"The House shall come to order. The Members shall be in their chairs. We ask the Members and our guests in the gallery to turn off laptop computers, cell phones and pagers. And we ask our guests in the gallery to rise and join us for the invocation and Pledge of Allegiance. We shall be led in prayer today by the Reverend Ruth Newell, who's the chaplin of the Living Water Community Church and the pastor of See Beyond the Walls Outreach Ministry in Bolingbrook, Illinois. Reverend Newell is the guest of Representative McAsey."
"Let us pray. Almighty Creator, the giver of life, the God of all nations, the sustainer of wisdoms, graciousness and the laws of truth, we say thank You. We ask that You bless and guide our State House Representatives assembled here today. Grant them the clarity of thought, the gift of discernment, the knowledge of wisdom. Let the source of our being bless those who will be debating here with the courage of truth. We beseech You to guide and bless our State Representatives and Congress assembled here today. We ask that they may enact such laws as it is… shall please You. May their goodness flourish, not only for You, but for the better welfare of the people of this great State of Illinois. May You protect them and their families always, Amen."
"We shall be led in the Pledge of Allegiance by Representative Washington."
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it 09600024.doc 1 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009 stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
"Roll Call for Attendance. Representative Currie."
"Thank you, Speaker. Please let the record reflect that Representative Gordon is excused today."
"Mr. Bost."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let the record reflect that all Republicans are present today."
"Clerk shall take the record. There being 117 Members responding to the Attendance Roll Call, there is a quorum present. Mr. Clerk."
Clerk Mahoney: "Committee Reports. Representative Burke, Chairperson from the Committee on Executive, to which the following measures were referred, action taken on March 11, 2009, reported the same back with the following recommendation/s: 'do pass Short Debate' is Agreed Bill List with House Bills 4258 consecutively through House 4317 as well as House Bill 12, House Bill 165, House Bill 179, House Bill 180, House Bill 202, House Bill 687, House Bill 867, House Bill 2528, House Bill 3611, House Bill 3629, House Bill 3658, House Bill 3991, House Bill 4075, and House Bill 4252; 'do pass as amended Short Debate' is House Bill 926, House Bill 1089, House Bill 1195, House Bill 2436, House Bill 3610 and House Bill 4151. Representative D'Amico, Chairperson from the Committee on Vehicles & Safety, to which the following measures were referred, action taken on March 11, 2009, reported the same back with the following recommendations: 'do pass Short 09600024.doc 2 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009 Debate' is House Bill 1346, House Bill 2649, House Bill 3697, House Bill 3705, House Bill 3787, House Bill 3982, House Bill 4048; 'do pass as amended Short Debate' is House Bill 795, House Bill 2664 and House Bill 4327. Representative Reitz, Chairperson from the Committee on Health Care Licenses, to which the following measures were referred, action taken on March 11, 2009, reported the same back with the following recommendations: 'do pass as amended Short Debate' is House Bill 64, House Bill 149, House Bill 1292, House Bill 1329, House Bill 2395 and House Bill 3649; 'do pass Short Debate' is House Bill 1294, House Bill 1353, House Bill 2247, House Bill 2279, House Bill 2396, House Bill 2440, House Bill 2441, House Bill 3759, House Bill 3845, House Bill 3994, House Bill 4079, House Bill 4182 and House Bill 4237. Representative Flowers, Chairperson from the Committee on Health Care Availability & Access, to which the following measures were referred, action taken on March 10, 2009, reported the same back with the following recommendations: 'do pass Short Debate' is House Bill 29, House Bill 3650 and House Bill 3865; 'do pass Standard Debate' is House Bill 626; 'do pass as amended Short Debate' is House Bill 152, House Bill 649 and House Bill 3749. Representative Nekritz, Chairperson from the Committee on Elections & Campaign Reform, to which the following measures were referred, action taken on March 10, 2009, reported the same back with the following recommendations: 'do pass Short Debate' is House Bill 7, House Bill 268, House Bill 567, House Bill 723, House Bill 1131, House Bill 2295, House Bill 2620, House Bill 3972, 09600024.doc 3 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009 House Bill 4037 and House Bill 4051; 'do pass as amended Short Debate' is House Bill 85, House Bill 3785 and House Bill 4077; 'do pass as amended Standard Debate' is House Bill 267, House Bill 825 and House Bill 2629. Representative Washington, Chairperson from the Committee on Prison Reform, to which the following measures were referred, action taken on March 10, 2009, reported the same back with the following recommendations: 'recommends be adopted' is House Joint Resolution 21; 'do pass Standard Debate' is House Bill 2633. Representative Colvin, Chairperson from the Committee on Consumer Protection, to which the following measures were referred, action taken on March 10, 2009, reported the same back with the following recommendations: 'do pass Short Debate' is House Bill 181, House Bill 3703, House Bill 3855, House Bill 3864, House Bill 3888 and House Bill 3965; 'do pass Standard Debate' is House Bill 44, House Bill 537; 'do pass as amended Short Debate' is House Bill 728, House Bill 2352 and House Bill 3782. Representative Brosnahan, Chairperson from the Committee on Financial Institutions, to which the following measures were referred, action taken on March 10, 2009, reported the same back with the following recommendations: 'do pass Short Debate' is House Bill 3752, House Bill 3762; 'do pass as amended Short Debate' is House Bill 811; 'recommends be adopted' is House Joint Resolution 14 and House Resolution 113. Representative Froehlich, Chairperson from the Committee on Cities & Villages, to which the following measures were referred, action taken on March 10, 2009, reported the same back with the following 09600024.doc 4 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009 recommendations: 'recommends be adopted' is House Resolution 121; 'do pass as amended Short Debate' is House Bill 1135 and House Bill 2612; 'do pass Short Debate' is House Bill 3729, House Bill 3877, House Bill 3986, House Bill 4158 and House Bill 4326. Representative Monique Davis, Chairperson from the Committee on Insurance, to which the following measures were referred, action taken on March 10, 2009, reported the same back with the following recommendations: 'do pass Short Debate' is House Bill 274, House Bill 2325, House Bill 2652, House Bill 3823, House Bill 4043, House Bill 4240 and House Bill 4241; 'do pass Standard Debate' is House Bill 3861; 'do pass as amended Short Debate' is House Bill 2687; 'do pass as amended Standard Debate' is House Bill 731. Representative Phelps, Chairperson from the Committee on Agriculture & Conservation, to which the following measures were referred, action taken on March 10, 2009, reported the same back with the following recommendation/s: 'recommends be adopted' Floor Amendment #1 to House Bill 583; 'do pass as amended Short Debate' is House Bill 872 and House Bill 2331; 'do pass Short Debate' is House Bill 173, House Bill 674, House Bill 998, House Bill 1204, House Bill 1295, House Bill 2589, House Bill 3685, House Bill 3709, House Bill 3989, House Bill 4036, House Bill 4145, House Bill 4198 and House Bill 4153. Representative Beiser, Chairperson from the Committee on Transportation, Regulation, Roads & Bridges, to which the following measures were referred, action taken on March 10, 2009, reported the same back with the following recommendation/s: 09600024.doc 5 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009 'do pass Short Debate' is House Bill 1283, House Bill 3956 and House Bill 3966; 'do pass as amended Short Debate' is House Bill 3721 and House Bill 3889; 'recommends be adopted' is Floor Amendment #1 to House Bill 641. Representative Collins, Chairperson from the Committee on Public Utilities, to which the following measures were referred, action taken on March 10, 2009, reported the same back with the following recommendations: 'do pass Short Debate' is House Bill 2527 and House Bill 3654. Representative Watson, Chairperson from the Committee on Access to Federal Funding, to which the following measures were referred, action taken on March 11, 2009, reported the same back with the following recommendations: 'do pass Short Debate' is House Bill 571. Representative Jakobsson, Chairperson from the Committee on Human Services, to which the following measures were referred, action taken on March 11, 2009, reported the same back with the following recommendations: 'do pass Short Debate' is House Bill 745, House Bill 746, House Bill 753, House Bill 838, House Bill 1350, House Bill 2285, House Bill 2482, House Bill 2653, House Bill 2661, House Bill 2662, House Bill 3706, House Bill 3767, House Bill 3814, House Bill 3922, House Bill 3925, House Bill 3926, House Bill 3997, House Bill 4008, House Bill 4047, House Bill 4148, House Bill 3641, House Bill 3642 and House Bill 4231; 'do pass as amended Short Debate' is House Bill 185, House Bill 748, House Bill 1188, House Bill 2244, House Bill 2354, House Bill 3844 and House Bill 3878; 'do pass as amended Standard Debate' is House Bill 1196 and House Bill 2413. Referred to the House 09600024.doc 6 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009 Committee on Rules is House Joint Resolution 35, offered by Representative Berrios and Senate Joint Resolution 5, offered by Representative Howard."
"Mr. Black. Mr. Black."
"Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. A point of order. Mr. Speaker, under House Rule 4, section C(7). The Speaker has a duty to decide all points of order and House Rule 4(C) (7) and 15 provides that it is the duty of the Speaker to enforce the House Rules. My point of order is related to the actions of the Chair on March 10, 2009, when the House considered a Motion to suspend the posting requirements for House Bills in committee. Under House Rule 25, Mr. Speaker, it's very clear that such a Motion to suspend the posting requirements requires unanimous consent, unanimous consent for consideration, if the Motion is not carried on the Calendar. That Motion to suspend the posting requirement was not carried on the Calendar and unanimous consent was vigorously denied by several Members. The Chair in abject violation of House Rule 25 and House Rule 4(C)(7) took a Roll Call vote on the Motion to suspend the posting requirements despite the failure to obtain the required unanimous consent. Furthermore, the Chair refused to allow debate on that Motion, which according to Rule 54 (a) and 2 should have been assigned Standard Debate status. In addition, the Chair refused to recognize Members for Motions or inquiries related to the pending Motion. Members tried to raise a point of order at that time, but the Chair refused to recognize Members. In the absence of following the rules… then Roberts's Rules clearly provides 09600024.doc 7 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009 the Chair must recognize any Member who seeks the floor while entitled to seek that recognition. It also provides that under legitimate parliamentary procedure there is no such thing as gaveling through a measure. The right of Members should be held inviolate. Debate is not closed by the presiding officer's rise to put the question. If the vote is begun or taken quickly and it's found that a Member rose and addressed the Chair with reasonable promptness, then that vote should have been disregarded. Debate begins or resumes as should have happened yesterday. You'll find that reference on page 374 and 375 in Roberts's Rules. The right to debate was clearly required yesterday, but not allowed. The Motion to suspend the posting requirements required unanimous consent for consideration, which it clearly did not receive. You can listen to the recording and that point is not debatable. Members had a right and in some cases even a duty or an obligation to point out that violation at the time, but they were denied that right. The actions taken yesterday and the result of those actions should be ruled invalid and the vote should be disregarded. And it’s for that reason, Mr. Speaker, I raise this point of order. I would expect the Chair to rule on my point of order and enforce the House Rules as required by Rule #4 in the official rules of the 96th General Assembly. And I would ask the Chair to so rule."
"Mr. Black. Mr. Black."
"Yes, Mr. Speaker."
"That was a real mouthful."
"Mr. Speaker, I tried to condense it as best I could." 09600024.doc 8 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009
"Right. And so you'll give me an opportunity to review the situation?"
"I would be more than happy to give you that opportunity and meet with you and the House parliamentarian. One of the few, I might add, the House legal counsel who has ever successfully prosecuted an impeachment of a sitting Governor and an author of some note, by the way. And if he fails to rule in our favor, we will be picketing the bookstores that choose to carry his books."
Speaker Madigan: "Now, the author of note, is that the parliamentarian or the former Governor?"
"There are people in the Senate who said they were confused as to what they were voting on."
"Okay. Mr. Stephens."
"Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I understand you’re taking Representative Black's inquiry into consideration. We… I would just point out that at adjournment yesterday, my light was on seeking to point out the fact that Rule 25 was violated. Mr. Speaker, I don’t take that personally and I know that you're doing your very best to rule this Body with… by the rules and to your best ability. But when one of our lights is on over here and you know there's a point of contention in order… in question, we should have the right to at least question what actions the Chair is taking. So, in the future, if you don’t mind, I would respond… I would like to be responded to by simply having a chance to state my point and to question the actions of the Chair. We anxiously await your ruling.” 09600024.doc 9 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009
"Mr. Bost."
"Mr. Speaker, if I may, on that issue just for a moment. The concern I have is that those particular Bills then did, under violation of that rule, move on to committee that we have now voted on. I did bring that up in committee. I'm concerned about those Bills some of them did pass out. And if we could also have a ruling on what we would then follow up to do with those particular Bills, whether we bring them back and go back through the rules com… or back through the committee process or how we would handle those ones that are already passed out of committee. I’d appreciate that."
"The Chair recognizes Representative Howard for the purpose of an announcement."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For the purpose of two announcements. One is the three subcommittees of the Judiciary II-Criminal Law Committee are going to be meeting tomorrow morning first thing. So as soon after 8 a.m. as we start our… our meeting wel’l have the three subcommittees. If there are any questions on how those Bills are going to be considered, please be in touch with me. That's the first announcement. The second announcement is that those of you who like the butter cake that Representative Poe's wife makes, we have butter cake today back in Skip Saviano's office. So please feel free. Thank you."
"On the Order of House Calendar, Supplemental Calendar #1 there appears two Motions in writing. Representative Currie." 09600024.doc 10 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009
"Thank you, Speaker. I move to suspend the posting requirements for House Bills 365 and 2503, so that they could be heard in Executive Committee this very afternoon."
"You've all heard the Lady's Motion. Is there any discussion? Mr. Black."
"Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. This Motion to suspend is on the Calendar, therefore it does not need unanimous consent. But let me thank the Majority Leader and the Speaker. We look forward to having a fair and spirited debate on these Bills in committee this afternoon. I would thank the Chair for their indulgent on these Bills that many Members on both sides of the aisle feel are very important. We thank you for that."
"Is there any further discussion? Those in favor of the Motion signify by voting 'yes'; those opposed by voting 'no'. Have all voted who wish? Have all voted who wish? Mr. Phelps. The Clerk shall take the record. On this question, there are 117 people voting 'yes', 0 voting 'no'. This Motion, having received sufficient number of votes, is hereby adopted. Mr. Turner in the Chair."
"The Lady from Will, Representative McAsey. For what reason do you rise?"
"Good afternoon. Thank you. I rise to exercise a point of personal privilege with the permission of the Speaker. Mr. Speaker, March is Women's History Month and in honor of Women's History Month we would like to recognize women in Illinois history who have made contributions. And today I'd like to recognize Edwina 09600024.doc 11 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009 Froehlich, born in 1915 and passed in 2008. Edwina Froehlich was the founder of La Leche League International and the coauthor of the Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, which has over two million copies in print. Born Edwina Hearn on January 5, 1915, in Bronx, New York, she attended Mundelein College in Chicago, Illinois. In 1956, Edwina Froehlich and six other women met in Franklin Park, Illinois, to share information on how to successfully breastfeed their babies. The group quickly attracted the attention of other women and became an organization called La Leche League. In those days you didn’t mention breast in print. Froehlich knew that… or said we knew that if we were going to get anything in the paper we’d need to have a name that wouldn’t actually tell people what the organization was about. La Leche International, a breastfeeding support not-for-profit organization was formed and today it has groups in every U.S. state and in 64 different countries. The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding has been translated into eight languages and Braille. An editorial from the Dallas Morning News said,'…countless women are more free, their babies better off, because a 1950s suburban mom refused to accept that one of the most natural things in the world is shameful or retrograde. Edwina Froehlich was ahead of her time.' Thank you."
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman from Morgan, Representative Watson, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A point of personal privilege."
"…your point." 09600024.doc 12 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009
"Please join me in welcoming the Triopia High School football team Class 1A state champs. They defeated Stark County, Representative Moffitt's district, 42 to 7. Welcome, champs."
"Welcome to Springfield. Gentleman from Knox, Representative Moffitt for a rebutt."
"Well, actually, I would just add my congratulations. It's unfortunate that it had to be a team… but that the other top team in the state was us, yeah, Stark County. So, actually what I wanted, Mr. Speaker, was a rise to a point of personal privilege."
"State your point."
"We’d just like to remind the Body of a breakfast tomorrow morning. Representative Smith had also mentioned it earlier in the week. Tomorrow morning 7:30 in the Rathskellar is a breakfast for the Fire Caucus. Fire Caucus tomorrow morning 7:30 in the Rathskellar. Update from members of the Fire Service about the Bills that they adopted and would like for us to move through. Thank you."
"The Gentleman from Randolph, Representative Reitz, for what reason do you rise?"
"Introduction, I guess."
"State your introduction."
"I would like to introduce Betsy Hannig, my new seatmate here, to the House of Representatives. And welcome her."
Speaker Turner: "Betsy, welcome to the Illinois General Assembly. The Gentleman from Winnebago, Representative Winters, for what reason do you rise?"
"For purposes of an announcement." 09600024.doc 13 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009
"…your announcement."
"Tomorrow morning, I believe it's 7:30, the Exelon Generation would like to talk to any Legislators interested in what their environmental procedures are doing, what they're trying to do as a company on green energy and other environmental issues, in Room 413, 8 a.m. Anybody that’s interested in Exelon Generation's presentation on environmental issues. Thank you."
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman from Cook, Representative Harris, for what reason do you rise?"
"A point of personal privilege."
"State your point."
"I would just like to point out to the Body that Edwina Froehlich who was just mentioned as one of the founders of the La Leche League is the mother of Representative Paul Froehlich."
"All right. Ladies and Gentlemen, we're going to start on page 23. And we'll start with House Bill 490 and we will proceed in that order. So, if you want to follow along, page 23. And the first Bill we will call will be House Bill 490. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 490, a Bill for an Act concerning insurance. Third Reading of this House Bill."
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman from DuPage, Representative Fortner."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Members of the House. House Bill 490 is identical to Senate Bill 2845 from last year, a Bill that got hung up due to the rules making fight. This Bill would require the Department of Financial and 09600024.doc 14 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009 Professional Regulation to develop a consumer fact sheet dealing with identity theft insurance. There's been a lot of different products being marketed right now. It's a new area of insurance; consumers don’t have a lot of knowledge about what type of coverage should be in such a product. This would help give the consumers that information by directing our department to provide that fact sheet. I am open to any questions and would ask for your favorable vote."
"Seeing no questions, the question is, ‘Shall the House pass House Bill 490?’ 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? Rita. The Clerk shall take the record. On this question, 117 voting ‘aye’, 0 'noes', 0 'presents'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Representative Miller. Out of the record. Representative Colvin on House Bill 503. Marlow Colvin, 503. Out of the record. Representative Beiser on House Bill 519. Out of the record. I'm sorry. Let me… let me just see where he's at. Representative Beiser. Out of the record. Representative Reitz on House Bill 542. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 542, a Bill for an Act concerning public aid. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Gentleman from Randolph, Representative Reitz."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. House Bill 542 has been shelled. So, it’s a shell Bill. The intent of the 09600024.doc 15 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009 underlying Bill and the intent when it comes back from the Senate will be to provide formulas for Medicaid reimbursement for our ambulance service providers. This came from the ambulance service committee or the group and they are trying to update the ambulance fee schedules that have not been updated in a long time and try to make sure that our local ambulance services can stay in business. But I said this is a shell Bill. And I’d be happy to answer any questions."
"The Gentleman from Vermilion, Representative Black, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield? Representative, you… and I appreciate your forthright statement. This Bill has been shelled as you clearly said, so it really doesn’t do anything."
"Correct."
"Now, let me for the record…"
"One of my better Bills."
"Let me for the record. What is your intent? You're sending… we're sending in effect, by voting for this a blank Bill to the Senate. It could come back in any… any kind of form, but what is your intent in your word?"
"My intent and the intent in discussions with the Speaker is, basically, to take the language out of this Bill, send it to the Senate because it is… most of the Bill is predicated on the budget on what money we're going to put into the budget, on whether or not we can update these ambulance rates. So, we just shelled it and moved it over. And depending on if we can get this money in the budget, we 09600024.doc 16 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009 will put the language in that would correspond to giving our ambulance providers more dollars."
"I'm… I'm curious. It begs the question, we're a long way from Third Reading deadline. Why wouldn’t you just hold the Bill until the Governor gives his budget address next week and you might have some idea at that time about what the rates for ambulance reimbursement could be? I don’t understand the rush to get it over to the Senate before the Governor has even given his budget address."
"I don’t know that there is as far as… I'm not sure we'll have the answers that we need, whether or not the budget is going to pass. I mean, I could put the numbers in from the budget itself, but I would think we'll have a better idea when we get closer to passing a budget what the real numbers are going to be."
"Well, let me ask you the obvious question from my standpoint. Is… there's time to negotiate on this Bill, you may not be able to come to agreement before Third Reading deadline, the budget address is next week. Why don’t you just hold it in the House until after the budget address and then try to negotiate some figure and if that’s not possible, you still have plenty of time to move a shell Bill over to the Senate. I just don’t understand why you want to do that today."
"Mostly because it came up on the Calendar. So, I thought it was my turn. So, I thought… and I… I don’t know that we'll have the… the… we'll have an agreement and have everything figured out in order to do this. But it's my 09600024.doc 17 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009 intent for this to come back and specifically deal with the ambulance rates…”
“All right.”
“…and I'm hopeful that's what the end product will be."
"Well, you know, I remember a President from Hope and there were times when he didn’t give me much hope. I don’t want you to be hopeful that it'll come back only in that form. Do we have your word that you will not accept Amendments from the Senate that change the underlying or the original intent of your Bill?"
"I don’t like to lie. So, I… and… and things… sometimes things are beyond my control, but I am very hopeful that it will be… do exactly what we want…”
“All right.”
“…and I will try to let you know beforehand if that changes."
"All right. Thank you very much, Representative, I appreciate as always your forthright answers. Mr. Speaker, and Ladies and Gentlemen of the House, to the Bill. For those of you who are inclined to vote for a shell Bill and that's not S-H-A-L-L, it's S-H-E-L-L, you're voting on what in effect is a blank Bill. It has a title; there is no language, other than to make it a Bill that doesn’t really do anything. The Gentleman, I think, is noted for his honesty, but even he doesn’t know and can't tell us at this time what that Bill might be used for in the Senate and then it could come back as something entirely different. I… I don’t think we need to send shell Bills over to the Senate this early. There is still plenty of time. It's 09600024.doc 18 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009 for that reason, I intend to vote 'no' and I would advise some of my colleagues to vote 'no'. But it's not that I don’t trust the Sponsor, but even as he said, sometimes things are beyond his control and I don’t want to vote for a Bill that leaves here, literally an empty canvas, may come back with a painting by the Senate that none of us will particularly like. So, I intend to vote 'no'."
"Seeing no further questions, the question is, ‘Shall the House pass House Bill 542?’ 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 61 voting ‘aye’, 55 voting ‘no’ and 1 voting ‘present’. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. On the Order of Third Readings, we have House Bill 543, Representative Reitz. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 543, a Bill for an Act concerning finance. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. House Bill 543 and… thank you for the vote on the last one. This is another shell Bill, but this is the same thing. It has been shelled out strictly to try and find out what dollars we're going to have in the budget and then hopefully place it in here. This… the underlying Bill and the intent of this as it comes back, would require the transfer from GRF to the Agricultural Premium Fund. This funds our county fairs and we are trying to move that up to 100 percent of the statutory payments. We have not funded our fairs the last 09600024.doc 19 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009 few years and they desperately need it. And I'd be happy to answer any questions."
"The Gentleman from Vermilion, Representative Black. For what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. To the Gentleman's Motion. Again, if we're not careful we could send over, by the end of this week, a hundred blank canvases that could come back in some kind of abstract, modernistic style. If that’s your thing, that’s fine, but it's early in the process and I don’t why we want to send over so many Bills, shell Bills to the Senate at this early date. The last Bill just barely passed and I would hope that some of these Bills will be held in the House until after the Governor's budget address and then we can begin to get a better idea of what some of these Bills will do. The Third Reading deadline isn’t until April 3, so I would… I would explain to the Gentleman and to the Members that there's no hurry, there's no need to do this today. And it makes me wonder why we want to send over so many blank Bills that the Senate can then fill in and send back to us. So I intend to vote 'no'."
"Seeing no further questions, the question is, ‘Shall the House pass House Bill 543?’ 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? Brady. The Clerk shall take the record. On this question, there are 60 voting ‘aye’, 57 voting ‘no’, 0 'presents'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. 09600024.doc 20 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009 Representative Miller on House Bill 497. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 497, a Bill for an Act concerning health. Third Reading of this House Bill."
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman from Cook, Representative Miller."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. Drug overdoses are a persistent, deadly and expensive problem in the U.S. and in Illinois. The Center for Disease Control estimates that there are about 55 thousand drug ODs in the United States in 2005, with over 300 people dying annually in Cook County due to drug overdoses. House Bill 497 would do essentially two things. This Bill would authorize the Department of Human Services, divisions of alcohol and substance abuse to establish a drug overdose prevention program. But number two, the Bill would also prevent drug overdose deaths by allotting a wider prescription of Narcan. Narcan is the… is essentially also called naloxone hydrochloride, which is a safe drug to eliminate and to reverse overdoses of heroin. I would ask for favorable consideration."
"Seeing no questions, the question is, ‘Shall the House pass House Bill 497?’ 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, 117 voting ‘aye’, 0 ‘noes’, 0 ‘presents’. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. On the Order of Third Readings, 09600024.doc 21 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009 Representative Beiser, we have House Bill 519. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 519…"
Speaker Turner: "What's the status of House Bill 519, Mr. Clerk?"
"House Bill 519 is on the Order of House Bills- Third Reading."
"Sponsor asks leave to bring the Bill back to Second Reading. Leave is granted. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 519, a Bill for an Act concerning public employee benefits. Amendment #1 was adopted in committee. Floor Amendment #2, offered by Representative Beiser, has been approved for consideration."
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman from Madison, Representative Beiser, on Amendment #1. I'm sorry, Amendment #2."
"Yeah. I'd simply ask that Amendment #2 be adopted and that we had a provision in there that’ll allow… that Inspector General… for the Attorney General would be eligible, but there… upon looking into it, there are no Members that would be eligible or being able to take care of that. So, there's no need for that provision in there."
"The Gentleman moves for the adoption of Floor Amendment #2. All those in favor say 'aye'; all those opposed say 'no'. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'ayes' have it. Further Amendments?"
"No further Amendments. No Motions filed."
"Third Reading. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk. I’m sorry…" 09600024.doc 22 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009
"House Bill 519, a Bill for an Act concerning public employee benefits. Third Reading of this House Bill."
Speaker Turner: "Take the Bill out of the record. The Gentleman from Vermilion, Representative Black, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Sponsor yield? Representative…"
"There is no Bill in the record right now, Representative. We're not discussing…"
"Oh, he took the Bill out of the record?"
"That's correct."
"Brilliant man."
Speaker Turner: "Representative Schmitz on House Bill 546. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 546, a Bill for an Act concerning regulation. Third Reading of this House Bill."
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman from Kane, Representative Schmitz."
"Thank you, Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. House Bill 546 passed out of committee unanimous. It puts together two points for the State Medical Society. It says if a physician has been suspended by a hospital governing board medical staff, the medical executive committee must meet as soon as reasonably possible. The second provision of this Bill is that it clarifies the peer review process and codifies that physicians are entitled to a full due process from going through peer review. I'd be happy to answer any questions." 09600024.doc 23 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009
"Seeing no questions, the question is, ‘Shall the House pass House Bill 546?’ 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 the question, 117 voting ‘aye’, 0 ‘noes’, 0 ‘presents’. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Representative Pihos on House Bill 548. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk." Clerk Mahoney: "House Bill 548, a Bill for an Act concerning education. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Lady from DuPage, Representative Pihos."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. In the 95th General Assembly we passed an excellent Bill that was intended to give teachers 30 days of paid sick leave for adoption or placement of adoption. Instead the Public Act inadvertently in its Second Amendment created unlimited use of sick leave for maternity leave. So, although the legislative intent for this Bill was debated and established on the floor, the intent of my Bill is to correct the language of that law, to return to the intent of the original proposal that we voted on. And I'd be happy to answer any questions."
"Seeing no questions, the question is, ‘Shall the House pass House Bill 548?’ 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, 117 voting ‘aye’, 0 ‘noes’, 0 'presents'. And this Bill, 09600024.doc 24 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009 having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Representative Pihos, we have House Bill 550. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 550, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Lady from DuPage."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. This Bill, House Bill 550, provides that as a condition of mandatory supervised release, probation, or supervision, a sex offender shall refrain from knowingly using computer scrub software on any computer that the sex offender uses. What happens is many times as a condition of parole or mandatory supervised release, convicted sex offenders are restricted from viewing certain Web sites. And this just helps their parole officer see to it that they are complying with the law."
"The Lady from Will, Representative Senger, for what reason do you rise?"
"Yes, Mr. Speaker. A point of privilege. I'd like to recognize some individuals at Clifford Crone Middle School from my district, from middle school who's here today on the Republican side in the gallery. They're here because of some good work they've done for the environment in Naperville. And I invited them down and… and they’re… I'm very glad to see them here today. First time in Springfield."
"Welcome to Springfield. The Gentleman from Lake, Representative Washington, for what reason do you rise?" 09600024.doc 25 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a few questions for the Sponsor."
"She indicates she'll yield."
"Representative, can you… can you once again enact… forgive me for not paying attention. Can you tell me what the intent of this legislation will be…"
"Yes."
"And what are the ramifications of it.”
“Of Course.”
“And who does it help again, please."
"Many times as a condition of parole or mandatory supervised release, convicted sex offenders are actually restricted from viewing certain Web sites. And all we're saying in this Bill is that a convicted sex offender should not knowingly use a computer with computer scrub software. So, if they know that the computer has the scrub software on there, they should not use that computer in order to obliterate the fact that they've gone to a Web site that they're not allowed to use."
"Okay. So… so, we're saying that a person consciously and I don’t know how you would prove that, but someone knowingly using the computer with the computer scrub software. That's what we're talking about, correct?"
"Absolutely correct. We're not trying to trick anybody here.”
"Oh, no Ma'am. I'm not saying…"
"No, no. I'm just saying."
"Okay. Well, you know, the reason… the reason I'm following up with a question is because when I look at 09600024.doc 26 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009 those who've gone through the institution and come out, who've done a crime, done the time, that I know in my district there's an issue I'm dealing with concerning computers. This is a technological age we live in and I think the parents and relatives or people who had sex offender in there… in there personnel jacket coming out of the Department of Corrections. I'm… I didn’t want this to be a thing where a former offender could not live in a household with a computer. So, this has nothing to do with that?"
"Absolutely nothing. You are correct. Thank you."
"Thank you, Representative. To the Bill. I suggest that we strongly support this legislation. Thank you."
"Seeing no questions, the question is, ‘Shall the House pass House Bill 550?’ 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 117 voting ‘aye’, 0 ‘noes’, 0 'presents'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Okay. Mr. Clerk, Agreed Resolutions. We are not adjourning."
"On the Order of Agreed Resolutions is House Resolution 157, offered by Representative Burke. House Resolution 158, offered by Representative Currie. House Resolution 161, offered by Representative Howard. House Resolution 162, offered by Representative Miller. House Resolution 164, offered by Representative Phelps. House 09600024.doc 27 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009 Resolution 165, offered by Representative Currie. House Resolution 166, offered by Representative Mathias. House Resolution 167, offered by Representative Chapa LaVia. House Resolution 168, offered by Representative Cole. House Resolution 169, offered by Representative Boland. House Resolution 170, offered by Representative Sacia. House Resolution 171, offered by Representative Connelly."
"Representative Currie moves for the adoption of Agreed Resolutions. All those in favor should say ‘aye’; all those opposed say ‘no’. In the opinion of the Chair, the 'ayes' have it. And the Agreed Resolutions are adopted. Speaker Madigan in the Chair."
"Ladies and Gentlemen, if we could have your attention we have a special guest today. And if the staff would retire to the rear of the chamber and if the Members would please take their seats. We're very pleased to have with us the Ambassador of Norway to the United States of America. His Excellency Wegger Christian Strommen has served extensively in the Foreign Service of Norway. He has been representing his country before the United States of America for quite awhile. He's very pleased to join us today to talk in terms of the relationship between his country and the State of Illinois. Mr. Strommen."
Ambassador Strommen: "Thanks a lot. Thank you very much. Thank you. Honorable Representatives and dear Speaker Madigan, Ladies and Gentlemen. Being Norway's ambassador to the United States is both an honor and delight. And I feel privileged to speak to you today. And I am particularly happy to be back in Illinois, which has a 09600024.doc 28 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009 special place in my heart ever since I was an exchange student here in the ‘70s. I have a very… believe me, I have a very exciting and challenging job made easier through Norway's strong and long-lasting ties to the United States. The ties between our countries are deeply rooted in our immigration history of which Illinois is a… is a major part. I, myself, am an example of this with extended family throughout the United States. In proportion to size, only Ireland contributed more immigrants than Norway and it may come as a surprise to you to hear that the number of the Norwegian Americans currently outnumber Norway's own population of 4.8 million. And I actually believe, and I have seen a figure that you have 500 thousand of them here in Illinois, so many of them are your voters of (inaudible). In fact, it's pure coincidental that I, myself, am Norwegian and not American. My grandmother was the only sibling among 12 who did not immigrate to the United States. So, I have thousands of relatives throughout this country. And we firmly were the hardcore Protestants and we firmly believed in filling up the earth and we acted accordingly. So, there are Strommens from here all the way to the Rocky Mountains. A name which I am sure you're all familiar with is Knute Rockne, the Notre Dame legend who still considers one… is considered one of the best football coaches, 78 years after dying in a tragic plane crash. While his death was described as a national loss by President Herbert Hoover, I’d like to take this opportunity to remind you that Rockne was, in fact, I will claim him; he was in fact a Norwegian 09600024.doc 29 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009 and was born in Voss, a small place in the western part or Norway and immigrated here at the age of five with his parents. Norway and… Norway and the United States commercial ties are very strong. And a good example of this, which is also important for Illinois, is the fact that we last year decided to buy Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets and this way we will secure many American jobs. Today my country is one of the world's richest, if you measure them in… in GDP per capita. But less than a century ago, when the large scale Norwegian immigration to Illinois and other places took place, we were the poorest country in Europe. The change has come from harnessing our plentiful natural resources. However, this newly acquired wealth does not alter the fact that we do still have an open and very vulnerable economy and considering the financial turmoil that we have around the globe at the moment and oil at $45 a barrel, this is all important for us to bear in mind. An increasing part of our wealth has, therefore, since 1990, we have set it aside in something called Norway's Sovereign Wealth Fund. And in these very difficult times, financially speaking, taking steps to preserve a stable economy becomes even more important for us and we try to put a lot of trust in this fund. The funds… the fund's capital originates from large oil and gas revenues and has now grown into the second largest sovereign wealth fund in the world. One-third of the fund's portfolio, more than $100 billion is invested in the U.S. A large part of it, again, which is here in the Midwest and in Illinois in particular. In a sense, the 09600024.doc 30 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009 pension fund is major cross-generational income transfer project. And a considerable part of today's oil and gas revenue we are seeking to save for our grandchildren… our children, our grandchildren and maybe further generations. Since the fund is a natural extension of our oil and gas industry, we consider it an obligation to manage it in a responsible way as a natural resource. So, we're doing… we live in a dilemma of being a large producer of oil and gas, but also looking after the environment. This certainly poses a series of challenges, not least because the world's primary energy needs will continue to increase significantly. The challenges of course that shows a massive increase in fossil fuel use is unsustainable in a world that is threatened by climates change. And we, therefore, are continuously evaluating and revising strategies on how best to handle this dilemma and continue to search for cleaner methods for production and use. And I will only mention one to you what is important and it is carbon capturing. Large natural deposits of CO2 exist in bedrock formations around the earth and is therefore an obvious solution to apply the same approach to limiting the amount of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. However, this is hard and we're not at all at the commercial level yet, but we're trying and we're trying to shoulder our burden of the cost of developing CO2 carbon capturing in storage facilities, as are you here in Illinois. The fact that Norway and why I'm speaking so much about climate change is… should come as no surprise. Climate change is particularly notable… noticeable in the Artic high north 09600024.doc 31 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009 and we're therefore reminded by our surroundings in Norway on a daily basis that this is not a problem we can… we can ignore. And I will say no more than this. To sum it up, the ice is melting, the ice is melting and it's changing… it's changing rapidly our local environment. Another important agenda in the emission debate is deforestation and presently deforestation in tropical countries represents about 20 percent of the annual manmade CO2 emissions. We must be able to stop deforestation globally and we're trying to pay our… to make our part. We've set aside $1 billion of our own revenues to spend in… against deforestations in Brazil and the Amazonas. Norway will always look to the U.S. for partnership and collaboration and our common history puts us as at the unique advantage when it comes to understanding each other. We strive and we try to be a facilitator of peace and progress on the many global challenges we face, whether it's through holding the Nobel Peace Prize committee, the only Nobel Prize not awarded in… awarded in Sweden or by participating in security operations like the one we have in Afghanistan. Norway is actually per capita the largest contributor of troops to Afghanistan. Numbers are not so impressive, we only have about 4.8 million people, but a thousand soldiers all the time is actually quite… quite a burden. You might not know that two countries award the Nobel Prize; Sweden awards all the academic prizes and we, Norway, the Peace Prize. The founder of the prize, Alfred Nobel's motives were unclear, but at… when he lived Norway and Sweden was one country. Now, we spread away… we run away from the 09600024.doc 32 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009 Swedes in 1905, just after he died. And I am not 100 percent sure that we would have got the prize if he lived to see that, but nevertheless, we hand out the Peace Prize. And we live in peace with the Swedes these days. We've had our differences over the centuries, but have come to a very peaceful… a very peaceful end. Now, whatever the reason, the Nobel committee in Norway has shouldered its responsibility and that has probably influenced our role in the world, both how we regard ourselves and how the rest of the world regards us. Could I, Mr. Speaker, end on a personal note and say something since I have… you don’t very often get to speak to a joint Legislature in… in… in a state in America. Could I end by saying a few words of why it is that I came to love America and why is it that I have strong feelings for Illinois. As I told you we believe, my family, in filling up the earth and we were all… we spread out all over the Midwest. But let me tell you this and this is sort of a personal story. During the summer of 1977 I traveled through 12, actually, U.S. states here in the Midwest with a group of Boy Scouts of America. We were going to Yellowstone and we were going to climb mountains in the Rocky Mountains. The original plan, and we knew little of the Midwest when we set out, the original plan was to sleep in tents, but I… we found out very quickly that sleeping in tents in the Midwest in July and August is not necessarily very pleasant. We had no money for motels and no money for anything that… really nothing but for food, but what we had… we had a phone directory of an organization called Sons of Norway. So, what we did, we 09600024.doc 33 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009 phoned up former members of Sons of Norway and pleaded to be allowed to sleep in their barns. And so I did that, actually, throughout the United States… throughout 12 states here in the Midwest. And here in Illinois the closest I got to Springfield, and I haven’t been here for 31 years, this is the… 31 years since I was here was in Quincy, which I believe is straight to the east here towards… towards… to the west, of course, towards the border… border with… with Iowa. It's on the Iowa border where I slept in a barn, one of the many. This might sound sentimental, but the hospitality of the people we encountered on this trip through these months in the summer of 1977 made a deep impression on me. To be able to experience several states this way certainly boosted my interest in American culture, politics, and the American people. And I will end with this, sleeping in barns is actually, I believe, a good way of getting to understand America. Thank you very much."
"The Ambassador will be available for a time in the well for those of wish… those of you who wish to greet him personally."
Speaker Turner: "Representative Turner in the Chair. Representative Turner in the Chair. On the Order of Third Readings, on page 24 of the Calendar, we have House Bill 557. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 557, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Third Reading of this House Bill."
Speaker Turner: "The Lady from Kane, Representative Chapa LaVia." 09600024.doc 34 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009
"Thank you, Speaker and Members of the House. What this Bill does it amends the Criminal Code of 1961. It expands the statute concerning interference with public institutions of higher education to also include interference with public elementary and secondary schools. What we did is we did have an Amendment to it that was cleared through the ACLU. They only had one opposition and we cleared that up with an Amendment that includes threat to person or property under this. So, if someone knowingly calls a bomb threat on a high school, there's a lot of money that's expanded in the municipalities in order to see this threat through, and then find out it was a false alarm. I've spoken with the Illinois State Board of Education people. We will do everything we can to make sure that the school notifies the students of this being cause for a… a felony. So, with that, I'll take any questions and ask for your support."
"Seeing no questions, the question is, ‘Shall the House pass House Bill 557?’ 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 117 voting ‘aye’, 0 ‘noes’, 0 'presents'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Representative Mendoza on House Bill 562. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 562, a Bill for an Act concerning abuse. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Lady from Cook, Representative Mendoza." 09600024.doc 35 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. House Bill 562 is identical to the Bill that we passed out of this chamber last Session. It's a cross reporting Bill that would allow for… in the event that the DCFS worker were to investigate a case of child abuse, and run into evidence of animal abuse, that the DCFS worker would now be mandated reporter, would have to report that animal abuse or suspicion of animal abuse to the Department of Animal Welfare and vice versa. If an animal welfare worker were to see, in the course of investigating an animal welfare situation, evidence of child abuse, he or she at that point would be a mandated reporter to the Department of Children and Family Services that they suspect there could be child abuse. There are plenty of studies that link the abuse of animals ultimately leads to the abuse of children or violence in general. And this Bill had I think… I believe it was unanimous support last year. I would ask us to just, once again, support it and move it on over to the Senate. The reason why we're debating it again today is because we had the… the rules, that little rule that we attached to all the Bills, that is what kept it from moving forward past the Senate. So, I would ask for an 'aye' vote. Thank you."
"Seeing no questions, the question is, ‘Shall the House pass House Bill 562?’ 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 117 voting ‘aye’, 0 ‘presents’, 0 'noes'. And this 09600024.doc 36 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009 Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Representative Osmond, we have House Bill 564. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 564, a Bill for an Act concerning local government. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Lady from Lake, Representative Osmond."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. House Bill 564 is the same as we had last year, House Bill 4157. It deals with amending the Township Code to state that a city council of a municipality that is coterminous with the… a township may authorize the township supervisor to preside over portions of the meeting that deals with township matters. This came out of committee with no opposition and I would hope that we would be able to give me a favorable vote on this."
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman from McHenry, Representative Franks, for what reason do you rise?"
"I missed the Sponsor. I was hoping she'd yield."
"Yes."
"Indicates she will."
"Representative, déjà vu all over again. Please, I'm slow; you need to help me understand this. Why would we allow a township supervisor to provide (sic-preside) over a city council meeting? Is this because the township is completely within the city?"
"Yes, that's correct. And there's nine cities in the State of Illinois that this would cover. We did exclude Cook County. Representative Hernandez had asked, last year, to have Cook County out of this." 09600024.doc 37 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009
"So, this would only be for cities… for a township that is completely within one city?"
"Correct. And I’m doing this on behalf of Zion, Illinois. Zion was questioned on the legality of this and we're trying to clear it up to make it more specific."
"Why would there ever need to be a township supervisor presiding over a city council meeting? Don't they have…”
“No, no, no…”
“…other city council meetings…”
“They have…”
“…other city council members who could preside?"
"They have it all at the same time. And when it comes to the township issues, the mayor steps aside and then the supervisor comes forth and handles the township issues only."
"Ok. Well, that begs a different question. So, we have… what you're saying is they have their meetings at the… simultaneously?"
"Correct."
"And, they have two chiefs, one called the mayor, one called the township supervisor, who then take turns presiding over the meeting, correct?"
"Well, the mayor… yes. The mayor takes care of the city matters and the supervisor takes care of the township issues."
"Thank you. To the Bill. I'm going to vote 'no' and I'd like… people ought to think about this, because we… in Illinois we have more units of government than any other state. We're facing, by some estimates, over an $11 09600024.doc 38 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009 billion budget deficit. And here we have entire townships contained within a city and we've got an extra level of government. You'd think that at a time when a township is consumed by a city, completely, that we would then be able to do away with the township, because there simply seems to be redundancy in our government efforts. So, for those… for that reason, I'd be encouraging you to vote 'no'. And I think we need to take a stand now if we're ever going to get our budgets under control and to look at what abuse we do to our taxpayers. You'd think that one entity can make the decision for all. Perhaps there are some things that the township does that the city doesn’t, but those could be easily transferred to a city that is… that is an entire part of an existing township. So, what I would rather see in this Bill is… when we get in these positions, is that the township would actually then dissolve and any issues that they would have would be turned over to the cities. So, I'd ask a 'no' vote on this Bill because otherwise we're just having a whole 'nother level of government and additional taxes on our citizens which are unnecessary."
"Seeing no further questions, the question is, ‘Shall the House pass House Bill 564?’ 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 105 voting ‘aye’, 12 voting ‘no’, 0 'presents'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. The Gentleman from Peoria, Representative Leitch, for what reason do you rise?" 09600024.doc 39 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009
"Point of personal privilege."
"State your point."
"I would like the Body to join me in welcoming the Illinois Federation of Women's Clubs who are with us today and come from many our different districts. Welcome to Springfield."
"Welcome to Springfield, ladies. On the Order of Third Readings, Representative John Bradley, we have House Bill 569. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 569, a Bill for an Act concerning land. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Gentleman from Williamson." Bradley, J.: "This is land conveyance. Several years ago the city of Marion gave the state some land and now the state's giving it back to them. Ask for an 'aye' vote."
"Seeing no questions, the question is, ‘Shall the House pass House Bill 569?’ 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 117 voting ‘aye’, 0 ‘noes’, 0 'presents'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Representative Sacia on House Bill 584. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 584, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Body. House Bill 584 is an enhancement Bill. If you disarm a police officer or a correctional officer, it will 09600024.doc 40 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009 be a Class I felony, as opposed to a Class II felony, which is currently law. And that will remain law for an attempt at disarming, but an actual disarming would move to a Class I. I know of no opposition to the Bill."
"Seeing no questions, the question is, ‘Shall the House pass House Bill 584?’ 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? Have all voted who wish? The Clerk shall take the record. On this question, there are 115 voting ‘aye’, 1 ‘no’, 1 'present'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Representative Nekritz, we have House Bill 597. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 597, a Bill for an Act concerning criminal law. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Lady from Cook, Representative Nekritz."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is not an enhancement of a penalty. It does have to do with making sure those victims of identity theft that have not yet suffered a financial loss, but who have had their identity stolen, that the… that the person perpetrating that is also guilty of identity theft."
"Seeing no further questions, the question is, ‘Shall the House pass House Bill 597?’ All those in favor should 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 117 voting ‘aye’, 0 ‘noes’, 0 'presents'. And this Bill, having 09600024.doc 41 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009 received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. Representative Sacia, we have House Bill 585. Read the Bill, Mr. Clerk."
"House Bill 585, a Bill for an Act concerning local government. Third Reading of this House Bill."
"The Gentleman from Winnebago."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. This simply is a Bill that would make it for counties under two million population to have noncompetitive bidding on projects costing under 30 thousand as opposed to under 20 thousand. I'd be happy to answer any questions."
Speaker Turner: "The Gentleman from Cook, Representative Dunkin, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"
"Indicates he will.”
“Representative, what brought this Bill on?"
"The Municipal League and several other organizations… Just give me a second here, Representative, and I’ll bring it up. Yes. It was brought by the Illinois Association of County Board Members and Commissioners. Metro County supported it, Illinois Association of County Engineers, and Association of Small Counties are proponents of the Bill."
"Okay. Was there a reason that they wanted to raise it from 20 to 35 thousand. I mean were there any sort of…"
"Twenty to thirty thousand, Sir. The reason was, it would… it's been many years since it's been upgraded. And just with inflation it seemed it was more prudent to go to 09600024.doc 42 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009 an enhancement of an additional $10 thousand for noncompetitive bidding."
"Okay. And this Bill simply allows those counties, those cities to make the selection on their own…"
"Yes, Sir."
"…without a competitive bidding process?"
"Right now, they can do it on projects up to 20 thousand. The Bill would allow them to do it on projects up to 30 thousand, $30 thousand."
"Okay. Thank you."
"Thank you."
"Seeing no further questions, the question is, ‘Shall the House pass House Bill 585?’ 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? Sacia, you want to vote? You still want to vote? You still want to vote? Colvin? The Clerk shall take the record. On this question, there are 81 voting ‘aye’, 34 voting ‘no’, and 2 voting 'present'. And this Bill, having received the Constitutional Majority, is hereby declared passed. The Gentleman from Winnebago, Representative Sacia."
"Point of personal privilege, Mr. Speaker."
"State your point."
"In the gallery behind me are some strong NRA supporters from my district. Would you acknowledge them, please."
"Welcome to Springfield. Mr. Clerk, what's the status of House Bill 349?" 09600024.doc 43 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009
"House Bill 349 is on the Order of House Bills- Third Reading."
"The Sponsor requests you bring the Bill back to Third… Second. What's the status of House Bill 71, Mr. Clerk?"
Clerk Mahoney: "House Bill 71 is on the Order of Third Reading."
"The Sponsor requests it be brought back to Second. And what's the status of House Bill 648?"
"House Bill 648 is on the Order of House Bills- Third Reading."
Speaker Turner: "The Sponsor asks that that House Bill be brought back to Second. The Gentleman from McHenry, Representative Franks."
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For purposes of announcement. Today in State Government, we usually go for a couple hours, but we have a popular committee and there's 98 Bills posted. So, I just wanted to let those folks in committee know that we're probably going to be going over and just to plan accordingly. So, I just wanted them to know now, if they need to make any phone calls."
"Will that be chicken or pizza? The Lady from Kankakee, Representative Dugan, for what reason do you rise?"
"Announcement. Speaker, the Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness meeting that was scheduled for tomorrow at 11:30 has been canceled. So, Homeland Security will not meet tomorrow at 11:30. Thank you."
"Mr. Clerk, committee announcements." 09600024.doc 44 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009
"Committee announcements. Please refer to your schedules. There have been several changes and a couple cancellations. The Public Policy Committee that was to meet in 115 at 2 p.m. has been canceled and tomorrow, as mentioned, Homeland Security has been canceled that was to meet in 122B. The committee schedule is as follows: meeting immediately after Session is Business & Occupational Licenses in Room D-1, Fire Protection in Room C-1, Labor in Room 118 with the Workers Comp Subcommittee. State Government Administration will meet in 114, Tollway Oversight in Room 122B. At 3 p.m., at 3 p.m. Environment & Energy meets in C-1 and in addition is Executive which will meet in 122B. Executive is meeting at 3 p.m. in Room 122B. At 4 p.m. Disability Services meets in 349C in the Stratton and at 4 p.m. Higher Education will meet in 122B and at 4 p.m. International Trade & Commerce meets in room 115. At 5 p.m. these are additions: at 5 p.m. Elementary & Secondary Education will meet in Room 118, Health Care Availability & Access in D-1 and Insurance in C-1 at 5 p.m. At 5:30 p.m., in addition, is Agriculture & Conservation in Room 122B. There is a correction. At 2:30 p.m. Tollway Oversight will be in Room D-1. In Room D-1 in the Stratton is Tollway Oversight at 2:30."
"The Lady from DuPage, Representative Bellock, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thank you, very much Mr. Speaker. A point of personal privilege."
"State your point." 09600024.doc 45 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009
"Representative Pihos and Representative Connelly and I would like to welcome the mayor and all the chamber and business members of Downers Grove, where we're from. They're up in the balcony. So, we wish you'd give them a warm welcome. Thank you."
"Welcome to Springfield. The Lady from Will, Representative Kosel, for what reason do you rise?"
"Point of personal privilege."
"State your point."
"I would like to welcome members of the Illinois Rifle Association from my district who are here with us today, including my son, Eric."
"Welcome to Springfield. And now, seeing no further questions and no further business before… to come before the House, Representative Currie moves that the House stands adjourned until Thursday, March 12 at the hour of 2 p.m., allowing perfunctory time for the Clerk. The House will stand adjourned… Representative Golar, for what reason do you rise?"
"Thanks, Mr. Speaker. I did want to just make note that Public Policy & Accountability for Education for those Members is canceled for this afternoon. Thank you."
"And now the House does stand adjourned until Thursday, March 12 at the hour of 2 p.m., allowing perfunctory time for the Clerk. The House stands adjourned."
"House Perfunctory Session will come to order. Committee Reports. Representative Fritchey, Chairperson from the Committee on Judiciary I-Civil Law, to which the 09600024.doc 46 STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 24th Legislative Day 3/11/2009 following measures were referred, action taken on March 11, 2009, reported the same back with the following recommendation/s: 'do pass Short Debate' is House Bill 183, House Bill 494, House Bill 1076, House Bill 2246, House Bill 2271, House Bill 2290, House Bill 2335, House Bill 2351, House Bill 2539, House Bill 2690, House Bill 2725, House Bill 2726, House Bill 2776, House Bill 2794, House Bill 3806, House Bill 3832, House Bill 3843, House Bill 3857, House Bill 2547, House Bill 4141, House Bill 4196, House Bill 3863, House Bill 4177, and House Bill 4202; 'do pass Short Debate' is House Bill 3886, House Bill 3918, House Bill 3946, House Bill 3957, and House Bill 3977; 'do pass as amended Short Debate' is House Bill 2236, House Bill 2248, House Bill 3887, House Bill 3981, House Bill 4088; 'recommends be adopted' is Floor Amendment #2 to House Bill 773. Representative Smith, Chairperson from the Committee on Elementary & Secondary Education, to which the following measures were referred, action taken on March 11, 2009, reported the same back with the following recommendations: 'do pass as amended Short Debate' is House Bill 481, House Bill 640, House Bill 725, House Bill 973, House Bill 2674, House Bill 4223, House Bill 4323; 'do pass Short Debate' is House Bill 209, House Bill 806, House Bill 809, House Bill 835, House Bill 2291, House Bill 2362, House Bill 3673, House Bill 3731, and House Bill 4318. Referred to the House Committee on Rules is Senate Joint Resolution 16, offered by Representative Brauer. There being no further business, the House Perfunctory Session will stand adjourned." 09600024.doc 47