that is about helping them. Let’s pass this budget. Thank you and God bless the people of Illinois.”
“Will the Committee of Escort please come forward to escort the Governor from the chamber. Will the Committee of Escort please come forward. The President of the Senate is recognized for a Motion.”
“Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move that the Joint Session do now arise.”
“The President of the Senate has moved that the Joint Session do now arise. All those in favor say ‘aye’; those opposed say ‘no’. The ‘ayes’ have it. And the Joint 09400094.doc 25 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 Session will now arise. The regular Session will come to order. Mr. Hannig… Mr. Hannig in the Chair.”
“We still have a few minutes before the House will adjourn for the day, so we’re gonna start on page 8 of the Calendar under the Order of House Bills-Third Reading. We’re gonna go down the Calendar. The first Bill is House Bill 4186. Representative Feigenholtz, do you wish to call this Bill? Out of the record. Representative Sommer, you’re next on the list with House Bill 4196. Mr. Clerk, read the Bill.”
"House Bill 4196, a Bill for an Act concerning local government. Third Reading of this House Bill.”
“Representative Sommer.”
“Thank you, Mr. Speaker. 4196 is… removes the sunset on the legislation that allows townships to regulate buildings that are in disrepair. This is a provision that’s allowed to municipalities and county government and we granted it to townships a number years ago and there’ve been no problems with this legislation. So, I ask for your favorable vote.”
“The Gentleman has moved for the passage of House Bill 4196. This is on Short Debate. Does anyone stand in response? Then the question is, ‘Shall this Bill pass?’ All in favor vote ‘aye’; opposed ‘nay’. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Clerk, take the record. On this question, there are 114 voting ‘yes’ and 0 voting ‘no’. And this Bill, having received a Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Representative Watson on House Bill 09400094.doc 26 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 4222. Out of the record. Representative Mathias on House Bill 4223. Mr. Clerk, read the Bill.”
"House Bill 4223, a Bill for an Act concerning public aid. Third Reading of this House Bill.”
Speaker Hannig: “The Gentleman from Lake, Representative Mathias.”
“Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. House Bill 4223 has been before this Body before under a different number. It would provide for a phased-in rate increase for Medicaid home health, first by raising the rates from the present 61.34 to $70 per visit and then up to $80 per visit the following year. The new rate applies to skilled nursing and therapy visits only. This program serves people of all ages, 25 percent of our patients are children, 30 percent are seniors. Our children’s are typically babies on apnea monitors and others. The adults have cellulitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, sickle cell disease, stroke, congestive heart failure, injury, and cancer. Medicaid home health services are medical services prescribed by a doctor. The previous Bill was House Bill 213, which passed out of the House about a year ago on a vote of 103… with 103 affirmative votes. This year’s Bill… that Bill had a fiscal note of $7 million, this year’s Bill is less than 2 million for the first year, less than 4 million after that, both of which… both of which have a federal match, which means it really is less than a million dollars this year. I ask for your support for House Bill 4223. Thank you.” 09400094.doc 27 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006
“The Gentleman has moved for the passage of House Bill 4223. Is there any discussion? Then the question is… excuse me. Representative McCarthy.”
“Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
“He indicates he’ll yield.”
“Representative, are there any opponents to your legi…?”
“Well, the Department… the state Department of Health, whatever their name is today… fisca… who’s… who would manage the Department of Human Services and the Department of Healthcare and Family Services there. But only for fiscal reasons, not for the program itself, which they’re in favor of. But not… but they just stated it’s, ya know, for fiscal reasons.”
“Okay. So, the… I’ve been asked by staff what the Bill number was last year.”
“A year ago. A year ago it passed on a vote of 103… with 103 affirmative…”
“What was the number of that Bill? Do you know?”
“Pardon me?”
“Do you know the number of that Bill?”
“Yes. That was House Bill 213 and it actually had a hi… a substantially higher fiscal note. This one we’re actually reducing.”
“What is the fiscal note this time?”
“I believe the first year it would be less than 2 million, and then the second year it would be less than 4, but there’s a federal match which would cut that in half.” 09400094.doc 28 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006
“Oh, okay. And you’re saying the department’s opposition was basically on fiscal nature and nothing else.”
“Strictly fiscal note, yes.”
“All right. Thank you.”
“The fiscal… yes.”
“Representative Hamos.”
“Thank you, Ladies and Gentlemen. To the Bill. I’m assuming that this is not yet in the budget, but what we just heard from our Governor is that, in fact, times are better than they used to be. This is a Bill that allows people to stay in their homes and avoid unnecessary and unwanted institutionalization. It’s as simple as that. That is exactly what this Bill is about. And the more opportunities we have to make sure that health care is being provided in the home when it’s possible to do that, the more we can save on the institutional side of… of helping people. That’s why this is an important Bill. But by voting for it, we also need to make sure it gets into the budget.”
“Is there any further discussion? Then the question is, ‘Shall this Bill pass?’ All in favor vote ‘aye’; opposed ‘nay’. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Clerk, take the record. On this question, there are 114 voting ‘yes’ and 0 voting ‘no’. And this Bill, having received a Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Mr. Clerk, read House Bill 4222.”
"House Bill 4222, a Bill for an Act concerning sex offenders. Third Reading of this House Bill.”
“Representative Watson.” 09400094.doc 29 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006
“Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. House Bill 4222 provides for the active GPS monitoring of certain… a certain class of sexual predators, people that have been registered sexual predators. There is a price tag here of roughly, according to DOC estimates, $7 million. I would be more than happy to answer any questions.”
“The Gentleman has moved for passage of House Bill 4222. And on that question, the Gentleman from Cook, Representative Fritchey.”
“Thank you, Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
“He indicates he’ll yield.”
“Representative… and you and I just spoke, and I… and I appreciate that. As you’re aware, there will… there will be additional legislation coming before this Body soon because, presently, the sex offender registry does not include solely sex offenders.”
“Exactly.”
“And it is your intention to have this apply to sex offenders who are technically sex offenders, not just individuals that are on the registry?”
“Correct. I think what you’re getting at is you have a piece of legislation that may take individuals who are not what… what we would traditionally think of as sexual offenders and take them off that list and have a separate list, and I… and I wholeheartedly agree. And the intention of this legislation is… is to only target those that we would think about as sexual predators. So I… I guess your Bill combined with this Bill would… would be a good thing.” 09400094.doc 30 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006
“Let me a… let me ask you… ‘cause actually, the Bill does some other… most people will focus on the monitoring provision of this Bill, but it actually does some very substantive things that are not related to monitoring. And I’m not sure if I have issue with them or not, but I do think the Body should be apprised of these. Right now, the monitorings… or the registration provision that we have right now is lifetime registration, is that correct?”
“For cer… yes. For… for the predators, yes.”
“For pe… for pe… for sex offenders, we presently have lifetime registration in Illinois. You’re actually seeking to reduce that registration period from what it is presently, correct?”
“No, that is not correct. All we are saying is if… while they are on… as a condition of parole or mandatory supervised release, certain individuals that meet this criteria are tracked with active GPS monitoring. It is a tracking Bill, not a registration Bill.”
“Well, I’m… I’m looking at the provision that talks about the ability to petition for revocation after 40 years.”
“That has been removed.”
“That… that’s… I apologize. ‘Cause I’m looking at an old analysis then. And the provision about registering twice a year as opposed to once a year?”
“That is still in.”
“And what’s the… what’s the idea behind that?”
“We feel… I feel it’s… it’s stricter.”
“Have… have you discussed this with the State Police?” 09400094.doc 31 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006
“I’m sorry?”
“The State Police, do they have a position on semiannual registering?”
“They did not give us a position. We did inform them of what we were doing.”
“The re… the re… the semiannual registration… the semiannual registration would apply to all individuals presently required to register under the sex offender registry, correct? It’s… it’s not just with respect to the monitoring.”
“Hold on one second, please.”
“Thank you. And let… let me just clarify the question so you understand it. It’s just…”
“Yeah, correct. It is for everyone.”
“So… so, everybody that is presently required to register or check in once a year would now be required to check in twice a year?”
“Correct.”
“Was that a… was that your own initiative or did that come from the State Police?”
“That was our own initiative.”
“Do we know… is that being done elsewhere? Because, I mean, keep in mind, they’re required to register whenever there’s a change of address or things along those lines. So whenever there is a change in circumstances that would warrant attention being paid to it, attention’s being paid to it. And I guess what I’m getting at, I… I don’t know what the semiannual registration does other than add a certain amount of cost in bureaucracy here.” 09400094.doc 32 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006
“I can tell you this, the intention when we put it in there was to keep closer tabs on these individuals that… that we are concerned of their whereabouts.”
“But… but with respect to their whereabouts, that’s not the registration with the State Police, that’s the registration with the local officials. So right… and again, I’m not trying to derail you here.”
“Representative Fritchey, your 5 minutes have expired. Could you bring your remarks to a close?”
“Didn’t know I was on the clock. Last question. You’re proposing to make a felony for somebody that has a reasonable belief that somebody hasn’t complied with the registry. Is that still in here?”
“That is still in there.”
“So they don’t have to have actual knowledge. If it’s found that they had a reasonable belief and they don’t act in that reasonable belief, they become a felon themselves.”
“Let me get the language.”
“And then I’m done in deference to the Speaker.”
“Representative, the only… the part I would say is it also adds, ‘If they provide false information, harbor, attempt to harbor, or conceal, or attempts to conceal.’ So there are three criteria there.”
“Speaker, if I could follow up with this, I’d appreciate it. Otherwise, I can have a Member yield me some time.”
“Okay. There are three others who wish to speak as well, but if you wish to ask…”
“I’ll wait.” 09400094.doc 33 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006
“I’d like to see you conclude your remarks shortly, Representative.”
“I’ll wait. Go ahead.”
Speaker Hannig: “Representative Franks, you’re next on the list.”
“Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
“Indicates he’ll yield.”
“I wanna explore with you a little bit on the tracking issue. Help me understand it. What… you mentioned a GPS device. Would this be a bracelet, an anklet, or would it be something that…”
“It would be at the discretion of Department of Corrections.”
“Would there be anything with embedding in… in…”
“No.”
“Okay. That’s what I wanted to make sure. Okay, thank you.”
“Thank you.”
“Representative Delgado.”
“Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
“He indicates he’ll yield.”
“Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Representative, hi. Just for legislative intent, I know this Bill came through committee on Judicial Law, and I raised the question and I hope we’ve addressed it. I’ve… there’s been a lot noise here in the chamber, so please forgive me if I’m redundant here.”
“Okay.”
“Are you aware that in the Department of Corrections… what you’re trying to do here in sex offender monitoring, I 09400094.doc 34 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 applaud, and the GPS system and knowing where folks are at within any particular zone. But I am concerned with the fiscal impact note, seeing that if you do indeed have the sex offenders, are you aware that any person convicted of a murder of a young person less than 18 years old… less than 18 years of age, they’re gonna automatically put on the sex offenders registry and, therefore, inflating your numbers, therefore, inflating this fiscal impact. Do you still have that language in or have you amended… is that Amendment #2 and has that been eliminated?”
“The language is still there. It is… it was not my intention to have those individuals, as I discussed in committee. And that was what we thought. I would say this, that Representative Fritchey’s Bill will handle this, will take care of that. And… and if… should this Bill get out and go to the Senate, I will definitely work with the Senate Sponsor to make sure we are not wasting time tracking individuals for something that we did not have the intention of doing.”
“Thank you, Representative. To the Bill, Mr. Speaker. I totally applaud Representative Watson’s approach to this piece of legislation. He was very inviting to make it sure that he only captured the universe that he was looking for, something that is very needed. As a former parole agent that helped implement the… the GPS down in the State of Florida and having the opportunity to work that, my fine would be very sincere. And the fact that Repre… the previous speaker, my colleague, also has a piece of legislation, and I’m also monitoring it, so that we can have 09400094.doc 35 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 a fine piece. I know Representative Watson’s intention is a very good one and I hope we can all see ‘green’ buttons on there. He’s been very, very concerned about making a fine piece of legislation, and I would ask that side of the aisle to join him in an ‘aye’ vote.”
“Representative Lang.”
“Thank you. Will… Thank you. Will the Sponsor yield?"
“He indicates he’ll yield.”
“Thank you. Representative, I know you’ve worked very hard on this Bill and I applaud your work and I… I agree with the direction you’re going, but there’s one Section of the Bill that I have to ask you about.”
“Okay.”
“It’s… it deals with a third person who has a reasonable belief that the… the previous offender has not checked in or is violating the law in some way. How do you define ‘reasonable belief’?”
“Well, there are three criteria there. One is ‘provides false information to law enforcement agency, harbors or attempts to harbor, conceals or attempts to conceal.’ If they do any of those three things.”
“And… and so, for a person to be eligible for a felony conviction they will have had to have done all three of those things?”
“Or… Any of.”
“But it… it requires an actual behavior or conduct on behalf of that person. Is that correct?”
“Absolutely.” 09400094.doc 36 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006
“It… and so, it simply wouldn’t be knowledge. That person would have to take that knowledge and do something with it or… or… or hide the truth about it affirmatively in some way?”
“Correct. That is my intention.”
“All right. Well, I wanted to make sure that was on the record. Thank you, Representative.”
“Thank you.”
“Representative Molaro.”
“Thank you… thank you, Mr. Speaker. Usually, Bills like this I actually do a chairman’s prerogative and sometimes don’t call ‘em only because of the price tag. And this one could cost anywhere from 3 to 5 million dollars and we’re gonna try to pin that down as it moves over to the Senate. The only reason I did call this Bill is because the Sponsor, as was said by Representative Delgado, was so sincere and worked out everything and worked with me to allay as many concerns as I had with the Bill. That type of passion I just could not say ‘no’ to, and I think he’s onto something and I think he’s right. Now, the cost of the Bill is the cost of the Bill. And we’re gonna have to make a lot of decisions as we move forward as to whether something costs something, do we just say ‘no’ to it. This may be one of these times that even though there’s a cost to it, we should say ‘yes’ because it’s such a good idea. Representative Watson, I do applaud your hard work and your passion, and it does seem like a heck of an idea. So, I’m voting ‘yes’. Thank you.”
“Okay. Representative Watson to close.” 09400094.doc 37 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006
“Thank you. I’d appreciate an ‘aye’ vote.”
“The question is, ‘Shall this Bill pass?’ All in favor vote ‘aye’; opposed ‘nay’. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Representative Turner, do you wish to be recorded? Mr. Clerk, take the record. On this question, there are 111 voting ‘yes’ and 0 voting ‘no’. And this Bill, having received a Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Representative Durkin, do you wish us to read 4286 on Third Reading? Out of the record. Representative Beaubien on 4293. Out of the record. Representative Eddy, do you wish us to read House Bill 4311? Mr. Clerk, read the Bill.”
“House Bill 4311, a Bill for an Act concerning sex offenders. Third Reading of this House Bill.”
“Representative Eddy.”
“Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. House Bill 4311 was a Bill that originated because of a school administrator’s concerns that when schools are polling places that… during the time that they’re open for people to vote, there is a possibility that sex offenders could be on school grounds. So, this Bill… the orig… origin of this was to make sure that those folks did not come on school grounds and could possibly threaten our children… our children’s safety. There’s also a provision in the Bill that would make it illegal for sex offenders to be within… knowingly be within 100 feet of a school bus stop. Representative Bradley offered an Amendment to the Bill that… for the future takes care of 09400094.doc 38 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 issues related to sex offenders voting by eliminating their opportunity to vote. I feel like this is an important step forward in protecting our children at school houses and I would appreciate your ‘aye’ vote.”
“This is on the Order of Short Debate. And in response, Representative Fritchey and the clock is on, Representative.”
“I appreciate the warning, Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?”
“Indicates he’ll yield.”
“Representative, and again, you’re capable of separating the Sponsor from the Bill and so am I. These are very easy targets for all of us. All of us deplore the underlying crimes, all of us deplore the individuals that commit these crimes. In our Constitution, in our history, in our speeches down here, we always talk about reintegrating people into society. The sex offender registry right now, as you are aware, as Representative Jerry Mitchell is aware because it’s affected situations in his district, and a number of people are going to become increasingly aware when my Bill comes to the floor, encompasses a lot of people that did not commit a sex offense. I’m hoping that we are gonna change that by the time this Session is over. But right now, we have restrictions on where sex offenders can live, on where an eighteen-year-old that is accused of improperly touching a sixteen-year-old girlfriend or boyfriend can live, we’re putting work restrictions on these people. We are now going to attempt to take away their right to vote and 09400094.doc 39 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 disenfranchise them, yet, say that we want to reintegrate them into society. I am not saying that you’re not sincere in this. I’m not saying that your motives are less than pure, but Ladies and Gentlemen, please think about what we’re doing and the rational relationship between the punishments that we mete out and the behavior or activities that they are shocked to punish or deter. Disenfranchising these individuals after they completed their jail term, after they are back out into society, after they are hopefully back on the straight and narrow, and not being… not becoming a recidivist criminal, disenfranchising them runs contrary to the concept of our Illinois Constitution which mandates that voting rights shall be restored not later than upon completion of the sentence. That’s Article III, Section 2 of the Illinois Constitution. The Constitutional Convention of this state, the Constitutions of a number of other states founded a very fundamental concept and a logical precept that when you’ve completed your sentence, your rights in society become restored to you. Should rights be limited? Yes, they should be limited. Is there a reason not to have a sex offender near a school, a church, a playground, et cetera? Of course, there is. Is there a reason to disenfranchise them, is something accomplished by taking their vote away from them? Even if the… my law… my Bill does become law and it just applies to sex offenders, I still don’t think that reason exists. But this Bill as applied to the law of Illinois today will take the franchise away from the teen-dating scenario that I told you about, a gangbanger, a number… if 09400094.doc 40 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 people don’t feel that you want violent criminals voting, that’s fine. But do not think that there is a nexus or a logical reason or a constitutional underpinning or any goal that is going to be achieved by taking the vote away from offenders. Ladies and Gentlemen, this makes for a nice hit on a mail piece, it makes for a very bad law. Thank you.”
“Representative Rose.”
“Ladies and Gentlemen… To the Bill, Mr. Speaker.”
“To the Bill.”
“This is not one of those esoteric discussions that come up in response to a problem that isn’t actually happening. This Bill’s in response to a problem that is happening and it’s alive and well, unfortunately, in Paris, Illinois. And the bus stop component of this came from the Tolono Community Unit School District and their superintendent who called me and Representative Eddy. You know, we have to do something when it comes to protecting our kids in the schools and on their way to schools and I would just urge this Body to pass this Bill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.”
“Representative Eddy to close.”
“Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I certainly respect the words of my colleague from the other side of the aisle. I understand his concerns and I… I wanna just respond to one thing. This… this is not a response to deplore anyone. I… I… there’s not… I’m not… not being judgmental, I’m trying to protect children. And I think that while there may be some concerns regarding whether or not part of this is maybe even gonna pass constitutional muster, the Bill does have a severability clause with… it contained within… within. And… 09400094.doc 41 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 and I also… I also wanna make sure everybody understands that the… the original intent and the objective of this Bill is still there. And that is to protect our children on school grounds from the potential of contact with sex offenders. And I would appreciate an ‘aye’ vote.”
“The question is, 'Shall this Bill pass?' All in favor vote 'aye'; opposed 'nay'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Clerk, take the record. On this question, there are 76 voting 'yes', 23 voting 'no'. And this Bill, having received a Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Representative Krause, do you wish us to read 4313? Mr. Clerk, read the Bill.”
“House Bill 4313, a Bill for an Act concerning State Government. Third Reading of this House Bill.”
“The Lady from Cook, Representative Krause.”
“Thank you, Mr. Speaker and Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. House Bill 4313 now addresses the issue of the importance of energy efficiency, and it provides that the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, by December 31, may proceed to give information to the public on energy efficient appliances by doing a link to the Energy Star Internet website. And it defines energy efficient appliances as those that qualify for an Energy Star prod… product under the Energy Star program administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The goal is here to get people with conscious again of looking for and possibly 09400094.doc 42 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 purchasing Energy Star appliances. I’d be pleased to answer any questions.”
“This Bill is on the Order of Short Debate. And in response the Gentleman from Cook, Representative Parke.”
“Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?”
“She indicates she’ll yield.”
“Representative, on this Bill when it was brought before the Energy & Environment Committee, was there anybody that rose in opposition to this Bill?”
“No, at that time I had filed the Amendment which then removed the opposition.”
“So that… you have Amendment #1 on this Bill, then?”
“Yes, yes. And that did remove the opposition.”
“Okay, fine. Thank you, Representative.”
“Is there any further discussion? Then the question is, 'Shall this Bill pass?' All in favor vote 'aye'; opposed 'nay'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Representative Jakobsson, would you wish to be recorded? Mr. Clerk, take the record. On this question, there are 114 voting 'yes' and 0 voting 'no'. And this Bill, having received a Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Representative Kosel, you have House Bill 4333. Out of the record. Representative Lindner, you have House Bill 4357. Mr. Clerk, read the Bill.”
“House Bill 4357, a Bill for an concerning civil law. Third Reading of this House Bill.”
“Representative Lindner.” 09400094.doc 43 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006
“Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Two years ago we passed the Grandparents’ Visitation Bill, these are some clarifications, some things that needed to be cleaned up in the Bill, and an elaboration on the conditions that must exist before filing a petition and also an elaboration on the standards. I’d be glad to answer any questions.”
“This is on the Order of Short Debate. Does anyone speak in response? Then the question is, 'Shall this Bill pass?' All in favor vote 'aye'; opposed 'nay'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Representative Currie and Hamos, do you wish to be recorded? Mr. Clerk, take the record. On this question, there are 112 voting 'yes' and 0 voting 'no'. And this Bill, having received a Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. On the top of page 9 of the Calendar is House Bill 4363. Out of the record. Representative Parke, you have House Bill 4375. Mr. Clerk, read the Bill.”
“House Bill 4375, a Bill for an Act concerning sex offenders. Third Reading of this House Bill.”
“The Gentleman from Cook, Representative Parke.”
“Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Ladies and Gentlemen of the House, 4375 is a Bill that affe… that amends the Sex Offender Registration Act. Many of you may be aware that when a convicted sex offender moves into a community, they must register at the local police department. Well, they also must… when they take employment, they must register at the local police department where their employment is. And what we’re finding is that sometimes we cannot find out if 09400094.doc 44 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 they’re… because they’re working somewhere whether or not there’s a sex offender. If in fact there happens to be a sex crime against a child that takes place, we have to go… we may then allow the State Police under my Bill to make a request to the deto… Department of Employment Security and ask, if in fact, that sex offender is working in that place. If they are in fact working there and not registered, then the State Police can arrest them for not registering at that location. I would ask the Body to vote ‘yes’ on this important piece of legislation.”
“This is on the Order of Short Debate. Does anyone stand in response? Then the question is, 'Shall this Bill pass?' All in favor vote 'aye'; opposed 'nay'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Representative Soto. Okay. Mr. Clerk, take the record. On this question, there are 114 voting 'yes' and 0 voting 'no'. And this Bill, having received a Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Representative Winters, do you wish us to read 4412? Out of the record. Representative Osmond. Mr. Clerk, read House Bill 4461.”
“House Bill 4461, a Bill for an Act concerning State Government. Third Reading of this House Bill.”
“The Lady from Lake, Representative Osmond.”
“Thank you, Mr. Speaker. House Bill 4461 requires… provides that the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity shall conduct a study regarding the recruitment and training of masters-prepared nurses to serve in the nursing school on faculty. I will answer any questions.” 09400094.doc 45 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006
“This is on the Order of Short Debate. Does anyone speak in response? Then the question is, 'Shall this Bill pass?' All in favor vote 'aye'; opposed 'nay'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Clerk, take the record. On this question, there are 114 voting 'yes' and 0 voting 'no'. And this Bill, having received a Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Representative Bradley on House Bill 4529. Out of the record. Representative Berrios, do you wish us to read House Bill 4606? Okay. Out of the record. Representative Patterson. Let’s see, that’s out of the record. Representative Graham. Out of the record. Representative McGuire, you have House Bill 4728. Mr. Clerk, read the Bill.”
“House Bill 4728, a Bill for an Act concerning transportation. Third Reading of this House Bill.”
Speaker Hannig: “The Gentleman from Will, Representative McGuire.”
“Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a very short and simple Bill. And what this Bill does, it puts the State of Illinois in line with the Federal Government as far as the requirements and restrictions for transportation of motor vehicles. And it… currently in Illinois… Excuse me, excuse me. This Bill requires any Illinois-based interstate carrier that is required under Federal Law to register to do so with the Illinois Commerce Commission. This includes both for-hire carriers and private carriers. And this Bill will bring Illinois Law within compliance of the Federal 09400094.doc 46 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 Law. That’s exactly what the Bill is about, Sir, and I’ll welcome any questions.”
“Okay. This Bill’s on the Order of Short Debate. Does anyone speak in response? Then the question is, 'Shall this Bill pass?' All in favor vote 'aye'; opposed 'nay'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Clerk, take the record. On this question, there are 114 voting 'yes' and 0 voting 'no'. And this Bill, having received a Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Mr. Clerk, read House Bill 4760.”
“House Bill 4760, a Bill for an Act concerning property. Third Reading of this House Bill.”
“Representative Ryg.”
“Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. This legislation is an initiative of the Lake County Recorder and State’s Attorneys Office. During an investigation of a mortgage fraud case, the state’s attorney questioned why the deed that was used was not notarized. Under current statute, the recorder is not authorized to require a document include notarization of the grantor’s signature. This Bill adds that requirement and creates an additional step to deter and help in the investigation of mortgage fraud.”
“The Lady moves for the passage of House Bill 4760. This is on Short Debate. Does anyone stand in response? Then the question is, 'Shall this Bill pass?' All in favor vote 'aye'; opposed 'nay'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all 09400094.doc 47 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 voted who wish? Representative Lindner, do you wish to be recorded? Mr. Clerk, take the record. On this question, there are 114 voting 'yes' and 0 voting 'no'. And this Bill, having received a Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Mr. Clerk, read House Bill 4764. Excuse me…”
“House Bill 4764, a Bill for an Act concerning revenue. Third Reading of this House Bill.”
“Excuse me. Representative Bost, for what reason do you rise?”
“Mr. Speaker, for a… for a inquiry of the Chair or personal privilege…”
“Yes.”
“…which… whichever way you wanna go. I was just… we were discussing here as we’re working through the… the Bills, that’s fine. Also today, though, with the Governor giving his budget address, normally it’s the procedure that the Governor presents us with an actual budget so that we can go through and look line item by line item. What we got was a slide show presentation in a form as… was pres… presented to us. Are… are we at some time going to actually get the opportunity as each Member to receive that budget? Is that gonna be sent to our offices? An… and how do we get that so that we can see, oh… oh, you know, the line item that we need to look at?”
“Yeah. Representative, the Governor will be required to actually introduce Bills in the House. In other words, the budget will be… be introduced.” 09400094.doc 48 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006
“Oh really, that’s… that’s the way that works now. So, we get a slide show, we can’t actually look at the line items. And… and this isn’t directed at you, he’s… he’s already left.”
“No… no, I think… I think, Representative…”
“I’m sorry he has. I’d like to ask him directly how that works.”
“I think and has… has always been the case, the Governor gives his speech and then he introduces his Bills.”
“No, actually… actually that’s not has it’s always been. Always been that we get a budget on our desks so that we can go back and actually make some studies and figure out what it is that we support or don’t support.”
“I’m…”
“And… and we really need to find out why it is that that is the procedure that he started into rather than giving us a slide show and… and… I mean it’s cute, don’t get me wrong, I mean it’s wonderful. But I… ya know, we each get to… we each get to… to vote based on line items and I want an actual budget.”
“I’m cer…”
“I don’t want all kinds of pipe dreams. I wanna budget.”
“We’ll advise the Governor’s Office to provide you with one, Representative. Okay. On House Bill 4764… Representative Black.”
“Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.”
“Do you have… do you have a question on the Bill or on the…”
“On the what? I mean, I’ll do whatever you want.” 09400094.doc 49 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006
“Well…”
“Am I supposed to ask a question or comment about something I didn’t hear?”
“No, Representative, I thought perhaps we’re gonna do some more editorials. But we could go to the Bills…”
“I’ll just…”
“…and ask…”
“Just let me…”
“Represent…”
“…let me revise and extend my remarks…”
“Please do.”
“…and the editorial writers have done a pretty good job of telling it like it is for the last couple of weeks, so I don’t need to go there.”
“Okay. So, why don’t we have Representative Gordon present the Bill.”
“Rep…”
“Representative Gordon. Represent…”
“Thank… thank you, Mr. Speaker. House Bill 4764 provides for a temporary suspension on the natural gas tax and the state portion of the sales tax on propane and heating oil. The suspension would be from February 1 of ’06 through April 30 of ’06. This is a good Bill for the consumers of the State of Illinois and I would ask for your ‘yes’ vote.”
“This is on the Order of Short Debate. Okay. Why don’t we just put it on regular de… regular debate so we 09400094.doc 50 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 can have some discussion. And on this question, the Gentleman from Vermilion, Representative Black.”
“Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?”
“She indicates she’ll yield.”
“Representative, how long have you been the Sponsor of this Bill?”
“Sir, I’ve… I’ve been a cosponsor, I guess, I would have to look at the status. But Representative… or excuse me, Speaker Madigan asked me to present the Bill on the floor this morning.”
“I asked Speaker Madigan if I could present the same Bill on the floor. My Bill was House Bill 4328, introduced a little quicker than this one. I asked him, it was one of my priority Bills, didn’t get out of Rules. All right. Who brought this Bill to you, the Speaker?”
“Yes. Yes, Sir.”
“Ahh. The end result, Representative, is one I will not vote against. And I have worked on this for 3 or 4 years, and I’ve often gotten the Bill out of Rules and it’s been killed in a subcommittee in the Department of Revenue. I have 8 thousand residents in my legislative district that have signed up for LIHEAP, 8 thousand. Natural gas is at an all-time high. My LIHEAP provider was out of money early, early in the winter. And I guess, I’m gonna swallow my pride, I guess it doesn’t make any difference whether my Bill doesn’t get out of the Rules. You’re carrying my Bill, it’s exact. The wording is the same, not one thing was changed, except the number, which means it was introduced 09400094.doc 51 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 after mine. It was reintroduced 20 days after I had introduced my Bill, and I put the Bill on my priority list and it would not be released from Rules. I… I don’t… I don’t mind what goes on here. As I’ve said before, imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, and I’ll take it at that. But I don’t understand why we have to do this. I would’ve been in more than willing to turn the Bill over to you if somebody had come to me and said, you need a Democrat Chief Sponsor. I would’ve been more than happy to add you as a cosponsor or the Speaker or anyone who wanted to be on this Bill.”
“And… and, Leader, in response, I… I thank you for that for giving me the trust that you would have in me to do that. Thank you very, very much. That’s truly a privilege and an honor.”
“And I… I mean what I say. I’m not being… I’m not being facetious and I hope you’re not. But the bottom line is…”
“Leader Black, I am definitely not being facetious when I answer your questions.”
“I… I thank you for that. I just don’t understand why we have to do this. Particularly in a case where I’ve worked on this elimination of sales tax on natural gas for 3 or 4 years and was always been defeated by Democrats in the House Revenue Committee. We couldn’t afford it, it wasn’t any of our business. I would’ve liked to have amended this Bill to include Lieutenant Governor Quinn’s suggestion that we put communities on this Bill. Chicago has a 9 percent local tax on natural gas and heating fuel. I think that’s an outrage. But the bottom line is this, I guess we have chosen to do 09400094.doc 52 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 business a little differently than perhaps we’ve done in the past and that’s fine. The important thing and the thing we need to focus on is that this Bill is important, it should’ve been past 2 or 3 weeks ago. Working men and women out there need help, and this may give them if it’s only 20 or 25 dollars a month in heating help, we need to do it, we need to do it as quickly as possible. And I… I only wanted to do one thing for my own peace of mind, Representative, but I couldn’t find a parrot. I wanted to have a parrot on my shoulder and turn to the parrot and say, ‘Argh, Polly, have you seen this Bill before?’ And the parrot would say, ‘Erp, our Bill, our Bill.’ The heck with our Bill. The heck with my Bill. I’ll lower the skull and crossbones. I commend you for carrying the Bill. It’s more important than the Speaker finally let the Bill out rather than kill mine. I want to be a cosponsor of your Bill, I intend to vote for the Bill, and I hope the Senate follows suit as early as possible. This Bill helps working men and women, and we’ve played enough politics with it. Now, let’s pass it.”
Speaker Hannig: “The Gentleman from Bond, Representative Stephens.”
“Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A point of personal privilege.”
“State your point.”
“You know, I’ve served for 22 years in this General Assembly. I’ve served with some… some great men and women, some… some power brokers who can really get it done. And I have never been more impressed than I am by the Gentleman 09400094.doc 53 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 from Murphysboro, Mike Bost. He spoke and the Governor listened and there’s the book. Mike Bost is my hero.”
“Now, read those from cover to cover. We’re gonna have a quiz pretty soon. Representative Mulligan.”
“Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Now, we know what happened to the Governor’s books for children. The fairy tale is here. Aside from that, it’s always hard to follow Representative Black in anything that he does, but if the Sponsor would yield, I’d like to ask a question.”
“She indicates she’ll yield.”
“Representative, our analysis says that this would be a loss in the budget of approximately 54.5 million in revenue. Is that what you’ve been told also?”
“Yes, that is the number that I have, Representative.”
“And it says, no proponents and no opponents. My question to you is, do you expect the Governor to sign this Bill and where is he is taking the money out of this current proposed budget if he… if he doesn’t… I mean, my guess is… this is a great Bill, I’d like to see it passed. I’d like to see it happen; people in my district also are… are suffering. I mean, I have people calling up about their gas bills in tears. But I… my understanding was that we were not doing any revenue cutting Bills and that I would presume that the Governor isn’t going to sign this.”
“I… I wouldn’t make a presumption like that. I can’t see into a crystal ball, Representative, but if… if it makes you feel any better, I personally will request a presence with the Governor to ask him to sign that Bill. It’s $54.5 million unquestionably, but that’s 54… $54.5 million that 09400094.doc 54 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 will stay in the pockets of the working families of the state… of the people of the State of Illinois. It’s $54.5 million that’ll make sure that they can pay their other bills, stay in their homes, and take care of their families.”
“Representative, I think just the Bill on its own will give you enough of a campaign piece. I don’t think we need to spend more time…”
“I don’t campaign on the House Floor, Representative.”
“Well…”
“Thank you.”
“I think you got this Bill just recently and… you know, we had all liked to see this because we’d all like to go home and say to the people in our districts as Representative Black’s Bill stated, that we saved them money here. But I would be surprised if the Governor signed it, I’d like to see him sign it, and I hope he’ll invite us all to the signing.”
“The Gentleman from Cook, Representative Parke.”
“…you, Mr… Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?”
“She indicates she’ll yield.”
“Thank you. Representative, in committee it was… there was a discussion as you may remember, that there was… you were gonna work with some of the utilities for some form of implementation of rules. And have you worked…”
“I wasn’t in… Sir, I wasn’t in Revenue Committee when this went through.” 09400094.doc 55 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006
“Ah… okay. So, you weren’t there at all then. Okay. So, then you just got this Bill recently?”
“I was asked by the Speaker this morning to present it to the House, Sir.”
“Okay, I understand completely. All right. Let me just say that… well, it’s difficult then to ask some technical questions about it. Do you have any idea since it says here in the Bill that there would be a February 1 effective date will… maybe you can ask your staff. Will somebody’s staff help her ‘cause I…”
“Sir…”
“…I think we need to know this.”
“…Representative Parke, do you think I need help with staff so far?”
“Well, yeah, ‘cause you couldn’t ans…”
“If… if I do, I’ll let you know. Go ahead, ask your question.”
“Febru… Well, I asked you about the implementation then you told me that you weren’t there in committee to… to remember.”
“In committee, but I’m here now, Sir.”
“All right. Don’t… I don’t think this is a good idea for us to get into this. I wanna know…”
“I agree.”
“I wanna know, is after this February 1 implementation date, will the taxpayers of the state that have bou… that are du… will they get a prorated refund?”
“I would hope so.”
“You don’t know then?” 09400094.doc 56 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006
“Well, February 1, they would have to follow the law. That’s why it’s still very important to get it passed today so that we can get this law into place and to the Governor’s desk.”
“So, you don’t know the answer then whether or not it’s prorated to… back there to…”
“Well, the companies are gonna have to follow the law. If it’s February 1, then, yes, they’re gonna have to follow the law. February 1 is February 1.”
“So, they’ll probably get a prorated refund?”
“I think so.”
“You think so. Would that be your intent?”
“Yes, it is. It’s definitely my intent.”
“Okay. Very good. And then I will ask, if there is… if there’s any intent to come up with some kind of implementation of the rules so that this can be implemented, ‘cause it’s rather… it’s gonna be a… quite sweeping, and do they know how to do that?”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t… I’m sorry. I didn’t hear your… your… like the third word of your que… something of rules.”
“Okay. There’s supposed to be some kind of agreement done on this that there was gonna be some form of implementation of rules and we still need that. Do you know if they’re gonna amend it in the Senate to try and achieve that?”
“I… I am unaware of that. I was not in committee; I know what’s in front of me. So, if… if that is something that you would like to see done in the Senate, I will 09400094.doc 57 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 definitely do as… the best that I possibly can, Representative.”
“Thank you.”
“Okay. Now, we’ve had two speak in favor and two in opposition or in response. Representative Molaro.”
“Thank you. I just wanna point out a… just a little narrow issue here and it was one of the… Representatives on the other side of the aisle that stood up and said it’s a good Bill or what the cost is, and was the Governor gonna sign it or not. The problem we’re gonna have when we continue this when we go to Third Readings, Representative just had a great crime Bill but it was gonna cost 4 or 5 million dollars. Either the Bill is a good Bill or it’s not a good Bill, there’s always some cost to it. And I guess we could keep asking each other and if it’s a Republican Bill, you get six Democrats, how you gonna pay for it? Then if it’s a Democratic Bill, we’re gonna get six Republicans jump up, how you gonna pay for it? Well, how do we know. I mean, the idea is we passed the legislation and what comes up is budget negotiations. Your Leadership goes, our Leadership goes, they’re gonna take Watson’s Bill, they’re gonna take Gordon’s Bill, they’re gonna look at, they both cost money, and the Leadership’s gonna decide where we are with it. So, I guess, either we’re gonna stop doing that or I guess, we just do it and say it’s a great Bill, but how you gonna pay for it? And we can continue that and just waste time so I don’t know, I just… I just wish we’d figure out a better way of doing that than just… if it’s a Republican Bill and it cost 5 million, we don’t hear a peep 09400094.doc 58 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 out of the Republicans, the Democrats jump up. If it’s a Democratic Bill and it costs money, then the Republican… you don’t hear a peep out of us, then the Republicans jump up. I… I don’t know it just seems a little silly and disingenuous and I just wish we’d stop it. Thank you.”
“Representative Winters.”
“Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?”
“She indicates she’ll yield.”
“Representative, is there kind of… any kind of means test in this Bill or would it be for any residential use of propane heating fuel?”
“I’m sorry. Is it a what?”
“Is there any means test?”
“Mean… the way… you mean the way…”
“Income. In other words, is there any break on whether Bill Gates if he was fortunate enough to live in Illinois, would he be allowed with a 20 thousand square foot house, burning ungodly amounts of energy to heat it during the winter. Would there be any differentiation between him and a working family that takes the last dollar of their paycheck to put fuel into their… into their home? Any differentiation at all between them?”
“It’s for everyone in Illinois, Representative.”
“I’m… I’m sorry, I cou…”
“It’s… it’s for everyone in Illinois.”
“In other words, this is another tax break for the rich that you’re trying to get us to buy on to. Another tax break for the rich. How can you have the conscience at a time when this state has budget deficits to tell them the 09400094.doc 59 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 überrich, those that have mansions, they’re tearing down houses in the suburbs so that they can build a bigger house. And yet, you’re going to subsidize their heating these mansions, without any discrimination because they’re so rich, you don’t care, they get a break.”
“I… I care a lot, Representative, but I don’t believe in discrimination.”
“We discriminate against people all the time. We tax… we tax people that earn money and those that dern… don’t earn as much, we tend not to tax them as much. We give ‘em a standard… a standard credit for every person in this state, that’s a way to make a progressive tax rate. But you’re completely ignoring that and just saying everybody deserves to have their home heating fuel not taxed by the state for these particular months. Is that correct?”
“I’m saying that the Bill covers everyone.”
“Well, it covers the good and the bad, the rich and the poor. Now, I think we ought to target our tax breaks maybe to the people that really need… need the help. And would ask that if this should get out, get over to the Senate, you ought to try to fix the Bill a little better than it is today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.”
“So, we’ve now had three in response and two in favor. Representative Sullivan is the last speaker and then we’re gonna close. So, Representative Sullivan.”
“Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Would the Sponsor yield?”
“She indicates she’ll yield.”
“Representative, the Bill came through the committee that I sit on, so I… I wanna clarify one thing as it moves 09400094.doc 60 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 over to the… to the Senate. In committee there was a discussion in regard to rural areas that have big propane tanks and buy their fuel ahead of time. So, in essence, they bought their full year supply and wouldn’t have any type of break under this Bill. Have you addressed that in the Bill or has someone explained to you what the concerns were in committee?”
“I… I… that was not told to me about what occurred in committee, Representative, no.”
“Okay. Well, I guess from my point of view I wanna bring this to your attention.”
“Thank you.”
“How you handle it is up to you, obviously. But in committee there was a discussion in regard to rural farmers that buy their propane ahead of time, so they’ve already paid for it, but they might not be eligible for the break that your Bill tries to do.”
“Were there sug…”
“So, if you could just…”
“…were there suggestions made in committee on how to remedy that, Representative?”
“I do not believe that there was discussions. I know the Majority Leader was part of the discussions, you might wanna talk to her. I’m only pointing this out to you so you can continue to work on it in the Senate. That’s all…”
“Thank you.”
“All right. Thank you.”
“Representative Gordon to close.” 09400094.doc 61 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006
“Thank you, Ladies and Gentlemen. This… this Bill is good for the consumers of Illinois and it’s very, very important that we make sure that people are able to take care of themselves and their family. I would urge your ‘yes’ vote.”
“The question is, 'Shall this Bill pass?' All in favor vote 'aye'; opposed 'nay'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Clerk, take the record. On this question, there are 114 voting 'yes' and 0 voting 'no'. And this Bill, having received a Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Representative Schock, for what reason do you rise?”
“Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise for a moment of personal privilege. With us here today in the gallery, Ladies and Gentlemen, are 80 individuals from my legislative district in Peoria, if you guys would stand up so you can be recognized. They’re here visiting the new Lincoln Presidential Museum and also here in the State Capitol. Please give them a warm welcome to Springfield.”
“Representative Will Davis, for what reason do you rise? Okay. We’re gonna do one more Bill and then break for committee. Representative Tenhouse. Mr. Clerk, read House Bill 4804.”
“House Bill 4804, a Bill for an Act concerning emergency management. Third Reading of this House Bill.”
“Representative Tenhouse.”
“Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. This Bill’s very simple, all it does is direct the 09400094.doc 62 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 Illinois Emergency Management Agency to include pets and service animals as far as the planning… as far as emergency planning is concerned. There’s no intention to put pets on the same level as human beings, but I think any of us who’ve dealt with, for instance, the flood of ’93, realize how important that… personal pets are. And all this says is that, as part of that planning process, they be included so that they would be removed, I guess, as part of that process if we have to do an evacuation. I would ask for a favorable Roll Call.”
“This is on the Order of Short Debate. Does anyone speak in response? Then the question is, 'Shall this Bill pass?' All in favor vote 'aye'; opposed 'nay'. The voting is open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Clerk, take the record. On this question, there are 114 voting 'yes' and 0 voting 'no'. And this Bill, having received a Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. I have two Motions to Table a Bill by Representative Froehlich and that’s House Bill 1295 and House Bill 4251. Those Motions are in writing. All in favor of the Gentleman’s Motion say ‘aye’; opposed ‘nay’. The ‘ayes’ have it. The Motions are adopted; the Bills are tabled. Mr. Clerk, you wanna advise us of our committee schedule for the afternoon.”
“Judiciary-Civil Law Committee that was to meet at 4 p.m. in Room C-1 has been canceled. Judiciary-Civil Law, Jud I, has been canceled that was to meet at 4 p.m. in C-1.” 09400094.doc 63 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006
Speaker Hannig: “Okay. Are there any announcements? Representative Molaro.”
“Yeah, just to make everyone clear. We are gonna meet… Judiciary-Criminal Law is staying at 8 a.m. ‘cause we do have some important people and state’s attorneys, judges coming down to testify. So, it’s 8 a.m. sharp, tomorrow, D- 1, I think it is. Thank you.”
“Representative Giles.”
“Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Elementary & Secondary Education will convene today at 4 p.m. So, Members who do want to call their pieces of legislation please be at Room 118 at 4 p.m.”
Speaker Hannig: “Any further announcements? Then allowing perfunctory time for the Clerk, Representative Currie moves that the House stands adjourned until tomorrow, Thursday, February 16 at the hour of 12 noon. All in favor say ‘aye’; opposed ‘nay’. The ‘ayes’ have it. The Motion is adopted and the House stands adjourned.”
“House Perfunctory Session will come to order. Introduction and reading of Senate Bills-First Reading. Senate Bill 2312, offered by Representative Joyce, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Senate Bill 2348, offered by Representative Schmitz, a Bill for an Act concerning local government. Senate Bill 2356, offered by Representative Dugan, a Bill for an Act concerning the State Comptroller. And Senate Bill 2448, offered by Representative Delgado, a Bill for an Act concerning aging. Committee Reports. The following… Introduction and reading of House Bills. House Bill 5580, offered by Representative 09400094.doc 64 STATE OF ILLINOIS 94th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 94th Legislative Day 2/15/2006 Smith, a Bill for an Act making appropriations and reappropriations. House Bill 5581, offered by Representative Flowers, a Bill for an Act concerning public employee benefits. This is First Reading of House Bills. Committee Reports. Representative Giles, Chairperson from the Committee on Elementary & Secondary Education, to which the following measure/s was/were referred, action taken on February 15, 2006, reported the same back with the following recommendation/s: 'do pass Short Debate' House Bill 5370 and House Bill 5550; 'do pass as amended Short Debate' House Bill 4974, House Bill 5547, House Bill 5375, and House Bill 2006. Representative Burke, Chairperson from the Committee on Executive, to which the following measure/s was/were referred, action taken on February 15, 2006, reported the same back with the following recommendation/s: 'do pass Short Debate' House Bill 874 and House Bill 4748; 'do pass as amended Short Debate' House Bill 686 and House Bill 5227; 'do pass Short Debate' House Bills 5008 through 5030, House Bills 5032 through 5095, House Bills 5391 through 5401, House Bills 5403 through 5512. There being no further business, the House Perfunctory Session will stand adjourned." 09400094.doc 65