Illinois House Floor Debate — March 4, 2009

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, let the record reflect that Representatives Saviano and Stephens are excused on the Republican side of the aisle today."

"Yeah, Mr. Speaker, point of personal privilege. Thank you. Thank you. I, too… even though we're local we want to make sure we acknowledge those schools here from Springfield and we appreciate St. Aloysius that’s on the north end of Springfield and their two teachers, Mrs. 09600021.doc 3  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 21st Legislative Day 3/4/2009 Harris and Metz for coming in today, will they recognize them up here in the gallery, also."

"Point of personal privilege, Sir."

"I am very excited to announce that last night at the Cozy Dog Drive In, House Republican staffer, Jeff 'Scooter' Scott, became the first ever Cozy Dog eating champion of the world. More importantly, the Springfield Gentlemen's Association will be donating one thousand, one hundred dollars to the American Cancer Society. And on behalf of them and Matt Paprocki, its founder, I would like to thank each and every one of you who participated and attended. The Springfield Gentlemen's Association will continue to wear the red jackets on Tuesday to stand against cancer. Thank you so much."

"We'll find him. We'll bring him up."

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

"I'd like to introduce from my district, if the ladies would stand, Kathy Bassoondile and Maria Galeway, from Holy Trinity and Epiphany Parish, respectively, that is down 09600021.doc 4  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 21st Legislative Day 3/4/2009 here at the Capitol with Catholics at the Capitol. And we'd give a nice warm welcome to the General Assembly and them. Thank you."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker and Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. House Bill 364 would create the veterinary student loan repayment program through the University of Illinois. It is subject to appropriation. And we have a real crisis developing in the United States where as students graduate from various veterinarian colleges they go into small animal practice which is cats and dogs. It's much more lucrative… it helps them pay down their student loans that they graduate with. This would create four scholarships per year for students who will serve in underserved areas of the state as a large animal veterinarian. It's a program… it's been modeled after other states, most of the other midwestern states have this. And I would ask for your support on this very important Bill to help make sure that animal agriculture remains viable in the State of Illinois." 09600021.doc 5  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 21st Legislative Day 3/4/2009

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, will the Sponsor yield?" 09600021.doc 6  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 21st Legislative Day 3/4/2009

"Representative, is this… new offense… will this be supervision eligible?" Bradley, J: "I don't have that in front of me. I think it would be."

"Okay. And… and the other issue that I have is that what constitutes the injury? I know that the Vehicle Code talks about different levels of injury…"

"So we're talking about major injury not if somebody had a small cut or something that they might be charged with a Class A misdemeanor?"

"Thank you."

"Okay. Because… are… for the Democratic analysis… I just want to make this point. It indicates that this Bill 09600021.doc 7  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 21st Legislative Day 3/4/2009 will eliminate the ability to later show proof of insurance to the court to prevent prosecution. So, you're saying that the analysis is wrong and you would still be able to show that you had proof of insurance at the time the bodily injury occurred."

"Okay. Have… have we… I don't have a copy of the Bill…"

"Okay. As long… let's just double check, and if that…"

"Thank you. Thank you for bringing this Bill."

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

"Thank you. Representative, I just want to make sure that I didn't… that I heard you correctly. Did you say you permanently repealed the sunset date or just moved it back?"

"Okay. I… thank you very much. I apologize. I thought I heard you say that you repealed the repealer, that’s… that’s all I wanted to clarify. Thank you."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield? Representative, what message are you sending to the public?"

"Excuse me, what state do you live in?"

"I… I still believe in that, too, but it's a little hard for me to fathom that sometimes after having been down here for awhile."

"Well, who… who does the message go to? Doesn't go to anybody in the General Assembly, correct?"

"The message doesn't apply to any of us in the General Assembly, correct? We can't be impeached." 09600021.doc 15  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 21st Legislative Day 3/4/2009

"So I… I heard you tell Representative Lang that it does not impact our former governor, who's busy writing a book probably as we speak.

"Was there… is there any way that you could change this to encompass… his loss of pension benefits? Have you given that any thought?"

"Well, now there is one way, Representative. What do you think would happen to Governor Blagojevich's… former Governor Blagojevich's pension, should he be convicted in a federal court of law?"

"But it doesn't apply to any Member of the General Assembly, just the Executive Branch or the constitutionally elected officeholders. Correct? Now, Representative, if you really believe in this, don't consult your staff… your young staffer should go back in the bathroom."

"Well, you'd have to change the Constitution, because we can't be impeached, an oversight you may want to address. 09600021.doc 16  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 21st Legislative Day 3/4/2009 Representative, why do I get the idea that maybe your staffer knows more about this Bill than you do?"

"Yeah, those technicalities are… you know what they are, I tell you. Well, let me ask you a question, Representative. It's… it's a… related to the Bill, you don't have to answer. One of the ways that we could get rid of any elected official who does not want to be honest would be a recall Amendment to the Constitution. Do you favor a recall Amendment?"

"No, it's the same thing, Representative. If you really want to clean up this mess, can we count on your vote for a recall Amendment? I have one filed."

"Okay. I'll remember that. How about a reform process where we could elect the next United State's Senator from Illinois, rather than appointed by a disgraced governor? Would you a… would you join us in that?"

"Then why didn't you vote for it two days ago when we had a recall… a Motion to Discharge the Chair? You voted to sustain the Chair. You voted to deny this Body the right to have a special election called. You can't have it both ways, Representative. What do you want to do?" 09600021.doc 17  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 21st Legislative Day 3/4/2009

"Oh, I see. Thank you very much, Representative. Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House, to the… to the Bill. When a freshmen starts to lecture me about what's needed to clean this place up, and he won't vote just 48 hours ago to clean the place up, and he says well, that's not related. I'm going to tell you something, Representative, it's all related. You want to clean this place up and I'll work with you. But you want to bring a cynical Bill, as your first Bill, and say well, I didn't have anything to do with the past. Well, I… It's all related. You're either going to be part of the solution, or you're going to be part of the problem. If I were you I'd go back and introduce my first Bill, to make popcorn the official snack food of Illinois. You have no right to call this Bill, you haven't proven yourself. You haven't done anything as far as I'm concerned. This is a cynical attempt to make your bones at the expense of anybody who's tried to clean up this mess. What are you, Representative, part of the problem or part of the solution?"

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Actually, I think the previous speaker did quite a good job."

"Point of personal privilege."

"No? Okay."

"Well, Mr. Speaker, thank you very much. I just heard a brilliant explanation of what this Bill does and not one word was accurate. Not one. Perhaps Representative Farnham can go talk to these two people. You want to clean 09600021.doc 23  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 21st Legislative Day 3/4/2009 up this mess, Representative, go talk to some of your colleagues. Inquiry of the Chair."

"What's the status of Committee Amendment #1 to this Bill?"

"I'll be darned. Will the Sponsor yield?"

"Representative, what does the Amendment do?"

"Why didn't you say that when you got up to present the Bill?"

"You were going to?"

"Well, your good intentions will be noted on the record, but that's not what you said. And then Representative Miller goes on with a soliloquy about what a great Bill this is. What's the Bill do, Representative?"

"No, no, no… what does the Bill do in its current form, Representative?"

"Nothing. Thank you. That is an honest answer. Ladies and Gentlemen of the House, this Bill does nothing. Committee Amendment #1 removed all the substantive language 09600021.doc 24  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 21st Legislative Day 3/4/2009 of the Bill. This is what we refer to as a shell, S,H,E,L,L, Bill. So, the Sponsor wants you to vote for this shell Bill, and then it will come back from the Senate, and you have no idea you're voting for a Bill that could come back to raise the income tax rate by 150,000 percent. You don't know. But many of you will vote for a Bill on this Roll Call that does absolutely nothing and that you have no idea what this Bill will be when it's amended in the Senate and comes back to the House. That's the way we clean up the process, Ladies and Gentlemen. Obfuscate, smoke gets in your eyes, even though we have the Smoke-free Illinois Act. Representative, I don't think you did this deliberately; I know you better than that. But a shell Bill, is a shell Bill, is a shell Bill. I would respect those of you who would vote 'no' on this shell Bill."

"Point of personal privilege, Mr. Speaker."

"Actually, St. Collette's is in my district, so, please, a big Springfield welcome to St. Collette's, hello."

"In the interest of good government, Mr. Speaker, I have an inquiry of the Chair."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday, on two different occasions I asked the Chair why you refused to follow House 09600021.doc 26  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 21st Legislative Day 3/4/2009 Rule 18. That clearly says in odd numbered years, all Bills will be referred from the Rules Committee to a substantive committee in three days. That has not happened. I noticed a Democrat Bill has been filed since December… pre-filed still isn't out of Rules Committee. I also brought up Robert's Rules of Order, since we cannot get an answer we don't know what Motion to make. We can make a Motion to Discharge several Bills. There are other items that we might pursue, but the Chair, in not only violation of House Rule 18, but in violation of Robert's Rules of Order, which clearly says in the House Rules, that is to be the definitive guideline. It says you must give us an answer as to why you are not following House Rule 18. We just want to know what the guidelines are so that we can plan our Motion as best we can. You said you would get an answer to us by the close of business yesterday and we did not get that answer."

"I'm sorry, I didn't see the Majority Leader in the Chair. Is it generally permissible for somebody from the floor to address an inquiry to the Chair?" 09600021.doc 27  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 21st Legislative Day 3/4/2009

"We have an inquiry to the presiding officer of the House, not to the chair of the Rules Committee. She is not the definitive… in this inquiry, she is not the definitive arbiter of the question, the Chair is."

"You are the presiding officer."

"We're simply asking, is it the intent of the Chair to inform the Democrat Majority that you will follow House Rule 18, which you have already violated on more than a hundred occasions or will you do your best to follow House Rule 18 before we get into the final week of committee hearings? It's a rather simple inquiry."

"Mr. Speaker…"

"Mr. Speaker, no, I'm not going to put up with that. You did that to me yesterday. Under Robert's Rules of Order, which now I have to go to because you will not answer our inquiry. We have every right under House Rules and Robert's Rules of Order to expect an answer to our inquiry. We are running out of time and I'm not going to go away until I get an answer as to why you refuse to 09600021.doc 28  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 21st Legislative Day 3/4/2009 follow House Rule 18. We have a right to know that; we have an obligation to find that out."

"We will file a Motion to Discharge on every Bill on the Calendar that was not reported out in three days, and every Bill that is still in the Rules Committee that has not met the requirements of House Rule 18. And we will hold your feet to the fire; every Bill will be debated individually. If what you're telling me is true, you do not intend to answer our question, you do not intend to follow the rules of the House. You leave us then no choice, no choice, and I hope Representative Farnham will join with us. If we want to clean this process up, I think it's beyond and past time that we do this process in accordance with the House Rules. There is nothing more important than this process. The process is more important than the Chair, it is more important than the Speaker, it's far more important than I. We just don't understand why you abjectly refuse to follow the rules of the procedure and process. If you want us to file discharge Motions, that's fine, you leave us no choice, but I want the record to reflect that I'm extremely disappointed that the Chair will not answer our inquiry, not even tell us why you have deliberately chosen not to follow the rules that you wrote, your side of the aisle wrote, your side of the aisle passed on a partisan Roll Call, and then you subject me to a freshmen Representative 09600021.doc 29  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 21st Legislative Day 3/4/2009 talking down to me about what we have to do to clean up this process. I'll tell you what we have to do to clean up this process; we clean up our own House. And for some reason, Mr. Speaker, although I hold you in the highest regard, for some reason the Majority Party does not want to focus inward and clean up our own House. You don't want to have a special election; you won't even let it be debated. You won't even send it to committee. This said… have we learned nothing, Mr. Speaker? Have we learned nothing? I thought we were coming out of the darkness and the wilderness of the last 6 years. Couldn't we just agree to work together and clean up this mess? It's embarrassing, it's embarrassing not only to me personally, I would hope to all of us in this chamber. And I think… I think from what I've heard and what I've read, it's embarrassing to the people of the State of Illinois that we refuse to clean up our own House."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As a point of privilege, I'd like to recognize on my left, the contingency from Naperville, the Naperville… the Naperville cha… chamber."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?" 09600021.doc 31  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 21st Legislative Day 3/4/2009

"Representative Davis, this… our analysis says this is not subject to appropriations, so… you're expecting this to be done whether there's money for it or not?" Davis, W.: "Well, we're expecting the department to make that… to ask someone to… designate someone to do this. So we're not asking them to hire a new person, we're asking them to utilize their existing staff to be able to do this. There is an appropriations component to it that's starting in the Senate and hopefully, will get passed out and come over to the House, asking for some additional resources that could be used to fund this person if that's what the department desires to do. But this particular Bill is not asking them to hire a new person… a new person to do it, simply asking them to use their existing staff to focus on these particular issues."

"I don't disagree with you that this is an important issue. What I do disagree with you, is the way that you're going about it. I don't think that the department has quite enough people, and there are a number of initiatives similar to yours for different diseases and types of things that need to be looked at. I think we'd be better off lumping them all together into one group called chronic disease management, and then putting a person or two there, and using it so that you would put together one brochure with all of them. You would maximize you money and… rather then do this piecemeal, one at a time, which is what we're doing currently. I don't disagree with you on the importance of this, but I would prefer to see all of these 09600021.doc 32  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 21st Legislative Day 3/4/2009 issues together in a cost effective way where they actually will address it. So… I presume I'll probably support your Bill, but I don't like the way it will happen, if it happens in the Senate. I think there's a much better way of doing it. I'd like to put this on the record because usually Bills are reviewed by a Governor's staff or someone, and maybe they'll use this idea as a way of combining all the initiatives that people have out there into one program that would be a better program." Davis, W.: "Thank you, Representative."

"Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker and Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. House Bill 394 is an initiative of the Department of Insurance. It's simply a piece of legislation that with the bookkeeping aspects of things, has to once again file this legislation in order to be in 09600021.doc 33  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 21st Legislative Day 3/4/2009 compliance with certain statutes of the insurance industry. And I would be happy to answer any questions."

"Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. An inquiry of the Chair. Since we cannot get an answer to your apparent decision to not follow the rules of the House, I have filed a Motion to Discharge in writing at the well. And at this point, Mr. Speaker, you leave me no choice, under House Rule 18(g), I move the discharge of House Bill 2503 from the House Rules Committee. It's already supposed to have been reported out under the House Rules, but it hasn't. Under House Rule 54(g), subsection 2, all Motions are assigned standard debate status. And I wish to debate my Motion to Discharge. Upon the conclusion of this debate, I would ask for a recorded Roll Call vote on the Motion to Discharge. Under Rule 49, any vote shall be by a recorded vote whenever five Representatives shall so request. I believe there are five Members on my side of the aisle to join me in asking that a recorded vote be taken. That is my Motion, Mr. Speaker." 09600021.doc 34  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 21st Legislative Day 3/4/2009

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess I'm… go back a little bit Representative… Representative Black's earlier inquiry of the Chair that I think is relevant to this. Why are we having difficulty getting this Bill out of Rules? Can we get an answer? We've got… we've asked this, I think, everyday now for the last week to 10 days. Your own side of the aisle has a comparable Bill, there are a number of people that has signed onto that Bill as cosponsors who are on the record saying they're for special elections. I'm not going to name them on the House Floor; that's public record. But… clearly, there are enough people in this chamber who say they're for special elections. Everybody on this side of the aisle is for a special election. And I… Mr. Speaker, I'm just curious why we can't even get this Bill assigned to a committee for a vote, given the fact that, at least allegedly, I know how sometimes people say they're for something and then they really aren't, and they hide behind somebody else, but you're either for special elections or you're not. And if you say you are, I would like to see… stand up and support our motion. People seem to be playing both sides of the fence on this. And for a pretty delicate issue and a pretty sensitive issue and… an issue involving the United States Senate and the seat of 09600021.doc 35  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 21st Legislative Day 3/4/2009 former Senator Barack Obama's, to play political games seems a little disheartening. So, I go back to my original question, Mr. Speaker, why have we not gotten an answer on why you're not moving this Bill?"

"Sure, that's fine."

"And I… I thought we had a fairly healthy discussion on the rules when they were enacted. And if I'm not mistaken, I'm not an expert on the rules like Representative Black. I thought we were all told that every Bill would be 09600021.doc 36  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 21st Legislative Day 3/4/2009 assigned to a committee. Now again, to those of you on the other side of the aisle who've told everybody you're for special elections, and you've signed on as a cosponsor, now's your opportunity to let us know how serious you are about special elections. Are you for special elections or are you just saying you're for special elections? And we are probably going to have a Motion on a discharge vote and that's maybe the best we get. But if you're really for special elections, I would think you would join us in asking why we can't even General Election this Bill assigned to a committee. So, are we going to get an answer from the chairman of the Rules, Mr. Speaker, on why to this date we have yet to even have this Bill assigned to Rules?"

"It's been under review, Mr. Speaker, for some time."

"And I'm not aiming this at you in any means personally, but I'm just…"

"I mean you run the clock out and then we're going to get, well, it's too late, and… it's really a moot point, but let's not worry about it, lets just… it's all kind of gone away. Don't you guys worry about it. But I would like to get an explanation on why it's under advisement and why it's not been assigned to a committee and when will it be assigned to a committee?"

"Right."

"Fair enough. I understand that, but what I would like… and I can do it now or I can do it after the vote. I think we all know… we understand the rules, Mr. Speaker, I'm not questioning how you're handling it at all. You do an excellent job in the Chair. But my question is, when can we expect, if we're going to follow the House Rules, when this Bill will be assigned to committee, per the House Rules?"

"So let me ask… and again I apologize, Mr. Speaker, you happen to be in the middle of this, and we're not getting any cooperation… we're not getting an answer other than, 09600021.doc 38  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 21st Legislative Day 3/4/2009 you're relaying it. Can we expect, in a timely manner, this Bill being assigned to a real committee with a real vote taking place? What's the timeline on that? Or maybe another alternative way to ask this is, how long will this be taken under advisement? Is this going to be a three, four, or five month advisement period or is this a matter of an hour or two?"

"You're a good Member. You do a good job."

"Well, can I… can we ask the chairperson right now if she intends to have a vote on that and assign it to committee? We know who controls the Rules Committee. You've told us that every Bill is going to get assigned to a committee. Our mistake perhaps was assuming that maybe it doesn't happen in a timely manner, but I'd like to get an answer on when we can expect this Bill to be assigned to committee. We play this game everyday. We come out here, we ask what's going to happen, you tell us it's under advisement and we just… we're all supposed to forget about it. No more. Let's find out when it's going to get assigned to a committee. Maybe we can ask the chairperson, right now."

"Who are you going to recognize, the chairperson of Rules?"

"All right. Well… let's… if you can… with all due respect to Representative Bost, let's get an answer to my question. When are we going to get this Bill assigned to Rules? Let's just get it… let's find out whether we're for special elections or we're just going to play a game the rest of Session and we're not going to have a vote on it. If that's the way it is, just tell us. Tell us you're not for a special election. Let's just be done with it. Tell us this Bill's dead. Just let us know. If you're going to kill it and you're not going to let it see the light of day, and you're not for special elections, even though you're all or many of you are signed on as cosponsors, just tell us you really don't mean that and we're not going to have a special election in the State of Illinois. We're not even going to have a vote on it. Just let us know now. So, we'll quit going around saying we're for special elections on our side… over there on your side, I should say. I'd like to just get an answer then I'll defer to Representative Bost after the answer, if you don't mind."

"That's what you told us yesterday." 09600021.doc 40  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 21st Legislative Day 3/4/2009

"Why… why can't I ask that same question right now on the House Floor in front of everybody, as opposed to in a back room? Get an answer; what the intentions are of the chair. Is it going to be… the chair of the Rules, is it going to be assigned to a committee today? Real simple or are we going to take it under advisement one more day, get out of town on tomorrow, and then we'll… you know hopefully it's all going to go away. It's… Mr. Speaker, with all due respect to you, I… I'll say it again, I apologize for pushing this with you, but I'd like to get… I don't know who the chair of Rules is, let's just get an answer. I thought Gary Hannig left. And anyone on your side… on the other side that's for special elections, you're welcome to join us on this. Many of you are cosponsors. You know, now's a good time to get up and… I assume if you're a Sponsor of a Bill, you'd like to see this Bill assigned to committee. So now's as good a time as any to get up and join and help us out a little bit here."

"So, as we sit here today, we're going to take it under advisement one more day. It appears we're not going to have the special election Bill that Republicans and Democrats allegedly support, allegedly under the term Democrats. But yet we can't get it assigned to a committee. We all know in this chamber, in the state, what the Rules Committee really does. They assign, if they follow the rules, Bills to committee. They're told what to do and… and we're getting the run around, on one of the most significant issues this state has ever faced and may ever face again in the history of this state. And in many ways, the very reason we're in trouble today as a state, in terms of blocking stuff, a few people making decisions, a few people deciding what they think is best for this state, is the very reason we can't even have a vote on a special election Bill. And I think what's become very troubling is, those of you on the other side of the aisle that go out to the press and tell everybody you're for special 09600021.doc 42  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 21st Legislative Day 3/4/2009 elections, and you've done nothing to get this Bill out. You've sat idly by. It begs the question whether or not you're really for special elections, or you're just trying to get a press pop. I… amazed that we cannot even get an answer on a simple question about when this thing is going to get assigned to committee. But… it's nice to have a lot of power. It's nice to abuse that power, it's nice to continue the arrogance and the brazen attitude that you'll do whatever you feel like doing at the expense of the people of the State of Illinois. Sad day, I don't think we've learned a single thing over the last few months."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think that if… if the gallery remains silent the state itself is going to begin to cry out. Folks, once again, once again, I explained to the new freshmen when they came in the problem that exists with this one rule. Now, what we have is, we have an issue that your citizens in your district strongly support and that is a special election to try to cure this problem, to try to put trust back in government. You say that's what you want. Now, here's the procedure and how it's happened. The Majority Leader, she has just said that she objects, then we go through this procedure and well… because it takes unanimous consent, I haven't figured out how in the world it is that in a democracy we do that, but at any rate, it takes unanimous consent, and then all of a sudden your options as an elected official are taken away from 09600021.doc 43  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 21st Legislative Day 3/4/2009 you. You might be for it, you might be against it, but as it is, you're not even going to have a chance to debate it. Now, the one option that you do have is when we move to override the Chair, stand with us and do that. Override the Chair and let's take back control of this House. Let's take back control of the state. And let's have honest elections and allow the people to make the choices. Folks, go to your coffee shops and tell them you're for it. Go ahead, go to your coffee shops, your beauty shops, your barber shops, up and down the streets or in parade routes, while you're out campaigning. And you say, you know what, we need a special election that would cure this problem, I'm for that. And then you go back and say, well, you know, the Leadership, they… they wouldn't let that out. But then when you have the opportunity to vote to override that Leadership, you choose not to. Folks, don't go back and tell them, oh, well, that was just a procedural move. You can't do that and be honest. You can't do that and say I'm for this special election and then choose not to do everything you can to make sure that the Bill gets on the floor where it can be debated and you can make that vote. I think those people… I really do believe that you're more honest then that. Don't fall into this trap. When the motion is made to override the Chair, support it."

"Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Did I just hear the Representative Fritchey was in a special election? My goodness, I… no, seriously, it's good to have him back and it'll be good to have Sara back. But a special election, imagine that. Mr. Speaker, I would hope that I could have the attention of the Body 'cause I'd like to speak from my heart. You know there are… there are people who think, or who have been told that I take some perverse pleasure in doing this. You may think that, but nothing is further from the truth. An inquiry of the Chair and rules debates… you have to invest a lot of psychic and emotional energy. And I'm now at an age where I don't have that much, quite frankly, to go around. I don't have a mausoleum with anything written on it, but I… I would hope that when I leave this world somebody would at least leave a note on my grave that I cared about the process. And the process is more important than any individual in this chamber. The process is supposed to allow for the rights of the Minority Party to be respected and when those rights are not respected, supposed to allow for the right of the Minority, I say in obligation of the Minority Party, to indicate or 09600021.doc 45  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 21st Legislative Day 3/4/2009 to ask that our rights be respected. I think the rules of the House should be followed. You know, Mr. Speaker, this whole chapter beginning with the impeachment has not been a glory, a day, or a few weeks in which the State of Illinois has covered itself with great glory and great statesmanship. The flip flop… flip flops, on the issue of a special election, would be funny if it weren’t so serious. Your Party called for an election. We were called, all of us were called to Springfield 10 days before Christmas, to come down here to vote on a special election. The Election Committee was constituted to meet the day after we were called here. We get down here and all of that changed. We weren't given an explanation why, nobody was, it just didn't happen. And then people changed their minds, well, maybe we shouldn't have a special election. Maybe the new Governor could appoint a Senator. The new Governor called for a special election. The new Governor called for the current Senator… the junior Senator from Illinois to step down. And then Sunday he says, well, maybe not. I don't know where Dick Durbin is today. He's been for an election, against an election, for an election, against seating Senator Burris, for seating Senator Burris. This isn't a real proud chapter in Illinois history. If you don't want a special election, or you don't think it's necessary, or as you have told the press repeatedly why it would cost fifty million, a hundred million, ten billion. That's alright, put it in a stimulus package, we could pay for it tomorrow morning. What's the cost of not having a special election? I think we're all beginning to pay that 09600021.doc 46  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 21st Legislative Day 3/4/2009 price. Well, Mr. Speaker, I have… I have an intensely personal family matter that I'm going to be leaving very shortly to attend to, so I don't take any pleasure in standing on this floor and getting into a rules battle with you that I've had many times in the past and we never win, we know that, we're the Minority Party; we're not going to win. But I really think the issue that we've asked you to consider today in following House Rule 18, and in allowing the assignment of a special election Bill to a committee, you can send it to any committee you want, it doesn't have to go to Elections if you don't want it to, go to Exec. You can send it to a committee where you can defeat that Bill easily and in a matter of minutes. But to deny people on both sides of the aisle the right to at least express their opinion in a vote, I don't think serves this call for reform very well. You can't keep this bottled up forever. Editorial writers across the state have caught on to what goes on down here. I thought maybe we would really, really, and honestly learn from the debacle, absolute debacle of the last six years. And that we would make a conscientious effort to come together and try and do what I have seen this Body do on more than one occasion; put aside these petty differences… these are political differences. Somebody in the Democrat party decided, uh oh, we may lose that special election. In November you told us we couldn't win an election to anything for the next 10 years, so what were you afraid of? So, for two days I've sat up here and asked that you simply follow your rules. We don’t get an answer, it's under advisement, it's under review. So we 09600021.doc 47  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 21st Legislative Day 3/4/2009 have filed a Motion to Discharge on the special election Bill. I don't know whether it'll come out of Rules this afternoon or not, but Mr. Speaker, in all due respect to you, when you said the Rules Committee has a Membership problem… you substitute… your side of the aisle substitutes on the Rules Committee constantly. Almost every time we meet, there's a substitute. Our side of the aisle has to have substitutes; when we're in committee and so forth. So that’s not the issue, we both know that. This could have been addressed, and should have been addressed and I don't know what anybody thinks you gain by just refusing to allow a vote on a critical issue. As I said the other day, you're playing a basketball game with no shot clock. You're holding the ball and eventually the time will run out and the score will be zero to zero; nobody wins and in my opinion, everybody loses. The process loses. We're seen as incapable or unwilling to address the problems that this state faces. I think we're better than that. I think, collectively, we're better than that, but so often the Majority Party will not give us the opportunity to show that we're better than that. You refuse… you refuse to let us vote. You refuse to give us an equal voice on too many occasions in this House Floor. That's the old way of doing things, let's find a new way. We've just gone through a very traumatic chapter in Illinois history. Why do we want to make the same mistakes? Leader Cross has told you from the inauguration of this General Assembly on, he is willing to work with the Democrat Leadership in this House. He's willing to have the House Republican Caucus work with the 09600021.doc 48  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 21st Legislative Day 3/4/2009 Democrat Caucus. He will go anywhere, anytime to meet with any of you to see how we can jointly address the problems of this state that are growing day by day. We've asked that we discuss budget cuts and budget reductions. Nope, can't do that, not ready to do that. Can't do this, can't… can't debate a special election. Capital Bill: we'll get to that when we get to that. That's the way we've done things here for too long. I simply join with the House Republican Leader in asking that you, all of you… the real speaker isn't here, maybe it will give some of you some sunshine courage. Vote for the discharge; vote the Motion to overrule the Chair. Tell your Leadership. I know… I know it's not comfortable; I've been on the opposite side of the Republican Leadership on 3 of 4 occasions in my 20 years here. It's not a comfortable feeling but sometimes you have to do what you think is right. I think this is one of those defining issues that we all need to do what we think is right. If you're for a special election, vote for this Motion, vote to overrule the Chair. Let's debate the special election; it will pass or it will fail. It's that simple. But hiding behind, under review, under advisement, we won't face this problem, I'm equally as guilty as anybody here, for six years while I was a critic of the previous administration, none of us did enough."

"Certainly, Mr. Speaker. No one in this chamber did enough during those six years. Could we have avoided some of the problems? Perhaps. Should we have avoided some of 09600021.doc 49  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 21st Legislative Day 3/4/2009 the problems? Yes. All too often we decided not to or we were not given an opportunity to do so. Are we going to continue down that path or are we going to try to live by the House rules? Give everybody on this floor and equal opportunity to present their ideas; to represent our constituents who bring ideas to us, they expect to be able to testify on their Bill. What am I supposed to tell people who brought Bills to me that don't get assigned to committee? And they call every week. This week, can I come down and testify, this week, can I come down and testify? No, it didn't get out of Rules, didn’t get out of Rules. Why not? I don't know. That is not the way we should be doing the public's business here. In all due respect to the Chair and all due respect to my colleagues, I ask that you give serious consideration. This Motion is not superfluous, it's not made in any kind of jest, it's not made to embarrass anyone, just simply says follow the rules. We have a special election Bill; we'd like it to be assigned to committee. It gets voted on, if it passes we'll bring it to the floor, if it fails we won't. Is that so much to ask? You're going to get an opportunity to vote here shortly. I hope some of you will put your vote where your public comments have been. It’s time to do that."

"Mr. Speaker, since the Majority Leader, my good friend, and I mean that sincerely, we've worked on Bills in the past; we're working on Bills this Session. Since she has objected to our Motion, under House Rule 57(a), I move to appeal the ruling of the Chair that the Motion to Discharge 09600021.doc 50  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 21st Legislative Day 3/4/2009 has been objected to and cannot be considered. I would ask that we have a Roll Call vote on our Motion to Discharge House Bill 2503 from the Rules Committee and would ask that in all due respect to the Chair. And I thank you for your indulgence."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Point of personal privilege. I would like to welcome to the floor a ten-year Member of the General Assembly, Larry Wennland is with us today in the back of the chamber, my constituent, my predecessor."

"Point of personal privilege, Mr. Speaker."

"Thank you. I think… we missed two important people on our side of the aisle's birthdays, too. Representative Susie Bassi and Representative Jil Tracy. So, I'd like to give them a round of applause for their birthdays."