Illinois House Floor Debate — October 16, 2009

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let the record reflect that Representatives Fortner and Mulligan are excused today."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A point of personal privilege."

"Ladies and Gentlemen, if I may have your attention. We are very honored and blessed to have with us in our presence a Pearl Harbor survivor this morning. A Pearl Harbor survivor from Mattoon, Illinois, my district. If I may take just a minute to talk about Mr. Carl Browning. Carl, would you and your wife stand up? They're in the gallery behind me. Carl… If I may Mr. Speaker, Carl enlisted in the United States Navy in September 1939, was sworn in October 18, same year. He served basic training at Great Lakes here, was transferred to San Diego, where he 09600077.doc 2  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 77th Legislative Day 10/16/2009 was assigned to the destroyer USS Mackenzie. While on the East Coast, he did a neutrality patrol until the ship was turned over to the British in 1940. From San Diego, he was transferred to Pearl Harbor and assigned to the USS Dobbin for six months. In the spring of 1941, he was transferred to the USS Phelps DD360. This was the destroyer leader he was on when Pearl Harbor was bombed. During the second attack on Pearl Harbor, he was on the USS Phelps as it got under way and patrolled outside the harbor. The next day, the USS Phelps joined the task force outside of the Harbor. For the battle of Pearl Harbor, he was awarded the American Defense ribbon, the Bronze Star, the Asiatic Pacific ribbon, and two silver and two bronze battle stars. After damage to the pan side of the Phelps in 1944, the ship was sent to the East Coast for repairs. Mr. Browning was then transferred to Ordinance School and assigned to the Henry W. Tucker until October of 1945. His stint was up October 26 the same year and he obtained the rank of Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class. He married Pauline Cox in July of 1946. They have three children. With him here today is his daughter Carlissa and her husband Steve, her granddaughter Heather, and their great-grandchildren Kevin and Isabella. They have many other grandchildren, great-grandchildren as well who were unable to attend today. After the military, Mr. Browning owned his own company and then joined the Carpenters Union in… Local 347, where he was an active member for 53 years in our community. Let's give Mr. Browning, once again, a thunderous round of applause." 09600077.doc 3  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 77th Legislative Day 10/16/2009

"Mr. Speaker, a point of personal privilege."

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the House, if I could have your attention, please. All of us have the privilege of bringing Pages to the Illinois House of Representatives. And often they are young people from the age of, say, 10 to 15 or 16. I am joined this morning with a Page from my hometown of Pecatonica, Illinois, Mr. Don Stengal. He is 85 years young. He has been around the world four times, a tremendous world traveler and he always wanted to page for the Illinois House of Representatives. Would you welcome, Mr. Don Stengal, your Page." 09600077.doc 4  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 77th Legislative Day 10/16/2009

"Yeah, Mr. Speaker, I'd like the Journal to reflect that on Senate Bill 1894, I was… intended to be a ‘yes’."

"Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like the record to reflect on Senate Bill 1894 that I intended to vote ‘yes’."

"Yes. Floor Amendment #1 essentially is House Bill 1322 from last year, which set up the ability for counties to lend IDOT the money and enter into an intergovernmental agreement that the county was willing to pay 10 percent of the cost. This would allow projects to proceed when there’s no capital Bill and would set up a timetable for a county to be repaid. This came out of the House, I believe, unanimously. And this is a Bill that’s agreed with IDOT. They wanted some changes that went beyond what could be done in the Veto Session, and so this is a new Bill that we’re going to pass over to Senate hopefully and start what, I think, would be a very valuable program where counties could work with IDOT and start projects even before we sell bonds on the capital Bill."

"I think I covered it in my… in my Motion for Amendment #1. This is, I think, this is good public policy. It came out of here unanimously in the last Session. And I would urge an ‘aye’ vote. 09600077.doc 7  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 77th Legislative Day 10/16/2009

"It's… it's…" Davis, W.: "So, if I’ve got… if I’m the county and I’ve got $100 thousand, I'm pooling my money into a state fund with other counties to create a multimillion dollar fund, so to speak and then that money will be used to draw down on federal funds and then I’ll just get my… my federal money? You know… I mean, help me to under… I just want to make sure I understand."

"Okay. In part, you’d be correct. It would allow a county or multiple counties and I’ll give you an example. In my district, there’s an interchange at I-90 and Route 47. The interchange is actually in Kane County, but it’s just as important to McHenry County. So, McHenry County has put up $3 million, Kane County has put up $6 million, tollway’s put up $21 million. The only variable that hasn’t been funded is the IDOT money of $16 million. So, this 09600077.doc 8  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 77th Legislative Day 10/16/2009 would allow the counties to lend IDOT and put in this fund, get the federal match money that we would be getting in order to do this interchange, start the project, and set up a repayment schedule for… for IDOT to repay the counties as they lend the money. It’s a way to leverage our federal dollars. We… we give back a lot of dollars to the Federal Government that… because we don’t have necessarily the money to start a project. So, this is just one of those ways to think outside of the box, where we could start a project, lend the money. IDOT knows there's a capital Bill coming and we could get it started." Davis, W.: "Okay. I think I understand that."

"Right." Davis, W.: "But it certainly sounds like an inventive idea to help, you know, big projects and you say they are multi- jurisdictional because they encompass more than one county in this case, correct?"

"That’s correct, but it could just be one county, too." Davis, W.: "It could just be one county?"

"Right." Davis, W.: "Okay. So I guess what I’m just trying to make sure. So, these… this state fund is just the moneys of those counties? This doesn’t put any, in other words, IDOT can’t put some money into this fund to help grow the pot in order to be able to say, hey, we’ve got a match for this big project and draw down on federal funds or is this money just money from counties?"

"It would be just from the counties and the reason we’re running this Bill is IDOT doesn’t have the money. So, you 09600077.doc 9  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 77th Legislative Day 10/16/2009 would be using the county money to get the match because the county’s going to be paying IDOT’s share and then through an intergovernmental agreement, IDOT will pay back the counties." Davis, W.: "Okay. Thank you very much."

"Mmm mmm."

"Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker and Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. I rise in opposition to House Bill 1409 as amended. Ladies and Gentlemen, this continues a 09600077.doc 11  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 77th Legislative Day 10/16/2009 practice that has gone on, I think, far too long. The Governor is supposed to address this Body in a Joint Session about the budget on the third Wednesday in February. By continuing… your side of the aisle continues to move this back. This Bill would move it back to March 24. Now, that gives us two months to look at the Governor’s figures and to come up with a budget. I would submit to you that in the last two years it didn’t make any difference what the Governor proposes your side simply lump summed large amounts of money and left town. And we all know that that’s worked very, very well. If in fact, and it’s true that the Governor has a new budget director, it was your side of the aisle who insisted on that. You'll remember we discussed some length last spring that the Governor needed to fire… Governor Quinn needed to fire the budget director. I think that person’s name was also included in your fumigation Bill. We didn’t used to do this as a matter of course. We expected the Chief Executive Officer to address the budget issue and the House would then have almost three full months to go through the Governor’s proposal: add, subtract, ask questions. The Appropriation Committees used to do real work. The longer we delay the start on the budget process, particularly in this budget year, the more difficult situation I think we will find ourselves in towards the end of May. Perhaps, a good reason to do this is that you have a new budget director, but perhaps the real reason is the Governor may be engaged in a Primary Election battle and would rather concentrate on that than delivering the budget address on the third Wednesday in 09600077.doc 12  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 77th Legislative Day 10/16/2009 February. I think this is bad public policy. This Body has gotten in the habit of doing it time after time after time and if anybody on this floor can stand up and say we really and truly devote our attention and efforts and energy to trying to craft a budget, I wish you could explain that to me, because we really haven’t done a very good job in the last three or four years. We have a new Governor, we should begin the budget process in February. I don’t think there’s anything to be gained by putting it back until the 24 of March, which gives the House literally less than 60 days to complete action on a budget. It didn’t work well in the past; I don’t think it’ll work very well in this budget year. I request a ‘no’ vote on House Bill 1409 as amended."

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

"Leader, did… have we ever had it this far back in the year? I know we… at several times we…"

"Okay. I…"

"Right. I think this one is a little later than ever before."

"Yeah. I think this one is a little later than ever before." 09600077.doc 13  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 77th Legislative Day 10/16/2009

"Now, the times we've done it before, I mean, last year was very sensible in the fact we just impeached a Governor. We had a brand new Governor coming through and I stood in agreement with that. But the Speaker… the actual Speaker, he was around for the writing of the Constitution and there was a reason why the date was set on when the budget address would be given. And the reason for that was most probably so that we could have time to actually work correctly on a budget. Do you believe that was probably the reason?"

"Thank you for your answer. Mr. Speaker, to the Bill. I have a tendency to believe that there may be other reasons why we would be delaying this and what those political reasons are, maybe they'll come out in the future, but the Governor has been the Governor now for over a year, he should be able to move forward and use his staff to present a budget to us quickly. Now, what we discovered last year, if you'll remember, we had quite a hard time coming together on a budget. We could not get it out in time. If he would present his budget, it would give us the opportunity and the time that we need, but obviously, this is important to someone, because I don’t know if everyone 09600077.doc 14  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 77th Legislative Day 10/16/2009 understands this or not, but this Bill was actually defeated in another committee before it moved into the Executive Committee today. And I stand in total opposition to this. I think the Governor should move forward with exactly what is set forth by the Constitution, that he should present our budget quickly, so that we, in our Body and we as the elected officials from each one of our districts, can have the input that we need and a long time to work on a very, very difficult problem. I stand in total opposition to this Bill."

"Inquiry of the chair."

"It’s my understanding that Amendment 2 becomes the Bill. Could we get the status of Amendment #2?"

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Bill. I rise in support of this statute… of this Amendment. For far too long, the State of Illinois has been a net exporter of investment, people and jobs. Today, in particular, to the State of Indiana and their great Governor, Mitch Daniels, we take a shot across the bow. We’re bringing 800 jobs from Indiana to Illinois. This is a tremendous economic development project for Illinois, for my region, for northern Illinois. In many ways, I feel like a fan of the Detroit Lions today. The Detroit Lions can’t possibly think about the Super Bowl until they win a game. Well, they won a game a few weeks ago. We can’t possibly look at Illinois as a great economic development state until we do things like this, bringing 800 jobs to Illinois. This is step one. This is like winning our first game. I ask for a ‘yes’ vote. Thank you, Mr. Speaker."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We'd like to add Representative Biggins to the excused Roll Call, if we could, please."

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

"Thank you. Majority Leader Currie, it's my understanding that there have been some negotiations going on with the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce regarding some procurement reporting… Excuse me. …some reporting requirements that they're concerned about. If… if the… well, I guess we'll just cut to the chase. They are under the impression that there will be a Bill, a trailer Bill, run during the last week of Veto Session, which is a week 09600077.doc 25  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 77th Legislative Day 10/16/2009 after next, that would address their concerns about the reporting requirements. Is that your understanding?"

"All right. I…"

"If… if we don't do a… a trailer Bill some of the reporting requirements become somewhat onerous."

"All right. Because it… it's my understanding that the chamber was given some reasonable assurance by your staff 09600077.doc 26  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 77th Legislative Day 10/16/2009 that negotiations were continuing, they were amicable discussions and that they felt that legislation would, in fact, be able to be considered in that last Veto week. So, is it fair to assume that, in fact, it is… is ongoing and…"

"…barring some unexpected difficulty may very well happen?"

"All right. Well, Majority Leader, I've always found your word to be good. We… we obviously have some concerns with… with the language. I know Representative Watson has some… has heard from some of the road builders in his district that some of the language certainly needs to be clarified if not in fact changed, because the reporting requirements would simply put a burden on them that they many not be able to meet and they certainly would not want to be barred from state contracts if they're unable to do that and perhaps others can make that point. I had some concerns about voting for this, but I think you've given me reasonable assurance that you will work with all interested parties. And while you and I haven't always agreed, I've always found your word to be good and I appreciate that."

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

"Thank you. Leader Currie, just to… to follow up briefly. There are concerns regarding this delay and I… I think the… the delay from your standpoint is necessary because of the really difficult nature of… of implementing this in the manner the original Bill passed and I… I think it's important to note that as this… this unfolds there would be the opportunity for input and for those who have specific concerns to come somewhere with those, is it…"

"Do… do you have any time estimate as to when the actual language in that trailer Bill might be before this body?"

"Okay. During… during the time that that language is being drafted, there are opportunities for input related to that final language by staff…"

"…on… on those on our side that have that?"

"Okay. Well, again, we're trying to make sure that not only we… we understand the intent of this, but we're going back to the Bill. Would… would you… would you be willing for just a couple of minutes to let our staff do some… a little bit of research and bri… and come back to this after about five minutes, in… in case we have specific questions 09600077.doc 28  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 77th Legislative Day 10/16/2009 related to the underlying Bill that they would like to get on the record?"

"So it's your understanding then that by delaying the effective date nothing in the underlying Bill is going to be affected in a manner that is negative to members of the House or… or any of the underlying…"

"Okay. Well…

"Well, we appr… appreciate that and also appreciate the understanding that as the final language is being drafted your… your willingness to give us some… some meaningful input, that's appreciated as well…"

"…and with that, we… your… you've always been a person of your word and we appreciate that and we'll work with you on that. Thank you."

"Thank you, Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"

"Representative Smith, just very quickly. You spoke about one of the waivers that was requested and denied and it had to do with driver's education simulators and… and that has been an issue. And I just want to alert those in here who have school districts who have requested those waivers from the six clock hours. I think in this case they were asking for three hours in a simulator and three behind the wheel."

"That those districts still, as of today, have not received one dime for that unfunded mandate. So the fact that in January there are plans to begin funding that with legislation that we passed last year that's good, but the fact is today those schools up and to this point have not received any money. So, if you have any of those school districts who… who are in that waiver request, you may want 09600077.doc 32  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 77th Legislative Day 10/16/2009 to just for the… the sake of that district not receiving those funds yet try to support them. That would take a 'no' vote, if you're trying to support that district's application for an unfunded mandate. Is that correct?"

"Okay."

"And the… and the 'yes' vote on this means that you have supported the state board's recommendation that those requests be denied and therefore that unfunded mandate be implemented."

"Okay. Thank you. I just… th… this is a little confusing sometimes and… and if members would just pay attention especially to the districts who made the requests, I… I think that it would be in… a judicious thing to do given… given the funding problems we have in our schools to support that local district. Thank you."

"A point of personal privilege."

"I'd like to recognize the Westchester Middle School who has joined us today. That is my hometown, Westchester, Illinois. And my office assistant, Mary LeCompte's, daughter, Madeline LeCompte has joined us today and I wanted to give them a warm Springfield welcome. Thank you."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Could we get some order in the chamber? 'Cause I bet the vast majority of people in this chamber have no idea what they're voting on. Just like the people that were subbed into committee to get this out had no idea what they were voting on."

"I… I'm going to go straight to the Bill and I'll let Representative Eddy ask some technical questions on this. But Ladies and Gentlemen of the House, this is something that is really changing public policy with regards to education in the State of Illinois. We got this Bill very late in the game, didn't even have enough people to get it 09600077.doc 37  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 77th Legislative Day 10/16/2009 out of committee the other day neither of the two schools come to testify. The only people that did testify were the Sponsor of the Bill and the people who were opposed to it, the State Board of Education. We ask that we delay this until next year so that we can have proper debate on this Bill, that we can hear all sides. Maybe we can try to figure out some of the unintended consequences that are going to come out of this Bill. And the more we asked for that, the more people that got subbed in so that we could get this Bill out of committee. Our question is, why do we have to do this now? We can do this next spring where we can have appropriate debate on it. There's something going on here that's… that's way beyond this. And we just ask that we delay putting this off. If the Sponsor doesn't want to, we ask that people vote 'no' on this so that we can force it into next year. This needs to have proper debate. This is about the State Board of Education getting something that they do not want. This is about people, tax bases, students being affected by decisionmakers of people… groups that don't want to do it. So, if the Sponsor doesn't want to pull the Bill out of the record, we ask for a 'no' vote on this so that this Bill can be given proper debate next year."

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

"Representative Smith, the State Board of Education been contacted regarding their position as being the adjudicator of a local decision related to a detachment issue. What… what's their position on the Bill, the state board?"

"The State Board of Education is opposed to getting involved in a local decision related to detachment of property, yet this Body is going to, in a matter of three days, change public policy and invoke the will of a State Board of Education on a local decision regarding detachments. To the Bill. The Gentleman brings to this Body an issue that needs to be addressed and I'm not going to quarrel with that. There are… there are no Regional Boards of School Trustees to bring this issue to in Cook County because there isn't a regional office of education. There are also no trustees in some areas to take this question up locally. So, we have a public policy issue that needs to be fixed. The State Board of Education is not the place to fix this and the State Board of Education themselves recognize the fact that they should not be involved. We need to take our time. We need to develop public policy that still allows for local input related to 09600077.doc 40  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 77th Legislative Day 10/16/2009 detachments. Most of the time school districts, if they're given the opportunity to work this out locally, make deals, they swap land, they make sure no district is harmed. And the General Assembly and/or the State Board of Education doesn't have to get involved in local issues related to detachments. It's just bad public policy. On many occasions some of you on the other side of the aisle that are concerned about Chicago school districts and how those schools are closed and students are moved around without local input, without any local meetings, you've come and said let's stop that practice. Let's look for a way that local… local individuals and communities can be involved in decisions related to their child's education. On many occasions, we have agreed with you. This is the same issue on a larger scale and we're sending this to the State Board of Education. The other part of this that's interesting is we've had a year, an entire year, this is a… there's no reason for us to do this now. There's absolutely no reason that we need to take this up and in three days affect public policy related to local decisions about where children attend school. It's bad; it's a bad Bill. This deserves a 'no' vote. We need to work together on a solution. I'm happy to do that. This is not the solution, Ladies and Gentlemen. Respect community input to detachment issues and vote 'no' on this legislation."

"Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. In the event this Bill would get the required majority, I… I can't add 09600077.doc 41  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 77th Legislative Day 10/16/2009 anything to what my colleagues have already said. I think they were very reasoned and rational arguments against it. But should this Bill get the required majority for passage, I would request a verification."

"Mr. Speaker, may I also point that the board… a lot of people just look up at the board and say, well, this must be something about grow your own teachers. This has nothing to do with grow you own teacher; that's a good program. This is injecting the General Assembly into some kind a of dispute between two school districts and asking us to settle the dispute when the two superintendents of those districts said they're not even aware of this Bill. They're not even sure why it's here. The State Board of Education slipped in opposition. I don't know what the real problem is here. And I'd like to work with Representative Smith and I know all my colleagues on this side of the aisle would as well. But this is… this opens a real can of worms. And I think we should go slowly. If there's some problem that Representative Smith needs are help with, we've… we have that next week in the Veto Session and we could certainly bring it up then. But right now we just simply do not have an understanding of why the General Assembly is being asked to dis… to disc… excuse me, to decide a deannexation request between a school district and the other school district. If we start that, there… there could be no end to it. If you need a Regional Board of School Trustees, as people said, fine, we'll help Representative Smith create that Regional Board of 09600077.doc 42  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 77th Legislative Day 10/16/2009 Trustees. But it has nothing to do with grow your own teachers. This is a very complex, complicated issue that's come up in the last 36 hours. I think it deserves, at this point, a 'no' vote. However, should it get the requisite number we would request a verification."

"Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. I just wish to commend Representative Gordon for this Bill. Now, some of you might consider this one of those evil corporate tax loopholes. I, on the other hand, look at it as an opportunity, a real opportunity to entice people to either stay in the State of Illinois, people who hire our constituents who create jobs, those jobs create tax revenue. This is I think a win-win process. If you use these sources of energy in the manufacturing process, then you're going to get a tax break because you're actually making something in the State of Illinois which we need to encourage. We have lost hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs in this state in the last eight or nine years. This is a positive, proactive Bill that will encourage those manufacturers currently who are using a tremendous amount of energy to create a product, when other 09600077.doc 45  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 77th Legislative Day 10/16/2009 states are enticing them to leave Illinois and come to their state because they won't charge them this kind of a tax. And we have lost many companies to other states who are a little more progressive in how they treat the businesses that create the jobs that all of us, every one of our districts need that kind of entrepreneurship and… and those people who manufacture goods generally pay a fairly decent wage. I commend the Sponsor. If there's ever a Bill that should get true bipartisan support, it's this one. I intend to vote 'aye'."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We'd also like to add Representative Tryon to the excused list, please."

"Yes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Inquiry of the Chair."

"Yesterday I asked if we could get some kind of parliamentary response giving us some direction on the 09600077.doc 46  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 77th Legislative Day 10/16/2009 definitive… a definition, if you would, on gubernatorial compliance and gubernatorial noncompliance. How that is determined and whether or not there's really ever been a definitive court case on… on that issue. It's my understanding that… that the Speaker of the House makes that determination. I think at onetime he did put out a… a document, but it's been some time ago. We're just curious as to what… what brings about a compliance or noncompliance, whether it's ever been tested in court. And I realize the parliamentarian may be on paternity leave. So, it's nothing critical, but perhaps when we come back the second week we could get some clarification or maybe even a one-page summation of just how that is arrived and how that decision is made and what would constitute compliance and noncompliance. I just… a lot of questions have been asked of me and quite frankly, I don't know the answer. So, when… when you have time or when Mr. Ellis is able to do that or any of his esteemed colleagues, maybe we can address that at some point."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Republicans would like to caucus in Room 114 immediately."

"I'm sorry, 118 immediately."

"At least an hour."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We'd also like to add to the excused roll list Representative Black and Representative Schmitz."

"Will the Sponsor yield?"

"Representative Lang, what is in this Bill that… is there anything in this Bill that would do anything about the unemployment rate of 10 percent in the State of Illinois? Yes or no."

"This Bill is out of order, but I asked a question. Is there anything in this Bill that does anything about the 10 percent unemployment rate in the State of Illinois today?"

"Is there anything in this Bill that does… that deals with the issue of Special Elections in the State of Illinois for vacancies in the United State Senate?"

"Is there anything in this Bill that… that changes the Primary date for elections in the State of Illinois?"

"Is there anything in this Bill that deals with the issue of redistricting in the State of Illinois?"

"Is there anything in this Bill that deals with the issue of recall for Members of the General Assembly?"

"Is there anything in this Bill that deals with an area of economic reform with a variety of Bills that we've introduced that would require three-fifths votes for a tax increase?"

"Is there anything in this Bill that deals with the concept we know and have referred to as pay-go here in the State of Illinois?"

"Is there anything in this Bill that deals with the concept of the sunshine commission, a Bill that we introduced? Yes or no." 09600077.doc 50  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 77th Legislative Day 10/16/2009

"Is there anything in this Bill that… but that, and the deal… the issue we have called sunshine…"

"…deals with the… Okay. Is there anything in this Bill that deals with property tax relief?"

"Okay. Anything in this Bill that deals with the… take any number you want, 5 billion, 4 billion, 8 billion, 12 billion, the hole in the budget deficit?"

"Is there anything in this Bill that deals with the unpaid bills in the State of Illinois?"

"Is there anything in… in this Bill that deals with the $80 billion pension shortfall in the State of Illinois?"

"Is there anything in this Bill that deals with the issue of Medicaid funding and the significant backlog of bills in the… for the Medicaid providers?"

"Is there anything in this Bill that deals with the issue of funding of education and the potential of some of our school districts not getting any money?"

"This is purely a Bill that regulates how the Republican Party in the State of Illinois elects their state central committeemen, correct?" 09600077.doc 51  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 77th Legislative Day 10/16/2009

"It does regulate the Republican Party. Is that correct? I know you've got a staff person telling you what to say…"

"…but it does regulate the Republican Party, does it not?"

"Okay. We have now, Mr. Speaker and Ladies and Gentlemen of the House, spent approximately an hour, hour and a half today, an hour, hour and a half yesterday, dealing with the regulation of, and the approach the Republican Party takes in electing their state central committeemen. There may be… there are people in our Party that agree with this concept. There are people in our Party that don't disagree with it. It's an issue that I suspect, you know, as I said, many… not many, some support and some don't support, and it's an issue that the Republican Party can handle on their own, just like the Democrat Party handles issues on their own. And if people want to have a vote on it, that's fine too. I would suggest though, and I said this yesterday, that I… with all due respect to the Sponsor, and I see some of the other Sponsors on there, this isn't about what's good for the 09600077.doc 52  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 77th Legislative Day 10/16/2009 Republican Party, or what's good for the people of the State of Illinois. And for those of you that are listening that are strong proponents of Senate Bill 600 don't, for one minute, think that on its face this is what this is about, or that the Representative that's the Sponsor here, or the Speaker of the House, cares about what goes on in the Republican Party. As we said yesterday, if you weren't listening, this is a distraction. This is a diversion. This is a message. This is punishment because we, in this state, are not dealing with the real issues of today. We are not talking about economic reform. We are not talking about ethical reform. We are trying to talk about the internal workings of one political Party, not what's good for all of the people in the State of Illinois. We have a crisis in the State of Illinois, or at least 177 people in this state have said we have a crisis, both economically and ethically. We have people out of work. We have people that can't make their mortgage payments. We have kids that can't afford to go to college. We have people that don't have health care. We have an ethical crisis. We have a former Governor in jail. We have another one under indictment, and we do nothing, and have done nothing to address any of those issues. Oh, we go around the edges. FOIA. Let's regulate that big, bad municipal government that is running amuck. Let's take care of procurement, and go after the Executive Branch. Let's do a fumigation Bill and get rid of people in State Government. Let's do recall, but only affect the Governor. But yet, we've done nothing to police ourselves. Why is that? Is that because 09600077.doc 53  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 77th Legislative Day 10/16/2009 the person that runs this place, and runs this state for the last 38 years doesn’t want any change because he has a lot of power. He's the chairman of the Democrat Party and he's the Speaker of the House, and heaven forbid, heaven forbid, we would do anything to diminish that power. We got a whole lot of that power for all it's worth. We're not going to create any opportunity to have that power be taken away from somebody who's been here for 38 years, who wants to retain that power for seemingly another 38 years, and everybody in the country, and everybody in the state says, enough is enough. The changed group, an independent body, nothing to do with us, from AARP to the Better Government Association, to the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, the list goes on and on, says, you guys have got to change how we run government in Illinois. You need to get it. You need to make a difference. You need to take care of policing yourselves. Every media outlet in the State of Illinois says you got to do it, but yet, we don't do it. Do we not get it? No, I think we get it. I think you get it. Campaign finance, which is what this is all about along with Primary change… the date of the Primary change, and redistricting, and Special Elections. The list goes on and on, but campaign finance happens to be the issue now. The real center of the issue here of the retention of power, because it's all about money, which is what this is all about. Does nothing to take away that power. It enhances that power. It gives the man who's been here for 38 years even more power, and we're going to create all these little diversions so we don't talk about 09600077.doc 54  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 77th Legislative Day 10/16/2009 the real issue. This is our… this is our state. This is our General Assembly, and you're conceding, and giving, and allowing one person, one man out of 12 million people to control what goes on in this state. One man out of 12 million people decides whether a Bill gets called. One man out of 12 million people decides whether or not we're going to vote on economic and ethical reforms in the State of Illinois, and to this date, he has said, no, and you are allowing that to happen. Well, we'll go back in this backroom, like we go and do all the other times, and we'll decide that those… those guys over there questioned us. How dare they. This isn't their Body. This is our Body, and we're going to show them that they can't do that. We'll call a little Bill that's divisive in the Republican Party. We'll call or cause a little cons… consternation. And so, we've now wasted three hours, and we haven't talked about those people that are unemployed. We haven't talked about the $10 billion budget hole. We haven't talked about the $80 billion the pension system's underfunded. We haven't talking about… talked about a broken Medicaid system. We haven't talked about any of the things we've wanted to talk about except this. This Bill does nothing to address any of our issues. Sometime, somewhere soon, you guys got to wake up over there. You're allowing this to happen. You are allowing the Speaker to control this state as if it's a kingdom, and that is unacceptable. I don't know when it's going to happen. It may happen in the next election. It may be two years, it may be four years, but people are starting to get it. The change group's 09600077.doc 55  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 77th Legislative Day 10/16/2009 gotten it. Every media outlet in America… in the state's gotten it. You all get it, but you're afraid of it, as that's what happens over in the Senate. They're afraid of it. I think the Governor's gotten it. Somewhere along the line, you got to get a little… a little strong, and a little tough, and go over and say, you know what, I'm not going to be with you now, Mr. Speaker. This campaign finance Bill isn't the right way to handle it. We need to take away a little bit of your power. Thirty-eight years has been a pretty good run. It doesn't mean he won't continue in a new system, but we can't let this go on. We're not going to let it go on. We'll take a vote up or down on this Bill. We'll play your game. People will vote for it. People will vote against it. We'll have the issue, but somewhere along the line, someday, hopefully sooner than later, we'll have a real discussion about redistricting, about campaign finance, about diminsioning the power that exists in a couple of people, and the list of all the other things I've talked about. But you guys, 70 of you, need to… need to make a decision sooner or later whether or not you're with the people in this State of Illinois, or you're with the king. The one guys who says, this is the way it's going to be, and this is the way it's going to be 'cause I say it's going to be this way. No other reason. I got the power, and I'll tell you what's good and what's bad for the people of the State of Illinois. I, also, just… I have a substantive note on this Bill, will also point out that, historically, both Parties have managed to regulate how they handle what goes on in 09600077.doc 56  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 77th Legislative Day 10/16/2009 their Parties. This is a terrible precedent to set, Representative. If this is the road you want to go down, if it passes, then we'll deal with that, but I don't believe that it really is the road you want to go down. So, Mr. Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to at least let us speak, but I hope that soon that we can have some real debate over some other real issues that affect the lives of men, and women, and kids, and seniors who are struggling, who are scared, who have fear, who are upset, who are worried in their everyday lives, and want some help, and want some real solutions to some real problems. And maybe someday we'll do that. Today's not the day. Yesterday wasn't the day. Maybe when we come back next week, or the week after, we can address some of the real life issues for the people of the State of Illinois. Thank you very much."

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

"Representative, just one question before I make a few remarks, but could you explain to the Body how our state central committeemen and women are elected now?"

"In the Republican Party. Yes."

"Well, that's not exactly right, Representative. To the Bill. I don’t want to… I know as a Leader, you have to do some things that are sometimes uncomfortable, and… and I won't belabor that point, but… to the Bill, Ladies and Gentlemen. The people in the Republican Party do elect their state central committeemen. They elect their local precinct committeemen who in turn gets to vote for the precinct committeemen in our congressional district, state central committeemen. Every two years, we go through this process, Republicans are electing our Republican state central committeemen through their precinct committeemen. It doesn't allow for shenanigans and all sorts of things to go on where we don't have big Republican turnout in… in congressional districts. This is as close to the people as you can get. They elect their precinct committeemen. If they don't like who they're voting for for the state central committeemen, they can vote him or her out during the next selection. We do this every two years in the Primary. Now, we changed this several years back for a reason. Our people decided to do that, and it was upheld at our latest state convention in Decatur. I was there. They had fair debate on both sides of the issue, and our current way of electing state central committeeman prevailed 70-30, 70-30. The people involved in the Republican Party said we like this method, we want to keep 09600077.doc 58  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 77th Legislative Day 10/16/2009 it. Now, I know there's a real push in the Majority Parties here and in Washington to extend their strong arm. We have CARZARS, and salaryzars, and we just told the Cook County Board what to do from Springfield. First time in a long time I heard the Speaker tell us how long we can even caucus. Now, come on. When does the strong arm of government stop? And, I just wanted to make sure that… I mean, this is so important to the media, they're here covering it. Maybe they're downstairs listening. I don't know. This is nothing more than a… a way to get the fact that the Majority Party that have been in power for the last seven years aren't getting results. Our Leader went through a long litany of things that we could be discussing this afternoon. We're not doing it, so let's put a little bit of controversy on the Dem… Republicans. Let's try to divide them. This Bill is not needed. It's shameful that we're wasting precious time when all these other issues are at hand, even debating this. Our people spoke at our convention. They like the system the way it is. I urge a 'no' vote on this. And, Mr. Speaker, should this require… get the required number of votes, I ask for a Roll Call verification… or a verification."

"First of all, Chairman… or, Speaker, excuse me, and thank you. Inquiry of the Chair."

"Do you have any excused absences that you wish to add to the record before this vote is taken?" 09600077.doc 59  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 77th Legislative Day 10/16/2009

"Are there any additions to the report that was made on the floor when you had one excused absence this morning?"

"Well, Mr… Mr. Speaker, I don't want to embarrass you, so I won't question the presence of a quorum, which is a non debatable Motion. I won't do that because I respect you, and I respect this process. A verification has been requested by the Gentleman from Jasper. You have recognized that. Would the Gentleman yield for a question?"

"Representative, good afternoon. When did you become the Chief-Sponsor of this legislation?"

"Can we put it in relative terms? Was it before or after… before or after the former Sponsor… Chief Sponsor of this Bill was subject of an investigation in Cook County?"

"I'm trying to put it in relative terms. I don't know how you became the Sponsor of this Bill."

"Oh, no, they have. I've asked… I've been asked every question you can possibly be asked on this… this House Floor, and those of us who've been around as long as you should know that. And, Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the Clerk would advice us as to the date of the change of sponsorship from one Representative Paul Froehlich to Representative Lang. While you're looking at that, I would like to continue my remarks. Our Leader has done an eloquent job of… of, I think describing for you when we went into caucus last night, and again this morning, we… we're just looking at ourselves and wondering, what are they doing. What could they possibly be thinking, because for the people of Illinois, this may seem to be a trivial issue and certainly, in relative… in relation to the… the issues that Representative Cross, Leader Cross, I like to call him Speaker Cross, that sounds good, doesn't it, guys? Speaker Cross. Yeah. Speaker Cross said that there were many more important issues, and we sat around in our caucus last night and again this morning, wondering just what could you possibly be thinking to make this an issue. And Speaker Cross also mentioned the 38 years that Speaker Madigan has been here, and a lot of us have been here for a long time. I don't knock him for that. I think Speaker Cross mentioned that maybe he wants to be king. Now, you might think that that's hyperbole, but I would… I would have you look at the… today's addition of the St. Louis Post Dispatch. Madigan's false campaign reform would make him king of Illinois. Is that what this is about, Representative? Do you want your Speaker, your Leader, to 09600077.doc 61  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 77th Legislative Day 10/16/2009 be king? Is that what it's about in trying to take over the Republican Party? You've done enough damage to your own Party, now you want to ruin our Party, too? I understand that people of good faith have different views about whether we should make this move or not, but woe is me to understand why you don't want to deal with the real issues of Illinois, and you want to talk about the internal machinations of the Republican Party. You don't want to talk about unemployment. You don't want… you want to make the Speaker king. That's what you want to do. When we talk about reform, you talk about ways to make sure that Mike Madigan is never challenged, never challenged. Now, you want to make it avail… make him available to control… That's what this is about, isn't it? You're trying to take over the Republican Party. That's what Democrats want. They haven't done enough to ruin the State of Illinois. They haven't done enough to ruin our country. They want to ruin the Republican Party and flush everything down the toilet. I give as my evidence, if you think that Democratic Party is doing a good job in Illinois. Well, how could you? How could you? If… I mean, Ladies and Gentlemen, the Democratic Party controls everything in Illinois. Now they want to control the Republican Party. That's what this is about. Well, they haven't done such a great job. Their last Governor was indicted. One of their sitting House Members, one of our colleagues, is under a very serious investigation and I wish him well. But if he has sinned, then his has to pay for those sins. I don't know that either Party holds the moral, upper ground, but I 09600077.doc 62  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 77th Legislative Day 10/16/2009 do know this, we want to run our Party the way the people that we represent in that Party ask us to. We have a good system that works. We've done it the other way and remem… you know what, we're not… we're revisiting Illinois history. We have been here before. We used to do it the way… do it the way you suggest, Representative. We used to do it that way and we changed it for all the right reasons. We changed it for all the right reasons. Does it… does it make anyone wonder why this Bill is being carried by a Democrat Leader and it affects Republican partisan politics at the very basic level? It's Mike Madigan, the would be king, wants every bit of power that he can have. Speaker Madigan, we don’t agree on this issue. I… Mr… the Gentleman from Cook, I wish you would take this Bill out of the record. I would gladly take over sponsorship of this Bill. And I rest my case. Thank you, Mr. Speaker."

"Will the Sponsor yield?"

"Representative… all the hype aside. And… and if I could have the Body's attention for a second. We all know there's going to be a reckoning next year, with this budget. This would be a nice gesture. Lou, I would ask if you could just pull this out. Let's start to focus on what we have to do next year and… and work together. We have… we honor a… a World War II veteran from Pearl Harbor. We honor the parents of… who made… who's son made the ultimate 09600077.doc 63  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 77th Legislative Day 10/16/2009 sacrifice. Let's get down to what's real. Pull this out. Let's regroup and come back next week and go to work."