"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 lap top computers, cell phones and pagers. We ask the 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 Pastor Greg Ogle. Pastor Ogle is the pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church in Canton, Illinois. He is also the Chaplain of the Illinois State Patrol District #14 in Macomb, Illinois. Pastor Ogle is the guest of Representative Mike Smith."
"I'd like to thank you, also, for letting me come. I appreciate Mike Smith getting me here and… and I do appreciate all the House of Representatives. You're our frontline of service to our people in the State of Illinois and I do appreciate your… your honest efforts here. And so, let's go ahead and pray. Father, we love You, we thank You for the opportunity to have these great people to gather together. We're, ya know, in great turmoil across our country and we love our country and we want to serve our country. We all represent a people and those people, hardworking, even today as they sweat, we're trying to help them for the future. Lord, I think and I cannot forget to mention the men and women who are across on the other side of the world who probably don't know a lot what's going on in the world other than where they are at. I pray that You'd give them safety. Men and women who are in harm's way, please bring them back safely and victorious. Lord, I pray that You'd help their families who miss them tremendously. Lord, I think about the… the people that are 09500153.doc 1 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 in this room. I think about as they make their decisions today. I think about many times that they've paid a heavy toll to be where they are. I know that they have to listen to the constant barrage of phone calls and… and communities and businesses and Lord, they have families, too. They have husbands and wives and children and… and they have responsibilities at home and many times the family does not understand what a price they have paid. Father, I pray that You bless their families, keep them safe, help them to understand and be loving and kind when many hours are spent to keep this country great as it has always been. Father, I think about in the next few hours these men and women will put their heads together and try to come up with some things that will help us for the future. I think about in the first congressional matters that we've had in our country. They did not know what to do and they battled over great cause. And I think that it was Benjamin Franklin who stood up and said 'Men, we need to get God in on this and get his guidance.' And I think as these men and women know with the responsibility of their job they need help and guidance. And help them to make the decisions that will benefit us, not just for today but for many, many years to come, many generations to come. Lord, we thank You for these men and women. Please bless them and guide them and… and I would pray that You do these thing in Jesus' name. Amen."
"We shall be led in the Pledge of Allegiance by Representative Mike Smith."
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, 09500153.doc 2 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
"Roll Call for Attendance. Representative Currie. Representative Currie."
"Thank you, Speaker. Please let the record reflect that Representatives Collins and Nekritz are excused today."
"Mr. Bost."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let the representatives… let the record reflect that Representatives Meyer, Watson, Hassert, and Bassi are excused today."
"The Clerk shall take the record. There being 112 Members responding to the Attendance Roll Call, there is a quorum present. On page 54 of the Calendar, on the Order of item and reduction Veto Motions there appears House Bill 3866, a Motion to Override certain line-item Vetoes. The Chair recognizes Representative Hannig."
"Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker, Members of the House. There are two (2) Motions with respect to House Bill 3866, Motion #1 on page 54 of the House Calendar is a Motion to override certain line-item Vetoes. I would ask for leave of the Body to suspend all applicable House Rules so that the Body may consider the override of these items on a single… these item Vetoes on a single Roll Call vote."
"The Sponsor requests leave of the Body to consider these line-item Vetoes on a single Roll Call vote. Is there leave? Leave is granted. Mr. Hannig on House Bill 3866."
"Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker and Members of the House. Over the last month we've had a number of hearings, in fact, 09500153.doc 3 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 we've had nineteen (19) hearings throughout the State of Illinois. We had a Committee of the Whole yesterday in which we had hours of testimony. We've had over nine hundred (900) witnesses in these hearings come and talk about the impact these Vetoes would have on them. We've had over forty-five hundred (4,500) attendees come and talk and listen. And some of the things that we're reported in the newspaper that I think are important I'd like to share with the Members very briefly. For example, in the Pantagraph, one of the editorials stated in part that they show that contrary to the Governor's claims, it's not just 'pork' that is being trimmed from the budget. And furthermore, I think if you look at what was in the… The Star on September 27, the Southland… they said, they came from the southland from hospital and classrooms, from facilities for the disabled, from village halls, libraries, art galleries, fire and police departments. All had been hit by Governor Rod Blagojevich's four hundred and sixty-three million dollars ($463,000,000) in cuts. Dozens of representatives of organizations, businesses, not-for-profits and public entities spoke during the regional budget hearings and Homewood-Flossmoor High School Tuesday evening. It goes on and says, 'Also particularly hard hit by the budget cuts are colleges in the south suburbs.' In the Ottawa Times we have a quote where the State's Attorney talks in terms… it says, 'LaSalle County State's Attorney, Brian Towne, said that the State Crime Lab… the State Lab… the Crime Lab backlog on DNA processing was a clear public policy concern.' An article in the Kane County Chronicle Talks and says that Chrissy 09500153.doc 4 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 Mancini, Director of Budget and Policy Analysis for the Non- Partisan Center for Tax and Budget Accountability said the items Blagojevich vetoed were not necessarily wasteful spending. She goes on and says, and I quote, 'Most of the cuts reduce funding for public services like mental health, after school programs, and homeless programs'. So, let me just suggest that if we look at some of the items that were… that were reduced by the line-item vetoes of the Governor's, they include things like charter schools, they include programs for vision programs for kids, they include a reduction for overcrowded schools, building with books, they include the cooperative extension, recreational activities for persons with disabilities, railroad safety and inspections, Main Street Programs, a 3 percent cost of doing business adjustment for community providers, mental health providers, access to care funding, rural medical education programs, Have A Heart for Sickle Cell Anemia, HIV/AIDS education and drug testing, the opening of eighty (80) beds… the opening of the eighty-(80) bed wing at the LaSalle Veterans' Home, Cease Fire, juvenile justice reforms, the Capital Reforms Study. So, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House, I would suggest that after having these hearings we really came to two conclusions. One, these are not pork barrel projects as some have stated, and secondly, these reductions hurt people. So, Ladies and Gentlemen, please join with me in overriding the Governor's Veto and restoring these items as we had introduced and passed them to the Governor in August. I'll be happy to answer any questions and I ask for your 'yes' vote." 09500153.doc 5 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007
"Representative Mulligan."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will… will the… it's been so long since we've been here. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"Sponsor yields."
"I mean it's only been one a day. Representative Hannig, we spent a lot of time on this budget, at least those in Human Services and Representative Feigenholtz and I did, and I thought that we had come to some pretty good conclusions, making the best of the revenue available to us. So, I certainly support the override, I don't know why anyone on our side who agreed to keep our word and do this, because we thought it was a good budget would not. I think the hearings did point out some of the fallacies in what the Governor cut out and I don't see any particular rhyme or reason to the pattern of what was cut out. The good went along with the bad, the inconceivable went along with the foolish. I mean there were many things here that were… were not good. I do think two things came out of the hearings. Number one, it was apparent to me from some of the small agencies or some of the small groups that got member projects. And I'm sure I do not know all the Member projects, some of them might have been less worthy than others, but the ones that we heard were pretty worthy, that Human Services in Illinois is woefully underfunded. When the difference between a small grant of ten thousand (10,000) to perhaps fifty thousand (50,000) makes the difference on whether a program will actually function in a community. So, if the Governor demeans what we do in local communities, perhaps he ought to take a look at how the 09500153.doc 6 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 Bureau of the Budget has run the last five (5) years without any consideration about what the dollars actually fund. Some people that came to us from Waukegan on a Bill… or a membership… Member initiative for offenders and homeless people, men in particular, I thought were all worthy projects, so I certainly intend to go with you with the override. And the other issue that came up was during the Sessions for the last several years, and last year was probably better than most, we did not adequately listen in Human Services to the people that wanted to come before us because the time was to short. And so, it makes me very sad. But I definitely think the override is appropriate in this, because the cuts were not logical and even if you bumped all the Member projects over, things that were cut out were worthy in the budget. Why a Governor would cut out the money for the perinatal birth defect registry is beyond me, I cannot conceive that when we have such a high rate of autism and things that we want to track. So, I think the proper vote for Members in this Body is definitely to go along with the override and make sure that what we do here makes more logical sense. I don't understand why one person feels that he ought to control the spending that a lot of us have spent many years learning how to do and other years, you know, fighting for things in agencies and then willy- nilly there cut out. If we go through things that were cut out, they make no sense at all. What he is suggesting to do by moving money is not legal, there are other ways to do it. We would be more than happy to go along with that but what's happened in this override… or what's happened in his vetoes 09500153.doc 7 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 makes no sense and I think the override is appropriate. And since we've gone on so long I'm sure that he could… should already be working on the '09 budget and Bills that could be introduced in the '09 Session that would help him with whatever plans he has in health care or other things. The other question… one question that you might be able to answer. The Governor's gone in this past week touting the money for breast and cervical cancer. My understanding is the Department of Public Health cannot sustain the amount of money that he's putting in that. And they're looking more at adding five thousand (5,000) women, not the number that he's saying that he's doing."
"I don't know the answer for certain, Representative, but… but intuitively I… I tend to agree with you."
"He added or cut some things that we worked very hard on. When a Governor sits there and changes his mind on whether he's going to back casinos, why would you not fund a COLA for the DASA workers, who haven't had a COLA for seven (7) years, 3 percent, when what you're doing if you backing a casino Bill is causing problems with problem and compulsive gambling? One makes no sense with the other one. So, why he would cut that I don't know."
"Representative, I don't know the answer either."
"When you cut money for the funding of the arts you are not cutting Shirley Madigan's personal pocketbook, you are cutting the programs in my schools and my libraries, my local civic orchestra that… that delivers low tickets, free tickets to students, programs in schools that the schools can no longer fund. I think the punitive part of making 09500153.doc 8 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 cuts for someone that wants to be a populous Governor is lost on me. I think the override is the proper way to go here. I do not understand where he came up with some of his particular cuts. I find some of them to be rather interesting if you match them up to certain Members. If you cut projects for most Members in a caucus, but then leave in the money for the JCAR Members, do you not compromise those JCAR Members for whatever vote they then want to take?"
"It seems to be an unusual way of dong things, doesn't it?"
"It would seem logical that what you're doing is not making any sense. When you cut money from agencies, such as the hospitals or people that have stood with him on issues, I do not understand the punitiveness of his cuts in this budget. I guess, once more I'm saying, and without going through each individual one, if you… even if you took away everyone's 'pork', the cuts he made make no sense. As far as a cohesive budget that tries to address overall the issues that the people of our state have tried back or that agencies have tried to back or that agencies that have stood behind him at press conferences have backed, he cut without any thought to who friends, enemies or anybody was, and what he cut was not my… my budget or my 'pork' or your 'pork'. What he cut was the people of Illinois's priorities to spend there tax dollars on issues and agencies that are important to the way the… we provide services, we take care of people, we protect our prison guards. Things that we need to do, he cut without any actual backing except that he's going to provide some kind of supposed health care through a rather 09500153.doc 9 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 illegal manner. If you provide health care without doing a Bill that is subject to appropriation, what you're doing is your creating an open ended entitlement program. If you go through JCAR, you are providing an open-ended entitlement program with no amount of money ever cut off and nothing that the Legislature ever does to figure out what is the correct way to do this. I suppose there are about fifty (50) other things at least, if not a hundred (100), that you could say are inconceivable. But I would just say that I think many Members on our side of the aisle, a certainly I personally, will support your override. And I wish the Senate would take a good look at doing that for the simple reason that what he cut is ridiculous, makes no sense, and hurts a great many people. Thank you for putting up with this little tirade."
"Representative Bellock, Bellock."
"Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just had a few comments about my support of the override."
"Proceed."
"And… I want to thank you for the Committee of the Whole meeting yesterday, but I just wanted to go over just a few things that Representative Mulligan has spoken about the she and Representative Feigenholtz had worked six (6) months on, especially in the Human Service budget. And that yesterday we learned, as we went over the facts, that forty- five million dollars ($45,000,000) is being cut from the disabled and the mentally ill. We all know how hard the CILAS are… to get people into CILAS. Money is being cut from CILAS. She said now days it would take ten (10) months 09500153.doc 10 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 to get an emergency placement in a CILA. The substance abuse, DASA, which we worked so hard for, for the COLA that was cut out. They've spoke about how hard it is. Thousands of people, especially young people, are waiting to get services. In this month's journal, right here of school boards it talks about how serious the issues are of mental health with our kids in the schools and substance abuse. All of us got an e-mail saying that suicide has risen 15 percent over the last year in children. Fifteen percent, the suicide rate is up. It's one of the number one killers of our children. Why would we ever cut services to the mentally ill, the disabled, or children with autism after we've all worked so hard to get the money for those people this year? This is not about… these cuts are not about 'pork' as one of the women stated yesterday. These cuts are about people, and poor people, disabled people, mentally ill people, violence prevention for women. One of the women talked about twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) being cut. Twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) is probably half of her budget, but if that would protect four (4) women's lives from being killed that twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) is certainly worth it. I encourage you all to support the override, to protect the people who are disabled, mentally ill and poor people in our area that need to have these services to protect their lives. Thank you."
"Mr. Lang."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Ladies and Gentlemen, I rise in support of the Gentleman's Motion. I think it's the right time in the history of the Illinois House, certainly in the 09500153.doc 11 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 history of this Session as we write it, to come to the floor and tell the truth about where we are and how we got here. So, I intend to do that. Ladies and Gentlemen, at the Cub rally in Chicago yesterday, the Governor, when referring to the manager of the Cubs and referring to what his actions ought to be in the future, he said he would always ask what would Lou do? So Governor, I'm gonna tell you what Lou would do. First of all, I would show some leadership. I would understand that you have a role as Governor. That we have a role as a Legislature and that we have a piece of paper called the Constitution of the State of Illinois. We are charged with the creation and passage of a budget, you are charged with reviewing that and making adjustments as you think is necessary, not to create your own budget, not to rewrite our budget, but to work with us to create a budget for the benefit of all the people of the State of Illinois. You chose not to do that, Governor, you chose to attempt to write your own budget. And in the process, you ignored the need for compromise, you refused to come to this House, to the chamber across the way and discuss openly and honestly where you wanted to take Illinois and how you wanted us to get there. You, yourself, have created an atmosphere of distrust. You, yourself, have created an atmosphere of disrespect, not only for your office but for all of Illinois government. You have brought shame upon Illinois government by stretching a Session out for weeks and weeks and months and months that could have been ended months ago on time if only you had done your Constitutional duty, Governor. In the process of the Amendatory Veto, it 09500153.doc 12 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 is clear that you have been involved in the process of blatant politics. For a Governor who came to our office not once but twice touting transparent government, trans… touting that we would not have business as usual. In fact, you've taken business as usual to new heights. In your effort to punish House Democrats, in your effort to reward your friends, in an effort to try to curry the favor through, in essence, bribes to Members of JCAR, and by the way, you missed me with those bribes, Governor, I'm on JCAR. You missed my projects. You have brought further disrespect to your office and to this process. Your Deputy Governor yesterday said this, 'Because the budget passed by lawmakers failed to adequately fund health care, the Governor cut funding for 'pork' projects and other less critical needs', 'pork' projects and other less critical needs. I'm not sure your spokesman talked to you, I'm not sure you know what the heck's going on down here. In your effort to fund your own priorities for health care, you cut our priorities for health care. In fact, in line atam… line item after line item in the budget we passed, you created cuts that not only cutted… cut what we added to the budget but cut line items below that which you, Governor, had proposed to us this spring. Imagine, we enhanced your priorities and all of a sudden they're no longer your priorities, Governor. Imagine, you cutting below what you had originally told the General Assembly what we needed for health care. In so doing, you cut dramatically needed money for the mentally ill, you made huge cuts for the developmentally disabled. Are these not health care, Governor? Are many of the cuts 09500153.doc 13 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 you made not health care in fact? Thirty percent of the cuts you made were in health care, the areas you say are most important to you. Public Safety, you cut money for bridges, you cut money for 911 systems, you cut money for police forces, you cut money for ambulance services. Are you interested in public health, are you interested in public safety, Governor? I think not. And what Governor, about that bridge that you cut some of the funding for? Is that bridge safer if we only fix half of that bridge in Wayne County? Are we gonna build one lane or just build the north half? Just let us know and we'll try to find the money for the other half of that bridge. Education, you ran twice on being the 'education Governor'. You cut money for libraries, you cut money for education, you cut money for the cultural activities, which are important to the education of our children. In short, Governor, you didn't want this to be a cooperative process, you don't want this to be a democracy, you're not even interested in the rule of law. You're interested, Governor, only in having things your way, and so you've had them your way for ten (10) months and you can't get your way and, yes, you may get some of this now, but at what price? At the price of a government that isn't working? At the price of you not being at the helm of leadership where you belong? At the price of the citizens of the State of Illinois, that we were elected to take care of, just as you were? Ladies and Gentlemen, we must vote to override today, not for all… just for these reasons. And not for just the reasons of restoring dollars that we think are so vitally necessary to 09500153.doc 14 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 these state services, but we must restore these dollars to bring integrity back to the work of this House of Representatives. We have a duty and a responsibility to make sure this Body maintains its position as a coequal branch of government. That's what the Constitution of our state says and that's what we were elected to come here to be, a coequal branch of government, not a dictatorship, not a monarchy, a coequal branch of government. And our vote today to override this budget… this budget Veto is our statement that not only do these funds belong back in the budget, not only do these agencies and providers need these dollars, but just as importantly that we sustain our self- respect and our importance. If we fail to override this Veto today, if the Senate fails to override this Veto in the coming days, we will have ceded to the Governor of the State of Illinois our responsibilities. And if we do that, we need not be here at all. Ladies and Gentlemen, please vote for this and speak… please speak loudly and speak passionately and speak clearly to your constituents about what we do here today and why we must do this. Thank you for your 'aye' votes on this Motion."
"Mr. Black."
"Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"Sponsor yields."
"Representative, I'm gonna try to take a little different tack. I… I can add very little to what Representative Lang and others have said. I can add very little to what the various editorial writers have written about what we are 09500153.doc 15 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 here today to do. The Vetoes, the process, the fact that I believe wholeheartedly in three (3) coequal branches of government, so I… I'm not going to repeat some of the things that have already been said far more eloquently than I could… could add to. For example, what my good friend Representative Lang just said with a great deal of passion and I certainly would add my support to his remarks. But let me ask you some things that… that bother me. There are a number of items that are not included in this Motion to override and I quite frankly don't understand that. If my memory serves me correctly, the Leadership of this House, elected by the Members on both sides of the aisle, had an agreement. In fact, as I remember, all four (4) Leaders had an agreement that we would override those Vetoes that the Governor might make. Given the acrimony, the name calling, the lawsuits, the Leaders agreed that we would override gubernatorial Veto Motions and yet, much to my dismay I find that there are several Vetoes that are not included, which in my way of thinking, violates the agreement we had in this chamber. And if we violate the agreement that we had in this chamber, then what's to prevent the Leadership in the other chamber to say, you didn't even keep the agreement in your own chamber. Why should I keep the agreement? Let me ask you about some of these things that… that I don't understand are not included in the Motion to override. Under the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, seven hundred fifty thousand dollars ($750,000) for the Illinois Ventures Program that's run through the University of Illinois. Why would we not move to override that Veto? 09500153.doc 16 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 This is the future of the State of Illinois, it's money used to… to the private sector. Come in the research park, come in to the incubator program, do your work, develop your ideas and from those ideas the State of Illinois would benefit in the creation of products, goods, services, not to mention employment. Why would we not override that Veto?"
"Well, Representative, the idea that we tried to go forward with and the guiding principle was in some cases we tried to respect the Governor's ability to reduce those items that we would typically say are the operations of government that are strictly under and totally under his control. So in other words, there were… there were any number of items… a good example was shared services. The Governor put that into the budget for whatever reason he determined that he didn't need those monies at this time and so he took them out. And we're willing to say that that's fine, if he doesn't want to go in that direction, if he feels that those monies that he uses to operate his budget everyday are not necessary then we would respect that decision from the executive branch."
"I… I appreciate your answer but I… I don't understand how the Governor then would want to veto any money out of a program that is proving to be eminently successful. So we're going to let him veto three quarters of a million dollars ($750,000) out of Illinois Ventures, which to me is an investment in the future of the State of Illinois."
"So… so Representative, I… I guess the best way to say it is this is the Governor's Opportunity Returns Program. It was his initiative and so he chose to reduce it. 09500153.doc 17 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 Obviously, he wouldn't have to spend the money if we overrid… overrode him. But I think it was just simply our view that in those kind of cases that it was his initiative, we would respect his Veto."
"Well, I was… I was with the Governor at the University when he announced this part of this Opportunity Returns Program. And let me just say for the record, I'm extremely disappointed that he has not chosen to follow through on a program that was working. And I applauded his efforts at that time and I'm somewhat dismayed that he now tends to go backwards on what he said the day that he kicked this program off. Let me ask you another question that's near and dear to my heart. There's almost three million dollars ($3,000,000) that the Governor vetoed out of operations in the Department of Natural Resources. I have a state facility in my district named for a dear friend of mine who served in this chamber and who served in the Illinois Senate with distinction the late Senator Harry 'Babe' Woodyard. The natural area named for Senator Woodyard has not had anyone assigned to it in more than three (3) years. That… that park is a federally-qualified center. They fired the person assigned there even though 75 percent of that person's salary was paid by federal taxes. And that park is now deteriorating into an embarrassment. I have written the director of the Department of Natural Resources time and time again about the strange policies that are letting natural areas revert back to what they were before we… we added that acreage to our outdoor recreation. I didn't even get the courtesy of a response on one occasion. What… what 09500153.doc 18 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 would the two billion seven hundred and seventy-four thousand dollars ($2,000,774,000) be for Natural Resources for operations? Would it be for staff?"
"We're led to believe it would not be for staff, Representative."
"Do you have any idea what it would be for?"
"So, Representative, again, this was just a increase that the Governor had put into the budget when he introduced it. When he did his Vetoes he reduced this line. We're not certain why he reduced it, but it's in operations of his state agency. We can't force him to spend the money and so our thought at this time was to simply respect his executive branch decision."
"So he reduced an operations line item in the Department of Natural Resources below what he had asked for in his proposed budget. That's what you're telling me?"
"Yes, that's correct."
"Well, that certainly makes a lot of sense to me. I'm certain it makes a lot of sense to you. I… I won't… you can go on in this… the ones that we're not overriding: three and a half million dollars ($3,500,000) for the State Police for contractual services, five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) for equipment for the State Police that the Governor vetoed to take the line items below what he had put in his budget for FY '08. It makes absolutely no sense to me. One and a half million dollars ($1,500,000) for contractual services to the Department of Corrections. As we heard in testimony yesterday, we rank almost dead last in the Midwest on staffing ratio in the department of 09500153.doc 19 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 contractual services. So, the Governor vetoes more than four million dollars ($4,000,000) in various line items in the Department of Corrections, taking it below what he had recommended. I don't get it. I don't understand it. Maybe I've been here too long, maybe I got used to shared governance that we used to enjoy. Even though, we had Republican Governors, the Democrats were often in control of one or both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly. We didn't go through these exercises. I don't understand it, it makes no sense, but I would be remiss if I didn't bring up the fact that I feel very strongly that we had an agreement. The Speaker, the House Republican Leader, the Leadership team and I put… I daresay most of the Members of this Body on either side of the aisle, I thought we had an agreement that we would override the Governor's Vetoes. And now come back and we're not even keeping our own agreement. We're taking various line items that the Governor reduced from his recommended budget levels and I guess letting the Governor do what he wants to do in some areas. You know, when all is said and done, Ladies and Gentlemen, all we have here is a level of trust. And I know that's been a little shaky in the last year or two, but I hope we don't get into a lack of trust among those of us who sit, and are privileged I might add to sit, in the Illinois House of Representatives. I'm somewhat dismayed that we're not even following our own agreement. I understand, Representative, what you've told me. And I… I can't… I can't tell you that it doesn't make sense to do this but I can and do say we are violating the agreement we had amongst ourselves. And that, 09500153.doc 20 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 I think, just further lets this entire process go further and further and further into what I can only call a cesspool. This last year has been no fun for anybody, least of all it has not been any fun for the people of Illinois that send us here to do the work that they expect us to do. I'm embarrassed. I'm embarrassed for whatever role I've played in this. I'm embarrassed that I can't go back and tell my constituents that their ideas had a chance to be heard, that their ideas had a fair hearing, that their priorities were addressed in a fair and equitable manner. And I also, in closing, Mr. Speaker, I find it ironic… I find it more than ironic that today the Republicans are asked to save Democrat projects, which we are willing to do. We'll stand with you, that was part of the agreement. But for the last two (2) years when we weren’t even included in the budget, we weren't included in the process, and we certainly weren't included in any projects in the budget. Not one word was raised from your side of the aisle that that wasn't fair, that that wasn't what we should be about. So we'll stand with you today, we'll vote to protect your projects, even though, and some shame should accrue to you, when we we're completely left out of the process for the last two (2) years you didn't raise one voice. Not one voice was raised to protect our rights when we were left out of and eliminated from any budget consideration for projects in our district. There's enough shame to go around, but I find it somewhat ironic… we'll stand with you today, even though you didn't stand with us the last two (2) years."
"Mr. Rose." 09500153.doc 21 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Bill. Ladies and Gentlemen, to pick up where the last speaker left off. Five (5) years ago the Governor froze a hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) dollars in funding to CCAR Industries in Charleston, Illinois. CCAR Industries serves developmentally disabled individuals from all over the State of Illinois. Actually, what they do is they put developmentally disabled individuals to work in jobs, in… in wage earning jobs that fit each individual's specific needs and talents and abilities. It is a humbling experience to observe the work effort put in by these individuals and the pride in which they take their jobs. A hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) was frozen five (5) years ago, it has never been released by the Governor. To make matters worse and a further slap in the face, salt in the wound, was him vetoing this money for CCAR Industries to help developmentally disabled individuals become the best citizen that they can become. Gone by the Governor's Veto pen. My vote today is very simple, it is for those individuals at CCAR Industries. My vote today is also for the nine thousand (9,000) senior citizens that the Coles County Council on Aging's new LifeSpan Center we'll be serving. Nine thousand (9,000) senior citizens, some through Meals on Wheels, some in cooperative partnerships with our local health care providers. Nine thousand (9,000) senior citizens where he took out the Coles County LifeSpan Center. My vote today will also be for Camp New Hope in Neoga. Camp New Hope is actually in Roger Eddy's district, just over my district line, but it serves developmentally disabled 09500153.doc 22 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 individuals from all over the State of Illinois, not just East Central Illinois and their parents. That was cut, as well. And finally today, Mr. Speaker, my vote is very simple. My vote is in favor of the Douglas County Public Health District's Dental Clinic. The reason they're having a dental clinic is because of the abject failure of this administration's ability to pay its Medicaid providers on time. You cannot find a Medicaid provider dentist in our area. You heard testimony yesterday that there's one dentist that will take some children, no adults. The whole reason they are… the whole reason the Cole… that the Douglas County Public Health District is doing this is to pick up the pieces where that State of Illinois failed. Yet, with a dash of the pen, that's gone too. Health care for health care, it doesn't make any sense. My vote today is simple, for the health care of the people of Douglas County through their dental clinic, for the health care and well-being of the developmentally disabled citizens served by CCAR and Camp New Hope and for the health care and well-being of nine thousand (9,000) senior citizens in Coles County and what would be their LifeSpan Center. That's my vote today. My vote today is against Governor Blagojevich and in favor of the people of my district."
"Representative Patterson."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have one question concerning Article 25. Does this remove money for community colleges?"
"Mr. Hannig, did you hear the question?" 09500153.doc 23 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007
"Yes. There is a reduction in the community college line, Representative. Actually, in the order… there's about a ten million dollar ($10,000,000) reduction in community college… from the community college budget, Representative. And between the two (2) votes that we'll take here today, we would… we would essentially restore the money."
"Very good. Mr. Hannig to close."
"Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker and Members of the House. The citizens that we represent send us here to Springfield to represent their hopes and dreams, to try to work together with the other side of the aisle, with the other chamber, with the other branch of government, to craft a budget that can advance our part of the State of Illinois and the State of Illinois as a whole. And it's a… even in the best of times that's a very difficult thing to do, when there's the political will, when there's money that's available. It's difficult to sit down and try to work out those kind of compromises that are necessary to craft a budget, pass both chambers and have the Governor sign it. But as a coequal branch with the executive branch of government, it's our duty to work to that end. And I think that the budget that we crafted from a legislative point of view with the four (4) caucuses actually met those requirements. It had input from all parts of the state. It had input from the respected political parties, input from the House and the Senate and was the best that we could do with the revenues that were available to us. These vetoes upset that balance that was struck back in August and I would ask each and every one of you to join me in overriding those Vetoes and 09500153.doc 24 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 restoring that work that we did in early August. So I would ask for you 'yes' vote."
Speaker Madigan: "The question is, 'Shall the line items contained in Motion #1 pass, notwithstanding the item Veto of the Governor?' All those in favor vote 'aye'; opposed vote 'nay'. The voting is open. The Motion requires 71 votes. The Clerk shall take the record. On this question, there are 104 people voting 'yes', 4 people voting 'no'. The Motion, having received a Supermajority, the relevant line items are hereby declared passed, notwithstanding the item Vetoes of the Governor. On page 38 of the Calendar, there appears House Bill 3866, a Motion to restore certain line item reductions. The Chair recognizes Representative Hannig."
"Yes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Members of the House. On page 78 of the House Calendar, Motion #2, is a Motion to restore certain line items reduced by the Governor. I would ask for leave of the Body to suspend all applicable House Rules so that the Body may consider these item reductions on a single Roll Call vote."
"The Sponsor requests leave of the Body to consider these item reductions on a single Roll Call vote. Is there leave? Leave is granted. Mr. Hannig."
"Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker and Members of the House. The Governor entered into the process of… of line item Vetoes and reduction Vetoes. We've overridden the line item Vetoes and I'd ask for your consideration on the reduction Vetoes. Some of the items that were reduced through the Governor's Veto pen in this area include money for fast 09500153.doc 25 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 growth school grants, school safety and improvement block grants, the base operating grants to community colleges, the operations of higher education, the equalization grants to the library system, the court probation reimbursement program, arts organization, chiropatric… chiropractic services, monies to our hospitals and to our nursing homes, 2.5 percent cost of living adjustment for developmental disability providers, money for the autism program, transitional assistance money, TANF money and a large number of personal service reductions throughout the budget. Ladies and Gentlemen, those… these are all important parts of State Government that we, working together earlier in August, determined were necessary for the operations of State Government. These are not pork barrel projects. These are important parts of operations of State Government. And so, I would ask that you vote 'yes' in the Motion to restore these Vetoes and override the Governor."
"Representative Mulligan."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"Sponsor yields."
"Representative, would you give me the rationale behind these particular restorations? And can you do that after you've already done the override, just go back and… more selective?"
"I… I didn't quite understand the question, Representative. So…"
"I'll reverse them. The first one should be, can you do this after overriding the whole Veto?" 09500153.doc 26 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007
"Actually… actually, what we did Representative, some of the Vetoes were reduction Vetoes. That's these, where the Governor reduced the amount by something… took it down to something less than zero (0). And the other one were the item Vetoes where the Governor reduced the spending to zero (0). Those first items that we overrode required 71 votes. These require 60 and so, parliamentary, we needed to split the Motions into at least two (2) different Motions. So, if we pass… we already did some of those. If we do these, then we will have overridden the Governor on all the… all the Motions on the Calendar."
"All right, so why… explain to me why this takes sixty (60)."
"Representative, that's just the way the Constitution operates. It says that, that reduction Vetoes where the Governor, say takes and item and cuts it in half, requires 60 votes to restore. Where he zeroes (0) out an item…"
"It's kind of like his standard parent answer: 'cause I said so'?"
"No, it's just a Constitutional requirement."
"Just the Constitution. Okay. So, by voting 'yes' on this, we're restoring…"
"These are line items that were reduced to something less than… something more than zero (0)."
"All right, so we're restoring that?"
"Yes. The other items we restored were reduced to zero (0) and we restored them with the… with the previous vote."
"All right, so are… are we restoring or are we going along with the cuts on this one?" 09500153.doc 27 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007
"Well, we're overriding the Governor's reduction. So, we're restoring them to where they were when we passed them in August."
"All right. So, are you restoring the amounts of money for shared services?"
"No, that's not an item that we're restoring."
"The problem I have is I have an analysis that has no Bill number on it, so I'm just trying to check what I'm looking at here because…"
"Representative, I think the simplest way is that the Constitution requires that some of these have a 60-vote requirement and some have 71. And so we effectively made two (2) different sets of Motions. We just voted on the one that required 71 votes and… and this will be a Motion that will require 60 votes. We couldn't really put them together because some require 60 and some require 71, so we split them into two (2)."
"All right. I don't want to go through all of them but give me a sample of what your restoring in this part."
"Well, Representative, I started reading off some of the items… this is not all inclusive, but it has to do with the fast growth districts where I think the Governor cut that amount of money… that increase in half, operations of higher education, that is all of our universities were reduced by… by a small amount, equalization grants to libraries were reduced, money to the arts organizations were reduced, hospitals and nursing home had their monies reduced."1
"All right. So, is the forty thousand (40,000)… or the forty million (40,000,000) for hospitals back in?" 09500153.doc 28 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007
"This would restore that to the amount that…"
"In this particular one."
"We appropriated when we… when we passed the budget in… in August."
"And restore the arts money?"
"I'm sorry, what was that one?"
"Would it restore the arts funding?"
"Yes, yes."
"All right. So, these are just procedurally different, so you broke them out differently?"
"That's correct, Representative."
"And these are not necessarily Member initiatives, they're more regular budget items?"
"No, that's correct. I think if you look at the nature of… of what we had in both of these Motions you'll see items that we would normally associate with the operations of State Government. A 2 percent… 2.5 percent cost of living adjustment for DD providers, autism programs, you know, personal services across the board, those kind of items."
"All right. I just wanted to make sure what we were doing because there is another group, that's something different. That's what I thought you were doing this time but you're not. All right, to the Motion. Obviously, the Governor took it upon himself to do some things that the Appropriations Committee when they worked on this didn't… had work a long hard time at the end to put money in. The other thing that should be noted is in the last several weeks right before we passed these items, state agencies were forbidden… their directors were forbidden to come and 09500153.doc 29 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 talk to us when we asked, 'is this money adequate, or is the amount of money were putting in there or the amount of money the Governor left in adequate?'. They were told not to talk to us. That's a really bad way to run State Government and how it impacts people is to tell your agency directors that there can be no communication and to cut them off from the people that are trying to help them or make sure the budget will be adequate or if it's inadequate how we will provide a supplemental at some later date. I would certainly recommend that you go along with what this is, because I think a number of Representatives who pay closer attention to what the public is doing, not necessarily because we get on television or do a press pop for it, worked on this budget and tried very hard to go back a take a look what was in the budget, what was eliminated from the budget, what the agencies needed and what we thought would be the position from the people that actually talked to us. So, I would recommend to vote 'yes' on this."
"Representative Mulligan, Mulligan. Have you finished, Representative?"
"Yes, thank you very much. I am."
"Thank you. Mr. Black."
"Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"Sponsor yields."
"Representative Hannig, I want to get you on the record. I… I know the answer to this question, but I had a constituent call with what I thought was a very interesting question. And under any set of normal circumstances I… I 09500153.doc 30 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 might have been able to give her a different answer. She was… concerned isn't the right word. She wanted me to perhaps join with the Governor and reduce expenditures. She follows government very closely, she's been concerned for a number of years that we… we tend to spend too much money. Some of us on any given budget year would probably tend to agree with that. But her point was… her perception was that the Governor was vetoing money that perhaps we shouldn't be spending and therefore, we could reduce expenditures and perhaps save the taxpayers money. Did I tell her correctly when I said that was not my perception, that the Governor wasn't reducing the level of expenditures that he in fact had something else in mind for the money that he was vetoing?"
"That's correct, Representative. I don't believe that the Governor ever said that he was vetoing the budget because it was out of balance. He simply said that he had a different spending priority for… for this money."
"And in… ya know, I know sometimes the Governor's priorities are… are good. Any Chief Executive Officer may have different priorities than the Legislative Body. But also for the record, in your opinion, and you've been here a long time and I… I trust your judgment. Can the Chief Executive Officer, the Governor of the State, veto dollars and then unilaterally transfer that, those dollars, to a program that he or she will unilaterally create?"
"I think there… 09500153.doc 31 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007
"Neither one of us are… are constitutional lawyers or attorneys but in… in your years of experience with appropriations… can the Governor do that?"
"Not without some action from the General Assembly."
"That… that's what I tried to tell her. I hope I gave her the right answer and if… if you share my opinion then perhaps I did. So, in other words, when I came down here I was led to believe that any thing that took place had to have the words, the preface 'be it enacted by the people of Illinois through the General Assembly or something like that. We must create programs and appropriate expenditures. Correct?"
"That's correct, Representative, particularly on the appropriations side, we have the ultimate authority. The Governor cannot increase in any way, unilaterally, a budget."
"All right. I appreciate your insight. I was hoping I wouldn't have to call her back and tell her that perhaps I have the wrong perception. You have simply strengthened my view that this in fact is not an attempt to save money, to cut extraneous spending, which Governors have done for years and years, to rein in spending. But it appears that these were Vetoes designed to gather almost five hundred million dollars ($500,000,000) that the Governor would then intend to spend for a program that in fact has not been created nor enacted by the General Assembly."
"That's correct, Representative."
"That presents an interesting case in and of itself, which the way things are going, may end up in another law- 09500153.doc 32 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 suit. I certainly hope not, I would like us to get past what we have experienced for the last several months, the name-calling, the attacks on character and lawsuits. I would hope that sometime before this month of October passes we can move on beyond that and get back to doing what we're supposed to be doing and I appreciate your insight on that process."
"Mr. Hannig to close."
"Well, thank you Members… Mr. Speaker and Members of the House. This is just the other half of the… this is other… this is the second Motion that's needed in order to override the Governor on all the spending Vetoes that are on the Calendar. And I'd simply ask for your 'yes' vote."
Speaker Madigan: "The question is, 'Shall the line items contained in Motion #2 be restored, notwithstanding the item reductions of the Governor?' Those in favor signify by voting 'yes'; those opposed by voting 'no'. The open… the voting is open. This Motion requires 60 votes. Have all voted who wish? The Clerk shall take the record. On this question, there are 105 people voting 'yes', 4 people voting 'no'. The Motion, having received a Constitutional Majority, the relevant line items are hereby declared restored, notwithstanding the item reductions of the Governor. The Chair recognizes Representative Collins on the Motion #1 on House Bill 3866, Motion #1."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For some reason my light wasn't working. So, I would like to be noted as voting 'yes' on the Motion to override the Governor's Veto."
"Let the record reflect that request." 09500153.doc 33 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007
"Representative Turner in the Chair. The Lady from Cook, Representative Hamos for what reason do you rise?"
"Ladies and Gentlemen, on a note of point of personal privilege. We have a really important agenda before us. The clock is ticking. November 4 is exactly thirty-two (32) days away from now. We have to save the transit system. The only reason we didn't do that, Ladies and Gentlemen, since the last time we met is because there was a last minute advance. They are now surviving on borrowed time, on borrowed dollars. They are sinking deeper into the hole. And I don't know, you know, we do work on state agendas down here and our constituents expect us to. This spring we deeply thought about and were concerned bout electric rates in southern Illinois. We actually invited people here to give us their stories, some of these people can't come before us. But please listen to Sheila, who just e-mailed me yesterday and said, 'I have lung cancer and I depend on a bus to get me to the METRA station so I can go to work. I am unable to walk the ten blocks to the station.' Steven e- mailed me last week, 'I rely exclusively on public transportation, and every increase in rates forces a new rebudgeting of my already strained finances.' Kate says, 'If I had no public transportation, I would surely crowd myself onto the express ways, I would shop less, I would not be able to attend school at the city colleges. I rely on the CTA for my livelihood.' Ladies and Gentlemen, these are the anguished pleas of our constituents. We have important work to do, we have thirty-two (32) days to do it. We are 09500153.doc 34 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 here this week and next, please realize that we have to save public transit."
"The Lady from Lake, Representative May, for what reason do you rise?"
"Yes, for an announcement, please?"
"State your announcement."
"Yes, thank you. For a reminder for everyone, the Conference Of Women Legislators is having a legislative reception with the Illinois Hospital Assoc… Association tonight, 5 to 7 p.m., at the Sangamo Club for all Members of COWL. Thank you."
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman form McHenry, Representative Tryon, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise for the purpose of an announcement."
"Announcement."
"I'd just like to remind, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives that tomorrow we have a group coming down from McHenry County, affectionately called the McHenry County Road Warriors. I think everybody got an invitation to get a box lunch. The box lunch is gonna be served tomorrow at noon in the Monroe side of the Capitol Building and I hope everybody will get a chance to go down and say hello and pick up a chicken sandwich. So, hope to see you there. Thank you."
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman form Cook, Representative Patterson, for what reason do you rise?"
"Mr. Speaker, I just have one question."
"State your question." 09500153.doc 35 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007
"And that is, I need a bit of information. What I'd like to know is if nothing is done for mass transit, are we putting the State of Illinois at risk of losing federal matching funds for mass transit issues?"
"The Lady from Cook, Representative Hamos, do you care to answer that question?"
"Well, what you're talking about, Representative, is actually the capital plan. And in the capital plan there are federal matching dollars, and we have to come up with dollars that the Senate actually put in there capital plan. They put in just the very basic minimum, which doesn't even hardly bring down the federal dollars. So, we do need to supply some match. The Federal Government has kind of an accounting gimmick where they let you use tollway credits, instead of putting real cash on the table. But we don't want to go down that road. That doesn't help us, that still keeps broken-down busses on the roads, that still keeps deteriorating late rail lines, that still means slow zones. So, the state needs to put much more into it. And I really appreciate your concern."
"The Gentleman from Cook, Representative Molaro, for what reason do you rise?"
"Well, I don't want to get in the middle of Julie's… I… I got in a little bit late and I saw an older gentleman, gray hair, walking out with a Cub uniform on. Was that Lou Piniella? Was he down here? Is he at some Leaders' meeting I'm not aware of? Was Lou Piniella on the House Floor?"
"No, that's not Lou Piniella. He… he may sound like him sometimes, but no, that wasn't Lou. We're going to 09500153.doc 36 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 proceed with Veto overrides. This time I'd like to call House Bill 732. Representative Munson, on page 88 of the Calendar, House Bill 732."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. I move to override the Governor's Amendatory Veto of House Bill 732 to restore the Bill to its original form that creates the Health Access Network Act, which is a pilot program in Kane County to provide specialty cares of services, diagnostic testing, and pharmaceutical assistance to the uninsured and underinsured. House Bill 732 passed the House unanimously and I ask for your 'aye' vote to override the Governor's Veto."
"Seeing no questions, the question is, 'Shall the House… Representative Munson moves that the House Bill 732 do pass, notwithstanding the Veto of the Governor.' All those in favor should vote 'aye'; all those opposed vote 'no'. The voting is now open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? The Clerk shall take the record. On this question, 113 voting 'aye', 0 'nays', 0 'presents'. And the Motion, having received the Supermajority, House Bill 732 is hereby declared passed, notwithstanding the Veto of the Governor. On the Calendar, we have House Bill 2036, Representative Rose, page 15 of the Calendar."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. This Bill's very simple. It extends the TIF district for the village of Villa Grove. And the original vote was 114 to 2. The Governor basically said nothing in his Veto message, other than he disagreed with some aspects of the Bill. Although, he neglected to point out which, if 09500153.doc 37 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 any aspects, he actually disagreed with. I would also note that he at the same time he did this, he vetoed Representative Bob Flider's Bill saying the same thing. And basically the language in both ours pretty much resembles all the other TIF district extensions he signed in the past. So, I just ask for your support in overriding the Governor's Veto. Thank you."
"Seeing no questions, Representative Rose moves that House Bill 2036 do pass, notwithstanding the Veto of the Governor. All those in favor should vote 'aye'; all those opposed vote 'no'. The voting is now open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Representative Davis? The Clerk shall take the record. On this question, there are 110 voting 'aye', 3 voting 'nay', 0 'presents'. And this Motion, having received a Supermajority, House Bill 2036 is hereby declared passed, notwithstanding the Veto of the Governor. Representative Tryon on House Bill 962, page 14 of the Calendar."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. House Bill 962, I’d like move for an override of the Governor's Veto and restore it in its original form. The Governor vetoed the entire Bill, which was a Bill that essentially clarified how we approach vacancies that occur in municipalities when the council in a municipality and the mayor disagree. It also dealt with the incorporation of a new municipality. The Veto message was very unclear that we got from the Governor. The Governor simply stated in his message that there were provisions of the Bill that he didn't agree with. I could not clarify what those disagreements were, even though I did call and 09500153.doc 38 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 talk to the policy staff. This represents a work that was done with the leadership of the Municipal League for the last ten (10) years and certainly, I think, needs to be overridden and become law. So, I would ask for your support in doing that. Thank you."
Speaker Turner: "Seeing no questions, the question is… Representative Tryon moves that the House Bill 962 do pass, notwithstanding the Veto of the Governor. All those in favor should vote 'aye'; all those opposed vote 'no'. The voting is now open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? The Clerk shall take the record. On this question, there are 111 voting 'aye', 1 'nay, 1 'present'. And this Motion, having received the Supermajority, the House Bill 962 is hereby declared passed, notwithstanding the Veto of the Governor. Representative Tryon, we have House Bill 3729."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. House Bill 3729, I would also move to override. House Bill 3729 was a Bill that passed this chamber with only four (4) negative votes. It's a Bill that essentially allows the… for the use of alternative technology on a case-by-case basis for onsite wastewater disposal systems. In our state, we haven’t changed our Wastewater Disposal Code since 1996. There are lots of new technologies that are being introduced all over the country that we aren't able to take advantage of. This only affects large, commercial systems and properties that have an excess of fifteen hundred (1,500) gallons wastewater flow per day. Once again, the Veto message was very unclear when I called the Governor's staff, they did get back to me. They stated 09500153.doc 39 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 that they did not feel that there was a problem with the existing code. But there is a problem with the existing code, that's why the health departments of Cook County, McHenry County, Kane County, Lake County, Will County, Winnebago County, all of the large health departments in the state supported this Bill. So, I would once again urge that we override this and allow this to be law so that we, too, as a state can take advantage of many of the new environmental technologies that are available in the form of onsite wastewater disposal systems. So, I would ask for your support."
"Seeing no questions, Representative Tryon moves that the House Bill 3729 do pass, notwithstanding the Veto of the Governor. All those in favor should vote 'aye'; all those opposed vote 'no'. The voting is now open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Representative Osmond? The Clerk shall take the record. On this question, there are 113 voting 'aye', 0 'noes', 0 'presents'. And the Motion, having received a Supermajority, House Bill 3729 is hereby declared passed, notwithstanding the Veto of the Governor. Representative Mautino on House Bill 1628, page 88 of the Calendar."
"Thank you… thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. I would move to override the Amendatory Veto of the Governor for House Bill 1628. And this Bill will be a valuable tool to both the administration and the General Assembly in determining and ensuring the effectiveness of the AllKids Program. What it had asked for was a report to us once a year on who is… what children are 09500153.doc 40 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 enrolled in the program and by county, not specifically asking for personal or medical data. In addition to that, we wanted to know what physicians are participating. And those were the main portions of the Bill. The Governor's Amendatory Veto substantially rewrote the Bill and put in language that basically doesn't allow for the transparency that we seek. I don't find this to be a difficult thing to do. As a matter of fact, if you go to the… our neighboring states' websites and click on the county, you can find out who their providers are, who's involved in the Medicaid system, so you can locate a doctor for your child. With that, I would entertain any questions and ask for your support in a override of the Amendatory Veto for 1628."
"Seeing no questions, Representative Mautino moves that the House Bill 1628 do pass, notwithstanding the specific recommendations for change… notwithstanding the Veto of the Governor. All those in favor vote 'aye'; all those opposed vote 'no'. The voting is now open. Have all voted who wish? The Clerk shall take the record. On this question, there are 113 voting 'aye', 0 'nays', 0 'presents'. And the Motion, having received the Supermajority, House Bill 1628 is hereby declared passed,- notwithstanding the Veto of the Governor. Representative Howard on House Bill 3627, page 88 of the Calendar."
"Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move to override the Governor's Veto of House Bill 3627. The purpose of the Bill was to provide low-interest loans and grants for starter purposes to not-for-profit corporations. The Governor's recommendation makes it very confusing because he has made 09500153.doc 41 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 it impossible for those organizations to get the start-up grants. So I move that the Governor's Veto be overridden."
Speaker Turner: "Seeing no questions, Representative Howard moves that the House Bill 3627 do pass, notwithstanding the specific recommendations for change of the Governor. All those in favor should vote 'aye'; all those opposed vote 'no'. The voting is now open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? The Clerk shall take the record. On this question, there are 71 voting 'aye', 42 voting 'no', 0 'presents'. And Representative Howard moves that the House… no… And this Motion, having received the Supermajority, House Bill 3627 is hereby declared passed, notwithstanding the specific recommendations for change of the Governor. Representative Verschoore on House Bill 405, 14 on the Calendar."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What this Bill does is it allows the zoo, it's only in my area, no other zoo… it affects no other zoo, and what it allows the voters in my area to have a front door referendum to raise the tax rate to a… to a finance our zoo. It's really a great zoo. It's the third largest zoo in the state and Jack Hanna has been there many times to help us with fundraising endeavors and so what I'd like is to ask for an 'aye' vote to override the Veto. Be happy to answer any questions."
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman from Lake, Representative Mathias, for what reason do you rise?"
"I just wanted to for the record reflect that I inadvertently pushed the wrong button on House Bill 3627. I meant to vote 'yes'." 09500153.doc 42 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007
Speaker Turner: "The record will so reflect that. Representative Verschoore moves that the House Bill 405 do pass, notwithstanding the Veto of the Governor. All those in favor should vote 'aye'; all those opposed vote 'no'. The voting is now open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? The Clerk shall take the record. On this question, there's 78 voting 'aye', 35 voting 'no', 0 'presents'. And the Motion, having received the Supermajority, House Bill 405 is hereby declared passed, notwithstanding the Veto of the Governor. Representative Moffitt on House Bill 1921, page 16 of the Calendar." Moffitt: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move for an override of the Governor's Veto. House Bill 1921 has always… there never been a 'no' vote on this Bill. You voted on it twice in here and it passed the Senate then 58 to 0. What it does is dedicate one penny of the existing cigarette tax for the fire service and emergency vehicles, 10 percent of it going into the 0 percent fire truck loan, 10 percent into the 0 Percent Ambulance Fund, which we created but have not funded. And the balance for a grant program administered to the State Fire Marshal's Office to give grants to fire departments around the state for small equipment, turnout gear, air packs, thermal cameras, jaws of life, the equipment that they so desperately need. This is the first time that we've had a new and dedicated revenue stream for the things that we have passed. So, I would urge a 'yes' vote. Quite honestly, best equipment, quick response, dependable, is health care. A vote for this is a vote for health care. Appreciate a 'yes' vote to override." 09500153.doc 43 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007
"The Lady from Cook, Representative Currie, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you, Speaker, Members of the House. I rise in opposition to the Gentleman's Motion. The Governor is accurate, absolutely accurate, when he says that the monies that would be used to fund fire trucks would come out of the State Medicaid budget. I know the Sponsor is well- intentioned. I know he might like to do some day a trailer Bill that would find some way to replace those revenues. But I would say the wiser course for the Members of this chamber would be to stick with the Governor, spend the money, the current money in the Medicaid program and down the line deal with the issue that the Sponsor is concerned about. We all share the concern, but I don't think anybody here wants to say 'no' to Medicaid dollars that are going to fund children, the elderly in nursing home, and other people who meet our eligibility criteria. So, I would urge a 'no' or a 'present' vote on this Motion."
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman from Lake, Representative Mathias, for what reason do you rise?
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I want to point out that this is a Bill that's very much needed for our fire departments throughout the state in our fire districts. The… Representative Moffitt has made a commitment to do the trailer Bill, which I will take, of course, him at his word and that he will do that. This is one cent ($.01) and it's not a new amount of money, it's one cent ($.01) from the additional… from the current fund and if we don't pass it 09500153.doc 44 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 then of course, there will be… so, not passing it in effect would make no sense."
"The Gentleman from Vermilion, Representative Black, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"Indicates he will."
"Mr. Speaker, are you giving us your full and undivided attention?"
Speaker Turner: "That uniform there kind of threw me, Representative. I've been looking for red on that side."
"I don't want to have to take a picture and send it up to a woman I know in Chicago, so you better behave yourself up there. Representative Moffitt, the one penny from the cigarette tax would impact how much money from Medicaid?"
"It doesn't have to impact any from Medicaid. It'd be an administrative decision. The trailer Bill will say that it takes the first penny, so the trailer Bill makes it clear. Take the first penny, which is not matching. The total amount that this would produce is estimated at 7.2 million (7,200,000) a year, but the intent… our intent is not to be taking competing funds for Medicaid. The trailer Bill will make that clear. The Governor's office was up here a little bit ago, got a copy of our trailer Bill, I think it was with the hopes that we might even have an agreement on that, but they're not back yet. So, I've given them a copy of the trailer Bill to make it clear that it would be nothing from the Medicaid. That's not our intent. The penny… the ninety-eight cents ($0.98) that's on 09500153.doc 45 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 cigarettes goes for different purposes and the first penny goes into the General Fund and then it's divided into several categories. So it would be… it does not have to compete for the Medicaid."
"So, in effect, you have already committed and have drafted a Bill that would not impact a Medicaid match in any way, shape, or form. Correct?"
"The Bill has been drafted. It's a trailer Bill. We're making sure it does everything that we want it to do to relieve any concerns and that will be filed and then of course it'd be up to Legislature to pass it. But that was never our intent, but the trailer Bill will further clarify that."
"Thank you very much. Mr. Speaker and Ladies and Gentlemen of the House, to the Bill."
“To the Bill."
"Perhaps good things are happening, the Cubs are in the play-offs and the Majority Leader rose to defend the Governor. So, perhaps things are changing. Perhaps things are looking up. Perhaps a new day is dawning. With the Majority Leader defending the Governor's Veto, I look for all of us on both sides of the aisle to now join hands and sing Kumbaya. If only the Governor would come and join us, but better days perhaps are ahead. Ladies and Gentlemen, and I've talked to some of you individually about ambulance districts and fire protection districts, particularly those of you from Chicago and the suburbs, and many of you have expressed with wide-eyed amazement when you leave the City of Chicago and you drive to Springfield on Interstate 55 09500153.doc 46 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 about twenty-five (25) miles after you leave Cook County, God forbid any of you would get into an automobile accident or suffer a heart attack where emergency services would have to be called. Who do you think's going to come and save you, the Chicago Fire Department? No, it's out of their area. The most professionally, well paid, well equipped ambulance service anywhere in the State of Illinois? No, you will be served by volunteers who volunteer their time and take the training and will respond to that accident as EMTs or paramedics. Somebody who's working in a furniture store or somebody who's working in a convenience store drop everything their doing, go to the ambulance or fire station, rush to the interstate and they will do everything in their power to save your life. This Bill is, quite frankly, a health care issue. Those of us who live in ambulance districts with volunteers have been trying for years to get new equipment. We've had ambulances in my district that are twenty-five (25) years old responding to save somebody's life. True story, some years ago an ambulance in a small town was dispatched to save somebody, the back doors on the ambulance fell off when they reached light and siren speed. Fell off. It rusted through. We have been trying for years and you've started to help Representative Moffitt a year or two (2) ago. We need a substained… a sustained dollar amount where we can buy new equipment. An ambulance that isn't twenty-five (25) years old, a fire truck that was not built in 1949 and I had one of those in my district until three (3) years ago. And they are staffed by volunteers, not full-time, paid ambulance EMTs or firefighters. This 09500153.doc 47 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 Bill does that and let me just tell you, if they can't respond, if there's no… if the ambulance breaks down, you don't think this is a health care issue? You've all heard about the Golden Hour, when you are severely injured the medical professionals say they must get you to a treatment center within one hour, the Golden Hour. After that your chances of survival, if you're severely injured, go down dramatically and you may very well die. The Sponsor has indicated he will move heaven and earth so that there is no loss of a Medicaid match and yet, hello, didn't the Governor veto more than seventy-five million dollars ($75,000,000) out of Medicaid accounts? I guess that's different. But if we want to do something to try and help you and help us and there's a seven million dollar ($7,000,000) hit, you can't do that. Well, we can do it. And the Sponsor has indicated he will have a Bill and I hope you all vote for it, that will not cost a Medicaid a match in any way, shape, penny, dime, quarter, or dollar. When you leave metropolitan Chicago, you come into downstate Illinois, you will be served by volunteer fire districts. If your car catches on fire and you would like them to get there in a reasonable amount of time with the equipment they need, God forbid you're injured. That ambulance district will hopefully show up on time, well-staffed and well-equipped and well trained, and they will save your life. I know firsthand because they have saved my life. Don't tell me we can't afford this. We can, we should, and we must. This is a basic health issue, particularly yes, to downstate, but when you travel down here almost every emergency call that you may need will be 09500153.doc 48 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 answered by volunteer fire districts and volunteer ambulance districts and Ladies and Gentlemen, they need modern equipment in order to save your life. This is a good Bill that the Sponsor has worked diligently on for years. It does no harm, but it could do harm to many people if we do not have the equipment and the staff to respond to life- threatening accidents or injuries. I beg you, I beseech you, I ask you, vote 'yes'."
"The Gentleman from St. Clair, Representative Holbrook, for what reason do you rise?"
"To the Bill."
"To the Bill."
"Thank you. Ya know, we just went through a very long Session and I know a lot of good ideas and bad ideas strung out through August, but if we came up with one good program this year, one new program, it was this one. This is the one that didn't increase taxes, passed out of this chamber without one 'no' vote not once, but twice, passed through the Senate unanimously and is gonna save lives. This is the fund that we couldn't ever find a revenue stream to fund on the revolving loan programs for our groups. It would be a shame to turn our backs on these people that donate their time and effort to save our lives and not be able to assist them with the Revolving Loan Fund here. This is uncredible… it's incredible that we're even debating this. This deserves a 'yes' vote for an override just like it got all the 'yes' votes from everyone in this chamber but one (1) or two (2) last time. Again, it had no 'no' votes. I urge you 09500153.doc 49 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 to vote 'yes' for this override. It's one of the few things we did right this Session."
"The Gentleman from Cook, Representative Lang, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"He indicates he will."
"Thank you. Representative, as I understand it, some that are opposed to your Override Motion are opposed because there's a belief that it will somehow impact payments to long-term care facilities, is that correct?"
"That's my understanding what was expressed."
"All right. And so they were talking about about seven million dollars ($7,000,000) and then talking about a seven million dollar ($7,000,000) Medicaid match and they're threatening that there will be a fourteen million dollar ($14,000,000) hit on long-term care facilities, is that correct?"
"That's what… that's what was expressed. I don't agree with it, but that's what…"
"All right. So, would you, for the benefit of the Body, let us know your position very clearly on that?"
"I don't want to take any money from long-term care. I have a trailer Bill, which will make that absolutely clear. The… it's discretionary. The… it will… the legislation will dedicate the first penny, which goes into General Revenue Fund. Other funds have been vetoed that were matched, Medicaid matched. Ya know, it's a separate issue, Representative. And it's my intention to make sure this 09500153.doc 50 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 doesn't compete with any Medicaid or long-term care funding."
"And indeed, if there is any loss of revenue to the long- term care facilities even if you don't have your trailer Bill and even if it doesn't pass, that loss is just a… a pencil push by the administration, isn't it? Aren’t they just simply deciding that they're gonna prioritize things differently and aren’t they just simply threatening long- term care with the loss of fourteen million dollars ($14,000,000)?"
"That's correct. Money could be from the… currently from the General Fund put in for the match to totally avoid that loss. I want to work with the administration and the fact that they were here to look at my trailer Bill, I think that's very encouraging and that's my hope. But it does not have to compete, the other funds in the General Fund could go for the match does not mean a reduction for long-term care. That would an intentional administrative decision if that's what were to happen."
"And so that intentional administrative decision has been put on a piece of paper and passed to all of us, is that correct? Have you seen that?"
"Well… I haven't seen it, no."
"So, I received such a piece of paper. I imagine some of our colleagues, have as well. And so in the end they're threatening long-term care with the loss of fourteen million dollars ($14,000,000) because of your Bill, but they don’t have to threaten long-term care at all, right? They can move money in a different place…" 09500153.doc 51 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007
"They can… they can move money from other sources…"
"…and make sure that long-term care loses no dollars as a result of this Bill or any other Bill for that matter, is that correct?"
"That's sure my understanding. I believe that to be a correct statement."
"All right. So, between the time we passed this Bill out of the General Assembly and the time the Governor vetoed it, did anyone from the administration contact you to discuss their viewpoint on what they were about to do to your Bill?"
"No, in fact because they hadn't, I was encouraged that they were going to support it."
"You thought they were going to support it?"
"I assumed that, because I had not been contacted until the Veto message came."
"Thank you. To the Bill, Mr. Speaker."
"To the Bill."
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I don't think scare tactics are a very good idea. This Body has gone on record many times as being supportive of long-term care, surely I have been in the forefront of trying to help them care for seniors in the State of Illinois. I would not sign on to a piece of legislation that I felt was going to jeopardize senior citizens in long-term care facilities. This is not a Bill that will jeopardize them so long as the administration backs off of what I feel, are just simply threats. If an administration… this administration values these facilities and values the seniors in those facilities, they'll simply push that pencil in a different direction. To threaten the 09500153.doc 52 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 long-term care facilities and to threaten, particularly federal match is really a bad position for them to take. We just overrode Governor's changes on our budget where at many of the changes the Governor proposed cost us millions and millions and millions of dollars in Medicare… Medicaid match or Medicare match. Those millions of dollars in Medicare match compared to that, this is just a small amount, but this something the administration can fix just as they could have fixed it by not making some of those silly and outrageous cuts in the budget. So, this is the same kind of mentality that says, 'It's our way or the highway.' This is not the way we ought to do our business in this state. The underlying Bill of Representative Moffitt's is a good one. We supported it before and we should support it again. I strongly support your Motion, Representative."
"The Gentleman from Iroquois, Representative Cultra, for what reason do you rise?"
"To the Bill."
"To the Bill."
"The district that I represent has fifty-two (52) towns. Fifty-one (51) of them have volunteer fire departments. All their money that they use is from property tax and some of them get as little as twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) a year. With fire trucks and ambulances in the neighborhood of a quarter of a million dollars ($250,000) it's beyond a lot of fire districts to be able to afford new equipment. This Bill would go a long ways in helping solve those problems and I would urge an 'aye' vote. Thank you." 09500153.doc 53 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman from Fulton, Representative Smith, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Bill."
"To the Bill."
"I rise in strong support of Representative Moffitt's Motion and I want to commend him for all the work he has done on this issue and so much for the fire service. It was over five (5) years ago that he and I cochaired a task force of this Body looking into the fire service and particularly their financial needs after the 9/11 tragedy. And many of us were receiving requests for financial assistance from our local fire departments. Out of that came the Fire Caucus, which Representative Moffitt cochairs. We've made many outstanding recommendations, many of them that have become law. Probably the biggest of those has been the Revolving Loan Fund for fire trucks. This is the next step and is an issue that the fire service has been trying to find a funding solution to provide more money to our local fire departments. Representative Moffitt has worked hard this year in trying to find that source, has worked to appease all the different parties, even the tobacco distributors are in favor of this legislation. I'm once again amazed at the hypocrisy in the Governor's statement in saying that this is somehow going to hurt our Medicaid reimbursements. As Representative Lang said, you look at everything that was done in the earlier Veto actions that we have responded to today. Ladies and Gentlemen, if you care about your local fire departments, the men and women who work for them, many of them volunteers in this state, if you want to do 09500153.doc 54 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 something to help them, this is the best thing we can do at this time, is to provide them the small, little bit of funding to help them meet some of the expenses they have. And I, again, want to commend Representative Moffitt, he is a man of his word. If he says that's not the intention of this legislation in any way to affect Medicaid and if he says he's going to follow up with a trailer Bill, I think we all can take him for his word. I urge an 'aye' vote."
"The Gentleman from Rock Island, Representative Boland, for what reason do you rise?"
"To the Bill, Mr. Speaker. This is a very important Bill. I think all of us, particularly those who are from downstate who have rural areas and small towns, know the crying need of the volunteer fire districts for better equipment, new equipment, and this equipment is extremely expensive. And many of us have been come to and… and we've given money out of our legislative initiative projects to try to help these communities. I know I have and I'm sure most others who have these volunteer districts do the same thing. But there's no way on earth that we have enough money in our legislative initiative money, much of which the Governor vetoed, line-item vetoed, that could pay for this very, very expensive equipment. Most of the big trucks take, ya know, a quarter of a million dollars at least. Many others, a hundred and eighty thousand (180,000). Ya know, you're talking really big money. And these folks who work at the volunteer fire departments, the volunteer firefighters, the EMTs, the ambulance drivers, are people who not only risk their life and limb for others but also 09500153.doc 55 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 give generously of their time and often of their own money, paying for… ya know, suits and other types of smaller equipment out of their own pocket. But they can't afford the big stuff, none of us could. And so we desperately need a fund like this and a resource, a revenue resource that would be continuing to be able to do this. We actually need to strengthen even more than this. I think this is just a first step and we'll have to look at more next Session around or next year to try to come up with even more money, but this is absolutely crucial, absolutely crucial. It's something we just have to have. Ya know, 80 percent of the physical geography of the State of Illinois is covered by volunteer departments. And so, they need to be helped out as much as possible. I would plead with you, urge you to please vote 'yes' on this Bill. Thank you."
"The Gentleman from Cook, Representative… I mean the Lady from Kankakee, Representative Dugan, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you, Speaker. To the Bill. I, too, just want to commend Representative Moffitt. This is something that many of us have had concerns with because of the fire departments all over this state. I think it's been said before certainly by the Representatives that spoke before me, it is imperative for our small, volunteer fire departments to make sure that they're able to get air packs and make sure that they're able to get thermal imaging. Many of us throughout this state we hold spaghetti suppers, we hold pancake breakfasts to help raise money for our fire departments, all communities support. And the need to support public safety 09500153.doc 56 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 in our communities is very, very strong. I certainly, in all due respect to the Governor, as far as this Medicaid issue that was just thrown up today, I believe, as Representative Lang said, the only reason that Medicaid would be affected by this particular Bill, which provides a great benefit to public safety, is if the Governor of this state decides he's gonna take it away from Medicaid. That is not the intent, it never was the intent of this legislation. It's to provide to our fire departments the equipment that we need all over this state. I also ask for a 'yes' vote to override the Governor. Thank you."
"Representative Moffitt, to close."
"Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate all the debate and the comments. And I just want to point out this is statewide. This would put equipment in the suburbs and Chicago would also, it'd be on a need basis and administered through the State Fire Marshal's Office. Why use the penny of the cigarette tax? Five percent of structure fires are caused by careless use of smoking material, it's a natural connection. And the Department of Health Care and Family Services was working against this. I want to read you a statement from their website, which surprises me that they would oppose this. 'As we carry out our mission we must not lose sight of our ultimate goal, which is to make Illinois a better place by empowering families to improve their health and their lives.' You improve lives by improving safety response, emergency response. I urge a 'yes' vote to override the Governor's Veto. Thank you very much." 09500153.doc 57 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007
"Representative Moffitt moves that House Bill 1921 do pass, notwithstanding the Veto of the Governor. All those in favor should vote 'aye'; all those opposed vote 'no'. The voting is now open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mendoza? The Clerk shall take the record. On this question, there are 110 voting 'aye', 3 voting 'nay', no 'presents'. And this Motion, having received the Supermajority, House Bill 1921 is hereby declared passed, notwithstanding the Veto of the Governor. House Bill 1279, Representative Burke, on page 12 of the Calendar, Concurrence Motion."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Ladies and Gentlemen of the House, I would move to concur with Senate Amendment 1 to House Bill 1279. I'd be happy to answer any questions."
"Seeing no questions, the question is, 'Shall the House concur in Senate Amendment #1 to House Bill 1279?' All those in favor should vote 'aye'; all those opposed vote 'no'. The voting is now open. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? The Clerk shall take the record. On this question, there are 113 voting 'aye', 0 'nays', 0 'presents'. And this Bill, having received a Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. The Gentleman from Cook, Representative Molaro, for what reason do you rise?"
"Well, just so you don't waste any time. I found out it was my mistake. It wasn't Lou Piniella, it was actually Representative Black. I confused him for Lou Piniella, and I apologize to the Body. It was Representative Black."
"Your apology is accepted. Mr. Clerk, Agreed Resolutions." 09500153.doc 58 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007
"On the Order of Agreed Resolutions is House Resolution 699, offered by Representative Monique Davis. House Resolution 700, offered by Representative Munson. House Resolution 701, offered by Representative Graham. House Resolution 702, offered by Representative Howard. House Resolution 705, offered by Representative Sacia. House Resolution 706, offered by Representative Mathias. House Resolution 707, offered by Representative Flowers. House Resolution 708, offered by Representative Rose. House Resolution 709, offered by Representative Rose. House Resolution 710, offered by Representative Reboletti. House Resolution 711, offered by Representative Jakobsson. House Resolution 712, offered by Representative Granberg. House Resolution 713, offered by Representative Chapa LaVia. House Resolution 714, offered by Representative Bellock. House Resolution 715, offered by Representative Bellock. House Resolution 716, offered by Representative Madigan. House Resolution 717, offered by Representative Watson. House Resolution 718, offered by Representative Colvin. House Resolution 719, offered by Representative Bill Mitchell. House Resolution 722, offered by Representative Granberg. House Resolution 723, offered by Representative Rose. House Resolution 725, offered by Representative Flider. House Resolution 726, offered by Representative Flider. House Resolution 727, offered by Representative Dunkin. House Resolution 728, offered by Representative Flider. House Resolution 729, offered by Representative Will Davis. House Resolution 730, offered by Representative Harris. House Resolution 731, offered by Representative 09500153.doc 59 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 Jakobsson. House Resolution 732, offered by Representative John D'Amico. House Resolution 733, offered by Representative Stephens. House Resolution 734, offered by Representative Poe. House Resolution 735, offered by Representative Poe. House Resolution 736, offered by Representative Osterman. House Resolution 737, offered by Representative Currie. House Resolution 738, offered by Representative Kosel. House Resolution 739, offered by Representative Beiser. House Resolution 740, offered by Representative Black. House Resolution 741, offered by Representative Jefferies. House Resolution 742, offered by Representative Howard. House Resolution 743, offered by Representative Flider. House Resolution 744, offered by Representative Mathias. And House Resolution 745, offered by Representative Beiser."
"Representative Currie moves for the adoption of the Agreed Resolutions. All those in favor say 'aye'; all those opposed say 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'ayes' it. And the Agreed Resolutions are adopted. The Gentleman from Winnebago, Representative Jefferson, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the way of an announcement, the Democratic Caucus will meet immediately after Session in Room 114. The Democratic Caucus will meet immediately after Session in Room 114. Thank you."
Speaker Turner: "Representative Brady, the Gentleman from McClain, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. The Republicans will have a caucus tomorrow at 10 a.m. in Room 118. The 09500153.doc 60 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 Republican Caucus tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. in Room 118. Thank you."
"You've heard the announcements. Democratic Caucus immediately, Republican Caucus tomorrow at 10 a.m. With that, Representative Lang now moves that the House stands adjourned 'til Wednesday, allowing perfunctory time for the Clerk, that the House stands adjourned 'til Wednesday at the hour of 11 a.m. Wednesday, October 3, at 11 a.m. And the House now stands… All those in favor vote 'aye'; all those opposed say 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'ayes' have it and the House is adjourned."
"The Regular House Perfunctory Session will come to order. Rules Report. Representative Barbara Flynn Currie, Chairperson from the Committee on Rules, to which the following legislative measures and/or Joint Action Motion were referred, action taken on October 02, 2007, reported the same back with the following recommendation/s: 'approved for floor consideration' is an Amendatory Veto Motion to House Bill 664. Referred to the House Committee on Rules is House Resolution 703, offered by Representative Mathias. House Resolution 720, offered by Representative Dunkin. House Resolution 721, offered by Representative Lang. And House Resolution 724, offered by Representative Granberg. Introduction and Reading of House Bills-First Reading. House Bill 4148, offered by Representative John Bradley, a Bill for an Act concerning education. First Reading of this House Bill. House Bill 4149, offered by Representative John Bradley, a Bill for an Act concerning appropriations. First Reading of this House Bill. Senate 09500153.doc 61 STATE OF ILLINOIS 95th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 153rd Legislative Day 10/2/2007 Bills-First Reading. Senate Bill 785, offered by Representative Hassert, a Bill for an Act concerning finance. First Reading of this House Bill… Senate Bill. Senate Bill 1110, offered by Representative Hassert, a Bill for an Act concerning appropriations. First Reading of this Senate Bill. Seeing no further business, the House Perfunctory Session stands adjourned until Wednesday October 3, 2007." 09500153.doc 62