"We will now convene the regular Session and with leave of the Body the quorum Roll Call for Special Session #1 will be the Roll Call for the regular Session. A quorum being present, we will now proceed with business. Mr. Clerk, Committee Reports."
"Representative Lyons, the Vice-Chairman from the Committee on Executive, to which the following measure/s was/were referred, action taken on July 19, 2007, reported the same back with the following recommendation/s: 'do pass as amended Short Debate' is Senate Bill 1167. Representative John Bradley, Chairperson from the Committee on Revenue, to which the following measure/s was/were referred, action taken on July 19, 2007, reported the same back with the following recommendation/s: 'recommends be adopted' is a Motion to Concur of Senate Amendments 1, 2, and 3 to House Bill 1519."
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman from Menard, Representative Brauer, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A point of personal privilege."
"State your point."
"For somebody that's looking for something to do tonight, Representative Poe and myself are donating barbequed pork at the Menard County Fair in Petersburg. Representative Poe takes and smokes it for about 18 hours and it's worth the trip. So, if anybody's looking for something to do and want a free meal at the Menard County Fair, 5 to 7." 09500096.doc 1 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 96th Legislative Day 7/19/2007
"Mr. Clerk, we have Senate Bill 1400. What's the status of that Bill?"
"Senate Bill 1400 is on the Order of Senate Bills-Third Reading."
"Sponsor asks leave to bring the Bill back to Second. Mr. Clerk, on Supplemental Calendar #1 we have Senate Bill 1167. Read the Bill."
"Senate Bill 1167, a Bill for an Act concerning property. No committee… Second Reading of this Senate Bill. Amendment #1 was adopted in committee. No Floor Amendments. No Motions filed."
"Third Reading. Mr. Clerk, Agreed Resolutions."
"On the Order of Agreed Resolutions is House Resolution 611, offered by Representative Bill Mitchell. House Resolution 612, offered by Representative Cross. House Resolution 613, offered by Representative Cross. And House Resolution 614, offered by Representative Watson."
"Representative Currie moves for the adoption of the Agreed Resolutions. All those in favor say 'aye'; all those opposed say 'no'. The opinion of the Chair is the 'ayes' have it. And the Agreed Resolutions are adopted. The Gentleman from Iroquois, Representative Cultra, for what reason do you rise?"
"Inquiry of the Chair."
"State your inquiry."
"Trying to make plans for this weekend. Does the Chair have any clue as to what we'll be doing as far as our schedule?" 09500096.doc 2 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 96th Legislative Day 7/19/2007
"I understand that that's under discussion right now. We'll probably have information later or certainly first thing tomorrow. But right now I don't have a definitive answer for you. There is discussion being talked about."
"Thank you."
"The Gentleman from Crawford, Representative Eddy, for what reason do you rise?"
"Inquiry of the Chair."
"State your inquiry."
"Similar inquiry regarding schedule, especially for those who are in hotels… checked in, and you mentioned it may not be until tomorrow, maybe later this afternoon. But for those folks, obviously, tomorrow would be nice. But it'd sure be nice before, you know, they… they make a decision as to stay or to check out of their hotel in the morning. Is there any indication whatsoever?"
"I know no more than I mentioned earlier, other than we are in Session tomorrow morning at 10:00. And so, tomorrow is a definite. Saturday, I can't speak on right now. If we hear something, we will notify your offices before the close of business today."
"Thank you."
"On the Order of Concurrences, we have House Bill 830. Representative Mathias."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If we recall I have previously filed a Motion on this Bill and I know there was some confusion as to what the Bill did and what didn't do. I know one of the confusions was that its talk… talked about 09500096.doc 3 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 96th Legislative Day 7/19/2007 mechanic's liens. I just wanna assure you that Amendment #7 becomes the Bill. It deletes Amendment #1. This has nothing to do with mechanics liens. This is an agreed Bill between the hospitals, between the doctors, between the trial lawyers to determine copying fees. I… if I did not explain it correctly last time, this Bill is… will mean a lot to your hospitals. If it does not pass, it will cost your hospitals a lot of money to hire personnel to deal with the issue of copying. If you personally wanna go and get copies or records from your hospital, you can get that right now for free. There's some dispute as to electronic copies, 'cause right now if you wanna get a paper… if your attorney subpoenas in paper copies, there is a charge already in the law for paper copies. This Bill actually sets a charge for electronic copies, which is less or lower than the current bill for paper copies. So, if anybody has any questions or doubts, I'm sure you might've heard from your hospitals already, this is an important Bill for them. It is an agreed Bill. And I ask for your 'aye' vote or be glad to answer any of your questions."
"The Gentleman from Champaign, Representative Rose, for what reason do you rise?"
"In support of the Bill. Ladies and Gentlemen, when you make a mistake you need to say so. I made a mistake the other day, I had intended to vote 'aye', I intend to vote 'aye' now. As Representative Mathias said this is an agreed Bill. And I would urge everyone to support it."
"The Gentleman from Vermilion, Representative Black, for what reason do you rise?" 09500096.doc 4 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 96th Legislative Day 7/19/2007
"Well, thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I had no idea it was an agreed Bill. I have an inquiry of the Chair."
"State your inquiry."
"This Bill was soundly defeated the other day. I mean soundly defeated. Is it on Postponed Consideration? I'm not interested in renewable Motions. We're not talking about renewable fuels here. Why is he able to bring this Bill back? I've got Bills on the Discharge Calendar I haven't been able to bring forward since the day they were born. They died before they had a chance to live and he's getting a second shot, a second bite of the apple, here."
Speaker Turner: "The Rules allow him to bring a second concurrence Motion. And he said he talked to you and he thought this thing was okay."
"He hasn't talked to me in six months."
"Maybe a note."
"What?"
"He sent you a note?"
"Well, come to think of it somebody did whisper to me back in the marble bathroom not long ago. It might've been him, I don't know. In fact, there was a note handed under the stall, but I was afraid to read it. Well, will the… will the Gentleman yield?"
"Indicates he will."
"Well, contrary to Representative Rose, I don't make many mistakes. I read this Bill very carefully and it allows a hospital to charge a tremendous amount of money if my attorney wants electronic records because I have filed a lawsuit against that hospital. How much money are the 09500096.doc 5 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 96th Legislative Day 7/19/2007 hospitals allowed to charge? Fifty dollars ($50) a page? Five hundred dollars ($500) a page?"
"I believe right now it's… whatever the charge is for paper copies, I believe this is half of that charge. So, it's 50 percent of the charge that the law already provides. I believe it's… I wanna say it's a maximum of a dollar fifty ($1.50), but I… I need… if you give me a moment, I will check that."
"While you're looking, can I ask Representative Winters where he got the cookie. Representative Winters is eating a cookie on the House Floor. Mr. Mapes… Mr. Mapes, you need to pay attention. Representative Winters is eating a chocolate chip cookie on the House Floor in abject… abject violation of the House Rules. I expect him to get the vacuum cleaner if I see so much as one chocolate chip cookie on this imported carpet. There's gonna be heck to pay. In fact, I just stepped… I'm not sure it was a chocolate chip."
"That wasn't the note you brought out of the bathroom was it?"
"No, I just looked down and that's stuck to my shoe. That's always neat, too. You'd think somebody would've told me it was there. Sid, could we play the Jeopardy theme song or should we get to him."
"I believe it's… it's… I believe the current one is a dollar twenty-five ($1.25) and I think this is… I'm trying to find it here. This is half of the current price and I was just… it's lower than what's being charged now." 09500096.doc 6 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 96th Legislative Day 7/19/2007
"Well, now, there you go. Now, why didn't you say that in the first place? You're actually reducing the cost, correct?"
"For electronic copies, that's correct."
"Representative Mathias, that's why I was so surprised that you were trying to raise the price. I knew… I know you better than that. You were actually reducing the cost for electronic records. Are you not?"
"That is correct."
"You fiscal conservative, you. I knew, I knew that that's what this was all about. And in fact, your reputation so proceeds you, I got a call from my local hospital this morning and they said they wanted me to deliver a message to Sid. And it was as follows… and they called you 'Sid' and I said, well, it's a good thing you call him 'Sid' because that's his name. But they said, 'We want you tell Sid he did a terrible job of explaining this Bill the first time, but now that you've said it's a reduction in cost and will actually save people money and the hospital think it's fair, this then becomes a good Bill.' Correct?"
"Absolutely."
"Sid, every Representative has their day. Yours wasn't yesterday, but you have lived to fight again another day. This is a good Bill. It wasn't a good Bill yesterday when I voted against it. But it's a good Bill now because it saves people money. So, I intend to vote 'yes'. I would urge everybody to vote 'yes' and I would entertain a Resolution from the chief of staff to censure Representative Winters 09500096.doc 7 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 96th Legislative Day 7/19/2007 for eating a chocolate chip cookie on the House Floor as soon as we're done with this outstanding Bill."
"The Gentleman from Winnebago, Representative 'chocolate chip' Winters."
"My… my name was used in debate and in response, Representative Black, I would've told you where I found the cookies if you hadn't ratted on me. So, good luck finding them."
"Representative Mathias to close."
"In all seriousness, this is an important Bill for the hospitals. And I ask for your 'aye' vote."
"Question is, 'Shall the House concur in House Bill 830?' All those in favor should vote 'aye'; all those opposed vote 'no'. The voting is now open. Representative Mathias, are you voting? The Clerk shall take the record. On this question, there are 98 'ayes', 6 voting 'no', and 1 voting 'present'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, the House does, in fact, concur in Senate Amendments 1, 7, and 8 to House Bill 830. And this Bill is now passed. Again, regarding the inquiry earlier today, regarding the weekend schedule. I want to advise the Members that we notify your offices as soon as we get the word as to what the schedule is. So, if you want to check with your offices later today or first thing in the morning, you will know what the weekend schedule is. But as soon as we get the information, we will notify all of your offices. And with that… with that Representative Currie now moves that the House stands adjourned until Friday, July 20, at the hour of 10 a.m. All those in favor say 'aye'; all those 09500096.doc 8 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 96th Legislative Day 7/19/2007 opposed say 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'ayes' have it. And the House stands adjourned until Friday, July 20, at 10 a.m." 09500096.doc 9